Founder Guidance
Pickleball Dating’s founder on finding a niche and building a community
Jyl Steinback's approach to finding an audience, acting on an idea, and learning from rejection offers lessons for founders building in niche markets.
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Jamila Huxtable
Jamila Huxtable is a reporter for Morning Brew’s Founder Brew, where she covers the people and ideas behind building a business, with a focus on how capital, access, and opportunity shape who gets to become a founder. She reports on funding pathways for early-stage and aspiring entrepreneurs, women-led and underrepresented businesses, and the systems expanding access to entrepreneurship across industries. Prior to joining Founder Brew, she produced and wrote social and short-form economics content for Marketplace and worked in audio journalism at NPR, contributing to shows like Morning Edition and Planet Money.
Starting Your Business
Survey: Founders without access to capital ‘find a way’ around barriers
A Women’s Venture Summit Survey found that 84% of respondents said they used personal savings to fund their companies, with 52% using personal credit cards.
Founder Leadership
Jennifer Hyman on navigating the move from Rent the Runway founder to Babylist CEO
After 18 years building her own company, Jenn Hyman is taking the reins at Babylist from its founder. She explains what it takes to lead a company you didn’t build, earn the trust of an existing team, and adapt your leadership to its next chapter.
Starting Your Business
These investors want to provide ‘inspiration capital’ for Southern founders
Blueprint: Tulsa gives 20 idea-stage Southern founders the environment to “fail fast,” prototype, and sharpen their customer conversion skills over a 12-week program.
Venture Capitalists
A venture capitalist shares the qualities that can make a founder worth investing in
IVP general partner Shravan Narayen on how investors assess founders—from customer obsession and market knowledge to resilience, self-awareness, and the ability to grow with a company.
Founder Leadership
Nicolas Jammet on staying hungry as Sweetgreen scales
After nearly 20 years of building Sweetgreen, co-founder Nicolas Jammet says staying curious, investing in talent, and embracing healthy tension with his co-founders are key to scaling.
Founder Leadership
Pinky Cole Hayes on bankruptcy, starting over, and rebuilding her vegan burger chain
After using Chapter 11 to reorganize Slutty Vegan, Pinky Cole Hayes is rebuilding the company with a different understanding of growth, operations, and leadership.
The Financials
Julia Collins on what too much money can teach you about building a company
After co-founding Zume and raising hundreds of millions of dollars, Julia Collins says founders need to look beyond capital and external validation to understand whether their businesses are actually working.
Founder Life
What founders should know about executive presence and personal style
Wardrobe stylist Asma Parvez says founders often outgrow their clothes before they realize it. Here’s how she helps executives dress for the leader they’ve become without losing their individuality.
Founder Leadership
Nectar’s founders learned AI can’t build a brand for you
After years at Meta, sisters Misbah and Farah Uraizee left to build Nectar Social, an AI platform for brands. Along the way, they’ve learned what AI can—and can’t—do for a brand.