In the startup world, Give First means simply trying to help anyone—especially entrepreneurs—with no expectation of getting anything back. It's the pay-it-forward principle that builds strong startup networks. Hosts David Cohen and Brad Feld—Techstars cofounders, lifelong entrepreneurs, and startup investors—talk with mentors and founders about what giving first looks like in action, and how it makes great entrepreneurship possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Building the Future of Aviation with Kevin Noertker of Ampaire
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In this episode of the Give First podcast, hosts David Cohen is joined by Kevin Noertker, CEO and co-founder of Ampaire. Kevin shares his journey from aspiring astronaut and NASA engineer to leading a revolutionary Techstars-backed company. Ampaire is advancing hybrid electric aviation, aiming to cut aircraft fuel usage by 50-70%, addressing both e…
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Educating the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs with Marc Steren
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In this episode of the Give First podcast, David Cohen speaks with Marc Steren, Cofounder and Co-CEO of University Startups. The two discuss the entrepreneurial journey and the transformative impact of education. Marc offers insights into his 30-year entrepreneurial career, from pioneering mobile ticketing to selling his company in 2012, and transi…
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Sliding into Diem: Emma Bates talks raising $3.7M to build the front door of girl internet
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Emma Bates, co-founder of Diem, is reshaping the way women search the internet. Diem is a social search engine designed to provide women with trustworthy, community-driven results. In this episode of Give First, Emma talks about her journey building Diem, starting with her experience in the Techstars accelerator and the inspiration behind her women…
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Kirill Bigai, Preply CEO and co-founder, launched the company’s first set of values back in 2015, while participating in the Techstars Berlin program. But as the team has changed, so have the values. “It’s an evolution,” said Bigai, who involves his 650+ staff members in their development and incorporates the values into hiring, performance reviews…
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For 20 years, Elizabeth Kraus was busy being an entrepreneur. So busy and stressed, she wasn’t eating well, had wild energy swings and barely slept despite training for, and tackling long-distance triathlons. A host of other medical challenges led to a thyroid and hormone imbalance diagnosis and medication which she said, “put a band aid solution o…
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Using Your Dragonfly Eyes with Charles Conn
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Charles Conn is a builder, a creator and an environmentalist. He’s managed to wed those three passions together by investing in the biotech space as the co-founder of Monograph Capital. “The most consistent thing you can do is work in this biology space because when humans have health security, they tend to look after the planet,” said Conn who has…
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Bottoms Up: A Conversation with Bevi CEO Sean Grundy
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Sean Grundy, co-founder and CEO of Bevi, wouldn’t budge despite calls from, ironically, David Cohen, the GiveFirst podcast host. Cohen wanted Bevi smart water coolers in more places than just Boston. Grundy wanted to prioritize quality control and customer retention. “We wanted our mechanical engineers and electrical engineers close by so they coul…
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Startup Community Builder Chris Heivly and his Newest “Build the Fort” Book
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Described as the foremost expert on how to build startup communities, Chris Heivly has written “Build the Fort: The Startup Community Builder's Field Guide.” Listen in as Chris and David talk about what Heivly discovered while writing and practical steps to take for anyone who wants to launch a startup community. From building a pipeline of founder…
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Leading Through Crisis: 96 hours after the fall of SVB
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The fall of SVB will go down in history as one of those ‘where were you when …’ moments. For David Cohen, he was sitting at a sporting event when his phone began buzzing incessantly. For Brad Feld, he was couch shopping with his wife. Feld is no stranger to crises and his instincts kicked in quickly. “I shifted into problem-solving mode,” says Feld…
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MeatoDoor Founders on Startups With Family— But Not A Family Business
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Though many might shy away from working with their spouse, MeatoDoor Founders Ambreen Khan and Rashid Ahmed wouldn’t have it any other way. “We don't see that as a challenge in terms of running the company. We are both totally different individuals; we bring different skills to the table,” says Ambreen, who is also CEO of MeatoDoor. “In fact, we bo…
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Creator Science Founder on The Value of Creating Content
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As an entrepreneur, Jay Clouse loves to create. After spending time in the product world as both a founder and an employee of another company, he stumbled into the world of content creation, where he could build products on his own timeline. The Creative Science Founder has the #givefirst mentality, providing many free resources through several pla…
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Arweave Co-Founder on Building an Archive of History Using Blockchain
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Do you have a digital storage problem? As almost everything begins to be stored digitally, customers are often looking for sustainable but secure and permanent storage for their assets. What was once considered science fiction has been created by Arweave. One of the company’s goals is to create a permanent archive of all of humanity’s knowledge thr…
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Techstars Director of ESG on Being a Responsible Founder and Investor
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When a thoughtful founder or investor is thinking about creating or sustaining long-term value and a company that adapts for the future, they are already inherently thinking about environmental, social, and governance issues (ESG). ESG is for ALL companies - not just the ones focused on the environment. Dr. Mairi-Jane Fox, Director of ESG at Techst…
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QuickHire Co-Founder & CEO on Raising Capital as a Person of Color
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When we talk about a startup successfully raising money after being part of a Techstars accelerator, that’s not an unusual story. But did you know that only 0.3% of all venture capital funding goes to black women? For Deborah Gladney, co-founder and CEO of QuickHire, this was a reality every day as she and her sister built their company with not ma…
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Endel CEO and Co-Founder on the Future of Sound
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Imagine always having a soundscape that adapts to what you're doing and what you need to get done without the need to manually select a playlist. This is the future with Endel, an app that utilizes circadian rhythms and the neuroscience study of how sound influences the cognitive state. “It's an ever-present sound that follows you everywhere during…
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David Cohen and Brad Feld Talk Mental Health for Entrepreneurs
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It took decades for Brad Feld to understand his depression and mental health struggles. “There was a period of time, pretty deep into this depressive episode. … Work was fine. Business was fine, but I would describe it looking backward as the complete absence of joy. There was no joy in anything that I was doing in any way I was doing it.” All the …
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Recast Capital Co-Founder on Working With Emerging Managers
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If an entrepreneur takes a seed stage investment from a very large brand-name venture fund, they’re unlikely to get very much of the venture fund’s time. However, when it comes to emerging managers, this group often comes up with very specific ways that they believe they can help you, says Recast Capital Co-Founder and Managing Partner Courtney McC…
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ESG Takeover: B Lab Community Engagement Manager and Project Canary COO on What It Means to be a B Corp
22:51
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In this final ESG takeover episode, Dr. Mairi-Jane Fox, who helps lead ESG at Techstars, talks with B Lab Senior Manager of Community Engagement and Network Strategy Becca Quirk and Project Canary Co-founder & COO Will Foiles about what it really means when a business gets its B Corp certification and how it creates impactful changes. “Inherently, …
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ESG Takeover: Soona CEO and UN PRI Head of Private Equity on How to Engage with Investors
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In this second ESG takeover episode, Dr. Mairi-Jane Fox, who helps lead ESG at Techstars, talks with Soona CEO and Co-Founder Liz Giorgi and UN-sponsored Principles for Responsible Investment Head of Private Equity Peter Dunbar about different aspects of engaging with investors, including investor diligence, transparent conversations, and discussin…
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Integrated Capital Strategies Founder Sharon Schneider on Value Integration and Social Entrepreneurship
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We all have a set of principles for how we live our lives. How well are those principles aligned across every facet, though? You might be environmentally conscious but it’s important to ask yourself: Where do you do your banking? Who holds your mortgage? This is the driving point for author Sharon Schneider’s book, Handbook for an Integrated Life: …
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ESG Takeover: Sustaio Founder and SVT Group CEO on Benefits of ESG Measurement for Your Company
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In this first ESG takeover episode, Dr. Mairi-Jane Fox, who helps lead ESG at Techstars, talks with Sustaio founder and CEO Olivia Pedersen and SVT Group CEO Sara Olsen about the benefits and the how-to of measuring ESG impact for early-stage start-ups. “It's a responsible business practice to manage your carbon effectively and make sure that you'r…
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Techstars Berlin Managing Director Martin Schilling on Guiding Global Tech Startup Builders
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Martin Schilling said he would never work in finance. However, after two years of scaling N26 Group, a large European fintech company, he left with a wealth of knowledge that he needed to share. So he wrote “The Builder’s Guide to the Tech Galaxy” with several leading tech builders. “It is, in essence, a give-first book because together with my co-…
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Flikshop CEO Marcus Bullock on Reshaping the Criminal Justice System
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At 15 years old, Marcus Bullock’s life changed forever. He was locked in an adult maximum-security prison for 8 years after carjacking a man. Marcus began to feel hopeless, so his mother began to send photos and letters each day. A few years after his release, his friends in prison asked Marcus for photos and letters of his travels and life. Marcus…
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HILOS Founder Elias Stahl on Creating A New Supply Chain
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Supply chains are a big nut to crack, and Elias Stahl ran straight for them. He was empowered to start a whole new supply chain and have his company HILOS be at the forefront of creating a different way to manufacture shoes, where it is ground zero for inefficiency and waste. “We saw that opportunity to leverage new technologies like 3D printing an…
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Twelve Labs CEO Jae Lee on Video Search Innovation and Accelerating with Techstars
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Innovation is just innovation if no one uses it. This is a lesson Jae Lee, co-founder and CEO of Twelve Labs, learned while building multimodal neural networks and video search AI. Through the Techstars Seattle Accelerator, mentors, and community, the company began to grow its customer base, transforming from a video search prototype to raising $5 …
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