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Latest Episodes
Helping Founders Successfully Scale Their Startup
Whether you're a tech founder or a non-tech founder, you need help to successfully scale a startup. Our guest, Software Engineer turned “The Mary Poppins of Startups”, Naily Makangu, is passionate about bringing her multi-faceted toolkit to lead complex software projects and launch products. With over ten years of experience, she has a proven track record of turning around struggling technical projects and organizations, from seed startups to large corporations such as Siemens Industry Software.
Naily has a gift for bridging the gap between tech teams and the rest of the business to ensure successful project delivery. As a Startup Advisor and Tech Consultant, she’s helped several startups and scaleups improve the maturity of their teams while continuing to deliver what customers expect.
Investors count on her to help keep their startups teams on track, reducing the need to breathe down their necks. Naily is committed to fostering innovation and growth in the startup community via Athena Leaders' "Tech and Product Catalyst".
The"Tech and Product Catalyst" is designed to empower startup founders and investors alike. It helps startups close, onboard, and manage more clients, particularly in the B2B sector and prepare for investor scrutiny and due diligence. We improve startup maturity level, enabling faster building, launching, and scaling. Investors can benefit from additional support for struggling startups in their portfolio.
💥 Check out Naily's Tech and Product Catalyst 👉 http://athenaleaders.com/tech-and-product-catalyst
🎤 Check out "The Mary Poppins of Startups Podcast" giving your startups or business the tools to build your first prototype, reach product-market fit and blossom 👉 https://bit.ly/PodcastAthenaLeaders
💻 Sign up to Naily's 1-1 Tech & Product Mentoring sessions 👉 https://bit.ly/1-1FreeTechMentoring
👋 Connect with Naily Makangu on LinkedIn 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/nailymakangu/
Thank you for carving out time to improve your Founder Game - when you do better, your startup will do better - cheers!
CONNECT WITH ME ONLINE: https://twitter.com/AndeLyons https://www.linkedin.com/in/andelyons/ https://www.instagram.com/ande_lyons/ TikTok: @andelyons
EP 288 Building the Best All-in-One SaaS Solution for Mentoring, Connectivity & Skills Development
Fostering connection among employees and company leaders is hard enough to do within brick and mortar walls.
Building company culture and forging employee relationships without the four walls is a challenge many companies are failing at today.
Our guest, Dave Wilkin, is an award-winning serial LGBTQ+ entrepreneur who grew up in a small, rural town, and experienced firsthand that mentors and meaningful connections were critical to accessing career-progressing and skills development opportunities.
He solved this problem by launching Ten Thousand Coffees (10KC) and building the only all-in-one talent experience platform for inclusive mentoring, employee connectivity, and skills development.
Dave also helps equity-seeking groups leverage 10KC’s platform to access critical mentoring and career progressing networks through some of the largest social impact organizations in the world including ALPFA, Ascend, Black Professionals in Tech Network and more.
Stay tuned for an inspirational fireside chat with an extraordinary entrepreneur on the Startup Life Show!
To learn more about 10KC, please visit: https://www.tenthousandcoffees.com/
Thank you for tuning in to the show - let me know what you think of Dave's startup story in the comments - cheers!
JOIN STARTUP LIFE LIVE MEETUP GROUP Get an alert whenever I post a new show! https://bit.ly/StartupLifeLIVE
WBENC Application Send me an email: ande@andelyons.com
CONNECT WITH ME ONLINE: https://twitter.com/AndeLyons https://www.linkedin.com/in/andelyons/ https://www.instagram.com/ande_lyons/ TikTok: @andelyons
SPONSORSHIP If you resonate with the show’s mission of amplifying diverse founder voices, please reach out to me to learn more about making an impact through sponsoring the Startup Life Show! ande@andelyons.com.
EP 287 A Digital Health Platform Expanding Access to Peer Support and Group Therapy
You are not built to do life alone.
But how do you get the real support you need to navigate the real life events you’re sailing through?
This delicious conversation on the Startup Life Show is with Tamar Blue - the fab female co-founder of MentalHappy – an online health platform that provides access to peer support and group therapy, especially for people of low-income, underrepresented populations, and people living in rural areas.
What I especially loved about this conversation was how Tamar’s life beautifully prepared her to be the ideal co-founder of MentalHappy!
From her hugely successful volunteer program in high school called Safety Ambassadors to her dual degree in econonmics and sociology, to her 10 years in corporate environments teaching her how to drive revenue and manage gross profits, to addressing her own challenges with anxiety and panic attacks and being bullied as a first-generation Haitian American. Tamar’s lived experiences uniquely prepared her to be the ideal co-founder of her startup!
I know you will enjoy hearing Tamar’s inspirational startup stories and learn why … and how… she left the paycheck and benefits behind to launch a social impact, Y Combinator backed startup: MentalHappy.
To learn more about MentalHappy, please visit: https://mentalhappy.com
To learn more about MentalHappy’s Wefunder Campaign, please visit: https://wefunder.com/MentalHappy.
Connect with Tamar and Mental Happy on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamarlucienblue/ and https://www.linkedin.com/company/mentalhappy/
Thank you for tuning in to the show - let me know what you think of Tamar's startup story in the comments - cheers!
JOIN STARTUP LIFE LIVE MEETUP GROUP Get an alert whenever I post a new show! https://bit.ly/StartupLifeLIVE
CONNECT WITH ME ONLINE: https://twitter.com/AndeLyons https://www.linkedin.com/in/andelyons/ https://www.instagram.com/ande_lyons/ TikTok: @andelyons
SPONSORSHIP If you resonate with the show’s mission of celebrating diverse founders' inspirational startup stories, please reach out to me to learn more about making an impact through sponsoring the Startup Life LIVE Show! ande@andelyons.com.
EP 286 Understanding and Solving Funding Inequities in the VC Industry
Less than 2% of Venture Capital funds go to Women and Minority Owned Businesses.
Our guest, Professor Banu Ozkazanc-Pan, is the Founder and Director of the Venture Capital Inclusion Lab at the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship at Brown University.
With $260,000 in funding from the Kauffman Foundation, Banu launched the lab to investigate WHY this abysmal under 2% number exists and find ways to solve it.
During our delicious conversation we dove deep into the data pool to learn what Banu and her team have uncovered and how this data may help improve the funding of under resourced founders .
The Venture Capital Inclusion Lab was started in 2018 with funds from Professor Bah-nu’s Kauffman Foundation grant to examine the decision-making and network behaviors of VCs.
Today, the Lab focuses efforts on understanding and solving funding inequities in the VC industry through data-driven research, education and advocacy.
Banu is also a Professor of Practice at the School of Engineering and Academic Director of the IE Brown University Executive MBA program. Her research interests are mainly in the areas of diversity and inclusion in organizations and in entrepreneurial ecosystems.
To learn more about the Venture Capital Inclusion Lab, please visit: https://vcinclusion.com
Tap this link to connect with Professor Banu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/banuopan/
Check out Banu's startup, Derpy Doggy and it's clean, gluten-free products here: https://www.derpydoggy.com/
Thank you for carving out time to improve your Founder Game - when you do better, your startup will do better - cheers!
JOIN STARTUP LIFE MEETUP GROUP Get an alert whenever I post a new show! https://bit.ly/StartupLifeLIVE
WBENC Application Send me an email: ande@andelyons.com
CONNECT WITH ME ONLINE: https://twitter.com/AndeLyons https://www.linkedin.com/in/andelyons/ https://www.instagram.com/ande_lyons/ TikTok: @andelyons
SPONSORSHIP If you resonate with the show’s mission of amplifying diverse founder voices while serving first-time founders around the world, please reach out to me to learn more about making an impact through sponsoring the Startup Life Show! ande@andelyons.com.
WHAT WE LEARNED 00:00 - meet Professor Banu Ozkazanc-Pan 06:00 - Sylvester Myer ! 08:00 - Professor Banu's origin story 12:20 - teach entrepreneurship transform the teacher 18:30 - why we don't see equity and inclusion in the VC industry 21:20 - why it took so long for women to be included at VC firms 25:00 - gender stereotypes in venture capital prohibit funding of women and minority owned businesses 27:00 - the challenges for Emerging Funds Managers 29:00 - Ande's soap box moment (sorry, not sorry!) 33:00 - response to Scroobious' Founder Allison Byers 35:50 - Village Capital's Framework Study 40:00 - changing the VC mindset to be inclusive is a hard task 46:00 - education and alumni networks benefit men 50:20 - white males need to support women getting funded
EP 285 How She Built a Direct Sales Wellness Drink Empire, One Sip at a Time
Our guest, Tonia Jahshan, was recovering from a difficult time in her life when she had her first cup of tea… and it was love at first sip.
You will be inspired by her startup story and will love hearing how she built her direct sales wellness drink empire to extraordinary heights, by building a thriving, committed community, one sip at a time.
Tonia is the founder of Sipology, a multi-million dollar direct sales company selling wellness drinks and accessories.
Tonya founded Sipology after suffering a miscarriage and traveling to Nova Scotia for a pause. While there, she had her first cup of Earl Grey de la Crème tea, and for the first time in weeks, things felt better.
She launched Sipology in 2007 to share the healing power of tea with the world. In 2012, Tonia pitched the business on Dragons’ Den (Canadian Shark Tank) and accepted an offer from Dragons Jim Treliving and David Chilton, skyrocketing the business to new heights.
BTW: Tonia's pitch is the all time best pitch at Dragons' Den and is used as an example for potential guests pitching to be on the show. Also, Sipology's deal holds the record for the fastest closing of a deal on the show.
Today, Sipology does millions in annual sales and has tens of thousands of consultants selling its products.
The company has been recognized as one of Profit 500 Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies, and Tonia was named Canada’s #1 Female Entrepreneur by W100 and 1 of 6 Women to Watch by Forbes.
Watch Sipology's Dragons' Den pitch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV_AqVsorxQ
To learn more about Sipology, please visit: https://www.sipology.com
Connect with Tonia and Sipology online via these social platforms: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sipology/ and https://www.instagram.com/toniajahshan/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steepedteainc and https://www.facebook.com/ToniaJahshan/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonia-jahshan-29977410/
Thank you for carving out time to improve your Founder Game - when you do better, your startup will do better - cheers!
JOIN STARTUP LIFE LIVE MEETUP GROUP Get an alert whenever I post a new show! https://bit.ly/StartupLifeLIVE
WBENC Application Send me an email: ande@andelyons.com
CONNECT WITH ME ONLINE: https://twitter.com/AndeLyons https://www.linkedin.com/in/andelyons/ https://www.instagram.com/ande_lyons/ TikTok: @andelyons
ANDELICIOUS ANNOUNCEMENTS Arlan’s Academy: https://arlansacademy.com/ Scroobious - use Ande15 discount code: https://www.scroobious.com/ How to Raise a Seed Round: https://bit.ly/AAElizabethYin Tune in to Mia Voss' Shit We Don't Talk About podcast here: https://shitwedonttalkaboutpodcast.com/
SPONSORSHIP If you resonate with the show’s mission of amplifying diverse founder voices while serving first-time founders around the world, please reach out to me to learn more about making an impact through sponsoring the Startup Life LIVE Show! ande@andelyons.com.
EP 284 Addressing Food Insecurity by Growing Healthy Food, People & Communities
Veleké Brown is dedicated to addressing food insecurity through a program focused on ensuring access to fresh produce for those in underrepresented communities and creating systems of sustainable agriculture.
It's called Operation No Food Gap, and it's changing lives through learning how to grow and harvest and eat fresh produce, while ending food insecurity in marginalized neighborhoods.
Veleké dives deep into her decades experience as the non-profit founder of E-Roadmap, a 501c3 nonprofit that works with after-school programs, school systems and various organizations to empower and equip youth with life-altering unique skills to eradicate poverty of mind.
You'll learn about building a non profit board, nurturing donor and sponsorship relationships, how to always be learning and growing, fundraising and networking advice for non profit leaders - and more! You will love meeting this awe*mazing educator, organizer, social innovator and a connector with a focus on youth development.
You can find Veleké in the classroom, at the local City Hall or on the front lines feeding the homeless. She changes lives, everywhere she GLOWS!
To learn more about Operation No Food Gap, please visit: https://nofoodgap.org
To learn more about E-RoadMap, please visit: https://www.e-roadmap.org/about Please connect with Veleke via LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/velek-brown-5a5344a/
Thank you for carving out time to improve your Founder Game - when you do better, your startup will do better - cheers!
WHAT WE LEARNED: 00:00 - Meet Veleke Brown! 06:00 - How she learned entrepreneurship from her Grandfather and Father 09:00 - Black entrepreneurship 12:00 - Launching a non-profit startup 14:40 - Best non-profit Board advice 18:30 - Founders need to always be learning and growing 21:30 - How to build a donor base and attract Sponsors 23:00 - Best networking advice for non-profit founders 25:30 - Outstanding advice for raising funds for a new non-profit 40:00 - How to turn an abandoned property into a thriving produce-filled garden 43:30 - There's a hunger issue in Palm Beach County 52:00 - Delicious founder journey advice
JOIN STARTUP LIFE SHOW MEETUP GROUP Get an alert whenever I post a new show! https://bit.ly/StartupLifeLIVE
WBENC Send me an email to learn how I can help you with this important application: ande@andelyons.com
CONNECT WITH ME ONLINE: https://twitter.com/AndeLyons https://www.linkedin.com/in/andelyons/ https://www.instagram.com/ande_lyons/ TikTok: @andelyons
SPONSORSHIP If you resonate with the show’s mission of amplifying diverse founder voices while serving first-time founders around the world, please reach out to me to learn more about making an impact through sponsoring the Startup Life LIVE Show! ande@andelyons.com.
EP 283 How to Successfully Bootstrap your Startup Business
Bootstrapping is how many newly minted founders launch their startup.
Using their own savings and borrowing capability to get their business off the ground.
However, lack of funding can cause a founder to freeze, to get caught in a mindset chokehold that prevents them from moving forward... from seeing solutions.
How do you get unstuck?
Our guest, Tiana Sanchez, is the queen of dissolving mindset blocks that keep folks from achieving their dreams.
AND… she shares outstanding advice and pathways to help you bootstrap your business to achieve traction and increase valuation ... because when you can increase valuation through bootstrapping, investors will be more interested in your deal… and you’ll keep a much higher percentage of the equity in your business.
Tiana is the CEO and Founder of TSI LLC (Tiana Sanchez International), a leadership and development company helping organizations train and develop a more competent, confident, caring and collaborative workforce.
Tiana is also a Number 1 bestselling author, executive coach, corporate trainer, keynote speaker, and host of Like a REAL Boss podcast.
Tiana’s public and private sector corporate training and development client list includes Sony Pictures, BMW, Mercedes Benz, and California State University Long Beach.
She is the author of two books: “Undefeatable” (https://amzn.to/42Yj59Q) and “F’D Up – The UPside of Failure” (https://amzn.to/3BxziqC) and is well known for her engaging, high-energy keynote presentations at Leadership Conferences, Women’s Conferences, Higher Education Events, and Company Retreats.
To learn more about Tiana's services, please visit: https://tianasanchez.com
Follow and connect with Tiana via these social platforms: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/tianasanchez/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TianaSanchezFanPage/ Twitter @LikeARealBoss https://twitter.com/likearealboss Instagram @LikeARealBoss https://www.instagram.com/likearealbosslady
Tiana's Books: Undefeatable: Conquering Self-Defeat https://amzn.to/42Yj59Q F'd Up: The UPside of Failure Kindle Edition https://amzn.to/3BxziqC
Thank you for carving out time to improve your Founder Game - when you do better, your startup will do better - cheers!
WHAT WE LEARNED: 00:00 - meet Tiana Sanchez 07:00 - Tiana became an entrepreneur after a painful layoff 11:00 - what's your talent stack? 13:00 - Hot Dog and a Stick - loooove this story! 16:36 - how to dissolve external blockers (competition!) 19:00 - how Tiana launched and built her business without a degree and resources 30:00 - Undefeatable - Conquering Self-Defeat 37:00 - to make money, you have to spend money 40:00 - how to build partnerships and collaborations to grow your business 44:00 - F'D Up: The UPside of Failure
JOIN STARTUP LIFE SHOW MEETUP GROUP Get an alert whenever I post a new show! https://bit.ly/StartupLifeLIVE
CONNECT WITH ME ONLINE: https://twitter.com/AndeLyons https://www.linkedin.com/in/andelyons/ https://www.instagram.com/ande_lyons/ TikTok: @andelyons
WBENC APPLICATION Don't leave money on the table! Reach out to me to find out how I can help you apply for a WBENC Certification: ande@andelyons.com
Join Innovation Women here: https://bit.ly/AndeInnoWomen
SPONSORSHIP If you resonate with the show’s mission of amplifying diverse founder voices while serving first-time founders around the world, please reach out to me to learn more about making an impact through sponsoring the Startup Life Show! ande@andelyons.com.
EP 282 How Startups Can Leverage ChatGPT to Drive Growth and Innovation
Everyone’s chatting about ChatGPT, but how does one successfully leverage this AI to grow a startup? Without increasing the work load, distracting your engineers, disrupting the work flow and causing headaches for founders?
Our guest, Shanif Dhanani, is here to help!
He’s the founder of Locusive, where he and his team help businesses understand and build systems that connect their internal and proprietary systems to ChatGPT, enabling internal employees, customers, and other stakeholders to reap the benefits of using large language models on their own data.
Shanif has a strong background in software and data science.
He built machine learning, analytics, and software systems at large companies like Twitter and Booz Allen, smaller startups like Apteo, where he was the founder, and TapCommerce, which was one of the world's first mobile advertising platforms.
To learn how Locusive can help your startup integrate ChatGPT, please visit: https://www.locusive.com/
Connect with Shanif and Locusive on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanifdhanani/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/locusive/about/
00:00 - meet Shanif! 08:00 - serial founder stories 13:00 - entrepreneurship is the best personal development program 16:00 - what is ChatGPT and how does it work 17:00 - how can startups safely use ChatGPT 19:00 - how ChatGPT helps sales enablement processes 25:00 - how do you protect your proprietary data when using ChatGPT 28:00 - excellent founder fundraising advice and insights 33:00 - how to not distract your engineers when adding ChatGPT 35:00 - ChatGPT helps a startup move faster without a lot of resources and risk 37:00 - start small, stay focused! Stitch that on a Pillow! 42:00 - stop working when you're tired and feeling burned out - do not push yourself
Thank you for carving out time to improve your Founder Game - when you do better, your startup will do better - cheers!
JOIN STARTUP LIFE LIVE MEETUP GROUP Get an alert whenever I post a new show! https://bit.ly/StartupLifeLIVE
CONNECT WITH ME ONLINE: https://twitter.com/AndeLyons https://www.linkedin.com/in/andelyons/ https://www.instagram.com/ande_lyons/ TikTok: @andelyons
WBENC APPLICATION I LOVE helping female founders of B2B businesses with their WBENC applications! Send me an email requesting a 15-minute convo: ande@andelyons.com
SPONSORSHIP If you resonate with the show’s mission of amplifying diverse founder voices while serving first-time founders around the world, please reach out to me to learn more about making an impact through sponsoring the Startup Life LIVE Show! ande@andelyons.com.
EP 281 An Eco-Conscious Micro-Mobility Company Focused on Safety and Equity
It takes a considerable amount of courage, purpose, resilence and tenacity to bring a Micro Mobility (scooter-bike!) startup to life!
With an entrepreneurial spirit that was evident from a young age, our guest – Emil Nnani - took the business world by storm when he launched his first venture at just 17 years old. His tenacity and vision led him to achieve his first million in sales by the age of 22.
A serial and seasoned entrepreneur, Emil takes us on a wonderful journey through his earlier businesses - a mechanic business, a clothing line, a singing career (hip hop Christian music) and an errand driver business, where he honed his entrepreneurial skills, ideally preparing him for his current startup: Boaz Bikes.
As the Founder and CEO of Boaz Bikes, Emil took a vision of a safer scooter, while supporting underserved communities, and created a groundbreaking electric scooter and E-Bike MaaS platform that has transformed the landscape of urban transportation by solving first and last-mile transportation problems for cities across the globe.
Learn more about Boaz Bikes here: https://www.boazbikes.com/
Connect online with Emil and Boaz here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boazbikes/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emil-nnani-82aa2065/ and https://www.linkedin.com/company/boaz-bikes/
Here's what we learned: * why Emil, while building one business, saw a way to create safer, more equitable scooters and stopped everything to build Boaz Bikes * how Emil's earlier clothing business gave him the resources and relationships he needed with overseas vendors to help him secure the best manufacturers for Boaz Bikes * all about per minute rental revenue business model * why you can't insure scooters * why equity crowdfunding is a better alternative for minority business owners to raise capital (Emil raised over $2.0 million with his first campaign!)
Thank you for carving out time to improve your Founder Game - when you do better, your startup will do better - cheers!
Ande ♥ https://andelyons.com
#bestpodcastforstartups #startupstories #startuplife 00:00 - meet Emil and Boaz Bikes! 08:55 - a Christian hip hop artist is born 12:00 - why email launched Christ Like Clothing brand 16:00 - Errand Driver - what worked and what didn't work 19:00 - why it's so hard to raise money from VCs when you're a minority startup owner 24:00 - how Boaz Bikes came to be 36:00 - Boaz Bikes business model 41:00 - Scooters can't be insured 50:00 - Emil's favorite mindset hack
JOIN STARTUP LIFE LIVE MEETUP GROUP Get an alert whenever I post a new show! https://bit.ly/StartupLifeLIVE
CONNECT WITH ME ONLINE: https://twitter.com/AndeLyons https://www.linkedin.com/in/andelyons/ https://www.instagram.com/ande_lyons/ TikTok: @andelyons
WBENC Application Reach out to me - I can help you! ande@andelyons.com
SPONSORSHIP If you resonate with the show’s mission of amplifying diverse founder voices while serving first-time founders around the world, please reach out to me to learn more about making an impact through sponsoring the Startup Life LIVE Show! ande@andelyons.com.
Bio of Startup Life Show with Ande Lyons
The Startup Life Show with Ande Lyons is a captivating podcast that delves into the world of entrepreneurship and the incredible stories of founders who have embarked on the risky yet rewarding journey of starting their own businesses.
Through engaging interviews, listeners are taken on an adventure filled with nail-biting moments and uplifting victories that often occur within the span of a single day. Ande Lyons skillfully extracts the highs and lows of each founder's journey, providing valuable insights and inspiration for those navigating their own entrepreneurial endeavors.
The Startup Life Show showcases a diverse range of founders who have not only overcome obstacles but have also challenged biases to create impactful businesses with a social mission. These stories demonstrate the power of entrepreneurship to change the world and inspire listeners to pursue their own dreams of making a difference.
