Foreign Founders: Recent Episodes
Chibit
Starting a company is thrilling, but also daunting. But what happens if you try building a company in a place where you may or may not have the community and the network to support you in your efforts? I want to ask foreign founders why they decided to take the leap and build their company in a specific location. With this podcast we are exploring ideas, listening to founder challenges, and discovering why foreign founders are the most optimistic group of people I've encountered.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Need family immigration assistance? Work with Consulta Immigration
Consulta Immigration, spearheaded by visionary first-generation immigrant entrepreneurs, revolutionizes the immigration landscape with cutting-edge technology.
Their mission is fueled by firsthand knowledge of the arduous journey families face, burdened by steep legal costs in their pursuit of dreams. With a commitment to accessibility and affordability, Consulta's platform sets a new standard, providing a secure and transparent space for all immigration needs.
In this episode, Yasaman Soroori, Co-Founder and CEO of Consulta Immigration cover how they met each other, the troubles they encountered with the immigration system through their personal and professional life, and their challenges as founders.
You don’t want to miss the end as Yasaman spent some time in the French bakery scene in NYC so I naturally had to ask her the best place to get incredible pastries.
Work with Consulta Immigration today!
Enjoy the episode!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consultaimm/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@consultaimm
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasamansoroori/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Do you want to become a franchisee or franchisor? Start with WeFranch.
Not all businesses are started from scratch. More business owners are operating a proven business concept attached to a brand name, in other words they are participating in the franchise model.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 10.5% of all businesses are franchises supporting nearly 8.2 million direct jobs. You might think it’s just quick service restaurants, but today there are franchises opportunities in categories such as retail, automotive, business services, real estate and more.
And who better to have on the show than a self-described “franchise enthusiast”, Gregory Ugwi.
Greg studied Math at Princeton, went on to build models for valuing franchises and fixed income securities at Goldman Sachs, and founded and raised $15 million for an alternative data company, Thinknum, and took that to an exit. Today, he’s the founder and CEO of WeFranch, and their mission is to expand the franchising market. WeFranch helps both franchisees find and launch their location and franchisors grow their franchise business. I look forward to learning more about the Franchise industry.
In this episode, Greg shares:
- Growing up in two separate and distinct neighborhoods in Lagos, Nigeria
- Fascination from an early age on why some were able to make money through their businesses, and others were not
- Bringing the franchise matching process online with WeFranch
- How franchises give economic opportunities to a distinct group of operators
- What kind of entrepreneurs make a great franchisee and franchisor
WeFranch can help you with your next franchise business decision
X: https://x.com/wefranch
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wefranch/
Enjoy the episode!
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Find Financial Help For Problem Gambling
1 - 800 - GAMBLER is a helpful resource if you or someone you know has a gambling problem.
According to AddictionCenter, it’s estimated that around 2 million people in the U.S. are addicted to gambling, and for as many as 20 million, the habit seriously interferes with work and social life.
Alex De Marco, founder and CEO of MoneyStack, is tackling this problem. Money Stack is a platform that connects mental health professionals to financial counselors so that they can work together to help clients experiencing psychological distress made worse by financial problems.
Prior to starting MoneyStack, Alex had founded several startups and worked at companies such as Ericsson, J.P. Morgan and the N.Y. Times.
We cover:
- Alex’s family background from Montreal
- Alex’s time at NY Times and the innovative projects that they were building
- How to spot financial problems due to gambling problems
Enjoy the episode!
Moneystack: https://www.moneystack.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/moneystack/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Need a B2B Billing & Revenue management solution? Try Received.
Roi Ben Daniel is a Fintech Founder, who worked in Fintech his whole career. At Received, Roi is the Cofounder and CEO, where they solve B2B complexities; and before that Roi was at Visa, where he set up the Visa Partnerships team in Tel Aviv, and was part of Visa Ventures. Roi is a big believer in communities and his secret power is open fire cooking.
In this episode, we cover Roi’s background in fintech and in building communities throughout his life. As a community builder, this was so enjoyable to record!
Highlights from this episode:
- How it is like being a late bloomer in entrepreneurship
- How his religious background contributed to his view of community
- How to not be shy about building a community in a new place
- Key components to building a great community
- FinTech in an identity crisis
Enjoy the episode!
Received AI website: https://www.received.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/getreceived/about/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Come join us at our New York Tech Week 2024 event! Ways to sign up below
New York Tech Week Wellness Event at June 5th at 6PM: https://lu.ma/nytw-wellness-experience-2
New York Tech Week Wellness Event at June 5th at 7:30PM: https://lu.ma/nytw-wellness-experience-3
Follow me as I write more! https://foreignfounders.substack.com/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Looking to renovate your next commercial space? Work with Aikito
In this episode:
- Andrew’s family history in hospitality
- Pivoting from law to real estate, and again to a tech entrepreneur
- Founding his first company, Ethos
- Aikito and the problems that they solve
Andrew McCarthy is a tech, real estate, and hospitality entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience. He holds a Law Degree and Master's in Real Estate Finance from NYU.
He began his career in Mexico City working on major property transactions and public REITs and private equity hospitality funds before moving to NYC. There, he led acquisitions and development at Minotaur Management and pioneered innovative hospitality concepts Ethos and Ethos Remote using modular construction.
After moving to NYC, Andrew transitioned to the tech world. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to co-found Ethos and Ethos Remote, pioneering new hospitality concepts using modular construction and transforming existing commercial spaces to hotels and community campuses.
More recently, he co-founded Aikito, an end-to-end solution for commercial buildouts.
As Head of Growth, he has quickly driven over $1.5M in revenue and built a $80M pipeline and partnerships with 50+ vendors.
An innovative community-builder passionate about revolutionizing real estate models through technology and sustainability, Andrew brings broad experience spearheading new ventures from the ground up.
Aikito aims to change the experience of building commercial spaces and is the simplest way to build locations and expand, through a vetted best-in-class construction marketplace, sustainable buildouts, and, all the tools to scale expansion including client and project management, standard contracts and budgets, insurance, and financing.
The goal is to remove the pain of the construction and save CEOs and founders +90 hours per month and hundreds of thousands of dollars in pitfalls and mistakes.
Enjoy the episode!
Aikito website: https://www.aikito.co/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-mccarthy-impact-entrepreneur/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about Dileepan Siva and his executive coaching service
Dileepan Siva is a two times founder who has bootstrapped his company to profitability and north of $1B of GMV, prior to that experience he’s scaled several early to mid stage companies, and helped raise over $100M in venture capital.
Dileepan shares a lot in this episode:
- His first experience of feeling underrated in school
- Being accused of being a foreign spy
- Moving from politics to business, and the advantages that it’s given Dileepan
- Two narratives that immigrants tell themselves that may be detrimental long term
- Why people should be more comfortable asking for help
As a serial entrepreneur turned executive coach, Dileepan believes in the power of business as a tool for both personal and social transformation. Over the course of a 20 year professional career, he learned that your own strengths and weaknesses are mirrored in the organization you build. And how you relate to your business is often how you relate to other parts of your life. This experience led Dileepan down the same path advising and coaching top tier founders and leaders in their own business–and personal–transformation journeys. Dileepan has built, scaled and sold three high-growth venture-backed startups and also served as a senior commerce executive at Twitter and eBay. Before working in the technology sector, he advised leaders at global Fortune 50 companies including PepsiCo and Unilever as well as public and non-profit institutions including the United Nations, US Department of State and the Gates Foundation. He brings this breadth of experience across sectors and in career transition to his coaching practice. Blending executive coaching with depth psychology and spiritual traditions, Dileepan leverages a range of modalities in his work. He is trained as a coach through the Co-Active Training Institute (CTI), Conscious Leadership Group and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Marin. Dileepan draws on his Buddhist meditation and mindfulness experience. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and BA from the University of California at Berkeley.
Work with Dileepan Siva today!
Enjoy the episode!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dileepansiva
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dileepansiva/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Kicking off season 4 of Foreign Founders with big guests! Our first episode is with Zohar Hod.
Zohar Hod is a serial entrepreneur in the fintech industry with 5 startup involvements and two exits under his belt. His latest venture is in the digital marketing space is called One Creation and is a personal passion project for him. As CEO and Co-Founder of One Creation Corporation, Zohar leads a team working to provide solutions to help brands progressively gather and digitize customer preference data through customizable consumer experiences. Helping brands personalize experiences in an cookie-less, ethical and transparent way. Prior to this, Zohar held leadership roles as Global Head of Technology and Data Sales at Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Data Services, Head of Sales and Support at SuperDerivative, and led IBM’s Trading Solutions Group.
In this episode, I ask Zohar about the lessons of every early stage founders because he’s experienced them all… Failure, successes, exits, co-founder breakups, fundraising and more.
There’s a lot of important details in the episode, but some highlights include:
- How he recommends early stage founders to find the right investors
- Raising from ventures vs. not investing
- His multiple exits - including having an exit that started from having an argument with his co-founders
- One Creation starting from a deeply personal problem that he experienced when his family member was in the hospital
Enjoy the episode!
Do you want to get personalized customer information with their consent? Work with One Creation: https://www.one-creation.com/
X: https://twitter.com/onecreationone
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/onecreationcorporation/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Bhuva Shakti (she/her) is the Chief Sustainable Innovation Officer at Wallet Max, a FinTech startup revolutionizing fundraising for eco-conscious businesses globally, and the Chief Ethics and Culture Officer at Women in AI. She is the board director and fractional C-Suite advisor for social impact corporations, and a keynote speaker passionate about economic inclusion and climate-friendly partnerships. With an MBA from Columbia University in New York and as a senior executive director on Wall Street, Bhuva has managed diverse financial portfolios and launched several digital transformation products across investment banking, capital markets, risk governance, credit ratings, regulatory compliance, payments, and mergers acquisitions.
In this conversation, we cover so many topics about how she thinks about her work and the world around her, including:
- Her curiosity and thirst for knowledge differentiated her early on
- Bhuva’s story of arriving in New York City with $80
- Accelerating her mission of inclusion and diversity through Bhuva’s Impact Global
- How founders can think about ethics in AI as they build their company
and so much more.
Bhuva's Impact Global (BIG) is a premium board advisory and fractional services business that serves as an extended team for public and private company CEOs, C-Suite, and the board of directors. Backed by three decades of Wall Street, non-profit, and startup leadership experience, Bhuva's Impact Global drives strategic oversight and governance in the areas of corporate risk management, ethical product engineering, and sustainability.
Enjoy the episode!
Bhuva's Impact Global (BIG): https://www.bhuvas-impact.global/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhuvashakti/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This episode is sponsored by Sessions. I created an online event in 7 minutes and you can too - get 20% off.
Alex Koshykov is a Ukrainian entrepreneur who is passionate about building startups. He is the co-founder and CEO of BeKey, a software and hardware development company. His main expertise is in health tech and wellness, and when he’s not working on his company, Alex travels the world interviewing digital health founders on his YouTube channel and recently started a series of events in NYC called Health2Tech.
We discuss:
- His experience as an exchange student in upstate NY
- Traveling to 15 countries in 2 years, and his favorite stories of founders he’s met
- A platform his company launched right after the invasion of Ukraine called Doctors4UA
- What he found to be broken in the US healthcare system
Enjoy the episode!
Work with BeKey: https://bekey.io/
X: https://twitter.com/BeKey_Inc
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bekeyinc/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This episode is sponsored by Sessions. I created an online event in 7 minutes and you can too - get 20% off.
Throughout his ventures, Adam Silverman developed the belief that humans are currently doing robot work. There is no reason humans should be spending their time doing tasks that can be automated. To address this, Adam co-founded AgentOps.ai to develop reliable, autonomous AI agents that complete tedious tasks for humans.
We cover:
- Differences of building a company in Canada 🇨🇦 and United States 🇺🇸
- Future of autonomous agents
- Limitations of being on a B-1 Visa
and much more!
AgentOps - Build virtual employees with observability, evals, and replay analytics. No more black boxes and prompt guessing.
Book a Free Agent Consultation: https://calendly.com/itsada/consultation?back=1&month=2024-03
AgentOps: https://www.agentops.ai/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AgentOpsAI
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aistaff/
Enjoy the episode!
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This episode is sponsored by Sessions. Run all your online meetings and get 20% off.
Andres Glusman is a tech and business veteran. He saw and shaped the early internet with one of the earliest digital marketing agencies. Then spent 15 years with Meetup.com, and saw the product and company grow to its ultimate exit to WeWork.
He’s currently the co-founder and CEO of DoWhatWorks. DoWhatWorks is a startup helping growth, marketing, and product teams accelerate their conversions rates. Their product tracks thousands of growth experiments from leading companies and arms you with the winners.
Learn more about how DoWhatWorks can help drive lift or request a demo here.
We cover so much!
- His early experience with the commercial web in the mid-1990s
- The early marketing campaigns in the dot-com era and Andres’ primitive performance marketing stack (this was really cool to hear!)
- Growing Meetup.com from the early days to their exit to WeWork
- His most counter-intuitive growth experiments at Meetup.com
- Their proprietary technology to see all the success and failures of growth experiments on the web with DoWhatWorks
and more!
Enjoy the episode!
Accelerate Your Learnings with DoWhatWorks
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glusman/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
In New York on Monday, March 25? Join Foreign Founders, Unshackled VC, and Antler VC for our meetup!
Read Foreign Founders on Substack
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Head over to Sessions.us and sign up for a 14-day free no strings attached free trial
Tatyana Isa is a General Partner at KITSF (San Francisco). “We invest in people.”
She is an individual with extraordinary ability according to the United States Department of Homeland and Security.
Tatyana is an entrepreneur with over 13 years, the founder of TRINITY Education Group (Ukraine), KITSF (San Francisco), UATEG (San Francisco). She is residing in San Francisco.
She has a diverse experience in education, sales, marketing, fundraising, building startups, and talent acquisition. She conducted over 10k job interviews and hired over 500 employees for her company as a founder.
In San Francisco Tatyana seamlessly bridges the gap between talent and opportunity, with a specialized focus on empowering Machine Learning engineers and Data Scientists to thrive in the competitive San Francisco Bay Area job market.
Enjoy the episode!
Are you talented? Work with KitSF: https://kitsf.com/
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tanyasf
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Lisa Wehden, the CEO & Co-Founder of Plymouth. Plymouth's mission is to accelerate innovation through faster and more transparent immigration services. Plymouth has helped hundreds of individuals across artificial intelligence, climate technology and healthcare.
Previously, Lisa worked as an investor at Bloomberg Beta, a VC firm with $375M AUM. At Bloomberg Beta, Lisa created an evening course on ethics, public policy, and technological change with Stanford University. Her work on technology and ethics has been featured in TechCrunch. Before moving to San Francisco, Lisa launched Entrepreneur First’s Berlin office and studied at the University of Oxford, where she was elected President of the Oxford Union.
What we covered:
- How O1 visas are underutilized
- What makes a good startup team?
- Plymouth as a deeply personal journey
- The difference between the London, Berlin and San Francisco startup ecosystem
Enjoy the episode!
Want to know your options to the H-1B? Lisa and her team can help you! https://www.plymouthstreet.com/
X: https://twitter.com/plymouthstreet
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/plymouth-street/about/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
For listeners who has studied a non-native language, like English, for a long time but feel that they have to repeat themselves, this episode is for you! Anada Lakra is the CEO and Co-Founder of BoldVoice, AI-powered app that helps non-native English speakers improve their pronunciation and confidence in English. Their app helps non-native English speakers with videos from Hollywood accent coaches and instant AI feedback. Inspired by her experiences in both personal and professional experiences, Anada noticed that there’s a gap between learning the language on paper and speaking confidently. She’s not alone here, as there are more than 1.6 billion non-native English speakers in the world and growing!
BoldVoice is backed by Y Combinator, BoldVoice has been recognized as a top EdTech company by Forbes, and is in the top 100 Education apps on the Apple App Store with over a million global downloads. Before BoldVoice, Anada was a product leader at McKinsey, Peloton, and other high-growth companies. She graduated from Yale University and Harvard Business School, and was named a Forbes 30 Under 30 in Education.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- How Anada created her V1 of BoldVoice by shipping quickly
- Her advice for B2C founders
- Studies on how accents have hurt people’s careers in the long run
- What she’s optimistic about
Enjoy the episode!
BoldVoice: https://www.boldvoice.com/
iOS app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/boldvoice-pronunciation-app/id1567841142
Android app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wellocution.androidapp
Twitter: https://twitter.com/boldvoiceapp
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boldvoiceapp/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Total consumer debt balances are rising quickly, and in 2023 it was a total of $17.06 trillion per the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Out of various types of consumer debt, credit cards increased by 13.2% year over year according to Experian. And credit card debt is one of the most expensive kind of debt!
With the new year brings a moment to reflect and for many it’s a moment to change our behaviors. So I thought this would be an amazing time to bring onto the show, a company who is tackling the problem of debt. Ela Bader is the co-founder and CEO of Debt Zero, an AI-powered debt relief solution for creditors.
Ela has 13 years of experience in technology, and 7 years as a startup founder and CEO. Prior to founding DebtZero, she was the founder of another startup AirWander and was a product manage at finance companies on mobile and web applications.
I’m excited to have Ela on the show to talk about consumer debt and DebtZero.
In this episode, you’ll hear Ela talk about:
- The increasing cost of debt for US consumers
- Importance of advisors, and how she found her advisor
- Taking months to find her co-founder
Enjoy the episode!
Check out DebtZero: https://www.debtzero.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/debtzero/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Daniela and Michelle Suarez are two Latina immigrant sisters from Peru, who have embarked on a mission to empower the world to naturally conquer stress and anxiety by guiding them towards balanced calmness and focus. They founded a company called iCalm that creates natural solutions to relieve stress, anxiety, frustration, tension, nervousness, and help people live more fulfilled lives.
Prior to iCalm, Daniela worked in Tech Sales for Amazon Web Services, and Michelle was an ex-Goldman Sachs Investment Banker.
In this episode, you’ll hear the sister talk about:
- Working for someone vs. working for yourself
- The realities of stress, and ways to be aware and reduce them
- Why store bought stress gummies don’t work
- Tips for not getting scammed when you’re a first time founder
- Advice on how to start a DTC company
Enjoy the episode!
Start your stress free journey by pre-ordering their iCalm shot! https://icalm.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/icalmhealth/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1384174175855405
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Pallavi Pande is a passionate Mompreneur from Portland, Oregon, and the heart behind DTOCS. Inspired by her childhood memories of dining on banana leaves in India, she introduced the concept the sustainable practice to the western world through DTOCS. She rescues fallen Areca palm leaves in India and is on a mission to replace your cheap paper, toxic plastic and expensive bamboo plates with my sustainable palm leaf alternatives. "DTOCS" echoes the essence of "Detox," symbolizes a cleaner, sustainable journey with palm leaves.
Their tableware is crafted from naturally shed palm leaves, they're eco-friendly, chemical-free, and perfect for homes and events. Not just products, but a cause – a major portion of their profits uplifts the livelihoods of their majority women workers in India. A share of their profits support equitable education in the underrepresented communities locally in Greater Than PDX (non-profit).
Their commitment to quality is in evidence, as they bagged the NEXTY award in 2019 for the most innovative sustainable product.
Every piece of DTOCS tableware is crafted with care. Cheers to healthier and greener choices!
In this episode we talk about:
- Where Pallavi grew up
- The beginning of DTOCS
- How she grew the company, and the number of sales they had!
- Advice she has for building a DTC brand and marketing the products
- What she’s optimistic about
Enjoy the episode!
Join Pallavi to a sustainable and greener future with DTOCS: https://www.dtocs.com,
DTOCS Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dtocs
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dtocsplates
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dtocsplates/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pallavi-pande-bb5abb1b/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
There’s a lot of ways to describe, Atal Agarwal, Founder and CEO of Immigrant First AI. He’s a repeat immigrant founder, community builder, investor, content creator and ironman athlete. In many ways he likes to tackle the most challenging problem that he sees, and that’s why I wanted Atal on the show.
In the episode, Atal shared where he grew up and what he was like before reaching adulthood. He told us that heartbreak, loss of employment and visa uncertainty to lead to something extraordinary. Finally, the mission and vision he has for Immigrant First AI, going to Capitol Hill to advocate for the changes that he wants to see happen in the U.S. immigration services.
Enjoy the episode!
Immigrant First AI: https://immigrantfirst.ai
Substack: https://atal.substack.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/atalovesyou/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.
For sponsorship opportunities, please reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We’re starting of 2024 with a list of incredible guests. The first episode of the year is with Eric Melchor. He’s the founder of Innovators Can Laugh podcast, where he interviews European startup founders. He’s a self-described mediocre tennis player, and a Texan living in Romania 🤠🇷🇴
Eric’s story is powerful because you can hear from our short episode that he has gone through a lot and has went through experiences. As a boy from Houston, who found himself in the hustle and bustle of New York City, and then raising a family and starting a business in Romania, you know that this adventurous entrepreneur is just getting started.
I’m also excited to announce that Foreign Founders has joined Eric’s network of B2B podcasts. So if you want to add podcasting as a growth and marketing tactic for 2024, then you can do that here: https://www.innovatorscanlaugh.com/p/b2b-podcast-network/
If you loved Eric’s storytelling as much as I did (I have a lot to learn from him!), then you can find his podcast on all players. This episode with Aleksandrina is really funny! https://www.innovatorscanlaugh.com/beauty-startup-is-translating-science-with-aleksandrina-ikonomova/
Enjoy the episode!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CanInnovators
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InnovatorsCanLaugh/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericmelchor/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMZz4aC1lhYDlwvoOrpsUZg
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.
Have questions or interested in sponsoring the podcast? Please email foreignfounderspod@gmail.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Before we get into the episode, I wanted to thank every one of the Foreign Founders community for an incredible 2023! This podcast started out as a way to “dog-food” our early-stage product, but I quickly saw that this platform was more valuable than the product we were building. It has been an immense pleasure and joy to be able to tell immigrant stories from all around the world, how *we are shaping our communities with the companies that we’re building. We have big plans for 2024, and will continue to tell more stories, highlight more ecosystems, and connect more immigrants together through our mastermind and meetups. If you are interested, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at foreignfounderspod@gmail.com. Email is also in the description.
I’m currently recording this little bit in Okayama, Japan in a closet in my family home while they are still asleep. Thanks jetlag!
I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, an incredible end and start to the year, and thank you for continuing to be a part of the Foreign Founders community. Have a happy new year!
This final episode of the year is with my good friend, Lior Klisman. Lior is an incredible founder and entrepreneur, and you’ll hear that throughout the episode with his captivating stories. Lior is currently co-founder and COO of Sentant, a security and compliance company for startups and large businesses. However, Lior’s superpower is his ability to help others realize and achieve their own version of success. When he’s not working on Sentant, he is advising founders, investors, operators from all background on their operational and GTM motions, and he works with many immigrants as an advisor.
We recorded this episode in person, with one microphone, back in September of this year. Without waiting any further, I present my conversation with Lior Klisman.
Enjoy the episode!
If you to work with an advisor, Lior is always willing to help. You can reach out to him on his LinkedIn below.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liorklisman/
Sentant: https://www.sentant.net/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Tania Kottoor saw her friend struggle to find an Indian wedding dress for her special day, and realized that the existing way of getting cultural clothing from India was broken. You had to fly to India, and find clothes that may not be the right fit. You could decide to go to a South Asian fabric and custom tailor, but see that their designs were outdated. There were no great and affordable option, until WEST X EAST.
Tania Kottoor, a first-generation Indian-American, is the innovative Founder and CEO of WEST X EAST, a trailblazing brand that blends tradition with innovation. She's created the world's first AI-powered platform for custom-fit cultural clothing, gaining recognition in publications like BRIDES and Vogue. With a double business degree from Saint Louis University and a fashion education from Condé Nast College, she's helped an emerging designer brand now available at Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue. Tania is deeply entrenched in the startup ecosystem, earning fellowships and grants, and her mission centers on elevating cultural expression.
Tania is delivering on the promise of “high quality custom-fit cultural clothing from design to delivery in a fraction of the time”! Please visit the website for your next cultural fit!
Enjoy the episode!
Website: https://www.westxeast.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westxeast/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westxeast/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/westxeast/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
My guest on the episode is Regina Trillo, founder of Nemi Snacks. Originally from Mexico City and now based in Chicago, Regina felt unrepresented the moment she stepped foot in Chicago grocery stores. Regina found brands portraying Mexican cultura in a stereotypical way and mostly using artificial ingredients. Nemi Snacks was founded with a mission to elevate Mexican cultura in the U.S. through high-quality Mexican snacks in sombrero-free branding. Nemi Snacks are crunchy sticks made from seeds and nopales (a.k.a. prickly pear cactus) in Mexican-inspired flavors like Mexican Lime, Smoky Chipotle, Chile Turmeric and Churro. Nemi works directly with Mexican farmers, uses real chiles and spices and no artificial colors or ingredients. Regina has spent her legal career advocating for human rights by providing legal services to immigrants and implementing programs on a range of global human rights issues in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and the United States.
Enjoy the episode!
Nemi Snacks Website: https://neminative.com/
Use code “foreignfounders” for 15% off → add the items in the cart, then proceed to checkout to find the discount code box
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nemisnacks/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In 2020, like many others, Ray found that he needed to rely on alternative sources of income to make ends meet. In a short period of time, he noticed how much he loved being a freelance writer and DSLX was born.
DSLX, short for dyslexic, is a mission-driven creative content writing agency for business who want to turn readers into revenue.
In this episode we talked about DSLX’s founding story in Barcelona, how founders should think about content to grow their business, and how AI can be used to create better content.
Enjoy the episode!
Work with Ray and his team: https://dslxcontent.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dslx/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
When I think of an archaic medical procedure, I think of an invasive and incredibly painful procedure with replacement parts that are not the most natural fit. When I think of the future state, I think of 3D printing personalized implants that are ready for medical procedures.
Our guest today is Denys Gurak. He is a CEO and Co-Founder at A.D.A.M., a 3D bio-printing company with a primary focus on 3D-printed bones. Denys’s ultimate vision is to build an on-demand personalized tissue manufacturing platform that would be a one-stop shop for transplanted tissues and organs; and, hence, to cut barriers to medical treatment for millions.
Denys's passion for biotech can be traced back to 2010, when he was leading the international relations and certification, along with EU legislation adaptation at the Ukrainian medicinal products regulatory authority (official position - director of the «GMP/GDP Center» of the State Administration of Ukraine on Medicinal Products (SAUMP).
In 2014 Denys joined the Ukrainian Defense Industry (a state defense conglomerate) in 2014 as the Deputy Director-General for foreign economic activity. During his time at the company, he managed the export-import operations that amounted to USD 1 billion yearly turnover. Furthermore, Denys represented Ukraine as the Head of Ukraine’s delegation to the NATO Industrial Advisory Group (NIAG), and led the industry transformation initiatives, including innovations development and technology JVs, as well international relations.
Denys is a Venture Partner at ff Venture Capital a high-performing early stage venture firm based in NYC and Warsaw, Poland, focusing on disruptive IT, biotechnology, aerospace and security projects in CEE region.
His passion for strategic modeling and technological disruption, as well as his outstanding networking skills and analytical mindset define Denys's active role in expert society. Besides business matters, Denys is the key member in a number of think tanks and NGOs.
Enjoy the episode!
More information on A.D.A.M.
https://adambioprinting.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ADAMbioprinting
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adambioprinting/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Diversity Visa Program, better known as the Green Card lottery or the Visa lottery, has officially opened as of October 4th for the fiscal year 2025.
Entrants have until Tuesday, November 7th at noon EST to register online at the State Department’s official lottery website (link will be provided in the show notes).
For FY2025, the Diversity Visa program will make up to 55,000 green card numbers available through random selection, and the results will be announced in May 2024. Those who are selected then have until October 1st, 2024 to submit their green card applications.
Please be aware that there’s only one way to enter, and that’s through the official lottery website. Checking the status of your lottery is also only available through the website. Lastly, there’s no fee to enter this lottery, and fees for the application is paid at the time of your scheduled appointment at the U.S. embassy or consulate. Be aware of frauds!
Last tip. You’ll need to review the narrow set of qualifications to see if you quality. Please review that before you submit your entry and keep your unique confirmation number once you enter. You’ll need that to check the status of your entry when selections are made in May 2024.
Finally, you have until Tuesday, November 7th 2023 at noon eastern to enter the lottery for FY2025.
Individuals from countries with high rates of U.S. immigration are not eligible to register.
- This year, those born in the following countries are ineligible: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including mainland and Hong Kong SAR), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
- For FY 2025, individuals from the United Kingdom and its dependent territories are eligible to participate.
- Individuals born in Macau SAR and Taiwan can participate.
- Those who cannot register because their country of birth is excluded may be able to qualify through a spouse who was born in an eligible country or, in certain circumstances, through a parent’s country of birth.
Entrants must have at least a high school education (or equivalent) or two years of qualifying work experience within the past five years.
Best of luck!
Enter the Diversity Visa 2025 here:
https://dvprogram.state.gov/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome to another episode of Foreign Founders. Many of our listeners have written in to ask about wanting to cover immigration issues for entrepreneurs and founders. We have a special guest and “friend of the pod”, Sophie Alcorn.
Sophie is the founder and CEO of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and a top U.S. immigration law attorney. She and her team supports international founders and global talent to obtain U.S. visas and green cards. She is a TechCrunch contributor for their immigration column, a host of the Sophie Alcorn Podcast, and have just published her new book “Ask Sophie: The Founder’s Guide to Visas and Green Cards.”.
I’m grateful to have her on the show to simplify the U.S. immigration system. Thank you for joining us, Sophie!
To work with Sophie and her top class immigration team, go to https://www.alcorn.law/
Buy Ask Sophie™: The Founder’s Guide to Visas & Green Cards - available now!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CH7BWSWF
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The U.S. Healthcare industry is humungous! Healthcare spending in the country accounts for 18.3% of the U.S. GDP in 2021, or $4.3 trillion. That’s $12,914 per person per year! But, healthcare spending and healthcare professionals are not evenly distributed, and some areas in the country are healthcare deserts.
Today we have an immigrant entrepreneur, Ahmed “Eddie” Qureshi who is tackling this problem head-on. He is the founder and CEO of Valorant Health. Valorant Health is the AI-enabled health platform that connects 67 million individuals in the underserved communities to healthcare providers and services.
Their partnerships include those with the U.S. Air Force to expand access to personalized mental health services to Air Force personnel, and with the Catawba community through the Indian Health Services to modernize and digitize their mental health access.
We kick off with his journey to the U.S., including moving with his family and siblings to nine different cities (!), to his family’s background in healthcare and entrepreneurship, and finally how he’s addressing healthcare accessibility through Valorant Health.
Enjoy the episode!
Do you want to connect with Valorant Health and their mission? Reach out through their website: https://www.valoranthealth.com/
X / Twitter: https://twitter.com/valoranthealth
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/valorant-health/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Are you an immigrant looking to get promoted, land a step-up job, or start a side business? On today’s episode, we have Varun Negandhi, who is an engineer and entrepreneur. He is a Sr. Engineer and Partner at EngSim, an automotive consulting company. And he is a founder at BeyondGrad where he helps immigrants boost their income with value-added courses.
Varun caught my eye because he’s curating incredibly valuable resources on his LinkedIn and website to help immigrants. He had first hand dealing with all these challenges, and impart his experience on the episode.
Enjoy the episode!
Want major change in your professional life this year or the next? Engage with BeyondGrad below.
https://www.beyondgrad.com/
To follow Varun's daily content, follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vnegandhi
Promotion Fast Track for Immigrant Professionals: https://www.beyondgrad.com/the-promotion-fast-track
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome back to the Foreign Founders podcast. Today, we’re covering Semyon (SEM-yon) Dukach (do-cake) ’s article on Crunchbase titled “Hey, VCs: Here are 3 Mistakes You’re Making In Pitch Meetings With Immigrant Founders.”
This is a continuation from last week’s theme of global competition for talent, because Semyon starts out by stating that roughly 80% of graduate students studying computer science and electrical engineering are international students, however, the immigration policies in countries like Canada, Australia and the UK are becoming more appealing and post grads are choosing to live and work outside of the U.S.
He continues.
“By overlooking these would be-immigrants, the U.S. is undermining its own potential and jeopardizing its future as a global leader in innovation.” Mmhmm, I agree. Then Semyon says “I believe fellow venture capitalists are doing the same”
OK! That’s spicy, let’s get into this. “Based on my experience investing in immigrant founders, I’ve noticed three mistakes VCs make in pitch meetings that lead to promising founders slipping under the radar.”
First, VCs are not digging into founder background stories, and immigrant founders are not leaning into their own stories. Because why focus on my own story if the story that’s important is the company’s, like what is the tech behind it and what the go to market strategies are.
Semyon says “when it comes to immigrant founders, however, personal stories tend to reveal the exact qualities needed to survive in times of economic uncertainty. Many have overcome economic or governmental instability, learning a new culture and language, and starting from ground zero.”
I think that’s right, and that’s why I continue to tell immigrant founder stories through Foreign Founders. These are often stories that are untold, but they are fascinating stories of challenges and change.
Second, Semyon says that he finds immigrant founders are often not as good as “selling themselves” as natives. Sometimes it’s cultural or self-protection. ‘From my experience, immigrant founders are less likely to build marginally life-improving products like luxury brands. Instead, they build businesses that have a reason to exist in people’s lives even when budgets are tight.’
His practical advice? VCs should ask founders about their best case scenario in 10 years, or the total size of the potential market to kick start a discussion of the scale without the showmanship.
Finally, Semyon says “what immigrant founders may lack in local networks, they make up for in their ability to navigate unfamiliar systems and their communities abroad. His closing “More than half of the most successful startups in the U.S. were founded by immigrants. Don’t let cultural differences keep you from a smart investment.”
I hope this was helpful not only for VCs but also for immigrant founders. Your story and your background is part of your uniqueness and edge - use it!
Full article:
https://news.crunchbase.com/diversity/immigrant-startup-founders-dukach-one-way
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome back to another Immigrant Informational where we cover current topics in under 5 minutes! We’re covering Canada’s new tech talent strategy for founders. At the end of June 2023, Canada’s Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Minister Sean Fraser announced Canada’s revamped ‘Tech Talent Strategy’ with six new initiatives. This article is from our friends at Launch Academy, article is linked in the show notes.
Canada’s government is innovating, and they want to attract the best global talents to help transform Canada into a tech powerhouse. So what are they?
First up → The Startup Visa Program, designed to facilitate permanent residency for entrepreneurs who create companies and employ Canadians, will get a renewed prioritization process (because of incredible demand) that will include multiple factors like capital commitments and endorsements from partners. Here are the improvements:
- Increased application intake planned for the next two years
- Applicants and their families can apply for a work permit that is up to three years instead of one year, and these work permits do not restrict the applicants to work for their own business
- Work permits are available to each entrepreneurial team, rather than those deemed essential and urgently needed in Canada
- The government is prioritizing applications that are supported by VC, angel investor groups, business incubators and entities who are members of Canada’s Tech Network
Other areas of note…
Startups can employ global talent as there’s a new two-week work permit processing under the Global Skills Strategy program. Those in the STEM field have a category selection under the Express Entry Program. Those who have an H1-B can apply to a special Canadian work permit.
Ultimately, Canada is doing a lot for immigrant and international talent and founders with these new changes. It’s clear that their intention is to become a global tech leader. How will other countries like the U.S. respond?
Full article:
https://www.launchacademy.ca/latest-changes-to-the-canadian-startup-visa-program-2023/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This episode is not just for marketers, it’s for founders, growth teams and accelerators who are looking to accelerate their growth through rapid iteration and experiments.
We have Satwik Govindarajula, founder of Uptiq. Uptiq is an AI powered growth platform that helps teams plan and execute growth hacking experiments. Any startup team can brainstorm, prioritize, execute and track your experiments and see what moves your north star metric all in one place.
In the episode, we cover topics of building a startup in Porto and various pros and cons of its startup ecosystem, as well as how Uptiq thinks about building their growth platform in the age of AI.
Enjoy the episode!
If you’re a startup looking to grow, you can do that with Uptiq today. They also have a lot of really cool free tools listed below!
Uptiq for Startups: https://uptiq.app/startups
Uptiq for Accelerators: https://uptiq.app/
Unit Economics calculator: https://uptiq.app/ue
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uptiq-app/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Have you always wondered what the world would be like if you’re able to not only own your own data, but use it in a way that is beneficial to you?
Markus Lampinen, CEO and co-founder of Prifina, is solving this problem and we cover a lot of ground. Prifina’s mission is to empower individuals with their personal data, and create a developer ecosystem that allows developers and creators to build apps for individuals.
In the episode, we cover a variety of topics from Markus’ childhood moving around with his family , to discussing the data use cases from healthcare to how we think about data privacy in the modern world.
Enjoy the episode!
Do you have an idea for what data apps should be developed for individuals? Prifina is onboarding developers and partners.
https://www.prifina.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/myprifina
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/prifina/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What if you can build AI apps without learning to code, and build it in minutes? Our guest, Calin Drimbau, is building broadn.io to do just that.
Calin believes that there will be a new “creator economy” that is built on top of the next phase of no-code infrastructure using AI. Calin talks about his background growing up in a small 200 home village in Romania to building broadn through multiple iterations. I’m really excited to share this episode because Calin and I really truly believe in building, and giving the right tools for others to do so easily.
In the episode, Calin states that every single person on earth will be a creator. So the real question is “what will you create?”
Enjoy the episode!
Join the broadn community and get early access to their no-code platform.
https://www.broadn.io/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/getbroadn
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/broadn/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@getbroadn
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Have you ever searched through your Google Drive, Slack or any other work apps just to be disappointed by the outcomes? On this episode, we have Elizabeth Tishchenko, Co-Founder of Nevemind, where we talk about this pain!
Nevemind is a productivity software that makes searching through your day to day apps easy, so you can find what’s most relevant to you. Elizabeth shares her story of growing up in Ukraine and eventually making it to Oslo, Norway.
We explore the benefits and challenges of building a company in Oslo as an international founder, how Nevemind is building the next generation of AI based digital assistant while keeping personal data safe, and how Elizabeth thinks about AI in the present and in the future.
Enjoy the episode!
Nevemind is now open for their closed beta. If you want to join a world where your information is readily available, and where you can 10x your productivity, go to their website and join the waitlist.
https://nevemind.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GetNevemind
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nevemind/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The long wait is over! We’re excited to kick off season two of Foreign Founders with Markus Pesonen, co-founder and CEO of Olo.
Markus wants you to learn the language of your nervous system using Olo and say goodbye to your anxiety and stress. Olo is the most beautiful app I’ve experienced in a long time, the pure simplicity and beauty of the product keeps you at ease. In the episode, Markus covers topics of his background and how he came to create Olo, especially in the aftermath of his then “career peak” playing at the Royal Albert Hall.
Markus shares the current meditation apps and approach does not suit our modern living, and advocates for what he calls “positive mind wandering” to replace meditation. There’s a lot more great insights and learning from this episode, and I can’t wait for you to hear it.
Enjoy the episode!
Download Olo on the iOS and Google Play stores today!
https://www.olo.space/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olo.space/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/olo_space
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/olospace/
If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content. Please do not hesitate to reach out to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com for any inquiries and questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome back to the Foreign Founders evergreen series, where we cover topics related to current and future immigrant and foreign founders in under 5 minutes! Are you an international student on a F-1 visa thinking about starting your own business or startup? This episode is for you! It is possible to start a business while you’re on your F-1 student visa.
More reading here by Deel Immigration (fka LegalPad): https://legalpad.io/blog/how-to-launch-a-startup-as-an-international-student/
National Foundation of American Policy brief, “Immigrants and Billion Dollar Companies” by Stuart Anderson: https://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2018-BILLION-DOLLAR-STARTUPS.NFAP-Policy-Brief.2018-1.pdf
What do you want to hear next? Have feedback or questions? Send them to foreignfounderspod@gmail.com
We want to help more immigrant founders build their company and startup, that’s why we’re creating this new series of informational content. We’re always looking for feedback and comments, please send them to foreignfounderspod[at]gmail.com!
We cover what’s different about the USCIS Visa Bulletin for April 2023, but for more information you can find that here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2023/visa-bulletin-for-april-2023.html
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Thank you all for joining us on our journey in the last couple of months! We didn't think this will ever take off the way it did, so we're happy to announce that we're working on season 2 of Foreign Founders!
On top of these changes, we have several initiatives we're working on!
Our listeners wanted to engage with immigrant and foreign founders, and to build a community. So we're doing just that! If you want to learn more about it please visit https://foreignfounders.carrd.co/ or email me andy at chibit.io - happy to share more information!
We're also going to experiment with more evergreen and informational content in between seasons. Stay tuned for the first one releasing next week!
Welcome back to Foreign Founders. Today my conversation is with Per Obiora, Co-founder of Kashew. Kashew is a marketplace for stylish, quality and affordable used furniture. Their goal is to make the process of buying used furniture as easy as buying new with a full money back guarantee and an on-demand delivery across the continental US.
We chat about Per's upbringing in Berlin, to learning how to code for 5 months and building Kashew with his co-founders. Please enjoy this episode, and don't forget to subscribe for updates!
Need furniture? Go to https://www.kashew.com/
This is the final episode of Season 1 of Foreign Founders, thank you to all and we'll be back bigger and better for the next season!
Welcome back to Foreign Founders. Today my conversation is with Maxximo, a musician and Founder of Maxximal.
Maxximo is giving power back to the artists by challenging the status quo and creating the first AR powered music social platform. We explore his background growing up in Mexico City, how he was the only musician and artist in his family, and his journey building Maxximal in New York.
I'm excited to share Maxximo's story - thank you for joining the show!
More about Maxximal here: https://www.maxximal.co
Follow Maxximo on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/maxximo
Welcome back to Foreign Founders. Today my conversation is with Tavishi Gupta, Founder of Tern.
Tern is the your ultimate travel planning app, and as she described it to me it's the Notion for Travel. Tern is Tavishi's third startup so there's a lot of startup wisdom here, but that's not it. We talk about Tavishi's upbringing as an "army brat" and how that helped her adapt well to new environments and changing situations. We also cover startup immigration and how that's affected building Tern, something that every immigrant and foreign founders experience.
Enjoy the episode!
Try Tern today: https://travelwithtern.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/travelwithtern/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/travelwithtern
Welcome back to Foreign Founders. Today my conversation is with Shirley Yu, Founder of Choosii.
Choosii is the "TikTok for collectors", a multi-faceted app for collectors of any items from quarters to rare plants with albinism and more. I had the pleasure of connecting with Shirley at a Hustle Fund event in NYC, and I'm excited to share a world of collecting and collectors to my audience.
We chat about Shirley's family and upbringing, her first collection with her grandfather, why she wanted to build Choosii, and the "collector's psychology". Enjoy the episode!
Try Choosii today: https://www.choosii.us/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@choosechoosii
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome back to Foreign Founders. Today my conversation is with Fernanda Sampson-Gomez.
Another Antler Austin S22 friend on the pod today. Fernanda, or Fer, is the founder of Celzo, the first hemp-infused sparkling water inspired by Latin American flavors and culture. We tried one of the first batches, and it was INCREDIBLE. Are you #teamlemongingerbasil #teamspicytamarind or #teamstrawberryhibiscusmint?
We chat about Fer's entrepreneurial upbringing in Mexico, why she wanted to create Celzo, her early experiments getting the right Latin flavors, and why it was the right decision to build in Austin, Texas. #viveelmomento
Buy your pack of Celzo : https://www.celzodrink.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/celzodrink/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drinkcelzo
Welcome back to Foreign Founders. Today my conversation is with Maxim Makatchev, founder of susuRobo
Another guest who’ve I’ve met through our Antler Austin cohort in the summer of 2022. Maxim joined the program a couple of weeks after it started, but we became close through my interest in AI/ML/Robots, and Maxim’s PHD level understanding of the topic. Maxim also lives in Osaka, Japan - and I talked his ears off about how I missed Japan.
We learn about Maxim’s background and life growing up and working in different countries, his journey to building his company, and why he wanted to come to build his latest company in Japan.
Please enjoy the show and this series!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome back to Foreign Founders. Today my conversation is with Lucie Repova, founder of Iris News.
Lucie and I met at the Antler Austin cohort this summer. We became close through our interest in politics and the issues surrounding polarization, and how technology and modern social media were partly to blame.
We learn about Lucie's background and life in Czech Republic and England, her journey to building her company, and why she wanted to come to the United States for the startup program.
Please enjoy the show and this series!
On the inaugural episode of Foreign Founders, I'm talking to Sophia Vitko, founder of Artmywall.
Sophia is a New York City based entrepreneur building an easy way to visualize your art in your home.
We learn about Sophia's background and life in Kyiv, her journey to building her company, and the life she is building in New York City.
You can download ArtMyWall on the iOS store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/artmywall-show-art-on-walls/id1454298518
Please enjoy the show and this series!