Future Optimist

Hans de Neve is the CEO and founder of Carbyon—a groundbreaking company capturing excess CO2 from the air. Today we discuss how going against conventional wisdom and the advice of his peers in the science community led to a breakthrough technology that could help us pull carbon from the air and reverse climate change.   It’s no pipe dream, Hans has already received the prestigious XPRIZE Milestone...

Naveen Sikka is the CEO of Terviva, an agtech company that’s transforming the food landscape. We rely on just a few crops for our survival, think corn, wheat, etc. But we know that there are many issues with modern agriculture as it's been performed. Naveen and his team have created a true win/win/win company by creating a regenerative food system based on the Pongamia tree, a tree that grows wher...

Lizanne Falsetto is the CEO, Founder, and Chairman of betterland foods™, and the founder of thinkThin®.  Long before she became an entrepreneur, Lizanne Falsetto had a career as a model. She developed food for herself on the job, and quickly discovered that her peers were interested in what she was making. She went on to create thinkThin®, the gluten-free protein bars you’ve seen on the shelves of...

Aliénor Salmon is an author, speaker and consultant. She's the creator of the book Finding Rhythm Bailando Journey. If ever there was a story that fit the premise of this show, it’s hers: She graduated from King’s College In London with a master’s in War Studies, then she worked as a field researcher in Mongolia and landed her dream job studying happiness for UNESCO in Bangkok, where she lived for...

Dr. Scott Fulbright is the CEO and Co-Founder of Living Ink Technologies, a company that’s developing the next generation of ink and coatings from algae. His innovative business model replaces the ubiquitous petroleum inks that are all around us, from packaging to clothing tags, to shirts—you name it. Their inks and pigments are carbon negative, and by switching to their product we can save pounds...

Dr. Klein Ileleji is the CEO of JUA Technologies International, and he has dedicated his life to agriculture and engineering. Discover how his curiosity led him down multiple career paths, ultimately leading him on a journey from his home in Nigeria around the world. He is a professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University and the co-founder of JUA Technologies, a company...

Quinn Fitzgerald is the co-founder and co-CEO of Flare, a smart, fashionable bracelet that provides 24/7 safety without drawing attention to itself. The product was designed to prevent sexual assault, but its features are perfect for a range of unwanted situations. The bracelet can call 911, notify friends/family that you’re in distress, help you receive an incoming phone call/text message, and mo...

Lizia Santos is the founder of CityCatt, a tech start-up that provides more unique and authentic travel experiences. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com Lizia switched careers from journalism to start-up founder, all while raising three children, making her accomplishments all the more impressive. Her unique perspective on life and travel all led to her fou...

Joining me today is Christina Merrill, President & CEO at the Bone Marrow & Cancer Foundation. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com For the last 30 years, Christina has dedicated her life to improving health outcomes and quality of life for transplant and cancer patients. Her foundation has helped more than 100,000 patients and their families, they specializ...

Arnold Leitner is the founder, CEO, and president of YouSolar. His innovative approach to solar power and battery storage has gotten him millions in investments. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com He’s spent two decades innovating in solar, founding two prominent companies in the space called SkyFuel and ReflecTech before his latest endeavor. YouSolar’s mo...

Alvaro Silberstein has a remarkable story to tell. Born in Chile, Alvaro’s life was turned upside down in a car accident that left him paralyzed. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com He soon witnessed the ways in which the world can be inaccessible to people with disabilities, making travel difficult or impossible. He made a personal journey to Torres del Pa...

Cullen Schwarz is the co-founder of DoneGood, an e-commerce platform that is like a more ethical version of Amazon. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com They only work with vendors who have vetted their supply chains and offer quality products—products that are better for the planet and for their customers. They only work with companies committed to human ri...

We are on a break from the interview today, so I wanted to squeeze in a quick thank you before the 100th interview drops next week.

Today we get a bit silly on the podcast, showcasing a product that made me laugh out loud the first time I saw it. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com Collin White is the co-founder of Tootles, flatulence suppressing underwear made from activated carbon fiber. You might think this is just a gag gift (a number of people have already discreetly given me pairs...

David Cutler is the founder of Fortuna Cools, an innovative start-up that’s going to completely change the way you think about coolers. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com Ok, you might not be thinking about coolers on a daily basis, per se, but if you want to head out and bring some drinks with you on a hot summer day, odds are good that you’re putting you...

Jay Giraud is the CEO & Founder of Damon, and he’s an award-winning mobility entrepreneur, speaker, and inventor. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com ➡️   https://damon.com You might not know this about me, but I got roped into motorcycles by a good friend who convinced me to watch MotoGP. I’ve always enjoyed watching the sport, and the future of electric m...

Gustavo Rubacha is the CEO and Founder of LutiBand and LutiKey, two life-saving devices that he invented after having a heart attack at 37 that changed everything. ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com ➡️ https://lutiband.com LutiBand is the world’s First smartest emergency Wearable. of its kind that helps you stay active, connected, safe, and healthy.  It is a state-of-the-art medical alert...

Ross Blum is the president and COO of Skyline Robotics, makers of Ozmo, the world’s first high-rise window cleaning robot.  ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com All those windows you see downtown? Someone’s gotta clean ‘em. And apparently it’s a $40B industry. Skyline Robotics have already received millions in funding, and Ross has had a meteoric rise to the...

Today my guest is Mick Ebeling, a man who’s been named one of Fortune’s 50 greatest leaders, and his organization is the only one ever honored twice by TIME Magazine for top invention of the year. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com His incubator is called Not Impossible, and through it he tackles enormous problems that affect us all, like food insecurity....

Praveen Penmetsa is the CEO of Monarch Tractor, all electric, driverless tractors that are going to revolutionize the way all commercial farming takes place. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com The importance of Praveen’s work cannot be overstated, the very future of humanity depends on developing smarter solutions to manage our farmland. Praveen has gotten...

Andrea Demichelis is the founder of Elliot for Water, a mission-driven enterprise to give access to water to millions of people. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com How does it work? Simple. Instead of setting your search engine to Google, set it to elliotforwater.com , and search as you normally would. The ad revenue and search revenue is diverted to organ...

Gary Oppenheimer is the founder of AmpleHarvest.org , an organization that links millions of amateur gardeners to local pantries. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com Have you ever had a few too many tomatoes in your garden? Know someone with an extra basket of zucchini? AmpleHarvest.org makes it incredibly easy to make sure that your excess food doesn’t go...

William Santana Li is quite the remarkable individual. Through incredible grit and determination, he rose through the ranks of the Ford Motor Company to become the youngest senior executive at the company at the age of 28. Watch this episode on YouTube Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com He was given a $250 million budget to build a Ford subsidiary called Greenleaf, which led to him getting b...

Daniel Tonkopi is a Ukrainian serial entrepreneur who has forged his own, eco-friendly and thoroughly unique path through life. Watch this episode on YouTube Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com He’s traveled extensively in his career, and now he has a business based in Los Angeles and Kyiv, Ukraine. A series of business ideas led him to founding his current company, Delfast bikes. But this is...

Edward Soffer calls himself an “intropreneur” at Interactive Brokers. Heavily involved in finance, Edward saw a few years back that he wasn’t focusing his attention on what really mattered to him: sustainability. Watch this episode on YouTube Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com With 20 years of experience in financial services, Eddy initiated the IMPACT app at Interactive Brokers, a publicly...