Going Deep with Aaron Watson

Sara Mauskopf is the CEO and co-founder of Winnie, a marketplace for child care built on powerful data systems and backed by a trusted community of parents and providers.   Parents use Winnie to research and uncover high-quality daycares and preschools in their geography with detailed information about licensing, tuition, and photos. Sara started Winnie in early 2016 after she experienced the frus...

Matt Dayton is the cofounder of Pure Air Nation, a company that focuses on mold remediation and air quality around the greater Pittsburgh area.   In just two years in business, Matt and his cofounder Jake have raced to serious business success with a full calendar and loads of 5 star reviews. Beyond mold remediation, they also offer air quality testing, duct cleaning, and preventative care.   In t...

Tom Galluzzo is the founder and CTO of IAM Robotics, a mobile robotics platform to automate manufacturing and warehouse facilities. In 2018, IAM Robotics raised a $20 million Series B to build their platform.   Tom founded the company back in 2013 after developing and nurturing his robotics technology within Carnegie Mellon University and military research. He has over 15 years of experience in au...

Steven Van Metre is a certified financial planner, the inventor of the Portfolio Shield™ trading strategy, and a financial media personality.   Steven transitioned from IT to financial services and found that he had an especially capacity to automate the systems of running a financial practice. In conjunction with producing a regular YouTube series, Steve has built a dynamic and highly-profitable...

Diane Danforth is the founder and CEO of Americat Company, a cat products company that manufactures all of its goods in the United States.   Diane’s business blends her entrepreneurial ambition, corporate experience, and love for cats into a single company.   In this discussion, Diane and Aaron discuss how she’s built out her products SKUs, what lessons from large corporate marketing she has broug...

Scott Absher is th Chief Executive Officer and cofounder of ShiftPixy, a platform to help business operators engage with a part-time workforce.    ShiftPixy is developing technology that balances the needs for business operators who rely on part-time labor and workers who make up the part-time workforce.    ShiftPixy is a powerful platform for leveraging the gig economy forces for both.   Scott wa...

Marshall Haas is the co-founder & CEO of Need/Want, a holding company of brands he has started and owns. Over the years Marshall has started a multitude of products and brands, including some that have been acquired and done millions of dollars of revenue.   He is self-taught and has translated his curiosity into Peel , Shepherd , ofHass , and others.   Inc. Magazine ranked Marshall’s company one...

Richard Goldman has been one of the nation's top private school leaders for several decades. He currently sits on the board for Xceed Preparatory Academy, which helps the next generation’s athletes and entertainers maintain their education while traveling and performing.    Richard Goldman was the Dean of Graduate Education at Nova Southeastern University for 20 years, where he pioneered internet-...

Dylan Lew is the CEO of Ecotone Renewables, a startup dedicated to making sustainable food and agriculture systems more accessible.   Ecotone Renewables has developed the “Seahorse”, which reinvents the food and plant waste disposal system, taking food that would otherwise be wasted and turning it into renewable energy and nutrient-rich fertilizer. The Seahorse uses a process of anaerobic digestio...

Dylan Beynon is the Founder & CEO of Mindbloom, a telehealth psychedelic therapy startup. Dylan founded Mindbloom to help people treat mental disorders with clinically back solutions involving ketamine.   This is Dylan’s third startup and he has already raised money from some blue chip investors, including Founders Fund.   Mindbloom is on pace to deliver 100,000+ psychedelic therapy sessions by th...

Don Racey is Chief Executive Officer of Engage Energy & Industrial Consulting and President, Marketing for American Energy Partners.   Don’s specialty is assisting diversified energy companies to better align with sustainability and ESG initiatives.   Don’s background in corporate finance, operations, and strategy allows him to guide business transformations and Asset Lifecycle Management plans.  ...

Kamron Khodjaev is the Chief Commercial Officer of Koop. Koop is an insurance technology and specialty brokerage company focused on commercial autonomy and robotics.   Robots have different data sets, risk models, and track records of performance than machinery operated by humans. Due to this complexity, many robotics firms find themselves struggling to get insured or paying way too much.   Kamron...

Michael Tam is a partner at Craft Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund known for the development of B2B Saas startups.   Based in Los Angeles, Michael sits on the boards of Bbot, Dray Alliance, Route, Trellis, and Vendr. He also works closely with notable investment companies such as Pipe, Salted, Shef, and Sync, amongst others.    Prior to joining Craft, Michael was an investor at Crossc...

Dave Fink is the CEO and cofounder of Postie, a platform for making direct mail marketing campaigns as sophisticated as elite digital marketing.   Dave Fink has been building companies for the consumer internet for over 15 years. Over the last decade Dave has launched and scaled over 20 consumer-internet businesses. During the early part of his career he created performance-marketing platforms hel...

Joe Percoco could not stand the idea that the best financial products were inaccessible to the common person, so he co-founded Titan. Titan is a fintech startup that aims to be this century’s Fidelity Investments   The startup is growing rapidly with 500% growth in the last 12 months, 30,000+ users, nearly 1 billion in assets under management, and a recent valuation of $450 Million. Their investor...

TJ Fairchild started Commonplace in 2003 with his wife in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Today, Commonplace has nine locations and TJ is consistently hired to consult with other coffee shops to help get their business established.   In addition to operating coffee shops, Commonplace also roasts their own beans which they sell directly to consumers and wholesale to other coffee companies.   TJ did not have...

Howie Choset is a robotics professor at Carnegie Mellon University and a serial entrepreneur. With his students, Howie has formed several companies including Medrobotics, for surgical systems, Hebi Robotics, for modular robots, and Bito Robotics for autonomous guided vehicles.   Further, Choset co-lead the formation of the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute, which is $250m national inst...

Charles McIlvaine is an effective operator and financier who is in the midst of a significant rebrand for Coen Oil.   After acquiring the company in the 2000s, Charlie and his brother Andy have built and spun off the company’s Energy and Transport businesses, in order to focus on their convenience store and gas station business.   In this conversation, Charlie and Aaron discuss business strategy,...

Will Weiner is the CEO of Xpogo, the association focused on the growth of extreme pogo sticking.   After taking over in 2018, Will has focused on expanded the sports media reach and developing a more robust event strategy.   In this episode, Aaron and Will discuss media, business models, and the athletes that make it possible.

Eli Harris is the cofounder and President of R-Zero Systems. R-Zero has raised $60 million to re-design hospital-grade disinfection solutions for day-to-day life.   In just fifteen months, R-Zero has raced to over $20 million worth of revenue and finds itself at the right place, at the right time, to take advantage of the cultural changes taking place post-pandemic.   Eli has been named a Forbes 3...

Barbara VanKirk is the CEO and founder of IQ Inc. She has spent the last 28 years creating company value by providing the vision, leadership, strategy, and general management skills necessary to grow IQ Inc into a dominant player in Pittsburgh’s tech ecosystem.   IQ Inc helps its clients with expert consulting, staffing, project management and software development services. They serve clients acro...

Jeremy Searock cofounded Advanced Construction Robotics in 2016, aiming to bring robotic technology to construction sites around the country.   As President and Chief Technology Officer, Jeremy has overseen the development of ACR’s first two products, TyBot and IronBot. The machines dramatically enhance workforce productivity and safety by aligning and tying rebar for reinforced concrete on heavy...

Gabriela Isturiz has founded two different high-growth SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) technology companies that were ultimately sold to Fortune 500 companies.   Her first company, eBillingHub, was a pioneering electronic billing solution for law firms around the world. Her product development, sales, and business strategy acumen allowed for eBillingHub to be acquired by Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) i...

Shea Murtaugh is the founder and president of Hoffmann Murtaugh, the largest media-only agency in Pittsburgh.   Shea started her company in 2004 with no capital and now leads a team of 30 people. Prior to funding Hoffman Murtaugh, Shea broke into media via broadcast sales. She’s sold every major form of media over her decorated career and blends that experience into a cocktail that delivers wins f...

Dr. Dietrich Stephan is a geneticist, entrepreneur, and CEO of NeuBase Therapeutics. Neubase is biotech startup focused on developing precision genetic medicines.   Dietrich previously founded or co-founded 14 biotechnology companies, was the chair of the Human Genetics department at the University of Pittsburgh, and was the CEO of LifeX Labs, a biotechnology incubator.   Neubase, his latest compa...