Lay of The Land

Lay of the Land is about telling the stories of what people are building in Cleveland, and today we’re taking that literally! We’re talking about building buildings. Our (lucky) thirteenth conversation is with Dan Whalen — Harbor Bay’s vice president of design and development — and we’re covering INTRO: Cleveland’s first and America’s tallest mass timber project located at Market Square in the hea...

Our twelfth conversation is with Bob Sopko.  Bob is the director of Case Western’s LaunchNet focused on helping students and alumni build startups and supporting their entrepreneurial efforts. Bob is also an entrepreneur-in-residence at Youngstown Business Incubator where he mentors early-stage technology companies.  Through this conversation, we map a whole breadth of the Cleveland entrepreneuria...

Our eleventh conversation is with Nicole Paolozzi  — founder & CEO of OndeCare based here in Cleveland! We cover the challenges of in-home healthcare for loved ones of all ages and needs — infant, childcare, special needs care, and eldercare — and how OndeCare meets this need by connecting credentialed care, safety, and education professionals with busy families that are juggling demanding job...

Our tenth episode is a conversation with  Taher Hassonjee — director of business development at RVshare (based on Akron, Ohio)  — exploring the world of recreational vehicles and why RVshare has been able to capitalize on it raising more than $100 million in capital and growing bookings over 650% in late 2020. As continentally confined Americans look for domestic vacation options that won’t expose...

Our ninth episode is a conversation with  Steve Muszynski — founder & CEO of Splash Financial — exploring the student loan crisis and how Splash is helping people save on their student loan debt I met Steve back when Splash Financial was known as GradSchoolLoans and their growth and impact since then has been extraordinary. Splash has been recognized as the 8th fastest growing company in Ohio...

Our eighth episode is a conversation with Joe DeLoss — founder of Hot Chicken Takeover — about service, entrepreneurship, chicken, and change for good. He’s spent the last decade building business creating employment opportunities for those who have experienced significant adversity in their lives. From incarceration to addiction to homelessness, Joe believes everyone deserves a fair chance to bui...

On our seventh episode, we’re speaking with Lee Zapis Lee Zapis is the former president of Zapis Communications which owned and operated WZAK along with other radio stations in Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown. Zapis Communications' stations received numerous national broadcast awards and were nominated eight times for the Marconi Award, the highest honor of the National Association of Broadcasters...

On our sixth episode, we’re speaking with Gerald Hetrick, CEO of Able.  Gerald has a decorated past here in the Cleveland entrepreneurial space as a technology leader at MCPC, co-founder, CTO and COO at Vox mobile, and more recently, CEO of Able (formerly known as Employstream) which just closed on a $7mm Series B and has experienced tremendous growth over the last year.  Gerald is a mentor of min...

On our fifth episode, we’re speaking with Mansfield Frazier, founder of Château Hough - the country’s first inner-city vineyard located in the historic district of Hough, where he resides.  Our conversation spans growing grapes and selling wine in Midtown Cleveland, triple-bottom line businesses, conscious capitalism, institutionalized racism, combating recidivism, and lots more. Mansfield is a na...

Today's episode is a special one as our guest is our very own co-host, Tagan. Over the next few episodes, Tagan will be waning off of Lay of The Land as a co-host and so we wanted to share her own Cleveland entrepreneurial journey as a guest on the show before her departure. Lay of The Land will continue to tell the stories of Cleveland entrepreneurship every Thursday, and Tagan and I will still c...

Ron Stubblefield is a nationally recognized lawyer, scholar, economic development professional and entrepreneurial advisor. As a shared Entrepreneur-in-Residence, he acts as a collaborative resource for the Economic Community Development Institute, the Hispanic Business Center, The Presidents’ Council, The Urban League of Greater Cleveland and JumpStart. Ron works with these organizations to advan...

Carrie Murphy was born and raised in Cleveland. After graduating from Syracuse University with a degree in Public Policy and Strategic Management she decided to move to New York City. Her first job was working for the startup, The Ladders, where she began her career in recruiting. From there, she went into retained executive search working at a boutique firm, Daversa Partners, where she placed exe...

This week, we're talking with Ed Buchholz, the founder of Start in CLE. Ed is founder of three venture-backed software companies and has more than twenty years product leadership experience with multiple B2B and B2C products. Since recording this episode, Ed has taken a job as a product manager at Facebook in Menlo Park. In this episode, we not only talk about Ed's journey and Start in CLE, but we...