#14: Growing Levo from Side Hustle to 8.6 Million Members and Raising $8 Million in Funding with Caroline Ghosn

About the Episode:

In this episode, we’re talking to Caroline Ghosn, founder and CEO of Levo—a professional network dedicated to helping millennials in the workplace.

Levo, which started as a side hustle back while Caroline was working her first job out of school at McKinsey and Company, has now grown to more than 8.6 Million members.

She was recognized by Fast Company as one of the most Creative People in Business back in 2013 and she’s gone on to raise more than $8 Million in funding from top angel investors & VC’s.

Amongst many things Levo does, they host office hours where members can tune in to get career & business advice from people like Warren Buffet, Sheryl Sandberg, Kevin Spacey and more.

In Today’s Episode, We Talk About:

[02:49] We start off by finding out which business book Caroline is reading at the moment.
[03:47] She talks about how millennials think about retirement.
[05:09] What her company, Levo, is up to at the moment.
[09:24] Caroline talks about Levo’s humble beginnings back; while it was still a side project.
[12:41] What made her decide to quit her full-time job and focus on her side hustle.
[17:40] How long it took for Levo’s to make it’s first ‘meaningful’ dollar.
[18:22] How the day-to-day roles change as the company’s funding grows.
[21:21] Her single best piece of advice for anyone who’s starting a business and needs funding.
[22:16] The early failures and setbacks she had experienced with her company, Levo.
[26:40] How Caroline and her team quickly got their first 100 then 10,000 members of her community.
[31:55] She gives insights on the ROI of her partnerships with Warren Buffet, Sheryl Sandberg, Kevin Spacey and more.
[35:33] Her best piece of advice for anyone who wants to validate an idea for a side project.
[36:08] Sacrifices she had to make to create enough time for her company.
[40:20] The best investment she’s made, particularly in validating the idea for Levo.

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Resources Mentioned:

The Last Safe Investment by Bryan Franklin

How to Know When It’s Time to Leave Your Job (on Forbes)

Connect with My Guest:

www.levo.com

Caroline on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

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