Venture Backed Episodes

Stan Garber & Alex Yakubovich — Co-Founders of Scout RFP (now known as Workday Strategic Sourcing) — on serial entrepreneurship and Scout RFP’s journey to acquisition by Workday for $540mm in 2019, where both of them still work leading Workday’s strategy and growth in the source-to-pay space.

Jake Bailosky — CTO & Founder of OnStation (Cleveland-based & closed $1.4mm from Cleveland investors) — on revolutionizing how road workers locate and communicate in the field.

Charlie Lougheed — Co-founder & CEO of Axuall (>$30 million raised) — on serial entrepreneurship, building in Cleveland, and his most recent endeavor, Axuall, an HR data network that empowers providers to manage and share their verified career data and credentials with healthcare organizations.

Dan Collins — Founder & CEO of Wastebits — on building a software waste-management company and bringing technology to the trash industry.

Shane Bigelow — CEO at CHAMPtitles (Cleveland based with >$17.5 million raised) — on jettisoning antiquated paper-based processes and digitizing the process of vehicle titling.

Kate Volzer — Co-Founder and CEO at Wisr — on helping schools and students connect with each other, innovating with academic institutions, and Wisr’s acquisition to EAB, a key player in the education industry, in March 2021.

Jacob Sheridan — Co-Founder and CEO at TPA Stream — on simplifying healthcare administration challenges, the power of bringing people together, building TPA Stream from idea to business, and innovation in insurance and employee benefits.

Charu Ramanathan, PhD — Co-Founder and CEO at vitalxchange — on healthcare innovation, building & selling CardioInsight (her first startup) to Medtronic for nearly $100 million, serial entrepreneurship, and on the progress and vision for vitalxchange.

David Edelman — CEO & Founder of Thrivable — on building the leading online community for those touched by diabetes (Diabetes Daily), company building, closing their $1.7mm seed round, helping healthcare companies capture the voice of the patient,

Lindsay Watson PT, MPT — CEO & Founder of Augment Therapy — on clinician-driven innovation and building Augment Therapy, which leverages augmented reality to engage kids to exercise, to solve the problems she encountered as a practicing pediatric physical therapist. Augment Therapy looks like a game to the child, but solves real problems of exercise adherence – its portability and anywhere/anytime access make the completion of daily therapeutic exercise simple, convenient, and fun.

Gordon Daily — founder & CEO of BoxCast — on Cleveland entrepreneurship and the future of live streaming off the bat of a $20 million series A and series of strategic acquisitions.

Ryan Cleary — co-founder & COO of FloatMe — on how they’ve helped save their users over $30mm in fees and boost savings via financial alternatives to the $46 billion overdraft and payday lending industries. Since its founding in 2017, FloatMe has raised over $28mm in funding on its mission to make financial prosperity achievable for all Americans.

Mac Anderson — co-founder & CMO of Cleveland Kitchen (formerly Cleveland Kraut) — on creating world-class culinary fermented foods for all and how Cleveland Kitchen has grown from a side-hustle at local-Cleveland farmer’s markets to the #1 brand in sauerkraut with distribution at over 9,000 locations nationwide.

Cullen Naumoff — co-founder of Farm Fare — on why local food is better food and how Farm Fare allows family farms to compete in a world built for economies of scale.

Matt Buder Shapiro — co-founder and chief marketing officer of MedPilot — on building and growing his company specifically in Cleveland which has helped over 1 million patients better understand and resolve their medical expenses. Matt Shapiro is a co-

Nicole Paolozzi, founder & CEO of OndeCare (based here in Cleveland), on the challenges of in-home healthcare for loved ones of all ages and needs — infant, childcare, special needs care, and eldercare — and how OndeCare meets this need by connecting credentialed care, safety, and education professionals with busy families that are juggling demanding jobs and care of loved ones.

Taher Hassonjee — from RVshare (based in Akron, Ohio) — on the world of recreational vehicles and why RVshare has been able to capitalize on it raising more than $100 million in capital and growing bookings over 650% in late 2020.

A conversation with Steve Muszynski - founder & CEO of Splash Financial, based here in Cleveland - exploring the student loan crisis and how Splash, one of Ohio’s fastest growing companies, is helping people save on their student loan debt.

Ready, willing, and *Able* - Gerald Hetrick shares his experience running and growing Able, his entrepreneurial background, love for all things Cleveland, and aspirations for the Cleveland startup scene.