The VentureFizz Podcast

Episode 448 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Benj Cohen, Founder & CEO of Proton AI. The wholesale distribution industry in the US is a massive $9 trillion-a-year market yet one that most tech founders know very little about. Benj’s connection to distribution runs very, very deep. His family’s history in the industry spans four generations, going back 100 years to his great-grandfather selling...

Episode 447 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Steve Kaufer, serial entrepreneur & tech CEO - The Definitive Story of TripAdvisor. People often ask me how I land guests for my podcast. After 8 years of podcasting and over 450 episodes, I’m fortunate to get a lot of amazing inbound requests. But another key way I land guests is at events, and this episode is a perfect example. Back in July, I was...

Episode 446 of The VentureFizz Podcast features today’s guest is Jack O’Brien, Co-Founder & CEO of Subconscious. AI agents are rapidly transforming knowledge work, especially in sectors like software engineering, law, and finance. However, inference costs for AI agents present a massive challenge, as agentic workloads love chewing up tokens which in return ends up costing companies lots and lots o...

Episode 445 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Roi Carmel, Co-Founder & CEO of Spotlight.ai. When the shift to AI happened, it created a market dynamic with three distinct types of software companies: 1. Ones that were already inmarket and suddenly found themselves in catch-up mode. 2. New startups built as AI native platforms right from the jump. 3. Companies that were already working on AI driv...

Episode 444 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Laura Rippy, Managing Partner and Board Member at Alumni Ventures. When you see the rankings of the top VC firms, you often hear the big brands out there like Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Sequoia, Accel, and others… but did you know that one of the top 20 VC firms, as determined by CB Insights, is based in Manchester, NH? Yes – Manchvegas,...

Episode 443 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Allison Byers, Founder & CEO of Scroobious. There is a lot that goes into raising venture capital. You have to have the right idea, market size, traction, and it’s incredibly helpful to be networked with VCs ahead of your fundraise. Plus, it’s very important that entrepreneurs are aligned with an investor’s expectations and motivations for funding a...

Episode 442 of The VentureFizz Podcast and today’s guest is Tess Michaels, CEO & Founder of Clasp. When you look at several positions across the healthcare industry, clinical education is a strict requirement for the job… unlike business, where higher education is an option. Yet, the cost of that education creates a massive barrier for students, while healthcare employers struggle with open positi...

Episode 441 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Assil Halimi, CEO & Co-Founder of Apollo Atomics. Today we are diving into a topic that is way outside my typical comfort zone: nuclear energy. While fossil fuels still account for roughly 85% of global energy, nuclear power offers incredible energy density, yet conventional reactors take over a decade and billions to build. Apollo Atomics is changin...

Episode 440 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Eran Egozy, Professor at MIT and Co-Founder & CTO of Harmonix, the creators of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. I love interviewing current entrepreneurs who are making waves in the platform shift to AI, but I am also a Boston tech historian with a passion for telling stories about the great tech companies of our past. And do I have an incredible one for y...

Episode 439 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ben Katz, CEO & Co-Founder of HYBRD. Did you know that Y Combinator originated right here in Boston back in 2005? It was a legendary cohort with names like Sam Altman, Alexis Ohanian (yes, Reddit started in Boston), and Justin Kan all working on startups in Cambridge for the summer. While the accelerator decided to keep the program exclusive to Silic...

Episode 438 of The VentureFizz Podcast feautres Yasmin Cruz Ferrine, General Partner & Co-Founder of Visible Hands. When it comes to early-stage venture capital, less than 5% of funding goes to women and founders of color. Visible Hands is stepping up to fundamentally change that narrative, not just as a mission-driven play, but to unlock non-obvious, exceptional venture returns. Co-founded alongs...

Episode 437 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Nick LaRovere, CEO & Co-Founder of Pryzm. It seems obvious that selling to the U.S. federal government is complex, especially if you aren’t one of the traditional defense prime contractors… but it doesn’t have to be that way. Pryzm is out to help companies level the playing field. As I was preparing for this podcast, I learned about things like “J-Bo...

Episode 436 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Shilpi Gupta, Founder of Qyn Labs. Lived the problem and driven to solve it. If I were a venture capitalist, that would be the most critical pillar of my investment thesis. It’s not impossible to succeed otherwise, but entrepreneurs who have personally experienced the friction they’re solving, I believe, will always have a massive edge. Shilpi fits t...

Episode 435 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Kojo Osei, Partner at Matrix. The venture capital industry originated back in 1946 in the Boston area, when The American Research and Development Corporation was founded by MIT president Karl Compton and Harvard professor Georges Doriot. From that point, an industry was born, and firms were created, but very few have had the lasting impact and track...

Episode 434 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ted Julian, CEO & Founder of Flux. Lots of successful people are very humble. They might credit their success to timing, luck, or another reason to downplay things which is a trait that I do admire. Ted fits the bill here, as he’s very humble. But, as you’ll hear in this podcast interview, his track record is extraordinary. He’s been part of the foun...

Episode 433 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Roy Hotrabhvanon, CEO & Co-Founder of PlayerData. Some companies seem like they were just meant to happen, which is certainly the case for PlayerData. Back in 2016, Roy was on track to compete in the Rio Olympics for archery when a severe car accident completely derailed his plans. But instead of letting that tragic incident define him, Roy picked hi...

Episode 432 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Johannes Galatsanos, CEO & Co-Founder of Diffraqtion. I’m incredibly lucky to host this show because the guests I interview are truly out to rewrite the rules of what's possible. Johannes is a perfect example. He brings over 15 years of deep expertise across AI, quantum tech, and operations across a career that includes lots of deep research in acade...

Episode 431 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Cathy Lewenberg, CEO of Bevi. When most people think of a beverage company, they immediately think of a traditional consumer brand fighting for shelf space at the grocery store. But the real magic behind Bevi is its highly defensible B2B business model and it’s brilliant. Bevi has made the old corporate water cooler cool again with its high quality p...

Episode 430 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Phil Beauregard, Managing Partner of Impellent Ventures. I first met Phil back when Boston was going through another massive resurgence of growth following the financial crisis of 2008. It was a special time when local founders and investors banded together to help build and scale the Boston tech ecosystem. It was a movement that is reminiscent of wh...

Episode 429 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Lior Div, CEO & Co-Founder of 7AI. One of the most exciting parts of this platform shift to AI is watching elite, repeat founders get back into the arena. It’s often these experienced builders who have the appetite and the playbook to swing for the fences and create a truly category-defining company. Lior is exactly one of those entrepreneurs. Along...

Episode 428 of The VentureFizz #podcast features Mike Pappas, CEO & Co-Founder of Modulate. Is Boston the best place to build a voice AI company? Based on its rich history in this category, I would have to say 1000%. From the early days of ScanSoft and Dragon to SpeechWorks and Vlingo—all of which eventually fell under the voice juggernaut Nuance, which worked on the early days of Siri and was acq...

Episode 427 of The VentureFizz #podcast features Joshua Summers, CEO & Co-Founder of EnFi. Josh is a serial entrepreneur who has been at the center of multiple success stories in the Boston tech scene. He has a unique ability to see exactly how technology will impact an industry right at the beginning of a platform shift - whether that was mobile, digital advertising, or in the case of his current...

Episode 426 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Natan Linder, CEO & Co-Founder of Tulip. There are very few entrepreneurs in Boston who have built multiple tech companies to a billion+ valuation (Tulip & Formlabs), but Natan is one of them. He is a “builder” in the truest sense of the word, focusing on building what he calls “important things” rather than just the latest “shiny object.” In our con...

Episode 425 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Charlie O’Donnell, Founder of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures and now, a published author. Charlie is a staple of the NYC startup scene and someone who has had a significant influence in helping to build the ecosystem to what it is today. I first met Charlie back in 2010 at First Round Capital’s offices in NYC. At the time, I was helping out some of the cit...

Episode 424 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Kelton (or KJ) Hardrict, CEO & Co-Founder of Talvy. Is the resume officially dead? It’s been a moment that seemed inevitable. I mean, the first resume credit goes to Leonardo da Vinci and that was over 500 years ago. I’ve been in recruiting for over 20 years and I can officially say that this is the first moment where disruption in the industry is tr...