What Fuels You

Alissa Leinonen started Gourmondo, Seattle’s leading catering and gourmet box lunch company, 24 years ago. Back in 1996, Alissa had a dream that she turned into a reality by refinancing her car and opening a 470 square-foot, four table café. Gourmondo has now tripled the size of the company in the last three years, serving between 3,000-4,000 guests per day across all divisions (box l...

Liz Pearce and her daughter Lila join us for this episode of What Fuels You. Liz’s resume boasts impressive companies like Sony, Google, and Amazon, COO and CEO of LiquidPlanner, and even her own consulting company. Most recently, Liz was the Chief Revenue Officer at Streem. Since this recording, Liz has left Streem to start her new company, Fresh Chalk, which helps you find “local pro...

Scilla Andreen’s life lessons and the mission she’s fulfilling through her company, IndieFlix, are compelling and powerful. Scilla shares how she was bullied much of her young childhood and how that has propelled her forward in life in many ways. After high school and a short time at NYU before dropping out, Scilla found herself working on the set of The Wonder Years sorting hangers. S...

Todd Bishop and John Cook both found their careers as journalists very early on. They originally met at the Seattle PI and went on to start the PSBJ TechFlash website together before starting GeekWire in 2011. Today, GeekWire receives millions of monthly page views and hosts several signature events that bring the community together each year. Their platform is the go-to source for technology news...

About two years ago, Leslie Feinzaig founded Female Founders Alliance (FFA) after a frustrating experience in the pitching circuit with her own startup, Venture Kits. What started out as a Facebook group for a few female CEOs has grown into a large online network with hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals in just two years. Last year, FFA launched a startup accelerator consciously des...

The consistent theme in Matt Oppenheimer’s life has been people and relationships. When asked what he was ‘into’ in high school, he shares how he started a non-profit called the Youth Lobbying Organization to give people under the age of 18 a voice in the political process. Matt went on to attend Dartmouth and Harvard Business School. During his time working in banking, he lived...

If you asked anyone who grew up with Robbie Cape in Montreal, they would all say they knew he was going to run his own business someday. He was constantly learning as a child from the family business and from his parents, who believed he should grow up understanding the value of a single dollar. In 2014, Robbie sold his first company, Cozi, and now is building his second company, 98point6, which i...

Nicole Maddox shares her knowledge and expertise on scaling a startup on the What Fuels You podcast. Nicole stumbled into tech recruiting with her engineering background post-graduation, and since then has recruited for a range of companies. Most notably, Nicole was the Head of Talent Acquisition at high-growth startup, Convoy, until recently starting her own business to consult companies on all t...

Kabir Shahani, rightfully so, was recently recognized as one of the “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” by Goldman Sachs. As a child, he got to travel the world playing violin and began attending summer college classes when he was only in sixth grade. Kabir co-founded his first company, Appature, at the age of 24 and successfully sold it in 2013. He is now the Co-founder and CEO of Amp...

Fran Dunaway, Co-founder and CEO of TomboyX, is an incredible advocate for women and the LGBTQ community. She was raised in a military family from the deep south, and has had many unique pivots in her career. Fran started TomboyX as a clothing company with her wife, Naomi, in 2013. They quickly found success and transformed solely into an underwear company based off of feedback from their customer...

Brent Frei credits his success to hard work and dedication, which he learned from his parents and from growing up on his family’s farm in Idaho. Though he never felt the need to be in charge, his desire to be in an environment where everyone is sinking or swimming on their own merit, including himself, led him to become the founder of three companies. Brent’s first, Onyx, IPO...

Raja Mukerji, Co-founder and Chief Customer Officer of ExtraHop Networks, learned empathy at a young age. His yearning for a sense of belonging while growing up in the UK and India taught him to understand the nature and meaning of connection, which he channels into everything he does today. During this episode, Fuel Talent’s Senior Tech Recruiter, Byron, joins Shauna to dig deep into the te...

Scott Swerland was born to be an entrepreneur. He incorporated his first business at age 15, and ever since, continues to build and add more companies to his portfolio. He currently is the Founder and CEO of Seattle Sun Tan, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Urban Float and Washington Co-founder and CEO of TruFusion. You may have even seen him on a recent episode of Shark Tank! During this special...

Ambika Singh is the Founder and CEO of Armoire, a high-end clothing rental service that’s evolving the way women shop and dress. The idea was born during her time getting an MBA at MIT and the company launched in 2016 after she spent time at impressive companies like Microsoft, The Boston Consulting Group and Rover. Ambika shares her thoughts on mentors, molding your definition of success as...

Incredible storyteller, Richard Tait, shares unforgettable moments from his lifetime as a connector and inventor. Born and raised in Scotland, he came to the US for entrepreneurial opportunities, and it didn’t take long for him to see unbelievable amounts of success, particularly with his popular board game, Cranium. As a result of Richard’s tenacity, Cranium became the first game sold...

Greg Gottesman, a major influencer in the Seattle startup community, sits down and shares his knowledge about entrepreneurship, his passion for the early stage of building companies, and the story behind what sparked the idea for Rover, where Greg is a co-founder. Greg serves as a Managing Director and co-founder of Pioneer Square Labs, both its studio and fund. He was a partner of Madrona Venture...

Amy Nelson founded the co-working space, The Riveter, under two years ago and already has five offices with eight more on the horizon across the US. Before The Riveter, Amy grew up in the Midwest and then became a lawyer in New York City for many years. Find out why Amy pivoted from her law career to get behind supporting female entrepreneurs, what the interesting twi...

Chad Robins is the CEO of Adaptive Biotechnologies. His company, which he co-founded with his brother Harlan, has received over $400 million in funding as it drives ground-breaking research in cancer and other immune-mediated diseases. Chad simplifies his role as a CEO into three categories and breaks down this complex industry for everyone to understand. Listen to this riveting episode and hear h...

From being the daughter of an orphan immigrant, to getting into Princeton because a stranger paid for her SATs, to proposing to her husband, Jane Park’s narrative is unlike any other. Every bit as passionate as she is sweet, Jane founded nail salon turned beauty empire, Julep, because of an experience (or lack thereof) with her girlfriends. Listen as she shares how she built this multimillio...

Serial entrepreneur, Jonathan Sposato, was the first person in history to sell two companies to Google. Since then, he's become chairman of Geekwire and PicMonkey and has recently made waves in the Seattle community by announcing he will only invest in female-founded companies moving forward. Hear from Jonathan firsthand on how he’s always felt like an outsider but hasn’t let it stop h...

On the first episode of What Fuels You, Shauna is interviewed by executive coach, author and friend, Teri Citterman. Shauna Swerland, a Seattle native, is the CEO and Founder of recruiting firm, Fuel Talent. In just five years, Fuel Talent has been recognized as one of the Fastest-Growing Companies, Largest Women-Owned Companies and Best Places to Work in Washington, among many others awards. Hear...

The  What Fuels You podcast launches on Tuesday, January 22nd featuring the following guests: Shauna Swerland  Greg Gottesman  Jane Park  Brent Frei  Richard Tait  Amy Nelson  Jonathan Sposato  Scott Swerland  Fran Dunaway  Chad Robins  Raja Mukerji  Ambika Singh Here’s a teaser of Shauna's conversations from the Season One episodes...