Luminate

02/07/2025

Today’s guest is Jessica Rolph, cofounder and CEO of Lovevery, a subscription brand that sells early-childhood development play kits and solutions.

To date, Jessica has raised over $132 million for Lovevery from top-tier investors, including, TCG, Google Ventures, Collaborative Fund, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Lovevery has 350,000+ active subscribers. It has been named one of Fast Company’s “World’s Most Innovative Companies” and has been recognized on TIME’s list of “Best Inventions”.

Prior to Lovevery, Jessica was the cofounder and COO of Happy Family, helping to launch, build and lead Happy Family to its position as a top organic baby and toddler brand in the US. Happy Family was acquired by Group Danone in 2013 for about $300 million.

Today’s guest is Jessica Rolph, cofounder and CEO of Lovevery, a subscription brand that sells early-childhood development play kits and solutions. To date, Jessica has raised...

01/07/2025

Today’s guest is Luca Ferrari, cofounder and CEO of Bending Spoons, one of the world’s largest mobile app developers. The company’s apps are currently being used by more than 100 million people every month, with over 500 million app downloads to date. Its apps include popular video editing tool Splice, AI based photo editor Remini and the prominent note-taking app Evernote.

Luca has raised over $600 million from Banco BPM, Intesa Sanpaolo, Ryan Reynolds, Bradley Cooper, Eric Schmidt and many more.

Today’s guest is Luca Ferrari, cofounder and CEO of Bending Spoons, one of the world’s largest mobile app developers. The company’s apps are currently being used by more than...

30/06/2025

Today’s guest is Steve Blank, an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University. Steve is widely regarded as the father of modern entrepreneurship. Prior to academia, Steve’s career spanned eight different startups.

Credited with launching the Lean Startup movement and the curriculums for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps and Hacking for Defense and Diplomacy, he’s changed how startups are built; how entrepreneurship is taught; how science is commercialized, and how companies and the government innovate.

Steve is also the renowned author of The Four Steps to the Epiphany and The Startup Owner’s Manual.

Today’s guest is Steve Blank, an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University. Steve is widely regarded as the father of modern entrepreneurship. Prior to academia, Steve’s career...

23/06/2024

Today’s guest is Brian Lee, a rock-star serial entrepreneur. Brian has cofounded several companies worth over a billion dollars each, such as Legalzoom with Robert Shapiro, The Honest Company with Jessica Alba, ShoeDazzle with Kim Kardashian and Arena Club with baseball legend Derek Jeter.

Brian is also the cofounder and managing partner of BAM Ventures, an early-stage VC firm. Brian wrote the first investment check into Honey, which went on to sell to PayPal for $4 billion.

In this episode, we dive into:

– The stories of how LegalZoom, ShoeDazzle, The Honest Company and Arena Club came to fruition.

– The secret sauce behind celebrity partnerships

– How Brian made his transition into VC venture capital

– The types of founders that VCs want to invest in

Today’s guest is Brian Lee, a rock-star serial entrepreneur. Brian has cofounded several companies worth over a billion dollars each, such as Legalzoom with Robert Shapiro, The...

01/06/2024

Today’s guest is Magnus Grimeland, founder and CEO of Antler, one of the world’s largest day zero investor. Antler’s pre-seed strategy canvasses 27 countries, more than 1000+ portfolio companies, 8,000+ founders, and over 220,000 annual applications for 2,000 spots in its residency programs.

Magnus previously co-founded Zalora, Southeast Asia’s largest fashion e-commerce company. It was later acquired by Global Fashion Group (GFG), where Magnus served as COO and Managing Director, rolling out the firm’s marketplace across 26 countries.

In this conversation, we discuss all Magnus has learned reviewing thousands of applications to Antler, interviewing countless new entrepreneurs, and watch young companies begin to grow and, occasionally, find product market fit.

Today’s guest is Magnus Grimeland, founder and CEO of Antler, one of the world’s largest day zero investor. Antler’s pre-seed strategy canvasses 27 countries, more than 1000+...

21/05/2024

Today’s guest is Emily Hikade, founder and CEO of the luxury sleepwear brand Petite Plume.

Emily launched Petite Plume in 2015 and it has been profitable since its first year. The company has also doubled its revenue every year since launch, and it has reached almost $100 million in revenue. Petite Plume pajamas are coveted by the Royal Family, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anderson Cooper, Miranda Kerr, and Kourtney Kardashian, just to name a few.

Prior to founding Petite Plume, Emily worked for the CIA as an operations officer in the Clandestine Service for nearly two decades.

Today's guest is Emily Hikade, founder and CEO of the luxury sleepwear brand Petite Plume. Emily launched Petite Plume in 2015 and it has been profitable since its first year...

12/05/2024

This week we're joined by Emmanuel Straschnov, founder and co-CEO of Bubble, a platform that empowers users to create powerful web apps without writing code.

To date, Emmanuel has raised over $106 million for the company from the likes of Insight Partners, SignalFire, and Box Group, to name a few.

In this episode, we dive into the early days of Bubble with Emmanuel, how he bootstrapped for 7 years. We then discuss his pricing strategy, and a lot more.

Emmanuel Straschnov is the cofounder and co-CEO of Bubble, a platform that empowers users to create powerful web apps without writing code. To date, Emmanuel has raised over...

23/04/2024

Today’s guest is Larry Gadea, founder and CEO of Envoy. Envoy is a workplace platform that helps companies welcome visitors, keep employees safe, book desks and conference rooms, and manage deliveries in over 16,000 locations around the globe.

To date, Larry has raised over $170 million for Envoy from a16z, Menlo Ventures, Brookfield Growth, Marc Benioff, Elad Gil to name a few.

Prior to Envoy, Larry started his career as a software engineer at 17, having been recruited by Google out of high school. He later joined X (formerly Twitter) as one of the early people driving its ability to scale.

In today’s episode, we talk about Larry experiences at Google and Twitter and to better understand what pain points Envoy was trying to solve. We also talk about Larry on leadership lessons scaling Envoy to a billion-dollar company, what it takes to manage the board effectively, and so much more.

Today’s guest is Larry Gadea, founder and CEO of Envoy. Envoy is a workplace platform that helps companies welcome visitors, keep employees safe, book desks and conference...

09/04/2024

Today’s guest is Daniel Goleman, one of the world’s leading experts on the science of emotion. He is also known as the father of the emotional intelligence.

Daniel is the author of Emotional Intelligence, a blockbuster book that sold more than 5 million copies in about 40 languages.

In this episode, Lan Anh talks to Daniel about why emotional intelligence matters, how science demonstrates that emotional intelligence matters far more than IQ, how we can enhance and manage our emotions to expand our brain capacity, and gives actionable tips about how we can learn emotional intelligence.

Today's guest is Daniel Goleman, one of the world’s leading experts on the science of emotion. Daniel is the author of Emotional Intelligence, a blockbuster book that sold more...

29/01/2024

Today’s guest is Isabelle Freidheim, founder and managing partner of Athena Capital, a technology fund that focuses on bringing high-performing, mission-driven companies to the market.

Isabelle is the youngest female chairman of a publicly traded company in the U.S. Under her leadership, Athena has raised more than $1.2 billion.

During this interview, Isabelle shares her personal and career journey, from VC to entrepreneur. We then discuss S**Cs in-depth, how they work, why some companies would prefer to IPO through a S**C rather than the traditional IPO process, and much more.

Today’s guest is Isabelle Freidheim, founder and managing partner of Athena Capital, a technology fund that focuses on bringing high-performing, mission-driven companies to the...

28/01/2024

Today’s guest is Liz Elting, cofounder and former CEO of TransPerfect, the world’s largest language solutions company, with over $1.1 billion in revenue and offices in more than 100 cities worldwide.

Liz has been recognized as a NOW Woman of Power & Influence, American Express’ and Entrepreneur magazine’s Woman of the Year, and one of Forbes’ Richest Self-Made Women every year since the list’s inception. Liz is also the bestselling author of “Dream Big and Win: Translating Passion into Purpose and Creating a Billion-Dollar Business”.

In this episode, we discuss how Liz came up with the idea for TransPerfect, how she built and scaled a billion-dollar company without taking any outside funding. We also discuss the power of setting goals and taking action, and the role that partnerships play in your success.

Listen here: https://onluminate.com/liz-elting/

02/01/2024

Kim Scott, who is the author of the revolutionary New York Times bestsellers Radical Candor and Just Work. She co-founded two companies that help organizations put the ideas in her books into practice. Kim was a CEO coach at Dropbox, Qualtrics, Twitter, and other tech companies.

On this episode, Kim talks about how to develop real, human relationships at work by caring personally and challenging directly. Kim also shares tips on how to start implementing radical candor.

Today’s guest is Kim Scott, who is the author of the revolutionary New York Times bestsellers Radical Candor and Just Work. She co-founded two companies that help organizations...