Tacos and Tech Podcast

On this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast , Neal Bloom sits down with Julie Sokol, Chief Technology Officer of OC Sports & Entertainment, to explore the intersection of immersive fan experiences, smart infrastructure, and placemaking through technology. Julie shares her journey from nearly 25 years in management consulting with Accenture to real estate with the Irvine Company, and now helping sh...

This week on the Tacos & Tech Podcast, Neal sits down with Mike Sims , Marine Raider turned venture builder, to talk about how his experience across the military, VC, and global battlefields shaped his mission with Imperium , a trusted marketplace for critical goods and the industrial base. They explore how modern warfare is redefining innovation cycles, why our national supply chain needs a rethi...

Listen & subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube , and other platforms. Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News! I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast . My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier , journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds,...

This week on the Tacos & Tech Podcast, we dive into San Diego’s growing Bluetech ecosystem with Vanessa Scott , Director of Industry Relations, Innovation, and the StartBlue Accelerator at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD . Vanessa shares how StartBlue helps launch and scale ocean-focused startups - from wave-powered sensor platforms to coral reef restoration biotech - and why San Diego...

Listen & subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube , and other platforms. Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News! I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast . My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier , journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds,...

In this week’s episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast , Neal sits down with Faisal Mushtaq - tech exec, startup scaler, author, and community builder - to explore the lessons learned from operating at every level of the tech stack: from startups in stealth to global public companies. Faisal shares how his engineering roots led him into roles scaling teams of three to three thousand, the value of buil...

Listen & subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube , and other platforms. Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News! I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast . My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier , journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds,...

In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, we sit down with Matt Ober , Managing Partner at Social Leverage , to unpack the future of fintech, the evolving landscape of wealth tech, and what it means to build and invest with long-term conviction. Matt shares his journey from hedge funds and quant trading to early-stage venture capital, with stops at Bloomberg, WorldQuant, and Third Point before...

Listen & subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube , and other platforms. Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News! I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast . My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier , journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds,...

In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, host Neal Bloom sits down with Aleksey Matyushev , co-founder and CEO of Natilus , the San Diego-based aerospace company reinventing air freight and passenger travel with next-gen aircraft. With over $39 billion in orders and a growing footprint in South County, Natilus is bringing cutting-edge manufacturing back to San Diego. Aleksey shares his journey...

Listen & subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube , and other platforms. Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News! I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast . My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier , journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds,...

This week on Tacos & Tech , Neal sits down with Rose Bowlus - lawyer, founder, and angel investor - whose journey from trading floors to startup boardrooms brings a rare blend of Wall Street experience and founder empathy. Rose shares how her legal career evolved from the capital markets and energy sectors to launching her own firm, Rose Bowlus Law, where she now advises early-stage startups and f...

In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast , host Neal Bloom sits down with Eric Birkemeier , founder of ShredLights and now part of Meepo Electric Skateboards. Eric’s story is a wild ride - from 3D-printing in the SDSU ZIP Launchpad and selling Jordans out of thrift stores, to building a niche hardware company and ultimately exiting to a global electric skateboard brand. They unpack how Eric tur...

This week on Tacos & Tech , Neal sits down with Drew Wilson, longtime North County founder, designer, engineer, and community builder. From launching products solo to landing a GoDaddy acquisition, Drew’s track record speaks for itself. Now he’s back with a new company, Opacity , and relaunching his beloved creative conference, ValioCon , right in the heart of Oceanside. In this episode, Drew shar...

Listen & subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube , and other platforms. Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News! I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners , building and investing in community. My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier , journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising ro...

In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast , Neal Bloom sits down with Larsen Jensen , former Olympian, Navy SEAL, and now Managing Partner of Harpoon Ventures, an early-stage venture firm backing founders building in the national interest. Larsen shares the journey from serving Team USA to launching a venture fund focused on what he calls the Freedom Stack - critical technologies like AI, autono...

Listen & subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube , and other platforms. Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News! I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast . My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier , journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds,...

In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast , Neal Bloom sits down with Madeline Fraser, the dynamic founder and CEO of Gemist, a B2B SaaS and AI company revolutionizing the jewelry industry. Madeline shares how a frustrating search for a custom engagement ring sparked the idea for Gemist, which now powers customization, stone sourcing, and hyper-realistic rendering for jewelry brands and retailer...

Listen & subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube , and other platforms. Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News! I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast . My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier , journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds,...

In this special episode of the podcast, host Neal Bloom takes us inside the Burbank Startup Pitch Fest - an exciting evening of innovation, capital, and community hosted in partnership with the City of Burbank and Rising Tide Partners. We kick things off with a welcome from Burbank’s Economic Development team, highlighting why the city is fast becoming a tech and media hub. Neal then moderates a c...

In this special recorded event episode, Neal Bloom sits down with Trust & Will co-founder and CEO Cody Barbo in front of a live audience at SDSU’s Angel Academy. It’s an honest, behind-the-scenes conversation on what it really takes to back founders at the earliest of stages especially when they are bouncing back from tragedy. Cody and Neal reflect on startup missteps, co-founder breakups, raising...

In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast , host Neal Bloom sits down with Alex Adler , co-founder of Puesto , to talk about how a family with no restaurant background built one of the most beloved modern taco brands in the country. From its La Jolla beginnings to an expanding restaurant group that includes Marisi and Romana Norte, Puesto has grown through a mix of culinary authenticity, operati...

Listen & subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube , and other platforms. Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News! I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast . My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier , journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds,...

In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, host Neal Bloom sits down with Arman and Andrew, of Podhaus, a full-service podcast production studio based in Burbank, CA. From launching just before COVID to building one of LA’s most sought-after recording spaces, the duo shares how they went from music engineering and tech backgrounds to building a creative business in the heart of the media capital...

Listen & subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube , and other platforms. Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News! I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast . My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier , journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds,...