Shows
Hot Takes Big StakesHow To Come Up with a Business Idea in 24 Hours + 5 Free Ideas | Epidsode 13Everyone says passion matters, but is it required to launch a successful business? In this episode we debate passion versus action, share a simple system to spot ideas in your everyday life, and walk through a no-nonsense validation checklist. You will learn how to mine “boring” categories, read Amazon reviews for insights, stress-test market size, and draw the line between stealing and genuine differentiation. We wrap with real idea starters you can take and run with today.More Hot Takes Big StakesInstagram: www.instagram.com/hottakesbigstakes/TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@hottakesbigstakes/More on Natalie Holloway:Personal Inst...
2025-10-0932 minHot Takes Big StakesHow a Motorcycle Crash, a Jigsaw and Justin Timberlake Built Therabody to $300M | #12Dr. Jason shares how a devastating injury led him to hack together the first Theragun, then spend eight relentless years turning it into Therabody. He explains the science he discovered along the way, why 40Hz matters, and how early believers from the New England Patriots to Justin Timberlake helped the idea spread. We also get candid lessons from painful business missteps, a pandemic pivot, and a rebrand that brought recovery tools home. If you’re building, healing, or both, this story is loaded with takeaways.More Hot Takes Big StakesInstagram: www.instagram.com/hottakesbigstakes/TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@hottakesbigstakes/Mo...
2025-10-021h 01Hot Takes Big StakesHow I Sold My Company Without the Experts & The Lessons Learned | #11Lana the founder of Floom, a premium flower marketplace featured in Vogue, Forbes, and The New York Times, breaks down how she sold her company to a strategic buyer without a banker. We cover spotting the right time to sell, building a data room, running a buyer process, and handling LOI exclusivity risk. She shares the emotional side too, identity after the exit and why deals can fall through. If you are considering selling, this conversation is a practical roadmap and a reality check.More Hot Takes Big StakesInstagram: www.instagram...
2025-09-2534 minHot Takes Big StakesFrom Away to Crown Affair, Building a $30M Haircare Brand ft Dianna Cohen | #10Founder Diana Cohen shares how Crown Affair went from a viral haircare Google Doc to a nationwide Sephora brand. She walks through lessons from early roles at Away, Outdoor Voices and Harry’s, the Japanese rituals that shaped her formulas, and the Laura Mercier powder hack that inspired Crown Affair’s dry shampoo. Diana breaks down scalp versus strand health, why brushing matters, and her “raise as you go” approach that led to sustained, profitable growth. If you care about brand, product and calm, durable company building, this one is packed with takeaways.Hot Takes Big Stakes l...
2025-09-181h 03Hot Takes Big StakesCan You Be a Founder and a Mom? Here’s the Truth | #9This episode is the honest look at building a business while breastfeeding, corralling toddlers, and cleaning up midnight messes, the kind of chaos that never makes the highlight reel. We talk about the Shark Tank bump, finding out we were pregnant, and how priorities shifted as the family grew.You will hear the rules that keep us sane, one night out per week and a no-meetings policy that protects deep work and bedtime.We cover real help, from full-time family support to outsourcing errands, flexible schedules for working parents, founder maternity leave during nap windows, and giving yourself permission...
2025-09-1126 min
Hot Takes Big StakesFrom Toilet Paper to $100M, The Story of Who Gives A Crap | # 8Danny Alexander, co-founder and Chief Product and Purpose Officer of Who Gives A Crap, shares how a cheeky name, clever packaging, and an audacious mission turned a humble household product into a $100M brand. The team bootstrapped for nine years, then cracked growth by treating every touchpoint as marketing and by learning to land initiatives, not just launch them. Highlights include the infamous 51-hour toilet livestream that powered their IndieGoGo debut, and why donating 50% of profits builds real retention and trust. Danny also breaks down the pivot from a multilingual EU push to a focused Canada relaunch and how...
2025-09-0453 min
Hot Takes Big StakesHow To Make Your First Million | #7You never forget your First Million. On Hot Takes, Big Stakes, host Natalie Holloway, founder of Bala, and co-host Lana Elie, founder of Floom, are here to help you turn your time into real value. In today’s episode, Natalie directly interviews Lana about the process of making the first million dollars with her company, “Floom.” For both Natalie and Lana, their companies reached this milestone in only their second year of operation. Times are changing quickly, and with the advent of Artificial Intelligence, the barrier to entry for many software companies is lower...
2025-08-2831 min
Hot Takes Big StakesPitching on Shark Tank and What It Takes to Land Mark Cuban & Maria Sharapova | #6Let’s Talk About the Elephant in the Room… Shark Tank. On Hot Takes, Big Stakes, host Natalie Holloway, founder of Bala, and co-host Lana Elie, founder of Flume, are here to help you turn your time into real value. In today’s episode, Lana interviews Natalie about one of the most pivotal moments in her career with Bala: her appearance on Season 11 of Shark Tank. The pitch led to a major turning point for the brand when Natalie received an offer from Mark Cuban and Maria Sharapova for $900,000 in exchange for 30 percent of the compan...
2025-08-2125 min
Hot Takes Big StakesLucas Lappe on Building Canopy: Why You Need a Humidifier, How To Land Sephora, and Lessons from Founder Therapy | #5Lucas Lappe, co-founder of Canopy and Doris Dev, joins Hot Takes, Big Stakes to share how he built a successful wellness brand from the ground up without raising venture capital. From launching his first absurd product (a hot glue gun for string cheese) to designing mold-resistant humidifiers now sold at Sephora, Lucas explains what it really takes to launch and scale a physical product. This episode covers how Canopy focused on solving real user problems, stayed profitable from day one, and turned a bootstrapped product into a trusted beauty and wellness brand. Whether you're building in DTC...
2025-08-1440 min
Hot Takes Big StakesHow to Start a Business in 2025 | #4Starting a business? Expect uncertainty and scrappy decisions. In this Hot Takes, Big Stakes deep dive, co-founders and hosts Natalie Holloway and Lana Elie break down the real behind-the-scenes of launching a brand. From bad product ideas and co-founder debates to raising capital, faking it with factories, and why launching to crickets still taught them everything. No fluff, just the stuff we wish someone told us. Real talk. Real tactics. No playbook required. Chapters: 00:00:01 – Is your idea worth it? How to test your concept even if no one gets it...
2025-08-0730 min
Hot Takes Big StakesBuilding a 6M Following (and a Period Empire) with Nadya Okamoto of August | #3How do you build a period care brand that’s unapologetically bold, digitally native, and actually different? On this week’s episode of Hot Takes, Big Stakes, Lana Elie sits down with Nadya Okamoto—activist, author, and co-founder of August—to unpack exactly how she turned a mission into a movement (and a movement into a business). With over 6 million followers and major shelf space in Target and Whole Foods, Nadya’s story is anything but ordinary. From launching a nonprofit at 16 to raising a $2M pre-seed and turning period stigma into cultural currency, this is an inside loo...
2025-07-3144 min
Hot Takes Big StakesFrom Pitch Deck to $10M: Lana's tried and tested Fundraising Formula | #2What are you investing in? Time is your most valuable resource. On Hot Takes, Big Stakes, host Natalie Holloway, founder of Bala, and co-host Lana Elie, founder of Floom, are here to help you turn that time into real value. After speaking with founders across a wide range of industries, one thing became clear: we’re all getting asked the same questions. So we decided to create a space where we could actually answer them. In our first ‘Deep Dive’ episode, you're getting exactly what you came for. Natalie and Lana get into the ni...
2025-07-2430 min
Hot Takes Big StakesHow Our Place Did $5M in 1 Day w/ Co-Founder Zach Rosner | #1Who are you investing in? On Hot Takes, Big Stakes, host Natalie Holloway, founder of Bala, and co-host Lana Elie, founder of Floom, are here to help you turn your time into real value. In today’s episode, Natalie and Lana sit down with Zach Rosner, co-founder of Our Place, a nine figure business with a team of over 100 and more than 90 million dollars raised to date. Before building Our Place, Zach led hiring at brands like MeUndies and Everlane. Zach is an incredible guest because he’s an open book. In this conv...
2025-07-151h 05
Hot Takes Big StakesWelcome To Hot Takes Big StakesSubscribe to listen to Hot Takes Big Stakes every week on Thursday.T
2025-07-0800 min