Founder’s Voyage is a podcast for the ones building in the dark, the ones failing forward, and the ones figuring it out as they go.
We bring you unfiltered conversations with founders who’ve faced the highs, and the lows. Just real lessons from the people in the arena.
Whether you're scaling a startup or sketching your first idea on a napkin, these are the stories that remind you you're not alone—and the insights that help you move forward.
We are an entrepreneurial community united by a shared mission of shared learning and supporting each other.
Founder’s Voyage is a podcast for the ones building in the dark, the ones failing forward, and the ones figuring it out as they go.
We bring you unfiltered conversations with founders who’ve faced the highs, and the lows. Just real lessons from the people in the arena.
Whether you're scaling a startup or sketching your first idea on a napkin, these are the stories that remind you you're not alone—and the insights that help you move forward.
We are an entrepreneurial community united by a shared mission of shared learning and supporting each other.
Our guest today, Fay de Waal, is a dynamic and passionate sustainability innovator, materials scientist, and diversity advocate. With experience with multiple master thesis, a specialist in the recyclability of offshore wind turbines, an analyst at 414, and founder of the Libra Network, Fay exemplifies holistic thinking in both technical and social realms.
Her work bridges sustainable engineering, stakeholder management, and gender equality, while her commitment to entrepreneurial problem-solving is matched by her drive for continuous learning and impact.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Fay's Journey:
🔸 Systems Thinking in Sustainability: Fay demonstrates why solving large challenges like wind turbine recyclability requires a holistic view, accounting for material lifecycles, data limitations, and interdisciplinary collaboration, not just technical fixes.
🔸 The Critical Role of Data: Her experience shows how better data management and transparency, across supply chains and product life cycles, are fundamental for enabling true circularity and informed decision-making in both business and policy.
🔸 Redefining Success: Fay’s journey is a reminder that success isn’t measured solely in output or hours worked, but in finding balance, enjoying the process, and pursuing projects aligned with your values and passions.
🔸 Diversity as a Sustainability Driver: Through founding Libra Network and her advocacy in STEM, Fay underscores that diverse voices and equitable workplaces are not just social goods, but essential ingredients to devising robust, resilient solutions for the future.
You can connect with Fay on LinkedIn to follow her journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Fay.
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Reuben McQueen is the co-founder and CTO of Open Kit, an AI consultancy focused on helping organisations strategise, develop, and integrate cutting-edge AI solutions to reduce costs, minimize errors, and boost efficiency. With a background in computer science and years of entrepreneurial experience, Reuben has navigated the challenges of founding and scaling a tech business, from university projects to winning public sector contracts. He is also passionate about education, supporting student engagement in computer science and entrepreneurship as an enterprise advisor.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Reuben's Journey:
🔸 Embracing Business Model Evolution: Discover how staying flexible and rapidly iterating your business model, such as shifting from fixed-cost to consultancy-first approaches, can be critical for survival and growth in a changing market.
🔸 Building Resilience through Sales Pipelines: Learn why prioritizing early investment in outbound sales and consistent lead generation can protect your company from the feast-or-famine cycles that challenge many startups.
🔸 Navigating Technical and Ethical Hurdles in AI: Understand the complexities of building AI SaaS, from API cost challenges to the importance of data sovereignty and ethical considerations when deploying AI models for clients.
🔸 The Value of Complementary Co-Founder Dynamics: See how balancing differences in personality and work style within your founding team can be a decisive advantage, fostering better decision-making and sustainable growth.
You can connect with Reuben on LinkedIn to follow his journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Reuben.
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Mark is an accomplished engineer, entrepreneur, and fintech leader originally from Ghana and now based in South Africa. With a background in electronic engineering and experience spanning food production, investment banking, and technology, Mark currently leads the fintech advisory at Absa Group in South Africa, spearheading efforts to bridge gaps between banks and startups across Africa. He's the co-founder of Honeybee Chilli Sauce and has a rich history of building businesses, overcoming funding challenges, and mentoring others. Mark’s unique path blends technical expertise, entrepreneurial grit, and a passion for enabling innovation across sectors.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Mark's Journey:
🔸 The Value of Perseverance: Success in entrepreneurship takes time. Mark’s experiences highlight the necessity of persisting through setbacks, “dark patches,” and slow progress to build lasting, meaningful ventures.
🔸 Building Trust Before Growth: Creating new products, especially in unfamiliar markets, requires gaining customers’ trust, which is a gradual process that can’t be rushed, but pays off with loyal, returning customers.
🔸 Leveraging Diverse Experiences: Mark demonstrates how skills and lessons from one industry, engineering, food, or finance, can be transferred and applied to new challenges, fueling adaptability and innovation.
🔸 Action Over Aspiration: Ambition needs to be paired with practical steps. Mark emphasizes that translating ideas into consistent, tangible action is what separates dreamers from doers in the entrepreneurial world.
You can connect with Mark on LinkedIn to follow his journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Mark.
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In this episode of Founders Voyage, we welcomed Natalia Suniga, an accomplished PhD Sociologist and Foundress of Strategy Of Things where she develops 360 strategies connecting brands, communications, culture and business.
Natalia lead the TikTok Creative Operation for more +10 markets in LATAM, worked for UN and spoke at SXSW 2022. With a PhD in Social Sciences, years of impactful research, and experience guiding global brands at communications agencies, she has developed a keen understanding of how brands must evolve to connect with new generations.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Natalia's Journey:
🔸 Embracing Interdisciplinary Paths: Natalia’s career shows how combining academic insight with practical industry roles can unlock new forms of innovation and leadership, empowering entrepreneurs to draw from diverse backgrounds.
🔸 Social Change as Strategic Value: Learn how embedding diversity, gender perspective, and social causes into your business strategy can create authentic connections with audiences and drive long-term brand relevance.
🔸 Adapting to New Generational Mindsets: Natalia explains the importance of understanding and engaging Gen Z not simply as consumers, but as creators and participants in social movements, challenging traditional marketing approaches.
🔸 Courage to Pivot: Her story highlights the value of moving beyond fear and making bold pivots, even when unconventional, to align your work with evolving passions, skills, and emerging markets.
You can connect with Natalia on LinkedIn to follow her journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Natalia.
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Simon is the CEO and founding partner of XY Ventures, a seasoned VC investor, and a venture advisor to leading accelerator programs such as 500 Startups, Techstars, and Founder Institute. With a background in energy engineering and deep experience in entrepreneurship, Simon has mentored and invested in companies across the globe, with a particular focus on deep tech and energy innovation. He has successfully founded and sold startups, contributed to the growth of innovation ecosystems in Sweden and internationally, and is recognized for his pragmatic and people-focused approach to venture building and investment.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Simon's Journey:
🔸 The Power of Starting from Nothing: Simon shares how the thrill of building from the ground up and embracing the role of a beginner fuels his entrepreneurial spirit, encouraging founders to experiment fearlessly and learn by doing.
🔸 Building Resilient, Cohesive Teams: Discover why Simon prioritizes founding teams with deep relationships and a proven track record of working together, and how grit and shared vision are key determinants of startup success.
🔸 Navigating the Startup “Great Filter”: Learn how Simon identifies founders willing to pivot quickly in response to feedback and market demands, and why persistence past the critical three- to four-year mark separates thriving startups from those that falter.
🔸 Structuring a Sustainable & Enjoyable Career: Simon discusses practical strategies for time management, outsourcing, focusing on work that energizes you, and designing your career around passion and impact, not just financial gain.
You can connect with Simon on LinkedIn to follow his journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Simon.
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Damian Connolly is the founder and Managing Director of Sakura Business Solutions, an accountancy practice specializing in outsourced finance team services and strategic business advisory. With a rich background spanning private equity, SME advisory, and hands-on experience in business exits, Damian has dedicated his career to helping entrepreneurs build profitable, resilient, and exit-ready companies. His approach uniquely blends deep financial expertise with practical, actionable guidance, shaped by international experience from Ireland to the UK and beyond.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Damian's Journey:
🔸 Building an Exit-Ready Business: Understand why preparing your business for exit should start years in advance and how it creates valuable options, not just for selling, but for scaling and succession.
🔸 The Power of Strong Financial Foundations: Discover why a proactive, embedded accountant is the backbone of every thriving company, and what most SMEs miss by neglecting this critical function.
🔸 Leadership Through Delegation & Documentation: Learn how systematizing processes and empowering teams allows founders to work on, not just in, their business, paving the way for growth and eventual exit.
🔸 Embracing Version One Over Perfection: Why overcoming the fear of releasing imperfect work and focusing on tangible action accelerates learning, opportunity, and business development.
You can connect with Damian on LinkedIn to follow his journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Damien.
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Dr Nithya Koratagere is a doctor, healthcare innovator, passionate sustainability advocate, and co-founder of Care on Call, a pioneering home and corporate healthcare company based in India. With a background in medicine and years of leadership experience, Nithya navigated her company through the COVID-19 crisis, tripling capacity to deliver home-based services during lockdowns, and driving the business to financial sustainability. She is celebrated for her ethical approach to healthcare, focus on team well-being, and commitment to bridging care gaps in India's dynamic medical landscape. Nithya has also successfully raised funding from leading angel investors and remains dedicated to shaping the future of accessible, quality healthcare in India.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Nithya's Journey:
🔸 Resilience in Entrepreneurship: Nithya’s story highlights the power of resilience, making bold decisions during uncertain times, including expanding in the face of a 35% decline in demand and learning from failures to build long-term success.
🔸 Ethical Leadership & Patient Focus: She shares how maintaining ethical medical practices and prioritizing patient care, even when pressured to increase profits, is key to building trust and long-term sustainability in healthcare ventures.
🔸 Work-Life Balance and Co-Founding Dynamics: Dr Nithya offers valuable insights for entrepreneurs co-founding with a life partner, emphasizing clear boundaries, understanding complementary strengths, and embracing self-care to avoid burnout.
🔸 Strategic Growth and Fundraising: Learn how Dr Nithya strategically approached fundraising, choosing the right timing, balancing debt with equity, and leveraging strong stakeholder relationships to attract mission-aligned investors.
You can connect with Nithya on LinkedIn to follow her journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
Alice is a trailblazing social entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Wabbani, and president of the Rupununi Learners Foundation. Her work bridges nonprofit and social enterprise by partnering with indigenous communities in Guyana, most notably through Cayman House, a community-owned enterprise that is now the largest employer and consumer of local goods and services in its region. Alice’s achievements include building lasting platforms for artisan makers, revitalizing traditional crafts as sustainable livelihoods, and pioneering scalable solutions for rural economic empowerment. With a background in social work and deep practical expertise in community-led development, Alice has the philosophy of working herself out of a job, by building self-sustaining projects that flourish independent of her leadership.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Alice's Journey:
🔸 Turning Scarcity into Opportunity: Discover how Alice saw opportunity during the COVID-19 crisis by reinvesting downtime into infrastructure and creative expansion, highlighting the importance of adaptability in entrepreneurship.
🔸 Learning to Notice, The Artist's Eye for Entrepreneurs: Learn Alice’s unique method of channeling her artistic sensibilities to identify unmet needs, find market niches, and fuel innovation rooted in close observation.
🔸 Building Social Enterprises for True Sustainability: Uncover how Alice designed organizations to empower communities—transferring leadership, fostering local ownership, and measuring success by eventual independence.
🔸 Scaling Impact Beyond the Local: See Alice’s visionary thinking in action as she develops global solutions for remote artisans, sharing insights on creating reproducible platforms while honoring local authenticity.
You can connect with Alice on LinkedIn to follow her journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Alice.
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Sameer is an accomplished entrepreneur and founder with a rich cross-continental journey from India to the United States. With a background in mechanical engineering and operations research, Sameer transitioned from a tech and engineering career to founding his own quantitative finance recruiting firm in 2008, navigating the depths of the financial crisis as a first-time business owner. Over the past 14+ years, he has built a respected firm serving leading hedge funds and fintech clients, earning a reputation for combining strategic independence, relationship building, and deep integrity with a long-term perspective. Sameer is also passionate about mindfulness, meditation, and personal growth, sharing valuable insights on success, risk-taking, and the entrepreneurial mindset.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Sameer's Journey:
🔸 Embracing Risk for Growth: Sameer's shift from a risk-averse upbringing to embracing entrepreneurial risk shows that personal and professional growth often comes when you step out of your comfort zone and face your fears.
🔸 The Importance of Introspection: Meditation and self-reflection played a pivotal role in Sameer's decision to start a business, highlighting the value of inner clarity and self-awareness in making major life pivots.
🔸 From Expertise to Adaptability: Transitioning from technical roles to entrepreneurship required Sameer to leverage soft skills, humility, and a willingness to ask for help, proving that adaptability and openness can be more valuable than certainty or prior expertise.
🔸 Redefining Success through Mindset: Sameer discusses how measuring success internally, by one's state of mind and relationships, rather than just external achievements, leads to both fulfillment and better business outcomes.
You can connect with Sameer on LinkedIn to follow his journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Sameer.
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Felix is a seasoned medical innovator, entrepreneur, and mentor with over 30 years of experience spanning investment banking, healthcare, and technology. As a two-time founder with one exit, Felix has trained at Stanford in medical bio-design and further broadened his expertise at MIT and Harvard’s Medical Innovation Program. He leads healthcare investments as a venture partner at Headline Asia, overseeing a $4 billion+ portfolio, and advises global medical institutions including UCSF and Taipei Medical University Hospital.
Felix is at the forefront of digital health transformation, championing the digitization of medical records to empower patients and improve care on a global scale.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Felix's Journey:
🔸 The Realities of Healthtech Innovation: Discover why healthtech startups face unique hurdles—from regulatory tangles to entrenched industry giants—and why grit and perseverance are essential in this sector.
🔸 Patient Empowerment through Data: Learn how empowering users to control and understand their medical data not only improves outcomes but can also prevent costly and harmful errors like adverse drug effects.
🔸 The Power of Clinical Collaboration: Felix stresses the critical importance of integrating clinicians into every phase of product development—a lesson that dramatically increases credibility and user adoption in health-related ventures.
🔸 Storytelling to Drive Change: Personal stories, both from Felix and community members, can humanize complex healthcare issues and become a powerful tool for adoption, awareness, and entrepreneurship.
You can connect with Felix on LinkedIn to follow his journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Felix.
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Giovanni is an accomplished supply chain management professional with a passion for lifelong learning and social impact. Having twice served as a CTA for the MIT Supply Chains Analytics course, Giovanni continues to expand his expertise across statistics, economics, and logistics. Outside his core career, he actively volunteers with Informatics Without Borders, leading projects to bridge the digital divide by providing refurbished laptops to communities in Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, and beyond. Giovanni exemplifies dedication to professional growth, sustainability, and community empowerment.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Giovanni's Journey:
🔸 Embracing Lifelong Learning: Giovanni’s commitment to continuous education, even beyond formal academics, demonstrates how ongoing learning in new domains and languages can accelerate both personal and career progress.
🔸 Turning Adversity into Motivation: Drawing inspiration from family sacrifices and overcoming setbacks, Giovanni shows how to use challenging experiences as fuel for sustained growth and resilience.
🔸 Making Impact through Social Entrepreneurship: Giovanni’s volunteer work in closing the digital divide illustrates how professionals can leverage their skills and networks to create social value, even outside of traditional entrepreneurship.
🔸 Sustainability as a Guiding Principle: By integrating sustainable thinking into both his supply chain work and charitable initiatives, Giovanni highlights the importance of finding actionable ways to promote sustainability in business and community.
You can connect with Giovanni on LinkedIn to follow his journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Giovanni.
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This episode features a deep-dive discussion into Porter's Five Forces framework, an essential analytical tool for understanding industry competition and strategic positioning. Rather than a traditional guest interview, our hosts and team explore how Michael E. Porter's model helps businesses of any stage assess market attractiveness, identify opportunities, and anticipate threats. Along the way, they highlight the framework’s strengths, limitations, and practical applications, and bring in plenty of lively real-world examples from tech, food, and service industries.
💡 What You’ll Learn from the Founders Voyage Team’s Journey:
🔸 Understanding Industry Forces: Gain clarity on how the five forces, competitive rivalry, threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of customers, and threat of substitutes, shape business strategies and impact profitability.
🔸 Evaluating Frameworks in Context: Learn why Porter's Five Forces is most effective when paired with other strategic tools (like SWOT or TAM analysis) and get tips on when and how to use it for startup or expansion decisions.
🔸 Adapting to Fast-Moving Markets: Discover the model’s strengths and shortcomings in rapidly evolving or highly innovative industries and how to account for factors like intellectual property, regulations, and consumer trends.
🔸 Identifying Competitive Edges and Gaps: Get actionable insights on how this framework uncovers hidden competitive threats (like substitutes) and helps entrepreneurs think more broadly about differentiation and market barriers.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify the voices of more entrepreneurs.
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Wycliffe is a Kenyan social entrepreneur, educator, and community leader dedicated to empowering young people and combating educational inequality, youth unemployment, and Africa's brain drain. As founder of Kosi Africa and Kosi Tech Initiatives, Wycliffe has mentored tens of thousands of youth, launched innovative sustainability projects in rural schools, and is pioneering grassroots-led innovation hubs to nurture the next generation of African leaders. He’s recognized for his Pan-African vision, hands-on community work, and commitment to sustainable impact through co-creation with local communities.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Wycliffe's Journey:
🔸 Work With, Not For, the Community: Wycliffe stresses the power of genuinely collaborating with local communities, co-creating solutions, and leveraging local resources over top-down aid, leading to greater ownership and sustainable impact.
🔸 Mindset Shift as the Game-Changer: Breaking cycles of instant gratification and helping youth develop entrepreneurial thinking, anchored in mentorship and culture change, is critical to unlocking potential in challenging environments.
🔸 Building Resilient, Sustainable Initiatives: By focusing on revenue-generating and resource-sharing models, like environmental projects and in-kind partnerships, Wycliffe’s approach reduces dependency on fickle donors and ensures long-term operational viability.
🔸 The “Soft Ask” Approach: Instead of leading with monetary requests, cultivating authentic relationships, inviting partners to experience the mission firsthand, and collaborating on in-kind solutions opens lasting doors for funding and support.
You can connect with Wycliffe on LinkedIn to follow his journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Wycliffe.
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Frank is a results-driven scientist with over ten years of experience in the biotechnology sector, specializing in mRNA therapeutics, process development, and analytical development. He has played a pivotal role in pioneering applications of mRNA, from vaccines to gene therapies, and has contributed to the acceleration and democratization of biologics manufacturing, making them more accessible and responsive to patient needs.
Frank’s multidisciplinary journey, from rural China to leading roles in global biotech, speaks to his resilience, cross-cultural insight, and dedication to building scalable systems that deliver both scientific rigor and human impact.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Frank's Journey:
🔸 Turning Setbacks into Systems: Learn how mistakes can be powerful drivers for process improvement and team growth when approached with a blameless, iterative mindset.
🔸 Bridging Cultures for Innovation: Discover how embracing diverse educational systems and communication styles can turn initial challenges into lasting advantages and leadership strengths.
🔸 Scaling Knowledge and Tools: See how codifying tacit, "tribal" expertise into clear playbooks and quick video guides can dramatically speed up onboarding and maintain scientific excellence as teams grow.
🔸 Progress over Perfection: Hear actionable advice on balancing deep work, family priorities, and professional development by focusing on consistent incremental improvement rather than waiting for ideal circumstances.
You can connect with Frank on LinkedIn to follow his journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Frank.
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In this episode we discuss the comparison between formal education, such as university, and experience on the job. The benefits of both are undeniable, however, it's important to see how these two paths are different and provide different strengths.
💡 Topics In this Discussion:
🔸 The relevancy of education and experience in entrepreneurship. Learning that founding a company is larger and more complex than anticipated is a common theme amongst entrepreneurs we have spoken with. Whilst the origin of this community is the MIT Bootcamps in Venture Leadership.
🔸 The Power of Failing: A moment of failure will almost always provide more learning than studying for founding a company, however the cost is often more severe as well.
🔸Education in Different Industries: Some areas of expertise requires the rigours of a formal education more than others. Spencer discusses the perceived need for formal education engineering, which may be starting to shift with apprenticeships starting to appear.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon.
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Mónica (Money) Albarrán is an accomplished investor, mentor, and founder of Muuk, a business and personal development platform dedicated to helping entrepreneurs build purpose-driven, profitable businesses. With over a decade of experience in tax and strategic planning before pivoting to entrepreneurship, Money has developed a unique framework focused on aligning meaning with functionality in business. She has guided countless founders through personal and professional transformations, combining practical business acumen with deep self-awareness and a passion for human development.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Money's Journey:
🔸 The Four Quadrants of Entrepreneurial Fulfillment: Discover Money’s practical framework for understanding where you are in your entrepreneurial journey, Chaos, Daydream, Void, or Power, and learn how to move towards a place of balance between meaning and functionality.
🔸 The Power of Continuous Pivoting and Self-Acceptance: Learn why entrepreneurship is a process of ongoing adaptation and realignment, and how embracing change, self-reflection, and self-acceptance are crucial for sustainable growth.
🔸 Building Success from an Abundance Mindset: Understand how cultivating a high-frequency, abundance-based mindset shapes the outcomes in your business and personal life, and how to practically sustain this empowering mental state.
🔸 Designing a Business Aligned with Your Authentic Talents: Gain insight into how Money helps founders double down on their unique strengths, rather than imitate others, so they can attract the right collaborators, clients, and create meaningful impact.
You can connect with Mónica (Money) Albarrán on LinkedIn to follow her journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Marnie.
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Carlos is a passionate educator and mental health advocate from Venezuela, recognized for his commitment to personal and community well-being, as well as a member of the Founder's Voyage team. With experience as a university professor and mentor, Carlos has dedicated himself to fostering supportive environments where individuals can thrive, both personally and professionally. His openness about his own mental health journey, navigating anxiety, harnessing the therapeutic power of routines like gardening, and encouraging vulnerability among peers, has inspired many in his academic and entrepreneurial circles. Carlos blends empathy, resilience, and practical strategies to drive growth, making him a valuable resource for entrepreneurs seeking balance and fulfillment.
💡 What You’ll Learn from this discussion:
🔸 Embracing Vulnerability: Carlos shares how acknowledging and discussing mental health challenges, especially in societies where emotional expression is taboo, can open doors to healing and authentic leadership.
🔸 The Value of Support Networks: Carlos further highlights the importance of seeking out "vitamin people", positive relationships and communities that provide encouragement, perspective, and energy through both the highs and lows of the entrepreneurial journey.
🔸 Finding Personal Coping Tools: From psychotherapy to journaling and gardening, Nancy and Carlos demonstrate that experimenting with different well-being practices is crucial, and that what works for one person may not work for another.
🔸 Changing Self-Talk & Building Resilience: We emphasize the transformative effect of self-compassion and gentle self-talk, noting how reframing internal dialogue and allowing space for mistakes fosters productivity, emotional growth, and long-term success.
You can connect with Carlos on LinkedIn to follow his journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Carlos.
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Our own Spencer is a passionate space nerd, robotics engineer, and technology enthusiast, so in this episode we are trying something different, taking a look at the emerging opportunities in the space economy. Spencer brings together deep technical expertise and a vision for democratizing access to new frontiers. We examine both the technical realities and ethical considerations of expanding human activity beyond Earth.
💡 What we cover in this discussion:
🔸 The Emerging Space Economy: Understand how rapidly declining costs to orbit are creating new entrepreneurial opportunities—from data services to advanced manufacturing—in the burgeoning space sector.
🔸 Practical Applications of Space Tech: Discover real-world examples of how space-based data and technologies are already impacting industries like agriculture, insurance, and communications, with tangible lessons for leveraging innovation on Earth.
🔸 Ethics & Regulation in New Industries: Learn why regulations are "written in blood," and how anticipating ethical risks and advocating for responsible governance can prevent harm and foster lasting value in pioneering industries.
🔸 Optimism & Collaboration for the Future: Gain a perspective on how abundance mindsets, cross-national collaboration, and genuine optimism can transform zero-sum thinking into positive-sum outcomes, enabling equitable participation in humanity’s next giant leap.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Spencer.
#FoundersVoyage #Entrepreneurship #Podcast
Chun Li is an innovative education entrepreneur and computer scientist based in New Zealand, currently working at the University of Auckland. With over a decade of experience in tertiary education, Chun has a passion for leveraging technology and data to address equity issues and improve student engagement and outcomes. As the founder of Translearn, his startup focuses on transforming learning and teaching by making education platforms more responsive and analytics-driven. A MIT Innovation Leadership Bootcamp alumni, Chun combines technical expertise with a deep understanding of the pedagogical and structural challenges facing modern education.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Chun’s Journey:
🔸 The Power of Problem Focus: Chun emphasizes the importance of always returning to the core problem you’re solving and the value you want to bring to the community, especially as distractions and feedback multiply.
🔸 Openness and Continuous Learning: Embracing a mindset of openness is key, Chun’s journey highlights that every interaction and mentorship offers new insights and opportunities for personal and professional growth.
🔸 Navigating Entrepreneurial Challenges: From the chicken-and-egg dilemma of securing funding to the barriers of scaling solutions in unique education systems, Chun shares how persistence and creative thinking help overcome systemic challenges.
🔸 Leveraging Data for Impact: Chun’s work demonstrates how data analytics and technology can transform education by giving teachers real-time feedback and actionable insights, ultimately fostering better student success and reducing teacher workload.
You can connect with Chun on LinkedIn to follow his journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Chun.
#FoundersVoyage #Entrepreneurship #Podcast
Jerry Vance Anguzu is the founder and CEO of Everpesa Technologies, a fintech startup revolutionizing access to credit and investment opportunities for small businesses in Africa. Jerry is building a peer-to-peer lending platform that empowers underserved entrepreneurs to access affordable financing, while providing investors with attractive, socially impactful opportunities, and he wanted to present this new product from his business to us. His background combines hands-on field research, product development, and a passion for democratizing digital financial services. Under Jerry’s leadership, Everpesa Technologies has already begun transforming how small businesses in Uganda secure working capital and how ordinary investors can power economic growth.
💡 What You’ll Learn from Jerry's Journey:
🔸 Solving Real Problems: Building products starts with deeply understanding the actual issues on the ground—Jerry’s approach demonstrates the value of field research and creating solutions that directly address unmet needs.
🔸 Balancing Innovation with Risk Management: Learn how to build scalable fintech while mitigating default, fraud, and cybersecurity risks, starting manually before introducing automation and algorithms.
🔸 Market Entry and User Adoption: Jerry shares how to introduce new digital tools to traditionally underserved users, leveraging behavioral insight, digital trends, and financial literacy education.
🔸 Scaling Impact with Strategic Investment: Discover lessons on balancing self-funding and outside capital, communicating transparently with investors, and structuring for both immediate operational needs and long-term regulatory compliance.
You can connect with Jerry on LinkedIn to follow his journey.
🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at vidops.io for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.
👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.
🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on Patreon and help amplify more voices like Jerry.
#FoundersVoyage #Entrepreneurship #Podcast