The RiseHer Podcast

In this week's episode host Courteney talks all about how to Reverse Engineering Your Pitch to Win the Ask.  It's important as a founder to be able to articulate the value and future of your business. It is the key to being able to raise venture capital or securing your first customer. Today's episode will highlight some great tips to helping you craft the perfect pitch!

Sara Brand is the Founding General Partner of True Wealth Ventures, an early-stage VC fund investing in women-led businesses in consumer health and sustainability sectors. She is also the co-founder of (512) Brewing, the largest draught-only, self-distributing microbrewery in the country. Sara was previously in venture capital and management consulting in the Bay Area as well as in a variety of strategic and operational roles in large tech companies.

Ashley Whitehurst is the Managing Director of Syndicates at LAUNCH. She beginning working as an EA for Jason Calacanis. Over the years she has grown with LAUNCH and is now the Managing director of The Syndicate fund at Launch. In today's show, we talk all about what Syndicate funds are, as well as the benefits they bring to both founders and investors. Ashley also gives us a behind the scenes look at what running a fund looks like and insider tips on how to pitch a company to investors.

Tune-in to this week's episode with my friend 25 Freya Oehle. She is a serial entrepreneur is shaking up the German Startup Ecosystem. In today's show, we talk all about how she went from an MBA student at Northwestern to starting her first company in her parents living room in the German countryside. Freya shares with us lots of great nuggets of wisdom and some hard truths about the startup world.

Genevieve is the co-founder of Fetcher, a Manhattan-based startup combining AI with human expertise to help companies fill open positions at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional recruiting tools. Fetcher launched 2 years ago, and the team has quickly grown to over 160 employees, and they are now working with over 450 companies ranging from stealth-mode startups to the Fortune 50, to help re-imagine recruiting.

Nicola's experience working with startups has almost stretched 10 years. Originally from Ireland, where she led startup and accelerator engagement for the global technology conference, Web Summit. AT Pollenizer, an early stage startup incubator where she made waves to bring startup methods to some of the world’s largest companies. At AGL Energy, Nicola helped define a technology ecosystem to develop a pipeline of growth companies for investment. Now, Nicola is running the Sydney program at muru-D.

Statusphere is an influencer marketing platform that fundamentally transforms the way brands connect with social media influencers. The company’s influencer-first business model solves the major pain points of outreach, price negotiation, scalability and distribution for consumer brands. Statusphere achieves this with its curated network of micro-influencers who receive a monthly box of Instagram-worthy products in exchange for sharing photos or videos with their followers.

 Jill Koziol is the co-founder and CEO of Motherly  a modern lifestyle brand redefining motherhood with it’s 30M+ monthly audience. She is also the co-author of the new book, This Is Motherhood: A Motherly Collection of Reflections & Practices. Jill is passionate about serving and empowering women and mothers because when mamas are successful, everyone wins. She is an advocate for families, female founders, and how to thrive with multiple sclerosis. Jill lives in Menlo Park with her husband & two da

Georgene Huang is obsessed with improving the workplace for women. She’s the CEO and Co-founder of Fairygodboss, the largest career community for women, providing millions of women with career connections, jobs, career advice and hard-to-find intel about how companies treat women.

Ulla Hald is the Co-founder and CEO of @thefavesapp, the fashion tech company that is helping SMB retailers make the best buying decisions for their businesses. Ulla studied computer science at UCSC and took her first carrier steps at Apple. Her superpower is bringing smart people together and not getting in the way. FAVES is a B2B SaaS platform that enables retail buyers and their stakeholders to have a complete and real-time visual overview of what they are buying, across all vendors and brands.

Dive into today's show to hear how Ikrama & Barbara meet as Co-founders, teamed up with Kate to launch a new beauty tech company Curah. They are changing the way customers book and find beauty appointments with their new app. More importantly, they are empowering and equipping women-owned business with the tools they need to thrive. From very diverse backgrounds of growing up in Austria, Morocco, and Russia they came together to change the future of beauty.

At 21, Priya was the first Indian woman to start an open-source hardware company in India. At 28, she built Bay Area's first women-centric co-working space. Presently, at 30, she is the first Indian woman working to build a decentralized internet free of net neutrality, censorship, and fake news. She is a community builder and teacher at heart and firmly believes in the power of technology to improve the lives of people. She views entrepreneurship as a deeper path towards self-discovery.

Entrepreneur Kara Goldin is the Founder and CEO of hint, Inc., a healthy lifestyle brand that produces the leading, award-winning, unsweetened flavored water, as well as a scented sunscreen spray that is oxybenzone and paraben-free. Kara has received numerous accolades, one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business, Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs and Forbes’ 40 Women to Watch Over 40. The Huffington Post listed her as one of six disruptors in business.

Viola is the founder and creative force behind MAIKA, a stylish and sustainable soft goods brand inspired by delightful travel and everyday living. MAIKA products are carried in over 500 specialty boutiques and retail stores worldwide. Concurrently, she is also the co-founder of LimeLoop, a full circle shipper packaging company that combines technology and innovative design to create a more sustainable supply chain.

Founders Embassy is the world's first accelerator designed for international and immigrant entrepreneurs committed to making a positive impact on the world. Unlike typical accelerators and incubators, Founders Embassy focuses on elevating, inspiring, and educating international and immigrant founders by offering them unprecedented access to Silicon Valley through its immersive acceleration programs, impactful events, and thought leadership - all without any exchange of equity.