Forward Obsessed

Chris Redlitz is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Last Mile, leading a national movement across our country to provide in-prison technology education and post-incarceration mentorship to justice-involved people across the United States. Chris had previously sold a chain of running stores called Second Sole, founded and sold AdAuction. Com, co-founded Kicklabs, and co-founded Transmedia...

Eric Rosow is the CEO and Co-founder of Diameter Health. He was previously the Founder and CEO of Premise Corporation and has extensive experience in healthcare technology and entrepreneurship. Under his leadership, Diameter Health’s innovative technology has been adopted by major health systems across the country, and was acquired by Availity in 2022. In this episode, Rosow shares insights and en...

Yasha Filippenko is exiting founder of Sailplay, a B2C marketing automation platform, and the founder of Intch, a professional social networking platform. Born in Kazakhstan and later moving to Russia, Yasha specialized in mathematics, a path that eventually led him into the realm of technology. His tech career kicked off at Yandex, Russia's largest search engine, providing him with invaluable ind...

Explore the fast-paced world of video marketing and user generated content with Lucas Loeffler, exiting founder of QuickFrame. In this interview, Lucas talks about his early years as a party-planner and rule-bender, his rapid rise and fall in the world of football, and re-discovering his identity after losing the ability to play his favorite sport. Lucas talks about why he turned down a six-figure...

Ryan Shank is the exited founder of PhoneWagon, the founder of Cameo Ventures, and the founder of ShareWillow. In this interview, dive into Ryan’s incredible entrepreneurial journey as he takes you through his early aha moments, bumpy periods of rapid growth, struggling with addiction, and finally getting his company acquired. Ryan opens up about his struggles with addiction and self-doubt, the pr...

Gioel Molinari is the Founder of Autostrada, a boutique automotive club and showroom in Westport, CT. He was previously the exiting Founder of ClariFi and President of Butterfly Network, a medical device company that is democratizing healthcare by making medical imaging as accessible as a stethoscope. In this episode, David Salinas and Pete Sena sit down with entrepreneur and leader Gioel Molinari...

John Owen is the Co-founder and formerly the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Jetblue Airlines. John is currently an Angel Investor, Venture Partner, and advisor for multiple brands.    In this episode of Forward Obsessed, David and Pete speak with John Owen, co-founder of JetBlue, about his experiences in starting one of the largest airlines in the United States. Starting w...

Neil Bainton is the Co-Creator and COO of Mailchimp, and is currently an investor, advisor, and photographer. On this episode of Forward Obsessed, Neil Bainton discusses his unique career journey, starting with learning Russian during the Cold War and actually moving to Russia at the end of the Cold War to work for DuPont. Neil recalls Russia as an “entrepreneurial black slate,” transitioning to w...

  Steve Shwartz is an award winning author, angel investor, serial entrepreneur, and one of the foundational engineers behind AI technologies like natural language processing. On this episode of Forward Obsessed, we dive deep into the profitable (and tumultuous) world of Artificial Intelligence and AI Language Models. Our guest is Steve Schwartz, an accomplished AI engineer, author, investor, and...

Michael Kalman is the Chief Strategy Officer for PersonalRX, Advisory Board Member for iCleanse, and was previously the founder and CEO of MediaCrossing, a digital marketing agency which sold to Kubient in 2021.  Kalman is a media and digital marketing expert who has been in the industry since 1990. On this episode of Forward Obsessed, learn about how a group of people started a trading desk to of...

Larry Janesky is the CEO and Founder of Basement Systems, Contractor Nation, The School Of Entrepreneurship, and owns over 30 businesses across the United States. Larry is also one of the most accomplished desert motorcycle racers in the world, and has competed and won the Baja 1000 Desert race multiple times. On this episode of Forward Obsessed, we dive into the importance of focusing our attenti...

David Cancel is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Drift, the world's first conversational marketing and sales technology company. David is a Bronx native who dropped out of college to pursue his career in tech. He has been part of six exits, including HubSpot, where he was the CTO responsible for revolutionizing their products and taking the company from a $100 million valuation to a public co...

A.J Wasserstein is Lecturer in the Practice of Management at the Yale School of Management, and was previously the Founder and CEO of ArchivesOne, a document storage company that sold to Iron Mountain after 17 years of operation and growth.    School is in session with A.J as he recounts his experiences with choosing an industry for its ideal economic characteristics, using “programmatic acquisiti...

Ranjit Bindra is a serial Biotech entrepreneur and Professor of Medicine at Yale University. He is Cofounder of Cybrexa, Alphina, and B3 Therapeutics, and is the Cofounder and CEO of Modifi Bio.    Dive into the world of a “creative scientist” turned entrepreneur as Ranjit recounts his early years in an entrepreneurial household, developing a passion for science and biology, and finding his person...

John Edelman is the President and CEO of Heller, an American modern design company that makes and sells indoor/outdoor furniture and accessories. John was previously the CEO of Design Within Reach, which was sold to Herman Miller in 2014. OUTLINE: (00:00) - Intro (4:09) - Early years in an entrepreneurial home (8:13) - Advice for starting a new company (11:00) - The Importance Of Taste (14:20) - L...

Josh Cohen is Founder and President of Junkluggers, one of the largest franchised junk removal services in the world. Step into the world of making trash into treasure as Josh recounts having his “aha-moment” around a fire with some friends in Australia, starting a company with Bar Mitzvah money and a pickup truck called “Old Rusty,” and the winding road to selling his business in 2022. Josh talks...

Matt Melander was the Founder, President, and CFO at LEVIA, a cannabis beverage company that has become one of the largest brands in the cannabis edibles industry. After selling his company in 2022, Matt is now focusing on transforming the cannabis industry and developing innovative cannabinoid products.   In this episode, step into Matt’s past as he relates the inspirational story of his grandfat...

Claudia Reuter is Director of The Roberts Innovation Fund at Yale Ventures, author of "Yes, You Can Do This!", and host of the Podcast, “The 43 Percent”. Claudia was previously the founder of SchoolChapters, which was acquired by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2014. She was then the General Manager of Americas East for Techstars, one of the largest startup accelerator programs in the world.    In th...

Kevin Rakin is the co-founder of HighCape Capital, a growth equity firm that finances and assists innovative life sciences companies transition from the initial stages of their business cycle into successful, thriving organizations.    In this episode, we’ll take you through Kevin’s journey and how he founded multiple biotech companies and took them to IPO and acquisition.     We’ll take a look at...

What a year it has been. 20 episodes, 20 brilliant minds sharing the vast spectrum of the entrepreneurial experience. We heard about “back of the napkin” aha moments, tooth and nail bootstrapping, overcoming every form of adversity, the hardest failures and the sweetest victories. We learned priceless lessons about building partnerships, scrappy fundraising, trusting others, learning to lead, purs...

Kevin Rocco was the Founder and CEO of Biorez, a Biotechnology company that invented a regenerative and absorbable ligament brace called the Biobrace. Biorez was acquired by Conmed in 2022 for $250 Million dollars, and Kevin is now working as VP of Bioinductive Technologies at Conmed.    In this interview, get the fresh perspective of a founder that went through every pitfall and pivot imaginable,...

Al Subbloie is president and CEO of Budderfly, the fastest growing Energy Efficiency as a Service company in the United States.    In this episode, learn about the importance of macro-dynamics when starting a business, why fear holds most entrepreneurs back, and whether grinding hard is better than having talent. Listen to Al’s philosophy about turning a loss into a win, finding pleasure in your w...

Barry Nalebuff is Co-Founder of Honest tea, Kombrewcha, Real Made Foods, and Just Ice Tea.  Barry is also a professor at Yale School Of Management, and has authored multiple award-winning books.    In this episode, learn how Barry co-founded multiple successful food and beverage products using real economic principles. Class is in-session: Dive into concepts like declining margins of utility, arbi...

Meg Sanders is CEO of Canna Provisions, a chain of cannabis dispensaries in New England. She worked directly with the governor of Colorado to develop its cannabis laws, then personally led the charge by opening one of the state’s first dispensaries. Meg is now one of the biggest forces in the new Massachusetts cannabis cultivation and consumer sales fields.    Tune in to explore the ups and downs...

Miles Lasater is the CEO and Founding Partner of Purpose Built Ventures. In this episode, hear from Miles on why learning to sell at a young age is so important to learn entrepreneurship, and how you can manage your time more effectively to create new habits. Miles dives into the pitfalls behind taking a company public, the real role of a start-up investor, and what it means to be a “purpose built...