Conquering Columbus Podcast

Summary: Tom is the President & CEO of the most active venture fund in the Great Lakes Region, Rev1 Ventures, which combines funding and strategic services to help entrepreneurs build companies. Under Tom’s direction, Rev1 Ventures has evolved from funding just a hand full of companies to producing $1.2B in capital, revenue, and exits since …

Summary: Wayne is the Executive Managing Director at Newmark Knight Frank and has over 30 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. Wayne was the Top Producer at his firm for 20 straight years, and he has a lot of great insights into the Columbus real estate market and commercial real estate in …

Summary: Gretchen and Keri are founders and trainers at System of Strength, a gym with three locations across Columbus including Grandview, Dublin, and Clintonville! System of Strength was founded with a focus on getting back to the basics and building a community of “inspiring, like-minded badasses”. Milemarkers: (00:00:00) The Conquering Columbus Startup Package (00:00:45) Like, …

Summary: Jared Friesner is the CEO and founder of Cliff Original – a hair, beard, and skincare company built around creating products from all-natural ingredients. The Cliff Original team believes that being ​healthy is more than just the food we eat or the miles we run or the sleep we get. It’s also what we …

Summary: Aaron is a Director at Kegler Brown Hill + Ritter, a law firm that counsels companies around the world on everything to do with business and law. Aaron has a wide range of experiences in the law field, and he did his studies at Capital University’s Law School. In addition, he coaches Rugby at …

Summary: Gregory Lehman is the Owner and Distiller at Watershed Distillery in Columbus, Ohio. Gregory graduated from The Ohio State University and the Fisher College of Business with a degree in Operations Management, while also playing for the Varsity Volleyball team. Watershed Distillery is a micro-distillery that crafts high-quality Gin and Vodka. They’re proud to …

Summary: Gary has conquered cancer, he’s the Founder and CEO of Wound Wise IQ, and he’s the CEO and a Leadership Business Coach at Ross Innovations LLC. Additionally, he’s held leadership roles at several companies throughout his career, including heading up a division of 600 people at a Fortune 500 company and holding the CEO …

Summary: Lori is a Principal and the Director of Commercial Studio at M+A Architects in Grandview – She’s played a large part in the precedent-setting Easton Town Center since 1994, and she was a graduate of the Pratt Institute in NYC with a professional degree in architecture. As a member of the International Council of …

Summary: Carrie is a Principal and the Director of Interior Design at M+A Architects in Grandview! Carrie has many years of previous experience in the Design industry, and as the Director of Interior Design she has a wide range of responsibilities including sourcing materials for sustainable builds, staying on top of industry trends, and working …

Summary: Bill is the Chief Sales Officer at 104.9 the River, a licensed radio station serving central Ohio as well as Chillicothe and Newark. Bill has over 20 years of experience in Radio Sales, he’s a graduate of Wizard of Ads Academy, a Certified Radio Marketing Consultant (CRMC, a Certified Digital Marketing Consultant (CDMC), and …

Summary: Fred and Katie are the co-founders of Uprising Capital, a social impact investment firm that brings together market needs, passionate people, investment capital, management expertise, an extensive network, and technology to achieve economic gains and social good. Fred has a wide range of experience in the investment world, having participated in over $27 billion …

Summary: Pete is the founder of CheckFree, which started as an online bill payment company and grew into the largest online banking, payment processing, and business analytics company in the world before selling to Fiserv for $4.4 Billion in 2007. Pete started CheckFree from his grandmother’s basement in 1981, and CheckFree helped put Columbus on …

Summary: Born in Edinboro, Scotland, Stuart Hunter eventually found his way to Columbus, Ohio where he founded the company roll: Bicycle Company. Sparked from a poor experience trying to find a bike for himself, Stuart set out to develop a more user-centric bicycle-buying experience, built on the skills that he gained from years of consumer …

Summary: Alex Fischer is the President and CEO of the Columbus Partnership, a civic organization of Columbus, Ohio’s top business leaders formed in 2002 to improve the economic and cultural base of central Ohio. He has served on numerous for-profit boards, and is currently serving as Chairman for Nationwide Children’s Hospital amongst other board positions. …

Summary: Ryan Baker is the Principle and one of the founders at Upsourced Accounting, a virtual accounting firm that delivers full service bookkeeping and accounting packages designed to help small businesses grow. They leverage powerful cloud accounting tools (like Xero) to provide real time financial statements and advisory to business owners. In this episode, we …

Summary: Mark Henson is an entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience creating inspired, energized and unusually effective business retreat experiences. He is also the founder of sparkspace and the author of Ordinary Superpowers: Unleash the Full Potential of Your Most Natural Talents. Milemarkers: (00:00:00) Mark Henson, Founder of sparkspace (00:00:30) Like, subscribe, and share Conquering &#8230...

Summary: Bill has spoken at over 150 conferences from New York to California, and he’s been featured in over 100 media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Money Magazine, and NPR. He’s a serial entrepreneur, investor, advisor, and board member, who frankly, “doesn’t give a d**n about your chair”. Most recently, he became the President …

Summary: Philip Payne is the Principal & Founder at Apportis, a software company that delivers connected health and wellness information to patients and healthcare providers through it’s revolutionary push engine. Prior to starting Apportis, Philip spent time leading branches of several large companies such as MindLeaders (now Skillsoft), Barclays, and AutoSweet; additionally, he holds h...

Summary: Adam & Allie Lehman are husband and wife and the founders of The Wonder Jam, a Columbus based creative agency that’s very good at branding, has a passion for product and food photography, and focuses on building relationships with smaller to midsize businesses! In this episode, we cover their background, path to meeting each …

Summary: Scott Kingsbury and Matt Baxendell are sports fanatics and the founders of Minuteman Tickets. Minuteman Tickets is a ticket brokerage based in Columbus, Ohio and prides itself on great deals, great customer service and great tickets! Moreover, the company is dedicated to doing its part to clean up the ticketing industry & has built …

Summary: From Jersey to Ohio, from deciphering Taliban messages out of his dorm room in college to turning down an offer directly from Mark Zuckerberg, and from Nationwide to now founding his own company, Wiretap, Jeff Schumann is an interesting individual. Not to mention, he’s extremely intelligent and passionate about making a difference in the …

Summary: Chris Sentz is the CEO @ F13 Works, a company centered around bridging the gap between manufacturers and e-commerce websites. F13 Works provides manufacturers, drop-shippers and order fulfillers of all types with a connection to millions of online stores. Orders from third-party sites will seamlessly enter their production process and payments will be automatically …

Summary: FUSIAN is a Columbus based, startup, fast-casual sushi restaurant with goals to make a significant impact on the world and drive value to their customers and their company. In this episode, we catch up with CEO and Co-Founder, Zach Weprin – Zach takes us through how the company has evolved since its founding in …

Summary: Ken Gold, Chief Executive Officer, has more than 35 years of real estate development and brokerage experience. In that time, he has built a strong reputation as a real estate development professional who brings something different to the table — creative solutions and uncompromising integrity. Not to mention, he’s also a leading real estate professor at …

Summary: Ilya Bodner is a first generation immigrant & a serial entrepreneur with a life vision to simply “build something bigger than himself”. With a goal like that, you can imagine he’s been a part of some really special companies over his life thus far. He graduated from tOSU, started as an insurance agent, and …