"Transforming Visions into Reality: The Power of Strategic Planning in Today's Startup Landscape"

Bruna Valente was a corporate marketer working in industrial manufacturing when a health scare sent her on a personal wellness journey, which led her to the rainforests of her native Brazil. There, she discovered natural botanicals that inspired her to create her own skincare products—face oils and lotion bars. She quickly realized they were good enough to sell. Minnesota-made Terrain Brazilian Botanicals is a small, but growing beauty brand now sold in luxury spas, hotels, boutiques, and online. Valente faces many decisions ahead: Does she set her sights on Sephora? How does she grow the audience, and the team? Does she raise money for the brand, which has been bootstrapped thus far? 

When beauty founders are mulling such questions, the person who is often on their wish list to meet is Sue Remes, a beauty consultant who worked with many of the biggest brands around the globe in her 30-plus year career, including Kiehl’s and Kevin Murphy. (You can hear her career story on Episode 22 of By All Means.)

Remes shares the questions she asks of every founder before engaging in mentorship, perspective on how an indie brand can compete in a crowded field of multinationals, and how to succeed at retirement. 

In Office Hours with College of Saint Benedict and Saint Johns University, accounting and finance professor Boz Bostrom offers advice for early stage founders on creating a business plan, and not letting passion cloud the math on potential for profitability.

142. Building a Beauty Brand: Sue Remes + Terrain Brazilian Botanicals

Huck Sorock was a hockey player who worked as a referee during high school to make some money. But it didn’t take long for the entrepreneurial juices to get get going when he saw the inefficiencies of the system hockey leagues used to assign referees to games—no way to swap games online; a lot of the organizing done on paper—and this was just a few years ago, Sorock is only 24.

His experience led to the idea for  insight led to Refr Sports, a management tool used by leagues around the country for assigning officials, payments, invoicing, team websites and more. Refr raised a $535,000 pre-seed round in 2024, led by Groove Capital. Sorock and his co-founder Wyatt Gustafson also participated in a Techstars accelerator sponsored by the Minnesota Twins; they also won the student division of the MN Cup statewide startup competition in 2022.

Like many entrepreneurs in the sports tech space, Sorock and Gustafson held up SportsEngine as their inspiration. Also started by college athletes turned founders back in 2008, SportsEngine grew into a major player for youth sports with 35 million monthly subscribers and eventually sold to NBC Sports. (You can hear the sports engine story with Justin Kaufenberg on episode 75 of By All Means.)

A serial entrepreneur, Kipfer latest startup is Monoline, a personal umbrella quoting platform for insurance professionals that he launched with co-founders in 2022. He's also a mentor and investor in Refr sports and shares the advice he imparts to other first-time founders. 

In Office Hours, we talk about the similar mindset of athletes and entrepreneurs with Kelly Anderson Diercks, director of athletics for College of Saint Benedict.

146. Designing a Sports Management Platform: Carson Kipfer + Huck Sorock

What goes better together than cereal and milk? Christina Dorr Drake is the co-founder and CEO of Willa’s Oat Milk, a brand that is carving out space of its own in the increasingly crowded plant based milk case at select Target locations and grocery stores. Hannah Barnstable is the founder and CEO of Seven Sundays, a natural cereal brand now sold in more than 20,000 stores including Costco, Walmart, and Target. The parallels are uncanny: women founders who had worked in business before feeling the call to start purpose-driven brands that prioritize a healthy diet and planet. Both work with their husbands, and siblings. Both triumphed over a cancer scare. Both based in Minnesota. And both speak to the importance of having a network to lean on while building consumer brands in categories dominated by multinationals.

In Office Hours with the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University,  chief operating officer Kara Kolomitz talks about the essential role of marketing—whether building a packaged food product, or a university. 


147. Breakfast Network: Seven Sundays + Willa's Oat Milk

Modern electronic and future bass tracks designed for startups, mobile apps, and innovative tech products. Bright synths, punchy drums, and uplifting vibes create a fresh, inspiring atmosphere – perfect for commercials, promos, and dynamic social media campaigns.

Tech & Startup

In deze aflevering van “Today’s CFO: Changing the Game!” deelt Maikel Smit, CFO Stoov, zijn visie op de rol van de CFO in de transitie van start-up naar scale-up. Hij vertelt over de unieke uitdagingen die ontstaan wanneer een jonge organisatie professionaliseert: van het bouwen van structuur zonder de ondernemersgeest te verliezen, tot het creëren van financiële grip die groei mogelijk maakt. 

Maikel gaat in op de balans tussen flexibiliteit en control, de noodzaak van schaalbare processen en de rol van de CFO als strategische sparringpartner voor oprichters en management. Ook bespreekt hij hoe finance kan bijdragen aan het versnellen van groei en het versterken van de organisatiecultuur in een fase van verandering. 

Zijn inzichten bieden praktische handvatten voor CFO’s die hun rol willen verbreden en een bepalende bijdrage willen leveren aan de groeiversnelling van hun organisatie. Een inspirerende aflevering voor financials die zich willen onderscheiden in een dynamische scale-up omgeving. 

#62 Hoe bouw je nou een finance functie in een organisatie die snel groeit?

Een serie interviews met diverse top CFO's over verscheidene thema's. Wil je meer weten en de uitzendingen live kunnen horen en je vragen stellen? Zie hier de totale agenda https://community.agium.nl/talkshow-agium

Making business work in Minnesota. Entrepreneurs and leaders share the stories behind their beloved brands, and the ones you’ll want to know next

New tracks tagged ##startup