A visit to Zirconia

Zirconia is a startup company, not an obscure country. Last week I trekked over to the Zirconia lab/factory in Tukwila, Washington to check-in with the team. While there I shot a quick video visit:

And recorded an interview for The Next Step podcast.

The company has a breakthrough coating for concrete which seals the surface from decay and prevents the growth of bacteria and fungus. In the interview we talk a bit about explaining that in as few words as possible, and then talk about why it takes longer than expected to get a product into the market, especially one based on material science technologies.

Zirconia

In today’s episode of Superpowers for Good, I had the pleasure of welcoming back a dear friend and visionary entrepreneur, Luni Libes, the CEO of Africa Eats. Luni is not only an inspiring leader but also a key investor in the super crowd. His innovative company, Africa Eats, is on a mission to end hunger and poverty in Africa through a unique for-profit model, currently crowdfunding on WeFunder...

Devin: What is your superpower? Luni: I can see paradigms. Most people, they live inside paradigms, and they don’t notice. “Most people in Africa are farmers, and they’re poor not because they’re uneducated or any less intelligent than anyone else,” says Africa Eats founder and CEO Luni Libes. “They’re poor because no one buys their outputs. No one is buying what they’re growing.” Share...

I wrote a whole book walking entrepreneurs through the process of creating a simple, compelling pitch deck, and I’ve posted a slide-by-slide guide to the standard, 12-15 slide pitch. But there are other frameworks, and here is Sequoia Capitals, as posted by Alex Banks on Twitter. Slide-by-slide Slide 1 This is your first impression. Pick a great name. Spend a little money on a great logo...

I wrote a whole book walking entrepreneurs through the process of creating a simple, compelling pitch deck. Apparently most entrepreneurs don’t like to read any more than investors. To provide an alternative, The Next Step: Podcast is running a series of episodes, one slide at a time. Below is the playlist for that series and below that, the slide deck I was referring to, along with as few...

There are so many incredible stories to share at Africa Eats, the investment holding company spun out of Fledge in 2020. Here is a sampling of the type of solutions we’ve invested in. Homegrown, for-profit solutions with measurable impacts lessening hunger and poverty across Africa. For more stories, listen to The Opportunity is Africa, a podcast brought to you by Africa Eats And a note to...