Startup Life Show With Ande Lyons

Our guest, Pascale Diaine, a partner at Storm Ventures, is passionate about and committed to investing in female founders of early-stage B2B enterprises.Her investment thesis focuses on sales and marketing automation, AI/ML, IoT, retail tech, AR, computer vision, and robotics applied to the enterprise space.Before joining Storm, Pascale founded Orange Fab, the corporate accelerator of the European Telco Orange, and managed cohorts including Talkdesk (today worth $3B), Wonolo, Rallyteam (acquired by Workday), Verdigris, Pixlee, and many more.She also started an alliance of corporations piggybacking on Orange Fab’s deal-flow and helping cohorts land their first Fortune 500 customers. To learn more about Storm Ventures, please visit: https://www.stormventures.com/Follow and connect with Pascale and Storm Ventures via these social platforms:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paskale/ and https://www.linkedin.com/company/storm-ventures/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/pascale and https://twitter.com/stormventures

Anyone’s life can change in a split second from a catastrophic accident, stroke or other tragic event. Our guest, Mark Raymond Jr., Founder of the Split Second Foundation, had his life change in a split second when he broke his neck after diving into shallow water while boating with friends in 2016. The accident resulted in him becoming a C-5 quadriplegic. During Mark’s immediate recovery from his injury--inpatient and outpatient therapy--he learned that there are extreme gaps in the recovery process and few resources available to people after being discharged from therapy.He founded Split Second Foundation in 2018 and dedicated it to making people aware of the growing but oftentimes invisible population of people with disabilities, advocating for their rights, funding cutting-edge research, and providing clear cut steps to immediately impact their lives. Within three years of starting the foundation, Mark was able to open Split Second Fitness, which is the first inclusive gym in Louisiana with an intentional

Continuous improvement is key for founders.However, most founders level up their game during a “trial by fire” moment, versus a nicely planned professional growth program.Our guest, Eric Siu, is an investor, founder, and advisor to companies, and he’s on a mission to empower folks to level up their game – professionally and personally.As the founder of digital marketing agency Single Grain, Eric has worked with companies such as Amazon, Uber, and Salesforce. He has invested in startups Eight Sleep, Levels, Lime, Toucan, and more.Eric also hosts two podcasts: Marketing School with Neil Patel and Leveling Up, an entrepreneurial podcast where he dissects growth levers that help businesses scale.In his youth, Eric was not academically or socially successful, but he was a serious high-level eSports and poker player. He ultimately found how to convert his focus and success in gaming into a successful career in marketing.To learn more about Eric's remarkable work, please visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and

When our guest, Lydia Simmons, Founder and CEO of M.O.O., was unable to obtain the level of Ob/Gyn support required during postpartum, she turned to her knowledge of food as a foundational and core means of health into a 1OO% Vegan, Superfood Postnatal with 7 ingredients that supports women from Day 1 of Postpartum and up to 2 years of Breastfeeding and into Lifestyle Wellness.Lydia sought the advice of chemists, physiologists, and nutritional scientists to bring her product to market. Her goal was to assure premium ingredients, a 30-day supply to aid women with the cost of affordable health and wellness supplementation, and items safe for nursing to best support maternal health.Today M.O.O. (Moms Official Objective), offers a full range of products that have assisted thousands of women worldwide in reducing the harsh effects of nutritional deficiency and hormonal imbalance during motherhood. To learn more about Lydia and M.O.O.'s wonderful products, please visit and follow here:Website: https://everymoo

Our guest, Cyndi Bray, didn’t expect she would become an entrepreneur when she bought a new washer/dryer set, but that is exactly what happened. While her new dryer claimed to have an excellent Energy Star rating, she found that her bed sheets were constantly swirling into giant wads, increasing the amount of time she had to run the dryer and wasting energy in the process. With zero experience, Cyndi took on the task of finding a solution: teaching herself physics, CAD drawings, creating prototypes and eventually trademarking a product and bringing it to market in a stunning 14 month turn-around. The result is Wad-Free for Bed Sheets! While launching her business during the pandemic certainly had its challenges (especially on the manufacturing and supply chain side), Cyndi has found great success, including pitching Wad-Free to the Sharks on Season 13, resulting in a Shark fight to secure the deal with Wad-Free! To learn more about Wad-Free for Bed Sheets, please visit: www.wadfree.com Connect with Cyndi and

Women’s health tech founders are faced with an uncertain landscape of laws and regulations, especially since the recent overturning of Roe vs. Wade in the US.Our guest, Bethany Corbin is an experienced healthcare and femtech attorney. She believes the international femtech community has the collective power to transform the standard of care for women’s health. As a member of this industry, Bethany’s goal is to spread awareness of femtech, disseminate meaningful insights that allow new founders and entrepreneurs to bring their health innovations to life, and mentor the next generation of femtech leaders.DISCLAIMER: This recorded conversation is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Transmission of the conversation is not intended to create, and viewing and/or listening does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. Viewers and listeners are advised to seek professional help if they are concerned about a specific legal issue.To learn more about Bethany's legal services, please vis

In today’s venture capital industry, we see a lot of what I call mirrotocracy, not meritocracy.Our guest and her team saw an opportunity to create an Institutional fund that empowers emerging and often diverse VC fund managers. Courtney McCrea is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Recast Capital, where they believe that emerging managers of venture funds, particularly those with diverse partnerships, represent both an underserved market and overlooked business opportunity.The Recast Team is taking a new approach to meeting this need with an educational program to empower the next generation of venture capitalists called the Enablement Program.Courtney’s background prepared her for this initiative. As a Managing Director of Weathergage Capital, a boutique fund of funds focusing solely on the venture space, she made commitments to 100 funds and seven direct co-investments.Prior to Weathergage, Courtney was a General Partner with Weston Presidio, a leading diversified private equity firm based in San Francis

It was not a US baby formula shortage that led a mother of four to develop a plant-based milk for babies and toddlers. Three years ago, our guest, April Kelly, was battling postpartum depression and struggling to breast-feed her newborn. Traditional formula seemed like the only solution for Kelly and her husband, but it ended up causing more problems for their baby girl, including intestinal gas and skin reactions.Desperate for a satisfied baby and a few nights of sleep led Kelly to wonder what was causing her precious treasure to suffer.After researching ingredients and consulting with their pediatrician, Kelly and her husband created a coconut-milk based formula for their daughter, free of soy, palm oil, gluten and lactose. Soon after Kelly launched The Sure Company, focused on bringing a ready-made plant-based milk recipe to market that provides complete nutrition, quality, and convenience.To learn more about Sure! please visit: https://www.thesurecompany.com/To participate in Sure!'s RegC campaign, p

Sarah Scala had been out to friends and family for years, but it wasn’t until recently that she let her clients know she is a member of the LGBTQ+ community.A dynamic consultant, coach, and educator, Sarah Scala provides LGBTQ+ Leadership coaching, organization and leadership development, executive coaching, change management, public speaking facilitation, and team development solutions. Through her consulting practice, Sarah developed a reputation for providing sustainable results for her clients. Since 2012 she’s has been transforming the performance of executives, leaders, and teams, helping them reach their highest potential. Sarah supports US-based and global clients across cultures, generations, geographies, and diverse industries. To learn more about Sarah and her work, please visit: https://www.sarahscala.com/ If you're interested in Sarah's LGBTQ+ coaching, please visit: https://www.sarahscala.com/lgbtq-solutionsConnect with Sarah via these social platforms:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.co

Karolina Attspodina is a passionate supporter of sustainable green innovations that help fight climate crises and pollution.A Ukrainian-born serial entrepreneur with over 12 years of experience in the Tech industry, Karolina joined Qian Qin in 2021 and co-founded WeDoSolar.An EU-based greentech startup that offers smart balcony solar solutions Europe-wide, WeDoSolar enables users to lower their dependence on grid energy while reducing their CO2 footprint by up to 600kg and saving up to 25% of electricity costs each year.These innovative solar modules work from a normal plug and have an app you can use to create your own virtual power plant and track the power production levels.To learn more about WeDoSolar, please visit: https://we.do.solarPlease connect with Karolina and follow WeDoSolar via these social platforms:WeDoSolar Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/we.do.solar.energy/WeDoSolar LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/company/we-do-solar-energyWeDoSolar Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/we.do.sola

Did you know vehicles are the only non-disease, top-ten causes of death worldwide?Our guest, Rashid Galadanci, is CEO and Co-Founder of Driver Technologies, an AI-based mobility tech company that delivers a safer driving experience. He was inspired to start Driver Technologies to share the benefits of advanced vehicle technologies without barriers to access and improve safety for everyone. The app transforms a driver's phone into a dash cam designed to improve road safety and make mobility technology more accessible. Rashid is also a Venture Partner at The Social Entrepreneurs’ Fund, and a Director at Pigeonly. To learn more about Driver Technologies, please visit: https://drivertechnologies.com/Be sure to follow and connect with Rashid and Driver via LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/drivertechnologiesinc/https://www.linkedin.com/in/rashid-galadanci/Thank you for carving out time to improve your Founder Game - when you do better, your business will do better - cheers!Ande ♥https://andelyons.com#

What is the difference between growing and scaling a business, and why does it matter?Our guest, Sarah Dusek, is intimately familiar with scaling a startup. In 2009, Sarah Co-Founded Under Canvas, a premier Glamping Company with Glamping resorts outside of National Parks across the US & Canada. The business was sold in 2017 for over $100 million, providing the opportunity for Sarah to launch a purpose driven fund.Today Sarah is the Co-Founder and Managing General Partner of Enygma Ventures, a venture capital fund that focuses on female entrepreneurs in Southern Africa. She also offers online courses for early-stage entrepreneurs, and to date 5,000 entrepreneurs have completed the programs, becoming investor-ready and learning how to build valuable companies.Sarah has an LLB Law degree from Exeter University, UK, and an MA from University of Manchester in Missiology. She divides her time between the US and South Africa with her husband and two children.To learn more about Enygma Ventures, please visit: htt

What can a founder do if their startup is considered not fundable or bankable?Kedma Ough, MBA is dubbed the Small Business Superhero. A nationally recognized business development and business funding expert, she loves breaking down the barriers to big capital for small businesses!As one of today’s most respected authorities on Small Business Funding, Kedma has advised more than 10,000 businesses leveraging $100 million in funding access. For two decades, Kedma worked in SBA leadership roles with the Women’s Business Center Program and Small Business Development Centers. Her best-selling book Target Funding® through McGraw-Hill is a navigation system to identify targeted grants and funds for business owners. From a credit score of 450 to 820, Kedma has helped thousands of business owners gamify the business funding path towards success. She’s a proud fifth-generation entrepreneur and her great-great grandfather peddled various products throughout Ireland. You can learn more about Kedma here: https://kedmaoug

How do you recruit top talent when you’re a startup?Our guest, Mandy Edmund, is known among the VCs in the Bay Area as having an uncanny ability to define the go-to-market leadership needs of an early-stage company. She loves working with early hiring teams, providing clarity on what is needed in a role, and helping Founders with their pitch to top talent. A seasoned founder with a successful exit, Mandy is currently the COO for SwingSearch, a recruiting agency for startups and high-growth companies seeking top-tier talent. Renown Venture Capitalists confidently refer SwingSearch to their portfolio companies to lead end-to-end searches.Mandy is a Board Member of WorldWide Orphans Foundation, an active Mentor at Techstars, and a Mom to three amazing daughters.To learn more about SwingSearch, please visit: https://swingsearch.com/Please connect with Mandy and SwingSearch via these social platforms:IG: https://www.instagram.com/swingsearch/LI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/swingsearch and https://www.linkedin

Making history is Santia Deck’s superpower!A Social Media Influencer with over 800,000 loyal and engaged followers, a published author, fitness model, TV personality, Public Speaker, and a former track and field collegiate athlete, Santia made history by being offered the highest paid contract in women’s football history.Most recently, Santia added Successful Startup Founder and CEO to her long list of wins with the launch of TRONUS, where she made history a second time by becoming the first female athlete to own a shoe company. The innovative footwear brand has been experiencing impressive growth since its launch in the Summer of 2020, landing contracts with major national athletic footwear stores.Despite the pandemic, Santia led TRONUS to record sales, celebrity praise and a dedicated base of customers. The company continues to expand.To learn more about TRONUS, visit: https://tronusofficial.com/Follow and connect with Santia and TRONUS on social via these platforms:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/compan

Our guest, Lauren Salz, is passionate about using financial and technological innovation to improve the lives of American homeowners.She’s the co-founder and CEO of Sealed, a home wellness company on a mission to make homes healthy, comfortable, and clean for the planet. Sealed designs, manages, and finances home weatherization and electrification projects, making it easy and affordable for people to be more comfortable while using less energy. Under Lauren’s leadership, Sealed grew 350% from ’20 to – ‘22, and was named one of the 10 most innovative energy companies of 2021 by Fast Company. In April, 2022 the company expanded its Series B Funding to $45 million in order to accelerate its mission to electrify homes in major markets.To learn more about Sealed, please visit:Follow and connect with Lauren and Sealed via these social platforms:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurensalz/ and https://www.linkedin.com/company/sealed/Twitter: https://twitter.com/sealedhomesHere's the book Lauren mentioned:

How can a nonprofit raise more from the right funders without obnoxiously hounding them?As a former Executive Director for a $3 million nonprofit she grew from $300k, our guest, Mallory Erickson, deeply understands the nonprofit funding hustle.Which is why she solved that problem and has helped thousands of nonprofit leaders love their fundraising process!Mallory is an executive coach, fundraising consultant, and host of the podcast What the Fundraising, aimed at supporting nonprofit leaders to fundamentally change the way they lead and fundraise.Through her signature framework, the Power Partners Formula™️, Mallory provides unique tools to help nonprofits fundraise more from foundations, corporate partners, and individuals. She has trained over 20,000 fundraisers using her unique win-win framework, which combines best practices from executive coaching, science-backed behavior design, and fundraising strategy. To learn more about Mallory's fundraising services, please visit: https://malloryerickson.com/f

When you fund women, you’ll save the world!Catherine Gray is leveling the playing field for female founders through her multi-media platform, She Angel Investors.A Speaker, Producer, Author, Founder and Host of the Invest in Her podcast, Catherine focuses her extraordinary energy on empowering female entrepreneurs by providing resources and connections to help accelerate the funding process.Her popular ecourse, 6 Ways to Fund Your Business, is designed to inform and educate female founders so they can dissolve the roadblocks and secure the funding their startup needs to succeed. Catherine has produced several award-winning films including the very first documentary film about gay marriage called ‘I Can't Marry You,’ narrated by Ellen DeGeneres's mom Betty, which aired on PBS in more than 60 cities nationwide. She also co-produced several documentary films for the LOGO network, which led her to start her own production company called Corp Shorts, and eventually Bold Girls Media.To learn more about Sh

Eli Angote has spent the last decade running TheBestNotary and fulfilling over 60,000 successful notary appointments while building a network of top performing notaries around the country. With a strong background in sales, computer science and a paralegal, Eli was uniquely positioned to launch TheBestNotary, which began as a Bay Area based side hustle. With its extensive experience and proven track record, TheBestNotary goes beyond notarization and logistics to providing document quality review and preparation, scanning, printing, assembly of estate planning binders, document recording in counties across the US and more. Eli has a deep interest in social justice and providing jobs, mentorship and opportunities for people who have been overlooked and left out of the job market including the neurodiverse, veterans, senior and returning citizens as well as proven performers from under-resourced neighborhoods. To learn more about TheBestNotary, please visit: https://thebestnotary.net/Be sure to connect with Eli

Inspired by the story of Black Wall Street, Ikechi Nwabuisi launched a social moneypooling platform to help the African Diaspora build wealth within their own communities. A former VC, wealth manager and ex-NFL player, Ikechi has over 5 years’ experience building social apps and has been focused on Blockchain since 2015. In 2018, he founded TRiBL (Techstars ‘19), an all-in-one social moneypooling platform building a bridge between Web3 and the culture, and providing a social wallet that allows communities to build wealth together.TRiBL makes creating a crypto-powered investor club as simple as a group chat, like an all-in-one Discord for DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations). TRiBL has secured partnerships with VISA, Circle (USDC), & Prime Trust to integrate a digital wallet into their community-centered platform to enable borderless commerce.A recognized leader with publications in Black Enterprise, Yahoo Finance, and Afrotech, Ikechi is an active member in crypto communities CBEE, Black NFT Art,