As pithy motivational business posters like to remind us, big ideas grow from the smallest seeds. The metaphor is actually appropriate for Artem Milinchuk, the CEO and founder of FarmTogether. It was while he was working in finance related to the agriculture and farming sector that he first began to appreciate farmland as a potential…
“Uber for ‘x’” is the most overused, maddening phrase in startup land. It’s hype-marketing shorthand for just about every business idea that leverages the sharing economy. That’s why co-founders Keithan and Quiante Hedrick were initially wary of framing their live-translator-on-demand app, Instaspeakers, as “Uber for translation” to potential investors. But the VCs they spoke…
Ben Houston might not be a household name; but if you’ve been to almost any major movie in the last 10 years, you’ve probably already been blown away by his work. As the founder and CTO of ThreeKit, the Vancouver native spent almost 15 years creating visual effects technology that was used in the Harry…
The way to the heart may indeed be through the stomach (metaphorically speaking), but a food entrepreneur’s path to success is less easily discernible. As previous guests like the JiMMYBAR! Guys have shown, trying to convince retailers and consumers to make shelf space for a new food product is a hard sell. Emily Griffith has…
If business is one big game of chutes and ladders, social media platforms have proved to be the obstacles that have sent even established brands sliding back to square one. For anyone over the age of 17, contemplating not just the functions of these platforms but how people are actually using them — and how…
When you’re building a company, you’ll be given lots of free advice. But your success might actually hinge on knowing which advice to ignore. In the case of Desiree Vargas Wrigley, that would be the old adage about never working with children or animals. While she has yet to turn her focus to the latter,…
In tech, we talk a lot about “hockey stick growth.” A more appropriate metaphor for meal kit company Home Chef might be boiling hot — the startup went from half-baked to fast rising in just four years. As long-term Technori listeners may remember from a previous interview, Home Chef was founded in 2013 by Patrick…
If you buy into the mainstream narrative around the U.S. tech industry, California and New York are the two gleaming lights on either end of a dark and empty tunnel that runs between the coasts. That makes Victor Gutwein the man with the flashlight, shining a glowing beam onto the hidden opportunities all around the…
Opaque pricing. Guesswork. Pressure. Haggling. Reams of paper. Hours to complete a transaction. Topped off with a trip to everyone’s favorite place, the DMV. Those are just a few reasons why buying a car –– especially a used one –– is about as appealing as getting a root canal, being stuck on a packed airplane…
“Move fast and break things” is a good approach for some. But there is something to be said for taking the time to do your homework. Kim Marsh and Ale Breuer took the latter route for ezza nails. And perhaps that’s no surprise — the cofounders are both products of Teach for America and the…