Future Optimist
343 episodes - English - Latest episode: 27 days ago - ★★★★★ - 26 ratingsMind-expanding tales of entrepreneurship and people building the world of tomorrow, brought to you by aloa.agency.
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Episodes
Ep. 153 - Eleonore Eisath: Using the Power of Nature to Recycle the World’s Most-Used Plastics
March 31, 2023 09:00 - 57 minutes - 133 MBCan we get rid of all the plastic in the oceans? Like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, 1.6 million square kilometers of plastic trash floating in the Pacific Ocean. Some see this never-decomposing trash as one of the biggest problems facing our species, others like Eleonore Eisath see that plastic as a “locked resource” that can be tapped into. Her company Beworm is developing a biocatalytic recycling process that decomposes plastic waste into natural raw materials—it’s about as...
Ep. 152 - Jacob Foss: Eradicating Extreme Rural Poverty
March 24, 2023 09:00 - 57 minutes - 105 MBHow do we eradicate extreme rural poverty? What can we do to build up communities? Jacob Foss asked this question when travelling in Africa, and his answer was to co-found Agricycle—a brilliant start-up that connects women, smallholders, and youth in East Africa with global markets. Don’t know what a smallholder is? I didn’t either, but we’re about to find out! Jacob’s been on Forbes 30 Under 30, he’s received millions in funding for his work, and Agricycle is an official partner of t...
Ep. 151 - Omar Abudayyeh & Jonathan Gootenberg: Manipulating DNA, RNA, and Cellular States to Cure Genetic Disease and Prevent Aging
March 21, 2023 09:00 - 55 minutes - 102 MBWhat if you could program a cell directly to fight cancer? What if you could solve the 7,000 genetic diseases facing our species? This type of science fiction is now a reality, thanks to today’s guests on the Beat the Often Path Podcast. Joining me today are Omar Abudayyeh and Jonathan Gootenberg, creators of the AbuGoot lab at MIT, two people leading the way in gene therapy, gene editing, and CRISPR innovations. The AbuGoot lab combines natural biological discovery and molecular enginee...
Ep. 150 - Anieke Lamers: Create Meaningful Memories with Loved Ones Around the World
March 17, 2023 09:00 - 50 minutes - 92.4 MBWhat if you could create meaningful memories with loved ones around the globe? My guest today Anieke Lamers has created Peekabond, a new app that makes it easier to not just connect remotely, but bond. She left a lucrative role as a VC to follow her passion and build her own company in a space she believed in. She created a kid-friendly platform with science-based activities, ethical games, and a bank to store all the memories made. Many of us have gone years without being able to see l...
Ep. 149 - Mai Shimada M.D.: Using Ketamine for Treating Depression and PTSD
March 14, 2023 09:00 - 49 minutes - 90.4 MBMai Shimada is a medical doctor, and the Founder & CEO of Isha Health, providers of ketamine-assisted therapy. She spent many years of her life as an ER doctor, and she came to understand that ketamine was a legal and underutilized treatment option for clinically-resistant depression, PTSD, and a wide range of other mental health disorders. In this episode, we are going to talk about DRUGS. Even though this treatment is completely legal, if that bothers you, turn it off right now. I’m go...
Ep. 148 - Brian Cook: Growing Local Produce with 90% Less Water
March 07, 2023 10:00 - 49 minutes - 90.6 MBBrian Cook is the President of Local Bounti, a company that brings fresh local produce to the world using 90% less water and land than traditional agriculture. In a world that’s poised to hit 10 billion people not too long from now, we need all the help we can get finding innovative ways to feed our population food that isn’t just gruel, mush, mushy-gruel, or god-forbid, soylent green. Brian has dedicated his life to food production, and today we talk about not only what Local Bounti is ...
Ep. 147 - David Dellal: Solving the Yearly $9.5 Billion Worth of Ice Damage to Rooftops
March 03, 2023 10:00 - 53 minutes - 99 MBDavid Dellal is the Co-Founder & CEO of Floe Inc, a cleantech startup developing a smart solution to prevent the extensive, costly water damage caused by ice buildup on buildings' roofs in the winter. You know what I love? I love learning about amazing solutions to problems that I never knew existed, such as the fact that $9.5 billion in damage occurs due to ice on rooftops each year in the US alone. Not only that, de-icing as an entire industry is archaic, harmful, and wasteful, meanin...
Ep. 146 - Brett Thompson: Africa's First Cell-Based Meat Company
February 28, 2023 10:00 - 1 hour - 120 MBBrett Thompson is the CEO of Mzansi Meat Co, Africa’s first cell-based meat start-up. Using cellular agriculture technology, the company hopes to produce cruelty-free cell-cultured protein products. It’s something that I personally see as the future of meat consumption on our planet, and a necessary step towards a more sustainable future. Today we talk about taking an unpopular stand for something you believe in, building a company in uncharted waters, and how cultured meat represents a ...
Ep. 145 - Angela Wilson: Enabling Travel for People with Short-term and Long-term Disabilities
February 24, 2023 10:00 - 55 minutes - 102 MBAngela Wilson is the creator of Exploryst, a start-up that seeks to create a more accessible world. Their motto is “explore EVERYWHERE, whatever your disability”, and they seek to add valuable accessibility information to travel, experiences, and business in Colorado and around the country. Angela’s son has intellectual and progressive physical disabilities, and this led her to understanding that many experiences simple aren’t catered to—or available for—people like her son. Today we e...
Ep. 144 - Michiel Vos: Why All Pallets Should be Made from Coconuts
February 17, 2023 10:00 - 57 minutes - 105 MBMichiel Vos is the Founder & CTO of CocoPallet, a Dutch start-up that makes circular, affordable transportation pallets from coconut husks only. They’re helping to save an estimated 200 million trees from being chopped down needlessly, and their solution is not only more affordable but is itself biodegradable and re-sellable as a potting soil enhancer. It’s an ingenious solution that uses the waste from the coconut industry—material that would otherwise just be dumped or burned, and it’s...
Ep. 143 - Beau Wangtrakuldee: Creating Inclusive, Sustainable PPE
February 14, 2023 10:00 - 49 minutes - 91.5 MBBeau Wangtrakuldee, Ph.D., is a scientist, entrepreneur, and founder of AmorSui, a modern protective apparel company redesigning personal protective equipment (PPE) to empower women with greater function and protection in lab and medical settings. She’s tackling two massive problems: one that traditional PPE hasn’t taken into account diversity and the needs of women and marginalized groups, and two, that an enormous amount of waste is generated by an industry that has traditionally used si...
Ep. 142 - Darius Mora: Creator of A.I. That Detects Burnout
February 10, 2023 10:00 - 51 minutes - 95.4 MBDarius Mora is the CEO and Co-Founder of Vitality Therapeutics, a start-up using artificial intelligence to solve mental health problems. You might not know this, but machine learning can be used to detect patterns in our speech that can help us diagnose mental health issues like depression and burnout faster. In a world where therapists are scarce and expensive, applying AI to the massive mental health problems facing our society today is an incredibly exciting frontier. We discuss th...
Ep. 141 - Andrew Amann: Scaling a Multi-Million Dollar App Development Agency
February 07, 2023 23:19 - 49 minutes - 91.8 MBAndrew Amann is the CEO of NineTwoThree Venture Studio, an award-winning software design and engineering studio. His company helps launch start-ups and products, developing apps, IoT devices, and software. They’ve built several clients to over a billion-dollar valuation, and they’ve been featured in the Inc. 5000 two years in a row. I’m a digital agency owner myself, and for me, Andrew represents someone a few steps further in the process. In this episode, we’re going to talk shop about ...
Ep. 140 - Olugbenga Olubanjo: Bringing Electricity to Countries with No Access to Power
February 03, 2023 17:04 - 48 minutes - 88.9 MBOlugbenga Olubanjo is the founder & CEO of Reeddi, a Nigerian start-up that seeks to bring power to the 70+ million Nigerians who don't have reliable access. Over 600 million people in Africa lack access to reliable power, but how do we solve the problem? Olugbenga created the Reeddi capsule, a rechargeable power bank that people can rent for just 50 cents per day. Olu has already impacted thousands of people with his work, and his product was featured in The 100 Best Inventions of 2021 ...
Ep. 139 - Saoud Khalifah: Using AI to Detect Fake Online Reviews
January 31, 2023 16:19 - 54 minutes - 99.9 MBSaoud Khalifah is CEO, CTO & Founder of Fakespot, a tool that seeks to eliminate fraud and fake reviews in ecommerce. Have you ever tried to buy a supplement online with thousands of 5-star reviews only to find out that it’s actually sawdust capsules? That’s exactly what happened to Saoud, and this experience led him to understand that online reviews cannot and should not be trusted. Between bots, paid fake reviews, and influencers, it’s harder than ever to trust what you read online. Of...
Ep. 138 - Kathy Hannun: Why Every Home Should Use Geothermal Heat/Cooling
January 27, 2023 16:16 - 56 minutes - 104 MBKathy Hannun is the co-founder and president of Dandelion Energy, offering affordable home geothermal energy solutions. We spend so much money heating and cooling our homes, and in a time of uncertainty surrounding natural gas and oil availability, getting off of fossil fuels in our homes has never been more important. Kathy left her job working at Alphabet’s prestigious X Lab to start her company, and they’ve raised over $130 million to date for the project. By homes switching to resid...
Ep. 137 - STOP THE TROLLS! Mike Pappas is Using AI to Improve In-Game Voice Chat
January 24, 2023 10:00 - 58 minutes - 107 MBMike Pappas is the CEO and Co-Founder of Modulate.ai, a start-up using cutting-edge machine learning to to make voice chat safe. In case you don’t play online games, there’s an entire universe of people out there who play games like Call of Duty, League of Legends, etc, and they use in-game voice chat to communicate with each other. The problem is, like other digital avenues, these spaces can be made toxic by bullies, trolls, and hateful people. For years, this toxicity has been seen as ...
Ep. 137 - Mike Pappas: Using AI to Make In-Game Voice Chat Safer (Stop the trolls!)
January 24, 2023 10:00 - 58 minutes - 107 MBMike Pappas is the CEO and Co-Founder of Modulate.ai, a start-up using cutting-edge machine learning to to make voice chat safe. In case you don’t play online games, there’s an entire universe of people out there who play games like Call of Duty, League of Legends, etc, and they use in-game voice chat to communicate with each other. The problem is, like other digital avenues, these spaces can be made toxic by bullies, trolls, and hateful people. For years, this toxicity has been seen as ...
Ep. 136 - Anna Luísa Beserra Santos: Inventing Brilliant Clean Water Tech at 15!
January 20, 2023 10:00 - 52 minutes - 96.5 MBAnna Luisa Beserra Santos is the CEO of Sustainable Development & Water For All, a Brazilian organization bringing water and sanitation to people who lack access. Proper water and sanitation have the power to reduce the number of deaths from waterborne diseases by as much as 65%, and Anna and her startup have already benefitted more than 15,000 people in 15 Brazilian states. Anna founded her startup in 2015 at the age of 17, and in 2019 she won the UN Champions of the Earth Award. She wa...
Ep. 136 - Anna Luísa Beserra Santos Invented Brilliant Clean Water Tech at 15!
January 20, 2023 10:00 - 52 minutes - 96.5 MBAnna Luisa Beserra Santos is the CEO of Sustainable Development & Water For All, a Brazilian organization bringing water and sanitation to people who lack access. Proper water and sanitation have the power to reduce the number of deaths from waterborne diseases by as much as 65%, and Anna and her startup have already benefitted more than 15,000 people in 15 Brazilian states. Anna founded her startup in 2015 at the age of 17, and in 2019 she won the UN Champions of the Earth Award. She wa...
Ep. 135 - Carrie Chan: Pioneering Lab-Grown Fish
January 17, 2023 10:00 - 57 minutes - 106 MBCarrie Chan is the Co-Founder & CEO of Avant Meats, the first cultivated fish company in Asia. What is cultivated fish? If you assumed it meant fish that’s refined and well-educated, you’re wrong, but hey that’s what I thought, too! Instead, it means that they are able to create real fish using the cells in a process that’s not dissimilar to brewing beer. They can take the fish cells and multiply them in a controlled environment, bringing you real fish without the animal killings, withou...
Ep. 134 - Shiloh Johnson: Small Biz. Tax Tech at Scale
January 13, 2023 10:00 - 54 minutes - 76.9 MBShiloh Johnson is the founder and CEO of ComplYant, a digital tax assistant platform that’s raised over 10 million in funding to date. Shiloh’s personal journey is incredible, which you’ll soon find out, but the upshot is this: in her time as CPA, she noticed that many—most?—small business owners were making the same mistakes. She soon realized that there was a gap in the market and got to work building a platform to help business owners such as myself be a little less stupid. Ok, the s...
Ep. 133 - Stefan Ytterborn: Making a Completely Fossil-Fuel-Free Motorcycle?
January 10, 2023 10:00 - 51 minutes - 94.5 MBStefan Ytterborn is the CEO & Co-Founder of CAKE, a Swedish tech company making light and totally silent off-road and commuter electric motorcycles. They’ve raised over $70 million in funding so far, and their ambitious goal is to create the cleanest dirt bike ever—striving to approach that magical “completely fossil-free” goal. CAKE was listed to Time Magazine’s 100 most important inventions award in 2021, and they’re reimagining electric transportation from the ground up. ➡️ https:...
Ep. 132: Tessa Callaghan: Sustainable Seaweed-Based Yarn & Fabric
January 06, 2023 15:26 - 54 minutes - 100 MBTessa Callaghan is the CEO and co-founder of Keel Labs, makers of a seaweed-based yarn they call Kelsun. In case you didn’t know, the textile and fashion industries are a mess, and they contribute enormous amounts of waste to our planet. Tessa and her co-founders set out to create a fully functional yarn with a significantly lower environmental footprint than conventional fibers. They’re harnessing a biopolymer from kelp to achieve this, and kelp is one of the most regenerative organisms ...
Ep. 131 - Susan Stone: The World’s First Electricity-generating Alternative to Traditional Windows
January 03, 2023 10:00 - 55 minutes - 103 MBSusan Stone is CEO of Ubiquitous Energy, the world leader in transparent solar technology working towards a goal of helping solve climate change by creating truly transparent renewable energy for every surface across the globe. Ubiquitous Energy has developed transparent solar cells to create its ClearView Power windows, a kind of “solar glass” that can turn sunlight into energy without needing the bluish-grey opaque panels those cells are generally associated with. Ubiquitous Energy’s p...
Ep. 130 - Krishna Manda: The Future of Augmented Reality Motorcycle Helmets
December 23, 2022 10:00 - 54 minutes - 99.4 MBKrishna Manda is the Co-founder and CEO of Etho Inc., a start-up building augmented reality hardware and software for motorcycle helmets, including a voice assistant, navigation, and riding information displayed right on the inside of the helmet Soon you’ll be able to keep your eyes on the road as you ride and have access to more information than ever before. With 68% of daily commuters admitting to using their phones to navigate to places, these distractions can be fatal on motorcycles...
Ep. 129 - Sahand Dilmaghani: A Better Way to Brew Coffee?
December 20, 2022 10:00 - 45 minutes - 83.1 MBSahand Dilmaghani is the Founder & CEO at Terra Kaffe, a coffee tech company that’s raised over 14 million in funding so far. Sahand has a remarkable story that led him down the path of entrepreneurship, and his company is making more eco-friendly coffee and espresso machines that look and taste incredible. Sahand made Forbes Next 1000 in the consumer tech category, which is good for him but bad for me, as I had to settle for 1,001, failing to make the cut YET AGAIN. Come on Forbes! In...
Ep. 128 - Paul Gross: Capturing Carbon from Diesel Trucks as They Drive!
December 16, 2022 15:42 - 50 minutes - 93.7 MBPaul Gross is the Co-CEO & Co-founder of Remora, a start-up that captures carbon emissions directly from semi-trucks as they drive. This tech, called a “mobile carbon capture system”, is the first of its kind to be commercialized anywhere in the world. Remora’s system can be retrofitted onto existing diesel trucks, capturing and storing their carbon. And this is a big deal, because there are over 2 million semis in the US alone. They’ve raised millions in funding, and they’re already ...
Ep. 127 - Dinesh Tadepalli: Why Single-Use Spoons Should be Edible
December 13, 2022 10:00 - 56 minutes - 104 MBDinesh Tadepalli is the Chief Spoon Seller & Co-Founder of Incredible Eats, a start-up that’s attempting to replace single-use plastic cutlery with edible alternatives. How does that work? You might be asking. Well, they need both sweet and savory options (think ice cream vs. hot soup), and their products perform better than paper alternatives. Edible cutlery is something that’s never before been implemented at scale, and the company was featured on Shark Tank where they received multi...
Ep. 126 - Kevin Martin: 3D-Printed Pants!?
December 09, 2022 10:00 - 51 minutes - 95.4 MBKevin Martin is the CTO and Co-Founder of unspun, a company making bespoke “3D printed” jeans. Using scanning and robotics technology, unspun creates personalized jeans just for you, and way way way faster than the traditionally wasteful pipeline of today’s fashion. Unspun has raised over 10 million in funding so far, and Kevin himself has been named to Forbes 30 Under 30. The company was listed on TIME’s best inventions and Fast Company’s World-Changing Ideas. Unspun is a truly brilli...
Ep. 125 - Mark Herrema: Making Biomaterials from Greenhouse Gas
December 05, 2022 10:00 - 56 minutes - 103 MBMark Herrema is the CEO and founder of Newlight Technologies, a company with an out of this world solution to climate change. By using nature as a guide, they’re able to pull carbon and greenhouse gasses straight from the air and create a physical, plastic-like material they call AirCarbon, which can be used to make everything from cutlery to straws to clothing and just about anything else plastic can make. There’s one huge difference… AirCarbon is biodegradable (even faster than paper),...
Ep. 124 - Ellen Windemuth: Oscar-Winning Producer of "My Octopus Teacher"
December 02, 2022 10:00 - 51 minutes - 95 MBEllen Windemuth is the Founder and CEO of WaterBear Network, a free environmental content streaming platform that Fast Company called “Netflix for the Planet”. Ellen is well known for producing My Octopus Teacher, a documentary that one this year’s BAFTA and Oscar for best documentary feature. WaterBear has impressive partners, with over 100 charities and NGOs taking part, including WWF, Greenpeace, and more, they’re shining a spotlight on the most critical issues facing the planet tod...
Ep. 123 - Jacob Flood: Headphones That Help You Focus and Become More Productive?
November 29, 2022 10:00 - 56 minutes - 104 MBJacob Flood is the founder and CEO of Eno, makers of Enophone headphones—headphones that can monitor your brain data just by wearing them. These headphones help you become more focused and productive, giving you a deeper understanding of how your mind actually works during the day. If you’ve been working from home, you know how important productivity is, especially when there’s no one to keep you on track but yourself. Jacob has spent over 10 years in the mental productivity space, a...
Ep. 122 - Eduardo Del Signore: Visualizing Climate Change Data with Music
November 25, 2022 10:00 - 55 minutes - 102 MBEduardo Del Signore is a 2020 Grammy-nominated and Award-winning Musician and the founder of the A Call 2Peace Foundation. He leverages technology, science, and music to spur climate action. Through The ClimateMusic Project, Eduardo uses data visuals from climate scientists for his musical interpretation of the fight against climate change. He just got back from a performance at the World Economic Forum, and we discuss the clarity of vision he had that brought him to this highly unusual...
Ep. 121 - Taylor McCarten: A Non-toxic Indoor Composting Powder & Dragon's Den Success Story
November 22, 2022 10:00 - 55 minutes - 103 MBTaylor McCarten is the Co-Founder & CEO of BinBreeze, a Dragon’s Den success story start-up. The idea is this: BinBreeze is the world's first all-natural and non-toxic indoor composting powder that is on a mission to reduce the impact of food waste. Their innovative and sustainable product reduces wood waste that’s currently burned for lack of a better alternative while improving customer composting abilities at home. It’s a win-win that’s now in over 500 retailers in Canada. Today we ...
Ep. 120 - Jacob Pechenik: An Easy New Way to Grow Produce at Home
November 18, 2022 10:00 - 59 minutes - 109 MBJacob Pechenik is the co-founder of Lettuce Grow, a company he co-founded with Zooey Deschanel. The idea is profound: they’ve created a device that lets people grow a significant quantity of produce either inside their home or outside, with a self-contained hydroponics system that’s basically foolproof. This system represents one of the easiest ways to dramatically improve the quality of home produce while greatly reducing the carbon footprint of getting leafy greens and veggies. As...
Ep. 119 - Raffael Jovine: Sequestering Carbon at the Gigaton Scale Using Algae?
November 15, 2022 15:56 - 58 minutes - 108 MBRaffael Jovine is the founder & chief scientist of Brilliant Planet, a company unlocking the power of algae as an affordable method of permanently and quantifiably sequestering carbon at the gigaton scale. Brilliant Planet has raised tens of millions in funding from major partners like Toyota Ventures, and when you hear his innovative solution, you’ll understand why. But beyond that, Raffael’s personal story is so incredible—learn how he made massive changes in his personal life and ca...
Ep. 118 - Tom Green: Making a Natural Carbon-removing Sand?
November 11, 2022 10:00 - 53 minutes - 98.7 MBTom Green is joining us today, and he’s the CEO of Project Vesta. Project Vesta is harnessing the natural power of the oceans to remove excess CO₂ from the atmosphere. The Earth has long sequestered carbon through the oceans, and Tom has found a way, based on decades of prior scientific research, to accelerate this process using a common mineral. Tom Green has a BA from Oxford and an MBA from Harvard, and his personal career journey is remarkable. Today Project Vesta has received million...
Ep. 117 - Erick Went & Venkat Kode: Pulling Drinking Water from Thin Air
November 08, 2022 10:00 - 1 hour - 110 MBErick Went is the CTO of Genesis Systems, and he’s together Dr. Venkat Kode, a research scientist on the team. I’m not going to lie, Genesis Systems is one of the most exciting product ideas I’ve ever become aware of yet. Genesis Systems manufacture the world's first and only sustainable air-to-water systems that can carbon (CO2) capture. That’s right, they are generating fresh-water from air using integrated technologies never before conceived. They’ve received several grants from t...
Ep. 116 - Max Rye: Building an Identical Replica of Cow's Milk?
November 04, 2022 09:00 - 50 minutes - 92 MBMax Rye is the co-founder and chief strategist of TurtleTree, the world’s first sustainable lactoferrin made with precision fermentation. Don’t know what any of that means? Great! Because I didn’t either! Essentially they’re able not just to emulate real milk but actually produce identical proteins—the ones that give cow and human milk its nutritional value. We’ll learn how Max decided to embrace the kind of change he wanted to see by founding this futuristic company that has the poten...
Ep. 115 - Anthony DiMare: Mapping the Ocean Floor with Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
November 01, 2022 09:00 - 1 hour - 127 MBAnthony DiMare is the CEO & Co-founder of Bedrock Ocean Exploration, a vertically-integrated ocean exploration company that’s built proprietary robotics and software to explore the oceans quickly and cheaply. Basically, none of the world’s seafloor is mapped, and this knowledge has far-reaching implications for weather predictions, global shipping, and many other things vital to our survival. Learn the multiple businesses and models Anthony has pursued, how he’s gotten millions in fundin...
Ep. 115 - Anthony DiMare: Mapping the Ocean Floor for Profit!
November 01, 2022 09:00 - 1 hour - 127 MBAnthony DiMare is the CEO & Co-founder of Bedrock Ocean Exploration, a vertically-integrated ocean exploration company that’s built proprietary robotics and software to explore the oceans quickly and cheaply. Basically, none of the world’s seafloor is mapped, and this knowledge has far-reaching implications for weather predictions, global shipping, and many other things vital to our survival. Learn the multiple businesses and models Anthony has pursued, how he’s gotten millions in fundin...
Ep. 114 - Phoebe Gardner: Transforming Food Waste Into Protein and Fertilizer with Insects
October 28, 2022 09:00 - 54 minutes - 100 MBPhoebe Gardner is the co-founder and CEO of Bardee, a truly novel solution to climate change. Well have ya heard of composting? It’s a neat idea to take food waste that would otherwise generate methane gas in landfills and repurpose it for fertilizer. The trouble is, it takes a long time to do it. Bardee has taken that process one step further. They use Black Solder Fly larvae to turn food waste into a usable product in just seven days, while actually being carbon positive. Honestly,...
Ep. 113 - Andre Menezes: $100 Million Raised for Plant-Based Meat
October 25, 2022 09:00 - 53 minutes - 97.6 MBAndre Menezes is the Co-Founder & CEO of Next Gen Foods. Andre broke a record for plant-based meat companies when his company TiNDLE raised $100 million in Series A funding. Tindle makes a plant-based chicken alternative that’s sold around the world and championed by world-class chefs and fast-food chains alike. But more importantly, Andre’s personal journey took him from working directly in the meat industry for many years to realizing the problems with that industry and why plant-...
Ep. 112 - Kaylin Marcotte: Turning a Passion for Puzzles Into a Multi-Million-Dollar Company
October 21, 2022 14:10 - 51 minutes - 94.2 MBKaylin Marcotte is the CEO and founder of JIGGY Puzzles—sustainable, artistic, bespoke jigsaw puzzles sweeping the world. Kaylin took her unlikely passion and turned it into a multi-million dollar business. What was her brilliant idea, that got her 500k in funding from Mark Cuban on Shark Tank? If you guessed “boutique jigsaw puzzles”, you are correct! We’ll learn how Kaylin made a series of super smart decisions at exactly the right time to catapult her business forward during the p...
Ep. 111 - Paul Evers: Carbon-negative Energy Drinks from Coffee Waste?
October 18, 2022 09:00 - 58 minutes - 107 MBPaul Evers is the Co-Founder & CEO of RIFF, America's first certified carbon-neutral energy drink. Paul did some research and discovered a massive problem, 70% of the fruit that surrounds our beloved, sacred coffee beans goes to waste. And this fruit? It’s a superfruit (if such a term exists) that also happens to be caffeinated. Paul discovered a way to make a carbon-neutral energy drink from this, helping out farmers, the planet, and consumers in the process. It’s the exact kind of ...
Ep. 110 - Hans De Neve: Award-winning Carbon Capture Tech
October 14, 2022 09:00 - 59 minutes - 108 MBHans de Neve is the CEO and founder of Carbyon—a groundbreaking company capturing excess CO2 from the air. Today we discuss how going against conventional wisdom and the advice of his peers in the science community led to a breakthrough technology that could help us pull carbon from the air and reverse climate change. It’s no pipe dream, Hans has already received the prestigious XPRIZE Milestone Award with his company Carbyon, and his work towards helping us achieve negative emissions c...
Ep. 109: Naveen Sikka: Planting Millions of Trees to Feed Billions
October 11, 2022 09:00 - 54 minutes - 101 MBNaveen Sikka is the CEO of Terviva, an agtech company that’s transforming the food landscape. We rely on just a few crops for our survival, think corn, wheat, etc. But we know that there are many issues with modern agriculture as it's been performed. Naveen and his team have created a true win/win/win company by creating a regenerative food system based on the Pongamia tree, a tree that grows where many other crops can’t. In addition to reclaiming “bad” farmland, this tree produces bot...
Ep. 108: Lizanne Falsetto: Creating Game-Changing Dairy Alternatives
October 07, 2022 09:00 - 46 minutes - 86 MBLizanne Falsetto is the CEO, Founder, and Chairman of betterland foods™, and the founder of thinkThin®. Long before she became an entrepreneur, Lizanne Falsetto had a career as a model. She developed food for herself on the job, and quickly discovered that her peers were interested in what she was making. She went on to create thinkThin®, the gluten-free protein bars you’ve seen on the shelves of grocery stores since the 90s. She sold that company a few years ago, and now she’s building...
Ep. 107 - Aliénor Salmon: Leaving a Good Career to Dance Around the World
October 04, 2022 09:00 - 55 minutes - 103 MBAliénor Salmon is an author, speaker and consultant. She's the creator of the book Finding Rhythm Bailando Journey. If ever there was a story that fit the premise of this show, it’s hers: She graduated from King’s College In London with a master’s in War Studies, then she worked as a field researcher in Mongolia and landed her dream job studying happiness for UNESCO in Bangkok, where she lived for many years. As if that wasn’t wild enough, she decided to drop her job in pursuit of her own ...