Best Un Sub Podcasts (2025)

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#145: Making Big Bold Bets with Patient Execution as a Bootstrapped Founder - Gopal Krishnamurthy 59:50

2d ago59:50

59:50

Gopal Krishnamurthy is the founder and CEO of Lumel, which has a suite of products focused on enterprise performance management (EPM). Their apps allow users to plan, report, and analyze data using the modern native app framework vs. traditional SaaS on top of modern cloud data platforms such as Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, Databricks, and others. …

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#144: From Founder-Led Sales to Scalable Go-To-Market in Vertical SaaS - Phil Stern 58:20

9d ago58:20

58:20

Phil Stern is the operating principal of Mainsail Partners, a growth equity firm that invests in bootstrapped vertical SaaS companies. Mainsail offers deep operating support to the leaders in their portfolio companies to help them grow more efficiently. Phil leads the GTM operations team, helping their founders scale sales, marketing, and success t…

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S1E3 - Hate Speech & Insult Law - Jason Oberman - Jara Nassar - Alex Head 48:53

16d ago48:53

48:53

On air discussion of Jason Oberman's three part series Inciting Hatred and Slinging Insults: Exploring the Legal Apparatus of the BRD on The Left Berlin. Jason Oberman (they/them) is an anti-zionist Ashkenazi Jewish American based in Zürich. A musician, composer, songwriter and rogue scholar who formerly lived in Berlin, Jason researches, lectures …

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#143: From Professional Services to a $30M SaaS Business with a PE Acquisition - Sean Hoban 1:04:53

16d ago1:04:53

1:04:53

Sean Hoban was co-founder and former CEO of Kimble Applications, a leading professional services automation (PSA) software for organizations to manage their professional services business's entire operational and financial lifecycle. Sean and his co-founders had already started, grown, and sold a pro services organization before creating a PSA prod…

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Episode 7: America's China Gamble 41:25

18d ago41:25

41:25

China’s violent Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 marked a turning point in US-China relations. After two decades of slowly but steadily nurturing friendly relations, the United States would choose to develop economic ties without insisting on democratic reforms. The prevailing hope was that China’s economic growth would inevitably lead to politic…

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#142: Why This 3x SaaS Founder Couldn't Stay Retired to Launch His New Al Startup - Josh LaSov 58:37

23d ago58:37

58:37

Josh LaSov is the founder and former CEO of Satori Reporting, an advanced reporting and business intelligence (BI) solution for mid-market businesses that use NetSuite financial software. Satori provided pre-built reports and dashboards, a tailored data warehouse, and detailed data models that leveraged the popular Power BI software. Josh launched …

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#141: Inside Acquire.com's Process for Selling Sub-$5M SaaS Companies - Andrew Gazdecki 55:39

30d ago55:39

55:39

Andrew Gazdecki is the founder and CEO of Acquire.com, a marketplace of buyers and sellers of smaller, profitable SaaS products with revenues between $100,000 and $5,000,000. Andrew sold his own software company and learned how little support and information was available to sell a software product for under $5-10 million in deal size. Acquire.com …

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Sudan and the Limits of Western Peacebuilding (from the archive) 26:33

1M ago26:33

26:33

Sudan’s civil war recently entered its third year. It has claimed the lives of around 150,000 people and displaced around 13 million. In this archival episode, we revisit the outbreak of violence that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Army, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, led by…

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#140: The Anti-Silicon Valley Playbook: How Genius Monkey Built a $100M Ad Tech Business on Their Own Terms - Seth Hassell and Clint Ethington 1:04:34

1M ago1:04:34

1:04:34

Seth Hassell and Clint Ethington are the co-founders of Genius Monkey, a programmatic ad tech platform with proven targeting, tracking, and attribution for optimized results. Seth and Clint were childhood friends who worked on many business ventures before launching Genius Monkey in 2009, leveraging their experience in digital ad technologies. Geni…

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S1E2 - UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese at bUm - Resolution Breakdown with Zoë Claire Miller & Alex Head 49:19

1M ago49:19

49:19

A lecture by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, as part of the February 19th event: Conditions of Life Calculated to Destroy, Legal and Forensic Perspectives on the Ongoing Gaza Genocide - at bUm, Berlin. The lecture was supposed to take place in a big lecture hall at Freie universitat, along with Eyal Weizman, director of Forensic Architect…

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#139: Bootstrapped Founder is Getting Ready for the AI Wave at $20M ARR - Shalin Jain 1:07:35

1M ago1:07:35

1:07:35

Shalin Jain is the founder and CEO of HappyFox, a successful bootstrapped company that provides modern help desk management software for customer service, support, and IT management organizations. Shalin and his small team in India built many successful products from 2000-2010, then focused on HappyFox and moved to the US in 2011. HappyFox is a mid…

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Episode 6: How Apartheid Ended in South Africa 40:05

2M ago40:05

40:05

In the 1990s, South Africa ended apartheid, a brutal system of racial segregation, and became a democracy. During the Cold War, the United States supported South Africa’s apartheid government because it was anti-communist. But American civil rights activists pushed Washington to reassess its support – which it did as the Cold War wound down. Nelson…

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#138: Achieved Strategic Acquisition Just 2 Years After Launch - Brian Kesselman 1:00:15

2M ago1:00:15

1:00:15

Brian Kesselman is cofounder and now CRO of Skematic, a compliance management and workflow software for financial services firms. Brian was a lawyer for major financial services companies who helped manage internal compliance in this highly regulated industry. He took a job selling compliance software and broke sales records before starting Skemati…

1
S1E1 - Policing Education 49:53

2M ago49:53

49:53

With performer and anthropologist Jara Nassar, jewelz, an independent radio activist of 10 years, and artist and author Alex Head. Guest contributions from Aviad Albert, an Israeli citizen working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cologne, Thomas Herzmark, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Göttingen and Carmen an academ…

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#137: Her Amazing Story of 0-$30M ARR with No Outside Funding - Rebecca Shostak 1:04:57

2M ago1:04:57

1:04:57

Rebecca Shostak is co-founder and chief brand officer of Flodesk, the popular email marketing software for small businesses that care about beautiful branded emails. After prototyping the product and validating the problem, they launched in 2019 with a viral explosion that still powers their bootstrapped growth. Six years later, Flodesk has over $3…

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Episode 5: Why the Israel-Palestine Peace Process Failed 45:19

2M ago45:19

45:19

The 1990s witnessed a turning point in one of the world’s most intractable disputes. After four decades of conflict, the 1991 Madrid Conference opened the door for peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians. A flurry of negotiations and agreements followed. The Camp David Summit in 2000 was the Clinton administration’s last-ditch attempt to prod…

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#136: Practical Founder Has Big Exit and Un-Retires to Build 2nd SaaS Success - Brian Dosal 1:11:26

2M ago1:11:26

1:11:26

Brian Dosal was the founder and CEO of BrightGauge, a software company he bootstrapped and grew to almost $10M ARR with his brother before successfully selling the company in 2019. BrightGauge was a business analytics and dashboard for key metrics for the Managed Service Provider (MSP) industry. After his intense 9-year journey at BrightGauge, Bria…

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#135: Vertical SaaS Investor Shares Proven Paths to Scale Up Big – Dave Yuan 55:49

2M ago55:49

55:49

Dave Yuan is the founder of Tidemark, an active growth equity investor focusing on vertical SaaS companies with outsized advantages that can become “control points” in their markets and grow very big. Dave and Tidemark have invested in successful companies like Toast, ServiceTitan, Karbon and Dutchie. In this episode, Dave shares some of the most u…

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Episode 4: Fewer Nukes, More Danger 38:29

2M ago38:29

38:29

Nightmares of mushroom clouds and fears of mutually assured destruction plagued many during the Cold War. But by the early 1990s, both the United States and Russia promised a world with fewer nuclear weapons. Together, they agreed to dismantle 80% of their strategic nuclear warheads. Meanwhile, other countries such as North Korea and Pakistan saw v…

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#134: When It’s Time to Close: Helping Founders Shut Down Right – Dori Yona 44:27

3M ago44:27

44:27

Dori Yona is co-founder and CEO of SimpleClosure, a technology- and people-powered company that helps founders wind down and dissolve a startup or business that is no longer viable. Shutting down a business can be complicated, costly, and risky for founders. SimpleClosure manages the unique processes with automation and expert support. SimpleClosur…

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#133: Bootstrapper Sells School Fundraising Platform to PE Investors - Howard Gottlieb 58:47

3M ago58:47

58:47

Howard Gottlieb started Read-A-Thon in 2012 as a reading-based fundraising platform that helped students raise money while boosting education. Their easy platform and simple fundraising approach created amazing results. The Read-a-Thon business grew steadily and profitably without any outside funding. Read-A-Thon helped over 4000 schools and studen…

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Episode 3: The CIA, Afghanistan, and the Road to 9/11 46:17

3M ago46:17

46:17

This is the story of how a CIA covert action program inadvertently created the conditions for the Taliban to seize control and provide safe haven for Osama bin Laden. Following a Cold War proxy battle between the Soviet Union and the United States, al Qaeda gained strength throughout the 1990s, leading to the deadliest attack on American soil on Se…

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#132: Bootstrapper Serving Private Equity Firms Acquired by PE-Backed Strategic – Richard Change 1:09:35

3M ago1:09:35

1:09:35

Richard Change is co-founder and CEO of PFA Solutions, the provider of FirmView software. FirmView® is the leading carry and compensation management platform for private equity investors to manage their internal compensation from fees and carried interest. Richard was a senior architect for a large private equity firm when he discovered this comple…

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#131: No-Code SaaS Platform Bootstrapped to 75,000 Customers – Rachit Khator 1:03:43

3M ago1:03:43

1:03:43

Rachit Khator is the founder and CEO of Stackby, a no-code spreadsheet and database app builder that allows business users to create powerful spreadsheet-like applications with data links, automations, and workflows. Rachit and his team of 34 employees live in Surat, India, north of Mumbai. Stackby started when Rachit was working for a corporate ve…

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Episode 2: How Democracy Failed in Russia 45:24

3M ago45:24

45:24

America was on top of the world in the 1990s as its erstwhile rival, Russia, was struggling to find its footing. President Boris Yelstin's liberal reforms were soon dashed by economic crises and infighting among Russian elites. US policymakers also contributed to this tragedy, which would lead to Vladimir Putin's rise by the end of the decade. In t…

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#130: Profitable Product-Led Growth to $30 Million Before Big Exit – Joe Hyrkin 1:07:58

4M ago1:07:58

1:07:58

Joe Hyrkin is the former CEO of Issuu, a content publishing platform for interactive marketing content. Issuu allows you to easily publish printable and PDF materials in various formats to websites and social media. It’s a global product-led success story with millions of customers and a successful and sustainable business. Issuu was started by fou…

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#129: On Freedom and Ownership With Software Entrepreneur Brian Hamilton 1:06:34

4M ago1:06:34

1:06:34

Brian Hamilton is one of America’s most successful entrepreneurs and a leading expert on entrepreneurship. Today, Hamilton serves as chairman of software company LiveSwitch. He is known for his pioneering work in fintech, his advocacy for small businesses, and his commitment to criminal justice reform. As the founder of Sageworks (now Abrigo), Amer…

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Episode 1: Dawn of Unipolarity 42:32

4M ago42:32

42:32

The 1990s were a decade of transformation and optimism. Teenagers were listening to grunge rock and hip hop on their walkmans. Flannels and jean jackets became staples of ‘90s fashion. And seemingly without warning, the Cold War was over, the Soviet Union had dissolved, and the United States emerged as the sole superpower. Today’s world seems more …

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#128: Solving a Challenging SaaS Growth Puzzle - Scott Desgrosseilliers 1:04:33

4M ago1:04:33

1:04:33

Scott Desgrosseilliers is the founder and CEO of Wicked Reports, a leading multi-touch marketing attribution software for SMBs who use paid online advertising. Scott is a data and analytics expert who saw the costly limitations of simple performance reports from popular ad platforms. Wicked Reports was started as a bootstrapped software company in …

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#127: Scaling SaaS with Efficient Growth and Practical Funding - Bryan Forrester 1:11:52

4M ago1:11:52

1:11:52

Bryan Forrester is CEO of Boostlingo, a leading on-demand platform for language live interpretation services that is growing quickly and can become a very large company. Boostlingo now has 160 employees and over 17,000 language interpreters who use their software to manage jobs, coordinate schedules, deliver interpreting services, and get paid. Bry…

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#126: Jason Fried on 20 Years Bootstrapping BaseCamp at 37signals 57:57

4M ago57:57

57:57

Jason Fried is the co-founder and CEO of 37signals, makers of the popular Basecamp project management software, which is still growing and very profitable after 20 years. He is going long and still having fun as an engaged CEO, building great products with great marketing that stands out. Jason has long advocated for software founders to avoid VC f…

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#125: Created the World’s Largest Subscription Service for Creative Design – Russ Perry 1:08:10

5M ago1:08:10

1:08:10

Quote from Russ Perry, founder and CEO of Design Pickle “The game for practical SaaS founders really comes down to recognizing that there is a large market size for very boring niche companies. Finding that niche is the fastest path to success. Don’t be afraid to be boring and specific. “If I were to do Design Pickle all over again, I would have ju…

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Bonus: Sit Down with Your Hosts 3.0 16:10

5M ago16:10

16:10

Send us a text On this episode of Africa's Big Switch Podcast, hosts Celine, Lys, Bolaji and Hassana reflect on the 10 episodes released in 2024. They discuss their favourite episodes, progress and give insights into the future direction of the podcast. The conversation takes on a more casual and chat-like tone rather than a formal interview. Speci…

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#124: From Services to SaaS Products to a Successful Acquisition in India - Sunando Bhattacharya 1:05:41

5M ago1:05:41

1:05:41

Sunando Bhattacharya spent 13 years as a business leader in managed IT services companies in India before starting his own cloud tech services business. This company grew slowly and an opportunity arose to create a software product for one of their clients. Two years later, in 2019, they had a few more Apiculus product customers and focused more on…

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#123: How Practical Founders Are Winning Big with Growth Equity Funding – Growth Street Partners 57:37

5M ago57:37

57:37

Steve Wolfe and Nate Grossman are co-founders at Growth Street Partners, a growth equity firm focused on investing in early-stage B2B SaaS companies between $2M-$6M in ARR. They discuss how growth equity funding works for SaaS founders and how it allows entrepreneurs to maintain control while still benefiting from investment and liquidity. In this …

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#122: Going Long With Profitable Embedded Accounting Software After 13 Years – Raj Bhaskar 1:02:14

5M ago1:02:14

1:02:14

Raj Bhaskar is a successful two-time practical software founder with one exit. In 2000, he started his first software company, VisualHOMES, to provide a comprehensive financial management software to public housing agencies. With no outside funding, the business grew to serve 65 regional providers serving 2 million residents before Yardi Systems ac…

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#121: Avoided a VC Round Using Royalty-Based Funding With No Equity Dilution – Vince Hsieh 1:05:36

6M ago1:05:36

1:05:36

Vince Hsieh is a two-time entrepreneur who has started, grown, and sold two industrial tech companies that included software and either an RFID or GPS device in the solutions. His second venture, Geoforce, raised a non-dilutive funding round to accelerate global growth before being successfully acquired by private equity investors LLR Partners in 2…

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#120: Practical Founder Exits for $300 Million Cash with Identity Verification Platform – Bill Spruill 1:03:51

6M ago1:03:51

1:03:51

Bill Spruill had a successful sales and executive career with two exits before he and his cofounder struck out on their own in the location verification market serving financial and e-commerce companies. Sales grew slowly for several years as they scraped by and kept going. Eventually, they pivoted the company to focus on identity verification and …

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#119: Growing His Third Side Gig SaaS Venture After Selling His First Two – Troy Munson 1:03:48

6M ago1:03:48

1:03:48

Troy Munson has been a successful enterprise SaaS sales rep for several years, but he wanted more control over his life—and eventual financial independence. So he launched his own small startup on the side. He learned a lot and sold it before launching his second side gig software company, which he sold for a little bit more. He started his third s…

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Female Microentrepreneurs Fighting Poverty with Clean Energy Through Pollinate Group 20:40

6M ago20:40

20:40

How can women in India and Nepal be empowered as micro-entrepreneurs to combat poverty, promote gender equality, and increase access to renewable energy?In this episode, we speak with Sujatha Ramani from Pollinate Group. We discuss how this non-profit organization empowers female entrepreneurs, known as "Suryamukhi," by providing financing for life…

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E32 Duara Education: Women-Led Schools, Community-Led Change 39:29

6M ago39:29

39:29

Send us a text On this episode of ABS, we sat down with Victoria Peill, founder of Duara Education, a social enterprise that is empowering female teachers to create community-based micro schools. Victoria's background spans, education, entrepreneurship and strategy, including roles with African leadership, group posting, consulting group and teachi…

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#118: The Silent PLG Killers: Why Smart Founders Fail at Product-Led Growth - Wes Bush 1:04:23

6M ago1:04:23

1:04:23

Wes Bush is CEO of ProductLed, a coaching and education company that has helped almost 500 serious SaaS founders to succeed with product-led growth strategies, tactics, and execution. These include freemium products and free trials, where the product itself creates the awareness, engagement, and enthusiasm to buy before any human intervention (aka …

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#117: Bootstrapped to 9 Figure Exit in Online Education for Real Estate - Michael McAllister 1:18:14

7M ago1:18:14

1:18:14

Michael McAllister is the founder and former CEO of The CE Shop, the leading provider of pre-licensing and continuing education for real estate professionals in the U.S. Michael started The CE Shop in 2005 by distributing existing training materials from a continuing education provider. They quickly created their own online education solution and p…

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#116: The Do’s and Don’ts of Adding Offshore Software Development Talent – Matt Watson 55:34

7M ago55:34

55:34

Last year I interviewed three-time software founder Matt Watson on this podcast about his successful practical founder journeys. Matt leveraged offshore software development talent in his last two SaaS companies to staff up quickly and grow efficiently. His top developers and designers were offshore in the Philippines, but they weren’t one-off cont…

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E31: Angel Investing with Innovate Africa Fund 40:42

7M ago40:42

40:42

Send us a text On this episode of ABS, we sat down with Kristin Wilson. Kristen currently works for the Innovate Africa Fund as the Managing Partner and Bold Angel Network, she crafts innovative solutions that combine human operations, data analytics, and software to drive growth for SMEs and start-ups in sub-Saharan Africa. The Innovate Africa Fun…

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#115: The SaaS Startup Success Where “Build It And They Will Come” Actually Worked – Quickli 1:00:12

7M ago1:00:12

1:00:12

Eric Dill was a successful mortgage broker in Sydney, Australia, who struggled with the same painful problem as every other broker: manually checking with multiple banks to validate and price mortgages for homeowners. Eric and his good friend Angus Keatinge resolved to create a software product to solve this complicated and chronic problem. Quickli…

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#114: Practical Founder Plays to Win Among Giant Partners and Competitors – Guy Rubin 57:57

8M ago57:57

57:57

Guy Rubin is the co-founder and CEO of ebsta, a revenue intelligence platform that works with Salesforce and Hubspot to automatically analyze existing data to improve sales performance. Started in London in 2012, ebsta found success in the early days of the Salesforce marketplace and addon economy as a data tool integrated with customer emails. ebs…

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E30 Sierra Leone's Path to Digital Learning and Education Reform 50:12

8M ago50:12

50:12

Send us a text On this episode of ABS, we sat down with Modupe Poku. Modupe currently works for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change as the Education Advisor to the Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education focusing specifically on digital learning. The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change partners with political leaders to drive mea…

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#113: Grew and Sold a Simulation Learning Platform for Higher Education - Stu Draper 1:08:09

8M ago1:08:09

1:08:09

Stuart Draper founded Stukent, an innovative ed-tech company that provides simulated internships for business students. Stukent started by focusing on high-quality digital marketing education for colleges and universities using up-to-date digital textbooks and content. They then added a simulation system for students to practice their digital marke…

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E29 Navigating Corporate Finance and Venture Capital in Emerging Markets 59:00

8M ago59:00

59:00

Send us a text On this episode of ABS, we sat down with Toni Sanni, Head Corporate Finance and Venture Capital at the Emerging Africa Group. The Emerging Africa Group is an ESG-focused organization that partners with investors to bridge Africa's financial gap and support sustainable development. With over $1 billion raised, it offers financing and …

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