From online banking to digital payment processing, the fintech industry has evolved and continues to evolve tremendously.
In this episode, I have an open and honest conversation about finances with FinTech entrepreneur, Co-Founder and CEO of Ostrich, William Glass.
His mission is to improve financial well-being globally. As founder & CEO of his company, Ostrich, William’s mobile app addresses financial literacy deficits by creating a social community and accountability around money – think saving & investing with friends.
In addition, William hosts the Silicon Alley Podcast providing a platform for entrepreneurs from all industries and backgrounds to tell their stories. William owns rental property and was a successful tech sales rep before starting his own business. He was also a Fulbright Scholar in Thailand. William is originally from Alabama and now resides in New York City.
50. In Producing Creativity, host William Glass sits down with Jim Carter, the founder of Legacy West Media. Jim discusses how repetitive physical injuries forced him to change his life’s path away from athletics and embrace his natural creativity. We discuss the power of travel and developing deep connections with a diverse set of people and how those connections not only bring Jim joy but also provide opportunities in his business. After only a few months of founding his business, Jim talks about how he was forced to pivot due to COVID, move across the country twice within a year and get married to his incredible wife Caroline. Jim brings incredible energy to the conversation and is someone I truly admire.
About Jim Carter and Legacy West Media
Jim Carter is the Creative Director & Producer of “City of Dreams: A Portrait of Los Angeles” an art exhibit exploring legendary artists portraying the culture of LA. Jim has worked with “A list” artists and filmmakers for over 10 years. He grew up on movie sets and comes from a family of academy award-winning artists. He represents 10 world-renowned artists, including his father Rick Carter, who is a 2-time academy award winner for his Art Direction of Avatar and Lincoln. Jim uses his passion for fine art, visual storytelling, world cultures, marketing, sports, and entertainment to create genuine connections between his clients and global audiences.
His firm Legacy West Media specializes in artist representation and media partnerships. The mission is to tell stories through art exhibitions and media partnerships. Being 4th generation Hollywood, LWM takes great pride in representing top talent and connecting the right artist with the right audience. The company’s goal is to not only bring profit to their artists but to inspire the communities that view their art.
Ostrich is a personal finance app that curates information specific to you and uses the power of positive social accountability to help you define, set, & achieve your financial goals.
Empowering the Gift of Giving with Kelly Keurzoneff
49. In Empowering the Gift of Giving, host William Glass sits down with Kelly Keurzoneff, founder of Givelist. Kelly discusses the importance of social impact and how we can better support our fellow humans in times of need. She discusses the challenges of being a solo-founder (the loneliness) and how to continue to build your business without a co-founder. In addition, Kelly shares the founding story of Givelist and how consumers today care more about the social impact the companies they support have on the world.
There were some differences between mine and Kelly’s volume that we’ve adjusted as best we can in post-production. For the best experience, we recommend watching this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qeSikTC04b0.
About Kelly Keurzoneff
Kelly Keurzoneff is the founder of Givelist® and the owner of a marketing consulting business. She grew up in Indiana, went to college in North Carolina. Then spent 10 years in Los Angeles learning everything marketing and advertising. In Los Angeles, Kelly worked for media and tech companies, two of which were startups. It was her time at Hulu, though, that was most formative and inspiring, and which she credits for launching her more serious interest in entrepreneurial endeavors.
Kelly is a first-time founder looking to encourage giving, foster kindness, and build social capital by creating a tool that makes gift-giving a fun and frictionless experience.
Givelist® is a universal wish list, an all-purpose online gift registry, allowing users to connect & contribute to one another’s lives simply & easily. It also provides a vehicle for more direct and transparent giving of items to those in need or non-profit organizations. Great for both consumers and retailers, it has the added benefit of reducing waste and returns, which otherwise accounts for billions of dollars in unusable/unsellable goods.
Ostrich is a personal finance app that curates information specific to you and uses the power of positive social accountability to help you define, set, & achieve your financial goals.
Competing When You Have Nothing to Lose with Tom Libelt
48. Competing When There’s Nothing to Lose, host William Glass sits down with Tom Libelt, founder of Smart Brand Marketing. Tom dives into the concept of building an antifragile business that not only survives during uncertain times but thrives. He also gets into the benefits of being lazy and spending more time thinking versus spending all of your time hustling. One example of that approach is him sitting down on the podcast today. In addition, Tom opens up about the power of niches and how finding a small group of motivated customers is one of the best ways to build a business.
The notion of building an antifragile business comes from Nassim Taleb a famous writer who specialized in risk analysis.
About Tom Libelt
Tom Libelt learned from a young age how to sell and negotiate business by getting haggled by Russian vendors. His family moved from Poland to the US to escape communism, and his parents took any job they could to survive. Seeing all this as a young man motivated him to never want a job and keep moving forward as an entrepreneur, publisher, salesman, and one of the top Polish hip hop artists.
Tom spends most of his time in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He runs Smart Brand Marketing and We Market Online Courses. He has helped published around 5000 Kindle books, built a successful SEO & online course marketing business, partnered with a Muay Thai champion, owned a coffee shop, a retail store, a record label, created a documentary, and released two albums with five hits on top ten Polish radio. All of it was bootstrapped and done with zero outside funding.
Ostrich is a personal finance app that curates information specific to you and uses the power of positive social accountability to help you define, set, & achieve your financial goals.
Solving Financial Literacy: Guest Appearance on the Bacon Bits ‘n’ Bytes Podcast
47. Solving Financial Literacy, host William Glass is interviewed on The Bacon Bits ’n’ Bytes Podcast by Karen Swyszcz. Together they discuss why financial well-being and financial literacy are so important as well as the vision for Ostrich.
On that note, Ostrich is approaching a public beta release and will of course give early access to Silicon Alley listeners who want to be the first to join the Flock! Be on the listen for further updates in the coming weeks about how to get that VIP early access.
Ostrich is a personal finance app that curates information specific to you and uses the power of positive social accountability to help you define, set, & achieve your financial goals.
