Going Deep with Aaron Watson

Brian Gaudio is the CEO of Module, a design & technology startup based in Pittsburgh.    Module is developing a pay-as-you-go housing solution that enables homebuilders to provide an affordable and flexible entry point for homeownership. One of their distinctive features is a design that allows a buyer to turn a one-bedroom starter unit into a 3 bedroom house.   Brian has previously directed a doc...

J.D. Ewing is the President of COE Distributing, the largest furniture-only wholesale office furniture distributor in the United States.    We traveled out to Uniontown, PA to record this interview at the company’s headquarters, which includes a 300,000 square foot warehouse.   The company also operated hubs in North Carolina and Texas, which allows it to serve the entire continental United States...

Jessica Gibson is CEO and Co-Founder of Ariel Precision Medicine, an integrated genomics and digital health company.    Ariel helps patients with complex chronic diseases by using genetics and health information to model the mechanisms and drivers of disease. This enables clinicians to establish an early diagnosis, long-term prognosis, and targeted management plan.   Ariel's PancreasDx® is the mos...

Matt Kesinger’s company, Forest Devices, is developing the medical device ALPHASTROKE to help first responders identify stroke and triage patients to the right hospital.   Strokes are the #1 cause of disability worldwide. Lives are changed by how quickly a stroke is diagnosed and treated.   Matt was EMT in Boston for two years and learned how hard it can be to diagnose a stroke with just a clinica...

Lillian Rafson did not plan to start her business Pack Up + Go. But, on a trip to Latvia, she came across an idea that was too good to pass up. Booking surprise travel for vacationers.   She came back to the US, started the business, and hoped to get 50 clients that year. She got 500.   She followed the sharp trajectory upwards and remained bootstrapped the whole way. Now she runs a team, does mil...

We believe this is one of the best and most valuable podcasts we’ve had the privilege to share.   Michele McGough is the founder and CEO of solutions4networks, a professional services and integration company that provides network engineering and network security consulting as well as associated equipment/software to a select client portfolio.   She’s been in IT for more than 30 years and has learn...

Michelle Walters founded Liberty Closet Systems in 1993. The family-owned and operated business serves up custom closet, cabinetry, and storage solutions in Westmoreland County & surrounding areas.   Over time, operations have been scaled to meet the demands of over one hundred builders in PA, WV, and Maryland. In 23 years LCS, Inc. has grown from a single designer/installer to a full staff of des...

James Haluszczak founded SteelBridge Consulting in 2008. The boutique consultancy exclusively focuses on serving as a strategic advisor to Private Equity and Venture Capital fund managers, investors, and administrators.    He is also a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of SteelBridge Laboratories, which he and his partners founded in 2016 as an investment firm focused on early-stage Fintech companie...

Austin Webb is leading a startup that aims to upend the food system. How? By using robotics and AI to build and operate highly efficient, commercial-scale urban vertical farms.   In late September 2019, his company Fifth Season (originally founded as RoBotany) came out of stealth mode by announcing a $35 million round of funding. With this capital, it plans to build its first commercial-scale indo...

Hayden Cardiff is the co-founder and CEO of Idelic. Idelic is a B2B Saas startup that helps trucking companies track data on their fleet & drivers to improve safety.   Idelic recently announced a Series A financing round of $8M led by Origin Ventures with participation from TDF Ventures, Birchmere Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and SaaS Venture Capital.    Hayden, with cofounders Nick Bartel & A...

Denise DeSimone has started & run 9 different companies. Some have been successes, some have been failures, some have fallen in between.   In 1998, Denise founded and grew one of her greatest successes, Unicorp where she developed the privately-held technology-based business from the ground floor to over $74 million in revenues.   In this conversation, Aaron and Denise discuss where to get good me...

Nathan Martin is the founder and CEO of Deeplocal, a Pittsburgh-based marketing agency. The firm is comprised of creative engineers, hired by brands to build interactive experiences.    Since spinning Deeplocal out of an art and technology lab at Carnegie Mellon University in 2006, Nathan has become a leader of innovation and invention in advertising, creating custom solutions that are often the w...

Kristy Knichel is a second-generation logistics executive and the president of Knichel Logistics. Prior to leading the company, she led the operations team for 10 years.    Kristy has driven a staggering amount of growth for the company. Since its inception, Knichel Logistics has grown from $2 million in revenue to $80 million under Kristy’s leadership.   Knichel Logistics is a woman-owned and ope...

Çetin Meriçli is the co-founder and CEO of Locomation, a Pittsburgh startup building autonomous trucks. His company is taking a novel approach to the technical challenge by pairing trucks together, instead of building a single truck to stand alone.   Locomation has raised more than $5 million from 13 venture investors, including Pittsburgh VC firm Draper Triangle Ventures .   Çetin’s team, includi...

Ryan Kulp is both a marketer and a programmer. This unique skill set allows him to do things that most entrepreneurs only fantasize about.   Ryan constantly builds and ships new products and services on a monthly basis. This gives him the opportunity to experiment and test lots of ideas, seeing which ones stick.   He also uses this skill set to buy small technology companies & software products th...

Meredith Meyer Grelli is the co-founder of Wigle Whiskey, the first Pittsburgh distillery since Prohibition. Wigle’s spirits are distributed throughout the country and the distillery has been the most awarded Craft Whiskey Distillery in the US for four straight years.    Meredith and her team have followed up the success of Wigle with Threadbare Cider & Mead.   In this conversation, Aaron and Mere...

The best way to prepare to run your own startup is to learn from one of the best. Ajay Kori got to work under Marc Lore and learn from an eCommerce master before launching his own company.    Ajay founded UrbanStems in 2014 to fix a flower delivery industry that was institutionally broken. The company offers same-day, on-demand delivery in New York & DC, while offering nationwide next-day shipping...

How do you catalyze change within a large organization? Sarah Ahmad shares her insights from in the trenches.   Sarah is the senior VP of innovation and transformation strategy for Pittsburgh’s Highmark Health, a national health and wellness organization, and America’s second-largest integrated delivery and financing system.    Sarah Ahmad leads Highmark Health’s effort to transform health care by...

David Passavant is the CEO of Numo, a subsidiary company of PNC Bank. Numo is tasked with funding innovative technologies that can meaningfully move PNC’s business forward.   In this conversation, Aaron interviews David about what life is life running a corporate-backed financial technology incubator in Pittsburgh and how David found his way into the role.   David has been the CEO of Numo for 2.5...

Lily D is an ASMR YouTuber. What does that mean? Listen to the podcast to find out.    ASMR helps with anxiety and insomnia. Lily started making ASMR videos in 2013 and has racked up over 65 million views of her videos.   In this conversation, Aaron and Lily discuss how she got started, the positive & negative messages she receives, and what the future holds for a brand built around an individual....

Dave Nelsen has been a successful CEO in multiple businesses. Two of his startups, CoManage and TalkShoe, raised more than $70 million in angel and venture funding.   He has since moved into a full-time speaking career, traveling to country to share his perspective on Social Media for Business and Technology for Executives.   In this conversation, Dave and Aaron discuss how Dave went from a large...

Matt Stroud is the co-founder & CEO of Postindustrial Media. His new media startup is aiming to change the tenor of journalism in the Midwest.   He’s come a long way since founding a bimonthly magazine, called Deek, out of his basement apartment while enrolled full-time at the University of Pittsburgh.   Matt has written short- and long-form journalism for Esquire, Harper’s, The Atlantic, Buzzfeed...

In the past, magazines like Vogue & GQ were exclusively at the epicenter of fashion and style. They alone could play kingmaker to the tastes, trends, and brands clothing of an entire culture.   Today, the influence has been disseminated to a broad swath of creators and media outlets with their own perspective. Jon Shanahan saw this opportunity coming and has staked a claim with his brand, The Kava...

For half a century, women wore bras that had been designed by men. Sophia Berman knew there had to be a better way.   She’s spent that last 3 years launching and growing Trusst Lingerie, a company that has re-engineered the bra for larger-busted women.   In this conversation, Aaron and Sophia discuss what she’s learned about running a company, how 3-D printing failed to live up to the hype, and ho...

We had a guest no-call/no-show. No fun.   HP & I made the best of it by recording a podcast reflecting on Piper Creative being 18 months old, our hardest days of the process, and how great our team is.   Hope you have a lovely day.