Luminate

23/06/2024

Today’s guest is Brian Lee, a rock-star serial entrepreneur. Brian has cofounded several companies worth over a billion dollars each, such as Legalzoom with Robert Shapiro, The Honest Company with Jessica Alba, ShoeDazzle with Kim Kardashian and Arena Club with baseball legend Derek Jeter.

Brian is also the cofounder and managing partner of BAM Ventures, an early-stage VC firm. Brian wrote the first investment check into Honey, which went on to sell to PayPal for $4 billion.

In this episode, we dive into:

– The stories of how LegalZoom, ShoeDazzle, The Honest Company and Arena Club came to fruition.

– The secret sauce behind celebrity partnerships

– How Brian made his transition into VC venture capital

– The types of founders that VCs want to invest in

Today’s guest is Brian Lee, a rock-star serial entrepreneur. Brian has cofounded several companies worth over a billion dollars each, such as Legalzoom with Robert Shapiro, The...

01/06/2024

Today’s guest is Magnus Grimeland, founder and CEO of Antler, one of the world’s largest day zero investor. Antler’s pre-seed strategy canvasses 27 countries, more than 1000+ portfolio companies, 8,000+ founders, and over 220,000 annual applications for 2,000 spots in its residency programs.

Magnus previously co-founded Zalora, Southeast Asia’s largest fashion e-commerce company. It was later acquired by Global Fashion Group (GFG), where Magnus served as COO and Managing Director, rolling out the firm’s marketplace across 26 countries.

In this conversation, we discuss all Magnus has learned reviewing thousands of applications to Antler, interviewing countless new entrepreneurs, and watch young companies begin to grow and, occasionally, find product market fit.

Today’s guest is Magnus Grimeland, founder and CEO of Antler, one of the world’s largest day zero investor. Antler’s pre-seed strategy canvasses 27 countries, more than 1000+...

21/05/2024

Today’s guest is Emily Hikade, founder and CEO of the luxury sleepwear brand Petite Plume.

Emily launched Petite Plume in 2015 and it has been profitable since its first year. The company has also doubled its revenue every year since launch, and it has reached almost $100 million in revenue. Petite Plume pajamas are coveted by the Royal Family, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anderson Cooper, Miranda Kerr, and Kourtney Kardashian, just to name a few.

Prior to founding Petite Plume, Emily worked for the CIA as an operations officer in the Clandestine Service for nearly two decades.

Today's guest is Emily Hikade, founder and CEO of the luxury sleepwear brand Petite Plume. Emily launched Petite Plume in 2015 and it has been profitable since its first year...

12/05/2024

This week we're joined by Emmanuel Straschnov, founder and co-CEO of Bubble, a platform that empowers users to create powerful web apps without writing code.

To date, Emmanuel has raised over $106 million for the company from the likes of Insight Partners, SignalFire, and Box Group, to name a few.

In this episode, we dive into the early days of Bubble with Emmanuel, how he bootstrapped for 7 years. We then discuss his pricing strategy, and a lot more.

Emmanuel Straschnov is the cofounder and co-CEO of Bubble, a platform that empowers users to create powerful web apps without writing code. To date, Emmanuel has raised over...

23/04/2024

Today’s guest is Larry Gadea, founder and CEO of Envoy. Envoy is a workplace platform that helps companies welcome visitors, keep employees safe, book desks and conference rooms, and manage deliveries in over 16,000 locations around the globe.

To date, Larry has raised over $170 million for Envoy from a16z, Menlo Ventures, Brookfield Growth, Marc Benioff, Elad Gil to name a few.

Prior to Envoy, Larry started his career as a software engineer at 17, having been recruited by Google out of high school. He later joined X (formerly Twitter) as one of the early people driving its ability to scale.

In today’s episode, we talk about Larry experiences at Google and Twitter and to better understand what pain points Envoy was trying to solve. We also talk about Larry on leadership lessons scaling Envoy to a billion-dollar company, what it takes to manage the board effectively, and so much more.

Today’s guest is Larry Gadea, founder and CEO of Envoy. Envoy is a workplace platform that helps companies welcome visitors, keep employees safe, book desks and conference...

09/04/2024

Today’s guest is Daniel Goleman, one of the world’s leading experts on the science of emotion. He is also known as the father of the emotional intelligence.

Daniel is the author of Emotional Intelligence, a blockbuster book that sold more than 5 million copies in about 40 languages.

In this episode, Lan Anh talks to Daniel about why emotional intelligence matters, how science demonstrates that emotional intelligence matters far more than IQ, how we can enhance and manage our emotions to expand our brain capacity, and gives actionable tips about how we can learn emotional intelligence.

Today's guest is Daniel Goleman, one of the world’s leading experts on the science of emotion. Daniel is the author of Emotional Intelligence, a blockbuster book that sold more...

29/01/2024

Today’s guest is Isabelle Freidheim, founder and managing partner of Athena Capital, a technology fund that focuses on bringing high-performing, mission-driven companies to the market.

Isabelle is the youngest female chairman of a publicly traded company in the U.S. Under her leadership, Athena has raised more than $1.2 billion.

During this interview, Isabelle shares her personal and career journey, from VC to entrepreneur. We then discuss S**Cs in-depth, how they work, why some companies would prefer to IPO through a S**C rather than the traditional IPO process, and much more.

Today’s guest is Isabelle Freidheim, founder and managing partner of Athena Capital, a technology fund that focuses on bringing high-performing, mission-driven companies to the...

28/01/2024

Today’s guest is Liz Elting, cofounder and former CEO of TransPerfect, the world’s largest language solutions company, with over $1.1 billion in revenue and offices in more than 100 cities worldwide.

Liz has been recognized as a NOW Woman of Power & Influence, American Express’ and Entrepreneur magazine’s Woman of the Year, and one of Forbes’ Richest Self-Made Women every year since the list’s inception. Liz is also the bestselling author of “Dream Big and Win: Translating Passion into Purpose and Creating a Billion-Dollar Business”.

In this episode, we discuss how Liz came up with the idea for TransPerfect, how she built and scaled a billion-dollar company without taking any outside funding. We also discuss the power of setting goals and taking action, and the role that partnerships play in your success.

Listen here: https://onluminate.com/liz-elting/

02/01/2024

Kim Scott, who is the author of the revolutionary New York Times bestsellers Radical Candor and Just Work. She co-founded two companies that help organizations put the ideas in her books into practice. Kim was a CEO coach at Dropbox, Qualtrics, Twitter, and other tech companies.

On this episode, Kim talks about how to develop real, human relationships at work by caring personally and challenging directly. Kim also shares tips on how to start implementing radical candor.

Today’s guest is Kim Scott, who is the author of the revolutionary New York Times bestsellers Radical Candor and Just Work. She co-founded two companies that help organizations...

27/12/2023

In 2001, Campbell's Soup was in freefall: the company's value had halved and employee engagement was at an all time low. Doug Conant knew he could salvage the iconic company, but first, things were going to have to get worse. How he used self-taught leadership, diversity, and inclusion to energize his employees and save Campbell's.

Today’s guest is Doug Conant, an internationally respected business leader. Doug served as the President of Nabisco from 1999-2001, served a decade as President and CEO of The...

26/12/2023

Hristo Borisov, cofounder and CEO at Payhawk, a financial system that combines credit cards, payments, expenses, and cash into one integrated experience.

Hristo has raised over $236 million with Payhawk from Lightspeed Ventures, Greenoaks, QED investors, and many more. Today, Payhawk is valued at US$1 billion, making it the first Bulgarian startup to achieve Unicorn status.

In this episode, we talk about his founding of Payhawk, the challenges he encountered as an entrepreneur, lessons learned from scaling Payhawk into 32 countries, and much more.

Today’s guest is Hristo Borisov, cofounder and CEO at Payhawk, a financial system that combines credit cards, payments, expenses, and cash into one integrated experience...

11/12/2023

In this episode, I am joined by Hap Klopp, Founder and former CEO of The North Face, one of the world's leading outdoor apparel brands. Growing up in Washington, Hap was drawn to the outdoors and exploration. His family had a company in which Hap later took over and sold following his years at Stanford University.

Following Stanford, Hap realized he didn't fit in corporate business, after numerous interviews requiring dress code and for his real name, "Kenneth" to be used, rather than Hap. He then went on to use the money left from the family business, to purchase a number of existing outdoor product stores, on the west coast. These stores began to expand as they transitioned to become The North Face, and manufactured their own products. From the start, Hap's vision with The North Face was to replace existing clothing with better insulated and lightweight material, that would ultimately allow for further exploration.

Today’s guest is Hap Klopp, founder and former CEO of The North Face, one of the world's biggest apparel companies. Hap was CEO of The North Face for 20 years. During that time...

11/12/2023

Basecamp CEO and co-founder Jason Fried gives us a peek behind the scenes of his company and discusses his philosophy on doing great work, making a positive difference, and learning to breathe in the fast paced culture of today’s workplace.

Today’s guest is Jason Fried, one of the pioneers in software as a service (SaaS). Jason is the Co-Founder and CEO at 37signals, makers of Basecamp and HEY. He’s also the...

28/08/2023

Rahul Vohra, founder and CEO of Superhuman, the world's fastest email.

To date, Rahul has raised over $108 million from some of the best in the business including a16z, IVP, First Round, Tiger Global Management and from celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher, Will Smith and Arianna Huffington.

Rahul previously founded Rapportive, a much-loved product that added social profiles to Gmail; it became the first Gmail plugin to scale to millions of users, kickstarted a whole ecosystem of email enhancements, and was ultimately acquired by LinkedIn.

In this episode, we talk about Rahul entrepreneurial journey, how he founded Superhuman. We then discuss how to measure product market fit, and why you have to figure out positioning before pricing.

28/08/2023

John Kim is the co-founder and CEO of Sendbird, the number 1 in app chat API. Last year, Sendbird became a unicorn startup with a billion-dollar valuation. But for John, it’s not about milestones–it’s the journey.

In this episode, John talks about his career journey, how he went from no. 1 pro gamer to a serial tech entrepreneur. John also shares his leadership insights about core values, setting expectations, the biggest mistakes founders make in the hiring process, and much more. John packs quite a punch in this interview and you are going to get a ton of insight from him.

Episode link: https://onluminate.com/john-kim/

28/08/2023

At the age of 25, Felix has already built a billion dollar company.

Felix Ohswald is the co-founder and CEO of GoStudent, Europe’s first Edtech unicorn. GoStudent is a company that provides tailored, high quality video-based tuition for students of all school levels and for all school subjects.

And if that's not enough, Felix is also an investor on TV show “2 Minutes, 2 Millions”, Austria’s equivalent of “Shark Tank”.

In this episode, Felix talks about the inspiration behind GoStudent, how to manage rapid growth, lessons on leadership and much more.

Episode link: https://onluminate.com/felix-ohswald/