Brydge Club by Ruffin Mitchener
Brydge Club is a podcast hosted by Ruffin Mitchener, a Deloitte alum, UCLA MBA, and startup operator and investor. Each episode features conversations with female founders and investors who are building and backing new companies. The show shares unfiltered stories of wins, pivots, and hard lessons learned. It is aimed at anyone inspired by the people creating the next generation of iconic companies.
Episodes
From $3.5K to $21K a Month After One Video: How Natalie Barbu Saved Rella
Natalie Barbu is the Co-Founder of Rella, the social media management platform that helps brands and social teams plan, approve, and publish content in one place. Natalie started her YouTube channel in 2011 at just 15 years old, studied industrial engineering at NC State, and quit her consulting job at Accenture after nine months to create full time. She has since earned over $1 million as a conte
From 1,000 No's to $27M Series A: How Victoria Thain Gioia Built Perelel Profitably
Victoria Thain Gioia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Perelel Health, the doctor-formulated supplement brand that supports women at every stage, from conception and pregnancy through postpartum and perimenopause. Her daughter was born with a cleft lip linked to a folic acid deficiency, and that sent Victoria deep into prenatal nutrition. She found a category where the word "prenatal" isn'
How Vanta Won 600 Customers Without a Website and Grew to $300M ARR
Christina Cacioppo never fit Silicon Valley's picture of a tech founder. She didn't grow up coding, spent two years in venture capital before teaching herself to program, and sold her first startup for $20,000 after none of its products found a market. Today she is the co-founder and CEO of Vanta, the compliance automation company that raised a $150 million Series D at a $4.15 billion valu
How Stanford grad raised $11 million to build Clair Health: a hormone lab for your wrist
Jenny Duan is the CEO and Co-Founder of Clair Health, the world's first wearable for continuous hormone monitoring. She started Clair as a junior at Stanford after a class on the women's health ecosystem showed her how little data women actually have about their own bodies. While studying abroad at Oxford, she worked nights and flew to the US three times in ten weeks to pitch investors and
Payal Burned $500K on a Product Nobody Used, Then Built a $1B Company
Welcome to the Brydge Club podcast! I'm your host, Ruffin, and today I'm going solo to break down one of the most misunderstood startup stories of the last decade: how Payal Kadakia built ClassPass.Fewer than 1% of funded startups reach $1 billion. Only 7% of unicorn founders are women, and women of color lead even fewer. Payal is one of them. But the ClassPass we know today, with 100 mill
How Alinea Invest went from a college business plan to raising $10 Million
Eve Halimi and her co-founder Anam wrote a 100-page business plan on Saturdays while working full-time on Wall Street. Today, Alinea Invest, the AI-powered investing app they built, is used by roughly 1% of the U.S. population. In between: a Y Combinator acceptance won on founder-market fit alone, two years of iteration before anything worked, a $10 million Series A led by Play Ventures, and a $20
How Bobbie scaled to $100 Million in Revenue and 1 Million Babies Fed with Laura Modi
Welcome to the Brydge Club podcast! I'm your host, Ruffin, and today I'm joined by Laura Modi, Co-Founder and CEO of Bobbie, the infant formula company she started after a moment of shame in a pharmacy aisle. Laura built her career at Google and Airbnb before leaving tech to take on one of the most highly regulated, capital-intensive industries in America. Bobbie has since raised nearly $150 milli
From Top Secret Group at Apple to $4 Billion Consumer Venture Capital Fund
Welcome to the Brydge Club podcast! I'm your host, Ruffin, and today I'm joined by Amy Moussavi, angel investor and advisor at Malo Partners. Amy took an unconventional path into venture. After studying cognitive neuroscience, with no background in finance, she was early at Snapchat, spent years inside a top-secret product group at Apple, and became an investor at a multi-billion-dollar VC
She sold Primal Kitchen to Heinz for $200M after just 3.5 years
Morgan Zanotti built Primal Kitchen from a scrappy, bootstrapped mayonnaise brand into a $50 million business, then sold it to Kraft Heinz for $200 million just three and a half years after launch, signing the deal weeks after having her first baby at 32 weeks pregnant. After five years running the brand inside a multi-billion-dollar portfolio, she walked away to start again, this time as a solo f
How they built Hims & Hers from Zero to $1.6 Billion | What they're Building Now!
Welcome to the Brydge Club podcast! I'm your host, Ruffin, and today I'm joined by Hilary Coles and Emily Boschwitz, the powerhouse duo behind POCA, a better-for-you coffee syrup that lets people enjoy their favorite café drinks without the sugar crash. Before POCA, Hilary and Emily were on the founding team at Hims & Hers, which they helped scale to a $1.6 billion valuation in just th
How Figs went from $200 Million Lawsuit to $4.5 Billion IPO
In this episode, I'm breaking down one of the most remarkable stories in modern consumer business: how FIGS went from selling scrubs in hospital parking lots to becoming the first company led by two female co-founders and co-CEOs to go public on the New York Stock Exchange.In 2012, Heather Hasson noticed a nurse friend stuck wearing shapeless, uncomfortable scrubs and saw an opportunity everyo
How Kate McAndrew Built a $100M Venture Capital Fund (Without a Harvard Business School Degree)
Welcome to the Brydge Club podcast! I'm your host, Ruffin, and today I'm joined by Kate McAndrew, Co-Founder and General Partner at Baukunst, a $100 million venture capital fund backing exceptional founders at the intersection of technology and design. Writing first checks of $500K to $2M at pre-seed, Kate was the first institutional investor in Bobbie, the first clean infant formula in th
How Perelel is redefining women’s health with over 48 million capsules sold
Welcome to the Brydge Club podcast! I’m your host, Ruffin, and today I’m thrilled to be joined by Alex Taylor, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Perelel, the first OB-GYN-founded vitamin brand for women offering tailored nutrition for each stage of the hormonal journey. Since its inception, Perelel has made an impressive mark, selling over 48 million capsules in the last year and raising $12 million from i
Sued by VCs, Sharon Gillenwater Bootstrapped a $25M Startup Sale
Welcome to the Brydge Club podcast! I'm your host, Ruffin, and today I’m thrilled to sit down with Sharon Gillenwater, author of Scaling with Soul and a resilient entrepreneur. Sharon’s journey has been nothing short of extraordinary—she raised $3 million in venture capital for her first business before pivoting to bootstrap her second business, Boardroom Insiders, to a $25 million exit. Now a vir
Erin Levine Raised $6.5 Million to Save People 90% on Divorce Fees
Welcome to the Brydge Club podcast! I’m your host, Ruffin, and today I’m joined by Erin Levine, Co-Founder and CEO of Hello Divorce, a platform that revolutionizes the divorce process. Hello Divorce combines self-service software and expert services to make divorce less stressful and more affordable. Erin’s 15 years of legal experience have led her to create a service that costs a tenth of the typ
Why Valentina quit investment banking, launched a startup, then pivoted into venture capital
Welcome to the Brydge Club podcast! I'm your host, Ruffin, and today I’m thrilled to be joined by Valentina Rodriguez, investor at Wonder Ventures, an early-stage venture fund based in Los Angeles. Valentina has been involved in investments such as Clutter, Tala, Honey, Whatnot, Coinbase, and Bird. Before entering venture, she began her career at Morgan Stanley and founded Cannaves Oliva, a functi
Selling Teachable for $250M, raising from Codie Sanchez, tax strategies, + more | Jess Catorc, Carry
Welcome to the Brydge Club podcast! I'm your host, Ruffin, and today I’m excited to be joined by Jess Catorc, co-founder of Carry, the all-in-one platform for tax-advantaged accounts, investments, and strategy designed for business owners and high-earning professionals. Jess is an award-winning brand strategist who has helped thousands of entrepreneurs and startups scale their reach and revenu
Lessons from Stanford GSB Founder: Raising $9 Million, pivoting, and more | Miri Buckland, Zeen
Welcome to The Brydge Club podcast! I'm your host, Ruffin, and today I’m excited to be joined by Miri Buckland, COO and co-founder of Landing, soon to be rebranded as Zeen. Miri co-founded Landing alongside her Stanford Business School classmate, Ellie, and together they’ve scaled the product to nearly 1 million downloads and raised over $9 million in venture capital from investors like Cowboy
Why Claire Biernacki, Principal at BBG Ventures, is investing $50 Million into female founders
Welcome to the Brydge Club podcast! I'm your host, Ruffin, and today I’m excited to be joined by Claire Biernacki, Principal Investor at BBG Ventures. BBG Ventures is known for being one of the most active investors in women and underrepresented founders across the U.S. Claire has been involved in investments such as Zola, Spring Health, and Blueland. Before joining BBG, she earned her MBA fro
Emily Persky, founder of I Have This Friend, wants to help you host your next dinner party with a Michelin star chef!
Welcome back to the Brydge Club Podcast! Today we welcome Emily Persky, Co-Founder of ‘I Have This Friend’, A curated directory of lifestyle services that allows you to book private chefs, interior designers, photographers, and more. They collaborate with top emerging talent to make these curated services accessible. Before co-founding 'I Have This Friend' with her childhood best friend In
How Cheryl Kellond is building an angel investment portfolio without millions, and you can too!
In this episode of Brydge Club, we sit down with Cheryl Kellond, the founder and CEO of Play Money, a groundbreaking investment platform designed to help everyday investors build a diversified startup portfolio without committing to full-time angel investing.
Cheryl shares her entrepreneurial journey and insights into the startups she has founded, including Bia Sport, Apostrophe, and Play Money.
$3.5M backed by Jessica Alba!? Joan Nguyen on why she’s building Bümo, the first marketplace for drop-in childcare
In this episode of Brydge Club we welcome Co-Founder and CEO of Bümo, Joan Nguyen!
Joan shares a glimpse of her entrepreneurial journey thus far, highlighting her path to Bümo, offering solutions to the US childcare crisis in 2024, her experience as a childcare provider, pivoting from brick and mortar to starting Bümo, navigating VC for the first time, plans to expand Bümo across the US and much
92% of Venture Dollars are Controlled by White Men, Tanvi’s Building VC Unleashed to Change That
In this episode of Brydge Club, we welcome Tanvi Lal, an investor at Intuit Ventures and the founder of VC Unleashed.
Tanvi shares her inspiring journey from consulting to venture capital (VC). Learn about the glaring statistics on the lack of diversity in VC and how VC Unleashed is providing real opportunities for people of color to break into the industry.
Key topics discussed:
Tanvi Lal’s c
$3.2M from YC to build Adyn, the first birth control test
On this episode of Brydge Club we are joined by Founder & CEO of Aydn, Elizabeth Russo. We discuss Elizabeth’s journey to founding Adyn, modern issues in prescribing birth control, her personal battle with birth control side effects, her career in genetics, why she became an entrepreneur and much more!
More on Elizabeth Ruzzo, PhD and Aydn:
Adyn is the first and only test designed to prevent
Meet Ronit and Vida, the co-founders of WeNatal, building prenatal vitamins for her and HIM
On this episode of the Play Brydge podcast, we sit down with Ronit Menashe and Vida Delrahim, founders of ingenious his and hers prenatal supplement company, WeNatal. We discuss the modern fertility crisis, the conceptualization, launch and operations of WeNatal, Ronit and Vida’s personal journeys with prenatal supplements, tips on increasing your chances of a successful pregnancy and more!
Purch
How Alexandra Mysoor raised $5.5 Million Venture Capital funding led by Initialized Capital
For over 20 years, Alexandra has been a trailblazer in business innovation. She’s launched and scaled over a half dozen successful, multi-channel consumer brands. Now, as CEO of Alix, she oversees rapid growth while ensuring that each Alix family receives the world-class care they deserve.
Alexandra is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. Since 2021, she has served on the Board o
Investing in the Bobbie Baby Pre-Seed and raising a $100M Venture Capital Fund with Kate McAndrew
Kate McAndrew is a Co-Founder and General Partner at Baukunst, a collective of creative technologists advancing the art of building companies. She is leading pre-seed rounds in companies at the frontiers of technology and design from Baukunst’s inaugural $100M VC fund.
Kate has invested in over 70 companies at the concept stage, helping founding teams build businesses from scratch. Prior to start
Duke graduate and ex-big tech, Mallory Contois is building the Old Girls Club
Mallory Contois leads Community at Mercury and founded The Old Girls Club, a virtual community for women in the second and third stages of their careers in male-dominated fields. She is also an angel investor & advisor to early-stage founders, focusing on those building in the consumer social, art & creativity, women's health, and marketplaces. Mallory previously spent time on the earl
How Natalie Barbu gained 300K+ followers on Youtube and Raised $1M for her Startup Rella
Natalie Barbu is a content creator turned entrepreneur. She began her social media career in 2011 on YouTube as a beauty creator. Since then she has grown her following to over 380,000 across platforms. She is also the host of The Real Reel Podcast, a show where she speaks to entrepreneurs, business leaders, and creators to talk about the real reel - not the highlight reel. Natalie is also the CEO
From Kellogg Business School to launching Beni, the secondhand search engine
Kate Sanner is an entrepreneur and marketing expert with a passion for sustainability and consumer behavior. With over eight years of experience at Anheuser-Busch, Kate honed her skills in brand development, notably contributing to iconic campaigns such as Bud Light's "Dilly Dilly" era. Co-founding Beni during her time at Kellogg School of Management, Kate spearheaded the mission to
From Harvard to raising $10.5M to build Arise, Eating Disorder Virtual Care
Joan is the co-founder and CEO of Arise, whose vision is to create a world where everyone, everywhere has the freedom to heal from eating disorders and disordered eating. Joan brings her own lived experience with eating disorders and mental health conditions alongside a deep empathy for the diversity of the mental health journeys of so many others to drive her work as a product leader in the menta
Scaling Casper to a billion dollar valuation and launching Nelle Atelier, denim for women under 5'4"
Madeleine Cohen is the founder of Nelle Atelier, a premium off-the-rack denim brand for women under 5’4”.
Madeleine has built a career in brand building and start-ups - most recently at Bala, Casper, and Estee Lauder. Her story is simple: She had a closet full of jeans but nothing to wear. At 5'1", she always had to stand on her toes and imagine what her new jeans would look like hemmed—
Raising $5.4 Million Seed led by Google Ventures: Julia Haber, CEO of Home From College
In this episode, we’re chatting with Julia Haber, founder and CEO of Home From College. Julia quit her job at Snap to build Home From College, the professional development platform built specifically for career starters and young professionals.
Home From College offers a mix of opportunities from research assignments to social media campaigns for college students, while empowering students to sh
Natalie left Media to work in Venture Capital: from Forbes to Bullish
Natalie Sportelli, Director at Bullish, a consumer venture capital firm and creative agency based in New York, joins us to discuss consumer investing and her journey from Forbes to Venture Capital. Natalie previously joined Thingtesting, a B2B platform for brands, as employee number four and has worked across journalism as an Associate Editor at Forbes and served as a Director at venture capital f
From Teach for America to CEO of All Raise: Paige Hendrix Buckner on diversity in Venture Capital
Paige Hendrix Buckner is the CEO of All Raise, a community and mission to accelerate the success of female and non-binary founders and funders to build a more prosperous and suitable future. Female representation at the partner level across fund sizes is consistently low, and All Raise is grounded in reality and measurable outcomes. Prior to All Raise, Paige has founded ClientJoy, a modern busine
Why YC alumni, Anna Berger, is reinventing construction payroll
Anna is the co-founder and CEO of Trayd, a construction payroll platform designed for same-day pay, replacing multiple outdated solutions with an all-in-one platform designed with payments at its core. Trayd is backed by Y Combinator and the team is based in New York City. Prior to founding Trayd, Anna worked on the global marketing team at Marriott and was the co-founder of Curtn, a video dating
Adela Jamal of Milemark Capital on investing in Applied AI, diversity in VC, and women in business
In this podcast episode, I'm chatting with Adela Jamal, the General Partner & Co-Founder at Milemark Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm focusing on diverse teams utilizing applied AI to transform existing business models. Adela shares insights into Milemark's investment thesis, emphasizing their commitment to startups leveraging applied AI. She discusses her decision to pursu
From journalism to VC, why Melody is investing in 1K diverse founders at Harlem Capital
Melody Hahm leads community and platform at Harlem Capital, an early stage venture capital firm. There she is responsible for Harlem's content and partnerships strategy and works closely with the fund's portfolio companies to equip them with resources to succeed. Prior to joining the venture world, Melody was a business and financial reporter. Most recently she was Yahoo Finance's west
Julia quit Product Management at Blackstone to build Pickle: peer to peer clothing rental
Julia O'Mara is the Co-founder and COO of Pickle, the peer-to-peer rental marketplace making it easy and affordable to rent high-quality clothing and accessories within your community and beyond. In less than a year, Pickle introduced a new way to shop , brought 50,000+ items into circulation, and powered lucrative side hustle. Before founding Pickle, Julia served as Senior Product Manager at
Julie built the venture arm for Pivotal, now she's building Magnify Ventures, a $52M debut VC fund
Julie Wroblewski, the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Magnify Ventures, which debuted a $52M fund investing into the care economy. Before launching Magnify, Julie spent over a decade as an investor and advisor with institutional-scale family offices and mission-focused organizations, including Pivotal Ventures, led by Melinda French Gates. Julie is a Kauffman Fellow, member of All Raise, and a
Stanford GSB grad and ex-VC investor, Steph Mui is building PIN: a new way to invest into startups
Steph is the founder of PIN (Power in Numbers), a VC-backed company that enables communities of people (like people from Stanford, YC, and Coinbase) to invest in startups together. She's also writes the newsletter, "Demystifying VC", to help founders navigate the fundraising process and to teach new angels about early stage investing. Steph was formerly a VC at NEA where she helped i
Amber Illig awarded $100K from Recast backed by Melinda Gates to launch The Council Venture Arm
Amber is a General Partner and full-time investor at The Council Fund, where she invests at Pre-seed stage in software built for legacy industries like Construction, Logistics, and Healthcare.
Before transitioning to running her own venture firm full time, Amber worked at companies like Eli Lilly, Apple, Snap, and Cruise in various Operations leadership roles. She's worked at every stage fro
Maggie Zheng pivoted from pre-med to early stage startups, now she's Director of Fundraising at WeFunder
Maggie Zheng is the Head of Fundraising at Wefunder, a YC company, where she works with early and growth stage startups.
Before Wefunder, she was the sixth employee and Chief of Staff at Doorvest, building it from pre-seed to post Series A, working across many functions including product, marketing, operations, and strategy.
Maggie is also an investor at Potluck VC, a venture firm focusing on AAP
Kristine raised $1M from a power user to build Locker, the fastest way to save and organize products while online
Kristine Locker is the Founder and CEO of Locker, the social commerce platform supporting shoppers at every step of their consumer journey, from initial discovery until purchase. Locker enables users to save any product they want while browsing online into one, organized place. As an avid online shopper, Kristine found herself constantly taking screenshots of products or keeping dozens of tabs ope
Dulma's TikTok B-School covers female-founded DTC, celebrity brands and tech startups for 100K women
This week on the podcast we’re chatting with Dulma Altan. If you dont already know her, she’s a creator on TikTok and host of the Due Dilligence Podcast where she’s interviewed guests including Sophia Amoruso founder of Nasty Gal and creator of GirlBoss. Before TikTok, Dulma started her career with Google before jumping into the world of startups and venture capital. Dulma has been such an inspira
From Harvard Business School to founder & GP of Kaya Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm
This week on the show I’m joined by Madeline Darcy, the founder & GP of Kaya Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm building a healthier, happier, and more connected future. Previous investments include Ellevest, Sanzo, Brightland, and Republic. Prior to launching Kaya Ventures, Madeline was a VP at Visible Ventures, Harvard Business school graduate, and consultant.
Connect with Madel
Audrey Wisch dropped out of Stanford to build Curious Cardinals, a network of college mentors
Audrey Micay Wisch dropped out of Stanford University to build her ed-tech startup Curious Cardinals, which did $600K ARR its first year of business. This year, Audrey was named Forbes #30under30 at just 20 years old.
Audrey was in her first year of Stanford, when she started tutoring a 7th grader on criminal justice, gender equality & more. Since then, Audrey Micay Wisch and her co-founder
Nichole is the founder of Wischoff Ventures, investing $750K-$1M in Pre-Seed & Seed startups
Nichole Wischoff is the solo-founder & GP of Wischoff Ventures where she’s investing into pre-seed & Seed stage unsexy businesses out of a $20M fund II. Before venture, Nichole started her career working at 2 successful fintech companies, one that was acquired by Walmart. In this episode we chat about everything from, tips for having a successful startup career, how she got started angel i
Nicole DeTomasso, a Seed stage investor at Harlem Capital, breaks down venture capital investing
Nicole DeTommaso is an investor with Harlem Capital, a seed stage fund investing into diverse founders. She is a former Investment Banker and Forbes 30 Under 30. Today, Nicole dedicates her free time to providing investor education and helping others break into venture capital.
If you don’t already follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter, it’s a must!Nicole DeTommaso shares weekly job openings in ven
Why Avni quit her CS role with big tech to build GenShe, a community of 16K+ women in startups
Avni Barman is the founder & CEO of GenShe, a community of 16K+women in startups, with a mission to connect 1 billion GenZ women to opportunities in tech.
She first got started after working in CS with big tech and realizing how few women break into the space. Avni started hosting make-athons, the first at Snap Chat headquarters, which attracted women from accross the country.
Avni bootstra
Sam V. is building Norby, an AI-powered light-weight website builder for creative entrepreneurs
This week on the Play Brydge podcast, we welcomed Sam Safer Valentine, Co-founder & COO of Norby. Norby is an AI-powered communications platform that helps creators and entrepreneurs amplify their work through a lightweight website, event hosting, texting and email campaigns, lead collection, and so much more. Before Norby, Sam pursued a career in marketing and worked at organizations includin
Meet Zehra: Angel Investor, Head of Founder Community at Republic, and Creator of the Z-List
During this week’s episode, I spoke with Zehra all about her experience building founder community at Republic and with the Z list, her community of 12K investors and founders in NYC. Zehra first started learning about venture capital investing while studying at Columbia. After graduation, she accepted an offer with the Republic venture team. Since then, Zehra has focused her work on democratizing
Tiffany's med-tech startup, UpKeep Beauty, is the trusted way to book your botox and Hydrafacials
Tiffany Faith Demers is the CEO & founder of Upkeep, the trusted way to book your botox, facial, & other MedSpa needs. Tiffany was working in skincare, when she started to notice millennials and gen z consumers shift spending from beauty products to medical aesthetics.
In fact, the Global Medical Aesthetics Market Size is expected to surpass $30 billion by 2030 💅 Upkeep Beauty is backed
From Harvard to Uber, Claudia Laurie raised $4.8M to build Prive, the revenue platform for commerce
Loved having an honest conversation, with Claudia Laurie, all about her journey co-founding Prive, the revenue platform for commerce enabling subscriptions & more.
Claudia is also a podcast co-host of The Room Podcast, which is ranked top 5% globally. Fun fact, Claudia first met her Prive investor, Jesse Draper of Halogen Ventures, while recording an episode for her show 💥
In this episode of
Meet, Isabella Mandis, a freshman at Harvard University and the founder of Girls Who VC
Isabella Mandis is a freshman at Harvard University and founder of Girls Who VC, the first organization dedicated to bringing young women in to the field of venture capital.
🔥 Isabella is the first undergrad student to be accepted into The MBA Fund.
💻 Prior to Harvard, she learned to code with Girls Who Code and worked with a number of startups
🤩 She's most inspired by Audrey Micay Wisch
Juliette Richert is a VC investor at the Artemis Fund, investing in female-led tech businesses
Meet Juliette Richert 👋
She's an investor at The Artemis Fund -- a seed stage VC firm investing in female founders building businesses that modernize wealth.
Their portfolio includes Hello Divorce, UNest, Reel, Green Room + more! The fund was co-founded by two women, Leslie Goldman Tepper & Diana Murakhovskaya, who are on a mission to diversify wealth.
During this episode, Juliette a
Jessica Chang raised $22 million to build WeeCare, the largest childcare network in America fighting to solve the childcare crisis
Tech entrepreneur Jessica Chang is the CEO and Co-Founder of WeeCare, the largest childcare network in America. A committed early childhood education advocate and mom of two, she is set on solving the childcare crisis. Prior to co-founding WeeCare, Jessica was COO of Affinity China, a principal investor at Macquarie Capital, and VP of Marketplace at Radpad. A graduate of UC Berkeley, she is a pres
Meet Meera Clark: ex-investment banker, venture capitalist, Forbes 30 Under 30, & Kauffman Fellow
Meet Meera Clark, she's an investor at Redpoint Ventures, former investment banker, Forbes 30 Under 30, & Kauffman Fellow ✨
In this episode of the Future is Female, Meera and I talked all about:
⚡ Pivoting careers from investment banking to early stage investing
👼 How she made her first angel investments & tips for others looking to get started!
🎗 Her favorite inv
Stanford Behavioral Biologist, Love App Founder, & TikTok Creator: Meet Ali Maggioncalda of Lovewick
Why are there so many dating apps to help us find love, but so little to help us keep it?
At Stanford, Ali Maggioncalda studied Human Behavioral Biology and researched how to improve relationships.
During grad school, Ali launched Lovewick: Relationship App: a new couples app that helps you learn about each other and share new experiences.
To celebrate Valentine's day, I'm shar
From first-gen college student to venture capitalist at Vamos Ventures, Ashley Aydin is getting more funding to diverse founders
Our very first Future is Female episode featuring an investor!! 🎙
Ashley Aydin is a principal at Vamos Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund backing diverse founders.
In this episode, Ashley and I dive into:
🖥 Her early career at Morgan Stanley & a YC startup
📚 Why she pursued her MBA at MIT Sloan (***and who the MBA might not be right for)
💥 Her drive t
Goldman Sachs to Techstars: her fintech, Aura Finance, combines wellness with wealth management
What if Noom + Headspace + Betterment had a baby?
👶 Aura Finance is a mindful money management platform that helps you put your money to work and anxiety to rest.
In the first episode of 2023 🎇, I interviewed Kelsey Willock, my former WFU classmate (Go Deacs!) and co-founder of Aura.
We discuss everything from:
🏦 Her decision to leave Goldman Sachs
👋 Meeting her co
Sandy Lin has over 500K followers on TikTok, and now she's building the HubSpot for creators
Sandy Lin has over 500K followers on TikTok, and now she's building a tech business around it.
Her startup, Creobase, is the new HubSpot for creators. Making it easy for creators to find, manage and automate their brand partnerships.
It's fascinating to watch creators like Sandy build brand and community around their tech businesses. In fact, Sandy has already had success partnering and angel inve
Generative AI to build the future of search, YC startup Andi gives you answers not links
Imagine a new search engine using generative AI. Instead of links, Andi gives you answers - like a smart friend.
The tool uses language models combined with live data to generate answers to questions, and to explain and summarize information combined from the best sources.
When Angela Hoover and her co-founder met in the Denver airport, they found a shared passion for cre
Ex-Visa PM, Vrinda Gupta, rejected by card she helped launch, raises $5.7M to build Sequin Card
While working as a PM for Visa, Vrinda Gupta was rejected by the credit card she helped launch.
That's when she discovered 70% of women's spend is on noncredit building products, like debit cards and credit cards in other people's names.
In 2019, Vrinda launched Sequin Financial, Inc. (YC S21) , the first debit card by and for women. It's first card teaching women about the fin
Kristy Kim dropped out of Berkeley Haas to build Tomo Credit, a $222M fintech
In this episode, Ruffin Mitchener interviews Kristy Kim, founder of Tomo Credit.
We discuss everything from:
🎓 Dropping out of the MBA to disrupt the credit industry
💳 Reaching one million card-holders at Tomo
💥 Building a majority female executive team in fintech
+ more
Get the card:
tomocredit.com
Connect with us:
linkedin.
Eve & Anam's Last Chance: Landing a spot in Y Combinator to build Alinea Invest, the anti-Robinhood social investing app for GenZ
Download the Alinea app:
https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1554623825
Follow the Alinea Team on TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@alineainvest
https://www.tiktok.com/@eveandanam
Follow Ruffin on Social:
https://www.tiktok.com/@ruffinventures?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruffin-mitchener/
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