Evolve - Social Impact Startup Stories: Recent Episodes
Brandon Stover
Evolve is a show to help you become a hero and solve the worlds greatest challenges. Brandon Stover interviews social innovators, entrepreneurs, and thinkers about the global problems we face and the solutions they have created to solve them. The goal is to help you find purpose & learn skills for social impact so you can contribute to these solutions or create new ones. Brandon asks thought provoking questions to the understand the complexity of issues from climate change to education, and reveal the the tools, tactics, and wisdom of these innovators to educate, inspire, and empower your success in leaving impact on the world.
"They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do." - Steve Jobs
A narrated An essay reflecting on how the Metaverse can either supplement or replace reality, simulation theory, evolution of humans, and the decisions each of us will have to make as the Metaverse unfolds. Brandon shares how he believes the Metaverse can help, his fears for those turning away from reality, and how he would proceed given the choice between the Metaverse and reality.
Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com
TIMESTAMPS
- (00:00) - Introduction
- (01:17) - Beginning of essay On the Metaverse: Metaverse vs Reality
- (03:59) - Will the Metaverse be an escape from reality?
- (05:20) - How does the design of the Metaverse keep you inside the Metaverse?
- (06:14) - How will the Metaverse help us avoid reality?
- (07:43) - What is the role of suffering in human existence?
- (08:43) - What is the goal of the Metaverse?
- (09:19) - Could the Metaverse be a supplement to real life?
- (10:49) - How could the Metaverse help us solve problems through simulation?
- (13:20) - How does the Metaverse fall short?
- (15:14) - Are we already living in a simulation?
- (16:29) - How can the Metaverse accelerate human evolution?
- (18:26) - Will you choose the Metaverse or Reality?
A narrated An essay reflecting on how the Metaverse can either supplement or replace reality, simulation theory, evolution of humans, and the decisions each of us will have to make as the Metaverse unfolds. Brandon shares how he believes the Metaverse can help, his fears for those turning away from reality, and how he would proceed given the choice between the Metaverse and reality.
Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com
TIMESTAMPS
- (00:00) - Introduction
- (01:17) - Beginning of essay On the Metaverse: Metaverse vs Reality
- (03:59) - Will the Metaverse be an escape from reality?
- (05:20) - How does the design of the Metaverse keep you inside the Metaverse?
- (06:14) - How will the Metaverse help us avoid reality?
- (07:43) - What is the role of suffering in human existence?
- (08:43) - What is the goal of the Metaverse?
- (09:19) - Could the Metaverse be a supplement to real life?
- (10:49) - How could the Metaverse help us solve problems through simulation?
- (13:20) - How does the Metaverse fall short?
- (15:14) - Are we already living in a simulation?
- (16:29) - How can the Metaverse accelerate human evolution?
- (18:26) - Will you choose the Metaverse or Reality?
A narrated essay reflecting on how to access the mind using the body, your responsibility for your body, and who has the power to make decisions about our bodies. Brandon shares how he began a better connection with his body and his views about decisions made concerning other's bodies including abortion and COVID.
Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com
TIMESTAMPS
- (00:00) - Introduction
- (01:04) - Beginning of essay On the Body: Using the Body to Access the Mind
- (04:15) - Inspiration of essay, my journey with first connecting with the body
- (05:49) - How do we access the mind through the body?
- (09:49) - What is the connection of the mind with reality?
- (10:49) - How did the Stoics perceive the body?
- (11:13) - How is the body a tool for your will?
- (12:30) - Why you must become the expert and take responsibility for your body
- (15:11) - What happens when you outsource responsibility of your body to others?
- (15:58) - Who should have ultimate decisions over our bodies?
- (18:30) - What can you do if your body is enslaved or controlled by someone else?
- (20:52) - Final comments on the body
A narrated essay reflecting on how to access the mind using the body, your responsibility for your body, and who has the power to make decisions about our bodies. Brandon shares how he began a better connection with his body and his views about decisions made concerning other's bodies including abortion and COVID.
Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com
TIMESTAMPS
- (00:00) - Introduction
- (01:04) - Beginning of essay On the Body: Using the Body to Access the Mind
- (04:15) - Inspiration of essay, my journey with first connecting with the body
- (05:49) - How do we access the mind through the body?
- (09:49) - What is the connection of the mind with reality?
- (10:49) - How did the Stoics perceive the body?
- (11:13) - How is the body a tool for your will?
- (12:30) - Why you must become the expert and take responsibility for your body
- (15:11) - What happens when you outsource responsibility of your body to others?
- (15:58) - Who should have ultimate decisions over our bodies?
- (18:30) - What can you do if your body is enslaved or controlled by someone else?
- (20:52) - Final comments on the body
A narrated essay reflecting on what the true joy of a goal is, what to do when you are not reaching goals fast enough, goals in finite vs infinite games, and how to share your ambition with others. Brandon shares his struggles with not reaching goals fast enough and sharing his ambition with others.
Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com
TIMESTAMPS
- (00:00) - Introduction
- (01:16) - Beginning of essay On Goals: Joy of Goals
- (04:50) - Inspiration of essay, not reaching goals fast enough
- (05:38) - How does dopamine and our brain influence goals?
- (06:20) - What choices do we have in life?
- (07:03) - What are finite vs infinite games?
- (08:12) - How does legacy effect our goals?
- (10:13) - What is the true benefit of having a goal?
- (13:27) - How many goals should we have?
- (14:22) - Why should you cherish your goals?
- (15:25) - What is the best possible goal to set for yourself?
- (16:40) - Why do some fear ambition?
- (20:22) - Why do you fear sharing your ambition?
- (24:51) - What is the goal of the infinite game of life?
- (26:48) - How to deal with uncertainty in life
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources for every episode can be found at: brandonstover.com
The On Life podcast is produced by Plato University.
A narrated essay reflecting on marriage as a contract, whether love should be a part of this contract, what other types of marriage exist, and if monogamy is the best form of partnership for marriages. Brandon elaborates on his 4 year marriage ending in divorce, relationship check-ins, and what forms of love and relationships he may look for in the future.
Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com
TIMESTAMPS
- (00:00) - Introduction
- (01:20) - Beginning of essay On Marriage: Marriage as a Social Contract
- (05:43) - Current context, recent divorce, and childhood background
- (06:58) - Is marriage a contract requiring negotiations?
- (08:41) - Is marriage as a positive environment for children?
- (09:42) - What of the chemical influence of love on the brain?
- (10:32) - What role does love play in marriage?
- (14:16) - What is the desire to want the best for your partner?
- (15:29) - Relationship check-ins and the beginning of my divorce
- (19:09) - Should marriage be more flexible?
- (20:58) - What other types of marriages exist?
- (28:30) - Questioning the standard template of marriage to fit your circumstances
- (30:08) - Should love and marriage be separate?
- (31:40) - Questions I have for those in long lasting marriages
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources for every episode can be found at: brandonstover.com
The On Life podcast is produced by Plato University.
Introducing the On Life podcast. Through narrated essays and intellectual interviews, this podcast will equip you with practical philosophies, new perspectives, and modern understandings of global issues so that change can start with you. It will help you to become a more critical thinker, find purpose in your life, and discover why you would want to take action in changing the world.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- Why I'm rebranding the podcast
- What On Life is about and how it will help you
- How philosophy is one part of a trifecta for human action
- The biggest problem with content creation
- My promise to you, the listener
Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources for every episode can be found at: brandonstover.com
The On Life podcast is produced by Plato University.
Ben Jeffreys is the CEO of ATEC International, which supports households across Asia & Africa to transition to modern, decarbonized cooking through its patented IoT stove products - delivering cost efficiency to households, data-validated carbon credits to net-zero partners and addressing the 4 billion people who lack access to clean, modern cooking. After moving his family to Cambodia in 2015 to commercialize ATEC’s biodigester prototype, the winning product of the Google Impact Challenge, into a social enterprise, he has helped ATEC become a global leader in clean cooking it's two flagship on-grid and off-grid products delivering data-driven scalable impact not only for cooking, but data validation of carbon reduction as well. ATEC is aiming to help 800 million households to offset more emissions than the global airline industry whilst saving the lives of millions of women each year who traditionally cook with wood.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- How clean cooking products increases life quality, health, and household incomes
- How ATEC is using data collection and technology to offset carbon emissions
- The economics of carbon credits and why they are attractive to companies
- How to choose a high impact problem you can have a significant role in solving
- How to develop an Impact Flywheel to scale a solution
- and much more...
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/79
The Evolve podcast is produced by Plato University.
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) - Introduction
(01:40) - How big is the clean cooking problem globally?
(02:46) - How to choose a high impact problem you can have a significant role in solving
(06:29) - What macro trends in energy made ATEC's solutions possible
(07:23) - ATEC's clean cooking biodigester and induction stove solutions
(11:41) - How to develop an Impact Flywheel to scale a solution
(16:50) - Why Ben moved his family to Cambodia
(21:04) - How ATEC gained early adopters with its PAYGO model
(23:01) - How ATEC developed it's prototypes
(27:01) - How clean cooking products increases life quality, health, and household incomes
(30:12) - Why ATEC decided to pivot to induction stoves
(33:04) - How ATEC is using data collection and technology to offset carbon emissions
(36:34) - The economics of carbon credits and why they are attractive to companies
(40:55) - How to face overwhelming problems
(42:37) - Why its important to choose purposeful work
(46:18) - How to identify a problem you are equipped to solve
(48:34) - What our energy solutions look like for the next decade
(53:17) - How we can push the world to Evolve
Dr. Yael Joffe is Founder and Chief Science Officer of 3x4 genetics, which is brining the future of personalized healthcare by make use of the power of your unique genetics. This digital health company is pioneering the application of genomics to improve human health and sports performance by giving people access to more personalized, DNA-data-driven recommendations for fitness, food, supplements and lifestyle. Pioneering in the field and even cobbling together her own PHD, Yael became a world-renowned scientist in the rapidly-evolving discipline of nutrigenomics. She has over 20 years of experience in nutrition, genetics, sound research, clinical practice and scientific integrity, is a highly sought-after speaker, has co-authored two books, ‘It’s Not Just Your Genes’ and ‘Genes To Plate’, and has been published in multiple peer-reviewed scientific journals. She has also trained hundreds of healthcare practitioners globally in nutrigenomics as course creator and adjunct professor. Yael is going share how we can use genetics to help everyone, everywhere personalize every health decisions, addressing root causes not just patching symptoms.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- How genetics and epigenetics can enhance health, wellbeing, and performance
What are the problems with modern medicine's one size fits all model to healthcare?
How does knowing your genetics help with your nutrition and diet?
How Yael went from budding architect to world renowned scientist and entrepreneur
How to keep pursuing an idea when everyone else says your crazy
How we can start taking responsibility for your own health
and much more...
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/78
The Evolve podcast is produced by Plato University.
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) - Introduction
(01:46) - Why is Yael so passionate about cold water swimming?
(05:58) - Genetics and epigenetics 101
(12:18) - What are the problems with modern medicine's one size fits all model to healthcare?
(15:08) - The problem of focusing on symptoms rather than root causes
(19:18) - 3x4 Genetics solution to enhance health, wellbeing, and performance
(26:53) - Why work with health practitioners rather than go direct to consumer
(30:12) - How does the science of 3x4 compare to 23andMe?
(34:10) - How does knowing your genetics help with your nutrition and diet?
(40:15) - Ethical considerations for genetic data and how to stay safe
(44:41) - How Yael went from budding architect to world renowned scientist and entrepreneur
(55:10) - Most important lessons Yael learned from her mentors
(57:01) - How to decide if a project is having impact and when to move on
(1:01:04) - Passing along important lessons in entrepreneurship through family generations
(1:04:43) - How to keep pursuing an idea when everyone else says your crazy
(1:08:50) - How we can start taking responsibility for your own health
(1:11:48) - How we can push the world to Evolve
Sibongani Kayola is Country Director of GiveDirectly Liberia, and someone deeply interested in the interaction between psychosocial factors and financial behavior. GiveDirectly is a nonprofit that lets donors like you send money directly to the world’s poorest households. Globally, GiveDirectly delivered $165M+ to over 534K households in 8 countries across 25 different programs in 2021. Sibongani joined the GiveDirectly Liberia program in 2018 and had a goal to deliver cash to ~12,000 people in 2 years. Fast forward to 2021 they enrolled and paid over 100,000 Liberians in a single year! As country director she provides strategic leadership for GiveDirectly’s in-country operations. She is responsible for managing a US$ 70M portfolio (2022-2025), leading in-country fundraising and resource mobilization and managing relationships with entities such as the Liberia Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, USAID and the World Bank. And today, Sibongani shares her learnings of giving money directly in Liberia and how we can end poverty in our lifetime by direct giving, an efficient, proven, and empowering way to help.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- What are the drivers of global poverty
- The step by step journey from donating your cash to someone receiving it
- The effectiveness of giving cash directly for lifting someone out of poverty
- Key considerations when looking for a meaningful career solving global issues
- How an everyday person can make change to solve big issues
- and much more...
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/77
The Evolve podcast is produced by Plato University.
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) - Introduction
(01:54) - What are the drivers of global poverty?
(06:05) - How does US poverty compare to global poverty?
(07:02) - The State of Liberia in 2018 making poverty worse
(10:32) - How much someone in Liberia lives on in a day
(12:40) - The first steps to giving cash directly to people in Liberia
(13:51) - What happens when they refuse to take the cash?
(16:51) - The step by step journey from donating your cash to someone receiving it
(18:50) - How country governments respond to GiveDirectly
(21:33) - How communities change when money is given directly to citizens
(24:15) - GiveDirectly's effectiveness compared to goods or service nonprofits
(26:17) - Long-term research and considerations of giving cash directly
(28:40) - Can crypto help end poverty?
(31:04) - How to provide financial literacy to receivers of cash
(34:08) - How Sibongani went from working in mental health to poverty
(37:23) - Key considerations when looking for a meaningful career solving global issues
(41:58) - Challenges to growing the GiveDirectly Liberia program
(46:15) - How an everyday person can make change to solve big issues
(49:16) - How we can push the world to Evolve
Robbie Bent is Co-founder of Othership, a physical location and an on-demand Breathwork platform featuring the world's best facilitators in the space. Years ago, breathwork, plant medicine, and hot/cold therapy helped Robbie turn away from a lifetime of alienation and addiction. Now, his mission is to create a community and safe space for people to feel belonging, connection, and emotional resilience without the social crutch of alcohol or drugs. His brand, Othership, includes physical and online opportunities to dial into the breath, self-regulate our emotions, and connect with one another. How backyard ice baths sparked a community that’s redefining well-being. Prior to Othership, he led ecosystem development at Ethereum and was multiple time founder. Today, Robbie is going share how backyard ice baths sparked a community that’s redefining well-being and how we can tap into the power of the human nervous system to shift our state for better mental health.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- Why Robbie lived 8 days in a cave
- How our modern life is effecting our mental health
- How breathwork can foster emotional fitness, mental health, and friendship
- How Othership went from a backyard to growing startup
- How Robbie went from a failed startup and drug addiction to helping hundreds of people with mental health
- and much more...
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/76
The Evolve podcast is produced by Plato University.
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) - Introduction
(02:16) - Why Robbie lived 8 days in a cave
(04:28) - How the cave experience changed his perception
(12:39) - How our modern life is effecting our mental health
(16:49) - How breath is connected to wellbeing
(20:18) - How breathwork can foster emotional fitness, mental health, and friendship
(27:37) - Using music to make wellness practices fun
(30:19) - How Othership went from a backyard to growing startup
(37:49) - How Robbie went from a failed startup and drug addiction to helping hundreds of people with mental health
(43:36) - The first steps to getting out of depression
(47:39) - What success and enough means for Robbie
(51:44) - How Robbie is using a retreat to prepare for fatherhood
(53:17) - The difficulties of keeping a wellness routine
(55:42) - How to get started with breathwork and hot/cold therapy for wellbeing
(58:59) - How we can push the world to Evolve
Want the top 3 lessons and premium, detailed deep-dive show notes for this episode for FREE? Subscribe at evolvepodcast.substack.com
Brandon Stover it the founder of Plato University, an alternative, online university that turns your passions into purpose by helping you master skills and launch a career solving global challenges. As a podcaster, he hosts the Evolve podcast. From climate change to education to mental health, he mines the wisdom of visionaries and experts for the tools and tactics to solve these global issues. He is also the founder of the Social Good Media Network, a media group united around the goal of helping listeners understand the global challenges we face and how we can work together to solve them. Before these ventures, I spent half a decade of experience as a designer, marketer, and educator.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- How to listen to others and TRULY understand them
- How I am changing the higher education paradigm
- And the dark challenges I faced that led me to finding my purpose
- and much more...
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/75
The Evolve podcast is produced by Plato University and is a member of the Social Good Media Network
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) - Introduction
(06:36) - How to navigate difficult conversations
(09:01) - How to calm the voice of judgement in your mind
(11:00) - How to connect and recognize other's emotions
(12:33) - How podcasting made me a better listener
(16:20) - How podcasting skills transfer to other areas of life
(20:28) - Podcasting as a container for deeper conversations
(24:09) - Chasing the golden ticket and reaching depression
(28:24) - How I started the path to finding purpose
(32:35) - Does fear play into my decisions
(37:42) - How students start finding their purpose at Plato University
(40:30) - How did Plato University start
(45:03) - How millennials and gen z are demanding purpose in their life
(53:40) - What does Plato University look like at scale?
(57:53) - How do employers look at education?
(52:04) - What does a degree signal in Higher Education?
(1:05:29) - What does compassion mean?
Want the top 3 lessons and premium, detailed deep-dive show notes for this episode for FREE? Subscribe at evolvepodcast.substack.com
H.D. Lee is Founder of Nomadic School, which is dedicated to adolescents’ and young adults’ exploration of the beauty, truth, and goodness within in connection to Something larger than oneself. He is a seeker and practitioner of wholeness through living an authentic and inspired life. The life roles which bring him insight, healing and growth are son, father, friend, learner, artist, musician, writer, teacher, and coach. H.D. Lee runs a life coaching practice with a focus on self- actualization and Self-realization. In other words, his work often involves the questions of the discovery and fulfillment of one’s potential, as well as life meaning and purpose. His clients are young adults, adults, and couples who come from more than twenty different countries and cultural backgrounds. H.D. Lee serves in an advisory role for the social educational non-profit HundrED in Finland, and Xinzhai-Better (心斋-貝德幼兒全人教育中心) in China. Fluent and literate in Chinese, French, and English, H.D. has lived or worked in the US, Germany, France, England, Taiwan, China, and Belgium. Formerly an information technology and business consultant for many years, H.D. Lee also taught transpersonal & positive psychology to international students at Sofia University (USA). H.D. is currently launching a school .
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- What is the Self and how you can discover it
- How the economic system & industrial complex have effected education
- Why traditional education does not help learners wrestle with the fundamental question of life
- How to create a transdisciplinary school model for student discovery of the self
- How to help students find meaning and purpose through learning
- and much more...
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/74
The Evolve podcast is produced by Plato University and is a member of the Social Good Media Network
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) - Introduction
(01:10) - How Dean's life culminated into education
(06:41) - Why start a new school
(11:52) - Dean's mission with Nomadic School
(12:38) - What is the Self & how do we discover it?
(16:32) - How the economic system & industrial complex have effected education
(21:44) - Why traditional education does not help learners wrestle with the fundamental question of life
(23:44) - How to create a transdisciplinary school model for student discovery of the self
(29:12) - A day in the life of a Nomadic School learner
(34:25) - Challenges of starting a school with a radical model
(39:29) - How to help students find meaning and purpose through learning
(47:56) - What is the meaning of life
(49:11) - Call to action
(51:02) - How to push the world to Evolve
Want the shownotes & resources delivered to your inbox? Subscribe at evolvepodcast.substack.com
Vriti Saraf is Founder & CEO of k20, the social learning community for global educators. They offer programs to engage educators, like masterminds, think tanks, incubators, and conferences, and a community of educators from all over the world. Vriti has worked with public, private, and charter schools both locally & internationally, across the k20 spectrum. An alumna of Teach for America & Relay Graduate School, Vriti served as a teacher, dean of instruction, and network director of professional learning at Ascend Public Charter Schools, where she built the network’s first teacher residency program. At the same time, she worked with first year teachers as an adjunct professor at Relay. Most recently, she spent several years building schools around the world with Whittle School & Studios. As Global Director of Professional Learning, she constructed the professional learning and growth infrastructure for educators.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- Why silos exist in education and how they rob teachers of their powers
- How educators can have more innovative research practices
- How Web3 and the metaverse will change education
- Where to find to leading resources for education and technology
- and much more...
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/73
The Evolve podcast is produced by Plato University and is a member of the Social Good Media Network
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) - Introduction
(01:25) - k20's Mission
(01:56) - Why do silos exist in education?
(05:11) - How the education systems robs teachers of agency and creativity
(07:34) - How is education siloed from other industries like tech?
(10:39) - How teachers are taught
(13:20) - What is the k20 eduverse?
(16:57) - What is the metaverse?
(19:14) - Creating the City of Learning
(21:16) - A 24 hour education conference on Twitter
(25:09) - How educators can have more innovative research practices
(31:32) - How Teach for America transformed Vriti
(35:48) - How Vriti went from educator to founder
(38:28) - The power of virtual relationships
(41:30) - How Web3 will change education
(52:37) - Must hear advice for founders and educators alike
(53:51) - Call to action
(55:15) - How to push the world to Evolve
Want the shownotes & resources delivered to your inbox? Subscribe at evolvepodcast.substack.com
Victoria Ransom is the Founder & CEO of Prisma, the world's first connected learning network for K-12 that fully replaces regular school. Victoria's track record as a serial entrepreneur comes from developing 3 companies including Wildfire, a social marketing software company, Victoria led the company to profitability in just one year and built the company to tens of thousands of customers, 400 employees, and eight offices worldwide. Clients included 31 of the world’s top 50 brands. Wildfire was acquired by Google in August 2012 for $450M. Victoria joined Google as Director of Product, initially leading Wildfire and later Google Express. But after having 3 children, Victoria and her husband and cofounder Alain Chuard, wondered, could they prepare their children to thrive in a tumultuous, ever-changing world? So they set out to reimagine what school could be.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- What are the problems of today's education system
How to personalize a student's learning and scale it for others
How to foster a community of learners online in engaging experiences
How to decide big problems worth solving
and much more...
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/72
The Evolve podcast is produced by Plato University and is a member of the Social Good Media Network
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) - Introduction
(01:22) - What are the problems of today's education system
(05:31) - How to research education from an outside perspective
(07:40) - How school funding and higher education influence K-12 education
(10:24) - What is Prisma?
(14:10) - What is the purpose of education?
(15:23) - A day in the life of a Prisma learner
(19:56) - How to personalize a student's learning
(23:16) - How to scale personalized learning
(28:02) - Curating vs creating educational content
(31:43) - How to celebrate student learning
(34:37) - Badges vs grades
(37:36) - How to foster a community of learners online
(40:16) - Creating engaging online experiences for students
(45:32) - Results of Prisma learning
(49:42) - How has Prisma's model changed
(53:40) - How to decide problems worth solving
(58:26) - How to launch a company during a recession
(1:02:17) - How Prisma built their team of educators
(1:03:48) - Call to Action
(1:04:16) - How we can push the world to Evolve
Want the shownotes & resources delivered to your inbox? Subscribe at evolvepodcast.substack.com
Carla Marschall & Elizabeth Crawford are educators, curriculum designers, and authors of Worldwise Learning: A Teacher′s Guide to Shaping a Just, Sustainable Future, which helps educators create a “Pedagogy for People, Planet, and Prosperity” that supports educators in nurturing “Worldwise Learners”: students who both deeply understand and purposefully act when learning about global challenges. Carla has worked in a variety of leadership roles in international schools in Switzerland, Germany, Hong Kong, and Singapore over the past ten years and her current role is Director of Teaching & Learning at UWC South East Asia. Elizabeth has taught in a variety of school contexts, including elementary and middle schools in France and the United States and is currently an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- How to connect students to global problems; even in kindergarten
- How to help them understand problems at a systems level
- How to help students act on creating solutions for problems
- How to write a book with someone you just met on Twitter
- and much more...
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/71
The Evolve podcast is produced by Plato University and is a member of the Social Good Media Network
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) - Introduction
(01:32) - What education needs in 2021
(04:25) - How scripted, top down models are a problem for education
(07:15) - How poverty effects education
(10:22) - What traditional education does really well
(14:05) - What is global competence?
(18:36) - Why its important to connect content personally to a student
(22:30) - What is the 3 parts of the Worldwise Learning Cycle?
(27:59) - Why is systems thinking important for students?
(31:58) - How to create knowledge transfer through real world problems
(33:09) - Examples of the Worldwise Learning Cycle in action
(40:55) - How a teacher can implement this into their practice
(44:38) - How could this be used for adults?
(47:25) - How to write a book with someone you just met on Twitter
(55:03) - How Carla and Elizabeth personally changed their teaching
(58:14) - Call to Action
(59:14) - How to push the world to Evolve
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Raya Bidshahri is a serial education entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and award-winning educator, and the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the School of Humanity, a revolutionary online high school with a progressive model and skill-based curriculum. Raya works with governments, investors, EdTech companies, and education providers to ideate and execute revolutionary education models for the 21st-century world. Featured by the BBC as one of the most influential and inspiring women globally, she is a global thought-leader on the future of work and education. Raya is also the Founder of Awecademy, an award-winning organization offering future-focussed & wisdom-based education. She has served on the founding teams of multiple organizations including SciFest Dubai, and SheWorks. She serves as an advisory board member to multiple EdTech companies and is a member of the Bett Future Education Council.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- What's wrong with what, where, how, and why we are learning in schools
- How regulation, higher education, and accreditation stifle education innovation
- How to create personalized learning for students
- How an education entrepreneur can go from idea to a full school
- Why entrepreneurs should tackle problems that really piss them off
- and much more...
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/70
The Evolve podcast is produced by Plato University and is a member of the Social Good Media Network
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) - Introduction
(01:19) - Raya's experience in traditional schooling
(04:15) - School of Humanity's mission
(04:48) - What are the core problems of traditional education?
(07:46) - Why is there a lack of personalization in schools?
(09:34) - Are traditional schools unethical?
(11:32) - How do other stakeholders effect schools?
(14:05) - How are the trends from the future of work effecting education?
(16:19) - How does regulation stifle innovation in education?
(19:42) - What is the School of Humanity and how is it different?
(23:04) - What is the purpose of education?
(24:23) - How to create personalized learning paths for students
(29:06) - What are the 600 skills and competencies learners need in the 21st century?
(30:32) - What is existential intelligence and why should students develop it?
(33:34) - How to create competency based education
(37:38) - How to evaluate skills students are learning
(39:48) - A day in the life of a School of Humanity learner
(43:27) - How to explain radically new education models to others
(46:32) - Results from School of Humanity's model
(48:35) - How to build a vibrant online community for learning
(53:25) - Can AI help personalize learning in the future?
(55:55) - Why entrepreneurs should tackle problems that really piss them off
(59:12) - Raya's prior startup Aweacademy
(1:00:03) - How an education entrepreneur can go from idea to a full school
(1:09:37) - Must hear advice for founders
(1:12:06) - Closing
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Zoe Weil is the co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education (IHE), and is considered a pioneer in the comprehensive humane education movement that works to create a peaceful, healthy, and just world for all people, animals, and the environment through education. Zoe is a frequent keynote speaker at educational, animal protection, environmental and other conferences and has given six TEDx talks including her acclaimed talk, “The World Becomes What You Teach”, which became one of the 50 top-rated TEDx talks within a year of its video release. She is the author of seven books including "The World Becomes What We Teach: Educating a Generation of Solutionaries;" Nautilus silver medal winner "Most Good, Least Harm," Moonbeam gold medal winner "Claude and Medea," and "Above All, Be Kind."
As a special treat, Zoe and I also got to chat with Andra Yeghoian, Environmental Literacy and Sustainability Coordinator, about her work in San Mateo County implementing Zoe's philosophy in 23 school districts serving 113,000 students.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- Why we must educate students to solve the worlds most pressing problems
- How to change the education system at scale
- How an entire county of 23 schools districts is creating 113,000 Solutionaries
- How to face extremely difficult challenges like solving the education crisis
- Step by step how to identify the root of a problem and begin creating a solution
- and much more...
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/69
The Evolve podcast is produced by Plato University and is a member of the Social Good Media Network
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) - Introduction
(01:38) - Zoe's Mission with the Institute for Humane Education
(01:59) - Why our current education system's goal is insufficient
(05:03) - How an educator in San Mateo county experiences these problems
(07:58) - Why education is the root of all other systems
(11:11) - What's at stake if we don't fix education
(14:28) - What is a Solutionary
(17:05) - Step by step of how to think like a Solutionary
(24:11) - Why San Mateo County implemented this philosophy
(29:18) - How to implement a Solutionary curriculum
(33:11) - The results of implementing this curriculum in San Mateo County
(37:35) - Is it right to expose kids to global issues
(44:19) - The pushback educators experience when implementing curriculum
(50:27) - What is a Solutionary Fair
(52:55) - How effective is this solution at solving the education crisis
(57:03) - How Zoe started the Institute for Humane Education
(1:01:10) - How to change education at scale
(1:03:41) - How to face extremely tough challenges
(1:10:44) - Call to Action
(1:11:37) - How to push the world to evolve
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Despite the transformation of our world in every context, education has not updated it's models to address the needs our current world. Education has failed to fulfill it's purpose in helping each student thrive individually and helping to better humanity as a collective.
But how do we solve the education crisis? In this episode we uncovered the outdated practices and systems keeping education from fulfilling its purpose and the building blocks that can be used to develop new models of education that will properly prepare students for solving our worlds most pressing problems.
EXPERTS FEATURED
- Zoe Weil, Co-founder and President of the Institute for Humane Education, author of The World Becomes What We Teach
- Carla Marschall & Elizabeth Crawford, co-authors of Worldwise Learning
- Raya Bidshahri, Founder and CEO of the School of Humanity
- Victoria Ransom, Founder and CEO of Prisma
- Vriti Saraf, Founder and CEO of K20 Educators
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The traditional framework of schooling has multiple elements that are contributing to the scope of the problem: curriculum, isolated disciplines, focus on external motivators, division by age groups, and restrictive boundaries of formal institutions.
- If the education crisis is not addressed, our society faces large consequences such as an $8.5 trillion dollar skills gap by 2030.
- The education lies at the root of all other systems including but not limited to the economic system, the political system, the energy system, the transportation system, the legal system and the healthcare system
- If we want to solve the education crisis, we must address other systems outside of education that influence it including all stakeholders, higher education, and money and resource allocation.
- The building blocks for solutions include: connecting curriculum to real challenges, connecting curriculum to personal interests, developing the entire student, taking an interdisciplinary approach, online-learning, cultivating student relationships, engage learners in application of knowledge, and using competency based assessment.
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/research/education
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) - Introduction
(03:16) - What is the purpose of education?
(05:54) - What is the root problem of the education crisis?
(07:58) - How this problem personally effects students
(09:25) - Scope of the problem: What are we learning?
(12:34) - Scope of the problem: Why are we learning this?
(15:27) - Scope of the problem: How are we learning?
(19:10) - Scope of the problem: Where is learning happening?
(19:35) - What's at stake if we don't solve the education crisis?
(26:07) - What other stakeholders and influences like higher education or resource allocation, should we consider?
(33:54) - How does education regulation present an obstacle to solving this problem?
(40:11) - Summary of the problem
(42:06) - What traditional education does well
(44:06) - Solution 1: Institute for Humane Education and Creating Solutionaries
(54:19) - Solution 2: Worldwise Learning
(1:05:16) - Solution 3: School of Humanity
(1:13:47) - Solution 4: Prisma
(1:20:50) - Other Solutions briefly mentioned
(1:22:42) - Summary of the solutions
(1:25:07) - Closing wisdom from our experts
Celine Halioua is the CEO and Founder of Loyal, a biotech startup developing drugs to extend dog lifespan. BUT with a twist! If this life-extension research and drug development works for canines, her theory is that it could lead to breakthroughs for the rest of us humans for age related diseases! Previously, she held various roles at The Longevity Fund, an early stage venture capital fund investing in companies developing therapeutics to treat aging. Celine has a technical background in neuroscience and gene therapy. She holds a B.Sc. in neuroscience from the University of Texas at Austin and was a D.Phil. student at Oxford University. She worked in the laboratories of Dr. Evan Snyder at the Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute on novel enteric neuron disease therapeutics, and of Dr. Richard Morrisett and Dr. Keith Stevenson at The University of Texas at Austin on the development of novel silver-nanocluster neuronal tracers for applications in neuropharmacology.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- Why cracking the code on a dog's can fix human age related diseases
- What's wrong with the longevity field
- How to go from academia to startups
- The real mental and emotional challenges of being a founder
- How to think about sacrifice, personal responsibility, and your own mortality
- and much more...
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/68
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) - Podcast Recommendation - #impact with Regina Larko
(00:43) - Introduction
(02:17) - Celine's Mission For Better Medicine and Healthcare
(04:40) - Why dog longevity to fix human illness
(07:11) - Why Celine cares so much about longevity
(09:39) - What's wrong with the longevity field
(11:57) - What does longevity actually look like
(14:04) - What is Loyal for dogs and what is it creating
(18:33) - How Celine wants to inspire other biotech founders
(20:25) - How to manage senior talent as a young founder
(21:59) - How to go from academia to startups
(26:25) - The first step for creating a biotech company
(28:00) - Mental models, self awareness, and emotional challenges as a found
(34:12) - Sacrifice and personal responsibility
(35:32) - Are we all delaying our own mortality
(36:35) - Call to Action
(37:24) - How to push the world to Evolve
Claire Schmidt is the CEO and Founder of AllVoices: A technology platform that enables employees to anonymously report bias, discrimination or sexual harassment to their company's leadership. By equipping companies with transparent data, leadership teams can actively work to improve their culture and move towards a more equal and just workplace. Prior to founding AllVoices, Claire served as Vice President of Technology and Innovation at Fox, the Senior Director of Giving at Thrive Market, as well as the Director of Programs at Thorn.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- How company culture has been changed by MeToo, BLM, COVID, and remote work
- Why anonymous reporting helps create a psychologically safe and decent workplace
- How to have a compassionate conversation without having to agree with the other side or even like them
- The skills you need to start a career in social impact
- How to quickly became an expert in any domain & surround yourself with mentors
- Why you should raise more money for your startup in your pre-seed than you think
- and much more...
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/67
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) - Podcast Recommendation - Startups for Good with Miles Laster
(00:43) - Introduction
(02:09) - Claire's Mission
(02:23) - What Problems inside the Workplace?
(05:05) - Why do Whistleblower Hotlines and Culture Surveys Not Address the Issue?
(07:19) - How has MeToo, COVID, and BLM Changed Company Culture?
(08:46) - What is the State of The Workplace in 2021?
(11:23) - What About Remote Work?
(12:24) - What is a Psychologically Safe and Decent Workplace?
(13:56) - What is AllVoices and How Does It Help?
(20:16) - Why Anonymity is Important
(25:05) - A Unique Benefit Available to Any Employee in Any Company
(29:41) - How Effective is AllVoices?
(32:24) - How Claire Builds Culture in AllVoices as CEO
(36:34) - What Work Still Needs Done in This Space?
(38:40) - How Claire Started Her Social Impact Career & The Skills She Learned
(42:47) - How to Quickly Became An Expert In Any Domain
(44:24) - How to Surround Yourself with Expert Mentors
(47:06) - Why Claire Quit Her Successful Career to Start AllVoices
(49:25) - How Claire Made Life Changing Decisions in the Beginning of AllVoices
(52:32) - Why You Should Raise More Money Than You Think in Your Pre-Seed
(56:03) - Why You Must Separate Your Identity From Your Startup
(58:04) - The Future of Company Culture
(1:00:51) - Call to Action
(1:02:29) - How To Push The World To Evolve
Rodney Campbell & Keith Richardson are Co-Founders of More In Common and creators of the More In Common Podcast, a social experiment to prove that we have more in common than that which divides us and prove its beneficial to have conversation with people of disparate points of view. On their podcast they explore a variety of tough and controversial topics such as race, politics, mental health, child abuse, parenting, and many others with guests ranging from Kristen Bell to Jason Primrose.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
- Why we currently have so much disconnection and divide among people in our society
- Why conversation is one of the foundational skills that underlies all other problems
- How to have a compassionate conversation without having to agree with the other side or even like them
- The power of podcasting to effect others
- How to talk about controversial topics
- and much more...
Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/66
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) - Introduction
(01:02) - Rodney & Keith's Mission
(01:39) - Why Compassionate Conversation is a Metaskill?
(05:06) - How Evolution has Influenced Conversation
(09:54) - How Lack of Connection has Increased Loneliness and Depression
(15:29) - Self Awareness and Conversations
(19:11) - What is a Companionate Conversation and How Does It Feel?
(27:15) - What it the M.O.R.E. Approach?
(31:48) - Why Did Rodney & Keith Start a Podcast to Demonstrate Compassionate Conversations?
(35:49) - How has the Podcast Changed Lives?
(39:53) - How To Help Others Open Up to Vulnerability
(42:36) - Rodney & Keith's First Discussions about Controversial Topics
(53:11) - Labels of Others and Us vs. Them
(59:04) - What They are Teaching Their Children About Human Connection
(1:03:20) - Call to Action
(1:05:04) - How To Push The World To Evolve
Andrea Malone is the Founder of Humble Teacher, a full-service online course platform centering liberation and anti-oppression work. Originally launching with only 5 courses, they quickly received over a hundred course signups within a month and have expanded their offerings to over a dozen courses addressing racism, diversity, equity, activism and more. Andrea’s passion for anti-oppression and liberation work emerged early on. Now she helps online instructors that share ways in which anyone can join in the journey to end systemic racism, bias, and white supremacy culture specifically in commerce and education.
Today she shares the two sides of dismantling oppression through anti-oppression and liberation, her journey from corporate America to becoming a founder, and how she used her unique skills that tackle a problem she deeply cared about and how you could too.
Full show notes can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/65
Sidney Haitoff is the Founder and CEO of mishe, the Pay-As-You-Go Healthcare™ company that puts consumers in control of their care by connecting them directly with providers on the basis of transparent and affordable pricing; no insurance needed. Since launching in the fall of 2020, mishe has already welcomed more than 125 providers across seven specialties to the marketplace in just three months of active recruitment in San Diego. They are continuing to build out our provider network and plan to offer a full suite of essential medical services to their community and other major metropolitan areas across the country.
Today he shares his expertise in the medical industry, how he approached building a two sided marketplace, the secret tool he uses to overcome challenges being a founder, and how he is bringing healing back to healthcare through price transparency, equity, and access.
Full show notes can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/64
Jaison Morgan is the Founder and CEO of Carrot, a competition platform that puts many brilliant minds to work solving tough problems. As the market leader in the design, development, and operation of large-scale incentive programming, Carrot has over 10 years of experience and 100% success rate in allocating over 500 million dollars to teams developing solutions in wide variety of areas.
Jaison shares how he built Carrot, his unique skills as founder for over a decade, and his mission to create open, transparent, and fair processes of granting awards, prizes, fellowships, and other forms of incentive-based programs to people like us, the innovators solving the worlds greatest challenges.
Full show notes can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/62
This episode is brought to you by Purpose Talks! Purpose Talks, created by the Business of Purpose and Hosted by Izzy Ahrbeck, sits down with business leaders to discuss the new business world where purpose talks over money. Each episode spotlights, not one, but multiple companies focused on one business element, jam-packed with insights and topics such as brand activism, giveback models, open hiring practices, transparent supply chains and more. They even host Q&A events with their guests like the upcoming event on July 20th featuring Lynn Johnson, Founder + CEO of Hella Social Impact, talking about Racial Justice. So if you enjoy the Evolve podcast, then give Purpose Talks a listen.
Moe Abbas is Co-Founder and CEO of Acadium, an apprenticeship marketplace on a mission to accelerate economic mobility by making access to a new career accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Acadium started with the belief that anyone, anywhere, should be able to get the skills and experience they need to start their career without barriers like price, schedule, or location getting in their way.
Acadium has raised $1M from top angel investors, and it has launched more careers in digital marketing than any other platform to date. The company has been featured in Forbes as one of the leading companies building the bridge to remote employment. And the best part, it is completely free for the students and apprentices.
Moe went from a poor, refugee family and selling chocolate bar at 10 years old to help support his family, to founding or co-founding over a dozen startups which over the last 10 years have employed thousands, in industries ranging from real estate, construction, web development, marketing and mobile applications. In his early 20's he was Co-Founder of Ottawa General Contractors which In 5 years, he led the group from doing deals in a Starbucks into Canada’s leading residential design build company with 20 million in sales and design centers across the country.
Full show notes and worksheets can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/62
What You Will Learn In This Episode:
- Why an apprenticeship is more effective at creating careers than traditional higher education
- How one Acadium apprentice switched careers and doubled her income in 3 months for free
- A scrappy funnel growth hack validate your marketplace idea
- Why supply and demand liquidity is important when building a two-sided marketplace
- How to determine a revenue model for your startup
- How to decide between horizontal and vertical growth in your business
Turi Munthe is the founder of Parlia, the encyclopedia of opinion. Turi is a media entrepreneur, venture partner, former journalist, author, and political analyst who is on a mission to empower civil discourse by mapping the entirety of the worlds opinions on one platform. So far, they have 5,000 members who have voted over 150,000 times 1500 opinions and 5,000 arguments all aimed at helping each other understand one another better on the issues most important to our time.
And who better to discover how the world thinks, than this founder who has dogged bullets in the middle east and attacks of his ideas in the board room. He began his career writing for magazines like The Economist, The Nation, & The TLS, published a Reader on Saddam Hussein, covered the 2nd Gulf War as a journalist, and eventually launched the Beirut Review of Books, a joint venture with the Lebanese Daily Star and The International Herald Tribune.
In 2007, he jumped into the tech game as cofounder of Demotix which was as a grassroots news wire, providing freelance reporters and photojournalists around the world with a platform to share their stories and images with the world’s media. Demotix won numerous awards for innovation in media both in the US and UK, and built a giant network of 75,000 photojournalists around the world before selling to Bill Gates’ Corbis Corporation in 2012.
Full show notes and worksheets can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/61
What You Will Learn In This Episode:
- Why business can be more effective at solving social issues at scale than non-profits
- Trade-offs social entrepreneurs have to make to purpose before profit
- How we humanize other's opinions and how they are not that different than yours
- Why your opinions are arbitrary and don't really belong to you
- The 3 ways to stop polarization
- How to build a self sustaining community of crowdsourced information like Wikipedia
Stephen Kosslyn is the founder of Active Learning Sciences & Foundry College. Stephen is a serial founder, psychologist, neuroscientist, and expert on the science of learning with over a 40 year career in transforming education. After having written or co-authored 15 books, publishing more than 300 papers, receiving numerous awards, and being a center director at Stanford and a dean at Harvard, this brilliant researcher jumped at the opportunity to put his ideas into practice by becoming the founding dean and chief academic officer of Minerva, a startup to reinvent American higher education.
However this ambitious educator wanted to help more learners at an even larger scale. So he went on to become founder and chief academic officer of Foundry College, which was recently named a Top 100 Ed Tech company in North America. This online two-year college is designed to help working adults develop skills and knowledge that will not be automated in the foreseeable future.
Within the midst of the 2020 global pandemic and the need for online education, he published a new book Active Learning Online: Five Principles that Make Online Courses Come Alive and started Active Learning Sciences, as he realized the best way to fulfill his mission in life is not to teach students directly, but to help others to use the science of learning to design new, cutting-edge educational programs and courses.
Full show notes and worksheets can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/60
What You Will Learn In This Episode:
- How to turn years of research into a startup
- How to scale successful solutions
- The 5 principles of active learning
- Opportunities for entrepreneurs in education
Emily Kennedy is Co-Founder & President of Marinus Analytics. Emily went form college researcher to tech founder helping thousands of victims in the $99 billion black market industry of sex trafficking, forced labor and slavery. What started off as a college research thesis on human trafficking turned into an internationally recognized AI and machine learning technology to identify and locate victims trafficking sold online and dismantle organized criminal networks.
In their seven years of operation, they've assisted over 2,500 law enforcement and nonprofit users analyze over 400 million records to date. Their technology is 60 times faster than manual identification and saved law enforcement over 70,000 hours of investigative time in 2020 alone. To continue their impact of solving society's most pressing problems, they've applied their technology to include human services and cyber fraud. And in early 2021, they were announced as a finalist in the IBM Watson AI X PRIZE, which is a $3 million competition to build artificial intelligence for good.
Full show notes and worksheets can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/emily-kennedy
What You Will Learn In This Episode:
- How to take university research and turn it into a startup
- How to secure early stage funding without taking venture capital
- How to grow your customer base in early stages
- How to attract passionate and skilled talent to a mission driven startup
- How to set boundaries as a founder
- How to be a thermostat, and not a thermometer
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Today's Featured Founder is is Collin Tate, Founder of Kind Find which is a weekly brand discovery email series that introduces everyone everywhere to 100% vegan companies, crowdfunding projects, trends, job listings, and more. They are on a mission to help ethical eCommerce thrive and support the mass adoption and global growth of the vegan lifestyle.
Full show notes and transcripts can be found here: evolvethe.world/community/collin-tate
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Kathy Hannun is Co-Founder & President of Dandelion Energy. Kathy has spent the last decade focused on finding “Moonshots,” which are business opportunities that harness technology for large-scale positive impact for millions, even billions, of people. Starting as a rapid evaluator at Google X's moonshot factory, she took the leap at a moonshot idea for reducing fossil-powered heating costs and carbon emissions with earth powered geothermal energy.
Most recently, this innovative startup has raised $30 million in funding from top venture capitalists like Bill Gate's Breakthrough Energy Ventures, set a new standard for geothermal quality and cost-effectiveness, and empowered homeowners to avoid over 100 million pounds of carbon emissions and counting.
Full show notes and worksheets can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/kathy-hannun
What You Will Learn In This Episode:
- How to identify and validate moonshot ideas
- How to create an MVP for a moonshot idea
- Dandelion's 3 innovations that make it successful in the energy market
- How much a founder should disclose about their personal life during fundraising
- Why risk taking is necessary to solve global problems
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Full show notes and worksheets can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/landon-brand
What You Will Learn In This Episode:
- How to create ideas your passionate about
- Why to fund existing solutions rather than reinvent the wheel
- How to find your first users & turn them into a passionate community
- How to use fun, identity, status to fuel extreme growth adoption in your product
- The Magic of Public Benefit Corporations for mission driven startups
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Today's Featured Founder is is Rob Girling, Co-Founder & CEO of Artefact which an award-winning responsible strategy and design firm which helps leaders harness the power of design to make change and do good.
Full show notes and transcripts can be found here: evolvethe.world/community/rob-girling
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Tom Dawkins is the Co-Founder & CEO of StartSomeGood. Tom has been the founder of 5 nonprofits and social enterprises and built the leading platform in cause-driven crowdfunding, innovative partnerships and social entrepreneur education. Since its conception in 2010, the platform has enabled more than 1000 projects to raise over $12.5 million to make a positive impact in the world. Their projects have an outstanding 53% success rate compared with 39% on Kickstarter and 9% on Indiegogo. In addition to their technology platform, they created a one stop shop for social entrepreneurs with accelerators, a social enterprise design course, live crowdfunding pitch events, a network community, and everything to help people design and launch social enterprises and impact projects.
Full show notes and worksheets can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/tom-dawkins
What You Will Learn In This Episode:
- The little known secrets from over a 1000 successful crowdfunding campaigns
- How to fund ideas facing the innovation paradox
- How to convene, not convert, your idea’s first audience
- The 5 heart grabbing hooks to get people raving about your crowdfunding idea
- Why the world’s biggest challenges are the biggest business opportunities
- The 4 phases of social entrepreneurship
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Jeffrey Hollender is Co-Founder of Seventh Generation, The American Business Council, & Hollender Sustainable Brands. Jeffrey went from dropping out of college and selling skill classes like the “art of flirting” or “how to marry money” to building one of the most successful sustainable product brands in the world, Seventh Generation, which sold to Unilever in 2016 for over $600 Million. Their line of over 100 products is distributed in most leading retailers including: Target, Whole Foods, Kroger, Safeway and Amazon. And for the last 30 years, from its humble beginnings as mail order catalog till now, the brand has been focused on nurturing the health of the next 7 generations.
But after being ousted by his own company in 2010, he took his idea of doing good to a whole another level becoming a leading authority on corporate responsibility, sustainability and social equity. He created a coalition of over 250,000 businesses called the American Sustainable Business Council which drives progressive public policy.
In 2013, with his wife and daughter, he created Hollender Sustainable Brands, which started Sustain, Sustain Natural, a new brand of female-focused, all natural sexual wellness products that sold. The company has rapidly grown and was acquired by Grove Collective in 2019.
Full show notes and worksheets can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/jeffrey-hollender
What You Will Learn In This Episode:
- What Jeffrey's first business was after dropping out of college
- The first business Jeffrey sold to Time Warner
- Why Jeffrey's guilt ended up leading him to Seventh Generation
- How Seventh Generation started from a failing mail order catalogue
- How Seventh Generation got it's first customers
- The troubles in Jeffrey and Alan Newman's co-founder relationship
- Whether it is right for you to have a co-founder
- The absolute must haves before entering into a co-founder relationship
- How Jeffrey made a key decision to cut 80% of Seventh Generations revenue source
- Why educating your customers can have positive effects
- How to create company culture
- How Jeffrey took being fired from Seventh Generation and what he learned
- How Jeffrey practices the art of reflection
- Why businesses need to do good rather than less bad
- How Jeffrey got into the condom business and built Sustain Naturals
- Why to be truly sustainable we need to implement a whole systems approach
- How Jeffrey navigated selling three companies
- The most important lessons he teaches social entrepreneurs
- How to fuel innovation in your startup
- How we can solve major global issues
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Today's expert is James Bidwell, Co-founder of next generation strategy consultancy, Re_Set and owner and Chair of the world's leading source of global innovations, Springwise. Both his companies are members of 1% for the Planet and certified B Corp companies - committed to business as a force for good. His book, Disrupt: 100 Lessons in Business Innovation is an Amazon bestseller and explores how meaningful innovations are changing the way we live and work and how we can best look after our planet #innovationthatmatters. He is also Chair of the UK Steering committee for 1% for the Planet.
In today's lesson James reveals how to innovate and thrive in a disrupted world. 2020 has been a powerful wake up call for all of us. We have seen a seismic shift in that last 12 months and the pace of change has accelerated faster than ever before. It is vital that we adapt, find new ways to stay relevant and most importantly, innovate. There is a huge opportunity now to be brave and bold.
Today's lessons:
- The importance of an MVP
- The importance of agility and flexibility
- The vital role of real time intelligence
You can download this expert's playbook at https://www.evolvethe.world/learn/how-to-innovate
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Today's Featured Founder is Chris Wexler, Co-founder and CEO of Krunum has created the best in class AI technology and machine learning to remove digital toxic waste from the internet like Child Sexual Abuse Materials and other indicative content to improve and speed content moderation. As a pure social enterprise, Krunam brings the best in market forces to the fight against one of capitalism's worst toxic waste, human trafficking.
Full show notes and transcripts can be found here: evolvethe.world/community/chris-wexler
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Sebastiaan van der Lans is the Founder of WordProof & Chairman of the Trusted Web Foundation. Sebastiaan is an open source nerd who won Europe’s Blockchains for Social Good contest in 2020 for his innovative dutch startup that is on a mission to restore trust in the internet through transparency and accountability via blockchain timestamping.
And with fraud, fake news, and privacy issues the internet has been hungry for this! Within just 6 months of launching they had 162,173 timestamps, 25,000,000+ Unique Pageviews, and 17,000+ Views of WordProof content on youtube. And the spread across the internet keeps climbing. As of today, they have had 1,023,572+ articles, media files and legal documents time stamped by their product.
Full show notes and worksheets can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/sebastiaan-van-der-lans
What You Will Learn In This Episode:
- Why Sebastiaan was drawn to the web and the power of open source
- How community and open source democratize the internet
- Why Sebastiaan invested $60,000 of time into building a free GDPR plugin
- How to test out developers before hiring them for bigger projects
- The origin of blockchain and what drew Sebastiaan to it
- Why trust on the internet is such a big issue
- How Sebastiaan is going to save the internet with a digital fingerprint
- How to bring more transparency and accountability on the internet
- The "levels" strategy for making social media more believable
- The secret way Sebastiaan funded his blockchain startup
- How WordProof got it's first users
- How to explain something as complicated as blockchain to everyone from investors to policy makers
- The ultimate strategy to win a startup competition
- Why Sebastiaan started a nonprofit alongside his startup to educate people about the internet
- How the State of Misinformation has effected the internet
- How to not fall prey to misinformation
- How we can apply open source and community prinicples to other problems
- How to make the internet have more human to human connection
- How 5 minutes of time turned in 20k return on investment
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Today's expert is Ben Sampson, Co-Founder of WeHero, which gives companies the solutions to accomplish their social mission through powerful giving and volunteer programs to create a better culture, a better brand, and a greater social impact. Their mission: To empower 10 million people with the tools to give easily and impactfully. Ben Sampson has spoken at a number of conferences in the CSR and Sustainability space. Ben's particularly well known for designing social impact strategies and high impact corporate volunteer programs. Companies he has worked with include Visa, Facebook, Adobe, Deloitte, Salesforce, Autodesk, Linkedin, and many more.
In today's lesson Ben reveals how to establish successful corporate social impact strategies that not only make a social difference but also drive increased revenues to build a better business as an end result.
Today's lessons:
- Understand the why of your strategy
- Designing the right strategy
- Launching the strategy and activating your employees
- Managing the strategy for continued success.
You can download this expert's playbook at https://www.evolvethe.world/learn/how-to-create-social-impact-strategies
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Christian Shearer is the CEO & Co-Founder at Regen Network, a community of actors engaging with ecological regeneration, ecological monitoring, verification, distributed computing and technology development, centered around Regen Ledger. Christian went from permaculturist and educator in Southeast Asia to a global tech entrepreneur looking to solve global challenges like climate change, desertification, and resource depletion that affect nearly every aspect of human life. These experiences opened his eyes to the most powerful pathways for reversing climate change and unlocking the largest untapped market in the world: farmers and the earth’s Ecosystems. So he decided to create a block-chain based marketplace that allows land stewards to sell more than just produce. Farmers can monetize their ecosystem services to buyers around the world, functioning to reverse climate change, and improve their soils, through incentivized carbon removal.
Full show notes and worksheets can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/christian-shearer
What You Will Learn In This Episode:
- How Christian bought a piece of land in Thailand after college
- How Christian became an expert in permaculture to fulfill his own needs
- What a world renowned permaculture designer taught him about inspiration
- The surprising secret of just how much agriculture affects our lives
- Why Christian moved back to the states to start Terra Genesis International
- The biggest lesson Christian learned working with permaculture clients
- The fundamental questions Christian started asking self about agriculture and the climate crisis that led to Regen
- How incentives can drive change, for better or worse
- How to better incentivize farmers to practice more regenerative agriculture
- How Regen is using open source, blockchain technology and advanced verification to support farmers
- How Christian went from permaculturist to technology expert
- What TechStars taught Christian and how it shaped his business
- Why companies would want to purchase carbon credits
- The counter intuitive reason why carbon credits incentivize companies to have more sustainable business practices
- How entrepreneurship affected Christians previous marriage
- The impact of Microsoft purchasing offset credits from Regen
- How Regen's blockchain technology works
- Why they are open sourcing their technology, even to competitors
- The problem with big agriculture
- The real reason Christian has dedicated his life to this mission
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Today's expert is Cory Ames, Co-Founder & CEO of a Grow Ensemble, a media and marketing company that amplifies the work of social entrepreneurs and purpose-driven business leaders to accelerate the change they wish to make in the world. At the age of 20, Cory dropped out from Gonzaga University to aggressively pursue a professional career in digital marketing. In 18 months Cory went from part-time Project Manager Assistant to CEO of a then multi-million dollar marketing agency with over 20 full-time employees.
In the lesson Corey reveals his Grow Ensemble Framework. For purpose-driven businesses, this strategy is immensely valuable to build a community around your brand and mission.
Today's lessons:
Phase 1: The Foundation
- Strategy: Building the Traffic & Impact Plan
- Optimization: Capture Low Hanging Fruit
Phase 2: Build & Run the Content Machine
- Production
- Publication
- Promotion & Distribution
- Review & Analysis
Full show notes and transcripts can be found here: https://www.evolvethe.world/learn/how-to-market-a-social-enterprise-online
Want to download this expert's playbook? Join our community here: evolvethe.world/learn
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Madison Campbell is the Cofounder & CEO of Leda Health & Creator of the MeToo Kit. Her company within 1 month of starting received 16 ceases and desists, 5 subpoenas, and 2 statewide bills introduced to ban a product that has aimed at helping the millions of sexual assault survivors across the globe which includes an estimated the 2 million a year in the U.S. alone. This young sexual assault advocate and technological innovator’s hope to revolutionize the care on a holistic scale created a frenzy of over a thousand mentions in press outlets such as CNN, Buzzfeed News, ABC, USA Today, NBC and over 1 billion impressions throughout the world and growing.
However this serial entrepreneur understands there is no such thing as bad publicity, especially when it is helping bring attention to the 77% of sexual assault cases that are never reported each year including her own. After overcoming the trauma of her own sexual assault in college, she sought out to give survivors time with processing their trauma by developing an at-home sexual assault examination kit and provide the care and resources needed for a full recovery.
With an expertise in epidemiology, mathematical modeling, policy and women’s rights, and work in multiple prestigious research institutions, this revolutionary thinker has called her moonshot against the many systemic shortcomings of current government and healthcare systems. Hundreds of thousands of kits have already been requested by colleges, corporations, military, non profits, and even cruise ships and participants of burning man.
Find all the shownotes at https://www.evolvethe.world/
Today's experts are Eli Libby & Kyle Nelson, Founders of Results Imagery & the Biz Bros podcast. These are two startup veterans who have had both success and failure in several ventures. They pride themselves on having actually done the work of building a business and not just telling others how to do it. Essentially they practice what they preach as we will hear today how to create foundations for a startup to have social impact.
Today's lessons:
- Follow your passion and don't let anything get in the way of that (especially for social enterprises)
- Find a foundational co-founder and instill your vision and passion in them.
- Be transparent (especially when building a social enterprise).
- Develop a good founding story that consumers can get behind and support.
Full show notes and transcripts can be found here: https://www.evolvethe.world/learn/how-to-create-startup-foundations-for-social-impact
Want to download this expert's playbook? Join our community here: evolvethe.world/learn
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Today's Featured Founder is Aylon Steinhart, Co-founder and CEO of Eclipse Foods, which makes plant-based milk that is indistinguishable from conventional dairy, in taste, texture and functionality. Their products are made without soy, nuts, coconut, gluten, GMO’s, gums or stabilizers, making them free from all common allergens and much cleaner than other products.
Full show notes and transcripts can be found here: evolvethe.world/community/aylon-steinhart
Want to be a featured founder? Join our community here: evolvethe.world/community
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Kelsey Moreira is the founder & CEO of Doughp, a cookie dough company with a mission. Kelsey has been noted by Real Estate Mogul and Shark Tank Shark, Barbara Corcoran as the most sophisticated store owner she’d ever met in her life. Why might you ask? Because this Forbes 30 under 30 entrepreneur ditched her decade-long 6 figure tech career with Intel and decided to bootstrap a cookie dough company from a $500 food cart to growing 500% year over year in profits the first two years by serving more than 250,000 cookie dough lovers. But the real magic has been their mission to reduce stigmas around mental health & addiction, including the donation of 88,151 MINUTES in mental health treatment time. Her cookie dough and her mission-driven mentality behind has raised more than 1.2 million dollars, had multiple retail locations including the Las Vegas Strip, and after COVID has pivoted 100% online to ship nationwide through a strong e-commerce business.
Full show notes and worksheets can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/kelsey-moreira
What You Will Learn In This Episode:
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- How Kelsey's relationship with alcohol became a detriment to her life
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- When Kelsey decided to stop drinking and how she did it
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- How Kelsey started baking in order to rebuild her identity
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- How Kelsey discovered the cookie dough recipe that would later become Doughp
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- How Kelsey launched Doughp and started validating her idea
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- What happened when Kelsey started sharing her sobriety journey with customers
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- What is Doughp For Hope and why it is the core of Doughp's mission
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- How Kelsey decides which nonprofits to partner with
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- How Kelsey created a fun startup culture without drinking or mind altering substances
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- How to permeate your values as a founder in the company culture
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- The challenges Kelsey faced as a first time entrepreneur opening a retail location
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- How Kelsey transitioned 100% online during COVID and skyrocketed sales
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- How you can use your physical locations data and experience to direct online experiences
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- What Doughp does to stand out in their marketing online
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- How Doughp nurtures it's community online
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- The best advice Kelsey received to stay resilient through sobriety and tough times
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- The meditation app that Kelsey swears by
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- How we can better support friends and families' mental health
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- How to find existing solutions and use your business to support them
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Cullen Schwarz is the Co-Founder of Done Good, Chief of Good Thoughts, & a man who traded the political suit for a startup t-shirt. After a decade of fighting the good fight serving as a senior communications adviser to members of Congress and in the Obama Administration, he decided to start driving some of the $130 trillion in consumer spending to what Forbes has called the Amazon for Social Good. Since starting from inside the Harvard Innovation Lab in 2015, they have partnered with over 200 brands including names like Patagonia and Warby Parker, tripled their community to over 100,000 members, and diverted over one million dollars to companies dedicated to making the world a better place.
Full show notes and worksheets can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/cullen-schwarz
What You Will Learn In This Episode:
- What Cullen learned about conscientious consumerism when he became the leader of United Students Against Sweatshops
- Why Politics is too slow to make change and deliver the solutions we need
- Why consumer spending is the number one driver for positive change
- Why our hope for humanity is found in business
- What Cullen and his cofounder learned inside the Harvard Innovation Lab about startups
- Why Cullen's first app iteration of DoneGood turned out to be a terrible idea
- How Cullen pivoted his business model online by creating a chrome plugin & affiliate marketplace
- Why online shopping creates less behavior change for customers than brick and mortar
- Why online shopping is more sustainable than physical retail
- How Cullen got his first brands and customers to the marketplace and which side he built first
- Why Cullen decided to make a fully functioning marketplace and control the entire customer experience
- How DoneGood's business model creates a win-win for everyone
- How DoneGood competes against Amazon
- The dark side of Amazon's business practices
- Why socially conscious brands must be as good or better than regular brands
- Why Cullen believes sales and discounts are equally as important for socially conscious brands
- How to market and speak to conscious consumers
- Cullen's unique strategies to compete with Amazon, Better Days and Shop For Good Sunday
- How Cullen launched a new business model during COVID
- Where the most opportunity is in conscious capitalism in the coming decade
- Cullen's number one advice for social entrepreneurs just starting out
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
Ryan Mckenzie is the co founder of Tru Earth which bootstrapped from 0 to 2.5 million in monthly revenue in only 17 months while waging a war against plastic. After a career of growing several premium subscription boxes to multi-million dollar businesses, this serial entrepreneur decided to create a subscription, zero-waste, environmentally friendly laundry strip that completely eliminates the need for heavy plastic detergent jugs. With roughly 85 thousand active subscribers in 45 different countries, they have collectively kept over 2-million plastic jugs out of landfills, donated well over 2-million loads of laundry to vulnerable families in Canada, the United States and Ghana, and skyrocketed to the second fastest growing startup in Canada this year.
But the success of 8 figure monthly run rates has not always been the norm. Starting in the 90’s this entrepreneur has seen the heights of success getting hundreds of thousands of subscribers, generating 6 & 7 figures a month in revenue, and the lows of losing it all, working out of an ice cold garage in the canadian winter, and rationing out discount ground beef for his family for the week. Despite the ups and downs, the lessons learned in his 20 year career helped him design a subscription model around this laundry Eco-Strip, initially aiming to sign on 150 customers, and landing him with an astonishing fifteen-hundred in the very first month!
This disruptive startup and innovative founder has been featured in dozens of media outlets and in his written content that has been read by more than 100 million readers. Additionally their viral sensation "Things You Should Never Mix with Water” has been viewed over 16 million times.
Find all the shownotes for this episode at https://www.evolvethe.world/ryan-mckenzie
Kuda Biza is the Co-Founder of Nunbelievable & author of the SPEAR Method. Kuda went from washing windows as a young kid in economically deteriorating Zimbabwe to building 6 businesses & a non profit to solve two of the world’s biggest problems: education and hunger. With only $150 in start-up capital, he launched a profitable clothing line from a college dorm room, resulting in the education of more than 100 children in Africa. He then launched a global buy-one-give-one social enterprise which has donated over 10,000 school supply kits to underprivileged students in Africa. His most recent venture, Nunbelievable, is a mission-based baked goods company that donates a meal for every cookie sold. Within just one year they have donated more than 100,000 meals and even had one person committed to buying close to six figures’ worth of these socially conscious cookies.
Pretty extraordinary for someone who once lived through a drought that left millions without food and killed several of his friends and neighbors. Yet this gritty and determined entrepreneur wanted to change that. So staying up all night in internet cafes for scholarships and coming to the U.S. with only $40 in his pocket, he sharpened his spear studying business in college, launching startups, and spending over a decade in various roles at a Fortune 500 company where he helped take a new meal delivery business venture from ZERO to $20M in 3 years and managed a $75M ecommerce business across major outlets like Amazon, Retail.com and direct-to-consumer sites.
Additionally, he is a renowned public speaker delivering keynote addresses at more than 40 institutions in 4 countries including Harvard, the United Nations, and TEDx, inspiring audiences to take action, achieve dreams and impact social change through purposeful entrepreneurship.
Find all the shownotes for this episode at https://www.evolvethe.world/kuda-biza
Shireen Jaffer is the Co-Founder of EDVO & Founder of Skillify. She went from working multiple part time jobs since the age of 14, even being fired from a yogurt shop, to helping over 50,000 people in their careers over the last 10 years, from recent grads to executives. She is a Forbes 30 under 30, an active angel investor in several successfully growing startups, and a founder of 2 startups that have been aimed at building innovative educational tools to empower lifelong learning for billions around the world.
Changing how people are educated and see work in our society, she has supported 220 schools to equip students with real world skills and worked with hundreds of companies, from Fortune 500s to early stage startups, advising them on recruiting and hiring practices. This year she launched products to help people think think for themselves including the world’s first personal learning management system and a mental models app which was #1 on product hunt with over 15,000 users in the first two weeks.
She shares her wisdom for a life full of meaningful learning, critical thinking, and better results as host of the Edvolution Podcast, as a Ted-x speaker, and has been featured in numerous publications such as Business Insider, Fast Company, Forbes, and more.
Find all the shownotes for this episode at https://www.evolvethe.world/shireen-jaffer
James McKinney is the Founder & Host of the Startup Story, a weekly podcast for entrepreneurs with over 65,000 monthly listeners worldwide. However James has his own amazing startup story. Imagine you are launching a business in the middle of a recession, you score the biggest government contract of your career, leverage 300,000 dollars worth of your own assets, and then lose it all… Would you get back up again and start another business? James has not done this once, but numerous times. From Disney's corporate world to the launch of his SimpleDeal Mobile app, this serial entrepreneur has ventured, stumbled, ventured, succeeded, and then ventured again. Which is why he is so focused on bringing authenticity and transparency to the entrepreneurial journey.
After being director of a Startup grind chapter, he discovered the power of sharing stories about the daily grind, the grit, and business trials of others. So he embarked on launching the Startup Story, which has had over 500,000 downloads, been a Top 10 Entrepreneurial podcast in all of iTunes in the USA, UK, and Australia, and shared the stories of founders such as Ben Chesnut of Mailchimp, Jamie Schmidt of Schmidt’s Naturals, Michael Littig, the co-founder of the Zuckerberg Institute.
Whether from his time in the marines, selling accounting services, having over $280 million in career sales, raising $140,000 for an app, or Increasing Disney’s revenue by 271% within the first two years there, this wealth of knowledge continues to impact hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs every week with guidance and support.
Find all the shownotes at https://www.evolvethe.world/james-mckinney
Scott J. Miller is the Executive Vice President of Thought Leadership at Franklin Covey and has spent the last 25 years championing teams within the world’s best leadership firm, serving under the tutorage of Dr. Stephen Covey. He now leads the strategy, development, and publication of Franklin Covey’s world-renowned content & bestselling books including one of the most impactful nonfiction business books in history, 7 Habits of Highly Effective people, which has sold more than 40 million copies in 40 languages and empowered the transformation of millions of lives worldwide.
Although he has held many leadership roles from project coordinator at the Disney Development Company to the FranklinCovey Company Chief Marketing officer, he has seen plenty of failure and was even demoted from his first leadership position after only three weeks in the role at Franklin Covey. However, since then he has become an unfiltered leader thriving in a highly filtered corporate culture. Being a renowned thought leader in the leadership and personal performance space, he has been featured in 100’s of podcasts, webinars, and articles in Entrepreneur, Forbes, Donald Miller's StoryBrand Podcast, Rachel Hollis's RISE Podcast, The ONE Thing Podcast and more.
Additionally, he is a multi-week #1 bestselling author of Management Mess to Leadership Success: 30 Challenges to Become the Leader You Would Follow which has been proclaimed as a new classic on authentic leadership by Seth Godin. He is also the author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Everyone Deserves A Great Manager and wrote dozens of articles as a leadership columnist for Inc Magazine.
Distributed to more than 5 million business leaders worldwide, his On Leadership podcast features interviews with renowned business titans and thought leaders such as John Maxwell, Dr. Daniel Amen, Ed Mylet, Rachel & Dave Hollis, & Ryan Holiday. He was also the former host of the iHeart Radio program called Great Life, Great Career.
Find all the shownotes at https://www.evolvethe.world/scott-miller
Madison Campbell is the Cofounder & CEO of Leda Health & Creator of the MeToo Kit. Her company within 1 month of starting received 16 ceases and desists, 5 subpoenas, and 2 statewide bills introduced to ban a product that has aimed at helping the millions of sexual assault survivors across the globe which includes an estimated the 2 million a year in the U.S. alone. This young sexual assault advocate and technological innovator’s hope to revolutionize the care on a holistic scale created a frenzy of over a thousand mentions in press outlets such as CNN, Buzzfeed News, ABC, USA Today, NBC and over 1 billion impressions throughout the world and growing.
However this serial entrepreneur understands there is no such thing as bad publicity, especially when it is helping bring attention to the 77% of sexual assault cases that are never reported each year including her own. After overcoming the trauma of her own sexual assault in college, she sought out to give survivors time with processing their trauma by developing an at-home sexual assault examination kit and provide the care and resources needed for a full recovery.
With an expertise in epidemiology, mathematical modeling, policy and women’s rights, and work in multiple prestigious research institutions, this revolutionary thinker has called her moonshot against the many systemic shortcomings of current government and healthcare systems. Hundreds of thousands of kits have already been requested by colleges, corporations, military, non profits, and even cruise ships and participants of burning man.
Find all the shownotes at https://www.evolvethe.world/
Colin Keeley is Co Founder & CEO of Avocado Audio, Host of the Tech in Chicago Podcast, and has been ferociously building & growing internet companies for the past decade. He’s been on both sides of the fence as a serial founder and venture capitalist, and done everything from building a personalized tv/movie guide, a stretchy denim company for men, a sharing economy startup, and a multi-million dollar software marketing business. With no plans of slowing down, he has just launched a platform for the world’s best audio courses with instructors who range from best selling authors, youtube stars, investment bankers, to Wharton professors.
With the audio industry booming, it is easy to see why this insightful entrepreneur is on a mission to turn your spare listening time into productive learning time. Podcasting alone is forecasted to reach over 160 million listeners by 2023 and will continue to grow an extra 20 million each year after. Streaming giant Spotify has invested hundreds of millions of dollars on podcast-related acquisitions while behomeaths like Amazon are expanding their audio library into podcasts within the next few months.
This explosion of growth is something Colin knows well. Through his highly acclaimed podcast Tech in Chicago, which has been a top 100 business podcast with 100,000+ downloads to date, and has been sharing the inspiring stories of Chicago’s top founders and investors and their startups like Chowly, Leaftrade, and Cameo.
Find all the shownotes at https://www.evolvethe.world/
As I mentioned in my last solo episode I was going to start sharing my founder journey as it happens in real time. One of the most important things a founder can do before developing a solution is to truly understand the problem. Well today I wanted to understand the financial problem of higher education from a perspective I couldn't find elsewhere. So after hearing her captivating interview on The Portal Podcast with Eric Weinstein, I decided to invite Kimberly De La Cruz on the show.
Kimberly is an Award-winning journalist-turned-publicist who transitioned from covering nightlife and entertainment at Nevada's largest daily, to a career in public relations. She is currently the spokes person for SeekingArrangement and "Sugar Baby University.” who has created an uncanny solution to the American student debt crisis and insane tuition rates. The world's largest Sugar Dating website is challenging this enormous burden on young people by connecting them with Sugar Daddies -- generous individuals with the means to help with tuition, books, living expenses and everything else that results in fewer college students having to incur a lifetime of crippling debt.
This discussion is not about whether this Sugar Baby University is right or wrong, its about the 1.6 trillion dollar student debt in higher education that has created the foundation for this to be possible. The greatest challenge for higher education today is to decrease its price premium and increase its contributions to students and society. My desire to speak with Kimberly was to pull back the curtain on the areas the present institutions, as you will found it in this interview, are just unwilling to look. As a someone dead set on building a better university for the future, its going to require knowing all angles of the problem.
Get more of the Evolve Podcast at https://www.evolvethe.world/
Leigh Mathews is the Founder & Expert Consultant at ALTO Global. Leigh is also is an author, speaker, social purpose coach, & highly experienced consultant with over 15 years in Corporate Social Responsibility, philanthropy and international development sectors. Starting in her early 20’s, she founded an NGO in Cambodia working on child rights issues after witnessing children living in extreme poverty. No good deed goes unpunished as she was awarded the Victorian Young Australian of the Year, Australian Leadership Award and the JCI Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World Award. Yet she would soon learn the world was not as it seems.
After the hit of the 2008 financial crisis, she closed her NGO and started questioning the effectiveness of the charity sector and if doing good was actually having a positive effect on social problems. And so began her work with organisations such as UN Women, World Challenge, Intrepid Group, and dozens more to achieve aligned, ethical and sustainable impact.
Still disturbed by the institutionalisation of children inside orphanages, she Co Founded the ReThink Orphanages Network which is shifting the way countries in the global north engage with overseas aid and development and has expanded operations from Australia to Europe and the US.
Internationally recognized as an ethics expert for the intersection between development, business and philanthropy, she has been featured in ABC, the Guardian, Project Syndicate, Swinburne University of Technology, Global Journalist and dozens more media outlets. Additionally she sits on the Victorian Government School for Student Leadership School Council, and is a member of the Advisory Board for Australian Volunteers International’s ChildSafe Volunteering Hub. And if all that wasn’t enough, she is also the co author of Modern Day Slavery and Orphanage Tourism and host of the The Good Problem Podcast.
Find all the shownotes at https://www.evolvethe.world/
The first solo episode of host Brandon Stover in a long time. He shares the beginning of his journey quitting architecture, failing multiple side hustles and small businesses, and his decision to focus on a market that has not seen disruption in over 100 years... Higher Education.
Get more of the Evolve Podcast athttps://www.evolvethe.world/
Dan Demskey is the Co-Founder of Unbound Merino. Dan has taken not one, not two, but four companies to 6, 7, & 8 figures over the last decade. From starting a digital video agency in his mom’s basement to selling funky socks, this entrepreneur has consistently seen the heights of success and the lows of trying to keep the lights on in the business. Even though his digital agency had reached 7 figures working with brands such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft, General Motors, & GE he was tired of chasing the next contract in order to get paid.
Deciding to scratch his own itch & seeing an industry that could be done better, Dan set his sights on creating stylish, simple Merino wool apparel that can be worn for weeks or even months - without ever needing to be washed. His best friends and him decided to trade in their Friday nights to start grinding away on the idea and launch a crowdfunding campaign, raising $380,000 in its first 2 months. After just 3-years in business, they are now doing $4m in revenue selling to over 100 countries around the world.
This life long entrepreneur and his industry leading company has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, USA Today, Travel & Leisure, & Lonely planet. Additionally he shared his wisdom with hundreds of entrepreneurs as mentorship director of the Entrepreneur Organization’s Canadian Chapters.
Find all the shownotes at https://www.evolvethe.world/
Eric is the founder of Beardbrand, author of the Book of Reminders, and is the forefather of the urban beardsman movement which turned a $30 investment in a side project into a 7 figure eCommerce business dominating a market. With a value for freedom, this bearded entrepreneur and his team have bootstrapped the entire way by focusing on community, experience, and educational content which has amassed a 1.59 million subscriber count on youtube that fuels over two thirds of their purchases.
However the journey started as many beards do, patchy, unpredictable, and going astray. With the entrepreneurial spirit in his blood, he attempted dozens of businesses from selling vinyl graphics to graphic design and most failing to make any money at all. So it was back to putting on a corporate veil and working in sales. In a culmination of feeling caged working as a financial advisor and tired of hearing duck dynasty or grizzly adams references about his beard, he set out once again and this time to change the way society views beardsmen.
Starting in 2012, the humble brand was nothing more than a community that gained the attention of a New York Times reporter seaking expertise on beard care products and started a roller coaster of events that grew them $0 to over $120k per month in sales. From getting beard rubs by the sharks on shark tank, being featured in a World Series commercial by Shipstation, to partnering with retail juggernaut Target, this small but mighty ecommerce business has received plenty of exposure. Yet the truth to their success has not been predicated on one hit wonders and hyper growing profits at all costs, but rather grown consistently month over month with a dedication to making men awesome.
Sharing his story and helping thousands of other entrepreneurs, he has been featured in Forbes, inc, the wall street journal, fast company, & dozens of entrepreneurial podcasts including Foundr and Entrepreneur on Fire.
Find all the shownotes at https://www.evolvethe.world/
Tony Loyd is a leadership development expert, best-selling author, keynote speaker, and executive producer & podcast host for not one… but three podcasts including Social Entrepreneur which has shared the stories of over 250 impactful entrepreneurs and has been downloaded more than half a million times in over 180 countries. He also produces the Thrive Connect Contribute & Anti Racist Voter podcasts.
He is also a former Fortune 500 executive with companies such as John Deere, Medtronic, and Buffalo Wild Wings where he was responsible for launching some the most impactful talent & leadership programs these companies have ever had including a global training of 120,000 personnel in 60 countries across 4 strategic business units.
He is the best-selling author of Crazy Good Advice: 10 Lessons Learned from 150 Leading Social Entrepreneurs.
For more visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/tony-loyd
David Katz is recognized as one of The World’s Top 100 Compassionate Business Leaders as number 4 between Dr. Muhammad Yunus and Elon Musk. Being a steward of the earth and a champion for the poor, he is the founder of Plastic bank, a social enterprise committed to stopping ocean plastic by turning plastic into gold with store chains in the poorest parts of the world that accepts plastic waste as a currency. Celebrating their 7th anniversary, the organization has collected 11,000,000 kg of plastic registered over 19,000 members, & opened over 300 branches in 5 of the poorest countries in the world and projected to reach annual revenue of 65 million.
For more visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/david-katz
Lisa Carmen Wang is the Founder & CEO of The GLOW (Global League of Women) providing world-class executive leadership training for ambitious female leaders. She is a former USA National Champion and Hall of Fame gymnast, turned serial entrepreneur, executive coach, and keynote speaker. She has been named Forbes 30 under 30, Entrepreneur Magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Woman, Red Bull Hero of The Year, and Advisory Board Member to PepsiCo’s WomanMade initiative. Lisa’s podcast, LEADERSHIP WITH LISA, shares leadership lessons behind the world’s most impactful leaders transforming the face of business & culture.
For more visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/lisa-wang
Stephen has 10+ years of experience building successful businesses, including Altrum Honors which had $20 million in annual revenue and a 33% global market share. His most recent venture Journey Meditation was coined the “Peloton of Meditation'' by Tech Crunch, bringing a 5,000 year old practice to the modern age by building the world's largest, most supportive meditation community both online and off. This startup has rapidly grown it’s corporate programs in 20 major U.S. cities with clients such as Facebook, Disney, Nike and GitHub and launched Journey Live, the world’s only group meditation app with live instructors and real-time classes.
For more visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/stephen-sokoler
Maren Kate is an entrepreneur, writer, distributed workforce expert, and serial founder who has launched four companies, including Zirtual.com which employed over 450 employees spread across North America and was doing $11M/yr in revenue. From starting her first business in college selling jewelry on ebay to her most recent boutique recruiting firm helping to hire over a thousand fully remote professionals, this leader in the remote work revolution earned a 5 million dollar MBA in human capital by spending 15 years in the trenches. With so much experience and expertise it is a natural next step for her to launch Inde.co, an online platform for remote workers.
For more visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/maren-kate
Dr. Emily Musil Church is strategist, thought leader, writer, public speaker, Fulbright Scholar, and former professor who is now taking education and learning to a whole new level as Executive Director at the groundbreaking XPRIZE which harnesses technology to address global challenges for social good. Connecting over 700 teams to radically transform access to education and learning worldwide, she led the $15M Global Learning XPRIZE, funded by Elon Musk, to address the quarter-billion children that cannot read, write, or do basic math. The competition resulted in 5 teams developing open-source, scalable software that empowers children to teach themselves, returning $300 million worth of research, and positively affecting the lives of 3000 children in 170 villages across rural tanzania.
For more visit Evolvethe.World
Links:
XPRIZE:https://xprize.org/
Code Games:http://codegameschallenge.org/
Connect website: http://connect.xprize.org/
XPRIZE Data Collaborative: https://data.xprize.org/ (click on “Learning” category for Global Learning results, including social-emotional)
XPRIZE Pandemic Alliance: https://www.xprize.org/fight-covid19
Social:
Instagram, Twitter, Facebook @XPRIZE
Our blog: https://xprize.org/blog
YouTube: XPRIZE
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/x-prize-foundation/
Patrick Cook-Deegan is a serial social entrepreneur, educator, writer, wilderness guide, former lecturer at Stanford, and an education innovation fellow, who has adamantly been focused on re-designing the American high school for the 21st century to help students craft meaningful lives. Starting in Stanford’s d.school, he launched Project Wayfinder—a year-long curriculum combining the best of social emotional learning, mindfulness education, design thinking and 21st-century skills for schools. Their programs have been taught to over 15,000 students in 200 different school programs throughout 25 states in the U.S. and 18 countries, including Australia, Canada, China, Ireland and Japan.
For more visit Evolvethe.World
Brett Hagler is an author, speaker, cancer survivor, and Co-Founder & CEO of New Story, one of the most innovative and impactful charities in the 21st century. He has raisedover $25 million dollars creating 25 communities filled with over 2,300 homes in 4 countries and changing over 11,000 people’s lives forever. They were the first Non Profit to go through the world's top startup accelerator Y Combinator, accomplishing a challenge of 100 homes in 100 days, and have continued the startup mentality by innovating the world’s first 3D printed home which only takes 24 hours to build, and costs $4,000, a fraction of traditional construction costs.
For more visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/brett-hagler
After 15 years teaching Leadership and Organizational Behavior courses in the traditional college system, Michelle Jones set out to create a one-of-a-kind educational experience designed to help you find your way, stretch your mind and grow your skills so you can live life on purpose. With 5 years in operation, Wayfinding Academy has over 100 years in faculty experience leading students ranging from 17 to 46 years old through courses titled like “the good life”, through 100’s of community events and partnerships, and learn and explore trips to places like Spain, Hong Kong, & Portugal. Yet this college has no grades, no textbooks, and no english 101 course. Instead students weave classroom and applied learning together with their own interests in a portfolio-based program.
For more visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/michelle-jones
Ben Nelson is an education revolutionary who is going head to head with the ivy leagues to lead the transformation of global higher education for 21st century students. Enrolling it’s first students in 2014, this innovative university has a 1.2 acceptance rate, tens of thousands of applicants from over 180 countries, and currently serves about 630 students across 7 major cities around the globe including San Francisco, London, and Taipei. While many have speculated how to reform higher ed, this entrepreneur has actually created a program using effective pedagogy, technology, and immersive experiences to equip a diverse group of students with the cognitive tools they need to succeed in the world after graduation for less than a ⅓ of the cost at an Ivy League university.
For more visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/ben-nelson
Infamously known for making CEO’s cry, Jerry Colonna is a wildly successful entrepreneur, tech investor, and highly sought after executive coach to leaders such Gimlet Media co founders Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber, Former CEO of Etsy Chad dickerson, and CEO of Twililo Jeff Dawson. He is the CEO, and co-founder, of Reboot.io, which is committed to the notion that better humans make better leaders. For nearly 20 years, he has used the knowledge gained as an investor, an executive, and a board member for more than 100 organizations to help entrepreneurs and others to lead with humanity, resilience, and equanimity. His newest book Reboot: Leadership and The Art of Growing Up is one of Inc’s Top 20 Business Books for 2020, and has been critically acclaimed by authors such as Seth Godin, Adam Grant, Angela Duckworth, And Parker Palmer.
For more visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/jerry-colonna
Chip Overstreet has an extraordinary executive career being the CEO of 3 startups, raised over $40 million in venture capital, and has a combined 25 years of experience in the high tech B2B software sector as a marketing and business development executive with an expertise in B2B eCommerce, marketing, business development and helping early-stage companies grow. This growth driven exec has no plans of slowing down as he has now become the President and CEO of the #1 fastest growing spice company in the world recognized by the Inc. 5000 List. Spokane-based, Spiceology, has gone from a Startup Weekend-winning idea in 2012 to a $5.5 million-a-year rocketship inside the spice industry.
For more visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/chip-overstreet
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is Forbes 30 under 30 serial education technology entrepreneur Jordan Levy. Jordan believes we should get out from behind the textbook and expose students to new circumstances, with real stakeholders, real challenges, real collaboration, and of course real outcomes. His weapon of choice was to start not one but two highly successful EdTech companies that help higher-ed programs bridge the skills gap for their students through experiential learning. His company, Capsource, helps educators match with companies and design projects based on narrow academic requirements.
For more visit Evolvethe.World
Questions Asked:
- After graduating with a Accounting and Finance degree you quickly realized that your time spent in college did not prepare you for the real world and did clue you into what you should expect. Tell me about that feeling you had when first graduating college?
- Now during your Entrepreneurship 312 class in college you and 2 other buddies started Real Time Cases, as a way to innovate the case methodology invented by Harvard Business School over 100 years ago. What was it like to create an Edtech startup while in college?
- In 2017, you transitioned to starting Capsource. Why go off and start a new company?
- Why are you so passionate about connecting students with these real world learning experiences in organizations?
- With Capsource you are combining case theory with consulting theory because while cases are a great way to learn they don't anchor to the current world and hard to transfer insights. How does Capsource combine cases with consulting?
- What are the benefits to each of the parties? The students, the businesses, and the colleges?
- By dealing with real experiences, students start learning applicable business skills that companies are looking for which help the vetting process for hireable talent. In fact you have even found employee through your own programs. How has this been beneficial for companies?
- How do you approach businesses and identify the problems they need solved in order to create these real world learning experiences?
- What other lessons have you learned about that you would pass on to early stage Edtech Founders?
- What has been the value for you to go through edtech startup accelerators?
- What books or resources have been fundamental for your understanding of combining the case theory and consulting theory models together?
- What do you think the value of college is for helping students to identify who they really are and what there passions are, not what their parents or society has told them to be?
- You went to college and became a serial entrepreneur. How did education serve you as an entrepreneur? If you could go back in time, would you still go to college or start out as an entrepreneur?
- You had a rich Jewish upbringing and in 2017 you took an educational trip to Israel which opened your eyes to producing real impact. What values from Jewish tradition have shaped your thinking as an entrepreneur?
- Working in edtech you must have a high value in learning and have said that people should stay curious, ask more questions, and relentlessly keep learning. How do you approach learning in your life now?
- Your companies have focused heavily on connecting students to real challenges with real outcomes. What responsibility does colleges have for preparing students for real challenges not just in businesses, but also challenges at a global scale?
- How could we facilitate these global challenge experiential learning experiences?
- What do you think the role of education will be in the ever evolving workforce of the future?
- How we can push the world to Evolve.
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is Michael B. Horn. Michael is a serial founder, education strategy consultant, multiple time best selling author, and much sought after speaker on the future of education and believes we can create education that is more student-centered, helps them build their passions, and fulfill their human potential. What started as a co-authorship of the award-winning book "Disrupting Class" with one of the world’s top experts on innovation and growth, Clayton Christensen, has led this disruptive thinker over a decade long journey to become a leading authority on the future of education, disruptive innovation, and expert on the global EdTech revolution.
You will learn:
- Michael's experiences and the Jobs to be done for him when he was going to Yale and Harvard.How his dad and upbringing influenced his jobs to be done.
- Why Michael took the opportunity to co author a book with Clay Christensen.
- The impact Michael wants to have for every student around the nation.
- What the 5 Jobs To Be done are when choosing college.
- Where the most potential for entrepreneurs to disrupt higher education is.
- Where entrepreneurs have a competitive advantage and where they will fail in higher education.
- How to balance the desires of the students with what they may need to be successful after college.
- What the value of an accredited degree is to employers.
- How we could sidestep past it entirely by working with them to create skills needed after college.
- Why in order to disrupt k-12 education that we should focus on higher ed.
- What higher ed's responsibility is to make a more beneficial option for students is.
- Why free college wont work.
- What business models higher education should adopt.
- How Michael has integrated life long learning in his life.
- What Michael hopes college will look like for his 2 daughters.
- How he is cultivating their education now while he raises them.
- How education has the ability to promise, to help people build their passion, fulfill a human potential, and live a lifetime of productive struggle and happiness.
- How higher education can help students tackle the grand challenges of the world.
- How we can push the world to Evolve.
For more visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/michael-horn
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is Manuela Seve, a founder, entrepreneur, triathlete, musician and art lover who is revolutionizing the arts, whilst honoring the profoundly human aspects of collecting. What started as a t shirt competition at an art fair in Brazil has democratized and modernized the art acquisition process through the first crowdsourced art & design platform with over 9,000 artists from around the world. This purpose driven art platform is working across 3 continents, has sold over 1,100 pieces of art in the past 2 years, is the world's biggest inventory free art gallery, and has a clientele from the 6 billion dollar hospitality industry such as Zola, Gilt, and Hilton.
For more visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/manuela-seve
This bonus episode features Geena Matuson, an arts technologist, educator, author and speaker. As a multimedia storyteller, she work across print, digital, video and social to tell stories. Today we dive into the story she tells herself about being an artist and an entrepreneur.
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is founder, entrepreneur, author, speaker, and teacher Ethan Waldman. Ethan is a leading voice in the tiny house movement and with a combined social community following of over 78.1 thousand people, it’s not hard to see why he is widely recommended by tiny house experts as a go-to source for planning a successful tiny house. Finding himself in his late 20’s, working in 9-5 in corporate america, unfulfilled by life, he craved a more flexible lifestyle where he was not chained to a cubicle desk all day. After taking a month long sabbatical from work, going on over 800+ mile bicycle tour across multiple states, and couch surfing, tent pitching, and crashing in a few tiny homes along the way, he made a decision to embrace the tiny house lifestyle, quit his job, and built his own tiny house on wheels. In this episode he shares how you a tiny home helped him reach financial freedom, how her built a community and business, and what the future of housing in the world looks like.
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is Larissa Rocha, employee #1 and Chief Community Officer at the fastest growing B2B company in Silicon Valley’s history. Going from beta to unicorn status in 6 months, Brex has raised a total of $382.1M in funding and been backed by the juggernaut co-founders of PayPal (Max Levchin and Peter Thiel), Y Combinator, Ribbit Capital, and many more. She was deeply involved in the early iterations of the company, working on everything from recruiting an international workforce to developing sales strategies, helping customers along their journey to financial modeling. In this episode she shares her experience as Brex's first employee, how Brex hired and grew a team of top talent, and the values of a linchpin employee.
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is best selling author, Jordan Gross. Jordan is a serial founder, 2 time author, leadership coach, entrepreneur, and speaker who has been sharing stories of hundreds of incredible people from around the world including founders, former NFL players, highly sought after speakers, coaches, and authors, and even 90 year old grandmothers describing moments of true euphoria and how they live their lives on cloud nine. He is the best-selling author of a book called Getting COMFY: Your Morning Guide to Daily Happiness, a TEDx Speaker, and has founded multiple companies and organizations including Cloud Nine Living. In this episode he shares his story of corporate refugee turned trailblazer for positive change, how to realize and take action on the life you want to live, and how to become the person who lives with no regret.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/jordan-gross
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is Founder of HireClub, Ketan Anjaria. Ketan is an immigrant, designer, developer, & serial founder who has paved the way to success through facing his own hardship and focusing on the power of community. What started out as job-posting group on Facebook with 25 friends is now a thriving community of over 29,000 people and a full-fledged business called HireClub which grew to $10K MRR in 150 days after launching its subscription service and now has 20% month-over-month growth and $30,000 in monthly revenue. In this episode how focusing on community first led to HireClub's success, the struggles he had with depression as a founder, and what the future of the job market looks like.
Use code "Evolve" to get $20 off your coaching session at hireclub.com.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/ketan-anjaria
Happy Thanksgiving! This episode will give you tangible advise from entrepreneurs we have had on Evolve who are reflecting back the values that empower them in their life and business and the ones that should not be forgotten today. I am grateful for you as listeners and hope you have a wonderful holiday.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/the-values-to-remember-this-thanksgiving
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is Co-founder of Make School, Jeremy Rossmann. Jeremy is a MIT college dropout who went on to be a pioneer in redesigning higher education in the 21st century, being widely recognized as the creator of the anti-college. Started in 2012, His disruptive college called Make School has educated over 2,000 students over the last 7 years in-person programs in locations such as San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Los Angeles, New York City, Tokyo, Taipei and Hong Kong, and over one million students through online content. Inside an over hundred year old industry, they have become one of the first to establish a new college with an accredited degree and physical campus in San Francisco, with blueprints in the works for New York. In this episode he talks about how he started make school in his Palo Alto living room, how make school is radically disrupting the education space, and what the future of education looks like.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/jeremy-rossmann
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is serial entrepreneur, bestselling author, and keynote speaker born and raised in Silicon Valley, Jonathan Levi. At the age of 16, he started an eCommerce company that would go on to become one of Inc.’s 5,000 fastest growing companies in America before being sold in 2011. Since 2014, Jonathan has been one of the top-performing instructors on online learning platform Udemy, and has snowballed this success into the launch of his rapidly growing information products company, SuperHuman Enterprises, which produces such products as the award-winning SuperHuman Academy Podcast; the bestselling "Become a SuperLearner®” print, digital, and audiobooks; and numerous other online courses through its own online training portals, SuperHuman Academy® and Branding You™ Academy. Jonathan’s media products have been enjoyed by over 250,000 people in 205 countries and territories. His latest book, The Only Skill That Matters, was published by Lionscrest in 2019 and details his own journey and the techniques that anyone can use to learn faster. In this episode he talks about the struggles he faced with learning growing up, how to tackle any learning project, and what the future of education looks like.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/jonathan-levi
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is Paul Shapiro. Paul Shapiro is the author of the national bestseller Clean Meat: How Growing Meat Without Animals Will Revolutionize Dinner and the World, former Vice President of The Humane Society of the United States, the world’s largest animal protection organization, the co-host of the Business for Good Podcast, and long-time leader in food sustainability. He has CoFounded the Better Meat Co, a disruptive B2B startup with ingredients in products on 7,100 American grocery store shelves, partnered with industry giants such as Purdue, and created to address concerns from climate change and poor public health to food insecurity and animal welfare. In this episode he talks about the problems with animal farming today, the future of food with clean meat, and what it means to build a business for good in the world.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/paul-shapiro
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is Amy Buechler. Amy is a trained psychotherapist who has logged over 3,000 hours in-session with psychotherapy clients, worked with thousands of the world's best startup founders as a transformative executive coach, and former batch director of Silicon Valley’s most prestigious seed accelerators, Y Combinator which has funded over 2,000 startups including industry juggernauts Dropbox, Airbnb, Stripe, Reddit, & Door dash, has a community of over 4,000 founders with thousands more in their Startup School, and a cumulative valuation of $155 billion. In this episode she talks about her insights into the high-stakes, high-pressure chaos that accompanies startup life, lessons from working with Y Combinator for 5 years, and the power of having a coach as an early stage founder.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/amy-buechler
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is David Wood. David is a wildly successful coach, author, and entrepreneur who after leaving his cushy Park Avenue job as a consulting actuary for fortune 100 companies like Sony Music, Proctor & Gamble, Chanel, And Exxon went on to build one of the largest coaching businesses which has served an audience of over 150,000 coaches, and has personally coached for thousands of hours across 12 countries around the globe. In this episode he talks about the transformative moments in his life, how to have tough conversations with others and yourself, and how CEO's and prison inmates have more in common than we think.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/david-wood
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is Justin Lafazan, the founder of two multinational consulting firms, best selling author, 3x Tedx Speaker, startup investor, & Cofounder of the critically acclaimed, award winning, venture backed NEXT GEN HQ which is the premier business hub providing the knowledge, mentorship, and resources to a community of 20,000 of the world's most accomplished and inspiring entrepreneurs. In this episode he talks about how hacked getting his first business mentors, the importance of networks and relationships for founders, and what being an entrepreneur truly means.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/justin-lafazan
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is serial founder, educator, philanthropist, mentor, and venture capitalist, Danielle Strachman of the 1517 Fund. Her disruptive 20 million dollar venture fund in San Francisco offers 250 thousand dollar investments to teens and twenty something year old dropouts, makers, hackers, and scientists who embody conviction to go against the grain of societies one path for all through college. 1517 has proven this radical thesis with a portfolio of over 30 young founder startups, watching small 1k idea investments turn into Series B companies, and 17 year olds starting 5 person teams that scale to 400 employees and are making the best autonomous driving tech on the market.
In this episode she talks about her journey in entrepreneurship of starting a school, working with Peter Thiel on the Theil Fellowship, how young founders can follow their passion and express that authentically, and what she believes the future of education looks like.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/danielle-strachman
Before starting Evolve I ran a podcast called Hustle N Happiness which I started during I time that I was working a 9 to 5 at a job I hated, depressed with my life, trying to find an escape, & decided to seek answers from successful tv stars, millionaire CEO's, lifestyle entrepreneurs, & musicians in order to evolve my own mindest.
This episode will give you tangible advise for how you can start identifying who you are and what you want in life, how to start taking action against your dreams, facing the fear of failure, finding happiness and fulfillment in your pursuits, and most of all, evolving yourself.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/how-to-become-your-best-self-achieve-your-dreams-find-happiness
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is a women’s health and lifestyle coach who has dared to lead hundreds of women down a path of radical self acceptance. Joanne Encarnacion is the Founder & Editor of GOFITJO, which has amassed a following of over 80,000 people, a thriving blog of 20,000 readers a month, all following the road to radical self-acceptance and redefining wellness on their terms. She has also competed in 3 body-building competitions, was the director of curation and community at the $500 Million Startup VSCO, and still manages to juggle being a loving wife and mother of 2 while managing a creative business, photoshoots, brand deals, and workouts. In this episode she talks about startup culture inside VSCO, how fitness empowered her career and life, and the power that self acceptance, wellness, and vulnerability has for entrepreneurs & startups.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/joanne-encarnacion
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover has helped hundreds of founders raise startup capital and build successful businesses. Mandela Schumacher-Hodge Dixon is Founder & CEO of Founder Gym which is bringing Silicon Valley to the streets of hundreds of underrepresented founders to help them build successful businesses, across 16 countries, and raise $35 million dollars in funding to scale their tech startups. She was the founding Portfolio Services Director at Kapor Capital, the Global Director of Startup Weekend Education, and a tech startup founder backed by Kapor Capital, 500 Startups, and Imagine K12 (acq. by Y Combinator). Mandela is also a member of First Round Capital’s prestigious Angel Track program. In this episode she talks about lessons learned while failing her first startup, the key skills every founder must have, and how to deal with crippling impostor syndrome & analysis paralysis.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/mandela-sh-dixon
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is an entrepreneur, sexual health advocate, thought leader, speaker, educator, & co-founder of an award winning tech company, Bryan Stacy. Bryan is the CEO of Biem, which is redefining the world of sexual perceptions, health, & confidence through a few simple clicks on your phone, which he created after being diagnosed with testicular cancer and chlamydia on the same day. He is also Co-Host of the Man Amongst Men Podcast, which has an uncommon and disarming approach in talking to men and women about most things left undiscussed when it comes to male sexuality, masculinity, and emotional fluency. In this episode he talks about his transformation from corporate america to the tech scene, how he grapples with ego, & how to have hard conversations about sex, emotions, and purpose.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/the-secrets-of-sex-ego-hard-conversations
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is entrepreneur, author, thought leader, internationally sought after speaker & coach for high performing executives, Dominick Quartuccio. Dominick is the Amazon #1 best selling author of Design Your Future, Co - Host of the Man Amongst Men Podcast, and is leading hundreds of men through worthy inquiry and meaningful introspection into the forces that shape a man's sexuality, behavior and intimate relationships, getting both men and women to boldly face issues most don’t want to discuss! In this episode he talks about his transformation during 4 years of sex addicts anonymous, how to develop your purpose, and what it means to be a man in today's modern society.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/dominick-quartuccio
This weeks guest on Founder Friday's with Brandon Stover is Randall Shapiro + Riley Kuffner, Founders of Simple Gardens, which designs, manufactures, and distributes beautiful indoor wall gardens that automatically grow fresh food in your home or apartment.
Have advice for these startups? Join the conversation every Friday on Linkedin and connect with other like minded entrepreneurs.
► Join here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonstover
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is entrepreneur, serial founder, growth marketer, futurist, and lifestyle engineer, Renat Gabitov. Renat has visited over 70 countries, kite surfed with Richard Branson, met presidents, skydived, ran with the bulls, partied on yachts, motorcycled across jungles and cultivated his mind by learning from the world’s top performers all in his early 20’s. In this episode he talks about how we can take a scientific approach to designing the life we want, how we can create a group of high performers around us, & how to be radically truthful with ourselves.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/renat-gabitov
This weeks guest on Founder Friday's with Brandon Stover is Kasra Khalili, Founder of Co Founder of Mintor, an online platform designed for entrepreneurs, startups, and industry leaders to engage in goal-driven mentoring relationships.
Have advice for these startups? Join the conversation every Friday on Linkedin and connect with other like minded entrepreneurs.
► Join here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonstover
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is cellist turned investment banker turned tech startup aficionado, Ruben Harris. Ruben has taught a thriving community of 10,000 + people the secrets of breaking into startups after he quit his job & bought a one way ticket to San Francisco. Ruben is now the Co Founder & CEO of Y Combinator Backed Career Karma, a community of peers, mentors and coaches that will help you land a dream career in Tech. In this episode she talks about how he broke into startups, how to build the product of yourself first, and where the future of education and the job market is heading.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/ruben-harris
This weeks guest on Founder Friday's with Brandon Stover is Kimberly Natson, Founder of Global Mentality, a medical startup looking to improve access of healthcare for all individuals, especially those suffering from mental health disorders.
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This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is financial advisor, Robbi Katherine Anthony. Robbi is a serial founder who has been running successful ventures for the last ten years, particularly in the technology and software space. She is the Founder & CEO of Firedove Technology, Solace, & Gravity, and ran for political office in 2018 as County Commissioner. In this episode she talks about how to dominate startup weekends, the differences between politics and entrepreneurship, and how you can be an advocate for social change.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/robbi-katherine-anthony
This weeks guest on Founder Friday's with Brandon Stover is Bryce Fender, Co-Founder of Wilminvest, a social startup that works with community healthcare organizations to provide housing to consumers experiencing substance abuse, mental illness and chronic veteran homelessness.
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This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is financial advisor, Caleb Guilliams. Caleb Guilliams is an author, speaker, podcast host, and entrepreneur who is teaching financial truths after being given the keys to an entire bank’s investment department at the ripe old age of 19 years old. Through complete transparency, he offers new age financial services with a primary focus on education and coaching for thousands of other successful entrepreneurs around the country. In this episode she talks about how to actually master your money, the secrets of wall street and big banks don't want you to know, and how you can invest in your number one asset.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/caleb-guilliams
This weeks guest on Founder Friday's with Brandon Stover is Angie Norris, Founder of TVpreneurs Entertainment Network, where she helps other business owners build TV Channels on Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV to ignite their brands.
Have advice for these startups? Join the conversation every Friday on Linkedin and connect with other like minded entrepreneurs.
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This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is Co Founder of Mark Fisher Fitness & Business For Unicorns, Michael Keeler. Michael Keeler is founder, consultant, life coach, and business wizard on one of the most successful gyms in the history of the fitness industry, being recognized on the INC 500's fastest growing companies in america. In this episode he talks about how community theater is a bootcamp for business, how to rapidly grow a values based startup, & how to transform yourself through chapters of your life.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/michael0-keeler
This weeks guest on Founder Friday's with Brandon Stover is Kyle Poretto, Co Founder of Radiogram, a startup focused on expanding access to medical imaging through advancements in deep learning and artificial intelligence.
Have advice for these startups? Join the conversation every Friday on Linkedin and connect with other like minded entrepreneurs.
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This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is brand strategist, Linzi Hawkin. Linzi Hawkin is a brand strategist, ocean activist & entrepreneur who founded or sits on the board of not one, but five major ocean advocacy groups. In this episode she talks about why brand is so important, how to build a brand with heart, & balancing entrepreneurship with things you love.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/linzi-hawkin
This weeks guest on Founder Friday's with Brandon Stover is Cassandra Greene, coach and founder of CoachCrate, a startup focused on increasing relaxation, productivity, growth, and overall well-being through a monthly subscription box. She is also in the process of founding a nonprofit that breaks down making global impact into sustainable action.
Have advice for these startups? Join the conversation every Friday on Linkedin and connect with other like minded entrepreneurs.
► Join here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonstover
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is body language expert, Danielle Baker. Danielle Baker is a speaker, coach, and trainer on one of the most misunderstood languages of our time: nonverbal communication. Certified by the Science of People, the infamous human behavior lab in Portland Oregon. In this episode she talks about why body language is important, what your body language says in business, and what social media is doing to our relationships.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/danielle-baker for shownotes
This weeks guest on Evolve with Brandon Stover is the Confused Millennial, Rachel Ritlop. Rachel Ritlop is multi-passionate millennial business coach, entrepreneur, influencer, speaker and highly successful blogger, Founder & CEO of the Confused Millennial. In this episode she talks about how to deal with imposter syndrome, how to build a successful blog, & how to find your passion and true identity.
Visit https://www.evolvethe.world/episodes/rachel-ritlop for shownotes