Rafi Levi, CEO & Founder of Dots

Chris Fredericks founded Empowered Ventures, serves as president & CEO, and is a member of the board of directors. Chris has a diverse background in management, accounting and finance, business valuations, mergers and acquisitions, operations, people development, and strategy.In 2010, he proposed and led the acquisition of TVF (www.tvfinc.com) on behalf of the employees using an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), which enabled a successful ownership transition for the founder. After overseeing a decade of success as an employee-owned company, Chris and TVF launched Empowered Ventures (www.empowered.ventures) in 2020 to grow and diversify the ESOP through acquisition. Inspired by TVF’s transformative employee ownership experience, Chris led Empowered Ventures to define its purpose which is to perpetually create life-changing financial and personal wellbeing outcomes for its employee owners.Chris resides near Burlington, Vermont, having relocated from his home state of Indiana in 2022. He is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington’s Kelley School of Business with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. A former CPA, Chris started his career in public accounting in the nonprofit sector before joining TVF in 2005, where he served in various positions including chief financial officer, before serving as president from April 2010 through March 2021.He's a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington Kelley School of Business with a bachelor's degree in accounting. As a former CPA, Chris started his career in public accounting in the nonprofit sector, before joining the company in 2005, where he served in various positions, including chief financial officer and President from April 2010 through March 2021.We talked about the differences between a stock option plan and a worker ownership plan. Chris shared the differences between a company being worker owned and being worker managed. In addition,  we discussed the differences between that and a co-op. Also, we talked about how he leads with open book management and creates alignment among different leaders and the team in general. And, we talk about what it means for an owner to sell to a worker owned company and what it means for the workers of the company that's purchased.“We're in a fortunate position that when good opportunities arise that the fit our profile, …, both from a returns perspective, but and also all the other critically important…, orientations or requirements we're looking for in a business, that we're able to pull the trigger.” - Chris FredericksConnect with Chris on Twitter @esopchris and on LinkedInSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today’s episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don’t forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or  LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website. 

Jeannie founded Funding U to provide a responsible loan option for academically achieving, low income students who needed last gap funds to complete college, but for whom the only available options were high interest rate credit cards. Her drive to solve this problem came from a decade of working in education nonprofits in Atlanta and an understanding that a mother’s education level holds the single strongest correlation to outcomes of infant mortality, child literacy, household employment and income, and likelihood to live in poverty. Today, Funding U has originated $42M in affordable student loans to more than 4000 academically achieving undergraduates, 40% of whom are from families with income of $40,000 or less, and 60% are first generation 4-year college students. In 2020, the Company launched a Platform as a Service product, “Powered by Funding U,” which provides end to end data and technology solutions for organizations that want to provide outcomes based, income share repayment loan options for low income or other marginalized Americans. Funding U has raised ~$80M in equity and debt financing from investors including Goldman Sachs, Mackenzie Scott and Deciens Capital. Prior to starting Funding U, Jeannie was the first employee of the Atlanta Girls’ School in Atlanta, Georgia, where she acted as Founding Director of Admissions.  She then became Director of Development for Literacy Action and then worked for the Rollins Center for Early Literacy at the Atlanta Speech School as a Strategic Consultant. She is a currently a Trustee of Atlanta Girls’ School, served on the Emory Board of Visitors from 2017 to 2019, was a Founding Board Member of Girls on the Run, Atlanta, 1998-2001, and was the first alumna trustee of The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, New Jersey, 1994-1996.Jeannie is a graduate of Princeton University, where she obtained a B.A. cum laude, in English Literature and American Studies. She has launched three other successful ‘startups’  - her children, Anna, Peter, and Robert - ages 22, 21, and 18. Jeannie joins me today, we start at a very high level about the industry in this conversation, we get very tactical for early stage founders.“I feel I fight and resist and tell my team to resist any binary conversations or a binary way of thinking.” - Jeannie TarkentonConnect with Jeannie on LinkedInSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today’s episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don’t forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or  LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website. 

David Blake operates at the intersection of the future of work and the future of politics. David Blake has spent his career innovating in formal education and lifelong learning. He is on a mission to future proof our workforce and use learning and skills to enable everyone to fulfill their personal missions. David is the co-founder and CEO of Degreed. Millions of individuals and hundreds of organizations use Degreed’s platform to discover and answer for all of their learning and skills. Prior to Degreed, he helped launched a competency-based, accredited university and was a founding team member of university-admissions startup Zinch (acquired by NASDQ: CHGG). David was selected as a Top EdTech Entrepreneur by the Stanford d.School EdTech Lab, sponsored by Teach For America and NewSchools Venture Fund. He is the co-author of the book, The Expertise Economy: How the smartest companies use learning to engage, compete, and succeed and the co-creator of the Skills Quotient.  He is a sought-after expert on the topic of the future of work and learning, speaking at companies such as Google, Deloitte, and Salesforce and at conferences globally.David joins me today to discuss the surprising downside of curiosity, how artificial intelligence impacts learning and earning. Also, we talked about the growing skills gap, the best way to hire, how he learned to be a founder, and the book he thinks best captures what it's like to be a founder.“I find, the best way to get started is to be intentional and to have a goal.” - David BlakeConnect with David on LinkedIn and Twitter or email David at [email protected]. To find out more about David’s companies visit  degreed.com or bookclub.com.Subscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today’s episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don’t forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Nikhil is the technical cofounder of Hearth. Hearth was founded to give home improvement contractors and businesses the tools to achieve the American Dream. Hearth does this by providing an all-in-one tool suite for owners to manage their operations covering: lead management, quoting, customer financing options, invoicing, contracts, payments, and checking accounts. Nikhil has operated the business since its inception seven years ago, from individual contributor to VP level in product, data, revenue operations, and customer success. Over his time there, Hearth has grown to serve over 14,000 users, a $23M revenue run rate, and raised over $60M in venture capital funding.Nikhil joins me today to talk about finding product market fit, how a founder’s role evolves over time. We discuss the importance of feedback loops and how to build them into your business. As well as the best advice you ever received as a founder.“Data is an asset, and you want to collect as much of it as possible upfront to create a full profile of your customer base and really understand them.” - Nikhil PatConnect with Nikhil on Twitter and LinkedInSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today’s episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don’t forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or  LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website. 

Normally on Startups For Good, we interview external guests. Today, we turn the mic back around and focus on Purpose Built and what we're up to. Recently, we did a webinar called “Ready to Build. How do I know if I'm ready to be a startup founder?”&nbsp;Have you had a nagging feeling that you'd one day like to start a company or have people told you they want to work with you or for you? Perhaps you're in a moment of a career transition where you're exploring your next steps, you could consider yourself a future founder. But how do you know if you're ready? And what are the things you should consider?I'm CEO and co-founder of Purpose Built, joined by Reini Chipman, Head of Human Capital in the webinar, and we talked about what makes a great startup founder, what common misconceptions there are and when to know you're ready. Part of what was fun for me is being able to incorporate some of the previous episodes that we've done, Episode 86 with Noam Wasserman, author of The Founders Dilemma. We referenced Alex Lazarow, author of Out-Innovate episode 20 and Ali Tamaseb, author of Super Founders episode 64. Check out that one as well. If you want to learn more about purpose built there's our website. And you can also listen to the Access Ventures Podcast that I was interviewed for their More Than Profit December 8 episode.&nbsp;Taylor’s HBR article about MVPs is online here.Today on Startups for Good we cover:What makes a great startupMyths about VC backed foundersCareer GoalsKnowing when you are readyFirst steps to starting a businessThe value of a startup studioThe process that Purpose Built Founders go throughSubscribe, Rate &amp; Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today’s episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don’t forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mileslasater/" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

Adam Jackson is the co-founder and CEO of Freelance Labs, builders of Braintrust, the first user-controlled talent network that provides enterprises with the highly skilled technical and design talent they need.Prior to founding Braintrust, Adam co-founded Doctor on Demand, the popular video telemedicine provider, with daytime talk show personality Dr. Phil, as well as his son Jay McGraw. Other notable ventures include DriverSide, the first website specifically designed for car owners, which was acquired by Advance Auto Parts in September of 2011 and MarketSquare, the first online local shopping destination on the Internet which was acquired by Intuit in September of 2006. Adam is a passionate Angel investor in 45+ companies including LTSE, SuperHuman, Automatic, Apero Health, Zenefits, and more.Adam joins me today to talk a lot about marketplace dynamics in web two and web three. We also discuss how he's taken his learnings from growing his marketplace businesses before into a new world aligning incentives in the web three world we talked about compliance risks. We also talked about management challenges, and about advice that he has for founders on how to become a better storyteller.“You have to be telling a big, powerful story, there's a disconnect with founders, it's the art of the possible. What if this could exist? How cool would that be? With VCs, It's the art of the probable. How many bets do I need to make? And what do they need to look like for me to return the fund and hopefully raise the next one? So there's, there's a little bit of misalignment there.” - Adam JacksonToday on Startups for Good we cover:Braintrust and it’s uniquenessHow the tokens workDifferences in extracting more value than you are providingCommon mistakes when pitching to investorsHow to approach competitionConnect with Adam on LinkedInSubscribe, Rate &amp; Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today’s episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don’t forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or &nbsp;LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Shannon Farley is an experienced social entrepreneur. She was the founding Executive Director of Spark, the world's largest network of Millennial philanthropists. Prior to joining Spark, Shannon helped start The W. Haywood Burns Institute, a MacArthur Award-winning juvenile justice reform organization. Shannon holds a BA in American Studies from Georgetown University and an MS in Gender and Social Policy from the London School of Economics.Shannon joins me today to chat about tech nonprofits, and often startup tech nonprofits. Fast Forward celebrates nine years of accelerating dozens of tech nonprofits. And in this episode, we discuss when to choose a for profit versus a nonprofit model. We discuss that definition more in depth, we talk about the capital crunch that many experience and how to solve it, we talk about compensation levels in nonprofits, and we talk about the new program at Fast Forward.“It's a terrible, great idea, a nonprofit for nonprofits to advance nonprofits. But it was needed.”&nbsp;- Shannon FarleyToday on Startups for Good we cover:Selecting for profit or non-profit business modelMain differences between for profit and nonprofitCapital landscape for tech nonprofitsCapital requirements at a tech nonprofitThe tradition of giving away wealthThe donor’s view on compensationOther obstacles that are missingIn person vs. online collaborationConnect with Shannon Farley on LinkedInTo find Shannon’s Tech Nonprofit Playbook visit this websiteTo listen to Miles on the Access Venture podcast More Than ProfitSubscribe, Rate &amp; Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today’s episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don’t forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or &nbsp;LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.&nbsp;

Anna Counselman is co-founder at Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST), a leading AI lending marketplace that partners with banks to improve access to affordable credit. Upstart helps millions of consumers who don’t have access to credit, pay too much for it, or take on credit they can’t ultimately afford. Anna leads business operations where she drives focus on operational scalability, employee experience, and culture-strategy alignment. Since co-founding Upstart, Anna has led Operations, People/HR, and myriad other initiatives before taking on Business Operations. Prior to Upstart, Anna led Gmail Consumer Operations as the business grew from 150 million to 450 million users and launched the global Enterprise Customer Programs team. Anna received a White House Champion of Change award and was recognized as one of Silicon Valley Business Journal's 40 under 40. Anna graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boston University with a BA in Finance and Entrepreneurship.Anna joins me today to talk about a lot of great topics, including the best advice she got for mentors, how to scale yourself as a founder, changes in culture and operations when you run a public company versus startup. But how do you keep running at the same speed just as fast as a startup as your larger company? And how do you stay together as a co-founding team for the long term.“Make sure you keep a problem space that you are deeply interested in. Startups take longer than you expect. And so making sure that you select something that makes enough of a difference in the world, that it will keep you engaged and going as your business model might change.” - Anna CounselmanToday on Startups for Good we cover:Running a company after is goes publicManaging regulatory riskShifting the vision of the productPreparing for the founders experienceFacing challenges during an economic downturnConnect with Anna on LinkedInSubscribe, Rate &amp; Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today’s episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don’t forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or &nbsp;LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.&nbsp;

Before coming to YU, Noam was a professor at Harvard Business School for 13 years.&nbsp; He was also the founding director of the Founder Central initiative at the University of Southern California and the Lemann Chair in Entrepreneurship there.&nbsp; He won the MBA teaching awards at both Harvard and USC, and has written two bestselling books, The Founder’s Dilemmas (2012) and Life Is a Startup (2018).Noam grew up in Los Angeles, received undergraduate degrees in engineering and business from the University of Pennsylvania, and worked as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist before attending Harvard for his MBA and his PhD.&nbsp; He has 8 children and 8 grandchildren."Noam joined me today and we discussed how to make a startup successful, to avoid the biggest pitfalls around team dynamics and people. We also talked about what's changed since his book came out. Are founders born or made? Is it good to found a business in a recession? How to have hard conversations, why it's worth it, and how to split equity with other founders.“I tend to think of the core of entrepreneurship as being a three legged stool…, there are a bunch of other things around it that are important supports, but the core of it is those three things. Those are the financing of the product and the people.” - Noam WassermanToday on Startups for Good we cover:Can entrepreneurship be taught?Having the right people at the right time in a startupHaving the ability to recover from mistakesEarly doubts from foundersPitfalls of founding teamsWays to prepare for personal life eventsCharacteristics of a good founderThe rise in coaching and mentorshipLearn more about Noam through his podcast and his bookSubscribe, Rate &amp; Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today’s episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don’t forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or &nbsp;LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.&nbsp;

Entrepreneur and investor with a love of learning, a passion for making dreams become reality and having a positive impact on the world. Husband, father and book addict.Miles is founder/CEO of Purpose Built Ventures Studio where he co-founds winning mission-driven companies with passionate entrepreneurs.Miles is an Investor in early-stage startups. As Founding Partner of Purpose Built Ventures, he previously invested in tech startups working to make people healthier or wealthier. He has invested in and advised dozens of companies at the earliest stages including Honor, Brightside Health, Remix, Notable Health, and Balto Software. Additionally, he has helped seed nonprofits such as Issue One, One Acre, and MakeHaven.Miles is an Entrepreneur. Starting his career as an entrepreneur while still a college student, he co-founded Higher One in his living room. As senior exec and later board chair, he led the company from idea to $200mil+ revenue, 750+ employees and IPO including making multiple acquisitions. He was proud to campaign internal culture and values including open communication and client service. Higher One also ranked highly on the national Great Place to Work list twice as well as Inc 500 and multiple other fast growth lists.&nbsp;Miles went on to start two other venture-backed startups: SeeClickFix (SaaS for government) where he serves on the board and OneUni (higher education via smartphone).Miles was an Ernst &amp; Young Entrepreneur of the Year regional winner and national finalist.Miles is a Podcast Host: Startups for Good is a podcast exploring high-growth and high-values ventures. Join us to hear how startups can be a force for good. Guests include founders of mission-driven companies, creators of startup nonprofits, and their investors/donors plus other inspiring thinkers and doers. http://startupsforgood.com/“The lesson for social benefit startups more broadly, is to make sure that your solution is full of other benefits besides positive externalities. Don't expect people just to&nbsp;want to do the right thing.” - Miles LasaterToday on Startups for Good we cover:Attracting early adopter customersPricing for valueBe optimistic and trust yourselfDon’t confuse stocks and flowsBuilding relationshipsLinks mentioned in the show:Forward Obsessed Podcast featuring MilesLook forward to hearing him on an episode of the More Than Profit podcast by Access VenturesVision of FailureA Quantitative Approach to Product Market Fit articleStart Ups for Good websiteMiles' websiteNewsletter: https://mileslasater.substack.com/Writing: www.venturepatterns.comPersonal Website: http://www.mileslasater.comPodcast: http://www.startupsforgood.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/mileslasaterSubscribe, Rate &amp; Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today’s episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you...