The Jess Larsen Show on Innovation & Leadership

Sankaet is the CEO of Synapse, a fin tech company that reached a $1 billion valuation last year. In this episode he and Jess discuss appetite for risk and tech in its renaissance, product market fit, the importance of becoming an expert in your industry and building great teams early, as well as articulating vision, mission and values of the company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gaurav has built 2 companies from 0 to $500 million and invested as an early stage venture capitalist in 20 businesses that went public for over a billion each and 2 others who were acquired privately for over a billion each.He has appeared on the Midas list for his work as an investor and sits on the boards of 15+ companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George shares his experience managing a Fund from Chicago that has a portfolio of companies across multiple continents ranging from Artificial Intelligence, Software, Aerospace, Oil & Gas, Manufacturing, Engineering Services, Investment Banking, and HR Solutions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After originally co-founding and growing to $100m in annual recurring revenue, Kaz has now rejoined Treasure Data as CEO, together with Hironobu Yoshikawa (Chairman) and Dan Weirich (COO/CFO). On the journey to scale the company to $1b ARR, as a Softbank Vision Fund portfolio company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brendan authored the best selling books One Million Followers: How I Built a Massive Social Audience in 30 Days and Hook Point: How to Stand out in a 3-Second WorldHe most recently developed The Hook Point Guide to Going Viral and talks to Jess about how to cut through the 200 billion messages per day that go out on mobile and social media so that your organization's message actually reaches your ideal audience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chip’s entrepreneurial and apparel career began on the West Coast in 1979 as Founder & CEO of Westbeach Snowboarding Ltd. After selling Westbeach in 1997, he founded lululemon athletica inc. in 2018, creating an entirely new category of technical apparel now called “athleisure” - a $400 billion global industry. Lululemon went public in 2007, and has a current market cap of approximately $41 billion.Chip Wilson is a serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, devoted husband and dedicated father to five sons. He creates possibilities for people to live longer, healthier, more fun lives in his pursuit to elevate the world from mediocrity to greatness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Starting her career as an Oakland Raiderette, professional NFL Cheerleader, Anjelah Johnson pursued her dream of acting and became an internet sensation with over 100 million views of her viral video, “Nail Salon” which led to many stand-up, television, and film opportunities.Anjelah signed a record deal with Warner Bros. Records to release a full album titled, “Gold Plated Dreams”, which She’s toured twice selling out both times. In June 2009 Anjelah recorded her first one-hour special for Comedy Central and Warner Bros followed by 3 more specials picked up by Netflix and Hulu.Anjelah resides in Los Angeles with her husband and continues to act and tour the country with her sold-out comedy shows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Turbow is the bestselling author of four books. His most recent, Still Alright, released in June, is a collaborative autobiography of Kenny Loggins. His other three are They Bled Blue about the LA Dodgers; Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic about the Oakland A’s; and The Baseball Codes He has written for publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated and Wired. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charlie O'Donnell is one of only a dozen individuals to be named to Business Insider's 100 Most Influential People in NY Tech 5x or more.He has been an active member of the NYC startup community for nearly 20 years, with a reputation of being the most accessible early stage investor in New York.Charlies fund, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, has made over 70 investments since it was founded, making it one of the most active funds investing in pre-seed and seed rounds in the city.Notable First Round's investments include:  GroupMe (acq. by Skype),  SinglePlatform (acq. by Constant Contact),  Moat (acq. by Oracle) and  Backupify (acq. by Datto) He served on the founding board of the New York Tech Meetup and is one of the group's first 100 members. His blog, This is Going to Be BIG!, is one of the ten most widely read VC blogs in the country. He has spoken at SXSW and Techcrunch Disrupt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Clark shares with Jess the difference between success and significance, how having a midlife crisis at 23 impacted on creating a legacy and living a life with significance and he reflects on the importance of scheduling "me time" and focusing on the present. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices