Founder Guidance
Why this former corporate ‘intrepreneur’ decided to finally start her own company
Nicole Semeraro left healthcare leadership to build Karias Health—and rethink how consumers navigate one of the country’s most confusing industries.
JH
Jamila Huxtable
Jamila Huxtable is a reporter for Morning Brew’s Founder Brew, where she covers the people and ideas behind building a business, with a focus on how capital, access, and opportunity shape who gets to become a founder. She reports on funding pathways for early-stage and aspiring entrepreneurs, women-led and underrepresented businesses, and the systems expanding access to entrepreneurship across industries. Prior to joining Founder Brew, she produced and wrote social and short-form economics content for Marketplace and worked in audio journalism at NPR, contributing to shows like Morning Edition and Planet Money.
The Financials
Founders want more than a check from their investors
Founders in Atlanta are becoming more deliberate about outside investment—raising less, looking elsewhere, and demanding more from investors when they do take the money.
Founder Life
In-person startup hubs can provide more than just office space for founders
Atlanta Tech Village has built a community around putting founders in the same room. But as remote work and online networks make it easier to build a company from anywhere, founders are asking what a physical startup hub can offer that they can’t get online.
Founder Guidance
All in a day’s work: Balancing a full-time job while building a business
Four founders explain how full-time jobs funded their startups, reduced risk, and shaped smarter business decisions—even when the juggling act came at a cost.
Growing Your Business
How Liquid Death's founder plans to turn water into 'the funniest brand in the world’
Liquid Death founder and CEO Mike Cessario explains how the company built demand for a commodity product, why humor became its secret weapon, and the costly decisions behind scaling the brand.
Founder Leadership
Why Jobber's founders say strangers make better co-founders
Jobber co-founders Sam Pillar and Forrest Zeisler met by chance in an Edmonton coffee shop. They explain why not being friends first helped them build trust, challenge each other, and become better leaders.
Founder Leadership
The founder of Balian Springs on the stressful parts of the spa business
Stephanie Chon didn't set out to become an expert in permits, construction, and commercial operations. But building one of the East Coast's largest wellness destinations required mastering the challenges of brick-and-mortar entrepreneurship—and rethinking what modern wellness could look like.
Founder Guidance
After his mom’s cancer diagnosis, Jeremy Gurewitz built Solace to help patients
Solace cofounder Jeremy Gurewitz shares how a family health crisis inspired him to build patient advocacy into a service.
Founder Guidance
An older founder explains why retirement age could be the best time to start a business
More Americans are launching later in life. Veteran communications executive Karen Wickre shares what she learned leaving the corporate world to build a solo consulting practice—and why experience can be an entrepreneur's greatest advantage.
Founder Leadership
How Cava CEO Brett Schulman earned the trust of the original founders
Brett Schulman joined Cava after its three original founders had already launched a restaurant. He discusses joining as a leader, making difficult decisions as the company scaled, and why letting go became one of the hardest parts of leading a fast-growing brand.