TechTalk: Bridging Gaps: Turning Ideas into Scalable Ventures Through Innovation and Community

Jon Chu:

Hi Janine, thanks for having me today.

Janina Teoxon:

For our listeners, Jon, briefly explain what Revolv is.

Jon Chu:

Sure, Janine. So Revolv is a community-driven platform. We're fully focused on dedicating it to support underrepresented founders with some experienced industry leaders who can create meaningful impact. To be short, our mission is to bridge the gap between our talent and opportunities. We want to provide early-stage founders with the funding, mentorship, and strategic resources that needs to grow sustainable, impactful businesses. So at Revolv, we bring together diverse voices. Either you're a young innovator to an industry expert, we really want to try to foster a collaborative space where ideas thrive, experiences are shared, and innovations are really built on the foundation of being inclusive and supporting our communities.

Janina Teoxon:

Well, that's great and fascinating. Supporting underrepresented founders is such an important priority. And I'll just say, here at EisnerAmper, we've been also involved in similar initiatives, so I'm really eager to learn more about the community that you are building. Jon, I know you have over 20 years of experience in product, operations, and leadership across various industries, so how did your journey shape your vision for Revolv?

Jon Chu:

Yeah. So it is really a good story, because throughout my career I had the privilege of working really across multiple industries, whether it's banking, hedge funds, media, or even consumer tech, and those specific industries I led in product, strategy, and digital transformation. My experiences really at one point exposed me to the power of innovation and understanding what the gaps or opportunities, and really how do I align that with communities in the underrepresented markets. And when I'm speaking with these founders, I really saw some really great ideas that really lack the support that they need to scale and really a lot of untapped potential and a lot of missed opportunities. So it really inspires me to create Revolv, a platform that we can combine strategic resources for the founders that need it.

Janina Teoxon:

That's awesome. In my experience working with a variety of tech clients, I've noticed that a clear vision often stems from a deep understanding of industry challenges, which I think you have that, and it's interesting to hear how your own personal and professional experience has impacted your journey. So you said that Revolv is supporting underrepresented founders. And I think you touched upon this a little bit, but is there a specific problem that Revolv is aiming to solve? There's a bunch of communities out there that's probably having that same vision, so what makes your approach so unique?

Jon Chu:

Here at Revolv, we really focus on understanding what is missing from building a scalable business specifically for these founders. Typically, founders do find challenges in funding the right mentorship or just strategic insights that allow them to be focused on sustainable businesses. So our approach is really quite unique because we're not only investing in companies, we're investing in people. We're creating a multi-generational community that not only includes young founders, but we're also bringing experienced industry leaders together to foster an environment. So that is literally a revolution in terms of how we're helping the young and helping the old in that sense. We provide early stage founders with access to business frameworks, industry connections, and guidance of people who've done it before. Revolv really combines the resources together. We use AI, and we can talk about that a little bit later, in how we're going to drive really data-driven insights so that we can have founders really build these businesses for sustainable success.

Janina Teoxon:

That's really great and very interesting. The challenges that you are addressing through Revolv is very real. In fact, founders that I've worked with have faced similar struggles, so this makes Revolv's mission particularly meaningful to me. So Jon, you are AI strategist, and I think you said that we're going to talk about AI. So what particular innovative technologies are you leveraging at Revolv?

Jon Chu:

Yes. So we are building some advanced language models. We use it primarily to build our research team around it. So we have some what we call agentic AI as part of our research staff. We use it to develop this, at the end of the day, a proprietary networking platform. And that platform allows every founder, every fellow that's part of Revolv to receive tailored insights, business frameworks, and networking connections that they need to succeed. Our companies really that we look at is, if they're not focused on AI, we're going to bring them into the world of AI by upskilling them, understanding how AI can help their business, either from a scalability or an adaptability perspective. Again, it's all about aligning and embedding the right business models and technologies into the DNA of the startups that we cover, making them really resilient and really future forward.

Janina Teoxon:

Very interesting, and that's so amazing to hear. You are integrating tech to supporting underrepresented founders, and these thoughtful solutions really can drive change in a very meaningful way. So thanks for sharing that. Jon, I'm aware that Revolv has built strategic partnerships with universities, industry leaders, and corporate partners. What insights can you share about forming and leveraging such partnerships?

Jon Chu:

Wow. Yeah. This is the best part of building Revolv, is our partners. I treat our partners as a critical pillar to just evolving this business or this platform. Building partnerships to me means that you have to align on missions and our values. With Revolv, we have sort of three legs of partnerships. We partnership with universities, industry leaders, and even our corporate partners. In the university side, we really want to tap into the fresh talent, the ideas that are coming out of these universities. We're also working with the academic side to understand the insights of a trending technology industry or topic that they're looking into. From an industry and a leader's perspective, obviously the mentorship, right? Executives, industry experts that are coming from these larger corporations, they're looking to give back into the community. They're looking to provide their expertise into the real-world perspective. Of course, our corporate partnerships, Revolv and myself, we have been speaking a lot about this era of AI that we're looking into. In the next 10 years, a lot of corporations are looking to evolve or transform their business strategies, and Revolv is here to kind of help them think that through. But also leveraging corporate partnerships from a sponsorship perspective as well, again, is a very heavy lift to building Revolv and the mission behind it, but obviously the help from all of these partners are so powerful and critical at the same time.

Janina Teoxon:

Jon, those are all great tips. You're getting perspectives from many sources, from young generations up to more experienced individuals and even corporate partners. So Jon, as we wrap up our conversation, what final piece of advice would you like to share to our listeners, especially those who are aspiring founders or innovators?

Jon Chu:

Yeah. My advice would be stay grounded in your purpose. You got to be flexible in your approach. The path of building something meaningful is never linear. There will always be challenges, but your purpose is, you got to keep moving, right? Surround yourself with great mentors. You want to seek out kind of diverse perspective, different ideas, different feedback. But don't be afraid to kind of move forward, but you got to move forward in a collaborative approach. Building a business is more than just being a product person or a CEO or a founder, it's about the people you connect along the way, the value you're creating for your audience, which in some cases is your customers. And at Revolv, we're here to remind founders that you don't have to do it alone. The support is here. You got to be seen, you got to be heard. You got to be belonging to the space that you're so much tied to and believe in.

Janina Teoxon:

Incredibly insightful, Jon. I love how you said that you got to keep moving. You have to have a diverse perspective. I heard collaboration, that founders out there are not alone. So I think that's something a lot of aspiring founders out there can really connect with that and learn from. So I appreciate you sharing that, Jon, and thanks for being so, so open about your journey with us.

Jon Chu:

Thanks for the talk today. It's been really great to connect, and I hope to connect with everyone who is listening in this podcast. We'll talk very soon.

Janina Teoxon:

Thanks, Jon, too, for taking the time to have a conversation with me today. And thanks to our listeners for tuning into TechTalk, the entrepreneurs and innovators to turn to EisnerAmper for audit, tax, advisory, and outsourcing solutions to help propel their business forward. Subscribe to the EisnerAmper podcast to listen to more TechTalk episodes or visit EisnerAmper.com for more tech news you can use.

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