Varsity Ventures

What does it take to build a technology company that lasts nearly 30 years? In this episode of Varsity Ventures, I sit down with Dallas Kashuba, co-founder of DreamHost, one of the world's largest web hosting companies. Dallas shares how DreamHost started as a college project, why the company chose to remain bootstrapped, and how it grew into a business supporting millions of websites. We discuss...

Nathalie Walton’s career began in big tech, with leadership roles at Google, Airbnb, and eBay. But after experiencing a high-risk pregnancy, she saw firsthand how challenging the journey into parenthood can be and felt compelled to build something that could help. In this episode, Nathalie shares her path from tech executive to startup founder. She explains how she joined and then took over Expect...

Former pediatric nurse and Oath Care co-founder Michelle Stephens Ph. D. joins Varsity Ventures for an unfiltered breakdown of what it actually takes to build in health tech. Michelle talks about her academic past, how she jumped from nursing to a startup, and what she learned the hard way about venture capital, product timing, and selling a healthcare vision in a world that moves faster than medi...

What started with a craving for grandma's hummus became a movement reshaping New York’s food scene. In this episode, I talk with Wissam Kahi , co-founder of Eat Offbeat , a social venture that hires and celebrates refugee chefs bringing authentic dishes from around the world to NYC tables. Wissam shares how his sister's school project turned into a business, the hard realities of running a food ve...

In this episode of Varsity Ventures , I sit down with Vicki Davitashvili —a leader with 20+ years in financial services and two-time founder of Still Essence Tea and Wealthy and Unstoppable . After a life-altering event in 2022, Vicki turned to tea as both a healing ritual and the spark for her first business. She later discovered a deeper gap around women’s financial confidence, leading her to la...

From the stage to the startup world — today’s guest is Ben Ikwuagwu, founder of Soundcheck Live . After a decade as a performer in the music industry, Ben saw the chaos behind live events firsthand: spreadsheets, endless texts, disorganized planning. Instead of putting up with it, he built a platform to fix it. In this episode, Ben shares what it’s like going from musician to founder, why his live...

Welcome back to  Varsity Ventures . I’m your host, Hendrick McConnell. Today, we’re talking with Liesl Leach — a builder who’s never been afraid to take the hard road. She’s worked in global finance, launched startups, and led teams through digital transformation. But more importantly, she’s turned real-world problems — from supporting aging parents to helping underrepresented founders raise capit...

In this episode, I interview Jacob and Ari, students and founders of Powering Tomorrow, a non-profit focused on climate education. In this conversation we talk about outreach strategies, finding that first client and persevering through the growing pains. To learn more you can contact them at: jjbushler@gmail.com or on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-bushler-9b94062a3/)

In this episode, I talk with James Pereria-Stubbs, the Chief Client Officer at Oxford Risk, a fintech startup focused on behavioral finance. He gives career advice on the skills needed for working in small and big companies, and for building a start-up including finding market fit. You can learn more about James on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-pereira-stubbs-bab6632/) and Oxford Ris...

In this episode of  Varsity Ventures , I talk with Adrien Treuille, co-founder of Streamlit — a platform that lets developers turn data into powerful web apps, no web dev experience required. In 2022, Streamlit was acquired by Snowflake, one of the world’s biggest data companies. Adrien shares what it really takes to go from idea to product, and what he’s learned about building something people ac...

Intro of Varsity Ventures Podcast for teens interested in entrepreneurship! Stay posted for more episodes.