Republic has reached yet another major milestone in a year that has proven to truly be “one for the books.” Profit to the People, the official podcast of Republic, just wrapped up Season One with their tenth episode, aired July 7th.
The podcast, hosted by Lisa Carmen Wang, takes listeners behind the scenes to meet the teams, founders, and investors in our community. Here, they share their valuable insights into what it takes to build a successful startup, and how they—along with Republic—are bringing profit back to the people.
Let’s take a look back at some of the highlights from the first season.
Use promo code “PROFIT” to get a $15 credit on your first $250 investment
What did we learn about our founders?
As you probably already know, becoming a successful entrepreneur isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes passion, grit, endless determination, and… money! When our founders were asked what “bringing profit to the people” means to them, their answers were beyond insightful.
Here are some of their responses.
For some, it’s personal
“My daughter's 11, and she wants to be an entrepreneur. I already know the challenges that are already set before her to become a female entrepreneur. So, I think by giving the power and profit back to the people, eventually somebody will potentially see my daughter and say, 'Well, you know what, I can help this person.”
Pierre Laguerre, Founder and CEO of Fleeting
For others, it’s about helping the less fortunate
"We're going to live in a world in which the masses are going to be participating in this level of finance on a daily basis, and right there inside their favorite apps. Important services, like Republic and PROPS have built products to really simplify, enable, and facilitate this financial participation."
Adi Sideman, Co-Founder and CEO of Props Project
“By having a very impact-driven business and paying our talents and our resources forward to underprivileged girls that don’t have any even access to education to allow them to learn confidence and learn a vocation where they can go out there and hopefully not only break the cycle of poverty but become the next generation of confident beauty entrepreneurs.”
Shalini Vadhera, Founder and CEO of Ready Set Jet
You don’t need to have prior entrepreneurial experience
Our founders come from all types of backgrounds, and many of them had no prior experience as an entrepreneur. Yet still, somehow, they found a way to succeed.
Emily Griffiths was working in digital marketing before she decided to follow her dreams and start her sustainable food brand, Lil Bucks. In her podcast interview, she stated that she started her company at the age of 25, “with no startup experience or clue of how anything worked.”
The same went for Pierre Laguerre from Fleeting. He spent seventeen years as a truck driver before starting his own trucking logistics company.
And Carli Blum, who worked as a wardrobe stylist for print ads before starting her vegan ice cream company, Sunscoop.
All three shared a common denominator: pure determination.
Republic creates communities, connecting founders with their investors
Republic connects investors and founders on a personal level. Through transparency and clear lines of communication, both parties benefit in a myriad of ways.
Chris Boyd of Drink Monday likes the ability to communicate with his investors.
“It’s really fair and transparent access to information, and you have full access to me as a founder… I answer everything, and I try to do it as quickly and thoroughly as possible, it’s a very honest approach.”
Alex Wang of Ember Fund believes Republic’s platform is a great way to build a business.
“I would argue that it's easier than ever to build a company, because you have platforms like Republic, where you can get your community on board to find you.”
Justin Bailey of Fig believes in the power of the crowd to raise outside the lines.
“Crowdfunding and this idea of doing project financing allows many different creators to show their vision and do something that potentially doesn't fit with the current funding framework that exists.”
Founders can merge passion and profit through Republic and give back to their communities
Another theme among our founders was the desire to make the world a better place. It’s no secret that Republic places a huge emphasis on finding companies that fit our culture and mission.
Sunscoop founder Carli Bloom sources all of her vegan ice cream ingredients from sustainably grown crops in Indonesia. Here, her company helps create jobs, and also supports small superfood businesses throughout the world.
Jim Chu of Untapped is creating financial tools and resources to seize and support opportunities in emerging markets, developing countries, and the Global South, to empower the next billion entrepreneurs to scale to their full potential.
Alex Wang of Ember Fund wants to make crypto available to everyone, because it “levels the playing field, and allows average people to get actively involved in their financial future.”
Crowdfunding could lead to bigger things
Sometimes, crowdfunding campaigns can be a springboard to additional funding. Two of the founders interviewed closed up rounds after their successful campaigns on Republic.
Fleeting raised capital from NBA All Star Kyrie Irving and Lockstep Ventures
Ember Fund raised at a 10X valuation from BAM.VC, Anthos Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures and Calm Ventures
With the first season in the books, Profit to the People will be returning for Season Two with an exciting lineup of dynamic thought leaders — starting with Hot Crypto Takes with Republic Crypto Directors Bryan Myint and Graham Friedman — that are working to change the status quo in their respective fields. You don’t want to miss it!
And, of course, Republic will continue to shape the definitions of “investor” and “entrepreneur” in our commitment to eliminate economic, social, and geographical barriers that have historically existed in the financial landscape.
In the words of our fearless leader, Ken Nguyen:
“There's a lot of challenges and potential ahead, but we’re focusing on how to make sure that Republic is here, regardless of economic volatility, regardless of how well the global public market is doing, and that we are able to survive and ride it through and capture as many opportunities as possible to provide value back to our investor community. But at the same time, also to broaden the investors community by reaching more people as well.”
Use promo code “PROFIT” to get a $15 credit on your first $250 investmen