Starting It Up

Sam Madani is the Co-founder and CEO of BOMANI Cold Buzz. The son of Iranian immigrants, Sam, has always been driven and motivated by his parents’ struggles and successes. After he graduated from USC and moved to New York to work in investment banking, he realized there was a glaring gap in the market for a delicious drink that had both natural caffeine and low-carb alcohol. BOMANI was created by Sam alongside his two best friends, Kai and Amin. One of the key features of BOMANI is that not only does it taste great (speaking from experience) but it somehow only has 110 calories, 0g carbs, and 0g sugar – all while being Kosher, gluten-free, and dairy free. In two short years, Bomani has expanded throughout many parts of the US and is now sold in hundreds of retailers. You can also order Bomani online at https://www.bomanicoldbuzz.com/ Sam and I talk about what it’s like starting a company with your best friends, how BOMANI has been able to expand so quickly, how to make key strategic hires and attract top-talent at such an early stage, how to navigate through and actually grow while in a Pandemic, and much more! Connect with Sam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-madani-58b054a1 | https://www.instagram.com/sammadani/ Check out BOMANI: https://www.bomanicoldbuzz.com/ Follow the BOMANI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bomani.cold.buzz/

Clive Jackson is the Founder and CEO of Victor, one of the fastest growing jet charter companies in the world. Victor has access to more than 7,000 aircraft in 40,000 destinations and offices in London, NY and Santa Barbara. Clive is a serial entrepreneur who has been at the forefront of the digital revolution developing innovative web services for luxury brands, financial services, technology and media. Clive founded Global Beach, one of the UK’s leading digital agencies in 1993. In 2001 he spun out Autotorq.com, a new business providing bespoke dealer marketing and services to automotive manufacturers and their dealer networks across 26 countries. Clive launched his current venture, Victor, in 2011. He wanted to revolutionise the world of private jet charter out of a frustration with the inconveniences of commercial air travel and the antiquated jet charter industry. Clive was on a mission to make aircraft charter easier, faster and more transparent than ever before. Now, Clive is determined to lead the private aviation industry to a more sustainable future and has just launched an industry first climate action campaign which recognizes that privilege comes with responsibility, whether as a consumer or a business leader. It’s Clive’s mission to influence those that fly privately (CEOS, world leaders, politicians, celebrities) to be accountable for their environmental impact. We talk about what it takes to be a serial entrepreneur, what it’s like to uproot an antiquated industry, how to build a sustainable business without sacrificing growth, and much more! Connect with Clive: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clive-jackson-32325/ Check out Victor: https://www.flyvictor.com/en-us/ Use this link to sign up and get $1,000 off your first flight : https://refer.flyvictor.com/s/Ben09

Jordan Paris is the host of the Growth Mindset University Podcast, the author of Growth Mindset University and the newly released, The Podcast Playbook. Jordan’s podcast, Growth Mindset University, was ranked #3 in Apple’s Training category and #5 in the How-To category. In Education, one of Apple’s most competitive categories, the show was ranked #15. On the show, he interviews young up-and-comers and some of the most successful people on planet earth like James Altucher, Kevin Rudolf, Mark Manson, Dan Millman, Naveen Jain, and Dan Lok. We talk about what steps to take to turn a podcast or any other type of side hustle into a business, how to produce quality content, what it means to have a “growth mindset”, and much more! Connect with Jordan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordantparis Website: https://www.jordanparis.com Growth Mindset University Podcast: https://www.jordanparis.com/podcast Growth Mindset University Book: https://smile.amazon.com/Growth-Mindset-University-Anything-Control-ebook-dp-B07MNP7HHM/dp/B07MNP7HHM/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid= [New Release] The Podcast Playbook: https://smile.amazon.com/Podcast-Playbook-Winning-Audience-Podcaster-ebook/dp/B07ZP9TZ6F/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2AY3O0ICJEIAW&keywords=the+podcast+playbook&qid=1580094609&s=digital-text&sprefix=the+podcast+pl%2Cdigital-text%2C140&sr=1-1: Free Podcasting Course: https://www.jordanparis.com/couse Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/i.am.jordan.paris/

Cindy Kim and Matt Maroone are the co-founders and co-CEOs of Silver Mirror, a facial bar that offers unique and customized facial treatments to help customers achieve their skincare goals. Silver Mirror currently has three locations: two in NYC, one in Washington, DC, and is set to grow significantly in 2020. Cindy and Matt met while they were both studying in business school at Wharton and each had an entrepreneurial background. Cindy had previously founded a Korean beauty startup, Peach and Lily, while Matt had previously founded multiple entertainment and tech companies, eventually finding his way into the beauty space. We discuss what it’s like to build and expand a brick-and-mortar business without giving up any equity, why it’s so important to have creative outlets apart from your main focus, how to have a successful business partnership and effectively delegate responsibilities and more! Connect with Cindy: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindyykim/ Connect with Matt: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-maroone-4223728/ Check out Silver Mirror: Website - https://www.silvermirror.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/silvermirrorfacialbar/?hl=en Upper East Side Location - https://www.silvermirror.com/locations/ues Flatiron Location - https://www.silvermirror.com/locations/flatiron Dupont Circle Location - https://www.silvermirror.com/locations/dupont-circle

Artem Mashkov is a repeat founder and investor who currently spends the bulk of his time as the COO of SwagUp. Artem started his entrepreneurial journey in the cell phone world where he went from handing out flyers to becoming the Principal Franchise Owner of 12 Verizon locations across NYC. In addition, Artem is the founder of Intelligent Ventures, through which he invests and partners with other retail and hospitality businesses like Proper West, Manhattan Proper and Little Choc Apothecary. Most recently, Artem left his advisor role at SwagUp to join them full-time as their COO. SwagUp is a promotional products company that makes it simple to create custom-branded swag packs for employees, customers, events, and startups. We talk about how Artem’s background of growing up on welfare developed his entrepreneurial hunger, how Artem identifies good startup and investment opportunities, how SwagUp is transforming its agency-style business into a SaaS model and much more! Connect with Artem: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artemmashkov/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artemmashkov/?hl=en Check out SwagUp: SwagUp: https://www.swagup.com/ Link to the two-part interview with SwagUp’s CEO, Michael Martocci E10: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e10-part-1-michael-martocci-swagup-story-how-resourcefulness/id1435678752?i=1000431408859 E11: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e11-part-2-michael-martocci-swagup-story-how-resourcefulness/id1435678752?i=1000431520162

Daniel and Ben Mardkha are brothers and the Co-Founders of Marke. Marke makes it easy for men to buy a wedding band. They're reinventing the traditional purchasing experience by simplifying and guiding grooms through the process. With Marke's home try-on-kit, they’ve been referred to as the “Warby Parker” of wedding bands. Dan and Ben grew up in the jewelry business -- they come from a family of ringmakers with over 30 years of experience and used that knowledge and expertise to launch their own ventures. We talk about how failure in their first business led to success in their second, what the experience of starting a startup with family is like, how they focus and analyze feedback to create tailored experiences for their customers, and much more! Connect with Ben: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-mardkha-5a22ab42 Connect with Dan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-mardkha-00208152 Check out Marke: Marke Website: https://markenyc.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markenewyork/?hl=en

Farbood (Farb) Nivi is a serial entrepreneur and currently the Founder & CEO of Coinmine. Coinmine One is the first all-in-one crypto miner for everyone. Farb and his co-founder, Justin Lambert, have revolutionized the crypto mining industry by creating a sleek, quiet, and aesthetically pleasing device to mine cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Zcash, Monero, and others. Farb has been an entrepreneur since his college days where he ran multiple computer solutions business and later started Grockit, an Edtech startup that raised $17M+ and was sold to Kaplan. Coinmine was founded in 2018, is growing rapidly, and has raised $4.5M so far from investors like Coinbase and Republic Labs. We discuss topics like the importance of product design, the future of crypto and what that means for Coinmine, how and why you should trust your gut to make decisions, and much more. Connect with Farb: Twitter: https://twitter.com/farbood LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/farboodnivi/ Check out Coinmine: Coinmine: https://coinmine.com Use code STARTINGITUP or go to https://coinmine.com/startingitup to get $50 off your Coinmine One

Aditya (Adi) Agashe is a Product Manager at Microsoft and the best-selling author of Swipe to Unlock: The Primer on Technology and Business Strategy as well as his most recent book, Bubble or Revolution: The Present and Future of Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies. Alongside his two close friends and fellow PMs, Neel Mehta and Parth Detroja, Adi creates content that provides a thorough, yet understandable introduction to complex topics like how to break into tech and what exactly blockchain is. Adi got his start in entrepreneurship when he was at Cornell, launching two companies -- Belle Apps and Belle Delivery. We talk about topics like how to establish credibility with an audience, the major differences between the public and private blockchain, what the most promising current and future applications of blockchain are and much more!

Alex Boyd is the Founder & CEO of RevenueZen. RevenueZen helps companies build and execute B2B lead generation engines using a powerful, proven blend of inbound marketing, outbound sales, and social strategies. Alex launched his startup a little over two years ago after realizing that he wanted to build out and create a team and culture of his own. Since then he has been able to bootstrap and scale RevenueZen up to a seven-figure ARR organization, with 18 people on the team, and an industry-leading Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 83. We talk about how to know when it’s time to make the leap from employee to founder, why focusing on your customers’ experience is key when building your business, how to create a winning content marketing strategy, and much more!

Dan Demsky is the Co-founder of Unbound Merino. Unbound Merino sources nature's ultimate performance fiber, Australian Merino wool, to create apparel that can be worn for weeks or even months, without ever needing to be washed. Dan started this company alongside his two best friends, with the goal of minimizing the burdens of travel, so that you can maximize the experience of your trip. Dan had previously founded a digital media agency, and another clothing business prior to Unbound, so we see how those experiences shaped his decisions. Unbound Merino has been doubling revenue year over year and is set to do $4M+ in its 3rd year in business. We talk about how to get a product off-the-ground using crowdfunding, what it’s like to start and run a company with your best friends, how to scale a direct to consumer (D2C) business, and more!

Garrett Mehrguth is the Co-Founder and CEO of Directive. Directive is a global B2B search marketing agency specializing in ROI-driven campaigns for clients such as: Cisco, Allstate, Samsung, Tencent and more. Garrett went from completing $5 marketing gigs on Fiverr, to bootstrapping Directive to $10M+ in revenue and 60+ full-time team members, alongside his Co-Founder, Tanner Shaffer,. Their mission is to serve the biggest brands in the world. We dive into topics like what separates a great marketing agency from a good marketing agency, how to efficiently scale a bootstrapped business, how to go from marketing consultant to CEO, what the keys are to improving your discoverability, and what drives Garrett to continue working on Directive without any plans to ever stop.

Kristen Tyrrell is the Founder & COO of Catch, a rapidly growing FinTech startup combining savings, investment, and insurance for those without access to employer benefits. The relationship between employers and employees is changing. Multiple jobs at once, side hustles, and full-time freelancing mean more and more people aren’t being served by existing models. This is where Catch comes into play. Catch was founded in 2017, participated in Y-Combinator’s Winter 2019 batch and has raised $8M+ to date. We discuss topics like the importance of market timing when launching a startup, the growing freelance/gig economy, what the future of personal finance looks like, and the unique experience of navigating Tech/FinTech as a female founder. If you want to learn more or check out the many open positions they have available go to Catch.co

JT McCormick isn’t your typical startup CEO. He was born in the 1970s to an orphaned, impoverished mother and a drug-dealing, pimp father. JT struggled since day one. Abused and overlooked by society, he was expected to fall into the poverty trap and fail, but JT persevered. After barely finishing high school, JT took a job cleaning toilets but determined to change his life for the better. JT ended up getting a job at a software company, where in a few years he went from the lowest paid position to President, overseeing a multimillion-dollar operation and 100+ employees. JT details his life story through his book, I Got There: How a Mixed-Race Kid Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Arrive at the American Dream. Currently, he is the President and CEO of Scribe Media, helping thousands of authors tell their own stories. We talk about how to set up a winning mindset, how to push through obstacles and achieve success -- whatever that means to you -- and why it’s important to tell your own story.

Jonathan Frederick is the host of The Heart Healthy Hustle Show, a podcast with the mission to equip, inspire, and connect driven and proactive young professionals. Jonathan is a curious learner who loves learning something new from every single conversation he has and that love for dialogue has led him to build a top-rated podcast where he’s interviewed world-class performers like Ed Mylett, John Lee Dumas, Jeff Hoffman, and many others. We dive into what it’s like to host and run a business/self improvement-focused podcast, how to create and cultivate genuine relationships, what we’ve both learned from speaking with great entrepreneurs, and much more! Listen on Apple Podcasts: The Heart Healthy Hustle Show Website: http://thehearthealthyhustle.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hearthealthyhustle/

Rick Plaut is an intrapreneur turned entrepreneur and startup advisor. He began and spent the bulk of his career in sales and marketing where he was always finding ways to improve how things were getting done - Rick didn’t know it at the time, but he was something called an Intrapreneur (an entrepreneur within an organization). Eventually, Rick discovered the startup ecosystem through an angel investing group and began making investments in startups and taking on mentorship and teaching roles at organizations like Valley Venture Mentors (VVM), Smith College, and UMass Amherst (where we met in his Intro to Entrepreneurship class). Rick has also co-founded numerous ventures like his current one, Launch 413, a virtual C-suite for scaling startups comprised of executives from Fortune 500 companies and successfully exited startups. We talk about how to develop an innovation-drive mindset, why entrepreneurship is so important to Western Massachusetts (Pioneer Valley), how anyone can apply this entreprenuerial thought process to their life, and more!

Steve O’Dell is the co-founder and CEO of LA-based, Tenzo Tea. Tenzo Tea is on a mission to create a better world by sharing the healthiest energy on the planet and donating one year of clean water for every bag purchased. Steve dabbled in entrepreneurial endeavors while in college, and after learning about the benefits of Matcha, knew that this could be a huge opportunity. He and his co-founder went on a karate-kid style trip to Japan where they found a tea master and learned how to create the perfect blend of Matcha tea. Two years later, Tenzo Tea is in 400+ stores around the LA area, has a robust network of online and wholesale distribution, and has raised over $1M to date. We talk about how to capitalize on trends in the market, what the future of health-consciousness looks like, how to position your startup for a successful exit, and more!

Tom Marchant is an entrepreneur known for launching some of the fastest growing brands in the luxury travel and lifestyle sector. He’s the owner and co-founder of The Black Tomato Group, parent company of the travel brands Black Tomato and Epic Tomato, along with The Black Tomato Agency and Studio Black Tomato, the award-winning content and strategy agency. Tom and his friends were inspired by their travel experiences and wanted to start a company where they could travel and guide others around the amazing places they were visiting. Fast-forward 14 years and Black Tomato has over 80 employees and offices across two continents. We dive right into the thick of it discussing how to build a luxury brand, how to use storytelling to inspire and attract customers, what it takes to create a sustainable bootstrapped business and much more!

Nick Mathews and Ben Blieden are college friends and roommates who after going down different paths post-grad, ended up reconnecting and co-founding MainVest together. Ben went down the financial analyst track at companies like Brown Brothers Harriman and Grant Thornton, while Nick joined Uber as an early-employee, leading their launch in the New England market. MainVest brings crowdfunding to Mainstreet by allowing people to invest in and support the small businesses around their communities. From breweries to escape rooms, Mainvest allows you to have a larger stake in your environment and help the companies around you grow. We discuss topics like the future of small business in America, the importance of community, how crowdfunding creates incentives for consumers, what it was like to be an early employee at uber, and much more!

Ryan Croft is a former professional baseball scout and adventure tourism guide turned technology entrepreneur. He’s currently the co-founder and COO of TransitScreen, a B2B software that provides real-time mobility, curated for specific locations. Ryan learned about the transportation issues that cities have from his time traveling the world and wanted to create a product that would make it easier for people to get around. TransitScreen is currently live in 60 cities throughout six countries with plans to continue rapidly expanding. We talk about what Ryan learned from his adventures that led him to help found this company, how TransitScreen is making it easier for us to get around, why they decided to make this a B2B product, and what the future of transportation looks like in our cities.

Jason Massey is a serial podcaster who’s most notably known for being the founder and host of one of the world's largest Dungeons and Dragons communities, Dungeons & Randomness. Dungeons and Randomness is a D&D actual play podcast with a bit of a twist. Several groups of adventurers make their way in the world of Theria at the same time and it’s not a campaign, it’s a living, breathing world. Jason began his podcasting career around a decade ago and eventually turned something he grew a passion for into his career. We talk about topics like how to monetize your passion and turn it into a sustainable business, how to become a better podcaster and content creator, what it takes to build an engaging community, and much more!