Wealthing Podcast

The Wealthing Podcast is a natural expansion of the work we do at the Wealthing Group. We want to bring exciting, new ideas, that reflect how we grow and create wealth for everyone, bringing technology, inspiration, capital, and progress.We share a highlight of an after-dinner conversation in a 15-20 min format. We see to bring a different, refreshing, no-nonsense podcast, that could be heard over a commute, a walk, or a break. https://wealthing.club

Wealthing Podcast is a business podcast hosted by Alicia Castillo Holley, with 76 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Alicia Castillo Holley hosts Wealthing Podcast, a business show with 76 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #76

  From Saudi Activism to Silicon Valley: Samah Damanhoori on Purpose and Resilience Ep. 76

  Aug 12, 202634 min

  In this episode of the Wealthing Podcast, host Alicia Castillo Holley sits down with founder, tech developer, and women's rights activist Samah Damanhoori to discuss her journey from Saudi Arabia to Silicon Valley. After losing support from her family and country due to her activism, Samah channeled her personal struggles and love of knowledge into creating BlendBound Inc. BlendBound's debut title, Folded, is an emotional sandbox game and AI tool designed to help players reflect on their identity, build emotional intelligence, and preserve hope. The conversation explores the cultural values Samah carries from her home country, the therapeutic power of storytelling, and her mission to foster self-worth and purpose in younger generations before critical developmental milestones. Throughout the interview, the dialogue moves between Samah's personal experiences, including her work diversifying the voice of Siri and navigating exile, and Alicia's own reflections on life, family, and aging. Together, they touch on themes of resilience and what it means to leave a lasting, positive legacy behind. About Samah: Samah Damanhoori is a strategic operator and founder with 10+ years of experience translating complex vision into clear execution across technology, media, and startups. She specializes in building structure where it's missing—aligning cross-functional teams, designing operational systems, and driving delivery in fast-moving environments. Her work spans companies like Apple, Meta, HBO, Genentech, and Genvid. Today, she operates as Founder & CEO of Blendbound, where she leads the development of Folded, an open-world sandbox game exploring identity, creativity, and emotional gameplay. Connect with Samah: www.linkedin.com/in/samah-damanhoori BlendBound: www.blendbound.co Folded (Steam Link): store.steampowered.com/app/4603570/Folded_Inner_Journey Wealthing Club: www.wealthing.club

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  Episode #75

  Following the Money: Adrian & Senofer Mendoza on Narrative vs. Reality in Late-Seed & Series A Ep. 75

  Aug 5, 20261h 2m

  This week on the Wealthing Podcast, host Alicia Castillo Holley is joined by Adrian and Senofer Mendoza for an extended episode on the Mendoza's decade-long journey co-founding and scaling Mendoza Ventures into a multi-fund venture capital firm. Drawing from their early experiences as tech founders navigating a notoriously difficult pre-seed market in 2014, Adrian and Senofer offer an authentic, operator-turned-investor perspective on what it takes to build a sustainable firm. Over the course of three funds and 150 limited partners, they break down their strategic evolution from pre-seed micro-bets to leading late-seed and Series A rounds, detailing how they identify high-conviction thematic opportunities across decentralized finance (DeFi) and the rapidly expanding LATAM ecosystem. The conversation dives deep into the realities of modern venture investing, emphasizing why investors must look past market hype to ensure narratives are grounded in real operational experience and unit economics. As underrepresented minorities in an industry historically lacking diversity, Adrian and Senofer candidly address the systemic challenges female and Latino founders face, offering tactical advice on navigating capital access while leveraging unique perspectives as an investment edge. The pair also tackle the dual nature of AI, analyzing how machine learning accelerates venture workflows while underscoring the critical need for human judgment and data accuracy. Ultimately, the discussion circles back to their driving vision for wealth and legacy: using their platform to open doors, mentor the next generation, and institutionalize pathways for underrepresented leaders across the broader venture capital ecosystem. About Senofer: Senofer Mendoza is a founder and General Partner of Mendoza Ventures, a Boston based pre-seed Fintech, AI, and Cybersecurity venture capital firm. After having a career in enterprise sales and hospitality design, she began Mendoza Ventures to address the growing funding gap in the pre-seed investment stage. The firm was launched in January of 2016 and invests internationally in the Cybersecurity, AI, and Fintech space. She is a published author, innovator, and thought leader in the technology, startup, and VC space with a passion for equity and diversity. About Adrian: Adrian is the founder and general partner at Mendoza Ventures which is both Latinx and woman-owned and the first Latinx-founded VC fund on the east coast. His firm focuses on investments in Fintech, AI, and Cybersecurity, with diversity playing an important role in their investment decisions—about 80% of their portfolio consists of startups led by immigrants, people of color, and women. Since its founding seven years ago, Mendoza Ventures has raised two funds and had two successful exits. The firm is currently raising its third fund, a $100M fintech fund anchored by Bank of America, focused on early growth funding rounds. In 2022, Axios Magazine listed Adrian as one of the five most influential people in Boston and the LA Times honored Adrian as a DEI visionary as one of California's most prominent game-changers and thought leaders in the business world today. Adrian is also a regular contributor on CNBC on the state of Venture capital in the US and the firm has recently been covered in Forbes, Bloomberg, and The Boston Globe. Connect with Senofer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/senofermendoza/ Connect with Adrian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianmendozavc/ Mendoza Ventures: https://mendoza-ventures.com/ Wealthing Club: www.wealthing.club

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  Episode #74

  Investing in Women's Health: La Keisha Landrum Pierre on Capital Efficiency, Syndication, and Legacy Ep. 74

  Jul 29, 202634 min

  La Keisha Landrum Pierre joins host Alicia Castillo Holley on this episode of The Wealthing Podcast to trace her journey from an aspiring childhood storyteller to her role as Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Emmeline Ventures. Focusing on early-stage, women-led businesses—particularly across women's health, wealth, and well-being—La Keisha breaks down what it takes to challenge systemic funding disparities in venture capital. Drawing on her foundational experience, she offers an insider's perspective on the power of operator-led investing, syndication, and radical collaboration in building a healthier, more equitable startup ecosystem. The conversation explores the critical mechanics of the venture ecosystem, highlighting why sharing deal flow and fostering cross-fund collaboration creates stronger outcomes for investors and founders alike. Moving beyond pitch deck tactics, La Keisha emphasizes the necessity for early-stage founders to understand venture capital as a business model, urging entrepreneurs to develop a deep respect for money as an instrument for leverage and progress rather than just a survival metric. Grounded in reflections on family, legacy, and personal fulfillment, the discussion illustrates La Keisha's holistic vision for building generational wealth—showing that true venture success lies in aligning capital with purpose, supporting transformational founders, and maintaining a sustainable balance between professional ambition and personal life. About La Keisha: La Keisha Landrum Pierre is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Emmeline Ventures, an early-stage VC fund, where she invests in healthcare, fintech, and sustainability solutions built by female founders. She invests in the most promising female founders across these sectors and has spent the last 13+ years building world-class operational teams, infusing strategic excellence and scalability into impact focused companies. Prior to Emmeline Ventures, La Keisha was the Managing Director of NLA Ventures, an early stage fund where she also invested in healthcare, sustainability and cybersecurity. Prior to NLA Ventures, La Keisha built a career working at the intersection of tech, impact, and digital media. As the CEO of one Nigeria's largest digital media start-ups, Sahara Reporters Media Group, La Keisha built and scaled the first civic media platform of its kind. With venture backing for an African company when Africa was an overlooked market, she grew the company from 2MM to 50MM monthly users, positioning it for investment by impact funds, and raising millions in funding. She partnered with the Omidyar Network, MacArthur, Google and Bloomberg Philanthropies to found the first of its kind Civic Media Lab, Lagos with support from the MIT Center for Civic Media. There, she was the Executive Director and today sits on the board of the Civic Media Lab, Nigeria. She is also now the Chairwoman of Sahara Reporters. La Keisha is a 2x founder of Harvard Innovation Lab incubated start-ups and was a deep-tech researcher at the Youth and Media Group at Harvard Law School's Berkman Klein Center where she studied the intersection of digital and media literacies for youth. La Keisha brings domain expertise in building and scaling impact-driven companies, taking complex business challenges and designing solutions that create lasting financial and social change in the world. Connect with La Keisha: www.linkedin.com/in/lnlpierre Emmeline Ventures: www.emmelineventures.vc Wealthing Club: www.wealthing.club

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  Episode #73

  Satellites, Energy, and Mars: Dr. Oleg Demidov on the Macro Cycles of Deep Tech Innovation Ep. 73

  Jul 22, 202637 min

  This week on the Wealthing Podcast, host Alicia Castillo-Holley is joined by Oleg Demidov, who details his evolution from a PhD in space technologies and two-time founder to his current role as a General Partner at Beyond Earth Ventures. Focusing on the frontier sectors of energy, space, robotics, and compute, Oleg reflects on the massive paradigm shifts currently reshaping global infrastructure. Drawing on his deep entrepreneurial journey, he offers a rare, operator-turned-investor perspective on what it takes to build and fund companies that push the physical boundaries of human capability. The conversation explores the sweeping horizons of the future space economy, moving from low Earth orbit commercialization to the establishment of a lunar economy and the eventual push toward Mars, all while navigating the complexities of international regulations and resource management. Beyond space, Oleg shares grounded, tactical lessons for builders, emphasizing the strategic advantages of launching in the U.S. market, the critical importance of selecting the right co-founders and early capital, and the often-overlooked impact of macro market cycles on a startup's survival. Ultimately, the discussion highlights Oleg's holistic vision for wealth and legacy: balancing family with a steadfast commitment to accelerating the clean energy transition, supporting the aerospace ecosystem, and capitalizing on the explosive convergence of AI, compute, and energy infrastructure. About Oleg: Dr. Oleg Demidov is an operator-turned-investor and General Partner at Beyond Earth Ventures, a U.S. venture fund backing deep tech, energy, and space technologies. With a PhD in Physics & Mathematics and an MA in Economics, Oleg brings over a decade of hands-on experience building AI, satellite, and climate tech companies from zero to commercial scale. As a two-time founder, he successfully built and exited Navigine (indoor/satellite positioning deployed across 10 countries) and CarbonSpace (AI/satellite carbon data infrastructure serving Fortune 500 enterprises). In addition to his venture work, Oleg co-founded the first Space Tech Syndicate on AngelList (800+ investors), serves as a mentor at Creative Destruction Lab, and advises Family Offices on co-investment strategies in future-defining technologies. Based between California and Europe, he specializes in deep tech due diligence, cross-border deal origination, and helping early-stage founders scale breakthrough innovations. Connect with Oleg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-oleg-demidov-02193414/ Beyond Earth Ventures: beyondearth.vc Wealthing Club: www.wealthing.club

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  Episode #72

  The LLM Visibility Paradigm: Sebastien Staub on Premium Digital Assets and the Future of AI Search Ep. 72

  Jul 15, 202634 min

  This week on the Wealthing Podcast, host Alicia Castillo-Holley is joined by one of her former students, Sebastien Staub, who details his fascinating career in digital real estate and AI-driven visibility. As the founder of salesandmarketing.ai—a cutting-edge platform designed to audit digital footprints and online visibility across 17 distinct Large Language Models (LLMs)—Sebastien reflects on the massive paradigm shift currently reshaping how the world accesses information. He shares his unconventional journey to Rodrigues, Mauritius, where he operates his global tech ventures while raising his three children in a peaceful, remote environment, demonstrating a unique balance between high-level business execution and intentional lifestyle design. The conversation explores Sebastien's distinct wealth-creation philosophy, which centers on acquiring high-value digital assets like premium domain names, highlighted by historic transactions such as the $70 million sale of AI.com. Emphasizing the importance of being first to market, Sebastien details how traditional Google SEO is rapidly giving way to conversational AI discovery, leaving legacy brands highly vulnerable if they fail to adapt. To help the next generation of entrepreneurs capitalize on this transition, he recommends focusing on building AI-native websites specifically optimized for LLM crawlers rather than old-school search engine algorithms. Ultimately, the discussion highlights how geographic freedom and digital real estate can converge to build a lasting legacy and a deeply fulfilling life. About Sebastien: Sebastien Staub is a serial entrepreneur and founder of multiple AI-driven commerce platforms, including AI.commerce.computer powered by SalesMarketing.ai. He focuses on building AI-native infrastructure for product discovery and recommendations, targeting technology brands and enterprise decision-makers. His content promotes his digital assets, shares industry insights, and engages with tech professionals globally. He launched the first Real Estate and Tourism AI platforms in Mauritius and continues to build. Connect with Sebastien: www.linkedin.com/in/serge-sebastienstaub Website: SalesMarketing.ai 🌐 Wealthing Club: www.wealthing.club

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