Ep 09: Cole Graham

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In this episode of Charge the Wave, we welcome guest Cole Graham, Co-Founder of Virtual Fork, an Austin, TX-based kitchen marketplace company. With Virtual Fork, restaurateurs can monetize their downtime by hosting another food business as a renter, and get the tools they need for a smooth operational relationship with their partner.

Tune in to this episode as Cole talks about:

• His cultural background and how it molded his personality
• What got him interested in entrepreneurship
• Why and how he co-founded Virtual Fork
• His journey as a startup and advice for those who want to start a business
• Different tools he uses when dealing with a crisis situation

About Cole Graham:

Cole Graham attended USC as part of the World Bachelor in Business program, spending his second year in Hong Kong and his third year in Milan, Italy. Each school had a different focus, with USC focusing on entrepreneurship, Hong Kong focusing on finance, and Milan focusing on law. Cole found the opportunity to live in different countries and experience new cultures just as valuable as their classroom education.

Cole always had a passion for entrepreneurship, inspired by companies like Microsoft and Amazon in his hometown of Seattle. He gained firsthand business experience in the aviation industry, solving industry problems and working in business and product development.

In 2020, Cole co-founded Virtual Fork. They identified the challenges faced by kitchen owners, such as high costs and difficulties with leases, and saw an opportunity to provide cheaper and more accessible kitchen space. Their goal was to help hosts diversify their revenue streams and increase their revenue.

As a startup founder, Cole believes in making decisions that benefit everyone involved, considering the customer’s perspective, the team, and themselves as founders. They emphasize the importance of trust and plan to implement updates to their marketplace and tools to improve trust between hosts and guests.

Learn more about Cole Graham:

• Visit his business website: https://virtualfork.io/
• Connect with Cole on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cole-graham/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virtual_fork/
• Blog: https://medium.com/@virtual_fo

About the Charge the Wave Podcast

Footnote 4 presents its Charge the Wave podcast – focused on entrepreneurs, executives, and icons who are assiduously building companies, cultures, and communities.

Charge the Wave aims to uncover the personal stories and anecdotes from inspiring builders and trailblazers in their respective professions and dig into the formative moments, hard-fought lessons, and circuitous voyages that are woven into the fabric of the everyday, interesting journeys of our fellow wayfarers.

Charge the Wave is focused on the industrious pioneers who are navigating the choppy waters of the unknown, rising and grinding everyday to face the endless uphill climb.

Charge the Wave is singularly focused on:

Inspiring entrepreneurs — who are building startups, battling the unstable seas to discover product-market fit, and aiming to launch innovative products and services to successfully cross the chasm into successful commercialization.

Influential executives — who’ve had winding career paths, weathered the storms and wreckages, and built resilient and high-performing crews and organizations.

Iconic individuals — who are becoming authors of their destinies and master navigators by wayfinding, sidewinding, wandering, and perfecting their craft, charting new courses to make an indelible mark in the world.

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Footnote 4 has had a front-row seat to many recent successes in the last several years, both advising and consulting for incredible individuals and teams who have risen above their stations, by building high-performance crews and cultures — and carving their own paths throughout various industries along the way. Footnote 4 dedicates Charge the Wave to the late Duke Kahanamoku (1890-1968), the greatest waterman, pioneer, and American icon of our time.
Website: https://footnote4.com/