Posts tagged: The Mentor Files

Growing up in Pakistan as the daughter of a doctor, Umaimah Mendhro was always encouraged to dream big, and fantasized about starting her own company and becoming the CEO. And on her first trip to the United States as a teenager, she saw just how real her dreams could be. She later wrote down on a napkin, 'I want to study in America', and it wasn't long before she was on her way to Harvard Business School.Since 2014, VIDA has created clothing, accessories and home decor designed by independent artists,...

Holly Thaggard did not follow a traditional path when launching her business. After graduating from college, Holly became a third grade school teacher, then pivoted to pursue a career as a professional harpist. The last thing she anticipated happening was starting her own business, with the goal of creating a healthier sunscreen and educating children on skin care, but life had its own plan. In 2007, Holly started Supergoop, a program to get sunscreen and education on skincare into the hands of kids around the world. Three years later, she...

When Erik Allebest met Jay Severson at the Stanford Business School, their unlikely friendship would spark a love of chess that Erik was never able to shake. Turning down jobs at big tech companies (including Facebook), Erik juggled his education, a family, and building Chess.com as a resource for them and their friends to find chess related information. But as it grew, Jay and Erik realized they had something bigger on their hands. Chess.com is the number one place to play, learn about, and discuss chess, hosting more than 25...

When Brett was in high school, her love of acrylic clutches from the 1950s and 1960s sparked a habit of collecting them wherever she could find them. As they became increasingly difficult to find, she sought out to make some for herself. She started researching the amazing bags from the mid-century and their long lost fabrication techniques, and the idea for her new business was born.Edie Parker is a modern accessories label with an inherent sense of luxury, irreverence and wit. Since the brand’s inception, Edie Parker has produced accessories...

When Lindsey Andrews and Lara Crystal met at the Wharton School, they became both friends and future business partners, inspired to start a company by their complementary skills and great relationship. On one of their weekly brainstorming meetings over take-out, they realized that there wasn't a way to get wine, liquor, and beer delivered that was as easy as everything else in their lives, from cars to food to dry cleaning. Finding that the massive alcohol market had an uncapitalized niche, they pounced on the opportunity, and Minibar Delivery was...

There’s always one year in everyone’s life when nearly every weekend is spent attending a wedding. For Zola co-founders Shan-Lyn Ma and Nobu Nakaguchi, that year was 2013. In addition to celebrating their friends and family, they both found themselves buried deep in outdated, inconvenient, and impersonal wedding registries. Shan felt uninspired, and Nobu was reminded of how cumbersome planning his wedding was a decade earlier.Today we're talking with Shan-Lyn Ma, who together with Nobu Nakaguchi, built Zola, the startup that’s re-inventing the wedding registry online for modern couples. Previously,...

When Micky Onvural took over the position of CMO of digitally native men's clothing brand Bonobos in 2016, she knew she would be honing the company's vision to further elevate the customer experience that they are known for. But she never anticipated she would end up stepping into the role of CEO just two years later, and she couldn't be more excited.With almost 20 years of experience in consumer marketing, spanning categories and continents, Micky Onvural has built a reputation for developing stand-out brand, business and marketing strategies that deliver...

When The Limited launched Eloquii in 2011, it became the go-to fashion brand focusing on plus-size women. But when they closed their doors a year and a half later, it left a lot of customers at a loss for where to find the fashion and fit they had fallen in love with. When a few former employees of Eloquii got together to buy the brand back from The Limited—with Mariah Chase joining the team shortly after—they never could have guessed just how excited customers would be for their return. Mariah...

After leaving her job at IBM in 2008, Leah Busque was excited to launch her new startup TaskRabbit. When the economic crisis followed later that year, Leah didn't know if her new project was going to last. But what she didn't expect was the incredible opportunity this situation gave her.Leah Busque is currently a General Partner at Fuel Capital, an early stage venture fund located in Silicon Valley, and was the founder and CEO of TaskRabbit before it was bought by IKEA in October of 2017. With over 15 years...

Starting your first business is hard, and making it in an already saturated market is even harder. With the deck stacked against you, what can you do to raise your chances of success? Listen in as guest Craig Elbert, CEO of direct-to-consumer vitamin brand Care/Of, explains the strategy that elevated his company above the rest.Care/Of makes personalized vitamin and supplements packs that arrive at your doorstep each month—an idea that stemmed from a frustrating retail experience Elbert had one day while trying to buy prenatal vitamins for his wife. Elbert...