Interview begins: 6:28 Debrief: 41:25 John Gannon is the co-founder and general partner of GoingVC. John has mentored thousands of current and aspiring VCs through his VC Careers blog and email list, which counts VCs from top firms like Sequoia, KPCB, and Bessemer as subscribers. …
Splash Financial // helping people refinance their student loans [Lay of The Land #9]
This week we’re hosting an upside feed takeover from Lay of The Land! Lay of The Land is a podcast covering the Cleveland business ecosystem on the upside podcast network. And in this episode, Jeff talks with Steve Muszynski, the founder and CEO of Splash …
Between Two Hedges // building companies with one foot in and one foot outside Silicon Valley [CC067]
Trent and Travis Hedge are brothers from Columbus, OH, who left for Silicon Valley. But since that time, both have continued to visit and advocate for Ohio and other parts of the country. Travis Hedge is the co-founder of Vouch Insurance (YC S19). Vouch Insurance …
[REWIND] FreshFry // extending the life of frying oil [RE003]
Today is the third episode in our December series called “Rewind.” Jeremiah Chapman is the founder and CEO of FreshFry. We first talked with Jeremiah back in July 2018 in episode 12 of this show. FreshFry, located in Louisville, Kentucky, creates plant-based product that …
[REWIND] Opendorse // pioneering athlete-driven marketing [RE002]
Today is the second episode in our December series called “Rewind.” Blake Lawrence is the founder and CEO of Opendorse. We first talked with Blake back in April 2019, and our episode aired on July 17, 2019. Since that time, Opendorse has grown a lot. …
Healium // self-management of stress using biofeedback and virtual reality [UP081]
Interview begins: 7:01 Debrief: 45:09 Sarah Hill is the CEO and Chief Storyteller of Healium. Healium is a virtual and augmented reality tool for the self-management of stress powered by the user’s own brainwaves and heart rate. Healium is the world’s first biometrically-powered VR/AR immersive …
Rob Eloff of Lateral Capital // the history and future of venture capital in Africa [CC066]
Interview begins: 7:18 Debrief: 59:34 Rob Eloff has spent his career investing, living, and working in developing markets. Prior to co-founding Lateral Capital he was a Venture Partner with Conversion Capital and established Frontier Dawn Partners, an evergreen vehicle for capital deployment to early-stage, technology-enabled …
Rootine // Personalized daily health using DNA, blood levels, and lifestyle data [UP076]
Interview begins: 6:52 Debrief: 44:32 Rachel Sanders is the co-founder and CEO of Rootine. Rootine was founded in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2018 and creates custom daily vitamins based on your DNA, lifestyle, and blood level data. Follow Rachel Sanders: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-soper-sanders/ Website: https://rootine.co/ Key Points: The …
Xendoo // personalized bookkeeping for small businesses [UP074]
Interview begins: 6:03 Debrief: 48:54 Lillian (Lil) Roberts is the founder and CEO of Xendoo. Xendoo is a cloud-based bookkeeping and accounting service focused on small business owners. By harnessing technology we give our accounting teams more time to work directly with clients and their …
UP072: Muxy // powering viewer engagement for live streaming
Interview begins: 6:29 Bebrief begins: 51:16 Jared Steffes is the co-founder and COO of Muxy. Founded in 2014 and based in Austin, Texas, Muxy is an online service that develops interactive features for gaming and streaming platforms. Though optimized for Twitch, Muxy’s extensions can be …
CC038: Casey Allen // building the Twin Cities enterprise SaaS community
Interview starts: 7:15 Debrief starts: 54:23 Casey Allen is the founder of Enterprise Rising, a Minneapolis-based conference specific to SaaS startup topics. 2020 will be Enterprise Rising’s fifth year, and they pride themselves on focusing on under-discussed or taboo topics related to founding a startup. …
UP063: Visible // powering communication for founders and investors
Interview starts: 7:45 Debrief starts: 49:27 Mike Preuss is the co-founder and CEO of Visible, an investor reporting platform for startups. Beginning in 2014, Visible is a completely remote company used by over 2,000 businesses. They help founders update their investors on their business and …
UP061: The Bee Corp // using infrared to measure colony size to support beekeepers and growers
Interview begins: 6:49 Debrief begins: 47:27 Ellie Symes is the co-founder and CEO of The Bee Corp. The Bee Corp is a startup focusing on improving and creating sustainable methods for commercial bee pollination. Based in Indianapolis, The Bee Corp offers commercial beekeepers and growers …
UP060: Perceive // using spatial recognition to measure consumer behavior in the real world
Interview begins: 6:15 Debrief begins: 47:49 Everett Berry is the CEO and founder of Perceive, an experience-analysis computer vision software designed to give companies an automated method for analyzing business in a physical space. Everett began forming his idea for Perceive six years ago during …
CC033: Alex Rubalcava of Stage Venture Partners // investing in early-stage enterprise software
Interview starts: 6:23 Debrief beings: 48:05 Alex Rubalcava is a General Partner and Co-Founder of Stage Venture Partners, an L.A.-based VC firm that invests in upcoming software technologies. Alex began his investing career with Anthem Venture Partners in Los Angeles before switching to public market …
UP059: WorkHound // workforce retention via direct feedback from the frontline
Interview begins: 6:13 Debrief begins: 52:10 Max Farrell and Andrew Kirpalani are the co-founders of Workhound. Workhound is a platform that allows frontline workers to provide feedback to the companies for whom they work. Max and Andrew began Workhound in the hopes of eliminating …
UP054: AdAdapted // serving smarter ads for CPG companies
Interview begins: 07:15 Debrief begins: 55:46 Michael Pedersen and Molly McFarland are the co-founders of AdAdapted. AdAdapted is a digital engagement and insights platform for CPG brands and agencies. The AdAdapted platform offers CPG brands the ability to directly target their primary consumers in the …
UP050: opendorse // helping athletes share more content (feat. Braxton Miller of the Philadelphia Eagles)
Interview begins: 09:02 Insight begins: 58:13 Debrief begins: 1:01:59 Blake Lawrence is the founder and CEO of opendorse. opendorse is the athlete-marketing platform that helps the biggest brands in sports share content on social. Founded by two former major college athletes, opendorse was built seeking …
UP049: Zive // freeing you from the browser with desktop applications
Interview begins: 08:39 Debrief begins: 48:25 Eric Shashoua is the founder and CEO of Zive, makers of the app, Kiwi for Gmail. Kiwi for Gmail turns native Gmail into a full desktop application, dramatically upgrading the entire user experience, & adding features like default email …
UP048: Balto // selling sales software to salesmen (feat. David Geiger of TeamDynamix)
Interview begins: 07:44 Insight begins: 54:30 Debrief begins: 1:06:20 Marc Bernstein is the CEO of Balto. Balto helps sales, service, and accounts receivable reps win as much revenue as possible from every phone call. Teams use Balto’s artificial intelligence software to analyze phone calls in …
UP041: Beem // human holograms made easy with augmented reality
Interview begins: 07:10 Debrief begins: 55:08 Janosch Amstutz is the Founder and CEO of HoloMe. HoloMe creates life-sized, high definition, real humans in augmented reality. Their software allows brands and companies to easily put real people into augmented reality in a scaleable way. HoloMe was …
UP039: Backtracks // data analytics for podcasters (feat. Meb Faber of Cambria Investment Management)
Interview begins: 07:29 Insight begins: 1:15:07 Debrief begins: 1:28:18 Jonathan Gill is the founder and CEO of Backtracks. Backtracks is an analytics and hosting platform that helps podcasters know & grow their podcast audience. They are an audio-oriented, highly technical team that have worked on …
UP038: Clever // lowering real estate transaction costs by connecting sellers to agents (feat. Erik Berg of Rev1 Ventures)
Interview begins: 08:30 Insight begins: 54:18 VC debrief begins: 1:04:14 Host debrief begins: 1:13:06 Ben Mizes is the founder and CEO of Clever Real Estate. Clever Real Estate is a nationwide referral service that helps you sell your home and save on commission. Clever’s network …
UP037: Preteckt // real-time vehicle prognostics using machine learning
Interview begins: 06:44 Debrief begins: 1:06:15 Ken Sills is the co-founder and CEO of Preteckt. Since developing the initial prototype of this hardware/software solution in 2015, Ken has been focused on building Preteckt’s team of engineers, scientists, business developers, and sales professionals so that the …
UP030: Sense Arena // professional hockey IQ training using VR technology (live from CES 2019 feat. Shane Darrow of Forecheck, Backcheck, Paycheck)
Bob Tetiva is the founder and CEO for Sense Arena. Sense Arena is a unique, powerful, and innovative tool for developing hockey players, improving their cognitive skills and hockey sense. Using virtual reality, they bring the ice to players’ homes, gyms, and centers so …
UP027: ShearShare // an on-demand marketplace for stylists who need work space
Dr. Tye Caldwell is the Co-founder and CEO of ShearShare. Tye holds a Doctorate of Professional Barbering and is a #1 best-selling author on how to achieve long-term success in the beauty and style industry. He is a recognized beauty expert with more than 20 …
UP026: Bark // predictive software for keeping children safe online
Titania Jordan is the CMO and Chief Parent Officer of Bark.us. She is also host of CONNECT with Titania Jordan, and former host of NBC Atlanta affiliate WXIA’s weekly television show Atlanta Tech Edge. // Bark is an internet safety solution that helps parents and …
UP024: Intrinio // powering fintech innovation with access to financial data
Rachel Carpenter is the co-founder and CEO of Intrinio. Intrinio is a financial data platform with a marketplace for financial data APIs and analytics applications built with those data feeds. Their mission is to democratize affordable, easy to access financial data for developers and investors. …
UP023: Super Dispatch // an automated back office for the car hauling industry
Bek Abdullayev is the founder and CEO of Super Dispatch. Super Dispatch is a platform that enables automotive logistics companies to eliminate paperwork, manage loads, drivers, and billing all in one place. Super Dispatch was founded in 2013. An alum of the Techstars Sprint Accelerator, …
UP017: Set Scouter // simplifying residential film location scouting
Alex Kolodkin is the founder and CEO of Set Scouter. Alex has a master of arts in media production and a bachelor of arts in radio and television arts from Ryerson University. // Set Scouter simplifies film production, starting with location scouting. Set Scouter is …
UP015: Mixtroz // putting connection back into “networking”
Ashlee Ammons is the cofounder and COO of Mixtroz. previously, Ashlee began in a career as an Events Producer working with an impressive list of people including Oprah Winfrey, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jay-Z and large brands like Moët Hennessy and Coca-Cola. // the Mixtroz …
UP014: 10XTS // building an enterprise blockchain ecosystem (feat. Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano)
Michael Hiles is the founder and CEO of 10XTS, which builds transparent, decentralized, secure solutions for industry and governments using public and private blockchains, and more. // 10XTS is creating XDEX, a cloud-based blockchain platform that enables enterprises and organization to incorporate the power of …
UP011: ParqEx // real estate technology solving a parking problem
ParqEx is a platform that helps to “unlock” the value of privately owned parking spots, which are often underutilized and/or difficult to manage. The ParqEx marketplace helps owners to efficiently rent their parking to drivers on an hourly, daily, weekly or monthly basis. ParqEx is …
UP010: Upsie // a cheaper way to protect your stuff
Upsie is a mobile app platform that provides an easier & better way to protect your stuff. You get the same warranties and coverage offered by other companies, but at an affordable price. Upsie is an alum of the Techstars Retail accelerator and is based …
UP008: Loop Returns // creating the perfect ecommerce customer returns experience (live from Columbus Podcast Festival)
Loop helps you retain customers through one of the most fragile interactions they’ll have with your brand: returns. By providing complete returns automation, in-line exchanges, and your own fully-customized returns app, Loop takes the pain out of returns for your team and for your customers. …
UP007: Kaleidoscope Group PBC // unlocking new private scholarships and creating the “uncommon app” to apply for them
Kaleidoscope Group is a public benefit corporation that designs, administers and hosts private scholarships based in minneapolis, minnesota. the proprietary Kaleidoscope platform is used by private scholarship sponsors to host their branded scholarship websites and support their review and scoring processes; it is also used …
UP005: F13 Works // extending the aisle in ecommerce
F13 Works bridges the gap between manufacturers and e-commerce websites. It provides manufacturers, drop-shippers and order fulfillers of all types with a connection to millions of online stores. Orders from third-party sites will seamlessly enter their production process and payments will be automatically processed. …
UP004: ScriptDrop // improving prescription medication adherence
ScriptDrop focuses on providing an in-workflow prescription delivery solution for pharmacies. no apps to download. no cost to the patient. they partner with pharmacies to offer a streamlined delivery solution and increase operational efficiency. their service is built into the pharmacy workflow, which allows …
UP003: LawnGuru // on demand outdoor services
LawnGuru provides on-demand lawn care and snow removal services for clients in metro detroit, atlanta, cleveland, chicago, houston, philadelphia & washington dc areas. through its mobile and web-based applications, LawnGuru connects consumers with local outdoor service providers to take care of their lawn and snow …
UP001: tilr // skills-based job hiring
tilr is a first-to-market, on-demand recruitment technology that empowers workers and companies alike. tilr’s proprietary technology matches based on workers’ skillsets, job requirements and location. this allows tilr to quickly fill open positions for employers while offering workers new opportunities. tilr is based in …