The Friday Sponge

#11 From Vietnam "Princess" to Costco Best Seller | Viet Anh "V", Rude Mama Hot Sauce

Viet Anh — or V, as everyone calls her — was running operations inside major hospitals in Vietnam. Then she moved to Canada as an international student and watched every credential she had earned get dismissed overnight. Not transferable. Start over. So she did. Alone. No co-founder, no family nearby, no safety net. Just a love of spicy food, a commercial kitchen she had to book by the hour, and enough grit to turn a jar of hot sauce into something the dragons on national television fought over. In this episode, V takes us through all of it — growing up in rural Vietnam under the shadow of a high-achieving older sister, the culture shock of surviving on frozen food in Toronto, and the moment she realized heartburn from bad hot sauce was actually a business idea. She talks about hopping on one foot through a production shift because her tendon gave out, begging strangers at farmer's markets to try her product, and walking into Dragon's Den with a money gun and a plan to make the dragons fight over her. They didn't fight. But Costco came calling anyway. Topics covered: * Growing up in rural Vietnam and the pressure to follow a path she never chose * Arriving in Canada with no family, no community, and credentials that counted for nothing * Building Rude Mama from scratch — farmer's markets, commercial kitchens, and hand-labeling jars until midnight * Going from $50K in year one to nearly $290K in year three — before Costco ships * What Dragon's Den actually felt like from the inside * Why being called "resilient" as an immigrant founder is more complicated than it sounds * What it means to build a cultural brand, not just a product Connect with V: rudemama.ca [https://rudemama.ca] Instagram & TikTok: @rudemamahotsauce LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/viet-anh-nguyen-6478082a0/]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/viet-anh-nguyen-6478082a0/recent-activity/images/

#10 She moved to America and got sick. Not from a virus — from the food. | Samanta "Sammy" Giler, Moosa Nature

Description: Sammy grew up on a farm in Ecuador — stepping on passion fruit, breathing in fresh grass, eating real food straight from the ground. Then she moved to New York. Her body told her something was wrong before her mind caught up. That dissonance became the seed of Moosa Nature — a fruit tea company built around a simple but radical idea: give Americans access to the quality of fruit they've never had. Real fruit. Sourced from the Andes. Dried by hand. No added sugar, no caffeine, no preservatives. And when you finish your cup, you eat the fruit at the bottom. In this episode, Sammy takes us through all of it — growing up surrounded by nature in South America, navigating a cross-border supply chain between Ecuador and Colombia, and the financial realities of building a consumer product company most people didn't know they needed yet. She talks about why she turned down major retail deals, how B2B became her most powerful growth channel, and what it actually costs — personally and financially — to bet on something before the world catches up to it. This one's about fruit. But really, it's about what happens when you refuse to dilute where you came from. Topics covered: * Growing up on a farm in Ecuador and the culture of food, family, and slowing down * How getting sick in America became the blueprint for a business * Building a supply chain across Ecuador and Colombia — and the mini heart attacks that come with it * Why convenience doesn't have to mean compromising quality * Turning down major retail opportunities to focus on B2B first * The financial and personal reality of building a consumer product company * Why one in ten Americans gets the daily fruit intake they actually need — and what Moosa is doing about it Connect with Sammy: moosanature.com [https://moosanature.com] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanta-ruiz-giler-332a1661/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanta-ruiz-giler-332a1661/]

#9 — When Your Startup Dies, Who Are You?

Somya Gupta didn't come to New York to build a startup ecosystem. He came to go to class, pass his exams, and live a comfortable life. Two and a half years later, he's thrown 75+ founder events, shut down his own company in the most painful way possible, and somehow walked away calling it the best thing that ever happened to him. In this episode, Somya and I unpack the full arc — from co-founding an AI-powered edtech platform at NYU, growing it to 3,500 users, pivoting to B2B, landing university pilots, striking what looked like a game-changing partnership… and watching it all collapse in a single phone call. We also get into what it actually feels like when your company becomes your identity — and then disappears overnight. But this episode isn't really about failure. It's about what you do with the version of yourself that comes out the other side. In this episode: * Why Somya says "delusion" is a competitive advantage * The Washington Square Park customer interview mistake (don't do it) * Why VCs hate EdTech — and why he gets it * The Georgian restaurant conversation that ended Context * What's next: IRL experiences, hackathons, and making NYC #1 Timestamps * 00:00 — Intro & small talk (pickleball, NYC spots) * 07:09 — Welcome + who is Somya Gupta? * 08:52 — From India to NYU: the mindset shift * 14:16 — How Context was born * 17:53 — The problem they were solving (and why it was personal) * 21:53 — B2C to B2B pivot: the hard conversation * 25:53 — 3,500 users, zero revenue — now what? * 31:24 — The moment it felt like it might fall apart * 38:29 — Fundraising, EdTech's VC problem, and $15K from NYU * 42:08 — University pilots and the California partnership * 45:24 — The phone call that ended everything * 48:17 — Identity crisis on the Brooklyn Promenade * 50:14 — What came next * 54:47 — Building NYC's founder ecosystem Find Somya:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/somya-gupta-sg/ Instagram: Coming soon 👀

#8 He Survived the UFC. Starting a Business Almost Broke Him

Most people wait until they have time to start a business. Mike and Jimmy never had time. Full-time police officers, fathers, husbands — and somehow, owners of a thriving martial arts franchise in Short Hills, NJ. In this episode of The Friday Sponge, Jack sits down with Chief of Police Mike and UFC fighter-turned-instructor Jimmy to talk about what building a business actually looks like when you're already stretched thin. They cover the real cost of passion projects, what a shareholders agreement protects you from (hint: it's not just strangers), why giving away a membership can be worth more than selling one, and the brutal truth about going into business with your friends. No MBA. No safety net. Just two guys who found something they loved — and refused to let time be the excuse. [00:00] — Why college kids need to think like entrepreneurs[01:11] — "We don't have extra time" — how passion creates time[03:38] — From getting picked on at school to owning a franchise at 22[06:21] — Getting punched in the face (literally and in business)[07:22] — The real rules of running a franchise[09:40] — Why giving away memberships builds a better business[13:03] — How to retain great employees without just throwing money at them[14:43] — Structuring a business so partners can exit cleanly[20:29] — The Liquid Death lesson every entrepreneur needs to hear[22:25] — Should you even go to college?[24:01] — Going into business with friends — the honest truth Company Information: Tiger Schulman Martial Arts Short Hills Instagram @tsma_of_shorthills [https://www.instagram.com/tsma_of_shorthills/#] Website: https://tsk.com/ Jimmie Rivera Instagram @jimmierivera [https://www.instagram.com/jimmierivera/#]

#7 She Left Everything to Fix the One Thing Nobody Talks About in Healthcare

She moved from Belarus, got a computer science degree in her second language, and watched doctors get crushed by insurance chaos from the inside. So she built an AI company to fix it. Stefaniya Barabanava is the co-founder of Sphere — a startup rebuilding how healthcare providers handle insurance communication. "Many of the times they really don't know whether they're getting paid for the work they do." 00:00 Introduction to Financial Literacy and AI in Healthcare02:45 Stefaniya's Journey from Belarus to Healthcare Innovation05:45 The Challenges of the US Healthcare System09:02 Founding Sphere: Addressing Pain Points in Healthcare12:02 Navigating the Startup Landscape: Lessons Learned15:01 The Weight of Responsibility in Healthcare18:06 The Importance of Mentorship and Collaboration21:12 Finding Purpose Beyond Profit24:00 Future Aspirations for Sphere26:51 Fundraising Insights and Storytelling for Startups Follow The Friday Sponge for more stories like this.thefridaysponge.com Connect with StefaniyaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefaniyab/Sphere: https://sphereint.net/