Latest Give first Podcast Episodes

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Ep 48: Academy Investor Network’s Sherman Williams on going from military service to VC

Give First - August 31, 2021 13:00 - 18 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
From his service as a Naval Intelligence Officer to an MBA from the University of Chicago to becoming an investor in early-stage startups in healthcare tech, frontier tech, logistics, and marketplaces, Sherman Williams has had an interesting career.  Now he’s also helping other U.S. Service Aca...

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Ep 47: FemTech Focus’ Brittany Barreto, Ph.D. on creating a new category: FemTech

Give First - August 24, 2021 13:00 - 22 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Brittany Barreto, Ph.D., started as an entrepreneur, transitioned to VC, and now is building a whole new category: FemTech. Yes, she invented the term, and you are encouraged to use it and spread it.  Brittany realized that women’s health and wellness companies didn’t have the community that he...

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FemTech Focus’ Brittany Barreto, Ph.D. on creating a new category: FemTech

Give First - August 24, 2021 13:00 - 22 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Brittany Barreto, Ph.D., started as an entrepreneur, transitioned to VC, and now is building a whole new category: FemTech. Yes, she invented the term, and you are encouraged to use it and spread it.  Brittany realized that women’s health and wellness companies didn’t have the community that he...

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David Cohen and Brad Feld reflect on over 40 episodes of the Give First Podcast

Give First - August 17, 2021 13:00 - 16 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Toward the beginning of this conversation between David Cohen and Brad Feld — cofounders of Techstars and celebrated early-stage investors — Brad says, “I believe it takes a hundred episodes before you can really call yourself a podcast.”  If that’s the standard, the Give First podcast isn’t a ...

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Ep 46: David Cohen and Brad Feld reflect on over 40 episodes of the Give First Podcast

Give First - August 17, 2021 13:00 - 16 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Toward the beginning of this conversation between David Cohen and Brad Feld — cofounders of Techstars and celebrated early-stage investors — Brad says, “I believe it takes a hundred episodes before you can really call yourself a podcast.”  If that’s the standard, the Give First podcast isn’t a ...

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Digital Ocean’s Carly Brantz on leading marketing at three Techstars unicorns

Give First - August 10, 2021 13:00 - 19 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
“We get a tremendous amount of traffic to our website every month from people who are just searching for different ways to do things, learning different ways to code. It might not even be on our infrastructure, but we provide that content,” says Carly Brantz, Chief Marketing Officer at Digital O...

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Ep 45: Digital Ocean’s Carly Brantz on leading marketing at three Techstars unicorns

Give First - August 10, 2021 13:00 - 19 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
“We get a tremendous amount of traffic to our website every month from people who are just searching for different ways to do things, learning different ways to code. It might not even be on our infrastructure, but we provide that content,” says Carly Brantz, Chief Marketing Officer at Digital O...

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Fast Forward’s Kevin Barenblat on running an accelerator for tech nonprofits

Give First - August 03, 2021 13:00 - 20 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
“Techstars for nonprofits” is a pretty good description for Fast Forward, an accelerator for tech nonprofits. The similarities are many — like Techstars, Fast Forward provides mentorship, network, and resources to tech founders, designed to help them succeed. The key difference is that Fast Forw...

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Ep 44: Fast Forward’s Kevin Barenblat on running an accelerator for tech nonprofits

Give First - August 03, 2021 13:00 - 20 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
“Techstars for nonprofits” is a pretty good description for Fast Forward, an accelerator for tech nonprofits. The similarities are many — like Techstars, Fast Forward provides mentorship, network, and resources to tech founders, designed to help them succeed. The key difference is that Fast Forw...

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Chainalysis’s Jonathan Levin on building a blockchain business, values and the future

Give First - July 27, 2021 17:56 - 20 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Jonathan Levin has had a remarkable career. A London native with an economics degree from Oxford, Levin cofounded Chainalysis in 2014, focusing on bitcoin on the blockchain. The company, a graduate of Techstars’ Barclays accelerator in New York with a valuation in the billions, now does blockcha...

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Ep 43: Chainalysis’s Jonathan Levin on building a blockchain business, values and the future

Give First - July 27, 2021 17:56 - 20 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Jonathan Levin has had a remarkable career. A London native with an economics degree from Oxford, Levin cofounded Chainalysis in 2014, focusing on bitcoin on the blockchain. The company, a graduate of Techstars’ Barclays accelerator in New York with a valuation in the billions, now does blockcha...

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Ep 42: Bruno Morency on the evolution of the Montréal startup ecosystem

Give First - June 08, 2021 13:00 - 21 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Bruno Morency graduated from college in 2001 and started a company right out of school. It was a tough time for tech startups, but Bruno persisted, and he’s been part of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Montréal ever since.  Hear Bruno tell Brad about how his adventures in entrepreneurship par...

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Bruno Morency on the evolution of the Montréal startup ecosystem

Give First - June 08, 2021 13:00 - 21 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Bruno Morency graduated from college in 2001 and started a company right out of school. It was a tough time for tech startups, but Bruno persisted, and he’s been part of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Montréal ever since.  Hear Bruno tell Brad about how his adventures in entrepreneurship par...

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Rob La Gesse on being the opposite of risk averse

Give First - May 12, 2021 13:00 - 20 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Rob La Gesse has had an interesting career. After high school, he joined the Navy and worked both as a combat medic and a neonatal respiratory therapist. He was a mayor in Hawaii. He taught himself programming and went into tech, just in time to help develop Wi-Fi.  On this episode of the Give ...

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Katie Rae on breakthrough tech that can change the world

Give First - April 27, 2021 13:00 - 19 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
In this episode of the Give First podcast, Brad Feld talks with his old friend Katie Rae, who was once the Managing Director of Techstars Boston. These days, Katie is the CEO and Managing Partner at The Engine. Launched by MIT, The Engine supports big ideas and breakthrough technologies — “the ...

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Crossover: Give First + Talking Through It! Neal Sáles-Griffin on giving first to grow Chicago’s startup ecosystem

Give First - April 05, 2021 17:01 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
In this special episode, Give First host David Cohen and Talking Through It host Neal Sáles-Griffin take turns interviewing each other: it’s two Techstars podcasts in one.  David discusses with Neal on how giving first grew the Chicago startup ecosystem, and then Neal talks through today’s hot ...

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Maelle Gavet on helping entrepreneurs around the world create a better world

Give First - March 17, 2021 13:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
In this episode of the Give First podcast, two of the original Techstars founders, David Cohen and Brad Feld, talk with the new Techstars CEO, Maelle Gavet.  If you love Techstars, this one is a must listen, a passing of the torch from the first generation of Techstars leadership to the next.  ...

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Maëlle Gavet on helping entrepreneurs around the world create a better world

Give First - March 17, 2021 13:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
In this episode of the Give First podcast, two of the original Techstars founders, David Cohen and Brad Feld, talk with the new Techstars CEO, Maëlle Gavet.  If you love Techstars, this one is a must listen, a passing of the torch from the first generation of Techstars leadership to the next.  ...

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Sean Paul Shanor on the joy of running Startup Weekends

Give First - March 09, 2021 16:46 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
In this episode of the Give First podcast, Techstars cofounder and Chairman of the Board David Cohen talks with Synergy Space Founder and Techstars Startup Weekend Facilitator Sean Paul Shanor about what he finds so compelling about Startup Weekend. Sean Paul has helped run over a dozen Startup...

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Baden U'Ren on growing entrepreneurship education in Australia

Give First - February 23, 2021 14:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
In this episode of the Give First podcast, Techstars cofounder and Chairman of the Board David Cohen talks with Baden U'Ren about his efforts to grow the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Australia.  Baden U’Ren is a nationally recognized entrepreneurship educator who has led Bond University’s Entr...

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James Oliver on empowering Black parentpreneurs

Give First - February 08, 2021 20:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
In this episode of the Give First podcast, Techstars cofounder and Chairman of the Board David Cohen talks with James Oliver about why he started the ParentPreneur Foundation. The foundation “empower[s] Black ParentPreneurs, so they can leave a legacy for their children,” and provides grants, c...

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Andy Sack on Give First and Creating a Startup Ecosystem from Scratch

Give First - January 07, 2021 15:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Andy Sack has been a technology entrepreneur, angel investor and venture capitalist for 25 years — and is one of the godfathers of the Seattle startup community. He was managing director for Techstars Seattle, founder and executive chairman for Lighter Capital, and cofounder of seed stage fund F...

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Denise and Jim Franklin on how a scrappy startup grows into a thriving ecosystem

Give First - December 17, 2020 15:37 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Denise Franklin, angel investor and startup veteran, and husband Jim Franklin, former CEO of SendGrid and University of Colorado Boulder MBA Instructor for VC, unpack the mystery of the Give First ethos, from benefiting from the kindness of others early on in their careers,to using their good fo...

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Janine Davis on Executive Coaching in the Time of COVID

Give First - October 30, 2020 18:59 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Janine Davis began in engineering as a software developer. After 20 years in tech recruitment, she is now an executive coach and is a staunch supporter of the #GiveFirst concept, providing pro bono coaching for founders in the Techstars LA and Techstars Anywhere accelerator programs. As a board ...

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Susan Standiford on the five traits of leadership

Give First - October 02, 2020 14:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Susan Standiford’s impressive career has progressed from “nerdom central” to helping startup companies “create a technology, ethos, and identity” for future growth. Her journey as a technologist has taken her from organizations like Disney Interactive, Travelocity, Oracle, Retek, Rue La La and Z...

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Joy Taylor on taking the concept of Give First to the nth degree

Give First - September 18, 2020 14:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Joy Taylor is a force of nature. Coming from a 20-year career in the banking industry (business development, coaching, and training), she now focuses on ecosystem building in her hometown of Toowoomba, Australia — and around the world. In this episode, Taylor shares her journey with David Cohen ...

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Gus Balbontin on fighting momentum and setting up your own success metric

Give First - September 11, 2020 14:00 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
In this episode, Gus Balbontin speaks with host David Cohen about the dangers of building momentum, and how it’s important for entrepreneurs to “look sideways” to meet new challenges. He tells stories about his own journey, from a small town in Patagonia, South America, battling FOMO (Fear of Mi...

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Semil Shah on turning ideas into reality

Give First - August 28, 2020 15:00 - 22 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Brad Feld talks with Semil Shah, founder of the venture capital fund Haystack, who shares his inspiring founder story. With limited experience in the entrepreneurial world, Semil relied on his mentors to see the potential in him. Seven years later, he continues to pay it forward by helping turn ...

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Chris Schroeder on the power of global entrepreneurship

Give First - August 21, 2020 13:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
In this episode, Chris Schroder opens up with Brad Feld about how a “mind blowing” discovery at a startup convention in the Middle East inspired him to promote global entrepreneurship. With a background in digital technology at The Washington Post and in entrepreneurship as the co-founder of Hea...

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Misti Cain on how to connect during COVID-19

Give First - August 13, 2020 13:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 40 ratings
Misti Cain speaks with David Cohen about her journey from a digital marketing strategist to Techstars Anywhere Accelerator mentor, founder of mentorship platform Whyzze, and host of “Werrrk!,” a business reality show. She explains her best tactics for building important relationships in our chal...

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