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Jesse Draper Unplugged – Getting Real About What it Takes to Succeed With The CEO & Founder of Halogen Ventures

| By Joy Chudacoff Leave a Comment

Jesse Draper is back for an encore! She was on the podcast back in 2018 and this time I had the pleasure of sharing her wisdom with the members of my private, online membership community, ALIGN online. It was SO good. I’m calling it, “Jesse Draper Unplugged.” She’s just raised $21M to invest in the next generation of female-founded businesses and on this episode, she takes a deep dive with us!

Jesse started her career in the entertainment industry and along the way discovered she had a “superpower” or maybe it was “x-ray vision” when it comes to knowing what it takes to be a winning idea in business. She started focusing on building an early stage venture capital fund focused on female-founded consumer technologies, which led to the creation of Halogen Ventures.

Jesse talks how she found her footing in the venture capital world, her best tips on pitching ideas to investors, the importance of insane optimism, and why you should always ask for feedback.

If you’re looking for investors or bootstrapping, this episode is for you.

You can be what you can see.” – Jesse Draper

You can Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts. And be sure to leave me a Rating and Review!

For women, we are taught to give away money before we are taught to take risk with our money and that’s a problem.” – Jesse Draper

Show Notes:

  • How Jesse went from the entertainment industry to the venture capital world
  • Everyone suffers from Imposter Syndrome and why you need to just keep going
  • Her Insider “SECRETS” on pitching investors – PURE GOLD!
  • Why Jesse decided to focus on female-founders and her perspective on female-founder disruptors
  • 3 Must-Haves she looks for before giving the Green Light
  • The BIGGEST challenge for female founders (and her expert advice on how to overcome it)
  • Why asking for FEEDBACK is key
  • The Type of LEADER you have to become to succeed – BRILLIANT
  • The Essential ingredient to every business (you may be surprised!)

Bootstrap as long as you can.” – Jesse Draper

Connect with Jesse Draper:

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Halogen Ventures

You can’t do anything alone.” – Jesse Draper

Hannah Hong & Mollie Cha – From Best Friends to Business Partners as Co-Founders of Hakuna Brand (N)icecream

| By Joy Chudacoff Leave a Comment

Hannah Hong & Mollie Cha on She's Got Moxie with Joy Chudacoff

Light-hearted and full of joy, Hannah Hong and Mollie Cha, co-founders of Hakuna Brands, are the perfect pair to launch a dairy-free (N)ice-cream.

Hannah and Mollie became best friends at UC Berkeley, and along the way, discovered they were both lactose intolerant in their early 20's – which meant that they had to say goodbye to ice cream.

Years later, Hannah and Mollie discovered frozen banana chunks blended with a little almond milk. In that moment it was, and I quote, “Like lightning striking.” It was non-dairy, 100% plant-based, no refined sugar, and delicious! They instantly knew they had to bring this idea to families everywhere.

On today’s show, Hannah and Mollie talk about how they’ve gotten their product into over 400 retail locations, what it is like to be best friends and business partners, the lessons they’ve learned about dealing with imposter syndrome and much more.

You can Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts. And be sure to leave me a Rating and Review!

Having a partner is a great thing, but it comes with its challenges. So really make sure it is the right fit.” – Mollie Cha

Show Notes:

  • How they took a problem, solved it for themselves and Hakuna Brands was born
  • What they did every evening after work – the EARLY days!
  • Their best advice for maintaining a business partnership with your BFF
  • Their FIRST Sale – they take us on the journey with them (I loved this part)
  • Their BEST Sales Strategy early on – what they did to really STAND OUT
  • The Best ACTION STEP to getting into over 400 locations
  • How they quickly learned to scale when Whole Foods and Sprouts came calling – before that they were operating out of a 100 square foot kitchen
  • Why “moving fast & breaking things” really doesn’t work for them
  • The effects of imposter syndrome & how they moved through the days when they had doubts

You are the expert in your product.” – Hannah Hong

Connect with Hannah & Mollie:

Instagram | Hakuna Brands

Checking yourself and giving yourself the space to make sure that everyone is aligned is really important.” – Mollie Cha

Are You Hiding From Success?

| By Joy Chudacoff Leave a Comment

Last week, I had the good fortune to speak to an amazing group of smart women at the Success Summit and Expo here in Los Angeles. As a speaker, you hope to present an idea or concept that will provide value to a group, although you never really know until you actually see how the audience reacts if you've chosen something worthwhile.

Well, I'll share with you that one of my points hit home with many of the women in the room. I could see eyes wide open and heads nodding. Are you curious about what it might be?

It's called Imposter Syndrome.

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