56 min listen
World’s youngest Dragon, with Michele Romanow, Co-Founder of Clearbanc
World’s youngest Dragon, with Michele Romanow, Co-Founder of Clearbanc
ratings:
Length:
53 minutes
Released:
Mar 16, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
You can’t take your ears off our guest today. Born and raised in Canada, Michele Romanow has been building startups since university (a cafe which still operates today) followed by a venture in an industry she knew nothing about - caviar - right when the 2008 financial crisis struck.
“There I am, 21 years old, selling the world's most unnecessary luxury product. I realised the world owes you absolutely nothing, that everything can fall apart in a second, that it can be your fault. It can be the market's fault, it doesn't matter. But I was gonna have to pivot if I wanted it to be successful.”
And pivot she did.
From Buytopia, to SnapSaves (acquired by Groupon), to Dragons’ Den Canada (‘I was the youngest Dragon ever’), to co-founding Clearbanc - Michele has done so much in such a short space of time.
She co-founded Clearbanc having seen dozens of similar pitches on Dragons’ Den. The idea is that ecommerce founders no longer have to give up equity in exchange for capital. Instead Clearbanc invests and gets paid back from revenues with a 6% - 12% fee on top.
“We have now invested more than $1.6 billion into 4,000 different founders around the world. We have backed eight times more women than the venture capital industry average.”
What a story. We hope you enjoy it.
If you like what we’re doing please subscribe or follow Secret Leaders.
We chat about:
Starting her career in cafes and caviar
From Dragons’ Den to Clearbanc
The struggle of financing Clearbanc
The hardest part of being an entrepreneur
Never be comfortable
Want to receive our podcast on a weekly basis? Subscribe to our newsletter!
“There I am, 21 years old, selling the world's most unnecessary luxury product. I realised the world owes you absolutely nothing, that everything can fall apart in a second, that it can be your fault. It can be the market's fault, it doesn't matter. But I was gonna have to pivot if I wanted it to be successful.”
And pivot she did.
From Buytopia, to SnapSaves (acquired by Groupon), to Dragons’ Den Canada (‘I was the youngest Dragon ever’), to co-founding Clearbanc - Michele has done so much in such a short space of time.
She co-founded Clearbanc having seen dozens of similar pitches on Dragons’ Den. The idea is that ecommerce founders no longer have to give up equity in exchange for capital. Instead Clearbanc invests and gets paid back from revenues with a 6% - 12% fee on top.
“We have now invested more than $1.6 billion into 4,000 different founders around the world. We have backed eight times more women than the venture capital industry average.”
What a story. We hope you enjoy it.
If you like what we’re doing please subscribe or follow Secret Leaders.
We chat about:
Starting her career in cafes and caviar
From Dragons’ Den to Clearbanc
The struggle of financing Clearbanc
The hardest part of being an entrepreneur
Never be comfortable
Want to receive our podcast on a weekly basis? Subscribe to our newsletter!
Released:
Mar 16, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Skimlinks: Alicia Navarro on how to build an advertising giant: Our second Australian guest in a row for our 10th episode of Secret Lives of Leaders. This episode we have the pleasure of hosting Alicia Navarro - the co-founder and CEO of Skimlinks. Known for her energy and enthusiasm, Alicia has been in the heart of the tech scene in London for over a decade. Her company has gone through many highs and lows along the way as well as receiving over $20m in venture funding. Alicia gives us an insight into running starting and then running a high growth company as well as what she gets up to when she's not working. by Secret Leaders with Dan Murray-Serter