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September 08, 2024

First Time Founders: First Time Founders with Ed Elson – This Mother-Daughter Duo Started a Leadership Coaching Platform

Ed speaks with Jordan Taylor and Edith Cooper from Medley, an online platform for group-based leadership development and coaching. They discuss how they dealt with funding challenges and pivoted their business, the importance of mastering “soft skills”, and the struggles and joys of being a mother-daughter team.

August 04, 2024

First Time Founders: First Time Founders with Ed Elson – The AI Company That Codes For You

Ed speaks with Varun Mohan and Jeff Wang from Codeium, an AI code generator. They discuss the importance of being a lean company, how their product stacks up against competitors and why having a level of paranoia has been imperative to their success.

July 07, 2024

First Time Founders: This Founder Raised $900M to Power the Grid

Ed speaks with Mateo Jaramillo, Co-Founder and CEO of Form Energy, an energy storage and manufacturing company. They discuss how his experience at divinity school led him to start the company, what his experience working at Tesla was like, and why innovation in energy storage is so imperative to help save the planet.

May 05, 2024

First Time Founders: This Animal Rights Activist is Changing the Meat Industry

Ed speaks with Paul Shapiro, co-founder and CEO of The Better Meat Co., a food company that makes meat through fermentation. They discuss how Paul’s career in animal advocacy led him to start a company, his advice on fundraising, and why he believes saving animals can help save the planet.

March 03, 2024

First Time Founders: Could this AI Founder Replace Investment Bankers?

Ed speaks with Gabe Stengel, Co-founder and CEO of Rogo, about the potential for AI to disrupt the banking sector. They also discuss Gabe’s experience pitching his financial services AI company to VCs, the importance of willpower, and how he finds balance between work and his personal life.

February 04, 2024

First Time Founders: Why Caroline Spiegel Built an Audio Erotica App

Ed speaks with Caroline Spiegel, founder and CEO of Quinn, an app for listening to audio erotica. They discuss what differentiates her company from existing adult content sites like Pornhub and OnlyFans, what it's like to raise money for a company that VCs might not take seriously, and how to get over embarrassment as a founder.

January 07, 2024

First Time Founders: Tyler Denk of Beehiiv

Ed speaks with Tyler Denk, the founder and CEO of Beehiiv, a newsletter platform. They discuss Tyler’s background at Morning Brew, his thoughts on selling secondary shares, and dealing with personal loss while running a company.

December 03, 2023

First Time Founders: Ryan Petersen of Flexport

Ed speaks with Ryan Petersen, the founder and CEO of Flexport, a supply chain management company. They discuss shipping logistics, the company’s $8 billion valuation, finding fame as an entrepreneur, and how Ryan thinks about money.