Business for Good Podcast

Welcome to our first-ever episode taped before a live audience! That's right, episode 77 was taped on-stage at the Cultured Meat Symposium in San Francisco before a live audience, and now you get to be a part of it. This is a story of two people who despite not having experience in the cultivated meat space felt so strongly about building a community around it that they started their own podcast, called Cultured Meat and Future Foods, their own conference, the Cultured Meat Symposium, and are now working on a children's book about cultivated meat together as well.

There's already plant-based pet food, but what about growing actual animal meat for all of our carnivorous best friends? The company featured in this episode, Because Animals, is trying to do just that. And they're starting with cultivated mouse meat for your cat. That's right: cats have been eating mice for millenia, but just maybe they're about to start eating cultivated mice. Because Animals debuted what they call their Harmless Hunt Mouse Meat Cookies at a recent pet industry conference, and in this episode, we hear all about those very special cookies.

In 2019, two friends were both working in the alt-protein sector, one at the Good Food Institute and the other at Eat Just. Even though Aylon Steinhart and Thomas Bowman were both doing great things to advance the animal-free protein movement, they wondered if they should try their own hands at co-founding a food tech start-up that would put cows out to pasture and mimic dairy with plants. After serious deliberation, they both left their secure jobs to team up and found Eclipse Foods. A couple years and $15M of investment later, Eclipse is expanding, is now in Northern California Whole Foods Market locations, and is pushing the boundaries of what counts as great dairy-free ice cream. They're pushing so hard, in fact, that as you'll hear in this episode, a recent blind taste test of more than a dozen people at The Better Meat Co. found that a plurality preferred Eclipse over two other brands: Oatly and Forager. It's a compelling tale of how two friends banded together to create something out of nothing in their effort to build a more humane and sustainable food industry that's just as sweet—without relying on the exploitation of animals.

It's not every day that hard-nosed financial journalists write about our ethical obligations to animals, let alone do they devote an entire book to the topic. Yet that's exactly what Financial Times journalist Henry Mance has done. In his new book, How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World, Henry takes his readers on a wild ride through our relationship with animals, including getting a job working at a slaughterhouse himself. Henry repeatedly weaves personal experiences like this one into his narrative, while also making prescriptions for a bold reshaping of the parts of our economy that currently involve animal exploitation. In this episode we chat about everything from whether moral persuasion can work without technological advances, what can be done to reduce demand for animal-based meat, what the financial implication of Henry's prescriptions would be, and more.

Whether we like it or not, one fact of modern living is that every day we're creating greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution. But should our final act on the earthly stage also necessitate one last pollutive hurrah? Katrina Spade is on a mission to offer a better way to deal with human corpses, and it involves a process called natural organic reduction. It's essentially a fancy way of saying she's invented a method of accelerated composting for your body. Rather than cremating your corpse, which involves substantial pollution, and rather than burial, which typically means sealing your body off from nature with concrete liners, hermetically sealed caskets, preservatives in your body, and more, Katrina wants to turn your body into healthy, rich soil, within just one month. After founding Recompose, Katrina helped change laws in three states now (Washington, Oregon, and Colorado) to allow her method, and has already opened an operational human composting facility in Seattle. In addition to dozens of composts completed, they have nearly 1,000 paying customers who've already pre-ordered their own composting, just in the same way you might pre-order a plot in a cemetery. So far Recompose has raised about $12 million from investors (including author Margaret Atwood!) and is just getting started in their effort to empower you to give nutrients back to the planet when you're done with your body.

Sure, diamonds—including lab-grown—may be forever. But does plastic also have to be? Not so, according to Kristin Taylor, CEO of Radical Plastics. After a multi-decade career in the plastic industry, including working at a small company you may have heard of called ExxonMobil, Kristin decided to take the entrepreneurial plunge and form her own startup, Radical Plastics, to help plastic manufacturers make their conventional plastics actually biodegradable. Radical Plastics is essentially asking the question: what if all that plastic lining our highways or floating in the ocean would actually biodegrade? That's the promise of the technology that they're pioneering. They've discovered a mineral concoction that when added during the manufacturing of conventional plastic—at even less than one percent—will eventually convert that plastic into food that microbes will recognize and eat. In other words, they can make conventional plastic, once it's in the environment, actually biodegrade. It's an exciting story, and one that just might reduce humanity's footprint on the rest of the planet.

Doni Curkendall was born and raised in Mexico, came to the US as a seven-year-old, and when she entered the workforce started as a receptionist at Goodwill. As the years went on, Doni was continually promoted, got her MBA, and eventually was a Vice President at Goodwill overseeing more than 200 employees. But two and a half years ago, as fate would have it, Doni and I began exploring whether Doni could help run my own then-one-year-old, The Better Meat Co. For the past 2+ years, I've often said that I may be the face of our company, but Doni is the backbone, serving as our Executive Vice President and overseeing all of our operations and logistics. She's truly integral to the enterprise, and in this episode, Doni shares her secrets about what she's looking for in job applicants, what the transition from nonprofit exec to scrappy startup has been like, how she thinks about compensation packages in Startupland, and more. It's a compelling insider look at startup life, so listen up, and I'm sure you'll be as impressed with Doni as I am. Discussed in this episode Past episodes with Goodwill Industries, Your Choice birth control, and Toni Okamoto. Doni has been inspired by Maurice Hilleman. Doni recommends both How I Built This and Radiolab. More about Doni Curkendall Doni's driving passion in life is to use the power of business to help solve social problems. Before serving as the Executive Vice President of The Better Meat Co., as VP of Operations of Goodwill Industries of Sacramento Valley and Northern Nevada, Doni worked to help people with disadvantages achieve self-sufficiency. By the end of her nine years at Goodwill, she was managing operations for $10 million in annual revenue and oversaw a team of 250 employees. She earned her MBA from California State University, during which time she also served as a career mentor for Women's Empowerment, an organization helping homeless women gain meaningful employment. In her spare time, Doni reads Spanish literature, hikes with her dog Penny Lane, and, as her dog's name implies, loves listening to The Beatles.

You've probably heard of Beyond Meat's big IPO and their success as a publicly traded company. Sure, they were the first plant-based meat company to go public, but are you aware that The Very Good Food Co. is the second? As you'll hear in this episode, what started just a few years ago as a dude selling his own plant-based concoctions at a farmers market on a Canadian island has turned into a publicly traded company with a $300M market cap. In between was a kickstarter, a plant-based butcher shop, an appearance on the Canadian version of Shark Tank (Dragon's Den), and more. The Very Good Food Co is now selling a wide array of butcher-type plant-based meats throughout North America, they acquired a plant-based cheese company, they just opened a new production factory in California, and recently posted their first million-dollar month. Their CEO Michelle Scott here discusses their journey, when they'll be at price parity with conventional meat, labeling challenges, and more. It's an impressive story, and one that just might inspire you to follow in their footsteps. Discussed in this episode Mitchell discusses books like The Lean Startup and Clean Meat. Paul recommends Shoe Dog, Conscious Capitalism, and The Charisma Myth. Paul discusses his plant-based turducken, the Fieldyondible! More about Mitchell Scott Mitchell Scott is the CEO of The Very Good Food Co., the world's second plant-based meat IPO. The company has seen substantial success since its flotation in the Canadian stock market in 2021. The Very Good Food Co. designs, develops, produces, distributes, and sells a variety of plant-based meat and other food alternatives. Mitchell has a passion for building world class companies that leave a positive impact on the planet. His mission is to employ plant-based food technology to create products that are delicious while maintaining a wholesome nutritional profile. They've launched the Very Good Cheese Co with more lines of products coming in the near future.

So often you hear about start-ups that raise millions or even tens of millions of dollars from venture capitalists before beginning to generate revenue and start making a dent in the marketplace. That is very far from the story of our guest in this episode. Meet Deborah Torres, founder and CEO of Atlas Monroe, a start-up making plant-based fried chicken. As you'll hear, a chance encounter with a stranger in a supermarket led Deborah to become vegan, which ultimately transitioned her whole family into a plant-based lifestyle. Pretty soon Deborah was making her own plant-based fried chicken, and people really liked it, leading her to offer it as a one-off at a VegFest in Chicago. Well, one thing led to another, and the next thing you know Atlas Monroe won the best chicken at the National Fried Chicken Festival. That's not just best vegan fried chicken--that's the best fried chicken of all the fried chicken offered at this festival. As the company's fame grew, Deborah found herself on Shark Tank being offered a million dollars to buy her newly formed company, an offer she promptly rejected. Today, just a couple years later, Atlas Monroe operates its own factory, is on track to bring in $5M in revenue in 2021, and just keeps expanding. Amazingly, Deborah has achieved all this without ever taking outside investment, and she continues to own 100% of her company. It's an inspirational tale of an entrepreneur bootstrapping her way to success. Discussed in this episode You can watch the Atlas Monroe pitch on Shark Tank (best viewed at 0.5x speed since this clip is sped up) Deborah recommends exploring Small Business Association loans and Lendistry The Simply Raw documentary had a profound impact on Deborah's family Paul ate Atlas Monroe chicken from Pure Soul in Sacramento Clean Eating magazine's interview with Deborah Torres More about Deborah Torres Deborah Torres is the founder and CEO of the world's largest vegan fried chick'n manufacturer - ATLAS MONROE. Atlas Monroe was the first and only vegan company to be invited to the National Fried Chicken Festival and was named best fried chicken dish out of all the conventional chicken by Time Magazine's Extra Crispy. Atlas Monroe was also featured on ABC's hit show, Shark Tank, in a viral episode where Ms. Torres turned down $1 million dollars from Mark Cuban and Rohan Oza. Atlas Monroe has been featured on Yahoo!, Black Enterprise, NBC, VegNews, AfroTech, Clean Eating Magazine, Medium, Forbes, Plant Based News, LiveKindly, and more. Now this plant-based production company has recently acquired a multi-million dollar manufacturing facility and their products are sold and shipped nationwide. In addition to delectable plant-based fried chick'n products the company also specializes in all vegan, non-gmo, plant-based bacon, apple wood-fired ribs, deep fried and stuffed turkeys, signature sauces, decadent cakes, and much more mouthwatering items.

How often do you use Google's services? If you're like me, it's many times per hour. So you may think you know all about Google.com. But how much do you know about Google.org? In short, Google.org is the company's foundation that gives away $200M a year in grants both to social enterprise startups and to nonprofit organizations seeking to use technology to advance their missions. For all you startup founders out there, note that these are dilution-free non-equity grants, or essentially free money as opposed to investments, so listen up. And in this episode, we've got Google.org's director of product impact, Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink. In it, she tells us about what kinds of companies and charities they support and why, and she discusses what kinds of grant applications she wishes they saw more of. For example, we hear about Google.org's work to collect emissions data and make it public, to put up eco-acoustic sensors in rainforests to help catch those who are poaching or deforesting, and even just to give money to those in developing countries who need it the most. So take a listen and just maybe you'll be working with Brigitte and Google.org yourself in the near future. Discussed in this episode WattTime: Tech solutions to automate emissions reduction. Carbon Tracker: Aligning markets to shift investment away from fossil fuels. Climate Trace: Publicizing the sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Rainforest Connection: Using eco-acoustics to prevent poaching and deforestation. Give Directly: Giving money directly to those who need it. Brigitte recommends reading both Just Mercy and Chasing the Flame. Google.org's climate podcast, which you can find here. More about Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink is Head of Product Impact at Google.org, where she leads initiatives that leverage emerging technologies and Google's expertise to address global challenges. She is currently focused on how AI can be used for social impact through efforts like the $25M Google AI Impact Challenge. She previously led programs focused on how technology can improve global education, innovation for people with disabilities, and crisis response. Prior to Google.org, Brigitte was a strategy consultant for nonprofits and foundations at The Bridgespan Group and worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development and International Relief and Development, focusing on innovative approaches in post-conflict transitions. She has an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BS in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia.