Scaling & Growth Episodes

Dale Wollschleger is the Founder and former CEO of Cleveland-based ExactCare Pharmacy and the developer of the ExactPack™—a patient-specific medication packaging system designed to simplify complex medication regimens. This O.H.I.O. Fund Report conversation with Dale dives into the unlikely journey of a pharmacist-turned-entrepreneur who started in the back of a small Cleveland pharmacy and built a billion-dollar organization serving patients across the country. ExactCare’s meteoric growth—fr...

Sanjay Singh is a thoughtful strategist, seasoned executive, and business philosopher whose journey to leading the iconic Cleveland brand Mace Security—and his reflections on it—are remarkable. Sanjay’s story weaves together a deep appreciation for manufacturing and a career shaped by curiosity, resilience, and a knack for doing hard things—ultimately culminating in a personal philosophy grounded in introspection and presence. From navigating activist shareholders during a turnaround at Ma...

Kelcey Lehrich is the Co-Founder and CEO of 365 Holdings, based in Akron, Ohio. 365 Holdings acquires and operates consumer products companies, with a focus on eCommerce and a goal of long-term ownership. In our conversation, Kelcey shares his path to entrepreneurship and his evolution from making his first acquisition to becoming a seasoned operator. He weaves in lessons from challenging ventures, unconventional acquisitions, and the earned wisdom of building durable businesses in the compet...

TJ Dembinski is the co-founder and CEO of Eagle Electronics, dedicated to on-shoring America’s critical technology supply chain, starting with the IoT and automotive-grade cellular modules! This journey traces a fascinating arc — one that begins with the macro and geopolitical forces shaping global commerce and lands in a Northeast Ohio advanced micro-electronic manufacturing floor where Eagle Electronics is domestically building one of the most critical pieces of our digital infrastructure: ...

Ibrahim Mohmed is the founder of CourtSide Media Group and the co-founder & CEO of Taja AI. His entrepreneurial journey began right here in Ohio, where he launched CourtSide Media, a digital media agency that serves influencers with audiences ranging from 1 million to 75 million followers across various social platforms. Through CourtSide Media, Ibrahim has collaborated with high-profile clients including NBA legend Kevin Garnett, Cleveland’s FutureLAND annual conference, and prominent influence...

Carey Jaros joined GOJO in 2014 as a board member, later taking on executive roles as Chief Strategy Officer—where she oversaw Marketing, Product Management, and Innovation—and as Chief Operating Officer, before becoming President and CEO in January 2020. Our conversation today covers Carey’s call to lead—shaped by a lifelong passion for solving problems and telling stories—her reflections on leadership and decision-making, GOJO’s extraordinary legacy, and its ongoing commitment to innovation...

Today, we’re picking up with the second part of my conversation with Jodi Berg, the former President & CEO of Vitamix. In Part 1, we explored Jodi’s career, the history, evolution, and family legacy of Vitamix, and her leadership journey in growing the company into the global brand it is today. In Part 2, we continue with her reflections on stepping away from the business—and dive deeper into her philosophy of purpose, the DANCE framework she’s developing to help others lead more intention...

Jodi Berg, PhD recently retired as the fourth-generation President and CEO of Vitamix, having joined the family business in 1997 with the directive to lead the company’s overseas expansion, later serving as director of international, household and commercial divisions, and then ultimately as Executive Vice President in 2007, President in 2009, and CEO in 2011. Under her leadership, Jodi built on the 100+ year history and legacy of her family’s business, — founded in 1921 and headquartered in ...

Max Pennington is the Co-Founder & CEO of CLEANR, an innovative company that uses filters to prevent microplastics from entering water streams. Max graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Chemical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, where he co-developed CLEANR’s innovative VORTX filtration technologyb. Inspired by nature, VORTX biomimcry is capable of removing over 90% of microplastics from washing machine wastewater. Microplastics pollution is a severe and growing environme...

I’m very excited to welcome Umberto Fedeli back for his third conversation. In our first two conversations — episode 135 and episode 171 — we explored Umberto’s remarkable life journey, deep-rooted wisdom, and how he's mastered the craft of building authentic relationships and connecting people across business, politics, and philanthropy. Those episodes are timeless and packed with valuable insights — I highly recommend listening to them to set the stage for today’s discussion. In this episod...

Daniel Anstandig is the CEO of Futuri Media, a leading AI-driven platform he founded in Cleveland in 2009 to help companies build and monetize engaged audiences. Today, Futuri’s sales, content, and audience technology serves over 7,000 media brands across 22 countries, powered by a bold and passionate team recognized on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s Fastest-Growing Companies for nine years. Daniel has advised The Wall Street Journal, CBS News, Clear Channel R&D, the White House Commissio...

DJ Eidson is the President and Co-founder of Limitless Minds, where he spearheads efforts to make elite mindset coaching accessible to everyone. Through their digital platform and programs, Limitless Minds has empowered hundreds of individuals and teams across organizations like Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Chick-fil-A, Bristol Myers Squibb, Goldman Sachs, Harvard Business School, and many others to enhance their performance and gain a competitive edge—just as Super Bowl-winning quarterback Rus...

Blake Squires began his journey in the mid-90s in Los Angeles, capitalizing early on the convergence of technology and media. He soon returned to his hometown of Cleveland to co-found Everstream with Steve McHale (episode 196) and Charlie Lougheed (episode 42, and also my co-founder at Axuall). Blake served as COO until Everstream’s acquisition by Concurrent Computer Corp in 2005. Next, he co-founded Findaway, a global leader in digital audiobook distribution and creators of PLAYAWAY, a line ...

Paul Roetzer is the founder and CEO of SmarterX and the Marketing AI Institute—a media, event, and online education company that he started back in 2016 to make AI accessible, approachable, and actionable for marketers and business leaders. Through the institute, he created MAICON—the leading annual Marketing AI conference, which is hosted here in Cleveland! He is also the co-author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence: AI, Marketing, and the Future of Business, the co-host of ​The Artificial...

Geoff Bruder, co-founder of GhostWorks Engineering and Sonic Fire Tech—a company redefining fire suppression—is fighting fires with acoustic wave technology. Geoff's journey is rooted in his work at NASA Glenn Research Center here in Cleveland, where he focused as a Research Engineer on projects like the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG), thermoacoustic stirling heat engine designs, and led the design for the Glenn Extreme Environment Rig (GEER) — the largest chamber on earth ab...

Jared Semik, founder of Eternium Aerospace, a long-range, zero-emissions aircraft development company, is focused on sustainable transatlantic flight. A multi-service military aviation veteran with three global deployments, Jared began his career in the Marine Corps in 1999. He is an aerospace research and development engineer with over 20 years of experience working with next-generation zero-emissions aircraft systems. His expertise spans R&D, aircraft systems engineering, program management...

Robert Marks founded Fidelity Voice and Data in 1999 with just a $600 investment, which he grew into a business generating over $30 million in revenue, making it one of the largest telecommunications and cloud services competitors throughout the Midwest. The company focused on providing high-speed Internet access to various industries. After selling the company in 2015, Robert turned his attention to giving back to his local community through various philanthropic initiatives. In 2020, how...

Andy Tran has lived more lives than just about anyone I know. He’s a serial entrepreneur who has started multiple businesses across industries, including tech, ammunition manufacturing, defense contracting, and tequila, among many others. Andy is a true modern Renaissance man whose path defies convention and serves as a testament to his deep curiosity, creativity, ability to execute, and humility. He has alpine mountaineered in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego while living out of the back of a...

John Knific is a serial entrepreneur and investor who has built three venture-backed software companies here in Cleveland. His latest venture, Squad, is a peer discovery platform designed to gamify ratings and rankings for Gen Z, starting on college campuses, delivering valuable preference data to marketers. Before Squad, John co-founded Wisr, a virtual communities platform that transformed how universities engage students. Wisr ultimately served nearly one million active users before bein...

Ali Bonar — CEO & Co-Founder of Oat Haus, a food company bringing fun and play to eating. Their flagship product, Granola Butter, is the world's first oat-based spread and while Oat Haus was born out of Ali's decade-long battle with an eating disorder, and it's now her mission to help others feel less alone. Since its beginnings in 2018, Oat Haus has evolved from Ali’s personal project to a Cleveland-based, nationwide company with distribution in over 5,000 stores, including Target, Whole Fo...

Lance Hill, CEO of Within3, has led one of Cleveland's most well-capitalized startups, raising over $100 million to transform how the healthcare and life sciences industries communicate. What began in 2007 as a secure peer-to-peer platform for physicians quickly evolved into something much more ambitious—a solution to break down communication barriers in life sciences and accelerate the development of life-changing therapies for patients worldwide. Under Lance’s leadership, Within3 has become...

Chas Withers, chairman and CEO of Dix & Eaton, the storied Cleveland integrated communications firm, known for its specialization in marketing communications, Crisis management, and investor relations, which has partnered with its clients to drive impact and results in their public relations since 1952. While Chas has led the firm as CEO since 2015, he’s overseen many aspects of the business prior serving as COO and leader of the marketing communications, technology, emerging growth and inte...

Aaron Hoffman and John Zinno — co-founders of DeliverThat, based in Canton Ohio. Friends for life, the two of them started this business out of Ohio University in 2016 off the bat of a viral tweet and have since proceeded to revolutionize catering delivery with over $300 million dollars of catering delivery under their belt, a network of over 25,000 active drivers on their platform, operational in all major cities in all 50 states, helping over 500 brands elevate their catering. This is ...

Matt Buder Shapiro — Chief Marketing Officer at Vytalize Health, Previously Founder at MedPilot (Acquired) I first spoke to Matt on this podcast 3 years ago. At the time, as a co-founder and chief marketing officer of MedPilot, he was navigating an acquisition to Vytalize Health after having built the company to help service over a million patients. I said at the time that Matt’s journey is a big win for Cleveland startups and the ecosystem writ large, and today’s conversation underlines that p...