Services Episodes

Alec Shankman is the founder of HeartRock Partners. Alec has spent more than two decades at the forefront of entertainment, talent representation, reality television, digital media, podcasting, brand-building, and the creator economy. Before launching HeartRock, he was a Senior Partner at The Gersh Agency, following its acquisition of his division from A3 Artists Agency, where he built the Alternative Programming and Digital Media Division into a nearly 60-person bi-coastal team. In our co...

What does it take for AI to matter inside a real operating business? Not as a demo, not as a dashboard, and not as a generic productivity tool — but as something that answers calls, reduces clicks, quotes freight, improves service, and helps people spend more time doing the work that actually moves the business forward. Today we're republishing an episode from The O.H.I.O. Fund Report with Mark Kvamme — co-founder, CEO, and CIO of The O.H.I.O. Fund — Peter Coratola, founder and CEO of EASE L...

Anna Dey is a multi-unit and multi-brand franchise entrepreneur who has spent the past decade building businesses across Northeast Ohio. Since getting her start in franchising with an Anytime Fitness location in 2012, she has gone on to own and operate franchises across several systems including Clean Eatz, Smoothie King, The Vitamin Shoppe, Barrio Tacos + Tequila, and goGLOW, earning national recognition along the way as both Franchisee of the Year and Multi-Unit Owner of the Year. Today, An...

Chad Delligatti — CEO of InnoSource Chad Delligatti is the CEO of InnoSource — a more than two-decade-old, Ohio-based company that has grown into a national workforce solutions platform serving Fortune 500 and midsized organizations across the country. Since joining InnoSource in 2000 as one of its earliest employees, Chad has devoted his entire professional career to building the company — helping it evolve from a regional staffing firm into the leading HR, talent, outsourcing, and data s...

Tyler Dunagin is the founder and CEO of Turnserv, a Northeast Ohio–based platform company behind brands like ApartmentPainters.com, ApartmentFlooring.com, and Liquid Liner — each rethinking a critical piece of the residential turnover and value-add process for property owners and operators. In our conversation, Tyler traces his journey from early curiosity in real estate and the unlocking of his entrepreneurial spirit, to building a multi-brand platform that now partners with some of the lar...

Chaya Slain is the Founder, President, and Chief Investment Officer at Virtera Partners. After studying mathematics at Columbia University, she discovered her deeper interest in investing at Goldman Sachs. After several years in New York, she returned to Cleveland and joined Parkwood, the Mandel family investment office, where she spent more than a decade immersed in institutional investing. At Parkwood, she developed a disciplined, process-driven investment philosophy; built relationships w...

Jerry Schill is the founder and CEO of Schill Grounds Management — a company he launched in 1993 with his brother after a chance summer job revealed a passion for landscaping. What began as a two-person side hustle has grown into a large-scale commercial grounds management company, now one of the fastest-growing platforms in the industry. In 2020, Jerry began a bold new chapter—scaling Schill Grounds Management through strategic acquisitions alongside organic growth. Under his leadership, th...

Ralph Lazaro, Co-founder & CEO of INaudio, has spent more than two decades leading high-performing teams and driving innovation. His career began in Fortune 500 companies before he joined Findaway in 2012, where he helped transform the business from a physical device company into a $100M+ digital audiobook powerhouse — a journey that ultimately led to Spotify’s acquisition of Findaway. Now, alongside Blake Squires (who shared his own remarkable entrepreneurial story on episode 206 of Lay of t...

Ivy Zelman is one of the most respected voices in American housing, co-founder of Zelman & Associates, and now Executive Vice President at Walker & Dunlop, which acquired her firm in 2021 as the leading institutional research, advisory, and investment banking firm dedicated exclusively to the U.S. housing industry. Over the last three decades, Ivy has built a reputation for bold, contrarian analysis—famously calling the top of the housing market in 2005 and the bottom in 2012—moments that cemen...

Ryan Kelly is a filmmaker, entrepreneur, and partner of Substance, a film and television production company based in Cleveland. What if Northeast Ohio had the infrastructure to support large-scale film productions? That question first took root when Ryan found himself on the set of Cherry—a feature film shot in Cleveland by the Russo Brothers, the acclaimed Cleveland-born directors behind Avengers and Captain America—soaking in the experience of working alongside Hollywood heavyweights in his...

Andrew Hurst is the founder and CEO of Delivered, a fast-scaling logistics platform revolutionizing parcel shipping with faster, more reliable deliveries at lower costs. He also serves as CEO of Ark Transportation, where he led a fivefold revenue increase in just five years, and is the founder of Veroot, a compliance platform now trusted by thousands of logistics teams nationwide. Under his leadership, and across all three companies, Andrew is bringing an entrepreneurial lens to the freigh...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Taylor Evans — Founder and President of Rust Belt Recruiting, a leading local manufacturing recruiting agency, which also hosts a kindred-spirit podcast to Lay Of The Land, called Rust Belt Rundowns, where they are amplifying the stories of local manufacturing executives and leaders across Northeast Ohio. Today's conversation explores Taylor’s path to entrepreneurship grounded in his passions for economic and social impact, workforce development, and community revitalization. We’ll unpac...

Sandor Gyerman and Jared Anderson, the dynamic co-founders of Andor Creative. Founded in 2018 when they were Sophomores at Cleveland State University, Andor Creative was born to find more innovative ways to produce advertising and marketing content for companies, bridging the gap between Gen Z and established businesses in Greater Cleveland. Since inception, their campaigns have generated over 100 million organic views across various social media platforms and their impressive and growin...

Mitchell Vargo, Partner at Forward Hospitality Group. Since its founding in 2015, the Cleveland-based Hospitality Group has built out unique entertainment, bar, and restaurant experiences locally and all across the country — from here in Cleveland to Chicago, Miami, and beyond! The breadth of concepts spans FWD — the large-scale day and nightclub built on a shipyard in the East Flats with a quintessential Cleveland industrial backdrop, coined the Ibiza of the midwest and pulling some of ...

Andre Cisco — Manager for MGK and XX Brands, Brand Strategist and Investor, co-owner of the 27 Club — the coffee lounge and kitchen here in Cleveland — and Managing Partner at Dead Logic, a marketing strategy and brand management firm. Andre is a serial entrepreneur with more than 10 years of entertainment, international logistics, and merchandising experience — Invested in wealth building through ownership and community, he is dedicated to creating businesses that disrupt, educate, and enha...

Mary Cowan, the President of NCS Credit, based here in the greater Cleveland area. The story of NCS Credit is one of family, growth, and success anchored in a belief of uncompromising excellence and ever-advancing technology. Founded in 1970 by Howard V. Cowan as a commercial collection agency, NCS Credit’s goal was to form trusted partnerships and provide exceptional debt recovery services for its clients. In the early 1980s NCS Credit earned a reputation as a leading authority in the corpo...

David Tirpak, founder of Miracle K9 Training — Since founding the company in 2019, David has grown Miracle K9 Training to a thriving 15-person organization, a multi-million-dollar top-line revenue business, and one of the most respected dog training centers in Northeast Ohio! David's dog training story started when he got his very first dog, Vera. As someone who has never had dogs growing up and didn't really know what he was doing with one, the first logical step seemed like finding a dog tr...

Kaleb Dumot — founder of Integrity Power Search here in Cleveland, a boutique search firm for technology companies all across the US and Canada. Since starting Integrity Power Search out of his parent’s basement in 2012, Kaleb has drastically grown the firm, successfully executing over 2,000+ retained searches with client companies that have collectively created $100’s billions of value in exits, many of whose stories we’ve shared here on Lay of The Land like Dallas Hogensen from Felux (Episo...