Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights

Jillian Manus is managing partner at Structure Capital, an early stage VC firm that focuses on Zero Waste Economy. Jillian has had an amazing journey and is an amazing fireball of energy and purpose. She has a podcast herself called The Pitch. She and I go back to when our kids shared a baseball field together and then discovered a similar passion for media, tech, and supporting the startup ecosys...

From Super Tech Profit Investor to Author, anti-hate Advocate and Web Prophet with a focus on saving democracy, capitalism, innovation. All that and some soulful sounds #Moonalice #Zucked Please listen to this! I rarely beg and plead but this Look Back is beyond interesting, its a critical wide eyed look at our current surveillance economy that both challenges our current startup ecosystem but mor...

I had questions: Web3 vs Web 1 and 2. How can we make it more equitable this time around? How does the Metaverse evolve and grow? Will Facebook get it right? Is it anarchy - Where will NFT's, Blockchain and Bitcoin fit in? Thankfully, my old friend had answers. He's just become CMO of an exciting Web3 tools company and has his hands in much more. Please give a listen and follow up as we continue t...

Fantastic conversation with Brad Smith, the former CEO of Intuit who recently took on the role of President of Marshall University. Hey, all he had to do was follow and surpass the success of Intuit Founder Scott Cook, Coach - Startup Whisperer Bill Campbell and a few others - and he did! Such an inspiring conversation and passionate leader. You can see why he has had so much success and why you c...

Such a great time catching up with Mike Bell, CEO of Miso Robotics. We met when he was slinging software in the B2C consumer space (Encore Software) and then he transitioned his business management and leadership strength into a few enterprise tech companies but now Mike is running Miso - what an amazing new play in robotics - revolutionizing Restaurant/QSR space. Great chat, give a listen and pic...

Dan is the CEO of Chegg and has become a huge advocate for reform of the education system and promoting school to be more affordable and relevant and inclusive in today’s tech-driven economy. His passion behind this cause in infectious. Crazy to think a few short decades ago we toiled in the world of ‘special interest publishing’ at the likes of Ziff-Davis but that turned into a treasure trove of...

The Look Back catches up @Heini Z. - who I worked with in the security software market while he was still living in his hometown of Denmark -  only to later find him pop up as Founder and CEO of Vivino living in the California Bay Area. Vivino is a great success story and the #1 wine review site but he's also a passionate promoter of entrepreneurship and advocate of new founders - see his podcast...

Randy has founded nine venture-backed technology companies including an autonomous vehicle insurance company, a digital avatar company, two software-publishing companies, two Internet technology companies, an e-commerce company, and two celebrity-based digital media companies. He has published more than 30 consumer software applications that collectively have sold more than 20 million copies world...

It’s wonderful to bring to the podcast a veteran and friend my our days in media tech who has pivoted only to find challenge, change and a new path. Today, the amazing Debbie Gisonni is the Founder of SELF POWER NOW and is a best-selling author and life coach who inspires people to make simple changes that radically improve self-awareness and success. With over two decades in corporate leader...

What a great chat with Christina who I’ve known for forever > as the leader at My Software Company,  then Maximum Games - and now she is CEO of Zordix AB, as well as founder and CEO of video game publishers Maximum Games and Modus Games, and development team Modus Studios. Maximum Games is an award-winning video game publisher with over 300 titles in its catalogue. She’s also one of the &n...

They call him The SuperAngel. The Godfather of Silicon Valley - I think that’s a bit unfair since he’s not really that old - anyway, I just call him Ron. I’ve known him for years. Back when he was running a startup (Personal Training Systems) and not just investing in them (he’s run SV Angel since Internet 1.0). We had a great chat that covered all of this and much more. Please give a listen, shar...

Jerry Colonna CEO, Reboot.io Check-in, Reboot > Grow Up My former colleague Jerry Colonna is just a wonderful person to connect with for many reason including some insight and perspective - and a little grounding as it were. His words always land and his sharing is as challenging in tone as they are in revealing. In this episode of The Look Back we revisit our time together as journalists (@CMP...

We’re not in E-Commerce 101 anymore! Marketing maestro and super e-commerce veteran Greg Writer shares his view of what’s going on in the world of e-commerce and why it rivals his passion for hang gliding for drama and excitement. We have a fun chat just days before the launch of his latest e-Commerce platform LaunchCart > check it out @ www.launchcart.com

Technologist, Scientist and Mathematician and I met him and saw a swash-buckling entrepreneur. He had just left France with nothing but a few bucks in his pocket and a computer software program he brought to the West Coast Computer Faire in the early to mid 80s. He was essentially selling software from a table and demand started to grow. He couldn’t afford ads to promote his software, heck he even...

From Private equity to the Pitch - is just a part of the entrepreneurial journey Brett Johnson has traveled. And what a ride its been since I met Brett thru my relationship with Targus, a huge player in the computer case/accessories space, which his father built with aplomb. Brett had a turn at the helm before pivoting to his role as a modern-day Ted Lasso (owner of a soccer team - and now several...

Nicola Corzine is the Executive Director of the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center where thousands of entrepreneurs have come thru its doors to gain a fundamental understanding and insights into building the next generation of great companies. No charge, No Equity = Big Impact. But beyond the platform, Nicola has personally led the development of the curriculum and directed the conversation in importan...

Anita Gardyne is the better half of a husband and wife leadership team (sorry Bob) providing supplementary care services to companies as part of a competitive benefits offering. Think Child Daycare, Elderly Parent Care, etc. The product-market fit is innovative and solid, the pipeline deep and demand is strong. But everyday is a challenge, and its more difficult @Oneva than even a regular startup....

New Podcast Alert!  We're Shakin' n Bakin' with Stephen Baker on The Look Back with Keith Newman! It’s that CYBER MONDAY and BLACK FRIDAY time of year but was somehow able to pull technology industry analyst Baker from his catbird seat, where he's intensely surveying the shopping landscape, to share his views on the comings & goings of bits & brands & where future fortunes may lie...

From Wall Street mover and shaker to fiction author, I was happy to track down former fund manager and friend Jeff Mathews, who closely watched the moving and shaking that was the PC industry from behind the lens of a stock trader and transitioned to a writer - an art he had been practicing as a blogger on financial matters but then took a stab at writing a book, first on legendary investor Warren...

FinTech Fun! This week I had the pleasure of interviewing FinTech Executive and newly minted author Carine Schneider as we talked about the early days of FinTech and the coming explosion of access to private markets, which she lays bare in her book The Democratization of the Private Market - now available on Amazon. Carine views the private market from her perch atop Astrella, an equity management...

Gary has been writing and talking about efficient organization and innovative business for years but not until a global pandemic has the need for his work been so great. In the latest episode of The Look Back, journalist, trend watcher, speaker and author Gary Bolles, opines on the Future of Work and the structure to properly build today’s New Company. His brand new book , T he Next Rules Of Work:...

Conquering the Head and Heart. Russell took a break from running, running his mental health company, Ginger , which is in the middle of merger integration with Headspace, to share some of his thoughts on perseverance, purpose and making short putts. The former head of a lead gen marketing Co. called Bizo, which he sold to LinkedIn, is all about taking big steps and striving for the highest goals i...

Blogger = Podcaster - Visionary Robert Scoble introduced many of us to the world of blogging and then showed us the potential of podcasts. It was his tech vision merged with media passion that created a great many pieces - and he still remains an evangelist for the latest and greatest. As colleagues at a place called PodTech and at subsequent junctures along the way we’ve had chance to share thoug...

Peter Horan is a successful media and tech entrepreneur with an illustrious career who has turned angel investor. What I enjoy most about Peter, a former colleague from our days @IDG, is his ability to dig into business strategy, objectives and divine the oncoming challenges way before they happen. His perspective is part professor, part entrepreneur while he takes a criti...

I just had one of my favorite Look Back interviews - with Legendary journalist, writer, turned investor Stewart Alsop (Twitch, TIVO, Sonos and many more investments). Stew recalls days @ InfoWorld, the famous conference he started (The DEMO Conference) and his famous newsletter (called PC Letter). He also answers Why @Elon banned him from buying a Tesla, and his answer to the question: Is @Zuck Ev...