Scaling & Growth Episodes

Jan. 4, 2024

#148: Patrick Ghilani (MRI Software)

Patrick Ghilani, CEO of MRI Software. Founded in 1971 & based in Solon, Ohio — MRI Software has been a leading provider of real estate software and has been a trailblazer in the PropTech industry for over five decades, servin...

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Dec. 7, 2023

#145: Brian Krusz (Sgt. Clean Car Wash)

Brian Krusz is the Founder & Managing Partner at Sgt. Clean Car Wash — a premier express carwash organization proudly serving Northeast Ohio since 2013 with over a dozen locations throughout the region. Under Brian’s leaders...

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Nov. 9, 2023

#142: Gerald Hetrick Part II (Docket (formerly Bezlio) & EOS)

Gerald Hetrick (CEO of Docket (formerly Bezlio) & Professional EOS Implementer) Gerald has been on the show once before; those of you who’ve been with Lay of The Land from the beginning may recall Gerald as one of the first e...

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Nov. 2, 2023

[Bonus] Jack Greco (ACV Auctions) — building a multi-billion-dollar c…

Jack Greco, co-founder and former CFO and COO of ACV Auctions, a Buffalo-based wholesale online marketplace for cars (ACV Auctions went public in 2021 and is currently valued at approximately $3 billion dollars) Now an active...

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Oct. 5, 2023

#137: Adam Rakestraw (MediView)

Adam Rakestraw — co-founder, chairman, general counsel, and chief business development officer of MediView XR, based here in Cleveland Ohio! With approximately $29.5 million in capital raised from strategic partners like the ...

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Sept. 28, 2023

#136: Michael Sirpilla (Society Brands)

Michael Sirpilla, co-founder and CEO of Society Brands. Under Michael’s leadership as CEO, Society Brands has raised $205 million in capital to continue their rapid consolidation in the e-commerce sector with many completed a...

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Sept. 14, 2023

#134: Andrew Wolfe (Bloomfilter)

Andrew Wolfe, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Bloomfilter. Andrew is a software engineer turned entrepreneur who is passionate about improving the ways people build software. Prior to Bloomfilter, he and his co-founder Chris Stoll c...

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Sept. 7, 2023

#133: Mike Schroeder (Roundstone Insurance)

Mike Schroeder, Founder & President of Roundstone. Mike founded Roundstone Insurance in 2003 — when they launched the first Group Medical Captive of its kind, and have since revolutionized the self-insurance industry. Roundst...

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Aug. 31, 2023

#132: David Levine (Wireless Environment & My Home Park)

David Levine — Co-Founder/CEO @ Wireless Environment (Acquired by Ring, Acquired by Amazon) & Co-Founder/CEO @ My Home Park Having made a career of invention and serial entrepreneurship, in 2005 David Co-Founded Wireless Envi...

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Aug. 3, 2023

#128: Mitch Kroll (Findaway — Acquired by Spotify)

Mitch Kroll, co-founder & CEO of Findaway (acquired by Spotify). Mitch started Findaway back in 2004, a time when audiobooks were available only on CD and cassette, in order to revolutionize this business of audiobooks, conne...

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July 27, 2023

#127: Michael Crawford (Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company)

Michael Crawford — Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO of the Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company, which he joined in December of 2018. The Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment company is a publically traded orga...

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July 13, 2023

#125: Angie Dianetti (Radcom)

Angie Dianetti — President and driving force behind Radcom, a company specializing in performance improvement consulting, which she founded back in 1996. Under Angie's guidance, Radcom has earned the distinction of a Weatherh...

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June 22, 2023

#123: Tory & Michael Waxman (Sundays)

Tory and Michael Waxman — the founders of Sundays (>$14 million raised, Cleveland-based) — on building Sundays for Dogs to become a leading dog food brand offering the first human-grade, air-dried dog food, made with 100% all...

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June 1, 2023

#120: Brendan Anderson & Donnie Bedney (ScaleCo)

Brendan Anderson and Donnie Bedney on their work at ScaleCo — a Cleveland-based entrepreneurship-through-acquisition organization that has invested more than $165 million in over 20 regional companies. In our conversation tod...

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April 13, 2023

#114: Ed Largent (Westfield)

Ed Largent — President, CEO, and Board Chair of Westfield, one of the most enduring companies in Ohio. Very few companies in the world can boast the longevity of Westfield, which is celebrating its 175th year of existence. Or...

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March 30, 2023

#112: Daniel Isenberg & Dan Hampu (Burton D. Morgan Foundation & Scal…

Dan Hampu and Daniel Isenberg on their collective work at the Burton D Morgan Foundation and Scalerator NEO — covering why it’s important to focus on companies at scale relative to startups when thinking about the overall pro...

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March 16, 2023

#110: Afif Ghannoum (BIOHM Health)

Afif Ghannoum, a biotech attorney by background and the CEO of BIOHM Health — which he co-founded with his father, Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum, a leading microbiome researcher and recognized for naming the mycobiome (the body's fung...

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Dec. 22, 2022

#99: Steve Santamaria (Folio Photonics)

Steve Santamaria — CEO of Folio Photonics — on innovating storage media and the future of storage technology, the opportunity ahead for Folio Photonics, Cleveland's entrepreneurial ecosystem, and reflections on leadership!

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Dec. 15, 2022

#98: Kris Snyder (Ninety.io, Impact Architects, & Vox Mobile)

Kris Snyder — founder of Vox Mobile and Impact Architects & Head of Finance and Partnerships at Ninety.io — on working with entrepreneurial leaders to create impact and pursue a world where small and medium organizations and their employees can become more humane, productive and resilient in order …

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Nov. 17, 2022

#95: Ed Weinfurtner (Great Day Improvements & Blue Olive Partners)

Ed Weinfurtner — Executive Chairman of Great Day Improvements (one of NEO's largest companies employing over 2,000 people) & Co-Founder at Blue Olive Partners — on growing Great Day Improvements from $44M to $922M in sales in just 7 years to become a national leader in home remodeling and premium b…

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Oct. 13, 2022

#90: Pat Conway & Mark King (Great Lakes Brewing Company)

Pat Conway & Mark King — Co-founder & CEO respectively of Great Lakes Brewing Company — on building Ohio’s original craft brewery, celebrating 34 years of sustained success and continuous innovation, the history of beer production in Cleveland, br

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Sept. 8, 2022

#85: Shawn Rech (Transition Studios, AGTV & TruBlu)

Shawn Rech — Co-Founder/CEO/Director at Transition Studios, AGTV & TruBlu — on growing Cleveland's permanent media industry, the importance of factual programming and positively affecting history through truth-telling and documentary production!

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Aug. 25, 2022

#83: Tom Tyrrell (Great Lakes Biomimicry)

Tom Tyrrell — founder and Chairman of Great Lakes Biomimicry & co-founder of Segmint — on the power of biomimicry and harnessing the intelligence found in nature’s 3.8 billion years of R&D (asking questions nature has already found the answers to)

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July 28, 2022

#79: David Davis II (FBA Flip)

David Davis II — Founder & CEO of FBA Flip — on entrepenuership, the changing dynamics of the modern internet-first world we find ourselves in, and the challenges, opportunities, and prospects for his home of Cleveland.

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