The First Customer

Tim Dodd is an enterprise cloud sales extraordinaire and mastermind behind JTD Group. Growing up in Delaware, Tim's story is one of relentless ambition and a passion for helping businesses flourish. His roots at the University of Delaware laid the foundation for his career, but it was his first gig as a sales rep that ignited the spark within him. Tim discovered his knack for transforming sma...

Ring the bell! In this episode of The First Customer podcast, I was lucky enough to interview the Zen master himself, Scott Berman.  Scott has been an NBA statistician for the Philadelphia 76ers for 35 years. He’s also the co-founder of The Panther Group — a cannabis merchant bank and advisory firm that focuses on venture funding and has a track record of successful exits in technology, healthcare...

A very special episode today with my pal, Jon Mercer, the president and co-founder of Startup Bucks. It's an organization that helps startups in and beyond Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  One of my favorite local folks with a smile that lights up any room -- Jon has a background in IT informatics which landed him a job at Johnson & Johnson, and from there, ignited his passion for supporting...

For this week's episode, I was lucky enough to sit down with a digital nomad -- Chris Roche, CEO of Catalyst Consulting. He shared some really great insights on digital marketing and entrepreneurship.  Chris shared how he started his career in digital marketing and what inspired him to start his own company. He also talks about the key challenges he faced while he built his agency and how he...

In this episode of the The First Customer podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jake Henry, the CEO and founder of Lectra, a wearables company that aims to revolutionize health care. Jake shared his personal story of how his mom’s osteoarthritis and his own hip problems inspired him to create a brand that focuses on prevention rather than treatment.  He also tackled how luck and persistence...

Brenden Kumarasamy is the incredibly likable and impressively passionate CEO and founder of MasterTalk. He grew up in Montreal, Canada and initially wasn't interested in building a business but rather just looked for the fastest way to make money and became an accountant.  From making videos in his mom's basement, Brenden's life changed when he met his leadership coach, who introduc...

In this episode, we will be talking to Brian Magrann, the co-founder of Boilerplate.co. Originally from Philadelphia suburbs and went to Penn State, Brian started his career as an auditor and then got to work in a federal government where he did consulting. He eventually worked in a start-up distribution type of company where he identified a pain point related to tracking documentation requests. I...

In this episode, I am lucky enough to be joined by a multi awarded leader and professional speaker Victoria Pelletier, founder of Unstoppable You.  Victoria is a C-Suite transformational leader, a keynote speaker, a Board Director and at the same time a mom, wife, fitness fanatic, foodie, wine lover, you name it! But what stands her out is her strong passion for making a difference to the society,...

A very special episode of The First Customer podcast with Shruti Pandey, a freelancer QA Engineer AND Podcast host ... that sounds familiar! Shruti walks us through her journey to stepping out of the corporate grind and into the world of freedom with consulting and freelancing. Her story is full of passion, pride, and love for her family and her personal time. Let's take the long flight over...

Today's episode is with the great Bo Motlagh, CEO & Founder of United Effects. Bo shares his early exposure to tech and his transition from architecture to the software development world. He explains the inspiration behind United Effects, which focuses on streamlining authentication and data integration for businesses. Bo discusses his journey, the company's evolution, pricing strate...

Marcel Petitpas is a driven entrepreneur who embarked on his business journey with a fervent passion for building companies. However, his early ventures faced significant challenges as he navigated different industries, trying to find the right product-market fit. Despite initial setbacks, Marcel's resilience and determination led him to co-found Parakeeto, a company that assists creative and...

Michel Nematnejad is the founder of Mila Labs. As a skilled software engineer, he started his journey as a freelancer on Upwork, providing services to clients worldwide. Michel found success by focusing on niche markets and showcasing his expertise. This led to landing his first significant client, which boosted his confidence and opened doors for future projects. As a business owner, Michel learn...

In this episode of The First Customer podcast, host Jay Aigner interviews Neeraj Vir, the managing partner of Amalgam Inc. Neeraj shares his journey from being born and raised in New Delhi, India, to eventually landing in the United States in the early 2000s. He talks about his background in technology and his career growth from a developer to an executive in the information technology space. Neer...

Renee, the spirited co-founder of the CAPE Movement, started her journey in Southeastern PA. She honed her skills in personal development and wellness before launching an initiative aimed at facilitating individual growth. Armed with years of experience and a profound passion for nurturing self-improvement, Renee co-founded the CAPE Movement, a platform committed to providing individuals with the...

Frommm Wessssst Philadelphia, Ezra Cohen, raised in Mount Airy, Philadelphia, initially pursued a career in animation inspired by the Dire Straits' video "Money for Nothing." He attended the University of the Arts where he delved into various artistic mediums but found his true passion in metal sculpture, particularly artisanal blacksmithing. However, after graduation, a lack of res...

Today we bring you the intriguing journey of Kevin King, the CEO, and founder of Effective Solutions. Born from the dorm rooms of American University, Kevin's venture arose during the inception of the internet era, paving the way for a 25-year-long entrepreneurial voyage that witnessed multiple pivots, strategic partnerships, and growth. Our conversation delves into the excitement and challen...

In this week's episode, we sit down with Marcus Blair, the dynamic engineer-turned-entrepreneur who is making waves in the tech industry. As the CEO and Founder of Omega Digital Solutions, Marcus used his extensive engineering experience to bridge the technology gap between large corporations and smaller businesses. His thrilling journey from corporate to entrepreneurial life serves as an exc...

Atlanta born-and-raised CTO and Co-founder Hesom Parhizkar cut his teeth in electrical engineering before making the switch over to computer science and the rest was history.  His sharpened his skills in strategy, architecture, design and development for more than two decades then co-founded an innovative company, AdvizorPro, that provides their clients direct access to high-quality financial advi...

Jake Stein grew up in North Jersey and had the itch for entrepreneurialism early in life. He started creating businesses ("hair-brained schemes") in high school and that interest and passion for business never went away.  He learned about venture capitalism in college, dove into that world headfirst, then came out again looking to create more businesses of his own. Do yourself a favor an...

Joe started his journey in Minneapolis, Minnesota and discovered a passion for language at an early age. Then he saw C3P0 and decided to make a universal translator a reality. He's a serial entrepreneur and IT Transformation Architect with a broad technical foundation in AI, Natural Language Processing, applications/solutions, integration, data and infrastructure and cloud implementation. Oh,...

Chris started out in the Lehigh Valley but also spent a ton of his youth in Philadelphia. He has an inspiring story of how being adopted helped shape a lot of his entrepreneurial journey and perspective on life.  He went on to found multiple businesses, coach tons of clients to success, and help inspire people to be a better version of themselves. Get yourself a day pass to the Lehigh Valley Zoo t...

Peter grew up in quiet Quakertown Pennsylvania. He bounced around a bunch of different non-profits, lived in the nations capitol, but his love for PA couldn't keep him away forever. Pete took his passion for politics and non-profits and built a platform that gives people a voice with social impact programs and movements. He shared lots of lessons about how to create change and go out on a lim...

Born in Brazil, Nick Balee wrote business plans as a kid. He moved to America and trained with international chess champions.  After college he pivoted from his history background to start his first business back down south in Brazil. After learning some important lessons, he moved back to the states and went into sales. His background in cold calling eventually helped him create second successful...

Philly born and raised, Drew Griffin's lessons around starting with the end in mind should serve any future or current entrepreneurs well. A really inspiring, humble, smart guy that shared a lot of how he built his empire.  Starting as a wound-care nursing specialist, Drew took a different path than some to being a serial founder. Now he's started and sold multiple tech companies.  He al...

Damian may be one of the nicest, coolest, and inspiring guys you'll have the pleasure of meeting. His experience ranges from representing some of the top NFL and NBA athletes in the world to founding a revolutionary platform to help people secure their future careers. Phynally is a platform that allows job-seekers to meet transparent employers and professionals without cannabis pre-employment...