Coffee Futures Fund: Community and Support for Emerging Coffee Shop Owners - Ep# 443

Cat & Cloud Podcast

Cat & Cloud

Education

4.8 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2026

⏱️ 83 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Cat & Cloud Podcast Cat & Cloud Coffee www.catandcloud.com/ Coffee Futures Fund: Community and Support for Emerging Coffee Shop Owners - Ep# 443 Summary In this episode, the crew sits down with Akshat Khandelwal, founder of Coffee Futures Fund, to unpack the reality of coffee shop ownership—and why so many founders struggle in silence. Drawing from conversations with hundreds of operators, Akshat shares how the industry has focused heavily on product quality while overlooking the people behind the bar. The conversation explores loneliness in ownership, the myth of “figuring it out alone,” and how mentorship, community, and shared experience can dramatically shift outcomes for emerging shop owners. From funding models to values-driven leadership, this episode highlights a growing movement to support independent coffee businesses in a more human, connected way. Chapters 00:00 Akshat’s Origin Story and Why Coffee Pulled Him In 08:00 Why So Many Coffee Shop Owners Said “Don’t Do It” 16:00 From Romantic Dream to Coffee Futures Fund 24:00 Building a Village: Mentorship, Community, and Capital 32:00 Why Coffee Shop Owners Feel Isolated 40:00 Values, Clarity, and What Makes a Cafe Actually Matter 48:00 How the Cohort Works: Goals, Mentors, and Growth 56:00 Funding Without Equity: A Different Way to Support Shops 1:04:00 Letters to Young Coffee Shop Owners and the Future of Coffee Futures Fund Cat & Cloud: Instagram www.instagram.com/catcloudcoffee/ Webstore www.catandcloud.com/ Roasters Choice Subscription www.catandcloud.com/collections/subscriptions Wholesale Partners! Interested in serving our coffee at your business? Learn more about our Partner Program https://catandcloud.com/wholesale Links – The Truth! Colombia Truji y Angelita Thermal Shock Natural https://catandcloud.com/products/colombia-truji-y-angelita-thermal-shock-natural Coffee Futures Fund: Jared Truby Interview https://youtu.be/KaTFcHxjumk?si=wlTAbJ7ZCvZleM7B Jared Truby Zine https://www.flipsnack.com/965BBFD6AED/letter-to-young-coffee-owners-issue-with-jared-truby Roundtable Event https://coffeefutures.fund/Roundtable.html World of Coffee/SCA https://usa.worldofcoffee.org/ Cafe Imports https://www.eventbrite.com/e/source-where-do-we-go-from-here-tickets-1983895046489 Cat & Cloud Coffee was founded in 2016 by three friends who believe experiences and connections shape our lives. Former barista champions and lifelong coffee professionals, they envisioned a better way to do business and set out to create a values-driven organization that put culture first. Our mission is to inspire connection by creating memorable experiences. Whether it's with guests in our 4 retail locations in Santa Cruz, our team members, or our wholesale partners across the country, we strive to leave everyone better than we found them. The Cat & Cloud Podcast is a space for us to share our experiences and adventures in coffee and business in hopes of inspiring more people to create culture and values-driven organizations. Hosted by Chris Baca and Jared Truby Produced by Casey Ryan March 2026

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Catin Cloud Podcast episode 443.
0:07.7	In this one, Jared and I sat down with Ockshot, founder of the Coffee Futures Fund,
0:12.7	to talk about his platform, why he's passionate about engaging with the specialty coffee industry
0:18.7	and what he helps to accomplish through the
0:20.9	Coffee Futures Fund. So the Coffee Futures Fund in a nutshell combines funding, mentorship,
0:27.0	and community to help coffee shop owners build thriving businesses that they're proud of.
0:32.1	Akshot also had Jared on his podcast and they co-released a zine together with some leadership stories. So we'll
0:39.7	have links to the podcast and the digital zine that you can read in the description below.
0:46.1	Big theme to this conversation is why it's so important and why it's so helpful to be in
0:53.6	community. We can all do amazing things, but things
0:58.5	really start to come alive when you're part of a cohort that's engaging in the same things as you
1:05.3	that has these different perspectives and different texture to add.
1:15.5	It's something that's both helpful and comforting at the same time.
1:19.0	So enjoy this podcast with Akshot from the Coffee Futures Fund.
1:23.2	Yeah.
1:25.7	Let's go.
1:26.1	All right.
1:28.1	Well, I am Akshath.
1:30.4	I am the founder of Coffee Futures Fund.
1:33.7	Extremely excited and honored to be on the podcast today with you guys.
1:38.0	Well, quick background about me.
1:40.5	I like to call myself a student of coffee.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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