From an early age in South Texas, Kristine was exposed to entrepreneurship by her family. Whether it was her father or grandfather, being a founder was in her DNA.

With a lengthy career in which she started several companies and worked for large enterprises, Kristine decided to take her health experience and turn it into a business. OlderMe.co helps aging people understand the resources better by connecting with specialists who can provide better care than just going to their primary care provider.

About the UpStart Collective: Born out of the pandemic, the UpStart Collective is a group of founders in one place to learn, connect, and commiserate together in a safe space to help collaborate and grow.

Cohosts Mark Grimes and Josh Carter spend an entire episode talking about fundraising for founders, the current climate, and tips on putting them in a position to raise money. The conversation dives into their own experience as well as the feedback they continue to get from founders based on their work in the founder ecosystem. This is an episode you won't want to miss if you are a founder hoping to raise VC money for your business!

About the UpStart Collective: Born out of the pandemic, the UpStart Collective is a group of founders in one place to learn, connect, and commiserate together in a safe space to help collaborate and grow.

Co-founders Jake Estes and Noah Cawlet wanted to find a better way of capturing family stories as a way to archive audio to maintain a connection back to those they cherished throughout their lives. However, most solutions were either not affordable or sustainable. Now focused on the relationship market, they are hoping to capture audio moments that people can cherish forever.

About the UpStart Collective: Born out of the pandemic, the UpStart Collective is a group of founders in one place to learn, connect, and commiserate together in a safe space to help collaborate and grow.

In its seventh year, Portland Sneaker Week hopes to bring the community together in an impactful way and highlight the incredible work being done in the ecosystem by some amazing people in the sneaker industry. Josh and Rose got to speak with co-creators Herbert Beauclere and Megan Davis about their vision for the future, why Portland is the perfect home for this event, and what they've learned over the years.

About the UpStart Collective: Born out of the pandemic, the UpStart Collective is a group of founders in one place to learn, connect, and commiserate together in a safe space to help collaborate and grow.

As a self-described "digital native" Lauren has been part of the online marketing industry for several years. Having started her career as the original social media lead for the PGA Tour, she spent 15+ years optimizing fan engagement in sports, B2B, B2C, healthcare, higher ed, and several more industries. With Fanwagn, she has figured out how to merge fan engagement with an e-commerce platform that helps to ensure team gear, such as jerseys, hats, and more does not end up in landfills.

About the UpStart Collective: Born out of the pandemic, the UpStart Collective is a group of founders in one place to learn, connect, and commiserate together in a safe space to help collaborate and grow.

Born in Columbia, Mariana Ferreira found herself accidentally falling into entrepreneurship during her days in college in which she learned more through failure than success. Today, leading a CPG company focused on healthy eating through a device that consumers can put on their kitchen counter to grow microgreens, Mariana is leaning in on her learnings to give back to the founder community.

About the UpStart Collective: Born out of the pandemic, the UpStart Collective is a group of founders in one place to learn, connect, and commiserate together in a safe space to help collaborate and grow.

When Nick Lawson began his founder journey, he didn't know immediately that it was even starting. Sqwad was born out of necessity and found product market fit very quickly. In nearly a decade, Sqwad has worked with teams from every major US sports league and even some overseas. And while his founder journey ended up finding him, he's learned quite a bit along the way including how to make LinkedIn his superpower and why fundraising was not a priority as Sqwad made their way towards profitability.

About the UpStart Collective: Born out of the pandemic, the UpStart Collective is a group of founders in one place to learn, connect, and commiserate together in a safe space to help collaborate and grow.

When Argent immigrated to America he was already convinced he would find a pathway to being a founder. Today, as the founder of Bobafy, he is very mission-driven ensuring that the community he is so connected to can thrive.

About the UpStart Collective: Born out of the pandemic, the UpStart Collective is a group of founders in one place to learn, connect, and commiserate together in a safe space to help collaborate and grow.