Startup Life Show with Ande Lyons

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! Ande ♥ https://andelyons.com #bestyoutubechannelforstartups #startupstories #startuplife CONNECT WITH ME ONLINE: https://twitter.com/AndeLyons https://www.linkedin.com/in/andelyons/ https://www.instagram.com/ande_lyons/ TikTok: @andelyons

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! Ande ♥ https://andelyons.com #inspirationalstories #startupstories #startuplife 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.

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! Ande ♥ https://andelyons.com inspirationalstories #startupstories #startuplife 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.

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! Ande ♥ https://andelyons.com #bestyoutubechannelforstartups #startupstories #venturecapital 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

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! Ande ♥ https://andelyons.com #bestyoutubechannelforstartups #startupstories #startuplife 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.