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Clinical trials are ongoing for the first long-lasting, reversible male birth control which is the first innovation in male birth control since the vasectomy hit the scene in 1897. This week’s Found guest is Kevin Eisenfrats, the co-founder and CEO of Contraline, a biotech company developing innovative methods to use hydrogel as a contraceptive. Contraline’s first product, ADAM, is what some are calling the first male IUD. The company will begin clinical trials in the U.S. very soon.
In this conversation they cover:
The process of fundraising when you’re creating a completely new categoryWhy the overturning of Roe V. Wade has led to increased interest in ADAM by men in the USThe future of Contraline and other innovations that use hydrogels(0:00) Introduction
(2:26) The challenges to male birth control
(6:53) Why hydrogel works
(9:35) Developing ADAM
(15:08) Cultural reaction to ADAM
(20:18) Entrepreneurship in medicine
(22:39) FDA approval process
(28:09) What’s next for Contraline
(34:23) Host conversation
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Most OBGYNs are not specifically trained in menopause, which means that women are left to suffer through their symptoms on their own. This week’s guest on Found is looking to change that. Joanna Strober is the CEO and founder of Midi, a virtual healthcare platform built specifically for women in midlife staffed with healthcare providers specifically trained to care for people going through perimenopause and menopause.
In this conversation they cover:
Why there is such a wide gap in care for women’s health and the negligent studies that are partly to blameWorking with employers and insurance companies to make sure that their services are covered under insuranceHow the Midi team has raised $100 million despite many investors not understanding the potential market for care for women in midlife(0:00) Introduction
(1:27) Midi and Joanna’s background
(4:38) The care gap
(7:12) Building out research-based care protocols
(10:00) Demand for menopause care
(13:28) Joanna’s previous founder experience
(17:04) Learnings from starting in VC
(19:33) Building out the Midi team
(22:56) Working with employers and insurance companies
(24:50) Launching in 50 states
(28:59) Fundraising experience
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Most skyscrapers have sky-high carbon footprints due mostly to inefficient methods of heating and cooling. Today’s guest, Joselyn Lai is the co-founder and CEO of Bedrock Energy, a company that works with buildings to install geothermal systems. They have developed a system to drill the exact amount of boreholes at the precise depth needed to create the most efficient system per building.
Today Dom is joined by a special guest host, TechCrunch Climate reporter Tim De Chant.
In this conversation they cover:
How the company has built up a customer base of urban buildersWhy it's easy to fundraise when the technology has been proven to be so effectiveCreating clean energy jobs for people who work in oil and gas(0:00) Introduction
(1:51) Starting Bedrock Energy
(3:59) Closed loop vs open loop systems
(8:16) Building a customer base
(12:50) Working with and around utility companies
(17:08) Clean jobs for oil and gas workers
(21:24) Decarbonizing the built environment
(26:30) Fundraising
(34:58) Host discussion
Found posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check out the other TechCrunch podcast: Equity . Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each
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In order to get drivers to convert from gas-powered cars to electric, there needs to be reliable charging infrastructure. Today on Found, Dom and Becca are joined by Louis Tremblay, the CEO and founder of FLO, a company that manufactures electric vehicle charging stations and has been creating charging infrastructure in the US and Canada for the last 15 years. Tremblay also talked about how he intentionally built this company to be a rewarding and fun place to work and what advice he has for new founders trying to do the same.
In this conversation they cover:
The components that go into creating superchargers for public use and why these isn’t just one kind of EV plugThe process of working with cities to design charging stations that reflect the character of the cityThe importance of developing the hardware alongside the software to create the best customer experience possibleFound posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check out the other TechCrunch podcast: Equity . Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each
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If you’re not in construction or in the middle of a renovation, you might not think much about wood waste but in 2018 alone landfills in the US received 12.2 million tons of wood. Most of this is useful material that could be reused, but the lack of infrastructure means the wasted wood can't always reach the developers, woodworkers, and creators who need it. This week on Found, we're talking to a founder who has a SaaS solution for this broken supply chain. Ben Christensen is the founder and CEO of Cambium, a company that is reimagining the wood supply chain and reallocating previously wasted wood to be used in new building projects.
In this conversation they cover:
Learning to navigate the logistics of sourcing, selling, and shipping wood to customersBuilding a team culture based on the individual and avoiding a one size fits all approachOnboarding customers who may be adverse to technological solutionsHow AI can help create a more efficient lumber supply chain(0:00) Introduction
(1:42) What Cambium is all about
(5:01) Climate change and wood recycling
(11:36) Developing the software
(15:54) Sourcing sustainable wood
(18:41) Going from grad school to founder
(20:01) Fundraising journey
(23:59) AI and supply chains
(25:49) Building the team
(30:15) Learning from logistics mistakes
(32:30) Staying grounded while building climate solutions
(36:40) Host conversation
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Between the rising cost of groceries and the all too common food desert, access to healthy and affordable food in America is getting harder to find. Today’s guest, Nick Green is the co-founder and CEO of Thrive Market, a membership-based online grocery store that focuses on natural and organic food and household products. Thrive Market isn’t just focused on offering healthy options, they want to ensure everyone has access to them so they’ve become the first online grocer to accept SNAP and EBT benefits. In this episode, Green discusses how it’s possible to build a business that is a shareholder-driven business and a business that cares about the stakeholders.
They also talked about:
The logistics of running a grocery company sustainably from the beginningTheir unusual path to fundingHow they organized the leadership team with four co-foundersFound posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check out the other TechCrunch podcast: Equity . Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each
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Every wildfire season seems to be getting more intense than the last but today’s guest is here to tell us that wildfires actually have a good side. Today on Found, we’re joined by Allison Wolff, the co-founder and CEO of Vibrant Planet, a cloud-based planning and monitoring tool for adaptive land management. Wolff discusses why the wildfires we’re seeing today are hotter and spreading more quickly than we can contain and how proper land management can help create the environment needed for the lower, slower burning fires forrest need.
They also talked about:
How Wolff’s previous experience working with leaders at tech giants like Facebook and Netflix helped shape her leadership styleThe importance of working with indigenous groups to learn how people have been managing the land for centuriesThe key role AI places when it comes to monitoring land management and creating adaptive planning(0:00) Introduction
(2:07) Vibrant Planet is modernizing land management
(11:31) Adapting land management to climate change
(16:45) Scaling nature-based climate solutions
(20:16) The benefits of a for profit company
(30:00) The importance of Indigenous knowledge in land management
(35:01) Host discussion
Found posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check out the other TechCrunch podcast: Equity . Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each
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Of all the work tasks you could automate with AI, submitting expenses would probably be high on the list. Today on Found, we’re talking to Eric Glyman, the CEO and cofounder of Ramp, a spend management platform that is building AI tools to make financial workflows easier for employees and employers. In this episode they talk about what Glyman and his co-founder learned from their first startup and how they see AI changing fintech forever.
What Glyman and his co-founder learned from their first startup and from their time working at Capital OneThe white space that still exists in fintechHow Ramp is implementing security measures while ramping up their use of AI
They also talked about:(0:00) intro
(2:20) SImplifying financial processes
(8:41) Automation expense management
(13:46) AI could take over tedious work tasks
(19:10) Security and privacy with financial data and AI
(23:45) Taking a lower valuation
(31:54) What's next for Ramp and fintech
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Recycling is one facet to solving the climate crisis, but most of us are doing it wrong. Today on Found, Becca and Dom are talking with Rebeca Hu, the CEO and cofounder of Glacier, an AI robotics company that is building robots to accurately sort recycling. They talk about how many of us are wish-cylers who hopefully throw non-recyclables into the bin and how Glacier’s robots are sorting the recycling and making sure all of our recycling mistakes are corrected.
What it takes to train an AI-powered sorting robotWhat the reception has been like in recycling facilitiesHow the robots are tracking the kind of waste we’re creating as they sortHow Rebecca told this story to fundraisers who have very likely never stepped foot in a recycling center.
They also talked about:Found posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check out the other TechCrunch podcast: Equity . Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each
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Applying for government benefits is a slow, tedious process that often leaves applicants in limbo for several months. Advocate looks to help. Today on Found Becca and Dom are talking with Advocate’s founder Emilie Poteat, the company that helps Americans engage with federal benefits programs through its technology-enabled services platform. In this episode they discuss how the Advocate team is using AI to automate advocacy and get the wait time for people seeking aid to nearly nothing.They also talked about:
Where Poteat ultimately found fundraising successHow the government has reacted to a small startup seeking to automate such an embedded bureaucratic processWhy AI is the best tool in the technological shed to work with the mass amounts of rules and data required to navigate the social security systemHow the team is implementing the security measures needed when dealing with such sensitive information
(0:00) Introduction
(4:16) the status quo of applying for government aid
(8:56) Automating government services
(13:13) using AI to automate advocacy
(18:29) Finding the right investor fit
(24:13) Hiring for a social impact company
(30:00) Collaborating with government agencies
(32:00) Host discussion
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Do you know what brand your bedsheets are? Probably not. Today’s guest Ariel Kaye has been working to change that with Parachute, a DTC bedding and home goods company. Kaye started Parachute in 2013—the hayday of DTC brands. She joins Dom to talk about what it was like building as a solo founder while she’s established a well-known brand and expanded beyond bedding.
Why parachute hasn’t raised as much capital as you might thinkHow Kaye’s branding expertise has driven the company’s identityKay’s best advice to avoid burnout and be the best leader possible as a solo founder
They also talked about:Found posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check out the other TechCrunch podcast: Equity . Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each
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This episodes dives into the massive web of the wedding industry with Shan-Lyn Ma, the co-founder and CEO of Zola. Ma talked about why she decided to launch the business after trying to buy a gift for a friend and realizing that wedding registries were still living in the past. Ma spoke about how the company navigated changes in the digital and competitive landscapes over the last decade and how the company powered through the pandemic's impacts on the industry.
(0:00) Introduction
(3:33) Creating a better wedding planning experience
(8:45) Building in the wedding industry
(13:45) Inclusivity in the wedding space
(18:35) Personalizing wedding planning
(23:11) Adapting to the pandemic
(33:08) AI-generated thank you notes
(43:00) What's next
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Is it time for the resume’s reign to come to an end? Tigran Sloyan is the co-founder and CEO of CodeSignal, a skills assessment platform used by many tech companies to hire engineers based on their engineering chops rather than their keyword-packed resumes. In this episode, Becca, Dom, and Tigran talk about how traditional resume-based hiring perpetuates biases and limits opportunities for individuals without extensive networks or prestigious credentials and how skills assessment lead to more equitable hiring. They also get into the CodeSignal team’s plans to go beyond assessment to skills development, how AI will play a role in building out these courses, and the way Tigran thinks about equitable hiring on his own team.
(1:32) Solving the "talent problem" in hiring and skill development
(4:55) Math competitions to MIT
(10:42) Resumes, skills assessment, and AI in the job market
(14:50) AI's impact on jobs and learning
(20:05) Personalized learning with AI tutoring
(24:47) AI tutoring platform for education and career development
(28:57) Personal growth as an entrepreneur
(32:42) Strategic hiring
(37:08) Company culture, transparency, and AI development
(40:35) AI tutoring platform and its potential impact on job requirements
(42:34) Tech industry skills training and apprenticeships
(44:16) AI-powered tutoring and personalized learning
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Not many businesses start with a seemingly incurable case of Bacterial Vaginosis but today’s guest, Beatrice Dixon, found a company and a cure all in one. The Honey Pot is a plant-based vaginal wellness brand that was co-founded by Beatrice after she launched by selling her products at hair shows. On today’s episode, she tells Becca and Dom how those hair shows lead to the Honey Pot hitting shelves in Target.
How Beatrice knew it was time to stop bootstrappingThe importance of finding investors who understand your mission and the intentional culture of your companyThe downside to having a fiercely loyal customer baseTrusting the process and making decisions with the your consumers in mind
They also talked about:Found posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check out the other TechCrunch podcast: Equity . Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each
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It’s hard to remember a time when newsletters weren’t flooding every inbox but today’s guests were on the forefront of bringing easily digestible news directly to their audience. Today on Found, Becca is joined by Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, co-founders and co-CEOs of theSkimm which is a digital media company, dedicated to succinctly giving women the information they need to make confident decisions. They talked about how they’ve navigated the digital media industry for over a decade, how they pitched this to investors when they were new to the game, and the importance of building a team that aligns with your vision.
They also talked about:
The importance of having a direct line to your audience and the benefit of building on your own platform, not on social mediaTheir grassroots marketing in the early daysHow one thing they nailed from the beginning is having a unique voice.(0:00) Introduction
(1:35) being on the forefront of millennial media companies
(6:08) the power of email marketing
(8:35) the early days and bootstrapping
(14:07) Not fitting the silicon valley mold
(17:34) the co-founder relationship
(23:11) Leadership styles and growing a company
(29:31) Prioritizing growth
Found posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check out the other TechCrunch podcast: Equity . Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each
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Gut health might be having a moment on TikTok but Ben Goodwin the co-founder and CEO of Olipop knows first hand the monumental impact a healthy microbiome can have on your mental and physical health. Today on Found. Becca and Dom are joined by Ben to talk about how he led the gut-healthy soda brand to amass $200 million in gross sales just five years after their launch.
They also talked about:
How the team prioritizes access to the product in low-income areas and food desertsFundraising and pitching to CPG investorsThe importance of health and wellness companies to do research to back up their products claimsThe key to changing consumer behavior(0:00) Introduction and two truths and a lie
(2:12) Olipop introduction
(5:42) Researching the microbiome
(11:34) The industrial diet in America
(15:03) Transitioning from research to product development
(17:49) Product nostalgia and marketing
(20:29) Market share in the beverage industry
(23:26) Olipop’s 200 million dollar year
(25:44) Targeting food deserts
(27:36) Time management as CEO
(31:06) Fundraising and pitching investors
(33:32) What’s next
(36:03) Host commentary
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Grab your spoon and a carton of milk because today on Found we’re talking to Magic Spoon co-founder and CEO Gabi Lewis. Magic Spoon creates cereal flavors that play on our nostalgia for Fruit Loops and Cocoa Puffs with a grown-up high-protein twist. Dom and Becca talk with Gabi about how he and his co-founder prioritized product-market fit and found investors who didn’t think cereal was dead. They also talked about:
What Gabi learned from his previous startup Exo which made cricket-protein bars and how he’s changing his leadership style at Magic SpoonTransitioning from being a solely DTC brand to in-store retailer and how he’s learned to manage buyer relationships and store-to-store drama.How meticulously they develop new cereals and how they’ve incorporated customer feedback.(0:00) Welcome Gabi Lewis
(1:45) Magic Spoon TLDR
(3:38) Innovating in the food industry
(11:40) Managing DTC and IRL retail
(24:00) Acquisitions and competition
(28:15) Entrepreneurship, product development, and leadership evolution
(35:32) Outro with Becca and Dom
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On today’s episode of Found, Dom and Becca talk to Markus Witte, co-founder of Babbel, a language learning app that had been operating since 2007. Babbel has become one of the most prominent language-learning apps but their first product was essentially just a vocab game and they quickly discovered that a multi-modal way of learning will always be more effective. Markus also talked about why he decided to step down as CEO and take on the role of chairman and how all four co-founders have worked together to stick to the original mission of Babbel even after nearly 20 years.
They also talked about:
Being a very early adopter of a subscription business modelThe struggles of fundraising in Berlin in 2008 and how to operate intentionally leanHow the company has implemented AI tools back when AI was still machine learning.Building a team that is deeply rooted to the original mission and how Markus developed the skills of an empathetic leaderFound posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check out the other TechCrunch podcast: Equity . Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each
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This week Found is going down under. New Zealand-based TechCrunch reporter Rebecca Bellan talked with Alex Zaccaria the co-founder and CEO of Linktree about how they've scaled the freemium model to grow the social media reference landing page startup. Alex also talked about the challenges and benefits of fundraising internationally, the upside to raising in a more difficult climate, and how they see Linktree changing the way creators curate content for their audiences.
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Welcome to a very special host-only episode of Found. Dom and Becca are breaking down 2023 in startups by looking back on some of our favorite conversations and looking forward to predict some startup trends in 2024. They talked about innovative climate tech companies, AI ethics and fundraising, building good founder relationships, and what next year could look like for startups. Thanks to all our listeners for an amazing year, we’ll see you in 2024!
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