Found In The Rockies

In today’s episode, Les sits down with Will Pearce and Brad Palm from Dreadnode , one of the nation’s most advanced offensive AI and cybersecurity companies. Based in the Rocky Mountain West, Dreadnode is redefining how we think about digital defense — by taking the offensive. Will and Brad share their experiences leading red teams at Microsoft, NVIDIA, and within the U.S. Marine Corps, and how th...

In today’s episode, Les Craig speaks with Jim Lose, a Marine Corps veteran, longtime recruiter, and CEO of The Military Veteran (The MilVet). With over 25 years of experience helping thousands of service members transition into successful private sector roles, Jim shares his mission to place more veterans in executive leadership across high-growth, early-stage companies. Jim’s passion for service...

Summary: In today’s episode, Les speaks with Chris Peterson, co-founder and CEO of Radicl, and a pioneer in cybersecurity innovation. Chris shares his inspiring journey from early days at Price Waterhouse to co-founding LogRhythm, and now leading Radicl - a company on a mission to bring military-grade cybersecurity to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), especially those in the defense indust...

In this episode of Found in the Rockies, Les Craig sits down with Arthur Karell, Partner at First In, a venture firm investing at the intersection of cybersecurity, defense tech, and data intelligence. Arthur shares his unconventional journey from international law to the Marine Corps to scaling startups and leading M&A at Anduril, before transitioning to early-stage investing. He unpacks the...

In this episode of Found in the Rockies, Les Craig sits down with Logan Selby and Kevin Larrabee of Datashapes AI—two veterans turned tech innovators who are redefining how artificial intelligence is applied to the electromagnetic spectrum. From battlefield-tested insights to real-world commercial applications, the conversation dives into drone detection, spectrum awareness, and what it means to b...

In today’s episode, Les is joined by John and Levi, the co-founders of 4th State Communications, a Wyoming-based defense technology company. They delve into their backgrounds in the Marine Corps, experiences in the Warfighting Lab, and the inspiration behind their startup. The conversation explores the critical challenges of military communications in denied and austere environments and how their...

In today’s episode, Les sits down with Sean Leahy and John Price from HighGround.  the conversation delves into the founders’ unique backgrounds—from military service and government intelligence to data science and entrepreneurial ventures—and how these experiences inform their ambitious vision. HighGround seeks to create a centralized platform, similar to Bloomberg for equities, providing compreh...

In today’s episode, Les talks with Kenny Scott, the founder of Paramify. Kenny shares his journey from initially disliking compliance and GRC work to eventually building a successful SaaS company that automates and streamlines these processes. He discusses his background in consulting and cybersecurity, his brief stint running a hedge fund, and the pivotal moment when he decided to create a soluti...

In today’s episode, Les talks with Orlando Zambrano, a West Point graduate and former infantry officer, who discusses his journey from serving in the 1/73 Airborne Brigade to working at the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). DIU, established in 2015, aims to integrate commercial technology into defense solutions. Orlando highlights DIU's three phases: 1.0 focused on building Silicon Valley links,...

In today’s episode, Garrett Smith, CEO of Reveal Technologies, discussed his journey from the Marine Corps to founding a defense tech startup in Bozeman, Montana. Garrett, a linguistics graduate with a background in Mandarin, transitioned from government service to Silicon Valley, where he focused on drone technology. Reveal Technologies developed Farsight, a software that creates 3D maps from dro...

In today’s episode of Found in the Rockies, Les spoke with France Hoang, co-founder of BoodleAI. France and Les shared their experiences and insights on optimizing AI models for efficient use in Boodle, an AI-powered chatbot. Les and France shared their experiences in the military and government, highlighting the differences in their paths and the lessons they learned about service, sacrifice, and...

In today’s episode, Les talks with Matt Puopolo from StageDotO and Travis Hawkes from Capital Eleven about the startup community in Idaho as well as the Seed to Growth Conference coming up in September. They discussed the growth and potential of Boise's startup ecosystem, highlighting favorable conditions such as a talented workforce and increased acceptance of distributed workforce. They emp...

In today’s episode, of "Found in the Rockies," Les Craig sits down with a dynamic guest from the Rocky Mountain region, Maggie Rodney, a principal at Massive Capital Partners. They dive into the unique and innovative investment strategies employed by Massive Capital, focusing on deep tech and climate tech ventures. Maggie shares her compelling journey from a finance career to joining the...

In today’s episode, Les talks with Gabriel Wyner, the creator of the most funded app in Kickstarter history - Fluent Forever. Gabe details his fascinating journey from a science-focused student pursuing dual degrees in music and engineering, to becoming a successful entrepreneur in the language learning space. He shared experiences learning languages through immersion programs that led him to drea...

In today’s episode, Les talks with Quique Nagle, the founder and CEO of Advisr - a sales operating system that helps organizations maximize existing resources to increase revenue and market share. Quique shares his journey with Advisr, discussing the challenges and innovations in risk management technology. He emphasizes the importance of adapting to change and leveraging new tools to enhance deci...

In today’s episode, we have Rebecca Clyde who is the founder and CEO of Botco.ai. Rebecca is going to share with us her journey to creating the fully-automated, AI-powered marketing chat solution that is a HIPAA-compliant platform enabling meaningful and intelligent conversations between providers and consumers. Here’s a closer look at the episode: Growing up in Central and South America. Landing...

In today’s episode, Les talks with Blair Simpson, a Principal at Frontier Venture Capital. Blaire shares his journey from being a musician to entering the venture capital world, emphasizing non-traditional paths into VC and the music industry's influence on his career. Les and Blair talk about the impact of AI on creative fields, Blair's advice for aspiring VCs, and Blair's musical...

In today’s episode, Les talks with Travis Lowry, General Partner at Vinyl Capital. Travis shares his early background in Texas as the child of an entrepreneur and how that impacted his own decision to jump into the startup scene. Travis talks about his time in Syria, and how that impacted his world view. Travis shares how he transitioned from entrepreneur to investor.  His path illustrates the pow...

In today’s episode, Les speaks with Pete Roos, CEO of Bridger Photonics, discussing the company's journey and its photonics technology used for precise methane emission detection and topographic mapping. The discussion covers Pete's background, the founding of Bridger Photonics, its early challenges, and the evolution of its technology from topographic to gas mapping LiDAR. Les and Pete...

In today’s episode, Les talks with John Cordier, the co-founder and CEO of Epistemix. They discuss Epistemix's unique approach to simulation, and how it could be seen as a blend of SimCity, Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point," and The Matrix. John shares his background, including his geospatial experiences, university choices, and his journey through public health, leading t...

In today’s episode, Les speaks with Jonathan Meyers, Co-Founder & CEO of DoneOps - which “designs, builds, secures, and maintains infrastructure so your devs don't have to.” Jonathan talks about his approach to balancing work and travel, his experiences in different countries, and his perspective on cultural diversity. He shares insights on adapting to various work environments as a digit...

In today’s episode, Les talks with David Lopez who is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gritly. David talks about his journey from a challenging childhood in an underserved Colorado community to a successful entrepreneur is remarkable. His mother played a pivotal role in his achievements, including being the first in his family to finish high school. David's entrepreneurial spirit manifested early, l...

In today’s episode, Les talks with Patsy Landaveri, the founder and CEO of Impacto - an enterprise risk management solution to the oil and gas industry.  The discussion focuses on Patsy's personal and professional journey, including her background, education, career progression, and her motivation to start Impacto. Patsy shares her story of moving from Peru to the United States for higher edu...

In today’s episode, Les talks with Brad Paz - the co-founder and CEO of Zoptic. The podcast episode features a conversation with Brad Paz, the co-founder and CEO of Zoptic, a sports tech and data analytics company. Brad discusses his personal journey, originating from a family with Mexican heritage in Nebraska, and his passion for sports, which led him to play junior college basketball in Californ...

In today’s episode, Les interviews Danielle Shoots, who is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of the New Community Transformation Fund, focusing on investments as a tool for economic equity. Here’s a closer look at the episode: Pivoting from corporate finance to starting a, with a focus on consumer behavior and financial discipline. Danielle has extensive experience in finance and strategy...