Tech Scenes with Jeff James Martin

What does it really take to build, scale, and lead technology companies that last? In this episode of Tech Scenes, we go inside Enterprise Rising for a fast-moving conversation with founders, operators, investors, and serial entrepreneurs shaping the future of Midwest tech, enterprise SaaS, sports technology, recruiting, workflow automation, edtech, digital platforms, and startup execution. Live f...

“Recycling internally by complaining is a blind spot.” - Brian Wang In this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged, Jeff Martin sits down with Brian Wang, a former venture-backed CEO turned executive coach who helps founders evolve into high-performance leaders. Brian brings a rare combination of operator experience and deep coaching expertise, having led companies himself and coached over 50 CEOs throu...

“What if we could read every piece of customer feedback, every single day?” In this episode of Tech Scenes Santa Barbara, Jeff Martin sits down with Ryan Millner, Co-founder & CEO of Unwrap, to explore how AI is transforming how companies truly understand their customers. Ryan’s journey spans early startup experience at Graphiq (acquired by Amazon) and years at Amazon helping scale Alexa’s int...

“Start deep and narrow.” - Casey Allen In this episode of Tech Scenes Malibu, Jeff Martin sits down with Casey Allen, founder of Enterprise Rising, to talk about grit, failure, and building the Midwest startup ecosystem from the ground up. Casey’s journey didn’t start with privilege. Raised by a single mom and determined to create opportunity, he became an entrepreneur out of necessity — launching...

“Leadership isn’t about having fewer fears — it’s about learning how to lead with them.” - Peter Brack In this episode of Tech Scenes Beverly Hills, Jeff Martin sits down with Peter Brack, a trusted executive coach to some of the world’s most accomplished founders and CEOs. Peter works with high-performing leaders backed by firms like Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and Y C...

“Always be transaction ready.” - Cody BarboIn this episode of Tech Scenes, Jeff Martin sits down with Cody Barbo, Founder & CEO of Trust & Will, to explore how WealthTech, AI, and thoughtful design are reshaping one of the most overlooked — and most important — areas of financial life: estate planning. Cody shares the journey of building Trust & Will from the ground up, modernizing an...

“Execution is everything in startups.” - Marshall Hawks, author of Venture Debt Deals In this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged, Jeff Martin sits down with Marshall Hawks, author of Venture Debt Deals and a longtime leader in venture banking and lending. Before becoming an author, Marshall spent more than two decades in venture banking, including sixteen years at Silicon Valley Bank, where he held...

“AI is a gigantic multiplier.” - Boris Sofman, Co-Founder and CEO of Bedrock Robotics In this episode of Tech Scenes, Jeff Martin sits down with Boris Sofman, Co-Founder and CEO of Bedrock Robotics, to explore how AI and robotics are transforming the physical world — starting with heavy machinery and construction. Boris brings rare, deep experience across consumer robotics, autonomous vehicles, an...

"We want to create more capitalists." In this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged, Jeff Martin sits down with Seth Levine, Partner at Foundry and co-author of The New Builders and Capital Evolution. Seth has spent his career at the intersection of venture capital, entrepreneurship, and social impact — backing companies, funds, and ideas that aim to redefine capitalism for the modern era. Th...

"You have to hire for judgment." - Chris Andrew In this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged, Jeff Martin sits down with Chris Andrew, CEO and co-founder of Scrunch — the platform helping brands navigate the AI-first customer journey. Scrunch enables companies to monitor their brand presence, gain actionable insights, and generate AI-friendly versions of their sites to influence LLM results....

"You’re using AI to build an AI product." - Jason Eubank In this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged, Jeff Martin sits down with Jason Eubanks, CEO and co-founder of Aurasell, the world’s first AI-native CRM built to replace Salesforce, HubSpot, and the bloated ecosystems holding teams back. A multi-time CRO and go-to-market leader, Jason shares how years of building high-performance revenu...

"You want to do well by doing good." - Austin GadientIn this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged, Jeff Martin sits down with Anthony and Austin Gadient, the father-and-son founders of Vali Cyber — the company behind ZeroLock, the first Linux security platform to protect hypervisors against ransomware in real time. With deep experience spanning startups, software engineering, and military se...

"You can’t be what you can’t see." - Joey Mak In this episode of Tech Scenes, Jeff Martin sits down with Joey Mak, CEO of Chicago:Blend, a nonprofit driving inclusion and equity in venture capital. With over two decades in community and economic development, Joey shares how Chicago:Blend is breaking systemic barriers and opening doors for underrepresented investors and founders across the tech eco...

"The why is everything—great storytelling starts with what’s at stake." In this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged , Jeff Martin sits down with Dmitry Koltunov, a repeat founder and award-winning storyteller, to explore the intersection of AI, creativity, and business strategy. As CEO of Arbor, Dmitry is building a platform that helps organizations scale authentic storytelling by transforming long-f...

"A startup is total ambiguity—you need to build many feedback loops." In this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged, Jeff Martin sits down with Michele Sancricca, CEO and co-founder of Secro, to explore the future of cross-border trade, digital trust, and deterministic AI. From the Italian Navy to leading global supply chain technology at Amazon, Michele brings a rare blend of technical depth, operatio...

"The future is not just quantum—it's quantum-inspired." In this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged, Jeff Martin sits down with Abhishek Chopra, founder and CEO of BosonQ Psi (BQP), to explore how quantum-inspired modeling is revolutionizing simulation in aerospace, space, and defense. Abi’s story is anything but ordinary. From high-fidelity CFD research and award-winning academic work...

"If we can succeed in ICUs, we've succeeded." In this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged , Ophir Ronen, CEO and co-founder of CalmWave , joins Jeff Martin to explore one of healthcare’s most overlooked challenges: alarm fatigue. Drawing from his background in enterprise IT and two prior exits, Ophir shares how he’s bringing product discipline, system thinking, and Transparent AI into the noisy world...

"Execution is everything." — Ethan Ruby, CEO and Co-founder of SaaSGrid In this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged, Ethan Ruby, CEO and Co-founder of SaaSGrid, joins Jeff Martin to explore why metrics matter—and how the right data can change everything for B2B SaaS companies. Ethan shares the pain that inspired SaaSGrid: endless hours wrangling messy data while running analytics at Craft V...

"The best sellers enable buyers to buy." — Gal Aga, CEO and Co-founder of Aligned In this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged, Gal Aga, CEO and Co-founder of Aligned, joins Jeff Martin to unpack the future of B2B sales—from broken enterprise workflows to building digital spaces that make buying easier and faster. Drawing on 17+ years of scaling SaaS companies from $1M to $100M ARR, Gal shar...

"Fundraising is not that easy." — Xiao Zhang, CEO and Co-founder of Collov AI In this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged, Xiao Zhang, CEO and Co-founder of Collov AI, joins Jeff Martin to share how his team is transforming real estate staging with lightning-fast AI-powered visual generation—and what it really takes to fund and build a high-performance startup. Xiao reflects on the early struggles of...

“Harvest now, decrypt later.” – Rebecca Krauthamer, CEO and Co-founder of QuSecure In this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged, Rebecca Krauthamer, co-founder and CEO of QuSecure, joins Jeff Martin to explore the quantum frontier—and how it’s already reshaping cybersecurity. From quantum-safe encryption to the values that guide her team’s decisions, Rebecca shares what it takes to build both protecti...

"AI needs visibility and controls." In this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged, Jeff Martin sits down with Oren Michels, co-founder and CEO of Barndoor AI, to talk about the future of work, the rise of agentic AI in the enterprise, and how governance and visibility will shape the next era of human–AI collaboration. Oren shares insights from decades of experience building and scaling compan...

"Trust is something holding them back." — Matt Auron, Co-Founder of Evolution In this episode of Tech Scenes, Jeff James Martin sits down with Matt Auron—Co-Founder of Evolution—to unpack the inner mechanics of leadership, culture, and coaching inside high-growth startups. With decades of experience helping teams like Slack, Snapchat, and Coursera scale with intention, Matt shares grounded insight...

"The mentor-mentee relationship often evolves into a peer relationship." — Brad Feld, Partner at Foundry and Co-founder of TechstarsIn this special Tech Scenes Unplugged episode, Jeff James Martin sits down with Brad Feld, a pioneer in early-stage investing and co-founder of Techstars, to explore the power of mentorship, the philosophy of Give First, and the evolution of entrepreneurship over the...

"The winners keep us in the game." — Mark Mullen, Co-Founder at Bonfire Ventures In this episode of Tech Scenes Beverly Hills, Jeff James Martin sits down with legendary venture capitalist Mark Mullen to unpack the human side of investing—and what really separates great founders from the rest. Mark brings a rare mix of global experience, deep operational insight, and a no-BS approach to evaluating...