Alignment, Recalibration, Being A Villager, and Community As Infrastructure. A Special Conversation with Mark Grimes, Pallavi Pande, and Shashi Jain.

Mark Grimes, Pallavi Pande, and Shashi Jain, are three senior Portland based founders with global perspectives and experiences. In this special conversation, Zhou sits down with Mark, Pallavi, and Shashi and invites them to talk about their reflections from 2025, their views on opportunities for entrepreneurs, and their hopes and advice for business operators and innovators in 2026 and beyond. Mark Grimes is a startup founder who since 1989 has gotten each of his companies to cashflow positive in 90 days or less, no business plans written, no money raised. Mark is always on the lookout for his next startup idea and also advises startup founders helping them develop their business models. He and his wife have supported over 11,500 women entrepreneurs in emerging market countries since 2006.  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-grimes/ Kiva: https://www.kiva.org/lender/markgrimes Pallavi Pande is a certified Woman and minority mompreneur championing a sustainable brand called DTOCS: symbolizing a cleansing journey with leaves. DTOCS is an alternative tableware solution to paper and plastic single-use disposable tableware that are 100% compostable in 90 days for direct-to-consumer (DTC) and businesses (B2B) reshaping hosting needs at homes and events. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dtocsplatesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pallavi-pande-bb5abb1b/Shashi Jain is a Portland-based entrepreneur, innovation leader, and strategic thinker. He is an experienced corporate entrepreneur with a track record of incubating ideas that go to production, using Lean Startup, Customer Development, and Rapid prototyping methodologies.  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skjain2/Website: https://shashijain.co/about/