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...
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...
Stewart A. Kohl is Co-CEO of The Riverside Company — a $14 billion global private equity firm founded to invest in premier companies at the smaller end of the middle market, with headquarters in Terminal Tower in Tower City h...
Bill Manby, Founding & Managing Partner at Interstate Fusion Ventures. An entrepreneur at heart, Bill grew up in NEO and has always been passionate about working every day to make his home better through investments, philanth...
Michael Goldberg, Executive Director of the Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship, as well as an Associate Professor of Design and Innovation at the Weatherhead School of Management at CWRU where he teaches courses on entrepre...
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...
Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Brian Folmer. Born and raised in Cleveland, Brian has boomeranged back to Cleveland after 6 years in NYC and starting his own company. Brian is the founder of FirstLook.vc and Dist...
Dr. Elad Granot — Dean of John Carroll University’s Boler College of Business, co-founder and managing member of an early-stage technology Venture Capital fund, and advisor to a $450mm VC fund — on what Cleveland can learn from Startup Nation …
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 …
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 …
David Sylvan — president of UH Ventures, the innovation and commercialization division of University Hospitals, a Cleveland-based health system with two dozen hospitals, more than 50 health centers, and outpatient facilities, and over 200 physician offices located throughout 16 counties.
Ray Leach (Founder/CEO) & Hardik Desai (Sr. Partner) on the history of JumpStart, the launch of JumpStart Ventures and its role in the Cleveland startup ecosystem, and perspective on founder sentiment and questions.
Todd Federman — managing director of North Coast Ventures — on investing in Cleveland-based startups and the larger Cleveland entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Brandon Bryant — co-founder and venture partner at Harlem Capital — on investing in companies started by people of color & women with the purpose of changing the face of entrepreneurship.
Lee Zapis shares his story on building and selling Cleveland’s #1 radio station, his transition to the world of startups, investment philosophy, and entrepreneurial learnings.