This week's guests are the Founders of Weiss Ferments, Erica and Brian Weiss. Weiss Ferments is a family-owned farm, brewery and sourdough bread bakery in Schoharie County, New York. We talk about their past lives working as sommeliers and bartenders at Michelin-rated restaurants, the decision to leave New York City and build their farm, and how they both found their passions in brewing and baking respectively.Weiss Ferments
This week's guest is the founder and CEO of Partake Foods, Denise Woodard. Partake is a Black-owned, women-led company that offers delicious allergy-free cookies, baking mixes, pancake and waffle mixes that are certified gluten-free, non-GMO, vegan, and free of the top nine allergens. We talk about the very personal story of her daughter's allergies that led to her founding the company and how she scaled her kitchen to over 9,000 stores nationwide.https://partakefoods.com/
This week's guest is the CEO and founder of Treeline Cheesemakers, Michael Schwarz. Treeline Cheesemakers is a dairy-free vegan cheese made in upstate New York. We talk about his decision to become vegan in 2011 and how that compelled him to leave his job as a lawyer and build Treeline. Often business leaders speak in platitudes, but this is not one of those interviews. Michael brought conviction, clarity of our moral obligations, and a convincing rationale for why we all should be...
This week's guests are the founders of Outsiders Kitchen, Julie and Austin Landes. Outsiders Kitchen is a gourmet pretzel bite that needs to be tried to be understood. Trust me, it's that good. We talk about their journey from Pennsylvania to upstate New York, starting a cafe business that turned into a pretzel business sold in over 1000 stores, and how even with that growth, each bag is still packaged by hand.
This week's guest is the founder of Jack and Friends, Jessica Kwong. Jack and Friends is on a mission to make snack foods you can feel good about eating, regardless of your lifestyle or diet. Made with jackfruit and pea protein, Jack and Friends jerky is not only vegan and top nine allergen-free, but a good source of protein and fiber with no added sugar. We talk about the science behind snack foods, how she developed the idea for Jack and Friends, and how she has scaled the business in ...
This week's guest is the co-founder and CEO of Finger Lakes Cider House, Garrett Miller. Finger Lakes Cider House is a diversified organic farm that specializes in making some of the best hard cider from New York apples. We talk about the origins of the company initially being a farm with friends to now being one of the top cider houses in New York, how he grew the business and what he wants to give back to the land, and the community with this project.
This week's guest is the co-founder and CEO of Wandering Bear Coffee, Matt Bachman. Wandering Bear makes big strong coffee with a smooth side delivered on tap to offices and homes nationwide. We talk about how he and his co-founder started the concept while in grad school, how they scaled it from their apartment kitchens to a nationwide business and how they compete in the super competitive coffee business.
This episode's guest is the CEO and founder of Bokksu, Danny Taing. Bokksu delivers authentic Japanese food and lifestyle products to customers around the world. I was so impressed with his story that I bought a box for my daughter, and it's awesome. We talk about the inspiration behind Bokksu, how he evolves the company in a competitive subscription box market, and how his decision to come out has influenced his leadership style.
This week's guest is the founder of Phoenicia Diner, Mike Cioffi. If you have ever been to the Catskills or ever had a friend go to the Catskills, you have surely heard of Phoenicia Diner. It's a time warp to classic diners and yesteryear. It almost feels like you pulled up in a wood-paneled station wagon. And the food is really good. Actually, it's fantastic. We talk about his choice to change careers, how it became a social media phenomenon, some mistakes along the way, and ...
This week's guest is Matt Gallira, the Founder and CEO of Big Mozz. Big Mozz is just that... Big mozzarella sticks, and they are delicious. We talk about his journey from creating the recipe, to entering the Brooklyn Shmorgasboard, to scaling the business to be in over 1000 grocery stores across the country. If you can find them at a store near you I highly recommend snagging a few to chew while listening to his story.
This week's guest is the Co-founder of TALEA Beer Co., LeAnn Darland. Leann and her co-founder Tara Hankinson have built an amazing brewery with 2 locations in Brooklyn and 2 in Manhattan. I am lucky enough to have one two blocks from my office so I visit it pretty frequently. We talk about her journey from the Navy, to Google, to startup land, to finally going all in on building her own company. We discuss how they are bucking the trend of the Bearded Beer Bro, which I'm one of, ...
This week's guests are two of the founders of Wayward Lane Brewing, Andrew Rowles and Kyle Bergen.Wayward Lane is an amazing farm, brewery, and taproom located in a restored 1800's hophouse in the town of Schoharie, New York. They were crowned 2023 New York Brewery of the Year and since opening my shop they have become one of my favorite breweries as they make some amazing IPAs, crisp lagers, and dense porters- They're just crushing it! The interview was done at their brewery so y...
This week we talk to the founder of Glidelane, Chris Genteel. Glidelane is an advisory firm with a mission around economic equality to marginalized communities. By supporting founders of color, they are rooting bias out of products, services, and go-to-market stories. We talk about how his career at Google evolved as he grew into leadership roles, his transition from the corporate world to startup life, how growing up as the black child raised by a single white mom formed his view on se...
This week we talk with Bharani Rajakumar, the CEO and Founder of Transfr. Transfr aims to provide every person an opportunity to acquire the skills needed for employment. Through their VR coaching platform, prospective employees get hands-on training at real technical jobs.We talk about how growing up working class shaped his vision for what entrepreneurship could be, how he scaled his company, and how VR and AI will play a pivotal role in the future of the workforce.
This week's guest is the founder of More Lake, Erzsi Sousa. More Lake is a brand consultancy focused on working with climate companies. We talk about her decision to leave the marketing tech world of Google, Microsoft and Stripe to focus on companies making an impact on our climate emergency. She shares how her family ended up moving from San Francisco to Portugal, finding the right fit with prospective clients, and how a love of the outdoors led to the company's founding.Inte...
This week's guest is Peter Corbett, the Founder, CEO and Coach at Still Rush, a mindful leadership coaching practice. We talk about his decision to sell his agency and retire from advertising, his volunteer work as a spiritual caregiver, life, love, loss, and death, and the motivations that moved him to his new life.
This week's guest is the Co-founder and CEO of Unlock, Jared Cozart.Jared and I met as fellow agents for the Management Leaders of Tomorrow program and became fast friends as I gravitated toward his high empathy for others, strong leadership, and his ability to just be real.We talk about his path to entrepreneurship the struggles and hurdles along the way, how adversity on the baseball field helped sharpen his focus, and how he found the true balance between friendship and work with his...
This week's guest is the Co-Founder of HUDSY TV, Angel Gates. HUDSY TV is an award-winning streaming television platform rooted in the community of Upstate New York. Their goal is to highlight and elevate the incredibly diverse voices and spirit of the Hudson Valley through the power of film and storytelling. We talk about their decision to move from a co-op to a nonprofit, his decision to leave the Bronx and move to the woods upstate, and how producing original work for communities...
This week we talked to the founder and CEO of C-Suite Coach, Angelina Darrisaw. We discuss how she has scaled her business to include 40-plus coaches and works with partners like Google, Major League Baseball, and Wayfair. We learn the adjustments needed to go from being a solo coach to being CEO of a thriving business, how our early experiences in the corporate world share her vision for C-Suite coaches, and why everyone should have a board of directors for their career. www.csuitecoach.com
This week we talk to the co-founder of Third Act, Jesse Samberg. We learn how Jesse initially started this business with one of his best friends, the difficult decision to go out on his own, and how mentoring small business owners propelled him to create Third Act.