Tammy Lee
Xena Therapies Founder and CEO
Tammy Lee launched a line of wearable cool therapy medical devices in February, 2020, and one month later, she had to shut her new company down due to Covid-19. It
Sponsored By
By All Means 
a podcast by TCB
Leadership. Innovation. Purpose
What does it take to build a business? Change an industry? Lead with purpose? Twin Cities Business sits down with entrepreneurs and leaders who make business work in Minnesota—and beyond. Learn the stories behind some beloved brands, and the ones you’ll want to know next. Discover how they got started and gain insights to apply to your own ventures. Available on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, Player.FM, iHeart Radio, and SoundCloud. Subscribe now and you’ll be first to know when a new episode launches.
Hear By All Means on:
Aneela and Sameer Kumar – HabitAware
Co-Founders
ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Aneela Idnani Kumar started pulling out hair from her eyebrows and eyelashes when she was a girl. In her early 20s, she Googled her secret habit and
John Puckett
Caribou Coffee Co-Founder
On Monday March 17, in the face of a national emergency, John Puckett joined Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at a press conference announcing that restaurants and bars must close to
ABOUT THIS EPISODE: “We do not want to go back to being the way we were,” says Chuck Runyon, co-founder and CEO of Self Esteem Brands, the parent company to
Love Your Melon’s Zachary Quinn on Navigating Covid-19
Co-founder and President, Love Your Melon
Anticipating that face masks are going to be a necessary accessory for the foreseeable future, Love Your Melon is ramping up its collection and returning to the buy one, give
Kent Pilakowski
Food industry investor and advisor
An investor and advisor who helped to build Beyond Meat, Talenti, and Peace Coffee, Kent Pilakowski talks about the evolution of the food industry and his path from General Mills to entrepreneurship.
Ryan Broshar
Matchstick Ventures Co-founder and Partner
Co-founder of BetaMN and Twin Cities Startup Week, Ryan Broshar found his calling in supporting other entrepreneurs. He talks about what it takes to be successful in venture funding.
Atif Siddiqi
Founder and CEO, Branch
Atif Siddiqi set out to simplify schedule changes for hourly workers and hit upon a larger mission to improve the financial welfare of employees who don't have a safety net and, in turn, help companies improve employee satisfaction and retention.
Mercedes Austin
Founder and CEO, Mercury Mosaics
Mercedes Austin charts her winding path from maker to manufacturer and shares the business lessons she's learned over 18 years of building Mercury Mosaics into a national ceramic tile brand.
Erik Brust
Co-Founder and CEO, Johnny Pops
Created in a St. Olaf College dorm, Jonny Pops, makers of smoothies on a stick, is now a national frozen foods brand on the rise. CEO Erik Brust describes his transition from founder to leader, and what's next for the company.
Paul Douglas
Meteorologist and Entrepreneur
Throughout his career as a TV meteorologist, Paul Douglas has found ways to turn weather data into business. His next venture: helping businesses understand the impact of global warming.
John Butcher
President and CEO, Caribou Coffee
Caribou Coffee president and CEO John Butcher talks leadership, culture, and coffee. "Any business that can strike an emotional chord is interesting to me."
Dave Mortensen and Chuck Runyon
President and CEO and co-founders
Chuck Runyon and Dave Mortensen opened their first Anytime Fitness gym in 2002. Their concept was an alternative to big box gyms: A no-frills space with little supervision…just workout equipment
Jeff Sommers and Lara Hammel
Izzy's Ice Cream Co-Founders
Nineteen years after mortgaging their home to open a neighborhood ice cream shop in St. Paul, Minnesota, the founders of Izzy’s are poised to take their ice cream national. “Our vision is to compete directly with Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s.”
Larissa Loden
Jewelry Designer, Founder of Larissa Loden
Larissa Loden is a jewelry designer whose line is now sold in more than 800 stores nationwide including high profile names like Modcloth and the Smithsonian Museum. And only four years ago, jewelry was a side hustle to her day job as an art teacher in the Minneapolis public schools.
Chris Freytag
Fitness expert + Founder of Get Healthy U TV
Fitness wasn’t a career path when Chris Freytag attended college, but she turned passion into her profession to become a national fitness expert and founder of the subscription workout platform Get Healthy U TV.
Sarah Moe
Sleep Heath Specialists Founder
We talk endlessly about diet and exercise. But what about sleep? There’s no class in school, and in the workplace, there’s often a stigma around admitting fatigue. That’s where Sarah Moe saw her opportunity. "I tell people: I work in sleep medicine. That's a real job."
Maurice Blanks and John Christakos
Blu Dot Co-Founders
Maurice Blanks and John Christakos, founders of contemporary furniture brand Blu Dot, discuss the business of design. "We see everything as a design opportunity... Business decisions are design decisions."
Katrina Anderson
Clinician Nexus Co-Founder + CEO
LinkedIn meets Airbnb for medical students and hospitals—that's how Katrina Anderson describes her fast-growing Minneapolis-based startup, Clinician Nexus. Hear how she got the idea, and where she plans to take it.
Fred Haberman
Haberman agency co-founder and CEO
"I always relentlessly pursue the target." Serial entrepreneur Fred Haberman, founder of U.S. Pond Hockey Championships, Urban Organics and Freak Flag Organics, talks about balancing passions and profits.