Foreign Founders

Get your own AI Phoenyx to learn a new languageOriginally from Paraná, a small town in Argentina, Carolina is on a mission to help kids learn a second language at the optimal age—when they are young, their brains are most receptive, and they have the time to explore and grow. After building a successful corporate career in Argentina, she sought a new challenge and moved to the US to earn her MBA at MIT Sloan. Following graduation, Carolina co-founded BetterVet, a mobile veterinary startup that raised $40M in 2022 and recently merged with The Vets. Today, she’s revolutionizing bilingual education for children with MyPhoenyx, an AI-powered smart toy designed to make language learning fun, engaging, and screen-free.In this episode, we talk about:Carolina’s first exposure to learning English as a childGraduating from her MBA program and wearing multiple hats at a startupBalancing hardware, software and AI as she built her first prototype using Raspberry PiCarolina Goncebat LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinagoncebat/MyPhoenyx: https://www.myphoenyx.com/Enjoy the episode!If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.You can find us here: https://linktr.ee/foreignfounders Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

02-06

32:35

Want to integrate Web3 into your product? Work with MetaKeepWith stints building products at Microsoft, Twitter, and Meta, Naga Samineni knows a thing or two about serving millions and billions of customers. Naga is taking all the knowledge of how to scale high impact global products, and bringing that to Web3 and the next generation of web infrastructure as co-founder of MetaKeep.In this episode, we talk about:Finding opportunities even when resources were scarceDemand to his manager to get exposure and “being in the front seat” in exchange hard workSeeing flaws at a massive scale while building for technology giants that led to founding MetaKeepWhy Blockchain is a powerful solution to legacy systemsEnjoy the episode!If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.You can find us here: https://linktr.ee/foreignfounders Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

01-23

49:56

Try Authentic Loose Leaf Taiwanese TeaFounded in 2019 by Shanghai-born, NYC-based millennial entrepreneur Maggie (Ranmu) Xue, Us Two Tea is a premium farm-to-cup purveyor of Taiwanese tea. After noticing a lack of widely known and distributed Asian-owned tea brands in the United States, Xue founded Us Two Tea with a clear mission to make Asian tea culture—and Asian culture at large—more accessible to discerning millennial consumers and tea lovers at large. Sourced from family-owned farms in Taiwan, Us Two Tea's Black, Baozhong, Oolong, and Jasmine teas offer the quality of the time-honored Chinese "kung fu" tea ceremony in under three minutes. All teas are cut as loose-leaf teas, then packaged in premium, sustainable 100% corn fiber tea sachets which can be conveniently brewed up to three times. Us Two Tea has been featured in Forbes, Bon Appetit, Bloomberg, Eater, and more.In this episode, we talk about:Never having the desire to start a business watching her motherCareer shift from advertising and graphic design to being a CPG founderWhy most tea brands at stores are American, British or Japanese brandsUs Two Tea Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ustwotea/Us Two Tea Website: https://www.ustwotea.com/Enjoy the episode!If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.You can find us here: https://linktr.ee/foreignfounders Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

01-09

26:12

Get Unstuck with your class workSidhant Bendre is the Co-founder of Quizard AI, a Neo VC-backed consumer AI startup that has built a portfolio of products for students and professionals. Since launching out of a college dorm room in 2023, Quizard AI's suite of products has rapidly grown to serve over 4M users globally, generating more than $6 million ARR, and achieving profitability within its first year of operations.His story growing the company and the product is one of the fastest we’ve heard on Foreign Founders, so if you’re on the consumer AI wave this is an episode you don’t want to miss!In this episode, we talk about:Sid’s journey to the USThe big problems he wants to solve with AIStarting Quizard AI and growing it to 4 million users globally with viral videos and a lot of growth experimentsBeing profitable, launching a second successful productFind Sid Bendre on X: https://x.com/SidBendreQuizard AI iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/quizard-ai-homework-helper/id1667996582Quizard AI Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aihomework&hl=en_US&pli=1 Unstuck: https://unstuckstudy.com/Enjoy the episode!If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.You can find us here: https://linktr.ee/foreignfounders Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

01-02

37:01

Make Engaging Shopping Experiences For Your Customers with PlayAblyAngelo is the co-founder of PlayAbly, a gamification platform that drives deeper customer engagement. Online brands generate excitement and curiosity using our playable ads and onsite games. Founded by veterans from mobile gaming and e-commerce marketing, PlayAbly's mission is to make shopping fun again.In this episode, we talk about:Angelo’s immigrant background from Philippines to the USCareer transition from economic litigation consulting to E-commerce SaaS founderBuilding a startup based on learnings from a big company, and how that was a PMF trapPivoting multiple times and the finding the ability to be nimble with customer input and market reactionsAngelo Ferro on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angeloferro/PlayAbly AI website: https://playably.ai/Enjoy the episode!If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.You can find us here: https://linktr.ee/foreignfounders Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10-24

30:58

Waste no more with FridgeGuide AIDelian Petrov is the CEO and co-founder of FridgeGuide AI, where he’s driving a mission to revolutionize grocery management and reduce food waste. Born in Bulgaria and raised in the U.S., Delian’s journey from earning his B.S. at UC Irvine to leading successful tech ventures like SeaStatus has been fueled by a relentless passion for innovation and sustainability.His time living in Colombia opened his eyes to the devastating impact of food waste, igniting the spark that led to FridgeGuide AI. Delian is known for his ability to forge meaningful collaborations and inspire those around him.FridgeGuide AI will utilize AI to help food banks manage donor contributions and sync with affiliated grocery stores. The application will lower unnecessary costs, reduce food waste, and provide analytics on inventory usage, donation patterns, and client services to optimize food pantry operations.The app addresses a lingering problem in the food bank industry. By modernizing inventory management with FridgeGuide AI, food banks can better track expiration dates, handle surges in donations, and optimize warehouse space. Without a clear system, food banks often face issues with expired goods, underutilized donations, and inefficient resource allocation. These issues contribute to higher operational costs, increased food insecurity, and greater food waste.When he’s not shaping the future of food tech, Delian finds joy in playing the piano, snowboarding, and exploring new places.Enjoy the episode!Website: https://fridgeguide.ai/Delian Petrov LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/delianpetrov/If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

09-26

34:41

Learn how Rosette Health is preparing healthcare providers on a wide range of patient scenarios.This week on Foreign Founders, we share a company living at the intersection of maternity care and Generative AI. Gülin Yilmaz, born and raised in Türkiye, studied engineering in France, and built her professional career in the U.S. Prior to starting her company, she was Head of Product at Stork Club, and been an integral part of teams at Meta, CompactCath, Carrum Health and Paypal.As the co-founder and CEO of Rosette Health, she and her team are on a mission to bridge cultural barriers between practitioners and their patients to improve maternal health and neonatal health.On this episode, we talk about:Gülin’s early life in Turkey and France, before moving to the USBeing in the room where her father was conducting business, and how that had an impact on herMaternal health inequalities in the US, and how Rosette Health is addressing them through AI simulationsEnjoy the episode!Rosette Health website: https://www.rosettehealth.ai/Gülin Yilmaz LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isilgulinyilmaz/Connect directly with Gülin to explore partnerships and investment opportunitiesFind more of Foreign Founders: https://linktr.ee/foreignfoundersWe create content and have a community for immigrant and first-gen founders.If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and first-gen founders find this podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

09-12

39:48

Are you building an early stage B2B SaaS founder? Pitch Forum VC.We are back the latest season of Foreign Founders. I’m so excited to kick off this season with the incredible Naomi Goez.Naomi is an operator turned investor based in New York City who grew up in Israel and then later in Canada. She began her career in supply chain within the fashion industry, initially in mature industry before moving over to the startup ecosystem. Today she is a Principal at Forum Ventures, a B2B SaaS early stage venture capital firm.Naomi shares:Why she was attracted to fashion from a young ageHow the complex business nature of the fashion industry captured her attentionTactical ways immigrant founders can get into the room with VCsWhat to do once you’re pitching VCsand much moreEnjoy the episode!Forum VC websiteNaomi Goez’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomi-goez-72879484/Find more of Foreign Founders: https://linktr.ee/foreignfoundersWe create content and have a community for immigrant and first-gen founders.If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and first-gen founders find this podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

09-05

48:48

Build your remote team and virtual assistants with WishupNeelesh Rangwani is an engineer by education, a marketer at heart and cofounder of Wishup.co. He started Wishup.co to help founders build a remote team within 30 minutes with top 0.1% talent from around the world.Wishup aims to create 1 million remote jobs to enable people to work from anywhere in the world. Wishup has served 900+ clients in last 7 years and is a well know brand amongst jobseekers in India.Neelesh can be spotted from a distance due to salt and pepper hair. He loves to play badminton and his interests are investing, geopolitics, and macro economy. He believes he can make the best Chai (Indian tea) in the world. ;)Build your team with Wishup todayEnjoy the episode!LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wishup-services/X: https://x.com/wishupnowNeelesh LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neeleshrangwani/If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

08-07

43:29

Download The Scene on the App Store today!Ridhima Kalani grew up in a small town in India, where she became the chief coordinator and planner for her family. That continued throughout her school into her time at New York University.She was so good at finding the right place for her classmates, that she would wake up to random texts asking her to find the “best spot in NYC” for the vibe, the food, the occasion and everything in between.The personal concierge service became The Scene, a highly personalized recommendation and reservation platform for your New York City outing.In this episode, Ridhima shares:How she was surrounded by entrepreneurship at homeThe realization of business value when strangers texted her personal number asking for recommendationsThe inefficiencies of existing ways to find and book restaurantsHer successful crowdfunding for an in-person dining app during a pandemicThe Scene’s special sauce, matching vibes for their customersand so much more!Learn more about The SceneEnjoy the episode!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thescenenewyork/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-scene-nyc/Download The Scene on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-scene-nyc/id6479357875If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

08-01

43:28

Need a system to manage complex family logistics? Download OrgoZoya Lehrer is the co-founder and CEO of Orgo. Orgo, derivative of “organization on the go”, is the first mobile app designed for personal logistics. After bootstrapping for over a year through their alpha and beta releases, Orgo launched publicly in early 2024. They target busy families who manage and launching publicly early 2024, they are targeting busy families who manage complex schedules of extracurricular activities and youth sports. Orgo offers a hybrid calendar, navigation and communication platform that helps to get the right people, to the right places, on time.In this episode, we talk about:Zoya’s humble beginning moving from the former Soviet Union to BrooklynFollowing her mother’s footsteps in engineeringLessons from 20 years in corporate and financeObserving family logistics of managing the schedules of three athletes in the homeWhy she decided to build her company in publicand so much more!Download Orgo: https://www.orgohq.com/Follow Zoya as she builds in public: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoyalehrer/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orgoappEnjoy the episode!If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

07-25

47:02

Download the Milksense Lactation Tracking AppMy guest today is Sujay Suresh Kumar, the CEO and Co-Founder of Lilu.Sujay received his Bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering from Osmania University and master's in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He is passionate about working at the intersection of technology and women's health. He has previously cofounded a non-profit called Jyothi in India, a platform for survivors of harrassment and rape to voice their grievances anonymously and receive support. He has spent 2 years in Shenzhen, China, vetting and working closely with manufacturers to bring the Lilu's products to market. He was named in Forbes 30 under 30 in Consumer Tech 2022.His company, Lilu, builds tech products to make postpartum care more comfortable, efficient and pain-free for new moms.They are building an ecosystem of smart products to address the physical and mental challenges around lactation and maternal wellbeing, including:The Omni Breast Pump, a wearable breast pump that uses our patented breast massage technology to help moms pump 55% more milk!The MilkSense Tracker that leverages AI to help new moms track their breastfeeding and pumping sessions and provide them with unprecedented insights into their lactation and well being. The Milksense app is currently in beta on Apple and AndroidHow you can help Lilu:Lilu is currently raising a seed round to launch and scale our product lines, and grow the team.Lilu is currently looking to onboard experienced professionals to our Board of Directors, especially with prior experience in marketing, growing medical device companies.Enjoy the episode!Lilu: https://www.wearlilu.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sujaysuresh/If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

07-18

38:46

Listen to Sydney’s podcast, Unlocking Venture CapitalSydney Wong is the principal and investor at VenturX Capital, a family office that invests in industry-agnostic pre-seed and seed companies. Prior to her current role, she was the founder and CEO of a fintech company that had a successful exit to the family office. Sydney also creates weekly startup content through her podcast, Unlocking Venture Capital, where she invites investors from firms like Tusk Ventures, Alumni Ventures and more. Sydney is also the host for her own podcast, Unlocking Venture Capital, and chapter lead for Women in VC.Enjoy the episode!LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydneywong1/Listen to Sydney’s podcast, Unlocking Venture Capital: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Itfe2YNMpXnjX909fU9gTIf you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

07-10

46:18

Work with Volt to easily scale your SMS solution and complianceMartin Lien, co-founder and CEO of Volt joins me on the show today. Volt began in 2022 out of the founders dealing with the inefficiencies of compliance for SMS operations that stemmed from a legislation change in 2021. Today, Volt is the leading marketing ops infrastructure platform that enable companies to integrate and manage multiple SMS platforms while staying compliant.At the end of May 2024, the company announced that they had successfully raised $3 million in seed funding from Mercury Fund, Atento Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, Stout Street Capital and Yellow Rocks!Martin shares:His first day in the U.S. and the culture shock around the question “how are you?”How he built his value-add as a non-technical person using simple automationThe time when their lead investor pulled out before the weekend, to raising $3 million in SeedDecision to build Volt in Tulsa and the benefitsWork with Volt todayEnjoy the episode!LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/text-voltMartin Lien LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-langelo-lien/If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Need family immigration assistance? Work with Consulta ImmigrationConsulta Immigration, spearheaded by visionary first-generation immigrant entrepreneurs, revolutionizes the immigration landscape with cutting-edge technology.Their mission is fueled by firsthand knowledge of the arduous journey families face, burdened by steep legal costs in their pursuit of dreams. With a commitment to accessibility and affordability, Consulta's platform sets a new standard, providing a secure and transparent space for all immigration needs.In this episode, Yasaman Soroori, Co-Founder and CEO of Consulta Immigration cover how they met each other, the troubles they encountered with the immigration system through their personal and professional life, and their challenges as founders.You don’t want to miss the end as Yasaman spent some time in the French bakery scene in NYC so I naturally had to ask her the best place to get incredible pastries.Work with Consulta Immigration today!Enjoy the episode!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consultaimm/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@consultaimmLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasamansoroori/If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.