Even during these difficult economic times, there are numerous companies getting their piece of the funding pie. They have one thing in common: they’re socially responsible. Who are they and what makes them different than their competition? How does making giving part of your core business model ultimately lead to profitability and position you to gain traction in funding today? Are there lessons every company seeking funding can learn and apply from these successful startups?
Join us as we explore the role that “doing good” plays in establishing and building a successful venture.
Some of the topics we’ll discuss
- Identifying the Social Need and Building the Business Model
- The Role of Your Story In Getting Funding
- Traditional Funding Approaches vs. Program Related Investments
- Crowd-Sourced Funding: The Opportunities and Risks
Our panelists of Founders are:
Kim Walls, CEO of Epicensial
Tom Schumacher, CFO of InVenture
Dana Mauriello, President of ProFounder
Jake Kloberdanz, CEO of ONEHOPE Wine
Panelist Bios:
Kim Walls, M.S., is the CEO of Episencial® and chief formulator the company’s skincare products and philosophy. A second-generation skin care expert from the family that developed the world renowned Epicuren® anti-aging skin care products, she now combines her activism for health and environmentalism with expertise in clinical skin care and nutritional science to develop green, effective skin care for pregnant women and children. An esthetician with more than a decade of experience, Walls has honed her perspective focusing on botanically-based skin care and transdermal nutrient absorption as a pathway to improved health and beauty for women and children. She shares her experience internationally with dermatologists and estheticians, as well as childbirth and postpartum professionals, underscoring the relationship between optimum health and skin care. Now through Episencial, she is dedicated to sharing that knowledge with new and growing families to support the enhanced health and immunity that effective, all natural products can provide.
Tom Schumacher is the CFO of InVenture and loves margins, finance and entrepreneurs. Before InVenture, he worked in portfolio management at a structured finance hedge fund, held several positions in corporate finance in the internet and advertising industries, and helped to start ETFDesk.com.
Tom has a strong background in financial security analysis, modeling and revenue forecasting pooled from his work experience. He applies his background and passion for enterprise in developing relationships with InVenture’s field partners and in developing our due diligence models. He is also responsible for developing our financial tracking & mobile technology platform.
Tom is a M.P.P. candidate in International Policy at the UCLA Luskin School and holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Maryland.
When he’s not reading financial statements, Tom loves hiking with his dogs, surfing, and is a huge New Orleans Saints fan.
Dana Mauriello is the Co-Founder & President of ProFounder, a crowdfunding platform that provides tools for entrepreneurs to raise investment capital from their communities. Her passion for entrepreneurship was born from helping start and run multiple family businesses in a wide range of industries and seeing firsthand what an empowering force entrepreneurship can be.
Prior to ProFounder, Dana worked on the Corporate Product Innovations team at Estee Lauder, creating new product concepts and bringing them to market. Her unique skills in this role lied in developing deep customer understanding and using this empathy to drive product development.
Dana created a unique major at Stanford University, earning her BA in Product Development, and double-dipped to earn her MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business a few years later.
She is a champion powerlifter, and die-hard New Yorker.
Jacob Kloberdanz is a Bay Area native who at 22 years old conceived the idea ofONEHOPE, a lifestyle brand whose mission is to donate 50% of profits for each product in their portfolio. The Cornerstone product of the ONEHOPE brand is wine. Jake has successfully raised over $5M in financing since starting the organization. The company has grown sales by over 100% in the last 4 years, and the Foundation has worked with 100’s of charity partners and successfully granted over $500,000.
Along with serving as the CEO of ONEHOPE, Jake is also a founder and serves on the board of directors for Booshaka (Booshaka.com). Booshaka is a leading provider of tools, data, and analytics for engagement on Facebook. Jake also sits on the board of the ONEHOPE Foundation (ONEHOPEFoundation.org), ShowStoppers (ShowStopShop.com), and a land investment fund focused primarily on vineyard estates. His favorite quote is “Be the change you want to see in the world” – Mahatma Gandhi.
