Allie Burns
41m
·
New Thinking: Leaders
·
Allie Burns is CEO of Village Capital. Founded in 2009, the venture capital firm seeks to fight imbalances in funding startups. It supports entrepreneurs cutting through markets such as healthcare, education, and climate change, and has worked directly with more than 1,100 entrepreneurs in 28 countries. In this in-depth conversation, Allie shares her storied journey to becoming the company’s CEO, which started not in business but in journalism, when she was striving for a career as a sports reporter; discusses how the firm’s affiliated fund, VilCap Investments, has invested in 110 startups that have gone on to raise more than $4 billion in follow-on capital; and delves into the firm’s so-called “2030 goals”, which include the ambitious target of “activating and influencing” $50 billion of capital while “supporting 50,000 entrepreneurs who are building solutions in line with sustainable development”.
The episode Allie Burns from the podcast New Thinking: Leaders has a duration of
41:21. It was first published
More episodes from New Thinking: Leaders
David Abrahamovitch
David Abrahamovitch is the founder & CEO of Grind – the leading sustainable coffee company founded in Shoreditch, which has expanded to ten central London locations since 2011 – and now also has a partnership with Soho House, Los Angeles.
He shares the reality of starting his own business at 25 and discusses the biggest challenges he faced setting up a brand that needed to compete with the market leaders. With a clear vision of what it should look like, David describes the business’ growth over the past ten years, highlighting the changes they have gone through, like targeted audience or positioning, as well as the exciting parts of being an entrepreneur.
As a premium brand among already popular chains, David praises Grind for “having the right ethos” of being sustainable, sourcing the grains ethically or using home compostable pods, and explains these practices are a requirement at a time of climate crisis.
Jane Velez-Mitchell
Jane Velez-Mitchell is the founder and content editor of UnChainedTV – a free streaming tv network covering vegan lifestyle, animal rights, plant-based cooking, health, and climate change.
Jane talks about how veganism is rooted in her childhood and touches upon the harm caused by Western governments supporting the meat and dairy industries nowadays. By criticizing mainstream media for propagating unsustainable lifestyles and deliberately making people sick, Jane presents her station’s program, which highlights the benefits of an animal cruelty-free life. However, she mentions the challenges of being a non-commercial provider – recalling how creating their own streaming app, where they could offer the content for free, helped with dropping audiences on other streaming platforms. In response to the all-embracing brainwashing through commercials, Jane comments on how these are causing people to become addicted to meat – a major reason for the current global environmental crisis – the industrialisation of animals.
Allie Burns
Allie Burns is CEO of Village Capital. Founded in 2009, the venture capital firm seeks to fight imbalances in funding startups. It supports entrepreneurs cutting through markets such as healthcare, education, and climate change, and has worked directly with more than 1,100 entrepreneurs in 28 countries. In this in-depth conversation, Allie shares her storied journey to becoming the company’s CEO, which started not in business but in journalism, when she was striving for a career as a sports reporter; discusses how the firm’s affiliated fund, VilCap Investments, has invested in 110 startups that have gone on to raise more than $4 billion in follow-on capital; and delves into the firm’s so-called “2030 goals”, which include the ambitious target of “activating and influencing” $50 billion of capital while “supporting 50,000 entrepreneurs who are building solutions in line with sustainable development”.
Alan Greenberg
Alan Greenberg is Chairman of the Advisory Board of Unlearn/Relearn – a company that redefines the transition from education to work. They organise events to introduce employers to potential employees and educational institutions. With an innovative approach using VR technology and improving critical thinking, they aim to re-image current reality and bring governments, institutions and corporations together. In this in-depth conversation, Alan explains why the cosmopolitan environment of the Middle East is a perfect location for his business due to the existing need to stabilise the transition from education to employment, tackling challenges such as mindset or mental health; shares his view on the positives of Web 3.0 based on decentralisation, blockchain technology and digital identity, which is revolutionary for education or Health Tech systems, as well as provides privacy and security; and describes the concept of “Education Radio”, an individual channel dedicated only to education, which facilitates challenges of individual learning.
Markus Pflitsch
Markus Pflitsch is a co-founder and CEO of Terra Quantum AG - a Zurich-based deep tech company founded in 2019 that develops revolutionary quantum applications to shape the technology of the future. The company raised $75 million in Series A funding (including an extension), which marked one of the largest funding rounds achieved in the quantum tech space. Markus has expertise in scientific and financial sectors, making him an experienced CERN Quantum Physicist, senior financial executive, and deep tech entrepreneur. In this in-depth conversation, Markus delves into how quantum physics gave rise to quantum computing and quantum machines; shares his opinion on building a successful company, especially when it comes to the relation with investors and clients; and describes the level of competition within a growing ecosystem of startups.