Why We Strive

#30 | Ziki - The Tesla of Food [Video]

Nick Nanakos | CEO - Ziki ZIKI factory - produces modular restaurants with unstoppable unit economics. ZIKI factory-produce modular restaurants with unstoppable unit economics. The cuisine we operate is Greek-Mexican fusion that uses zero seed oils, soy, or vegetable oils. We opened 10 locations in just 7 months, and closed our seed round ($6.7M) which was led by Gigafund, the same group that invested $1B+ into SpaceX. -- 🎵 Intro song by: Dyve ⁠⁠⁠@onlyDyve on Instagram⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/onlydyve/] ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/Dyve-Team⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/c/Dyve-Team] 🎥 Video edit by: Umar Brimah ⁠⁠⁠@umarbrimah on Instagram⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/umarbrimah/] --- The Why We Strive Podcast sits down with successful startup founders, investors, and professional athletes to learn about what they strive for and why.  Visit us at ⁠⁠⁠whywestrive.com⁠⁠⁠ [https://whywestrive.com/] to read watch interviews, learn more about the companies, and check out discounts from our sponsors. --- Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠twitter.com/whywestrive⁠⁠⁠ [https://twitter.com/whywestrive] Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/whywestrivepod [https://instagram.com/whywestrivepod]

#29 | Echo 3D - 3D asset management [Video]

Alon Grinshpoon | CEO - Echo 3D 3D asset management for games, 3D apps, and AR/VR experiences echo3D (www.echo3D.com) is a cloud platform for 3D/AR/VR asset management that provides tools and network infrastructure to help developers & companies quickly build and deploy 3D apps, games, and content. echo3D serves over 40,000 developers using our SDKs to create real-time 3D experiences (for healthcare, entertainment, retail, gaming, training, and more) and have deployed AR+5G projects with both Verizon and AT&T. echo3D signed partnerships with Unity3D, the world's leading game engine, and NextNav (Nasdaq: NN). echo3D is backed by Qualcomm Ventures, Konvoy Ventures, Remagine Ventures, Space Capital, and Techstars, and received grants from Y Combinator, Verizon, and NYC Media Lab. We were named AR/VR finalists for SXSW 2020, won the DevProject Award 2019, named among the 2019 Most Fundable Companies, named one of the Top 25 finalists in Sir Richard Branson's Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) 2019, and featured on VentureBeat, The Hill, XRToday, Bold TV, Ynet, Calcalist, and Mako. -- 🎵 Intro song by: Dyve ⁠⁠@onlyDyve on Instagram⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/onlydyve/] ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/Dyve-Team⁠⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/c/Dyve-Team] 🎥 Video edit by: Umar Brimah ⁠⁠@umarbrimah on Instagram⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/umarbrimah/] --- The Why We Strive Podcast sits down with successful startup founders, investors, and professional athletes to learn about what they strive for and why.  Visit us at ⁠⁠whywestrive.com⁠⁠ [https://whywestrive.com/] to read watch interviews, learn more about the companies, and check out discounts from our sponsors. --- Twitter: ⁠⁠twitter.com/whywestrive⁠⁠ [https://twitter.com/whywestrive] Instagram: ⁠⁠instagram.com/whywestrivepod [https://instagram.com/whywestrivepod]

#28 | Macro - Adding Identity and Expression to Zoom

Ankith Hathari | Co-Founder - Macro Adding Identity and Expression to Zoom Zoom fatigue is never going to be solved by making meetings more 'productive'. Automatic transcriptions, notes, and integrations don't address the core issues of why virtual meetings drain our energy more than in-person interactions. Interactions in real life had more depth, meaning, and dimension - an expression of who we each individually are. Over Zoom, we've all lost a dimension, quite literally. Communicating within our little 2D box constrains our personality and limits our interactions with others. Macro existed to help you break out of that box. To bring your full self over video. With customization and video-native expression features. In providing its status-quo breaking experience, Macro built the first true 3rd party Zoom client. You could use Macro to join any Zoom meeting, even if everyone else on the call was still on Zoom. It's technology coupled with the company's mission of elevating people's digital expression over video led to it's eventual acquisition by mmhmm - a company by Phil Libin (of Evernote fame) founded to give communication superpowers, backed with over $140M  from Sequoia, Softbank, and more. -- 🎵 Intro song by: Dyve ⁠⁠@onlyDyve on Instagram⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/onlydyve/] ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/Dyve-Team⁠⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/c/Dyve-Team] 🎥 Video edit by: Umar Brimah ⁠⁠@umarbrimah on Instagram⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/umarbrimah/] --- The Why We Strive Podcast sits down with successful startup founders, investors, and professional athletes to learn about what they strive for and why.  Visit us at ⁠⁠whywestrive.com⁠⁠ [https://whywestrive.com/] to read watch interviews, learn more about the companies, and check out discounts from our sponsors. --- Twitter: ⁠⁠twitter.com/whywestrive⁠⁠ [https://twitter.com/whywestrive] Instagram: ⁠⁠instagram.com/whywestrivepod [https://instagram.com/whywestrivepod]

#27 | Lazarus 3D - 3D Printed Body Parts

Smriti Zaneveld | Co-Founder - Lazarus 3D Using 3D printing we can take your patient's scans and rapidly validate, manufacture and deliver a high quality model of their anatomy in a matter of days. We offer a full turn-key solution: physician only needs to provide the DICOM image and Lazarus 3D takes care of the rest! Each patient is unique, we strive to establish personalized medicine solutions for patients and physicians alike. Our Pre-Sure® (PRE-operative SUrgical REhearsal) models are made with soft silicones and hydrogels that mimic human tissue making them ideal for practicing incisions and sutures. They allow you to practice on a 3D printed, patient-specific replica before operating. Personalized patient care improves patient experience, maximizes safety and drives better outcomes. -- 🎵 Intro song by: Dyve ⁠@onlyDyve on Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/onlydyve/] ⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/Dyve-Team⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/c/Dyve-Team] 🎥 Video edit by: Umar Brimah ⁠@umarbrimah on Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/umarbrimah/] --- The Why We Strive Podcast sits down with successful startup founders, investors, and professional athletes to learn about what they strive for and why.  Visit us at ⁠whywestrive.com⁠ [https://whywestrive.com/] to read watch interviews, learn more about the companies, and check out discounts from our sponsors. --- Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/whywestrive⁠ [https://twitter.com/whywestrive] Instagram: ⁠instagram.com/whywestrivepod [https://instagram.com/whywestrivepod]

#26 | Storage Scholars - Student Storage Made Easy

Sam Chason | CEO - Storage Scholars https://www.whywestrive.com/episodes/storage-scholars-sam-chason Storage Scholars is the nation's premier provider of student storage, moving, and shipping solutions, with operations on 60 college campuses across the country. They are a young, sharp company obsessed with innovation and service quality. Their proprietary technology documents every step of their process with updates sent in real-time. Their customer service leads the industry with a 4.8-star rating. True to their mission, they employ a new group of students each year to learn the foundations of business, training and serving their peers as the leaders of their respective campus operations. They have employed over 1,000 students and will continue creating on-campus jobs and paid internship opportunities for years to come. Here is how it works: students receive packing supplies on campus, pack up, and leave. Thanks to their partnership with the University, after the campus closes, everything is moved into storage for the summer. The best part is everything is ready and waiting in their new rooms when they return to campus. Having been bootstrapped since inception by founder Sam Chason out of his freshmen college dorm at Wake Forest back in 2017, the company's trajectory has changed since appearing on Shark Tank on October 14th in 2022. Since then, they have solidified their integration with StarRez, the largest student housing platform in the world. They partnered with SIRVA, the largest relocation company on the planet, responsible for the majority of the moves for all fortune 500 companies. SIRVA will not only serve as the backbone of Storage Scholar's entire logistics network, but their presence on the E&I cooperative allows us to bypass the RFP process and shoot for global expansion...quickly. All parties involved are incredibly excited. It is like the Crest vs. Colgate decision. Once you pick one, you often use that brand for the rest of your life. Once Storage Scholars moves students from some of the most elite Universities in America to school, during their four years at school and then to their first job when they graduate -- who do you think these same kids (now adults) will be calling to move into their first home or when they need to downsize the offices in their new company that they run? Finally, partnering with Universities often involves Storage Scholars becoming an approved storage and moving vendor, allowing them to bid on or simply accept large-scale commercial jobs to supplement the seasonality of the business. There is no doubt that Storage Scholars will be a globally recognized brand in the next five years. -- 🎵 Intro song by: Dyve ⁠@onlyDyve on Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/onlydyve/] ⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/Dyve-Team⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/c/Dyve-Team] 🎥 Video edit by: Umar Brimah ⁠@umarbrimah on Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/umarbrimah/] --- The Why We Strive Podcast sits down with successful startup founders, investors, and professional athletes to learn about what they strive for and why.  Visit us at ⁠whywestrive.com⁠ [https://whywestrive.com/] to read watch interviews, learn more about the companies, and check out discounts from our sponsors. --- Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/whywestrive⁠ [https://twitter.com/whywestrive] Instagram: ⁠instagram.com/whywestrivepod [https://instagram.com/whywestrivepod]