Lay of The Land

Tanya Budler, Founder of Rise Together, on building an impact consulting firm based here in Cleveland that partners with civic, public, private, and nonprofit organizations to create systems-level change that enables and empowers international newcomers to join the local workforce.

Tanya is a people-centric problem solver with a unique background that blends private sector, government, and non-profit experience. She started her career building global youth programs, crafting international events, and facilitating leadership workshops in eight different countries. While the Harvard Graduate School of Education, she began exploring other sectors, including impact consulting for nonprofits. Tanya has since served in various levels of government, first as an Economic and Social Recovery Fellow in the Office of the Governor of Connecticut and most recently supporting workforce efforts in the US Department of Transportation.

Through these experiences, Tanya saw great power and opportunity in working at the intersection of all these sectors and decided to move back to the Midwest, originally from the farmlands of Nebraska and Missouri, after 10+ years on the East Coast — based here in Cleveland and serving the larger Northeast Ohio region, she launched Rise Together in January of 2022. Since then, she and her team have been working to create a welcoming workforce for international newcomers by developing policies, coalitions, and workshops that play to the community's assets and strengths.

In our conversation, we dive into Tanya's background and path to entrepreneurship and Cleveland, founding Rise Together, creating and growing a for-profit service organization, and her reflections and learnings throughout the journey. Please enjoy my conversation with Tanya Budler.

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This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects and Ninety. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects or leverage a free trial through Ninety, the software platform that helps teams build great companies, by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm!

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Learn more about Rise Together — https://www.risetogethercle.com/
Connect with Tanya Budler on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanyabudler/

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For more episodes of Lay of The Land, visit https://www.layoftheland.fm/

Past guests include Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, Steve Potash (OverDrive), Ed Largest (Westfield), Ray Leach (JumpStart), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Lindsay Watson (Augment Therapy), and many more.

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here.

Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/

Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe

Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Our conversation this week is with Lindsay Watson, CEO & Founder of Augment Therapy.

Augment Therapy was founded in 2017 when Lindsay — who is a pediatric physical therapist from Chagrin Falls, Ohio — was searching for a way to solve the problems she was experiencing in her own physical therapy practice. Lindsay had spent years working with children and was frustrated with the inefficiency of treating kids once a week, with no way to help them exercise on a daily basis for faster progress. And with that, Lindsay set out to find a way to encourage and motivate them to exercise and Augment Therapy was born.

Augment Therapy is an interactive software that uses the medium of augmented reality to engage kids to exercise. Using depth-sensing camera technology, Augment Therapy functions as a motivational tool, exercise prompt, and progress tracker for children needing therapeutic exercise – with no headsets or other wearables required. It can be used in the hospital and clinical setting or in the home environment – any place where added motivation is needed.

Augment Therapy looks like a game to the child, but solves real problems of exercise adherence – its portability and anywhere/anytime access make the completion of daily therapeutic exercise simple, convenient, and fun!

Originally published as episode 30 back in July of 2021, this conversation with Lindsay Watson was one of my favorite conversations to date! Lindsay’s passion for her work is infectious and I learned a lot from her story — when I re-listened to it in advance of republishing it today, I was struck by how inspiring and forward-thinking Lindsay’s work through Augment Therapy was, and still is today as she’s continued to grow the business and raised an additional million dollars of funding — all with the goal of improving the therapy experience for children and bringing increased innovation to the pediatric market at large. Please enjoy!

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This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects and Ninety. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects or leverage a free trial through Ninety, the software platform that helps teams build great companies, by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm!

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Learn more about Augment Therapy — https://augmenttherapy.com/

Follow Augment Therapy on Twitter — https://twitter.com/augment_therapy

Connect with Lindsay Watson on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsay-watson-pt-mpt-68103a134/ 

Follow Lindsay Watson on Twitter —  https://www.twitter.com/@lindsaywatson26

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For more episodes of Lay of The Land, visit https://www.layoftheland.fm/

Past guests include Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, Steve Potash (OverDrive), Ed Largest (Westfield), Ray Leach (JumpStart), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), and many more.

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here.

Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/

Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe

Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Dr. Onas Bolton — Founder and CEO of Octet Scientific, a specialty Cleveland-based chemical manufacturer unlocking the full power of safe, economical, and sustainable energy storage by providing better electrolyte chemistry for zinc and other aqueous batteries — on the potential for zinc-based batteries, the history of energy production, storage, and use, and how the work Octet Scientific is doing will facilitate our transition to carbon-neutral sustainable power!

Dr. Bolton is a 14-year veteran of the specialty chemicals industry with a PhD in materials science and specific expertise in organic electrochemistry. He is an experienced organic and materials chemist whose work has been published in prestigious scientific journals like the Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and highlighted on the cover of Nature Chemistry and in the Economist. Prior to founding Octet, Dr. Bolton created new organic additives for Atotech, the world’s largest producer of chemicals to the electroplating industry.

At Octet, he and his team are working closely with a wide variety of zinc battery chemistries and manufacturers worldwide to continue to perfect zinc battery chemistry through novel additive development. Dr. Bolton began Octet by winning two highly competitive funding awards from the US National Science Foundation, based on the idea that establishing safe and sustainable zinc-based energy storage will require optimized additive chemistry and more recently, has closed over an additional $1 million in traditional venture funding led by Jumpstart here in Cleveland. Please enjoy!

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This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects and Ninety. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects or leverage a free trial through Ninety, the software platform that helps teams build great companies, by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm!

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Learn more about Octet Scientific — https://www.octetsci.com/about-octet/
Connect with Dr. Onas Bolton on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/onas-bolton-693ba319/

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For more episodes of Lay of The Land, visit https://www.layoftheland.fm/

Past guests include Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, Steve Potash (OverDrive), Ed Largest (Westfield), Ray Leach (JumpStart), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Lindsay Watson (Augment Therapy), and many more.

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here.

Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/

Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe

Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Anees Pretorius and Cono Onorato — co-founders of Bean ($1.7mm in funding) — on the pursuit of their vision to reimagine the global accounting industry and elevate the profession into the digital age.

Anees Pretorius, a former Big 4 Accountant, is the CEO of Bean, a market network for specialized accounting services. Originally from South Africa, Anees previously held positions at Deloitte in Cape Town and San Francisco, and later at EY in Cleveland. During his time as a consultant, he worked alongside High-growth and Fortune companies, providing compliance and strategic services. However, it was his experience in the Bay Area working alongside some of the most influential and technologically progressive companies in the world that inspired him to think beyond the traditional constraints inherent in accounting and financial services.

Cono Onorato is the CTO at Bean, with over 15 years of experience building, designing, and deploying apps across many industries, including finance, healthcare, and education. Cono worked as a consultant for Fortune 500 clients such as UPS, Coca-Cola, Chick-Fil-A, Verifone, and AT&T, where he deployed creative and engineering solutions. Cono also founded and built an app called Gitful, where he successfully scaled the company to service hundreds of thousands of users across the globe in less than four years.

In this episode, we dive into the arc of their careers, their paths to entrepreneurship, and how they joined forces to create Bean. We explore their original insights, the questions they asked, and their vision for the future of accounting. We unpack their approach to building in stealth mode and the advantages and disadvantages of it. We also discuss the history and current state of accounting, the implications of AI in accounting, and how Bean will bring about the future of accounting in the digital age! Please enjoy my conversation with Anees Pretorius and Cono Onorato!

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This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects and Ninety. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects or leverage a free trial through Ninety, the software platform that helps teams build great companies, by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm!

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Connect with Anees Pretorius on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/aneespretorius/

Connect with Cono Onorato on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/conoonorato/

Learn more about Bean — https://getbean.com/

Follow Bean on Twitter — https://twitter.com/one2bean

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For more episodes of Lay of The Land, visit https://www.layoftheland.fm/

Past guests include Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, Steve Potash (OverDrive), Ed Largest (Westfield), Ray Leach (JumpStart), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Lindsay Watson (Augment Therapy), and many more.

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here.

Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/

Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe

Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Julia Solooki & Lior Shafir — the co-founders of Smart Soda, headquartered here in Cleveland — on revolutionizing the beverage industry!

The revolution is taking the water and soft drink industry by storm where for many consecutive years, carbonated soft drink sales have been in decline as an increasingly health-conscious society is demanding healthier alternatives in face of the $250 billion US soft drinks market.

Smart Soda is meeting that demand with a proprietary and functional beverage platform for major corporations, restaurants, offices, and retail, offering state-of-the-art beverage dispensing products serving healthy and delicious flavored sparkling water made with all-natural alkaline mineralized water, with the option for over 32 flavors utilizing organic cane sugar, vitamin infusion, and much more coming down the pike — to deliver everyday effervescence.

To date, Smart Soda has raised over $7mm building out the company, and has partnered with major brands like Sysco, BareBurger, 7-Eleven, and many others, all in pursuit of their vision to sustainably (WELL Standard adherent) create the best tasting and highest quality health-forward beverages.

Lior Shafir is an experienced executive in the water and beverage industry, with over 20 years in the field serving as the former Chairman and CEO of Aquatal and also as the former CEO of the exclusive US distributor of Soda Stream, the Israeli-based carbonated drink maker, which was acquired by Pepsi for $3.2 billion back in 2018.

Julia Solooki, now the president of Smart Soda, is focused on running and developing retail and online sales operation as well as strategically developing Smart Soda’s channel partner relations. Prior to co-founding Smart Soda with Lior, Julia held a series of leadership positions in the healthcare services arena in addition to serving on the board of education for the Healthcare Billing Management Association.

We cover a lot in this conversation — the proliferation and market for carbonated drinks, Julia and Lior’s commitment to sustainability, expansion plans, go-to-market strategy, and much more — please enjoy our conversation!

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This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects and Ninety. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects or leverage a free trial through Ninety, the software platform that helps teams build great companies, by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm!

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Learn more about Smart Soda — https://smartsoda.com/

Connect with Julia Solooki on LinkedIn

Connect with Lior Shafir on LinkedIn

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For more episodes of Lay of The Land, visit https://www.layoftheland.fm/

Past guests include Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, Steve Potash (OverDrive), Ed Largest (Westfield), Ray Leach (JumpStart), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Lindsay Watson (Augment Therapy), and many more.

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here.

Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/

Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe

Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Adrian Bota — co-founder and CEO of ORIGIN Milk — on creating the superlative, regenerative A2 heritage milk company!

Adrian’s roots in farming go back to his father working on a farm in Romania. Adrian’s parents and four siblings escaped from Romania right before the fall of Communism, immigrating to the U.S. and arriving in Cleveland in 1991. While Adrian’s father imagined his children would seek careers in medicine or law, Adrian ultimately drew on his background in business and health to enter the farming industry. Prior to launching Origin, Adrian began his career helping to define Pfizer Pharmaceuticals’ approach to the changing healthcare marketplace in the U.S. He later worked at Cleveland Clinic Innovations Group to manage new ventures in healthcare technology, genetics, and health and wellness.

Led by his passion for nutrition and innovation, coupled with searching for the best options in nutrition for his new child, Adrian embarked on the journey of utilizing his background in the pharma & biotech sector to rethink human nutrition from the ground up. In 2015, Adrian embarked on that journey to wholesome, nature-led nutrition and established Origin, a trailblazing regenerative A2 Guernsey dairy brand right here in Cleveland Ohio. He began partnering first with small farmers in Ohio and has since grown the operation, partnering with small, family-owned farms in Pennsylvania and Colorado. Their deep expertise in product development and knowledge of emerging consumer demands has led Origin to expand its portfolio into multiple verticals — now offering products spanning multiple milk varieties, chocolate, ghee, butter, and more

As you’ll hear in our conversation today, Adrian is one of the sharpest thinkers and shrewdest builders I’ve come across — one of my favorite discussions so far and an absolute pleasure to listen to and learn from — At the risk of being put out to pasture for some of the worst milk puns I’ll ever utter on this podcast, Adrian is a genuine mooover and shaker in the dairy world where he is committed to leading the shift away from big dairy, which is reliant on legacy cows and factory farming, to a regenerative, organic and always local model of clean dairy.

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This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects and Ninety. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects or leverage a free trial through Ninety, the software platform that helps teams build great companies, by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm!

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Connect with Adrian Bota on LinkedIn

Learn more about ORIGIN Milk

Follow ORIGIN Milk on Instagram

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For more episodes of Lay of The Land, visit https://www.layoftheland.fm/

Past guests include Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, Steve Potash (OverDrive), Ed Largest (Westfield), Ray Leach (JumpStart), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Lindsay Watson (Augment Therapy), and many more.

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here.

Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn

Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe

Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Ed Largent — President, CEO, and Board Chair of Westfield, one of the most enduring companies in Ohio.

Very few companies in the world can boast the longevity of Westfield, which is celebrating its 175th year of existence. Originally founded by a small group of Ohio farmers in 1848, Westfield is now one of the largest non-public companies in Ohio, the largest employer in Medina County, Ohio, and has grown to be one of the nation’s leading property and casualty insurance companies, with recent international expansion, and as the largest writer of contract performance bonds in Ohio, with over $2.5 billion in direct written premium and $8.5 billion in consolidated assets.

Ed joined Westfield in 1986 and was appointed CEO and President of Westfield in 2015 after having served in a variety of previous leadership roles, including as Westfield’s Administration Leader and Chief Technology Officer.

In our conversation today, we explore the ingredients that make for longevity and unpack how and why Westfield has been able to balance its multi-generational growth and commitment to ensuring the financial stability of its customers all without sacrificing its own resiliency and antifragility through some of the most risk-on periods of American history. We talk about the importance of cultivating people and empathy, being grounded in purpose, and aligning culture around these tenets.

It was a real privilege to hear Ed's reflections on leadership and on Westfield’s history, present, and future going forward — please enjoy my conversation with Ed Largent.

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This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects and Ninety. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects or leverage a free trial through Ninety, the software platform that helps teams build great companies, by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm!

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Learn more about Westfield — https://www.westfieldinsurance.com/

Follow Westfield on Twitter — https://twitter.com/Westfield1848/

Connect with Ed Largent on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/edlargent/

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Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/

Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe

Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Matt Crowley and Bill Wichert, the co-founders of TonDone, have recently secured $1.5 million in funding and facilitated over $30 million in work orders through their platform. Their mission is to solve the challenges faced by building and facility services.

Matt and Bill first crossed paths at Case Western Reserve University and decided to work together going forward. In an eclectic joint career experience, they served as Chief Information Officers at Philadelphia International Airport and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, where they oversaw the development of technology resources for millions of airline customers annually. Their industry knowledge and experience in aviation inspired them to create software for airport operations, which eventually — through a series of learnings and pivots, and participation in Akron's Bounce Innovation Hub accelerator and Techstars accelerator programs — led them to the idea of developing a business operating system for the building and facility service market at large — they developed a platform to help frontline employees get a ton done, hence TonDon!

In this episode, Matt and Bill discuss their experience with airport innovation, the ups and downs of pivoting, team building, the importance of falling in love with the problem instead of an idea, knowing your own strengths and weaknesses, the power of accelerator programs, and much more.

Please enjoy my conversation with Matt Crowley and Bill Wichert!

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Learn more about TonDone — https://www.tondone.com/

Connect with Bill Wichert on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/billwichert/

Connect with Matt Crowley on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/k8cle/

Follow TonDone on Twitter — https://twitter.com/gettondone/

Follow Matt Crowley on Twitter — https://twitter.com/variables

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Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/

Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe

Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Dan Hampu and Daniel Isenberg on their collective work at the Burton D Morgan Foundation and Scalerator NEO — covering why it’s important to focus on companies at scale relative to startups when thinking about the overall prosperity of an entrepreneurial ecosystem, the state and trajectory of Northeast Ohio’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, and the challenges that scaling companies experience, and how the Burton D. Morgan Foundation and Scalerator NEO can help.

Dan Hampu joined The Burton D. Morgan Foundation in 2022 as the President and CEO —  Previously, he served in a number of roles within the entrepreneurial landscape through Northeast Ohio. Most recently he served as the Executive Director of the Northeast Ohio Student Venture Fund, as a Venture Partner with Interstate Fusion Ventures, and as the Chief Operating Officer and board member of the Akron-based software startup company, Fontus Blue.

Joining Dan, Daniel Isenberg has been an entrepreneur, teacher of entrepreneurship, and venture capitalist in Israel who has made investments in many dozens of startups across the world — he was a professor at Harvard Business School for 11 years where he pioneered education in international entrepreneurship, and since 2010 has been teaching at Columbia Business School through all of which, he has written over 35 articles on entrepreneurship and authored his book Worthless Impossible and Stupid: How Contrarian Entrepreneurs Create and Capture Extraordinary Value where he’s been featured on Harvard Business Review, the Economist, Forbes, Bloomberg, Wallstreet Journal, Financial Times and many others. Outside of the academic world, he’s put it all into practice through Scalerator NEO, which we’ll spend our time on today, in addition to Scale Up Milwaukee, Scale Up Rio, Scale Up Atlantic Canada, Scale Up Trinidad and Tobago, all of which he has founded.

Tying these two organizations together, Scalerator NEO is made possible by the support of the Burton D. Morgan Foundation, whose mission is to foster free enterprise through grantmaking, ecosystem building, and knowledge sharing and whose efforts are built around fostering youth, collegiate and adult entrepreneurship in our region. Scalerator NEO is a program is for scaling companies in Northeast Ohio with annual revenues in the range of $3M to $15M with the potential for further growth — Companies from all sectors partake in a six-month, seven-workshop curriculum to help founders and owners realize that growth — for example, the first Scaleraor NEO cohort collectively experienced a growth in earnings of 40% over the year.

In our conversation today, we cover why it’s important to focus on companies at scale relative to startups when thinking about the overall prosperity of a entrepreneurial ecosystem, we talk about the state and trajectory of Northeast Ohio’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, and we explore what are the kinds of challenges that scaling companies experience and how the Burton D. Morgan Foundation and Scalerator NEO can help. Please enjoy my conversation with Dan Hampu and Daniel Isenberg.

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Connect with Daniel Isenberg on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/disenberg/

Connect with Dan Hampu on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/danhampu/

Learn more about Scalerator NEO — https://www.scaleratorneo.org/

Learn more about The Burton D. Morgan Foundation — https://www.bdmorganfdn.org/

Follow Scalerator NEO on Twitter @ScaleratorNEO — https://twitter.com/ScaleratorNEO

Follow The Burton D. Morgan Foundation on Twitter @bdmorganfdn — https://twitter.com/bdmorganfdn

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Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/

Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe

Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Brian Folmer.

Born and raised in Cleveland, Brian has boomeranged back to Cleveland after 6 years in NYC and starting his own company.

Brian is the founder of FirstLook.vc and Distrobox.co; he’s a mentor at Techstars and a16z, Managing Partner of the FirstLook Syndicate, and a proud Ohio State Alum. He previously led BD & Strategic Partnerships at XRC Labs, International Operations at Victoria's Secret, and took his first startup through a technology startup accelerator in his hometown Cleveland, OH.

Through his work at FirstLook, he’s come to believe founders are the dreamers in action who drive innovation, push the world forward, and create the bedrock of our economy — and in practice, he’s focused on helping those founders build exciting brands and realize their visions. FirstLook is dedicated to cutting the friction and red tape between founders and investors by sending innovative products from emerging, high-growth consumer brands directly to early-stage investors via their subscription box.

In our conversation today, we explore how by connecting these two groups in a new, efficient, and practical way, Brian can uncover far more promising brands than before and begin to rewrite the script on consumer investing. Please enjoy my conversation with Brian Folmer

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Connect with Brian Folmer on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfolmer/

Follow Brian Folmer on Twitter @homerfolmer — https://twitter.com/homerfolmer

Learn more about FirstLook VC — https://firstlook.vc/

Follow FirstLook VC on Twitter @firstlookvc — https://twitter.com/firstlookvc

Connect with FirstLook VC on Linkedin — https://www.linkedin.com/company/firstlook-venture-co/

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Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/

Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe

Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Afif Ghannoum, a biotech attorney by background and the CEO of BIOHM Health — which he co-founded with his father, Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum, a leading microbiome researcher and recognized for naming the mycobiome (the body's fungal community). With over 30,000 citations and 500 published papers, Dr. Ghannoum is one of the top 0.5% of cited microbiologists and the top 2% of all scientists across all disciplines and has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1991, including just receiving his latest NIH grant at age 72.

Leveraging his own background launching and selling consumer products in over 27,000 stores and licensed IP to companies around the world in addition to holding several biotech patents, Afif partnered with his dad to commercialize his research and science into world-class consumer products through their company, BIOHM Health.

With state-of-the-art science and one of the largest microbiome datasets in the world that combines bacterial and fungal sequencing, BIOHM was the first to address the critical link between fungi and bacteria in gut health. Over the last year, BIOHM has expanded its role with some of the largest global ingredient companies to offer a world-class suite of services, including product development leveraging its industry-leading database, bioinformatics, testing, and clinical trial support — their first BIOHM FX probiotic supplement was designed to specifically help reduce digestive plaque found in the gut.

BIOHM is currently embarking on a clinical extension directly for medical practitioners and is quickly expanding into retailers across the country, as it not only manages one of the most comprehensive gut health datasets, but also has access to one of the largest collections of fungi strains, second only to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In late 2022, Afif secured $7.5 million in funding for BIOHM to support their broader vision. BIOHM is a fascinating company based here in Cleveland and I loved learning more about Afif’s journey building it — please enjoy my conversation with Afif Ghannoum

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Connect with Afif Ghannoum on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/afifghannoum/

Follow Afif Ghannoum on Twitter @AfifGhannoum — https://twitter.com/AfifGhannoum

Learn more about BIOHM Health — https://www.biohmhealth.com/

Follow BIOHM Health on Twitter @biohmhealth — https://twitter.com/biohmhealth

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Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/

Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe

Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Adam Fleischer — President of Cleveland’s Entrepreneurs' Organization and founder & co-owner of The Wine Spot here in Cleveland Heights.

A proud product of Cleveland, Adam joined the United States Air Force just after graduating from Cleveland Heights High School and spent four years on active duty as a medic. After relocating back to Cleveland to attend Cleveland State University, Adam got a job at a local hospital’s inpatient pharmacy, where he began implementation of one of the first clinical information systems (also known as an Electronic Medical Record) in the country — with that experience, Adam was hired on by the company, Cerner Corporation, which was recently purchased by Oracle. After 20 years of experience in corporate America, he decided to focus his energy on his passions — the Cleveland community, and wine!

Adam and his wife Susan followed their dream of owning their own business and being entrepreneurs by opening The Wine Spot in Cleveland Heights on December 16, 2011. From the onset, they wanted to be part of the local food and beverage community and began partnering with like-minded entrepreneurs like: Restless Coffee, Brew Nuts, Mister Brisket, many local micro-breweries, and artists to create a relaxing destination where all feel welcome and can enjoy the fines wines, craft beer, and cocktails.

In addition, Adam is active in the community as the creator and co-creator of The Heights Music Hop, The Cleveland Heights Happy 5K and 10K, 46 and 2 Brewing Cold Brewed Coffee now part of Six Shooter Coffee, Bitcoin Boulevard USA, and The Wine Spot Salami.

It was a lot of fun to hear about Adam’s journey to entrepreneurship, the work he’s doing at the Wine Spot, and understanding the role of EO — the Entrepreneur's Organization — which we’ve heard mentioned many times throughout Lay of The Land but are finally making the space to talk about specifically today! Please enjoy my conversation with Adam Fleischer

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Connect with Adam Fleisher on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamefleischer/

Learn more about The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Cleveland — https://www.eonetwork.org/cleveland/

Learn more about The Wine Spot — https://thewinespotonline.com/

Follow The Wine Spot on Twitter @TheWineSpotCH — https://twitter.com/TheWineSpotCH

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Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/

Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe

Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Michael Murphy, on a mission to bring professional soccer to Cleveland as the Co-founder and CEO of the Cleveland Soccer Group.

Previously, Michael served as President of Gravitas Ventures — whose story we featured back on Lay of The Land’s 68th episode with Gravitas’ CEO (linked here), Nolan Gallagher, Michael’s current co-founder at Cleveland Soccer Group!

At Gravitas, Michael was instrumental in growing the company’s distribution footprint, managing their library of more than 3,000 titles of movies and TV to over 100 transactional, subscription, and ad-sponsored Video-on-demand operators on a worldwide basis — ultimately affording Gravitas distribution into over 100 million homes in North America and over 1 Billion homes worldwide.

Prior to joining Gravitas Ventures in 2007, Michael was Captain in the US Army where he served on active duty as a Judge Advocate. In 2005, he deployed with the 3rd Infantry Division in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.

Michael is a member of the Cleveland Chapter of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), a member of the U.S. Soccer Development Council, on the board of Boys Hope Girls Hope of Northeast Ohio, and on the advisory council for the Northeast Ohio Women’s Sports Alliance.

He also coaches track, basketball, and, of course, soccer at St. Dominic School in Cleveland.

This was a really fun conversation — we cover everything from the cultural importance of sports in American society, how he envisions Cleveland Soccer as a community pillar going forward, to the logistics of starting a professional soccer club, from stadiums to financing to building a competitive and formidable platform and team. Really enjoyed learning more about Michaels’ vision for the Cleveland Soccer Group and I am excited to follow along on this journey as it unfolds — please enjoy my conversation with Michael Murphy.

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Connect with Michael Murphy on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-murphy-5602005/

Connect with Nolan Gallagher on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-gallagher-7a6a852/

Follow Cleveland Pro Soccer on Twitter @cleprosoccer — https://twitter.com/cleprosoccer

Follow Michael Murphy on Twitter @CLE_MMMurphy — https://twitter.com/CLE_MMMurphy

Follow Nolan Gallagher on Twitter @NolanGravitas — https://twitter.com/NolanGravitas

Learn more about The Cleveland Soccer Group — https://www.clevelandprosoccer.com/

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Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/

Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe

Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Aleksandra Brankov and Cole Worley — the co-founders of Cafilia, a Cleveland startup and network of curated local coffee shops where people can purchase monthly memberships and enjoy a sustainable and community-driven coffee experience.

Aleksandra is a proud product of Serbian immigrant parents — Born in Cleveland, she moved to Europe to continue her professional career in strategy implementation consulting for Global Fortune 500s after receiving her Master’s in International Management in Madrid, Spain. Now back in Cleveland, Aleksandra came up with the idea for the Cafilia during a winter retreat in Canada and decided to pursue it, launching the pilot program in July 2020 in the Cleveland market.

Cole had earned his degree studying Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the University of Dayton, and has worked with companies all over the world in marketing, business development, and product management. He's had a hand in launching new business units, managing mass market and luxury products, and consulting with small and medium-sized businesses. In addition, Cole led and organized the StartupBus competition across North America, where people come together, pitch their skills and startup ideas, form teams, build and launch a product in just three days, all while traveling to a final destination.

Collectively, Cole and Aleksandra are working to bring the Cafilia to every major city all in support of local, sustainable, and quality coffee, for coffee shop owners and coffee enthusiasts alike. We cover everything from historical coffee macro trends, to the meaning of Cafilia, to managing a coffee subscription service — please enjoy my conversation with Aleksandra Brankov and Cole Worley

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Connect with Aleksandra Brankov on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandrabrankov/

Connect with Cole Worley on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/coleworley/

Learn more about Cafilia — https://becafilia.com/

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Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/

Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe

Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Jeremy Umansky, the renowned chef and owner of Larder!

Larder Delicatessen and Bakery — as it’s known in full — is a staple and favorite of many here in Cleveland, housed in the historic Ohio City Firehouse, where the from-scratch Eastern European deli embodies Jeremy’s philosophy with a focus on the use and promotion of sourcing and foraging local and wild food, cooking as seasonally as possible, with minimal to no ecological impact on the environment, all without sacrificing on intensity and deliciousness of flavors and the overall experience.

Larder was nominated by the James Beard Foundation as the Best New Restaurant in America in 2019 and Jeremy was further recognized as Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2020 and in 2023 with his wife and co-owner, Allie La Valle-Umansky!

Jeremy has a fascinating mind and it was a genuine pleasure to hear his thoughts on things far beyond the realm of Larder — although we do talk a lot about Larder too and his interests in mushrooms and foraging, Koji, fermentation, culinary technology, sustainability, Cleveland’s food scene, fulfillment, his motivations and much more — this perhaps was of the most wide-ranging and varied conversations we’ve had on the show so far, and as a big fan of Larder myself, I had a lot of fun learning a lot more about Jeremy and his story. Hope you all enjoy my conversation with Jeremy Umansky

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Learn more about Larder — https://larderdb.com/about/

Follow Larder on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/larderdb/

Follow Jeremy Umansky on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/tmgastronaut/

Follow Jeremy Umansky on Twitter @TMGastronaut — https://twitter.com/TMGastronaut

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Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/
Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe
Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Artur Grabowski — co-founder of Extendify.

Artur emigrated from Poland to the Cleveland area at the age of 8 — where he later attended Case Western and got exposure working both with a hardware measurement instruments company and a Silicon Valley software startup that later became a unicorn. Artur then transitioned to the business world working with KeyBank's investment banking team in Cleveland and with the startup ecosystem while at Silicon Valley Bank in the Bay Area. After completing an MBA at the University of Chicago, Artur returned to San Francisco to join Adobe where he lead acquisitions and investments, and launched Adobe's early-stage investments through the Fund for Design. Artur then returned to Cleveland and joined Automattic, the company behind WordPress, to lead acquisitions, investments, and strategic initiatives.

Most recently, in 2019 — and where we’ll spend most of our conversation today — Artur left Automattic to co-found Extendify where they are a mission to help web hosting companies deliver delightful WordPress experiences and has since raised venture capital in support of this mission, with the initial investment led by Village Global, and subsequent investment from a variety of angel and strategic investors, including his former company, Automattic.

WordPress powers an almost unbelievable 43% of websites on the internet today and Artur is set on supporting those in this goliath ecosystem! Artur has great perspective on the landscape of the internet, building a fully remote company before it was the popular thing to do so, venture, and I feel has a refreshing and unique take on many aspects of the entrepreneurial journey — please enjoy my conversation with Artur Grabowski!

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Learn more about Extendify

Connect with Artur Grabowski on LinkedIn

Follow Artur Grabowski on Twitter @arturgrabo

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Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn

Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe

Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland

https://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with the family behind Snider Recreation a company in the very business of fun where they are focused on the development of Commercial Playgrounds — Chuck Snider, Jamey Snider, and Jeff Snider! 

Jamey and Jeff took over the business in 2014 and today run the company, focused on growing Snider Recreation’s brand and presence in the playground and recreation industry, while Chuck had founded the business back in the late 80s after over a decade working in the legal sector.

If you’ve ever wondered, how does a playground come to be? Or what are all the considerations that go into making one that is fun and inclusive, and safe? That is what we’ll cover in this episode!

From how the recreational and commercial playground industry has evolved over the last few decades, to how Chuck, Jamey, and Jeff think about innovation, to how they’ve continued to run a family business over the generations — really loved learning about this business that fundamentally ties its success to providing a fun safe environment for children to play — please enjoy my conversation with the Snider family.

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Learn more about Snider Recreation
Follow Snider Recreation on Twitter
Connect with Jamey Snider on LinkedIn
Connect with Jeff Snider on LinkedIn

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Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn
Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe
Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland
https://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Dr. Elad Granot — Dean of John Carroll University’s Boler College of Business, co-founder and managing member of an early-stage technology Venture Capital fund, and advisor to a $450mm VC fund. 

Elad is passionate about the role of higher education in the world of startups, and actively spends his time building & cultivating social connections for students to move up the academic and economic ladders & promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in the Cleveland business ecosystem.

Prior to joining Boler College of Business as Dean and Professor of Marketing, Dr. Granot led Ashland University's Business College. His academic appointments also include Dean of the College of Business Administration and Professor of Marketing at Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey; Assistant Dean – MBA Programs at Cleveland State University’s Monte Ahuja College of Business in Cleveland, Ohio; and Special Assistant to the Provost for eLearning Development at Cleveland State University. 

In addition to his background in higher education leadership, Dr. Granot served as an officer in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) prior to beginning his international business career in 1994 as a sales manager for a US based freight forwarding company. He later established his marketing and strategy consulting practice. In 1998, he was recruited to be vice president of marketing for Israel’s largest private education company, later acquired by the Washington Post group. In 2000, Dr. Granot was named CMO of KPMG in Tel Aviv, a position he held until taking over as CEO of a large media production company.

We cover a lot of ground in this conversation spanning what Cleveland can learn from Startup Nation and Elad’s time in Israel, the role of academia in fostering an entrepreneurial mindset, the tolerance for risk in North East Ohio, technology transfer out of academic institutions, and a lot more — please enjoy my conversation with Dr. Elad Granot!

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Connect with Dr. Elad Granot on LinkedIn

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Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn
Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe
Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland
https://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Jan Jenson — PhD, CEO/CSO/Founder of Trailhead Biosystems, based here in Cleveland.

Jan is the Lead Inventor of Trailhead Technology and has 20 years as a molecular developmental biologist. He is the Eddie J. Brandon Endowed chair of Diabetes Research at the Cleveland Clinic and obtained his Ph.D. from U. Copenhagen in 1998 and has been faculty at US institutions since 2001 where he has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and is now engaged with multiple research projects and consortia covering neural, renal, pancreatic areas, as well as cancer and immunotherapy.

The technology of Trailhead Biosystems — which exists around the high-dimensional design of experiments dependent on computerized designs and robotic executions — allows for the production of cellular ink as the biological building blocks to address a myriad of issues across cell-based therapeutics, drug discovery, organ printing, and disease modeling — ultimately aiming to arrive at the cures for diseases we’ve only historically been able to treat like Diabetes, which is one of Jan’s original motivations.

Trailhead Biosystems is one of the most fascinating companies I’ve come across so far and I learned so much from this conversation with Jan — everything from the basics of cell differentiation and development biology, to the vast implications that unlocking industrialized manufacturing of specialized human cells can have for regenerative medicine! Please enjoy my conversation with Jan Jensen

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Learn more about Trailhead Biosystems
Connect with Jan Jensen on LinkedIn

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Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn
Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe
Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland
https://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Aaron George, Founder/CEO of SupplyNow! 

Growing up with a family of small businesses & food service owners, Aaron first came to the US in 2015 with a deep sense of respect for entrepreneurship and the food service industry from a very young age. At that time, he came to study Civil Engineering and Business Management from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) — during his time at CWRU, he founded PastryNow which was a digital, late-night delivery platform that connected local bakeries & home bakers to college students

In early 2020 though, when college campuses shut down overnight, Aaron had to close down the business and go back to the drawing board. He had noticed restaurants were amongst the hardest hit during the pandemic and was determined to find ways to help. After interviewing several restauranters and chefs, he found that there were inadequate solutions available to actually help restaurants control their purchasing costs, especially in the context of having to navigate frequent critical supply chain failures.

In 2021, Aaron founded SupplyNow, leveraging his experience from PastryNow, to provide critical supply chain solutions that can save restaurants and local distributors, time and money. The company’s flagship service — Crisis Management — helps restaurants when their vendor has shorted them (potentially due to unexpected waste/demand, inventory miscalculations, etc) and are too short-staffed to send for a restaurant's emergency supplies. At the same time, the company has built out the supply-side of its network to service distributors who find it too expensive to offer same-day/on-demand deliveries to their customers, due to CDL driver constraints and preset weekly routes that are hard to deviate out of.

Through our conversation, we also cover Aaron’s journey as an immigrant founder, the many additional challenges he’s had to navigate as a consequence of this, and the work of Global Entrepreneur in Residence program he is spearheading. Please enjoy my conversation with Aaron George.

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Learn more about SupplyNow
Learn more about Global Cleveland
Connect with Aaron George on LinkedIn

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Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn
Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe
Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayoftheland
https://www.jeffreys.page/