Disruptors for GOOD | Social Entrepreneurs and Social Enterprises

In episode 66 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, I speak with Brad Feld, Co-founder of Techstars and the Foundry Group, on turning his entrepreneurial and venture capital journey into global startup communities dedicated to solving complex challenges. Brad Feld is co-founder of the Foundry Group, and has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. Brad previously co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and Techstars, and prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures. Feld was an early investor in Harmonix, Zynga, MakerBot, and Fitbit.A writer and speaker on venture capital investing and entrepreneurship, Brad has written a number of books as part of the Startup Revolution series, and writes the blogs Feld Thoughts and Venture Deals. He currently is chair of the National Center for Women & Information Technology and on the boards of Path Forward, the Kauffman Fellows, and Defy Ventures. Brad holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Management Science from MIT and has completed 25 marathons as part of his mission to finish a marathon in each of the 50 U.S. states.His new book, The Startup Community Way: Evolving an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, is an explanatory guide for startup communities. Rooted in the theory of complex systems, this book establishes the systemic properties of entrepreneurial ecosystems and explains why their complex nature leads people to make predictable mistakes. The Startup Community Way offers practical advice for entrepreneurs, community builders, government officials, and other stakeholders who want to harness the power of entrepreneurship in their city.About the Foundry Group: The Foundry Group helps entrepreneurs and venture capital fund managers turn promising ideas into market-defining and market-leading businesses. They are committed to spreading the Foundry Group ethos through investment activity as well as in the other ways the team engages with the entrepreneurial ecosystem.Listen to more Causeartist podcasts here.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

In episode 65 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, I speak with Garik Himebaugh, founder of Eco-Stylist on going from peace worker, to MBA student, to discovering social entrepreneurship and creating a sustainable fashion marketplace for men.Eco-Stylist is an online marketplace for eco-conscious and ethically made men’s clothing. Founded to answer one simple question: “can sustainable be dapper?” — Eco-Stylist finds you clothes that look as good as the values they represent.Who wants to wear clothes made with child labor and toxic chemicals? Not you. Not us. From organic cotton oxfords to zero waste hats and sunglasses made from recycled plastic bottles, everything at Eco-Stylist is eco-friendly, socially responsible, and ethically sourced.At Eco-Stylist all ethical and sustainable brands are first researched with Remake’s sustainable brand criteria. This framework looks at the brand’s impact on both people and the environment. Through this framework the company thoroughly researches all of the brands on the platform, measuring the brand’s environmental and social impact. Finding sustainably and ethically made clothes can be hard work, Eco-Stylist makes it easy!Things we mention:Partnership with Remake's sustainable criteriaHow Allbirds can do betterOuterknownTaylor StitchAdelante Shoe CoListen to more Causeartist podcasts here.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

In episode 64 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, I speak with Di-Ann Eisnor, CEO of byCore and Co-Founder of Neighborhood Start Fund on selling Waze to Google for $1 billion and bringing the best of Silicon Valley to underserved communities in America. We also speak about her short time at WeWork on building connected cities and lessons learned about toxic company cultures.Di-Ann Eisnor is an entrepreneur and executive who is currently Co-Founder and CEO of Core, a venture-backed construction labor marketplace. Previously, she worked at Waze and later Google for ten years, where she started the US office of Waze in 2009 (acquired by Google in 2013 fro $1 billion), ran growth, business development, and platform. While at Waze, she founded the Connected Citizens Program, which worked with 800 cities and departments of transportation to use data to reduce congestion and improve emergency response times.Di-Ann serves on the board of Saia Inc. and Gray Area Foundation for the Arts. She is a venture partner at Obvious Ventures and is co-founder with Lupe Fiasco of Neighborhood Start Fund, a neighborhood-based micro-fund in underserved urban neighborhoods. She holds a BS in Studio Art and Business Administration from New York University. She is a 2014 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.About byCore: byCore is infrastructure for the construction workforce of the future. The company is creating a new kind of marketplace to help workers; find instant matches to the best jobs, improve their skills and access tools and equipment. byCore is arming the trades with the data, tools, network and resources to have more consistent, higher paying work while offering general contractors and subs reliable friction-free talent and workforce management.About Neighborhood Start Fund: Neighborhood Start Fund was founded by Lupe Fiasco and Di-Ann Eisnor to turn ideas into start-ups. We need more diverse entrepreneurs bringing fresh ideas and new innovations to life.About Obvious Ventures: Obvious Ventures brings experience, capital, and focus to startups combining profit and purpose for a better world.Listen to more Causeartist podcasts here.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

In episode 63 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, I speak with Ruben Harris, Founder and CEO of Career Karma, on using Software Development Bootcamps to re-skill America and make high paying tech jobs accessible to all individuals and communities.Over the past couple of years, Ruben has worked with academics, organizers, politicians, and union leaders at Hustle, Honor and AltSchool focused on improving their personalized outreach, healthcare and education.Ruben began his technology career working in Partnerships and Sales after writing a viral blog post called Breaking Into Startups about how moved to San Francisco without a job and landed a position 3 weeks later.After receiving thousands of e-mails asking how to break into tech, Ruben Co-Founded the Breaking Into Startups Podcast to demystify the process, resulting in a social media reach of ~3 million people, 200,000+ downloads, 10,000+ website visits per month, over 100+ reviews on iTunes, a Facebook Community of 10,000+ people, and invitations to be a Contributor for TechCrunch and Black Enterprise.Prior to working in tech, Ruben worked as an Investment Banker focused on Food, Consumer, and Retail companies in Chicago and Atlanta. As a member of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, he recruited others to focus on issues related to food security, climate change, and agriculture.Career Karma is a member of Y Combinator's 2019 class and since then has been helping people that want to become software engineers by matching them with the right coding bootcamp and supporting them throughout their careers. Hundreds of millions of people will need to change jobs in the coming years. Career Karma gives them a placement quiz and gets them accepted at coding bootcamps and other training programs. With income-sharing agreements growing in popularity, plenty of job skill providers will be willing to pay to enroll the highest potential students.Another epic initiative by Ruben and his team is their current Reskill America campaign. Covid - 19 has left over 42 million Americans without jobs over the last few weeks — disproportionately impacting low - income communities, women, and people of color.The company is partnering with Diversity & Inclusion leaders and organizations to leverage the platform towards raising over $500,000 and giving away thousands of laptops to these communities impacted by Covid-19.Mentioned in this episode:State of the Bootcamp Market Report 2020Income Share Agreements (ISAs) – State of the Market 2019FlockJaySVAcademy Kapor CenterListen to more Causeartist podcasts here.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

In episode 62 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, I speak with Joe Demin and Rachel Connor, Co-Founders of Yellow Leaf Hammocks on their social enterprise journey from selling hammocks out of a van to getting a $1 million investment on Shark Tank.This is a fantastic conversation with two founders who bootstrapped their social enterprise for years, created design innovations, and created sustainable impact.Years of hard work and dedication led to a $1 million investment from the founder of KIND Snacks, Daniel Lubetzky.Founded by husband and wife Joe Demin and Rachel Connors, Yellow Leaf is a lifestyle brand focused on relaxation and driven by positive impact. Yellow Leaf makes products that empower people to practice daily relaxation and to live their best, most stress-free lives. The brand’s first product is a line of hammocks that are impeccably handwoven, shockingly soft, and technically engineered for extreme comfort. Best of all, Yellow Leaf is committed to creating high-wage jobs for women in rural Thailand who weave each hammock by hand. The team’s goal is to empower artisans to lift their families from poverty to the middle class.Listen to more Causeartist podcasts here.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

In episode 61 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, I speak with David Simnick, CEO and Co-Founder of Soapbox Soaps on the decade long journey to donate 10 million hygiene products to those in need and the power of conscious consumers and impact brands.Dave Simnick is the CEO and co-founder of SoapBox Soaps, a company whose mission is empower customers with the ability to change the world through everyday, quality purchases. SoapBox products are currently shelved in tens of thousands of stores across the United States and beyond.As an Eagle Scout, Dave’s dream was to found for-profit companies with a social mission at their core. Since then, he has worked as either an intern or consultant to USAID, the U.S. Army, Michelle Rhee, the U.S. Senate, and was a Teach for America educator in Northern Philadelphia.Dave’s got a house full of notebooks; he doesn’t like to let ideas get away from him. Give him any concept, and Dave will start tinkering with it. He’s worked on various sides of the startup industry: helping companies expand, getting the ball rolling with funding and publicity, making connections, and putting ideas together from the ground up. For every product sold, the company gives back through bar soaps, health, and hygiene initiatives in communities both domestically and around the globe. Track your impact with your Hope Code at soapboxsoaps.com/hope.Soapbox products reach the everyday consumer with the mission to change the world through quality purchases. All products are all made in the USA, with 100% recyclable packaging, and the products are sold in stores like Target, Marcs, Meijer, Walgreens, Rite Aid and thousands of other retailers across the nation.Soapbox won NEXTY Editors'​ "Choice Award” for Beauty and Natural Living in 2014, “Best Body Wash of the Year” at the 2014 Beauty & Body Awards by Delicious Living, Delicious Living Bathroom Staple 2015, and the “Sherbrooke Capital Entrepreneurship Award” in recognition of Excellence in Innovation. Soapbox's co-founder was a finalist in 2015 for Entrepreneur of the Year and the company made the list of Most Entrepreneurial Companies, both sponsored by Entrepreneur Magazine. Lastly, the company is also a Game Changers 500 member and certified BCorp.Listen to more Causeartist podcasts here.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

In episode 60 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, I speak with Daniel Lloyd, Founder and President of Minority Millennials, an innovative organization that works to represent Minorities & Millennials in policies that impact America's future.The vision of the organization is to help ensure that the minority millennial and future generations of America are provided the proper human capital investment needed-to move towards a more economically, culturally, and socially sustainable future.The organization was founded in 2017 by Daniel Lloyd & Andrew Ayodeji as a tool to bridge the gap between policy & culture on Long Island, NY. With a mission to represent Minorities & Millennials in policies that impact our future. We accomplish this by empowering the Minority Millennial generation and those thereafter with POLICY changes that remove obstacles to attaining and maintaining success. We work to develop ideas that solve problems in our community, create a shared consciousness of environments that promotes innovation and advocate for an inclusive and equitable quality education, healthcare and economic opportunities.Minority Millennials train and educate new leadership and develop initiatives to build wealth, home ownership and political equity for the sustainability of our country. The organization provides forums for minorities & millennials to network, problem solve, and obtain advice on critical issues facing their professional & personal development. Members benefit from our committees, educational programs, career resources, research capabilities, mentoring opportunities, and business advisory services.Listen to more Causeartist podcasts here.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

In episode 59 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, I speak with Rebecca van Bergen, Founder and Executive Director of Nest, a nonprofit building a new handworker economy to advance global workforce inclusivity, women’s wellbeing beyond factories, and cultural preservation.She graduated with her Masters Degree in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2006, the same year that Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in microfinance.Following her passion to turn craft, the 2nd largest employer of women globally, into a means to correct the gender and income imbalance in our world, she founded Nest at age 24.Rebecca’s accolades include being a Draper Richards Kaplan Social Entrepreneur, a Cordes Fellow, and recipient of the Ashoka and C&A Foundation’s 2016 Fabric of Change Award for innovation in fashion sustainability (received recently at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit). She is a Levi Strauss & Co. Collaboratory Fellow, Draper Richards Kaplan Fellow, and has been spotlighted by the New York mayor’s office as an NYC Catalyst.She was selected as one of twelve of GLG’s 2015 Social Impact fellows and received Clinton Global Initiative complimentary membership in 2015 and 2016. Rebecca is regularly quoted in international media stories for The New York Times, NPR, Quartz, The Guardian, ELLE, Glamour, and more.She has been honored as a PBS “Changemaker,” CNN’s Young Person Who Rocks, and one of the White House's’ Top 100 Entrepreneurial Enterprises led by a young person.Listen to more Causeartist podcast here.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

In episode 58 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, I speak with Daniel Epstein, founder of Unreasonable on his long journey of building his impact portfolio of companies and supporting over 200 entrepreneurs who have raised more than $4B in financing, generated over $3B in revenue, and are impacting the lives of more than 400M individuals across 180+ countries.Daniel has been named by Fortune Magazine as one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders, Daniel’s life has been shaped by a fundamental belief that entrepreneurship is the answer to nearly all the issues we face today. By the time he received his undergraduate degree in philosophy, he’d already started three companies. In addition to being on FORTUNE's "the World's 50 Greatest Leaders" list alongside the likes of Bill Gates & Tim Cook, Daniel was awarded Inc. Magazine's “30 under 30 entrepreneur”, and Forbes identified him as one of the “top 30 most impactful entrepreneurs.” He also received the prestigious “Entrepreneur of the World” award along with Richard Branson & the President of Liberia at the Global Entrepreneurship Forum.Daniel’s unfettered belief in entrepreneurs led to him founding and being the CEO of Unreasonable. Unreasonable is dedicated to supporting growth-equity entrepreneurs positioned to bend history in the right direction. Part investment firm, part media house, and most importantly a global community, Unreasonable partners with multinational institutions and revered brands to align them with impactful growth-stage entrepreneurs. Today Unreasonable actively supports over 200 entrepreneurs who have raised more than $4B in financing, generated over $3B in revenue, and are impacting the lives of more than 400M individuals across 180+ countries.Daniel speaks frequently on topics ranging from how multinationals and governments can better work with disruptive technologies, to working with public companies on how to create a worldclass and entrepreneurial culture across their employees, to the future of capitalism and our ability to profitably solve the most pressing challenges of this century. Daniel has given keynotes across more than 30 countries, has spoken at the White House, the UN General Assembly, in front of audiences larger than ten thousand, as part of annual corporate events and in closed door sessions with Fortune 50 executives and their boards of directors. He personally advises CEO's of multinationals on how to become more entrepreneurial and works with multi-billion dollar family offices on creating a new type of financial legacy with their investments — producing above market rate returns while combatting societal & environmental challenges.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

In episode 57 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, I speak with Robert Luo, founder of Mi Terro, on his biotech company that created protein fiber from milk waste that could revolutionize two of the largest industries in the world.Robert Luo first came face to face with the gargantuan issue of dairy waste during a visit to his uncle’s dairy farm in China where he discovered buckets and buckets of spoilt milk.He thus founded Mi Terro, a biotechnology company that reengineers leftover milk into sustainable fibers that can replace plastic in the fashion, medical and packaging industries.Mi Terro rescues excess milk from its dairy farm partners, skims it to remove fats before dewatering it to turn the liquid into powdered milk. It is then dissolved once again and purified to remove the bacteria, or the so-called ‘bad’ casein, from expired or spoiled milk. Casein makes up 80% of milk protein.Luo considers costs and material performance as the two key challenges for sustainable clothing brands. Raw materials touted as more sustainable, such as bamboo or Tencel, are still more expensive to produce compared to petroleum-based fibers or cotton. In addition, production oil-based or petrochemical textiles are sweat-absorbent, long-lasting, and have a stretchiness that eco-friendly fabrics often don’t.The responsible start-up claims to have addressed these issues by producing a fiber that’s moisture-wicking, durable, and cheaper to produce compared to organic cotton.Listen to more Causeartist podcasts here.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.