Our guest on the Grow Beyond Grades podcast is Akil Bello, an expert in educational access with over 30 years of experience. Akil began his career as a test proctor in 1990 and has since held roles from CEO to consultant, working to improve outcomes for underserved students. As the founding partner of Bell Curves, Akil focused on helping underrepre…

Paul Emerich France is a National Board Certified Teacher, instructional coach, keynote speaker, and adjunct professor with over a decade of experience in the classroom, teaching grades transitional kindergarten through fifth grade. He is the author of Reclaiming Personalized Learning: A Pedagogy for Restoring Equity and Humanity in Our Classrooms …

[00:01:00] Jared's Journey from sales to building a thriving community of 45,000 revenue professionals and how community saved his life. [00:10:00] What makes for a successful B2B community and when companies should think of creating one [00:14:00] The Collab: Jared’s New Initiative - a newsletter and community for collaborative growth. How Collab …

[2:15] From Classical Music to Tech Startup Annu discusses her transition from a classical musician to founding a technology company, highlighting the unexpected path from arts to entrepreneurship. [12:25] Understanding the Upright Project's Impact Model A deeper dive into how the Upright Project measures the net impact of companies, using tangible…

2:16 - Path from operator to angel investor to Atomico scout 19:09 - Advice on early stage marketing Marketing focus by stage of growth How do you balance performance marketing and brand/organic marketing? How do you balance the marketing for end-users vs decision makers? Common mistakes 80% of founders make - working as siloed teams Resource for a…

Guerson Meyer, Co-Founder & Technology Officer of Sophiq Properties, a PropTech company talks about how he uses no-code solutions at Sophiq Properties to locate, evaluate and validate properties in real-time, adapting to the needs of each investment. In 2023 alone, they will complete 16 operations totalling 30 million euros. Hear in detail what no-…

Carissa McCray is a member of Research, Advocacy, Collaboration, and Empowerment Mentoring program, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the American Educational Research Association. She has presented across the United States on topics ranging from implementing social-emotional strategies in the classroom to culturally r…

Fabiola "Fabi" Torres is an online Ethnic Studies professor and Certified Faculty Developer at Glendale Community College. During the pandemic, she has led nationwide workshops and courses on applying equity-minded methods such as culturally responsive teaching in the online environment, humanizing online teaching and learning as well as ungrading …

Why all SaaS companies should implement usage-based pricing and How to run a successful design partner program with your customers to build your early MVPVon Anita Moorthy

Jesse Stommel is a faculty member in the Writing Program at University of Denver. He is also co-founder of Hybrid Pedagogy: the journal of critical digital pedagogy and Digital Pedagogy Lab. He has a PhD from University of Colorado Boulder. He is co-author of An Urgency of Teachers: the Work of Critical Digital Pedagogy. Jesse is a documentary film…

Mike Flanagan is the CEO of the Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC), a growing group of high schools creating a digital high school transcript that opens up opportunity for each and every student—from all backgrounds, locations, and types of schools—to have their unique strengths, abilities, interests, and histories fostered, understood, and celebr…

Alex Shevrin Venet is an educator, author, and professional development facilitator based in Vermont. She teaches community college and graduate teacher education. Previously, she was a teacher and leader at an alternative therapeutic school. She is the co-founder of the Nurturing the Nurturers collective, a healing community for educators. Her fir…

[1:49] - Why not having domain expertise can sometimes help entrepreneurs [5:45] - Defining your ICP [8:31] - Determining your MVP [13:06] - Funding your seed and lessons learnt from raising too early. [22:48] - GTM [30:11] - Building a team and culture; it starts first with language. [40:20] - Culture first hiring tips Links Company: Digitail.io G…

[2:16] - 20 years and starting a company in Estonia [5:08] - Angel investing and what to look for? [10:01] - First CIO of Estonia [16:59] - Koos - what is it and why is it important [29:04] - Advice for other entrepreneurs [31:35] - ChatGPT and the future [33:09] - HK Unicorn squad and Links Koos Sponsors: Chargebee E-residency…

Nate Bowling teaches Social Studies at a US Embassy School in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. He is a past Washington State Teacher of the Year and National Teacher of the Year Finalist. He and his wife blog about living and teaching overseas at BowlingsAbroad.com and he is the host of the Nerd Farmer Podcast on the Channel 253 Podcast Netwo…

Dr. Juuso Nieminen is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong and a Banting Fellow at Ontario Tech University, Canada. He studies the social, cultural, and political aspects of assessment. Why do we assess the way we do? Dr. Nieminen’s research focuses on the student perspective in assessment. He is particularly …

Vanessa Ellis is an 8th-grade social studies teacher at Veterans Memorial Middle School in Columbus, Georgia. In 2017, Vanessa was named a Georgia Economics Teacher of the Year, and in 2018, she was selected as a Harvard Fellow to study research-based practices in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2022, she was honored as Teacher of the Year for her sch…

[2:00] - How the SVB crisis unfolded at Payhawk [6:23] - The 3 most important ingredients for building a successful unicorn [16:19] - Validating your company idea [18:19] - 60 rejections. How Payhawk overcame the biggest objection from VCs [28:35] - Leading through crisis [31:54] - Competition - Use data not marketing to assess competition [36:18] …

TG2 team member, Michelle Cottrell-Williams, interviews Jan McArthur, Senior Lecturer in Education and Social Justice in the Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University, UK. Jan’s research focuses on the nature and purposes of higher education and how these relate to practices of teaching, learning, and assessment. Jan McArthur coautho…

[2:24] - Journey to starting Seedstars [5:31] - Investing and not being local [10:27] - Seedstars programs [13:28] - Investor returns from emerging markets [19:06] - Challenges [25:12] - Advice for entrepreneurs [27:16] - Advice for investors Links Seedstars Book: Where the crawdads singVon Anita Moorthy

Liz Norell is passionate about great teaching and student success. As a political scientist (well, really, a political psychologist), she's motivated to understand how/why we develop the political beliefs we do...and how to have more productive dialogue across differences. As a faculty member and mentor, she loves brainstorming ways to make classro…

[3:16] - Hedgeflows: Managing risk and automating payment runs for SMEs [9:51] - Advice for finding early product market fit [16:39] - How to attract talent in early stages without brand or VC backing [19:07] - Knowing your investor’s incentives Links: HedgeFlows Books: Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 steps to successful startup by Bill Aulet…

[2:08] - The economics of solar [7:39] - Challenges and barriers to solar adoption [11:11] - Where are the different countries when it comes to adopting solar [14:50] - Erik’s Journey to starting Svea Solar [19:06] - advice on doing layoffs [23:13] - Challenges of scaling - its all about recruiting, developing and retaining talent [29:48] - Continu…

Mike Rutherford is a lifelong teacher and learner. Eight years ago, he returned to the classroom as a middle school English and Social Studies teacher after many years in the education private sector with Blackboard and Just ASK Publications & Professional Development. Prior to his time in the private sector, Mike was a middle school teacher and te…

Because ungrading is essentially an emancipatory practice, it cannot be held to one formula or singular standard. Instead, ungrading relies on a robust community of educators to circulate, celebrate, and elevate the practice in its various forms. Lisa Wennerth, welcomes four trailblazing educators—Liz Leininger, Rita Shah, Firas Moosvi, and Taylor …

[2:07] - Advice on navigating current economic conditions [6:00] - FTX bankruptcy [8:48] - Early-stage due diligence [10:59] - Identifying outliers to find the next Uber or Airbnb [14:13] - Decision-making at Creandum [16:20] - Funding process Links Creandum The Alchemist by Paulo CoelhoVon Anita Moorthy

[1:44] - About Remofirst and Nurasyl’s journey to starting Remofirst. [6:49] - The three ingredients for not failing at a startup [9:04] - Finding your ideal customer profile [12:00] - Trends in remote hiring [14:09] - Funding journey and tips [21:50] - Making remote working work Links Remofirst Delivering Happiness - Tony Hsieh, founder of Zappos…

[1:53] - Journey to becoming a venture partner at 29 years [7:40] - Increasing the number of women in VC [10:53] - Ideal startups for Sapphire and how they source deals [21:29] - Common challenges, mistakes and advice for Series B companies [30:14] - Series B valuation and trends in valuation [33:51] - Work life balance as a VC Links: Sapphire Vent…

Miriam Plotinsky is an author and instructional specialist who addresses challenges in both teaching and leading across schools with a wide range of differentiated needs. A strong advocate for student-centered learning, she provides coaching and professional development for teachers and administrators. She is the author of Teach More, Hover Less: H…

[2:15] - Online dating market - is there space for one more? [4:47] - Lessons learned from previous startups - retention, defensibility, product complexity, and proving pmf outside of your home market. [16:39] - Never giving up [20:52] - With 8 rounds of fundraising under his belt, David shares his secret for fundraising. [29:00] - Seed stage valua…

1:55] - Journey to founding TERN [4:49] - Refugee problem is a global problem. By the numbers. [7:08] - Are refugees are burden to the host country? [9:85] - The Rwanda Refugee plan - will it work? [21:39] - UK’s support for refugees - asylum seekers vs resettlement [28:28] - TERN support for refugees [31:45] - Top three businesses started by refug…

[1:53] - Safety in upbringing and why being outside can be a boon to an entrepreneur [8:29] - “Never look at the competition, know your customer instead” [10:58] - Focus on the product and avoid distractions [14:25] - On B2C marketing [19:20] - Building the company culture at Vivino [23:34] - When should a founder step down and bring in a new CEO […

Jay Percell, Ed.D. is an Associate Professor of Teaching and Learning at Illinois State University, an author of several academic essays, and a TEDx presenter. Michelle Cottrell-Williams hosts as Jay shares his reasons for moving away from traditional grades and toward a classroom where learning, improvement, and growth is the focus.Resources:Jay's…

[1:51] - Irish startup scene [7:41] - How to attract and incentivize talent at a macro level [11:13] - The best startup ecosystems in Europe [19:15] - Dogpatch [24:12] - Norther Ireland/Southern Ireland collaboration [27:21] - Funding for startups in Ireland Links Dogpatch Changing World Order by Ray Dalio Midnight’s children by Salman Rushdie…

[2:30] Idea development when you are not from the industry [14:52] - From idea to MVP - DIY or outsource? [21:16] - Funding journey pre-seed to seed [25:26] - Building your team [29:34] - Getting your first customers [31:58] - Niche down on a vertical or not [37:25] - Fundraising dos and don’ts Links Arx Alliance…

1:45 - Your journey from operational role to VC 6:16 - Advice for others thinking of moving from operational to VC role. 12:33 - What makes Creandum different to other VC firms? 16:25 - Creandum’s process of finding and investing in companies 25:00 - Timing for approaching Creandum 27:48 - Metrics for investing 32:59 - Trends in Europe Links Creand…

2:00 - Founding YuLife - the journey 10:34 - Finding the right co-founders 17:49 - Initial customers 19:21 - Proving ROI 23:11 - From founder-led sales to systematic marketing and sales 27:28 - External branding 31:41 - Pivoting from B2C to B2B early on 34:33 - Internal culture and branding Links YuLife 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Steven …

[1:57] - About Notion Capital [4:04] - Notion’s go-to-market support and building the scaling engine [9:09] - How to build a team for growth [16:10] - When to bring in marketing; and determining the first hire [20:13] - US Expansion: when and how you should expand to the US [28:01] - How do you become a Notion Capital portfolio company [40:35] - Bi…

[2:08] Your career from currency trader to COO of Railsbank [6:50] Advice for women in FinTech on growing their careers [11:07] Building a high-performance sales team and hiring women after a career break [16:24] Current trends in embedded finance and fintech [25:46] Growing from 120 - 500 people Links: Railsbank Little Women by Louisa Alcott…

[2:12] - Journey from consulting to founding Meatable [11:06] - Alternative protein market [14:35] - Biggest challenges facing Meatable and lab-grown meat [17:45] - Cost of Meatable burger vs a normal burger and target market [22:58] - Funding [24:45] - Go-to-market strategy: license technology or vertically integrate [28:00] - Messaging for differ…

[2:17] Your journey to founding HealthHero [11:54] Multi-pronged business model and prioritization [14:13] Brand strategy [16:49] Go-to-market strategy [20:58] Structuring for growth [25:24] US expansion plans Links HealthHero Sponsors Chargebee E-residency Book recommendation SapiensVon Anita Moorthy

[1:55] Overview of Balderton [3:46] What do you think makes for a good VC? [5:32] Where are you making big bets going into 2022? [6:30] Why is there a difference in the US and Europe when it comes to web3? [7:52] What is your take on the NFT opportunity? [13:26] Opportunities in fintech [17:52] Team vs Idea - what is more important? [23:36] Organiz…

[2:10] What motivates you and what makes you keep going one startup after another? [13:36] What makes Inkitt different from all the other self-publishing platforms? [18:30] Who are your readers and what is trending? [20:53] What was the turning point where growth took off? [24:34] How did you manage the downturns in the business? Books mentioned Al…

Maritime industry [1:34] Why did you start Deepsea? Why has the maritime industry been so late in modernizing? [6:53] Being two engineering founders, how did you supplement the business knowledge that was missing? [09:56] How did the pandemic affect your business? What did you need to do to adapt? Startup advice [12:15] What are some of the challen…

[01:40] Why did you decide to focus on the travel industry? [04:10] What are some of the big trends you see in the travel industry? What do you think has changed permanently and what do you think will go back? [5:27] What are some of the opportunities you see for travel startups [8:16] Your leadership style [11:17] How do you hire? What questions d…

[1:26] Early life and value of hard work [2:43] Experience and most memorable moments from your time at Google and Twitter as an early employee [7:15] Pivoting during the pandemic [21:50] Future of the workplace Links: Envoy Book recommendation: The Cold Start ProblemVon Anita Moorthy

[01:53] What convinced you to begin yet another online fraud prevention company? [4:52] How did you structure your product, your team, and other aspects of your company to get quick time-to-value, your core promise to customers? [11:59] Could you tell us more about your hybrid model of sales? [15:15] How easy is it to start a tech company in Hungar…

[2:10] - What was the initial concept with which you started Glovo? [7:44] - How has the tapering down of the pandemic affected your business? [10:17] - How do you deliver groceries in 10 minutes? [17:36] - How profitable is your q-commerce business? [20:50] - How do you build loyalty in this business? [23:23] - What is justifying the huge amounts …

Healthtech and Healx [1:53] What inspired you to start focusing on rare diseases? [3:28] Could you define what rare disease means? [3:43] Why has what you’re doing never been done before? And how is your approach to drug discovery different from others? [5:53] What are the trends you’re seeing in this space? And what do you think is accelerating th…

[1:42] How did you go from scuba instructor to insect farming? [4:24] I don’t see insect protein based food in the market, why so much funding in this space? [7:17] How do you actually do insect farming? What is the process of farming black soldier flies and creating proteins out of them? [10:31] With the recent Covid pandemic, do you think the per…