The Mark Haney Podcast

Alert: Company building in progress!  Meet Reneta Jenik, founder of Foodom, a local early-stage startup that is connecting private chefs with busy families to cook meals in the customer's kitchen for less than the cost of take out.  Essentially, she’s built a better way to answer the age-old question of “what’s for dinner?”  We are very honored to be working alongside Reneta and Foodom through the...

Frank Ono is the founder of the iFish Group, a Sacramento-based government consulting firm that was named one of the fastest-growing companies by both the Sacramento Business Journal and Inc. 5000 for 2 years in a row and also recognized as one of the best places to work by the SBJ.  He joins Mark to share his experiences, agile approach to business growth, and lessons learned in building a succes...

Mark Rawson is the Chief Operating Officer for the California Mobility Center (CMC), a Sacramento-based organization whose mission is to help early-stage mobility companies accelerate the commercialization of their products by linking them with established industry leaders and service providers.  He shares more about the CMCs founding, current partner and client activities, the future of their 25-...

Kenneth Johnston, CEO of KJ 2 Productions, a full-service digital media production company based in Sacramento, California, shares his story of perseverance in life, business, and most recently through the pandemic.  Like all great entrepreneurs, KJ is living proof that while the journey is often incredibly tough, with creativity, grit, and the right people by your side so much can be accomplished...

Scott Alvord, Roseville City Councilmember, is the founder and CEO of Advanced Development Concepts, a business consulting company that has helped companies with strategy, marketing, and team development for the last 35 years. He also teaches Marketing at William Jessup University where he engages his students in real-world projects to develop their skills and portfolio while providing value to lo...

Tamaira Sandifer, also known as “Miss Tee”, founded what is now Studio & Arts & Entertainment in 2005 to teach dance to trauma informed youth in communities that were facing a myriad of challenges.  She used hip hop dance as a vehicle to connect, engage and then support kids – providing them with a positive alternative to the streets.     She quickly evolved from “just” teaching dance to p...

Barry Broome, CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, is the hard-charging, always-on, vision setter who leads economic development strategy and execution for the region.  He is a masterful brand builder who has worked tirelessly to change the Sacramento narrative outside of the region -- pounding the pavement giving 2000+ presentations in 3 years.  Since arriving in Sacramento 7 years ago...

Mark talks with Growth Factory co-founder Rick Spencer about the early traction the Growth Factory acceleration platform and fund have seen over the last several months and then take a look ahead at 2022.  In honor of Thanksgiving week, gratitude is a clear theme throughout this segment. Mark and Rick share their appreciation for the many founders, partners, community and business leaders and inve...

Mark invests in founders who “make the molecules move” and that is certainly true in the case of Patrick Desmond of Desmond’s Dynamic Auctions.  A talented auctioneer whose performance can be the difference between a good charity event and a wildly successful one, Pat’s job is to spur guests into action – bidding against one another for the benefit of a good cause.  Pat talks with Mark about the a...

Mark & one of his Growth Factory co-founders, Monique Brown, provide a behind the scenes peek of their new pre-seed / seed stage accelerator and accompanying early stage venture fund.  They talk a little about why they started it, how it's designed, and how it’s going with their first cohort of 15 companies.  They also share their excitement in activating the “Backyard Advantage” and recruitin...

Aaron Klein, the founder of Auburn, CA-based Riskalyze, which built the world's first Risk Alignment Platform, talks about his journey from founding the company in 2011 to its successful recapitalization by Hg Capital in 2021.  Learn more about Aaron's entrepreneurial ups and downs and gather a few of his key lessons learned in this fascinating discussion that culminates with Aaron's reflections t...

Local angel investors, Dave Sanders and Hrish Lotlikar, co-founder of Superworld break down the basics of non-fungible tokens or NFTs and explain how NFTs are incorporated within Superworld, a virtual world where users can buy, sell, collect, and curate over 64 billion unique plots of virtual land.  They dive into how ownership of one-of-a-kind digital assets work and share how stakeholders can ea...

On this episode, Mark has a captivating conversation with Sally Edwards, founder of a half-dozen businesses including Heart Zones and America’s largest chain of retail sports shops, FLEET FEET Sports.  Sally is a best-selling author with 24 books and 500 articles on health and fitness and she is also a professional triathlete is a 16-time Ironman finisher, a member of the Triathlon Hall of Fame, a...

Mark rolls up his sleeves and digs in with John Kapral and Matt Winans from Clifton Allen Larsen (CLA) about several key accounting and finance instruments that pertain to startups and investing.  They touch on everything from entity formation choices to how overlooked R&D tax credits can benefit early-stage startups to the tax benefits Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) Internal Revenue Co...

Mark is the CEO of HaneyBiz, the host of the Mark Haney Show, an angel investor.  He recently has started a new venture called the Growth Factory.  The Growth Factory is a nonprofit startup accelerator and an accompanying early-stage venture fund. Join Mark in this wide ranging solocast as he shares his philosophies on life and entrepreneurship, offers some advice and shares some of his life exper...

Hernani Alves started as a part-time employee and eventually grew to become the President of a $3 billion publicly traded Company that was regularly voted as Best Workplace. Today, he's an author and an international speaker who helps leaders build world-class teams focused on getting results.  Hernani is also a member of the Growth Factory’s “dream team” mentor community, a group of highly succes...

Kristine Hyde & Brenda Dreary met at their kids’ school where Brenda who was PTC president recruited Kristine into fundraising.  Both dynamic and hardworking women immediately hit it off.  Flash forward…they are now co-owners in 2 regional Dry Bar locations, one in Sacramento and one in Roseville.  Kristine joins Mark to talk about what inspired her and Brenda to bring Dry Bar to the region, h...

Jack Crawford, General Partner of Impact Venture Capital joins Mark to talk about trends in innovation, startup acceleration, and Venture Capital and how the pandemic has affected this landscape.   Jack also provides a preview of the upcoming Impact Global Venture Summit, a day-long exhibition on October 7th in Sacramento focused on innovation, investing, and society. If you want insight on the la...

DJ Stephan has co-founded, scaled, and exited a number of high-growth tech startups including Sacramento-based SkySlope. We are thrilled that he has recently joined the Growth Factory Accelerator team as Director of Mentorship to help build and lead our growing mentor community.    DJ joins Mark on the podcast for a fantastic discussion that covers everything from the entrepreneurial mindset to th...

Cheryl Beninga is an experienced Venture Capital investor, Board Member and Advisor for technology companies in strategy, financing and M&A for over twenty years beginning with her time at Intel Capital. She has experience investing in and building high growth organizations in clean technology, mobile software, MedTech and enterprise software. She is Managing Director of Wai-Mohala Ventures an...

Liz Connolly, co-founder of Trifecta Nutrition, celebrates the recent close of their series B $20M raise and shares her recipe for success: continuous learning + hard work.  It wasn’t always easy, and success wasn’t pre-determined, she reveals. However, a strong relationship with co-founder (and brother) Greg Connolly along with their combined determination and growth mindset saw them through the...

World renowned performance painter and creative arts entrepreneur, David Garibaldi dazzles audiences with his Rhythm and Hue shows during which he produces pop portraits to music in a matter of minutes.  In this episode, Mark and David dive into a dynamic discussion infused with passion and purpose that covers topics from their shared love of Sacramento to the first painting David sold to the incr...

At 29, Michael Nelson started his first company. The dotcom bubble set him back, but he learned from the experience and started another company, TLC Tech. Now a 7-figure success, TLC Tech is thriving for one reason, according to Michael. He developed goals, reviewed them regularly, and built in accountability. Michael used his goal-achieving system to take his company and his life to new highs. Lu...

In this episode, Chip Maxson, General Manager of the Sacramento River Cats, and Mark offer a behind the scenes look at the business of managing a minor league sports team and venue – during a pandemic. They discuss the resourceful ways that the River Cats executives and staff pivoted to use their assets to serve the community. They also dive into the critical tone-setting role of leadership, how l...

Kate Cordell, the founder of Opeeka , has been working in the mental illness and research space her entire career. Her quest to create a better and more unified model for mental health care fueled by her passion for data, statistics, and artificial intelligence led her to create Opeeka’s Person-Centered Intelligence Solution.    P-CIS is a transformative software solution that instantly and seamle...