Secrets of the Middle Market with Tony Lystra

An investigation into Leen Kawas' doctoral work led to her resignation last year as Athira's CEO. She didn't waste time finding her next adventure.

OctoML, which is backed by Madrona and Tiger Global, raised $113 million in 2021.

Kimberly Boler, Leafly's general counsel, is helping to guide the digital cannabis marketplace ahead of its upcoming IPO.

Grant, a former Zillow and Microsoft executive, has found her new home at the growing pay equity software startup Syndio as vice president of marketing.

For DreamBox Learning, which recently sold a majority interest in the company to Evergreen Coast Capital Corp., promoting meaningful work can attract top talent.

In acquiring Brickwork Software in May, DevHub tried to create a personal connection that is often missing in tech, according to DevHub CEO Mark Michael.

In this podcast episode, the Business Journal sits down with Dorothy Li, who took over the CTO role at Convoy in June.

Earlier this year, Seattle-based cybersecurity firm ExtraHop made headlines when the company was acquired by Bain Capital Private Equity and Crosspoint Capital Partners for $900 million. Despite the deal, which closed in July, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Jesse Rothstein told the Business Journal ExtraHop is still considering an IPO. ExtraHop offers network detection and response (NDR), which allows clients to police their networks for bad actors. Its customers include the Home Depot and Ulta Beauty. Rothstein and fellow co-founder Raja Mukerji, ExtraHop's chief customer officer, were both architects at F5 Networks before founding ExtraHop. In 2016, Rothstein relinquished his CEO role to Arif Kareem and stepped into his current CTO role. The Business Journal sat down with Rothstein to talk about the company's future, the cybersecurity landscape and the power of bedtime stories. 

Sari and Tony about how people are more likely to spend more on their kids and even their pets than themselves during times when budgets are tight, how Booginhead has rapidly gotten a new e-commerce and social media strategy up and running over the past ten months –– and what to do with a whole bunch of left over fabric in China during a pandemic.

Tony talks with Karl Moehring, the CEO of Washington Shoe Company, about what employees have needed during the pandemic, how the company managed to produce such strong sales results at such a difficult time and what it’s like to work with Amazon as a selling partner.

Gourmondo, which caters events and provides gourmet boxed lunches, looked to be headed into a record-setting year when the pandemic struck. Overnight, the company lost 80% of its revenues. Gourmondo CEO Alissa Leinonen had to think fast if she was going to save her company. What she did next is surprising, as it is ingenious. She turned Gourmondo, for now, into a nonprofit, partnering with area companies, food banks and other service organizations to serve those in need. In this episode, I talk with Leinonen about the past ten months, how she kept her company alive and how to stay steady in a crisis.

Tony talks with Flexe CEO Karl Siebrecht about his company's recent $70 million funding round. Flexe, a Seattle-based provider of on-demand warehouse space and fulfillment services, has seen a huge spike in demand for its services as shoppers increasingly buy online during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tony talks with Mark Mader, CEO of Bellevue-based Smartsheet, about what it takes to fundamentally change how work happens, especially during the Covid pandemic when so many are working remotely, and about leading a tech company through Covid.

Tony talks with F5 Networks and Tempered founder Jeff Hussey about leadership, the history of the tech behind both companies and why they matter more than ever during a pandemic.