Episodes

John Wetzel, Alex Hilleary, Brooks Sime — Co-Founders of Gather — on building a company oriented around a future of work that puts people first and streamlines workflows for People Operations teams, and their journey from inception to acquisition by ChartHop

Camille Heard — CEO & Co-Founder of FELOH — on building a beauty tech startup celebrating diversity in beauty through community and inclusion, the startup journey, building in and up Cleveland, and authentic inclusion in beauty!

Patrick M. Howard and Ben Kanelos — founding team of RustBit Studios and creators of the Grip of Madness game — on video games, game design, bringing games to market, and building a gaming studio.

Eugene Malinskiy — Co-Founder and CEO of Lazurite — on the future of the operating rooms, the path to get there, and his first principles systematic approach to solving seemingly impossible healthcare problems!

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.

Nolan Gallagher — Founder and CEO of Gravitas Ventures — on building a global all rights theatrical distribution company that has released more than 3,000 films on Video on Demand (VOD) and has since been acquired by Anthem Sports & Entertainment in late 2021.

Dave Kennedy — Founder of Binary Defense and TrustedSec — on his journey to becoming a cybersecurity authority, building two of the leading companies in the industry, hacking and social engineering, and how he's making the world a more secure place.

Tony Pietrocola — Co-Founder & President of AgileBlue — on serial entrepreneurship, technology waves, and cybersecurity.

John Nottingham — Co-Founder & Co-President of Nottingham Spirk — on building the longest-standing design collaborative in the world (celebrating its 50th anniversary & based here in Cleveland), the creative process, vertical innovation, and creating some of the most ubiquitous global products!

Rick Simmons — Co-Founder & CEO of the telos institute — on leadership, personal betterment, liminal spaces, embracing disruption, ultramarathons, and building a leading organizational performance & consulting firm that offers expertise and guidance to leaders around the world.

Drew Kraemer — CEO of Code3 & Founder of Marketplace Strategy — on building a digital performance marketing agency that serves some of the largest digital advertisers globally and the future of marketing across search, social, programmatic, marketplaces, and emerging channels.

Jamie Van Doren — Founder & CEO of NeverEnding — on gaming, entertainment, entrepreneurship, pseudonymity, the future of storytelling, and empowering a whole new generation of storytellers!

Ryan Lambacher — Founder & CEO of Graffle — on unlocking the value of NFTs and solving the infrastructure layer for every project built on blockchains.

Cal Al-Dhubaib — Founder & CEO of Pandata - on the design and development of human-centered, trusted AI solutions that drive business transformation.

Daniel Brown — Co-Founder of Rust Belt Riders and Tilth Soil — on providing people with a clean, timely, and community benefiting alternative to landfills for their food waste — namely, composting!

Ryan Young — Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Fello (formerly FlashHouse) — on the real estate industry today, ins and outs of iBuying, empowering realtors, simplifying the buying and selling of homes, and differentiation in a truly competitive ma

Jack Grover — Founder & CEO of Grove Bags — on the ins and outs of the cannabis industry, on the history and challenges of marijuana's legalization and regulatory standing, and building a market-leading packaging company in the space.

Dr. Daniel German — founder & CEO of orthobrain — on transforming the delivery of orthodontics, solving the global orthodontic skills shortage with technology that puts a virtual orthodontist chairside with every dentist, and making smiles happen!

Jane Alexander — Chief Digital Information Officer at The Cleveland Museum of Art — exploring the state of the art for art, museums, and experiences through the lens of the CMA.

Eric Diamond — co-founder and CEO of Central Kitchen — on building the driving force behind the local craft food scene here in Cleveland.

David Boone Jr. — co-founder and CEO of BlendED — on boomeranging back to Cleveland from Seattle to found and build BlendED, which has raised over $1mm in funding from leading education-technology investors in their mission to bring syllabus and course management into the future.

Mike Belsito — Co-Founder of Product Collective (based here in Cleveland) — on bootstrapping his organization back in 2015 which now boasts a thriving community of over 30,000+ product management professionals and building two of the top rated product management conferences in the world (INDUSTRY: The Product Conference & New York Product Conference).

Bob Baskette — founder and CTO of Roundtable Learning (originally founded as Knowbase) — on immersive learning and the commercial applications of virtual reality.

Justin Bibb, now Mayor-Elect of Cleveland, on running for office and his vision to modernize city government.