Podcasts by Give First

The Perfect Storm with Elizabeth Kraus from 2023-10-31T04:00:18

For 20 years, Elizabeth Kraus was busy being an entrepreneur. So busy and stressed, she wasn’t eating well, had wild energy swings and barely slept despite training for, and tackling long-distan...

Using Your Dragonfly Eyes with Charles Conn from 2023-09-05T16:05:13

Charles Conn is a builder, a creator and an environmentalist. He’s managed to wed those three passions together by investing in the biotech space as the co-founder of Monograph Capital.

<...

Bottoms Up: A Conversation with Bevi CEO Sean Grundy from 2023-05-30T14:34:21

Sean Grundy, co-founder and CEO of Bevi, wouldn’t budge despite calls from, ironically, David Cohen, the GiveFirst podcast host. 

Cohen wanted Bevi smart water coolers in more places ...

Startup Community Builder Chris Heivly and his Newest “Build the Fort” Book from 2023-04-25T14:46:14

Described as the foremost expert on how to build startup communities, Chris Heivly has written “Build the Fort: The Startup Community Builder's Field Guide.”

Listen in as Chris and Da...

Leading Through Crisis: 96 hours after the fall of SVB from 2023-03-16T14:17:57

The fall of SVB will go down in history as one of those ‘where were you when …’ moments. For David Cohen, he was sitting at a sporting event when his phone began buzzing incessantly. For Brad Fe...

MeatoDoor Founders on Startups With Family— But Not A Family Business from 2023-01-31T16:27:14

Though many might shy away from working with their spouse, MeatoDoor Founders Ambreen Khan and <...

Creator Science Founder on The Value of Creating Content from 2023-01-10T14:43:07

As an entrepreneur, Jay Clouse loves to create. After spending time in the product world as both a ...

Arweave Co-Founder on Building an Archive of History Using Blockchain from 2022-12-20T14:30

Do you have a digital storage problem? As almost everything begins to be stored digitally, customers are often looking for sustainable but secure and permanent storage for their assets.

Wh...

Techstars Director of ESG on Being a Responsible Founder and Investor from 2022-10-18T13:47:48

When a thoughtful founder or investor is thinking about creating or sustaining long-term value and a company that adapts for the future, they are already inherently thinking about environmental,...

QuickHire Co-Founder & CEO on Raising Capital as a Person of Color from 2022-10-04T16:00

When we talk about a startup successfully raising money after being part of a Techstars accelerator, that’s not an unusual story. But did you know that only 0.3% of all venture ...

Endel CEO and Co-Founder on the Future of Sound from 2022-09-27T14:00:07

Imagine always having a soundscape that adapts to what you're doing and what you need to get done without the need to manually select a playlist. 

This is the future with Endel, a...

David Cohen and Brad Feld Talk Mental Health for Entrepreneurs from 2022-09-07T15:48:35

It took decades for Brad Feld to understand his depression and mental health struggles. 

“There was a period of time, pretty deep into this depressive episode. … Work was fine. Busine...

Recast Capital Co-Founder on Working With Emerging Managers from 2022-08-16T13:11:52

If an entrepreneur takes a seed stage investment from a very large brand-name venture fund, they’re unlikely to get very much of the venture fund’s time. However, when it comes to emerging manag...

ESG Takeover: B Lab Community Engagement Manager and Project Canary COO on What It Means to be a B Corp from 2022-07-27T15:44:04

In this final ESG takeover episode, Dr. Mairi-Jane Fox, who helps lead ESG at Tech...

ESG Takeover: Soona CEO and UN PRI Head of Private Equity on How to Engage with Investors from 2022-07-20T15:08:54

In this second ESG takeover episode, Dr. Mairi-Jane Fox, who helps lead ESG at Tec...

Integrated Capital Strategies Founder Sharon Schneider on Value Integration and Social Entrepreneurship from 2022-07-19T13:29

We all have a set of principles for how we live our lives. How well are those principles aligned across every facet, though? You might be environmentally conscious but it’s important to ask your...

ESG Takeover: Sustaio Founder and SVT Group CEO on Benefits of ESG Measurement for Your Company from 2022-07-13T15:22:24

In this first ESG takeover episode, Dr. Mairi-Jane Fox, who helps lead ESG at Tech...

Techstars Berlin Managing Director Martin Schilling on Guiding Global Tech Startup Builders from 2022-07-05T14:00:55

Martin Schilling said he would never work in finance. However, after two years of s...

Flikshop CEO Marcus Bullock on Reshaping the Criminal Justice System from 2022-06-21T15:31:23

At 15 years old, Marcus Bullock’s life changed forever. He was locked in an adult maximum-security p...

HILOS Founder Elias Stahl on Creating A New Supply Chain from 2022-05-10T15:35:29

Supply chains are a big nut to crack, and Elias Stahl ran straight for them. He was empo...

Twelve Labs CEO Jae Lee on Video Search Innovation and Accelerating with Techstars from 2022-04-26T13:08:25

Innovation is just innovation if no one uses it. This is a lesson Jae Lee, co-founder and CEO of Twe...

Authors Mark Achler and Mert Iseri on Exit Strategy and Building Your Legacy from 2022-02-16T15:17:08

There are many business books out there for current and future entrepreneurs: How to start, how to raise money, how to market, and more. However, after selling his business SwipeSense to SC John...

Stream Founder Thierry Schellenbach on Listening to Customers and Following the Metrics from 2022-02-01T16:58:34

Stream might be a small startup company, but by listening to its customers and their needs, the company decided to launch a second product that helped it scale. 

“Focusing only on...

Articulate Persuasion Founder Monique Maley on Delivering Ideas with Conviction from 2022-01-11T17:00:35

Monique Maley actually began her career in acting, which has shaped how she became an en...

Sketchfab Co-Founder on Building Relationships as the Key to Business Immortality from 2021-12-14T14:24:56

Started in France, Alban Denoyel knew that the key to his product, Sketchfab, was its influence ...

Ep 57: Zipline co-founder on how robotics and automation have changed him and the world from 2021-11-30T20:21:42

When Keller Rinaudo started Remotive in 2011 while in a Listen

Ep 56: Goodie Nation's Joey Womack on building community for entrepreneurs from all backgrounds from 2021-11-02T16:00:02

Joey Womack is a builder, but he’s not in traditional construction. Through creating ecosystems an...

Ep 55: MindMaven Founder and CEO Patrick Ewers on achieving true greatness through relationships from 2021-10-12T13:30:55

Patrick Ewers describes his work as helping people achieve true greatness, or as our host David Cohen calls it, giving people superpowers. But there is a funny thing about the term “true greatne...

Ep 54: Zane Access founder Shila Nieves Burney on accessing networks while building capital from 2021-10-07T15:00:11

Shila Nieves Burney, General Partner at Zane Venture Fund, has spent...

Ep 53: DivInc’s Preston James on diversity and inclusion in the tech industry from 2021-09-28T13:00:35

After two decades in the corporate world, Preston James was blown away by the innovation of tech startups. Once he got involved as an angel investor, he realized this industry was just like corp...

Ep 52: Fraudmarc’s Keith Coleman on the Value of Give First as a Founder from 2021-09-21T13:00:42

If you’ve ever wondered just where Give First came from, or how it became such a central philosophy at Techstars, this episode is for you. Or if you’ve ever wanted to push back and say: does Giv...

Bain Capital Ventures’ Matt Harris on supporting entrepreneurs through 25+ years as an investor from 2021-09-14T13:00:31

There are some people whose lives are perfect expressions of the zeitgeist. Matt Harris is one of them. 

In 1995, Matt’s college roommate at Williams started a company out of thei...

Ep 50: Sustainability and economic opportunity with Cody Simms of Techstars Climate Tech Podcast from 2021-09-09T13:00:21

People want their capital to be used for good, and whether it’s clean energy or sustainable agriculture, there is ample economic opportunity in efforts to decarbonize the planet. In this special po...

Ep 49: The Community Fund’s Lolita Taub on investing in community-driven companies from 2021-09-07T12:30:03

Lolita Taub has always been about community, from her upbringing in South Central LA to now at The Community Fund, which is a venture capital fund that invests in community-driven companies, “co...

Academy Investor Network’s Sherman Williams on going from military service to VC from 2021-08-31T13:00:50

From his service as a Naval Intelligence Officer to an MBA from the University of Chicago to becoming an investor in early-stage startups in healthcare tech, frontier tech, logistics, and market...

Ep 47: FemTech Focus’ Brittany Barreto, Ph.D. on creating a new category: FemTech from 2021-08-24T13:00:35

Brittany Barreto, Ph.D., started as an entrepreneur, transitioned to VC, and now is building a whole new category: FemTech. Yes, she invented the term, and you are encouraged to use it and sprea...

FemTech Focus’ Brittany Barreto, Ph.D. on creating a new category: FemTech from 2021-08-24T13:00:35

Brittany Barreto, Ph.D., started as an entrepreneur, transitioned to VC, and now is building a whole new category: FemTech. Yes, she invented the term, and you are encouraged to use it and sprea...

David Cohen and Brad Feld reflect on over 40 episodes of the Give First Podcast from 2021-08-17T13:00:01

Toward the beginning of this conversation between David Cohen and Brad Feld — cofounders of Techstars and celebrated early-stage investors — Brad says, “I believe it takes a hundred episodes bef...

Ep 46: David Cohen and Brad Feld reflect on over 40 episodes of the Give First Podcast from 2021-08-17T13:00:01

Toward the beginning of this conversation between David Cohen and Brad Feld — cofounders of Techstars and celebrated early-stage investors — Brad says, “I believe it takes a hundred episodes bef...

Digital Ocean’s Carly Brantz on leading marketing at three Techstars unicorns from 2021-08-10T13:00:25

“We get a tremendous amount of traffic to our website every month from people who are just searching for different ways to do things, learning different ways to code. It might not even be on our...

Ep 45: Digital Ocean’s Carly Brantz on leading marketing at three Techstars unicorns from 2021-08-10T13:00:25

“We get a tremendous amount of traffic to our website every month from people who are just searching for different ways to do things, learning different ways to code. It might not even be on our...

Ep 44: Fast Forward’s Kevin Barenblat on running an accelerator for tech nonprofits from 2021-08-03T13:00:45

“Techstars for nonprofits” is a pretty good description for Fast Forward, an accelerator for tech nonprofits. The similarities are many — like Techstars, Fast Forward provides mentorship, networ...

Fast Forward’s Kevin Barenblat on running an accelerator for tech nonprofits from 2021-08-03T13:00:45

“Techstars for nonprofits” is a pretty good description for Fast Forward, an accelerator for tech nonprofits. The similarities are many — like Techstars, Fast Forward provides mentorship, networ...

Chainalysis’s Jonathan Levin on building a blockchain business, values and the future from 2021-07-27T17:56:07

Jonathan Levin has had a remarkable career. A London native with an economics degree from Oxford, Levin cofounded Chainalysis in 2014, focusing on bitcoin on the blockchain. The company, a gradu...

Ep 43: Chainalysis’s Jonathan Levin on building a blockchain business, values and the future from 2021-07-27T17:56:07

Jonathan Levin has had a remarkable career. A London native with an economics degree from Oxford, Levin cofounded Chainalysis in 2014, focusing on bitcoin on the blockchain. The company, a gradu...

Bruno Morency on the evolution of the Montréal startup ecosystem from 2021-06-08T13:00:50

Bruno Morency graduated from college in 2001 and started a company right out of school. It was a tough time for tech startups, but Bruno persisted, and he’s been part of the entrepreneurship eco...

Ep 42: Bruno Morency on the evolution of the Montréal startup ecosystem from 2021-06-08T13:00:50

Bruno Morency graduated from college in 2001 and started a company right out of school. It was a tough time for tech startups, but Bruno persisted, and he’s been part of the entrepreneurship eco...

Rob La Gesse on being the opposite of risk averse from 2021-05-12T13:00:17

Rob La Gesse has had an interesting career. After high school, he joined the Navy and worked both as a combat medic and a neonatal respiratory therapist. He was a mayor in Hawaii. He taught hims...

Katie Rae on breakthrough tech that can change the world from 2021-04-27T13:00:01

In this episode of the Give First podcast, Brad Feld talks with his old friend Katie Rae, who was once the Managing Director of Techstars Boston. These days, Katie is the CEO and Managing Partne...

Crossover: Give First + Talking Through It! Neal Sáles-Griffin on giving first to grow Chicago’s startup ecosystem from 2021-04-05T17:01:13

In this special episode, Give First host David Cohen and Listen

Maëlle Gavet on helping entrepreneurs around the world create a better world from 2021-03-17T13:00:33

In this episode of the Give First podcast, two of the original Techstars founders, David Cohen and Brad Feld, talk with the new Techstars CEO, Maëlle Gavet. 

If you love Techstars...

Sean Paul Shanor on the joy of running Startup Weekends from 2021-03-09T16:46:09

In this episode of the Give First podcast, Techstars cofounder and Chairman of the Board David Cohen talks with Synergy Space Founder and Techstars Startup Weekend Facilitator Sean Paul Shanor a...

Baden U'Ren on growing entrepreneurship education in Australia from 2021-02-23T14:00:44

In this episode of the Give First podcast, Techstars cofounder and Chairman of the Board David Cohen talks with Baden U'Ren about his efforts to grow the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Australia....

James Oliver on empowering Black parentpreneurs from 2021-02-08T20:00:02

In this episode of the Give First podcast, Techstars cofounder and Chairman of the Board David Cohen talks with James Oliver about why he started the ParentPreneur Foundation.

The foun...

Andy Sack on Give First and Creating a Startup Ecosystem from Scratch from 2021-01-07T15:00:24

Andy Sack has been a technology entrepreneur, angel investor and venture capitalist for 25 years — and is one of the godfathers of the Seattle startup community. He was managing director for Tec...

Denise and Jim Franklin on how a scrappy startup grows into a thriving ecosystem from 2020-12-17T15:37:42

Denise Franklin, angel investor and startup veteran, and husband Jim Franklin, former CEO of SendGrid and University of Colorado Boulder MBA Instructor for VC, unpack the mystery of the Give Fir...

Janine Davis on Executive Coaching in the Time of COVID from 2020-10-30T18:59:33

Janine Davis began in engineering as a software developer. After 20 years in tech recruitment, she is now an executive coach and is a staunch supporter of the #GiveFirst concept, providing pro b...

Susan Standiford on the five traits of leadership from 2020-10-02T14:00:13

Susan Standiford’s impressive career has progressed from “nerdom central” to helping startup companies “create a technology, ethos, and identity” for future growth. Her journey as a technologist...

Joy Taylor on taking the concept of Give First to the nth degree from 2020-09-18T14:00:12

Joy Taylor is a force of nature. Coming from a 20-year career in the banking industry (business development, coaching, and training), she now focuses on ecosystem building in her hometown of Too...

Gus Balbontin on fighting momentum and setting up your own success metric from 2020-09-11T14:00:44

In this episode, Gus Balbontin speaks with host David Cohen about the dangers of building momentum, and how it’s important for entrepreneurs to “look sideways” to meet new challenges. He tells s...

Semil Shah on turning ideas into reality from 2020-08-28T15:00:30

Brad Feld talks with Semil Shah, founder of the venture capital fund Haystack, who shares his inspiring founder story...

Chris Schroeder on the power of global entrepreneurship from 2020-08-21T13:00:26

In this episode, Chris Schroder opens up with Brad Feld about how a “mind blowing” discovery at a startup convention in the Middle East inspired him to promote global entrepreneurship. With a ba...

Misti Cain on how to connect during COVID-19 from 2020-08-13T13:00:08

Misti Cain speaks with David Cohen about her journey from a digital marketing strategist to Techstars Anywhere Accelerator mentor, founder of mentorship platform Listen

Fostering Youth Entrepreneurship with Dream Tank from 2020-08-05T13:00:38

Co-host David Cohen and guest Heidi Cuppari discuss how she co-founded Dream Tank to truly tap into the radical imag...

Brad Feld and the mentor who changed his life from 2020-07-24T12:00:56

In this episode, Brad Feld is joined by Techstars’ Chief Revenue Officer Frank Alfano and past Chief Innovation Officer Jenny Lawton to talk with their mentor – Len Fassler. They each share thei...

Philip McKernan on the importance of reinventing yourself from 2020-02-06T14:00

Philip McKernan talks with David Cohen about how to find your purpose in life and his work with entrepreneurs. Through his coaching, he encourages people to take the risk they would only take if...

David & Brad on what they’ve learned from 20 episodes of the Give First podcast from 2020-01-21T14:00

Back in June 2019, David Cohen and Brad Feld looked back at their

first ...

Live from CES: SparkCharge Founder/CEO Joshua Aviv on the unique challenges (and opportunities) of student entrepreneurship from 2020-01-09T22:30

Techstars VP of Network John Hill sat down with SparkCharge Founder and CEO Joshua Aviv live from the floor of Eureka Park.

Josh talks about how he started SparkCharge at Sy...

Live from CES: Damon Motorcycles Co-founder and CTO Dominique Kwong on the power of business and engineering partnerships and the emotional journey behind building a company from 2020-01-09T16:05

Damon Motorcycles Co-founder and CTO (and Techstars Mobility alum) Dominique Kwong talks with Techstars VP of Network John Hill about the unstoppable power of business and engineering partnershi...

Live from CES: Event Hub CEO and Co-founder Michael Bleau on the power of live events from 2020-01-08T22:30

Eureka Park at CES is one of the most influential startup events in the world. Techstars VP of Network John Hill sat down with Event Hub CEO and Co-founder Michael Bleau live from the floor of E...

Live Episode: Josh Hix on the introverted CEO from 2019-12-12T14:00

Plated Co-founder

Josh Hix

knows about leading a growing team. He remembers taking the company through Techstars New York City in...

Rajat Bhargava on Giving First for a B2B company from 2019-11-05T14:00

Rajat Bhargava

, CEO of JumpCloud, has started a lot of companies—the first, NetGenesis, while he was still a student at MIT. And his friendsh...

Elizabeth Kraus on funding women-led companies from 2019-10-23T21:30

MergeLane, a VC fund that invests in startups and venture funds with at least one female leader, has an unusual aspiration, written in bold on its website: “We want to make MergeLane obsolete.”<...

Jason Mendelson on demystifying venture deals from 2019-10-09T13:00

Jason Mendelson

, co-founder of Foundry Group, can explain what matters in negotiations between entrepreneurs and VCs in ju...

Janet Bannister on human-centered investing from 2019-09-24T19:00

Today,

Janet Bannister

is a Partner at Real Ventures, but when Founding Partners John Stokes and Jean-Sebastien ...

Heidi Roizen on meaningful work & relationships from 2019-09-12T13:00

Heidi Roizen

has called herself a recovering entrepreneur.

Listen

Marc Nager & Dave Mayer on building rural startup communities from 2019-09-03T14:00

Too many people believe that you have to be in Silicon Valley—or some similarly hyped tech-obsessed locale—to be an entrepreneur. Techstars knows this isn’t true: successful entrepreneurship can...

Bonus Episode Alert: Do More Faster, 2nd edition from 2019-08-20T17:00

Back in 2010, David Cohen and Brad Feld distilled their knowledge about how to #domorefaster into a book, fleshed out with many, many stories from startup founders, investors, and other players ...

Harry Stebbings on committing to building a network & giving first from 2019-08-13T13:00

Stride.VC founder

Harry Stebbings

is probably best known for his podcast,

Listen

John China on whether you can give too much from 2019-07-31T13:00

In over 23 years at Silicon Valley Bank, John China has made it his mission to make connections between entrepreneurs, investors, corporations, and more. Many, many entrepreneurs at Techstars an...

Sherri Hammons on staying humble and staying strong from 2019-07-23T13:00

Today, Sherri Hammons is CTO of The Nature Conservancy, but as she admits, “I took the nontraditional path to CTO land.” This path included eight years as a professional singer before she went b...

Rebecca Lovell on career ‘nudges,’ karaoke, & how to be an ally from 2019-07-16T13:00

Rebecca Lovell

plays, as Brad Feld says, “a very important role in the center of gravity for the Seattle startup community.” Curre...

David & Brad reflect on the first six episodes of the Give First podcast from 2019-06-26T16:00

With six full episodes of the Give First podcast under their belts, David Cohen and Brad Feld reflect on their recent interviews and duty as podcast hosts. They also have nothing but praise for ...

Kesha Cash on impact investing—and how mentorship got her there from 2019-06-18T12:50

Kesha Cash founded Impact America Fund in 2013 with a goal of investing in software and tech enabled companies that have a positive benefit on underserved communities in America. In 2018, she wa...

T.A. McCann on how sailing in the America’s Cup is like running a startup from 2019-06-11T12:50

David Cohen was super excited when he realized that

T.A. McCann

—founder and CEO of Senosis (acquired by Google), Gist (acquired by...

Mary Grove on the origins of Google for Startups & Startup Weekend from 2019-06-04T12:55

Mary Grove is passionate about community-driven change, and this theme has guided her entire career. She joined Google when it had only 2,000 employees, and by the time she left it was up to aro...

Troy Henikoff on how #GiveFirst grew the Chicago startup ecosystem from 2019-05-28T12:50

How does a startup ecosystem grow? #GiveFirst is one essential element.

Troy Henikoff, Managing Director of MATH Ventures and Co-founder of Excelerate Labs, which became Te...

Paul Berberian on the “addictive” nature of mentoring from 2019-05-21T12:50

Have you ever been mobbed in Times Square, like a rock star? Paul Berberian, CEO of Sphero, the company that makes BB8, at one time the number one toy in the world, has.

Pa...

Wendy Lea talks about the risks of saying no from 2019-05-14T13:00

Wendy Lea is a longtime entrepreneur and investor, as well as a board member and mentor at Techstars. With David and Brad, she digs into some of her own first mentoring experiences and reflects ...

What is Give First? from 2019-05-02T22:00

What exactly is Give First? David Cohen and Brad Feld explore what this philosophy of living means to them. In the startup world, Give First means simply trying to help anyone, especially entrepren...