Sapphire Stories Podcast

Josh Shapiro is the founder & CEO of Baseball Lifestyle 101 - an online community for baseball fans of all ages and an online retailer. Josh started Baseball Lifestyle 101 when he was 15 years old, and launched it into a 7 figure business in the years that followed.

Tiffany is an experienced entrepreneur, growth strategist and startup mentor. She has been helping venture-backed startups build, launch and scale consumer products, with roles in product management, marketing and strategy.

In 2015, she co-founded Menagerie to provide modern couples with personalized financial guidance and vendor recommendations. Currently, she is part of the 5G Labs strategy team and responsible for investigating and incubating next-generation products and businesses.

Tiffany continues to advise BrightEyes, the organization she founded to empower student entrepreneurs, and is actively involved as a mentor to startups (and sometimes investor!).

Harlan Milkove is a repeat VC-backed startup founder, and Managing Partner at Foundational where he works with early-stage startups plan and implement their fundraising strategies. His prior venture, Reonomy, has raised $125M+ for its industry-standard commercial real estate data analytics platform. Harlan has also been a founding member of companies in the blockchain, IoT, and on-demand labor verticals. He graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Lisa Chin Mollica has over 20 years of experience in product design and growing startups. She is currently the Founder of KidCash and two platforms that are launching, Vote In Or Out and Pepperizer. She is also currently the Principal Product Design for Arianna Huffington's Wellness Company at Thrive Global. She is a mother of two, is married to a firefighter serving as a Lieutenant in the FDNY and resides in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Aaron Graves is a founder based out of NYC. He taught himself BASIC in grade school, and ran a small business building computers and teaching people about the internet in high school. He went on to work as a developer, founder and CTO. He designed & launched a successful gamified sustainability company called WeSpire, and is now hard at work on his not-yet-launched project.

Steven Galanis is the CEO of Cameo, the world’s leading marketplace for personalized video shoutouts. He launched the company in 2017 with co-founders Martin Blencowe & Devon Townsend with the idea that the selfie was the new autograph. To date the company has sold over half a million Cameos and seen over 25,000 athletes, actors, and influencers join the platform. 

In 2018, Cameo was named one of the "50 Genius Companies on Earth" by Time Magazine. Steven was named Chicago Inno's 2018 B2C Innovator of the Year and Crain's "40 under 40." He is a LinkedIn alum who previously worked as a trader on the floor of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, and founder of two film investment companies where he produced movies featuring stars such as Bruce Willis and Robert De Niro. Outside of work he is an avid Chicago sports fan and serves on the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity Chicago. Steven is a 2010 graduate of Duke University where he majored in History.

Jim DeCicco and his two brothers, Jake and Jordan, were recently named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Food & Drink category for the company they co-founded, Kitu Life. Kitu Life also appeared on Season 9 of Shark Tank as the three brothers pitched their product, SuperCoffee, a healthy, performance-motivated energy drink.

On this episode, hear the following:

-How Jim and his brothers started the company from the college dorm rooms

-The hustle stories that him and his brothers had to do to get the company to run

-Lessons that he learned along his journey

On this episode, we interview the CEO of Bandsintown. We dive deep into how he started the company, entrepreneurship advice, and challenges he had to overcome to get where he is today.

With 50 million monthly users, Bandsintiown has the reach to drive that concert discovery, and “because we enable fans to manually track artists or connect their accounts to their streaming service accounts," says Sargent, "we get a very strong understanding of their preferences.”

"(Bandsintown) enables fans to go to many more shows through alerts when their favorite artists come to town and through recommendations that Bandsintown provides, he continues. "The platform also enables artists to publish their tour dates and display them on their own properties, and therefore sell more tickets, because we also provide a free messaging tool they can use to directly email or send push notifications to their fans, which we call “trackers.”

"We send about 500,000 people to ticketing sites every single day, and 50 percent of our fans go to shows by artists they have never heard of after a Bandsintown recommendation," concludes Sargent.

Full episode recording can be found here ->> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKFqcyOUxuM&t=2022s

Learn from the president of K-Swiss and how they are tackling the shoe space with entrepreneurs!

Armen is a Complex top 30 music photographer

He has taken photos for the biggest name in the music industry such as Drake, Tyga, Wiz, Usher, and many more. You can see his full portfolio on his website -->  http://armenkeleshian.com

His work has landed on Complex, New York Times, Billboard, and many more. 

On our podcast, Armen shares what it took for him to dive into the industry and how he was able to get himself in the right spot at the right time.

This podcast is perfect for anyone looking to learn how to take determination to the next level in pursuit of your dreams.

Follow Armen --> @armenkeleshian

A former truck driver turned Real Estate Expert, Antonio Edwards has flipped and consulted on more than 400 properties.

Antonio remains an extremely active Real Estate Investor who buys, sells, and rents properties. Antonio is also an international speaker, educator and mentor.

Antonio is the CEO and founder of REI Rich and Famous.

On this episode, we interview Antonio and learned how he was able to start his career in the real estate space and build up his reputation.

Nuggets dropped:
1. How college students can venture into this space without capital

2. How you can network your way to gain mentors to help you in the space

To connect with Antonio, follow him --> https://www.instagram.com/antonio_j_edwards/

This podcast was recorded at a Stacking Growth event in LA, California.

Nish Patel is the creator of @nbamemes, a popular Facebook NBA fan page. Today, he leads a top sports network with his company Clutchpoints. His company is backed by Baron Davis and other top investors. 

On this podcast, you can learn how Nish started his Facebook page and eventually leveraged it into a top media network. 

If you'd like to reach out to Nish, here is his Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nish-patel-7041bb45/

To contact me, reach out to me on Instagram @itsthomasma