You Might Also Like: The Unshakeables

The Great Detectives Present Yours Truly Johnny Dollar (Old Time Radio)

Adam Graham

Performing Arts, Fiction, Arts, Drama

4.6 • 860 Ratings

🗓️ 9 March 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Introducing Bootstrapping Clean Energy: Vessyll from The Unshakeables.

Follow the show: The Unshakeables

A few years ago, Zahra Hargens-Illiff discovered batteries light her up. She built her own battery prototype in her garage and hit the VC circuit. But after a series of disappointing rejections, she took matters into her own hands and bootstrapped her first few products. A decision that took a lot of courage but one that is paying off. Join Ben Walter and Kathleen Griffith as they chat with Zahra about a clean energy future. Discover what it takes to actually build a battery prototype and hear about the grant that almost launched her company (but ended up costing her $17,000). Zahra also has one of the best entrepreneurial coping mechanisms Ben has ever heard. These are The Unshakeables.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to [email protected].

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	It takes a lot of things to start a small business.
0:13.0	You need a great idea, you need drive, you need determination,
0:17.0	sometimes you need a great partner, many times a great product. But you always, no matter what,
0:23.8	need cash. When Zara Hargan's I-Lift launched her company, Vessel, she had all of that,
0:31.0	except the cash. It's not like she didn't try. She took Vessel all over, looking for someone
0:36.6	to believe in her vision. But the
0:38.4	answer was always the same. Well, go sell some. Let us know how it went, and that's successful,
0:45.4	we'll come back and maybe fund you later on. Well, when you're building a small business,
0:49.9	you need the money now. I was shocked. But somewhere between the fifth and the tenth rejection,
0:56.5	it was like, ah, yeah, this is not going to work.
0:59.1	It was very defeating and now it was taking a lot of blows.
1:02.0	But Zara had to make it work.
1:04.1	I got really frustrated.
1:06.0	And then I was just something in my head goes,
1:09.0	F it, you're going it alone.
1:10.9	We're just going to go for it.
1:14.2	On today's episode, how she did it.
1:21.0	Welcome to the unshakables from Chase for Business and Ruby Studio from IHeart Media.
1:31.0	I'm Ben Walter, CEO of Chase for Business. On the unshakables, we're sharing the daring moments of
1:36.9	small business owners facing their crisis points and telling the stories of how they got through it.
1:42.2	We'll hear more from Zara, but I'd like to welcome Kathleen
1:45.3	Griffith back to the unshakables. Hey, Kathleen, how are you? Welcome back. So glad to be back in the
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -18 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Adam Graham, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Adam Graham and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.