Operate Podcast

  I’m excited to bring back the podcast with Alice Frazier, CEO of Bank of Charles Town (BCT).  Alice is one of the most progressive leaders in community banking, and leads her bank that way. She’s active with the ICBA as its current Chair of the Policy Development Committee,  and previously served as Secretary,. She is also active in her state with the Community Bankers of West Virginia and  Virg...

Doug Holte is the Founder and CEO of Agile Workweek Investments, his startup that is investing in disruptive technologies and modernized properties for a more efficient and agile workweek.  Doug’s inspiration for AWI was not Covid, but rather accelerated by it; the changes he began to see in how people want to live and work started several years ago. Doug has had an illustrious career in commercia...

Fred Thiel is currently the CEO of Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA), a digital asset technology company that mines cryptocurrencies with a focus on the blockchain ecosystem and the generation of digital assets. He is a respected expert and frequent speaker on FinTech, digital assets, Blockchain, bitcoin, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, venture capital and private equity a...

Dave Ferrera is currently the General Partner of Treadstone Holdings , a venture studio focused on catheter-based diagnostic and interventional radiology technologies.  They work with doctors and entrepreneurs and use or create intellectual property to develop new companies.  Dave is a board member for a number of early stage medical device companies as well. Throughout Dave’s career he’s been a r...

Sloane Keane is currently the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County and Inland Empire , a role she’s had for nearly 3 years, and after several years with the organization in senior development roles. Big Brothers Big Sisters is one of the highest impact non-profits in the area, and country, providing mentoring and support to thousands of children here every year. Prior to BBBS, she was...

Jeff Martin is CEO and Founder of Collective Genius , which he started 15 years ago to build high growth companies with talent recruiting, leadership team planning and tools. We met in LA where he’s expanded the company and spent considerably more time, eventually moving here, and we bonded as we’re both Midwest transplants to SoCal.  I also appreciate Jeff for being a longtime supporter and spons...

Minnie Ingersoll is currently a Partner at TenOneTen , an LA-based venture capital firm actively investing in early stage tech companies. They’ve made dozens of investments in a bunch of SoCal founders’ companies and have already had many acquisitions, unicorns and even companies go public. She also leads their podcast, "LA Venture". She was previously the co-founder of Shift Technologies, a newly...

  Curtis Boyd is the founder of Objection Co , an online review protection and fraud detection software company. You'll want to hear him tell the founder story – it’s a good one. We’ve all seen and likely used online reviews about products, services and companies to influence our decisions.  However, in many cases those reviews may not be honest, accurate or real. Curtis’s company, Objection, help...

  Zach Silverman joined me on the podcast to discuss his background and interest in helping more people understand and be inspired to invest in private companies.  He started a group, Educated Investors, during Covid, and it's quickly grown into a vibrant online community of investors.   Zach and his father invested in an emerging VC firm, RareBreed Ventures, headed by Mac Conwell, who's been a fo...

Marvin Liao is currently a partner at GameGroove Capital , a hybrid holding company/family office/fund focused on building and investing in IP, startups and services around the Gaming industry.  He was previously a partner at 500 Startups for many years, where he worked with hundreds of startups in the early stages, including many household names. He ran their San Francisco accelerator during much...

Rajeev Kapur is President and CEO of 1105 Media , a company that focuses on events and training.  Before Covid his company was a go-to business for in-person education and training events.  They did more than 70 events in 2019.  Once Covid hit, all of his company's in-person events disappeared overnight. and he discussed the pivots that his various business units had to undertake. Rajeev and team...

Tommy Tallarico is CEO & President of Intellivision Entertainment , a name many of you may recall from a prior era. 40 years ago it was a household name as a pioneer in the video game industry. Tommy and team have built on its legacy to bring back its simple, affordable family-focused games and entertainment.  They are launching under the Amico name, which means "friend" in Italian. Tommy has over...

William Fikhman is Founder & Chief Strategy Officer of Amazzia , a leading provider of services to brands who sell on Amazon. They work with these companies to help them protect and grow their Amazon business by doing things like removing unauthorized sellers, monitoring for counterfeit products, and other brand monitoring services. We talked much more about the needs for control, trust and other...

Joshua Lee is Founder & CEO of Ardius , a fast-growing SaaS startup that helps companies identify and recover tax credits. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know him over the past year, and enjoy his perspective from many angles – startup founder, investor, and former big 4 accounting firm background. Ardius has helped companies recover millions of dollars in tax credits from things like researc...

Annette Walker is President of City of Hope Orange County and is leading the development of a world-class cancer center in Orange County, which was reported to be more than a $1B investment.  She and her team have recruited world class researchers and clinicians to the center. She has also quickly become a top community influencer and advocate who is rapidly transforming the health care landscape...

Libby Duane Adams is co-founder and Chief Advocacy Officer of Alteryx . She and her co-founders, Dean and Ned, have built one of the biggest analytics software companies in the world, with a multi-billion dollar market cap, and they’ve done so right here in Orange County. She is also one of only a handful of female founders to take a technology company public.  We talked about that amazing journey...

Bob Nunn is CEO of battery-free startup Everactive , a deep tech company that self-powers IoT devices.  They have pioneered ultra-low-power circuits, and we talked a lot about the company's history, evolution and current status on the show.  Have you ever realized how big of a market industrial steam trap monitoring is?!?  Bob considers Everactive the biggest opportunity of his career, by far, as...

Deepa Krishnan is the co-founder and CEO of Spoonful , a company focused on leading the “food as medicine” movement.  Deepa, her co-founder, Sam, and her team have developed a leading and fast-growing application that helps consumers increase their confidence and safety when selecting foods to eat, based on health restrictions, allergies or their diets.  We talked much more about her and the compa...

I was super excited to have Kelly Perdew on the podcast. He has been an entrepreneur, an executive, an Apprentice, and for the last several years, a venture capitalist.  He’s currently Managing Partner of Moonshots Capital , an early stage venture firm.  He’s been a fixture in the So Cal startup and venture community for a long time. Kelly is a graduate of West Point and a JD/MBA from UCLA.  He an...

I was super excited to finally have Jennifer Friend join me on the podcast. She has been a leader in our business, legal and non-profit community for a long time, and has really asserted herself over the last year, during this challenging time. Jennifer's story, perspective and wisdom was so profound - this episode resounded with me on so many levels!  I'm so grateful to her for sharing her whole...

Ben Kuo has been a fixture as an evangelist for startups and innovation in Southern California for many years, and I've appreciated our nearly 20 year friendship. We actually recorded this conversation several months ago, and yet it's almost timeless, as the challenges we face in business, in startups and in the ecosystem largely persist. Ben is the founder of SOCALTECH LLC, a company that provide...

John Dearie joined me for Part 2 of our discussion on the dire need for more entrepreneurs in our country, and how his work at the Center for American Entrepreneurship is bringing this awareness to our lawmakers in Washington, DC, and how he's creating energy and opportunity for communities around the country to join in the effort as well.  It's been a pleasure to get to know John in the last year...

I was excited to have my longtime friends, Giorgi Chigogidze and Chris Steege with me on the podcast to discuss Purlin , their startup for personalizing the homebuying experience.  They try to address the #1 problem for potential buyers - finding the actual home to buy, making that easier, more personalized and aided by AI. We met nearly 20 years ago at UCLA Anderson, where we were not only in the...

Nick Bucheleres is the founder and CEO of Grin Gaming , a startup focused on revolutionizing the way fans interact with their favorite live video content by allowing users to compete on every play of the action.  Grin is now available for several eSports like CS Go and Dota, and traditional sports like the NFL, with others coming soon. Nick is also the CTO, with a tremendous background as a machin...

Jeremy Redman and I did a podcast crossover, and we talked about meeting a year ago, how v.one is his 3rd no-code startup and doing great, his entrepreneurial roots and thoughts, and his Not Boring Business podcast, and many other things.  It was a fun conversation.  I can assure you it was not boring. If you know about the rise of no-code, you'll enjoy this chat.  If you don't know what no-code i...