#108 - Starting a Business in your 20s with Lara Hodgson

Fred Hoch is a consummate builder. Throughout his career, Fred has worked with thousands of technology companies to drive their growth through strategic insight partnered with a keen focus on execution. Hoch is the Founder and General Partner of Chicago’s TechNexus Venture Collaborative, a venture investment company building ecosystems to drive insight and growth. Through a unique alignment of relationships and partnerships, leading corporations leverage the platform to align, invest in and collaborate with ventures to transform business models and ultimately innovate. An outgrowth of one of the most successful startup incubators in the country in the past decade, TechNexus has emerged as one of the most active venture investors globally. He has an eclectic entrepreneurial background that includes startups, evangelism, the birth of SaaS, and associations with a bit of international affairs thrown in for good measure. He uses the entire spectrum of these experiences, and a dose of sarcasm,  to propel in his business and personal endeavors.A native Californian, now a deep-rooted Chicagoan, he is always seeking ways to get in the water and enjoy the outdoors through biking, hiking, or kayaking with and without his wife, labrador, and three children. He currently sits on the boards of numerous startups, as well as the UIC School of Engineering, ChicagoNEXT, and SmartBet Charities.

Keith Houlemard is former President of the Jordan Brand at Nike. He's currently the CO-Founder of FoodE

Ben Weiss is the co-founder of CoinFlip, which has the largest network of Bitcoin ATMs by volume in the US.

A reflection episode

Francesc Miralles is the author of one of my favorite books: IKIGAI: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Healthy Life.

NowAccount pays businesses their invoices now, while they await their  clients’ payments for their services/products. Why? Companies are more likely to grow out of business than they are to go out of business. Prior to Now, Lara co-founded Nourish (the manufacturing company), and Insomnia, LLC, a firm specializing in investment, development, and management of complex and innovative “world-changing” projects. She also co-wrote a book about business with her good friend and business parter Stacey Abrams.

Most books about the post-grad years are written by psychologists and business leaders who offer recommendations based on their professional expertise. While helpful, it is rare to hear the voices of those currently living through this season of life.  That's why I spoke with Cate LeSourd, the Author of Coming of Age. This book exposes the realities of the pivotal transition from college into adulthood from the perspective of other twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings.

Frank Mong is COO of Nova Labs (formerly Helium Inc.), where he is responsible for sales, marketing and business development for the company. Before Helium, Mong spent 20 years in cyber security including CMO at Hortonworks, SVP of Marketing at Palo Alto Networks, and VP/GM of security at HP.

Henri is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Harlem Capital, a venture capital firm changing the face of entrepreneurship. He has led 22 investments and sat on 7 company boards. Henri currently sits on the Amazon Black Business Accelerator Board and formerly sat on the Management Leadership for Tomorrow NYC Board.

Tim is a notable venture capital investor, and founder of Draper University, Draper Venture Network, and Draper Associates. Some of his investments include early bets in companies like Hotmail, Skype, Tesla, SpaceX, Twitch, Carta, Webflow, Robinhood, and Coinbase. Tim is regularly featured on major networks, in publications, and in social media as a proponent for entrepreneurship, innovative governance, free markets, and Bitcoin. He has received various awards and honors including the World Entrepreneurship Forum's "Entrepreneur of the World." He has also been highly ranked on several notable lists including one of the top 100 most powerful people in finance by Worth Magazine, the top 20 most influential people in Crypto by Crypto Weekly, #1 most networked venture capitalist by AlwaysOn, #7 on the Forbes Midas List, and #48 most influential Harvard Alum. In this episode we spoke about: The Formula for Risk Taking in your 20s Tim’s Honest Thoughts on Bitcoin What Originally Peaked his Interest about Venture Capital