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Give First

Business & Economics Podcasts

In the startup world, Give First means simply trying to help anyone—especially entrepreneurs—with no expectation of getting anything back. It's the pay-it-forward principle that builds strong startup networks. Hosts David Cohen and Brad Feld—Techstars cofounders, lifelong entrepreneurs, and startup investors—talk with mentors and founders about what giving first looks like in action, and how it makes great entrepreneurship possible. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the startup world, Give First means simply trying to help anyone—especially entrepreneurs—with no expectation of getting anything back. It's the pay-it-forward principle that builds strong startup networks. Hosts David Cohen and Brad Feld—Techstars cofounders, lifelong entrepreneurs, and startup investors—talk with mentors and founders about what giving first looks like in action, and how it makes great entrepreneurship possible. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Location:

United States

Description:

In the startup world, Give First means simply trying to help anyone—especially entrepreneurs—with no expectation of getting anything back. It's the pay-it-forward principle that builds strong startup networks. Hosts David Cohen and Brad Feld—Techstars cofounders, lifelong entrepreneurs, and startup investors—talk with mentors and founders about what giving first looks like in action, and how it makes great entrepreneurship possible. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Twitter:

@techstars

Language:

English

Contact:

330-447-7855

Episodes

Ep 63: HILOS Founder Elias Stahl on Creating A New Supply Chain

5/10/2022
Supply chains are a big nut to crack, and Elias Stahl ran straight for them. He was empowered to start a whole new supply chain and have his company HILOS be at the forefront of creating a different way to manufacture shoes, where it is ground zero for inefficiency and waste. “We saw that opportunity to leverage new technologies like 3D printing and gender design tools to rethink how we make things so that we're no longer building based on volume and cost, but on efficiency and a far more...

Duration:00:25:36

Ep 62: Twelve Labs CEO Jae Lee on Video Search Innovation and Accelerating with Techstars

4/26/2022
Innovation is just innovation if no one uses it. This is a lesson Jae Lee, co-founder and CEO of Twelve Labs, learned while building multimodal neural networks and video search AI. Through the Techstars Seattle Accelerator, mentors, and community, the company began to grow its customer base, transforming from a video search prototype to raising $5 million in a seed funding round. Listen as Jae Lee describes how video search is a very intuitive concept but we haven’t seen much of this...

Duration:00:24:23

Ep 61: Authors Mark Achler and Mert Iseri on Exit Strategy and Building Your Legacy

2/16/2022
There are many business books out there for current and future entrepreneurs: How to start, how to raise money, how to market, and more. However, after selling his business SwipeSense to SC Johnson, Mert Iseri, with his mentor Mark Achler, realized there aren’t as many books imparting wisdom about selling your business from all aspects of the process. “The exit hopefully is a joyous moment in time, but your relationships and your legacy lasts hopefully through the rest of your career,” said...

Duration:00:26:11

Ep 60: Stream Founder Thierry Schellenbach on Listening to Customers and Following the Metrics

2/1/2022
Stream might be a small startup company, but by listening to its customers and their needs, the company decided to launch a second product that helped it scale. “Focusing only on a single product, it was hard to go for larger channels that are not well-targeted, so we needed to have a broader product offering to really scale up,” said founder and CEO Thierry Schellenbach. “I think that’s the one thing in terms of advice for founders, I think you need to look at those metrics and we could...

Duration:00:22:01

Ep 59: Articulate Persuasion Founder Monique Maley on Delivering Ideas with Conviction

1/11/2022
Monique Maley actually began her career in acting, which has shaped how she became an entrepreneur and mentor. When she transitioned out of the acting industry, she used her skills of communication and body language to help other leaders get out of their own way. “For years I've been saying the thing that attracted me so much to the startup ecosystem and why I get so energized by it is because it's exactly like theater and film. There are so many things about it. There's the energy, the...

Duration:00:27:56

Ep 58: Sketchfab Co-Founder on Building Relationships as the Key to Business Immortality

12/14/2021
Started in France, Alban Denoyel knew that the key to his product, Sketchfab, was its influence in the United States. Now a leading platform for 3D and AR models, Sketchfab got a boost while Alban was part of the Techstars Accelerator program. “I think having gone through Techstars really helped us get the credibility we needed to raise money with VCs as first-time entrepreneurs.” Years later, the key takeaways from Alban’s time in the program still bring success to Sketchfab. Investors...

Duration:00:21:25

Ep 57: Zipline co-founder on how robotics and automation have changed him and the world

11/30/2021
When Keller Rinaudo started Remotive in 2011 while in a Techstars Accelerator program, he didn’t really know what entrepreneurship was until he read Tony Hsieh's book “Delivering Happiness.” At the time, he was at Harvard University working with DNA and the inner workings of humans, not robots. That all shifted. Keller and his team knew that the world of robotics and automation would change within the next decade, and they wanted to be a part of that transformation. Now, his company Zipline...

Duration:00:18:41

Ep 56: Goodie Nation's Joey Womack on building community for entrepreneurs from all backgrounds

11/2/2021
Joey Womack is a builder, but he’s not in traditional construction. Through creating ecosystems and making connections, he is helping social entrepreneurs and diverse founders build relationships that close the gaps, all through his company Goodie Nation. A relationship gap is the distance between entrepreneurs and key influencers. Often with diverse founders and social entrepreneurs, particularly those not in coastal financial centers, they are less connected to these key influencers than...

Duration:00:18:11

Ep 55: MindMaven Founder and CEO Patrick Ewers on achieving true greatness through relationships

10/12/2021
Patrick Ewers describes his work as helping people achieve true greatness, or as our host David Cohen calls it, giving people superpowers. But there is a funny thing about the term “true greatness”. “When you look at the word true greatness, I think it's the most subjective term you will ever come across, especially in the world we're working in. For some, it is that they really want to reach the top, they want to become the next Elon Musk. Most people want to just reach the fullest...

Duration:00:23:27

Ep 54: Zane Access founder Shila Nieves Burney on accessing networks while building capital

10/7/2021
Shila Nieves Burney, General Partner at Zane Venture Fund, has spent 20-plus years addressing inequity with capital, first in human capital with institutions and education systems, and then sourcing investors. Along the way, Shila discovered a much-needed resource for entrepreneurs: networks and connections. They can build the capital, but then what? In comes Zane Access capital readiness program. “We teach the technical skills, accessing venture capital, some of the terminology. What did...

Duration:00:22:12

Ep 53: DivInc’s Preston James on diversity and inclusion in the tech industry

9/28/2021
After two decades in the corporate world, Preston James was blown away by the innovation of tech startups. Once he got involved as an angel investor, he realized this industry was just like corporate America, where diversity was severely lacking. After digging into the issue by talking to others within his network, Preston saw the need to “build this pipeline of entrepreneurs for the underrepresented community and make the ecosystem more authentically diverse, equitable, and inclusive in...

Duration:00:16:50

Ep 52: Fraudmarc’s Keith Coleman on the Value of Give First as a Founder

9/21/2021
If you’ve ever wondered just where Give First came from, or how it became such a central philosophy at Techstars, this episode is for you. Or if you’ve ever wanted to push back and say: does Give First really work? What’s in it for me? This is also the episode for you. A few months ago, Keith Coleman, Founder of Fraudmarc (Techstars Atlanta 2017) emailed David and Brad with the subject “give first, finish last.” In it, he explained his reservations with Give First. Basically, he asked: Is...

Duration:00:38:14

Ep 51: Bain Capital Ventures’ Matt Harris on supporting entrepreneurs through 25+ years as an investor

9/14/2021
There are some people whose lives are perfect expressions of the zeitgeist. Matt Harris is one of them. In 1995, Matt’s college roommate at Williams started a company out of their dorm room. It was called Tripod, and it was one of the first dot com companies. By 1997, when Matt was 24, Williams invited him back to Williamstown, a rural community with a population of 6,000, to run an investing firm. When that was a success, Matt and that same college roommate, Bo Peabody, started Village...

Duration:00:33:41

Ep 50: Sustainability and economic opportunity with Cody Simms of Techstars Climate Tech Podcast

9/9/2021
People want their capital to be used for good, and whether it’s clean energy or sustainable agriculture, there is ample economic opportunity in efforts to decarbonize the planet. In this special podcast crossover episode, Techstars’ own David Cohen and Cody Simms discuss how the entrepreneurial ecosystem is rallying around climate change. If you haven't yet checked out the Techstars Climate Tech podcast, you can find it on all major podcast platforms. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and...

Duration:00:28:16

Ep 49: The Community Fund’s Lolita Taub on investing in community-driven companies

9/7/2021
Lolita Taub has always been about community, from her upbringing in South Central LA to now at The Community Fund, which is a venture capital fund that invests in community-driven companies, “connecting people to people and resources to achieve results.” By day, Lolita is the Corporate Development VP at Catalyte, but on breaks or weekends, she is an operator-investor, looking for those unicorns of the future. She believes these companies will “have customers that identify as members where...

Duration:00:22:47

Ep 48: Academy Investor Network’s Sherman Williams on going from military service to VC

8/31/2021
From his service as a Naval Intelligence Officer to an MBA from the University of Chicago to becoming an investor in early-stage startups in healthcare tech, frontier tech, logistics, and marketplaces, Sherman Williams has had an interesting career. Now he’s also helping other U.S. Service Academy (USNA, USMA, USAFA, USCGA and USMMA) grads to invest as well. Many veterans want to get into entrepreneurship, but don’t know how to access a network to help them learn and grow. The Academy...

Duration:00:18:52

Ep 47: FemTech Focus’ Brittany Barreto, Ph.D. on creating a new category: FemTech

8/24/2021
Brittany Barreto, Ph.D., started as an entrepreneur, transitioned to VC, and now is building a whole new category: FemTech. Yes, she invented the term, and you are encouraged to use it and spread it. Brittany realized that women’s health and wellness companies didn’t have the community that helps an industry thrive, so she set out to build it. She cofounded FemTech Focus, and started hosting the FemTech Focus Podcast to talk about “the innovative technology, services, and products...

Duration:00:22:19

Ep 46: David Cohen and Brad Feld reflect on over 40 episodes of the Give First Podcast

8/17/2021
Toward the beginning of this conversation between David Cohen and Brad Feld — cofounders of Techstars and celebrated early-stage investors — Brad says, “I believe it takes a hundred episodes before you can really call yourself a podcast.” If that’s the standard, the Give First podcast isn’t a real podcast yet, since we’re only at about 45. But we’re quite proud that Give First has stuck around so long and found such a welcoming audience. Turns out that people want to hear about the warm,...

Duration:00:16:57

Ep 45: Digital Ocean’s Carly Brantz on leading marketing at three Techstars unicorns

8/10/2021
“We get a tremendous amount of traffic to our website every month from people who are just searching for different ways to do things, learning different ways to code. It might not even be on our infrastructure, but we provide that content,” says Carly Brantz, Chief Marketing Officer at Digital Ocean. This is just one of many ways that Digital Ocean, which helps developers easily build, test, manage, and scale applications of any size on a complete cloud platform, Gives First to its...

Duration:00:19:31

Ep 44: Fast Forward’s Kevin Barenblat on running an accelerator for tech nonprofits

8/3/2021
“Techstars for nonprofits” is a pretty good description for Fast Forward, an accelerator for tech nonprofits. The similarities are many — like Techstars, Fast Forward provides mentorship, network, and resources to tech founders, designed to help them succeed. The key difference is that Fast Forward focuses on the specific needs of nonprofit companies. “Our entrepreneurs have all the challenges of tech startups, and all the challenges of nonprofits,” says Kevin Barenblat, Cofounder and...

Duration:00:20:46

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