Running Stuff, a Peterson Partners podcast

At our recent LP Conference, Illana Stern sat down with a group of Peterson Venture portfolio CEOs to discuss how they are using AI in their businesses today. You'll hear from Caleb Hicks, CEO of SchoolAI, Stephanie Grayson, co-CEO of Cambio, Josh Wilson, CEO of Particl, Kyle Roche, CEO of Griptape, and Loren Larsen, CEO of Videra Health. 

Ben Capell is joined by Co-founder and CEO of Rose Park Advisors, Matt Christensen, to discuss applying the theory of disruptive innovation. Matt co-founded Rose Park with his father, Clay Christensen, who coined the term and the concept of disruptive innovation. This concept has been applied by both early stage companies looking to disrupt incumbents, and Fortune 500 companies looking to avoid being disrupted. We hope you enjoy this conversation. 

Solidcore CEO Bryan Myers joins Brett Stohlton to discuss how to plan and execute a successful leadership transition from founder to next-generation CEO. Additionally, we explore leadership in the midst of crisis and learn about Bryan's inspiring background and vision for Solidcore.

Erica Brescia, Managing Director at Repoint Ventures, joins Taylor Jones to discuss a wide range of topics including her career as an operator, founder and investor as well as her unique perspective on AI. Prior to Redpoint, Erica was the co-founder and COO of Bitnami and also served as the COO of GitHub. We hope you enjoy this episode. 

Founder and CEO of SaxeCap Amrit Saxena joins Dan Hanks. SaxeCap is an AI transformation and investing holding company that partners with PE funds to buy out and transform companies with AI and automation technology. Amrit is a Stanford-educated artificial intelligence entrepreneur, has sold two enterprise AI companies before founding SaxeCap, and has invested in 200-plus technology startups over the past decade. We hope you enjoy this episode. 

Our guests are John Erck and James Van Erck, founders of Rebuy, a personalization platform that enables e-commerce brands to deploy intelligent shopping experiences for consumers. We discuss how they were able to bootstrap Rebuy to meaningful revenue, why they decided to raise venture capital, and how they continued to scale revenue efficiently while burning very little capital. We hope you enjoy this conversation with the founders of Rebuy.   

Our topic in this episode is focused on inflation and the US economy, with special guest John Cochran, an economist and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Previously, John was a professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. John writes occasional op-eds for the Wall Street Journal and blogs as the Grumpy Economist at johncochrane.com, and he recently created a Coursera outline course called Asset Pricing, covering first year PhD asset pricing. He has a new book out this month entitled “The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level.” We hope you enjoy our conversation. 

Our guest is Jorge Mazal, former Chief Product Officer at Duolingo, the most downloaded education app in the world. Jorge has also been a product manager at iconic internet companies Zynga and MyFitnessPal. We discuss his lessons from each company, how he built and scaled his product at Duolingo, and his insights into the craft of product management. We hope you enjoy this episode. 

Our guest today is David Lockwood, author of Fooled by the Winners. David has three decades of experience as a senior executive on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley. He has served on more than 20 public and private company boards and led several large companies as CEO and chairman. In this episode, David and Clint Peterson discuss turnarounds and the theme of his latest book, survivorship bias. David is a former lecturer on the faculty of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, and he has been an advisor to the highest levels of the U.S. government. David currently lives in Utah with his family.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Our topic in this episode is, “The Future of Education,” and our guest is Factor CEO and Founder, Caleb Hicks. Factor helps teens explore potential career paths and allows them to begin professional experiences while still in high school. Caleb is the former co-founder at Lambda School and pioneered the innovative income share agreement. Recorded from a recent Peterson Ventures event, Caleb and Taylor Jones discuss why the traditional college path isn't right for everyone and what compelled Caleb to start Factor. They discuss the challenge of leaving a scaling business to start Factor from scratch, and what the future of education looks like. We hope you enjoy this conversation with Caleb Hicks.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

In today's episode, we speak with John A. List, Chief Economist at WalMart and author of  “The Voltage Effect.”  In this episode we talk about how to make good ideas great, and great ideas scale. John digs in to the common set of attributes that scalable ideas share and provides examples on scaling incentives and culture. This episode was from a conversation previously recorded with many Peterson-backed CEOs and entrepreneurs. The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

At a recent Peterson Ventures event, Taylor Jones sat down with Brian Pugh, Senior Vice President of Engineering at Lucid Software, and Loren Larsen, CEO and founder at Videra Health to discuss early stage product development. Both Brian and Loren have scaled product teams from just a handful of developers, all the way to managing hundreds of engineers. In our conversation, we discuss the process of building an early-stage product vs one built for scale, establishing a strong engineering culture, how to attract and retain top technical talent, and how as managers both Brian and Loren adapted as teams scaled. We hope you enjoy this conversation with Brian Pugh and Loren Larsen.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

In this episode, our guest is General Stanley A. McChrystal. After graduating from West Point, Stan became an Army Ranger and eventually commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment. Over a 30-year military career, including a fellowship at Harvard and too many posts to mention, he wrapped up his illustrious career as head of Joint Special Operations Command, Commander of NATO Force, and Commander of NATO Forces in Afghanistan. Today, Stan writes New York Times best-selling books, serves on boards, teaches at Yale, and founded the McChrystal Group.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Our guest today is Charly Kevers, Chief Financial Officer at Carta.  Founded in 2012, Carta is the leading provider of cap table software, enabling companies and investors to manage their cap tables, equity plans and ownership. We discuss Charly's role as CFO of a rapidly scaling startup, Carta's unique culture, how the macroeconomic environment is affecting private markets, and Carta's long-term vision to bring equity for all. Enjoy this conversation with Charly Kevers.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Our topic today is “Building a Value-Based Marketing Engine,” and our guests are Mike Steele and Jake Young, CEO and COO at Pupford. Pupford is a direct-to-consumer dog brand that provides training resources and nutrition products for pet parents. In this episode we do a deep dive on early-stage growth strategies and discuss the “top of funnel” marketing systems that have helped Pupford become an industry leader. Jake and Mike offer insights into how they activated different distribution channels, how they deliver value to parents of puppies, and how they build long term relationships with loyal customers. The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Our topic in this episode is: "Utah - The Start-up State," and our guest is Utah Governor Spencer Cox. We discuss how Governor Cox went from being a small business owner from Fairview, Utah to becoming the 18th governor of Utah. A few months ago Governor Cox invited several venture capital investors to the Governors Mansion to specifically talk about how the state can help to cultivate a stronger STEM culture and to declare he would like Utah to be known as the “Start-up State.” Governor Cox talks about those goals in this podcast hosted by Ben Capell. We hope you enjoy this episode. The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Our topic in this episode is "The Entrepreneurial Leap of Faith," and our guest is Trevor McKendrick, CEO and Co-founder of Seis, a neo-bank for the 44 million native Spanish speakers living in the United States. Trevor talks about his first start-up's successful exit, what he learned as Chief of Staff for Lambda School, and what made him decide to become a founder again, this time in fin-tech.  Trevor began his career at KPMG and holds a bachelors and master's degree in accounting from Brigham Young University.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Taylor Jones, Principal at Peterson Ventures discusses early-stage demand gen with Rachel Hofstetter, Chief Marketing Officer at Genesis Block and former CMO at Chatbooks, and Sterling Snow, Chief Revenue Office at Divvy.  Both Rachel and Sterling were critical to igniting top-of-funnel demand in the earliest days at both Chatbooks and Divvy, and since then they both have scaled marketing and growth organizations that attract millions of users. In our conversation, Rachel and Sterling discuss the frameworks and processes they used to identify the first successful growth channels, how they scaled their growth channels and teams, how they approach hiring and evaluating growth marketers and some of the nuances between B2B versus consumer growth marketing.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Taylor Jones, Principal at Peterson Ventures recently sat down with Dave Grow, President and Chief Operating Officer at Lucid Software, at a Peterson Ventures event to discuss early-stage growth tactics. Dave joined Lucid as employee number four back in 2010.  Lucid now has over 750 employees and Dave and his team have developed a product-led growth engine that has over 30 million registered users, attracts more than a million new users per month, helps Lucid land customers of all sizes including 7-figure deals and has been the foundation for generating over $100M in ARR and a recent valuation over $3B. In our conversation, Dave shares his learnings and insights from Lucid's earliest days, including the principles around implementing their successful freemium, self-serve motion, their early growth tactics around driving new users to their website, and how they eventually layered on a traditional sales motion to drive accelerated growth.  The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Our topic today is “Discovering the Why,” with guest Chris Klomp, CEO of Collective Medical. Collective Medical is a platform that coordinates care across providers to help the most vulnerable find the care they need. Over a third of US hospitals today are on the platform, which serves nearly 100 million Americans. Prior to Collective Medical, Chris worked for Bain Capital. He earned an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a B.A. in Economics and English from Brigham Young University. Chris grew up in Boise, Idaho.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Our topic is building tech startups in healthcare and the power behind a business with a strong social mission. Our guest is Dallen Allred, CEO of Tava Health. Tava is on a mission to make therapy normal by providing easier access to high-quality therapy. The company believes that working with a mental health professional should be as routine as going to the dentist, a simple and necessary form of hygiene. Prior to Tava Health, Dallen was co-founder of Artemis Health. Dallen studied economics and American studies at Brigham Young University. The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts, and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Our topic is “Brand Building and Entrepreneurship” and our guest is Davis Smith,  Founder and CEO of Cotopaxi, an outdoor gear and active lifestyle brand with a social mission at its core.Cotopaxi creates innovative products and experiences that fund sustainable poverty alleviation and is among the first companies to incorporate from inception as a B-Corp and raise venture capital.Prior to Cotopaxi Davis was the Founder and Co-CEO o fBaby.com.br and Dinda.com.br, Brazil's Startup of the Year in 2012. In 2004, Davis founded, and later sold, PoolTables.com, America's largest pool table retailer. Davis holds an MBA from the Wharton School and an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Fellow of the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies and an alumnus of the Spanish international program. He also holds a BA in International Studies from Brigham Young University.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold, or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts, and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Our topic is “Building in the Shopify ecosystem” and our guest is Jonathan Poma, CEO of Loop. Loop has redefined the return process in retail by creating an experience that makes both brands and customers happy. To date, Loop has processed over $2B of returns for customers and recently raised a $65M Series B led by CRV with participation from Shopify.  Jonathan has operated in the Shopify ecosystem for nearly a decade and has founded several technology ventures. We discussed a range of topics including what it is like to step into the CEO position at the early stages, building a tech company outside of a major tech hub, building in the Shopify ecosystem and the future of e-commerce.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold, or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts, and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Our topic in this episode is identifying entrepreneurial opportunities and our guest is Mark Newman. Mark is a multiple-time entrepreneur.  He was the co-founder and former CEO of HireVue and is currently the co-founder and CEO of Nomi Health as well as the Co-founder and board member at Videra Health. Mark has the ability to identify opportunities where others only see problems and continually find solutions where others only see obstacles. Mark earned an M.S. in Finance from the University of Utah and B.A. in International Business from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. We are excited to have Mark share some of the lessons he's learned as a founder and CEO over the last 17 years.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Our topic is "Growth Through Adversity" and our guest is Hamid Moghadam, Chairman and CEO of Prologis. Hamid leads one of the world's 200 largest companies by market cap, a $90-billion REIT. He is widely considered to be one of the most respected real estate CEOs in the world. Born in Iran, Hamid became the youngest graduate from MIT when he was just 16-years-old. Hamid foresaw the e-commerce boom, and he focused his real estate portfolio on industrial properties. He's been named the EY National Entrepreneur of the Year and named several times by Harvard Business Review as one of the 100 Best Performing CEOs in the world. Hamid earned an MBA from Stanford University in 1980 and has served on the Stanford Board of Trustees.  The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold, or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts, and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Karl Sun, CEO of Lucid, recently spoke about his entrepreneurial journey and how Lucid has built a world-class product-led growth engine at a Peterson CEO event. We recorded part of that conversation for this episode. Karl and co-founder Ben Dilts started the visual collaboration software company Lucid in 2010. Lucid's software products like Lucidchart are now used by over 100,000 companies and Lucid recently announced a $500 million investment valuing the company at $3 billion. Karl earned degrees in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Technology from M.I.T. and earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Karl was the head of patents for Google before co-founding Lucid. The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold, or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts, and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Tejas Konduru left his job in tech investment banking two years ago to start Via, a mobile commerce platform. Via enables high-growth e-commerce brands to build meaningful customer relationships and create shopping experiences on the most popular messaging channels and mobile apps. Via enables true commerce for brands and on average is responsible for 35% of monthly revenue for its customers. Since launching its mobile commerce platform Via has grown 400% year over year. Last year, Via customers generated over $50 million on the platform. The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold, or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts, and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Our topic is "Identifying your Customer,” with JOJO's co-founder Sterling Jones. In 2016, JOJO's Chocolate was founded in the kitchen of Jodie Jones while she was battling breast cancer and looking for a healthy alternative to her sugar cravings. Inspired by his mom's story and through trial and error, Sterling Jones has successfully doubled the size of JOJO's every year and built a loyal and fanatic customer base. JOJO's started selling to cross-fit and yoga studios in search of the ideal customer while growing their customer base enough to allow for distribution into major U.S. retailers including Costco, Walmart, and Whole Foods. The story of JOJO's is about identifying and focusing on a core customer base.  The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold, or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts, and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Amy Errett, Madison Reed moderated by Joel PetersonOur topic is “Creating a Resilient Corporate Culture,” with guest Amy Errett, Founder and CEO of Madison Reed.  The omnichannel beauty brand uses proprietary color-matching technology along with a team of professional on-call colorists to help customers choose the perfect shade of hair color delivered to their door for under $25. The seven-year-old company recorded over $100 m in revenue in 2020. Prior to founding Madison Reed, Amy was a General Partner of Maveron, a leading venture capital firm, CEO of Olivia, a lifestyle travel business, and served on the senior management team at E*TRADE. This followed 10 years as Founder and CEO of The Spectrem Group, a worldwide strategic consulting firm. Amy sold Spectrem to NFO, an IPG subsidiary.In 2015 and 2018, Amy was named one of the “Bay Area's Most Influential Women in Business” by the San Francisco Business Times. She was also a finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2018 Award in the Northern California region, which she won in 2006 for the consumer category.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold, or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts, and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Our topic in this episode is “Managing through Crises,” and our guest is Christian Gormsen, CEO of Eargo. Eargo is a direct-to-consumer medical device company dedicated to improving the quality of life of people with hearing loss. Their innovative products and go-to-market approach address the major challenges of traditional hearing aid adoption. Eargo hearing aids are virtually invisible, rechargeable, completely-in-canal, FDA regulated, exempt Class I device for the treatment of hearing loss. The Eargo consumer-first solution offers hearing aids at approximately half the cost of competitors and can be purchased through traditional channels in the United States. Eargo went public with an IPO in October of 2020. This conversation between Ben Capell of Peterson Partners and Christian was part of a virtual event with many of our portfolio CEOs, and we wanted to share an adapted version of that conversation with our Running Stuff listeners. The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold, or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts, and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Allbirds has been called the “world's most comfortable shoe.” The company is certified as a B Corp and has remained committed to eco-friendly manufacturing and sustainable products.Prior to founding Allbirds, co-founder Tim Brown was a professional soccer player with stints in The United States and The United Kingdom, as well as his native country New Zealand.  Tim earned a master's degree both from The London School of Economics and from Northwestern University, as well as a bachelor's degree from the University of Cincinnati.We hosted Tim last year for a virtual session with our portfolio CEOs, and we wanted to share an adapted version of that conversation.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Andrew is the founder of Saltoun Capital Partners, a family office focused on investing in entrepreneurial growth businesses. Prior to SCP, he was the CEO of Integra Partners, a healthcare services company acquired in 2011 by Andrew and a group of private investors. He has also held roles at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker and Vestar Capital Partners as an investor. Andrew has been/is an active investor in growth companies including Bonobos, New Media Learning, and numerous search funds and their acquired businesses. He is a board member of Light Wave Dental, Technomotum, Circle Surrogacy, and the Brooklyn Museum Advisory Board. Andrew received a bachelor degree in business administration from Emory University and an MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Andy Dunn is the co-founder and former chief executive of Bonobos. Andy has said he started Bonobos with the intention of proving “that the world had changed, that you could now build a brand online.” Andy and co-founder Brian Spaly began by selling pants from their cars at Stanford University in 2007. Following angel funding, the company's revenues doubled four consecutive years in a row. With Bonobos, Dunn helped define and prove a new model for vertically integrated fashion retail within e-commerce. Bonobos became one of the first internet-driven direct-to-consumer brands in the US.  In 2017, Walmart acquired Bonobos.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Paul McKinnon has been recognized as one of the top human resource executives in the country spanning both academic and business worlds. Dr. McKinnon was a Senior Lecturer in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School, where he taught in Leadership and Organizational Behavior (LEAD) and Managing Human Capital. Prior to joining the HBS faculty, Dr. McKinnon had more than 30 years' experience in Human Resources management and consulting. He was Head of Human Resources and Talent Management at Citigroup and Senior Vice President of the Human Resources Group for Dell. He is currently a senior adviser at Peterson Partners.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

David Neeleman has founded five commercial airlines: Morris Air, WestJet, JetBlue Airways, Azul Brazilian Airlines, and Breeze Airways. In 2000, David founded JetBlue Airways, growing the start-up airline into a Fortune 500 US company, with a market cap (at the time of this recording) of over $5 billion. In 2008, David founded an airline called Azul, which has grown to become one of the largest airlines in Brazil. In 2020, David founded a new domestic US airline called Breeze Airways. David has been called the most prolific and successful aviation entrepreneur in the world.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Kevin Taweel is CEO of Asurion. Since co-founding Asurion in 1994, the company has grown from a small 40 person operation to become the leading global provider of technology protection products with over 20,000 employees and 300 million customers worldwide, partnering with many of the world's top companies and brands. Kevin earned an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, and he holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University.The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by Peterson Partners. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this production are necessarily speculative in nature, are based upon certain assumptions, and subject to change without notice. It can be expected that some or all of such assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. This production is not an offer to buy or sell any investments. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Entrepreneurs are wired differently. They are change-makers. Running Stuff, a Peterson Partners Podcast, uncovers the real story of what it's like in the trenches to run and scale a business.Running Stuff combines the wisdom and success of Consulting Stanford University Professor and former JetBlue Airways chairman, Joel Peterson, with some of today's brightest entrepreneurs to provide insight on how to make stuff run.Join us for our premiere season where we discuss topics every entrepreneur should know but might not know where to get the best information including, how to start from scratch, how to go to market, how to hire the right people and how to develop a differentiated brand.