The Takeoff Podcast

We got another behavioral health interview here where I speak to Jack Swain, Head of Clinical Operations for Mindbloom. Mindbloom's mission is to transform lives to transform the world, and it does so by helping people reach their full potential through science-backed, clinician-prescribed ketamine therapy for anxiety and depression. Mindbloom's fully-guided virtual treatment makes it an affordable, accessible, and convenient solution for the millions in the U.S. who seek continued growth in all areas of their lives. Prior to Mindbloom, Jack led strategy and operations projects for the nation's largest health systems as a Manager at The Chartis Group. He formerly worked in technology consulting at Accenture and received his MBA from Dartmouth's Tuck School Business. As Mindbloom's first employee, Jack worked side-by-side with their Medical Director to develop clinical protocols, launch in-person and telemedicine care models, and build an exceptional team of psychedelic medicine providers. I'm thrilled to release this interview as it is one of my personal favorites. Not only is Mindbloom's mission one to admire, but also their culture follows that mission in a way that makes them destined for long-term success. Mindbloom's Website: https://www.mindbloom.com/ Video about Mindbloom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISnJVzZj0A4 What we chat about… What a typical Ketamine session at Mindbloom looks like. How Mindbloom tracks outcomes in its therapy. Mindbloom's newest outcomes study which is tracking hundreds of patients Building a company with your best friend The benefits of remote work What kind of people this industry needs - Lukas (@lukassteinbock)

Today, I'm excited to release an interview with Robert Bent, co-founder and CEO of Inward Breathwork. Before Inward, Robert was the founder of two tech companies in Roamly and INVI Energy and an employee at Ethereum. Based in Toronto, Robert has a sauna and cold bath in his backyard/garage creating a growing community that replaces drugs and alcohol with healthy connections. As this commnuity came to a halt during COVID-19, Robbie turned to an online platform providing breathwork classes. In this episode, we chat about: Robert's prior experience founding companies and at Ethereum Robert's prior experience with drug addiction How to be motivated by your intrinsic value of success What is Inward Breathwork? What is a dark retreat?

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of chatting with Seth Winterroth, Partner at Eclipse VC. Seth and I met just over a year ago now when he came to WashU and Anton Salem and I tracked him down to get drinks after the career fair. Ever since that day his story and words of wisdom have stuck with me and I hope they do the same for you in this interview. Seth Winterroth attended Claremont McKenna, and after a year of traveling post-grad got started at GE, then GE Ventures, and later Eclipse, where he has made various deals in hardware and robotics. In this episode, we chat about: -Seth's fascinating story -Pursuing your passions -How to optimize time with mentors -Importance of mental health

Hey everyone! Welcome back for a new Edition of The Takeoff Podcast. Today's episode is with Barak Kaufman, co-founder & CEO of Intello, a SaaS management startup that he co-founded in 2017 and recently sold to identity security leader SailPoint ($5b market cap). If you want to learn more about the SaaS management space as a whole, check out my deep dive from earlier this year. Before starting Intello, Barak was an Investor at leading growth equity / VC firm Insight Partners. He earned his undergraduate degree from Michigan Ross. I hope you enjoy the episode! Reach out if you have any questions. - Michael (@mspiro3) Follow The Takeoff: https://thetakeoff.co/ https://thetakeoff.substack.com/ https://twitter.com/_TheTakeoff Michael: https://twitter.com/mspiro3

Follow The Takeoff: https://thetakeoff.substack.com/ https://twitter.com/_TheTakeoff Michael: https://twitter.com/mspiro3 Sara Mauskopf (@sm) is co-founder & CEO of Winnie, the leading marketplace for child care. To date, Winnie has raised over $15M from investors including Rethink Impact, Reach Capital, Afore Capital, Homebrew, and Ludlow Ventures, among others. Prior to founding Winnie, Sara was Director of Product at Postmates. Before that, she spent a number of years at Google, YouTube, and Twitter. In this episode, you will learn about: What Winnie is and the company's mission. How Winnie approaches content moderation on its platform. PM v. CEO. Hiring great talent. Advice for aspiring female founders and why female founders often have more sustainable businesses. Joining a big company v. a small company. The importance of relationships. Advice for aspiring founders If you want to learn more about Winnie, head over to https://winnie.com/ and follow their journey on Twitter @winnie. Likewise, you can find Sara on Twitter @sm. Be sure to head over to https://thetakeoff.substack.com/ and subscribe with your email to have all future content sent directly to your inbox. That's all from me. I hope you enjoy the episode! - Michael (@mspiro3) Follow The Takeoff: https://thetakeoff.substack.com/ https://twitter.com/_TheTakeoff Michael: https://twitter.com/mspiro3

Hey everyone, Michael here

Follow The Takeoff: https://thetakeoff.substack.com/ https://twitter.com/_TheTakeoff Welcome back for a new episode of The Takeoff Podcast! This is our first-ever podcast collab. Who'd we collab with? The Seed -- The Startup Journey, a podcast hosted by fellow WashU undergrad Rick Liu. Let's get into the episode itself… Today's episode is with WashU alum, billionaire philanthropist, and author of The Innovation Stack, Jim McKelvey. Jim is best known for being the co-founder of Square, which he co-founded with Jack Dorsey in 2009. Moderator: Roshan and Rick (The Seed) In today's episode, Roshan, Rick (The Seed), and Jim discuss: How Square survived against Amazon (quick note: if you're a truly innovative company, Jim suggests it may actually make sense to “ignore your competition”) What it means to be an entrepreneur, versus a businessperson Jim's new book, The Innovation Stack The most important skills for founders Jim's passion for Glassblowing And, much more. This was an incredibly special episode for us given Jim's connection to WashU. We hope you enjoy the listen and, as always, be sure to follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our Substack newsletter to have all future content sent directly to your inbox. Items mentioned in today's episode: Jim's book, The Innovation Stack Rick's podcast, The Seed -- The Startup Journey Square Amazon Jim's favorite book: Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S.

Eric Glyman (@eglyman) is Co-Founder & CEO at Ramp, the spend management platform and corporate card that helps businesses automate accounting and lower costs. Ramp has raised over $55M in funding to date from notable investors including D1 Capital, Coatue, and Founders Fund. Prior to founding Ramp, Eric was Co-Founder & CEO at Paribus. With Paribus, Eric went through Y Combinator and later sold the business to Capital One. In the episode, Eric joins The Takeoff's Michael Spiro to discuss: What Ramp is and how it differentiates from other corporate cards, particularly why it wouldn't make sense for traditional corporate cards to incentivize customers to spend less. His experience building Paribus, going through YC, and selling the business. The importance of listening to customers and being customer-centric. The future of Silicon Valley. Want to get involved with Ramp? Check out their Careers page here. Items mentioned in the episode: Packy McCormick's Not Boring post on Ramp: https://notboring.substack.com/p/ramp-the-card-sized-finance-team Wooden on Leadership Xixa If you dig what we're doing with The Takeoff, go ahead and subscribe to our Substack https://thetakeoff.substack.com/ and follow us on Twitter @_TheTakeoff. We're a student-run podcast & newsletter working to become the go-to spot for students and young professionals looking to learn more about startups, tech, venture capital, and more. Here's a bit of our recent stuff: What We've Been Following (Jan 2) Job van der Voort (Remote) Joshua Rahn (Oceans) Hunter Walk (Homebrew)

Job van der Voort (@jobvo) is the founder and CEO of Remote, the global HR solution for distributed teams, helping businesses manage international payroll, benefits, taxes, and compliance. Remote recently raised a $35M Series A led by Index Ventures, with participation from Sequoia, Aaron Levie (Box), Zach Weinberg (Operator Partners), and Kevin and Julia Hartz (Eventbrite). Two Sigma Ventures, General Catalyst, and Liquid2 are also early investors in the company. In today's episode, Job joins Michael Spiro to discuss: What exactly Remote is and the business's mission. The future of distributed teams and remote work. What growth has looked like at Remote, and how COVID has impacted the business. How Job has implemented GitLab's idea of Transparency at Remote. How Remote differentiates from competition, and how the business can maintain this differentiation over time. What it was like raising capital amidst COVID. Advice he has for aspiring founders. The future of Silicon Valley as distributed workforces grow. His podcast hoarding nature (& his favorite podcasts). Item's mentioned in the episode: Remote Work Podcast (Job's old podcast) Remote Talks Podcast Job's favorite podcasts: Reply All, FiveThirtyEight Politics, Accidental Tech Podcast, 99% Invisible The last business book Job read: The Toyota Way Book recommendation: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat As always, you can find The Takeoff and Michael on Twitter! And, be sure to subscribe to our Susbtack: thetakeoff.substack.com.

Joshua Rahn is Co-founder & Managing Partner at Oceans, a new, NYC-based early-stage venture fund working to help build the next trillion-dollar businesses. Oceans recently announced the close of Fund I, an $11M fund designed to make this mission a reality. Early investments include Famer, Mealco, Uppercampus, Teal, and Tembo Health, among others. Prior to founding Oceans, Josh spent 9 years at Facebook, where he helped grow their NYC office. Josh also had two successful exits as a founder before joining Facebook. He is a WashU alum! In the episode, Josh joins The Takeoff's Michael Spiro to discuss: His new venture firm Oceans and the firm's mission Oceans' focus areas How Oceans differentiates from other VCs What is was like raising Fund I during COVID Why $11m for Fund I made sense, and why Josh and the other partners' friends, peers, and former coworkers thought they were crazy for launching an $11M fund: “Raise a $200M fund.” Finding product-market fit as a fund How to get more recent grads to join startups or start companies of their own & much more. Quick note from Michael: I had a ton of fun having a WashU alum in Josh on the Podcast. I can't wait to see what's ahead for him and Oceans. As a native New Yorker, I love the fund's New York focus, and Josh's passion for helping current students (particularly at WashU) means so much to me. You can find Oceans by visiting oceans.ventures. And, if you want to get involved with one of their many incredible portfolio companies, you can check out oceans.ventures/jobs. I had so much fun recording this episode and hope you enjoyed the listen. You can find me on Twitter @mspiro3, The Takeoff on Twitter @_TheTakeoff, and be sure to subscribe to our Substack newsletter at thetakeoff.substack.com so as to not miss a beat with any of our new content. Recent Podcast Releases: Hunter Walk (Homebrew) Sam Corcos (Levels) Ryan Kohlman (TriviaHub) Sam Altman (OpenAI)

Hunter Walk (@hunterwalk) is Co-founder & Partner at Homebrew, a seed-stage venture firm he founded in 2013 with Satya Patel. Homebrew has invested in the likes of Plaid, Gusto, Chime, Bowery Farming, Stir, Finix Payments, Honor, Lumi, Tia, theSkimm, Winnie, and many more (see full portfolio). Prior to founding Homebrew, Hunter led consumer product management at YouTube, spent time on the product and marketing team at Linden Lab, and worked in management consulting at Deloitte. In this episode, Hunter and The Takeoff's Michael Spiro discuss: Founding Homebrew with Satya Patel How Homebrew adds value to portfolio founders Changes to the seed investing landscape since Homebrew started in 2013 Optimizing for processes and learning early on, not just hitting milestones Consulting at Deloitte out of school Why you should focus on learning early in your career Advice for aspiring VCs & more You can find Hunter's blog at https://hunterwalk.com/about/. He's on Twitter @hunterwalk (I highly recommend following him if you aren't already!). If you dig what we're doing with The Takeoff, go ahead and subscribe to our newsletter https://thetakeoff.substack.com/ and follow us on Twitter @_TheTakeoff. We're a student-run podcast & newsletter hoping to become the go-to spot for students and young professionals looking to learn more about startups, tech, venture capital, and more. Items reference in the episode: Mark Suster's blog post (Upfront Ventures): https://bothsidesofthetable.com/is-it-time-for-you-to-earn-or-to-learn-34270acd2f4 Influence by Robert Cialdini: https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Robert-Cialdini/dp/006124189X (Apologies for the suboptimal audio in the first few minutes of the episode. I was recording out of my college apartment and a bunch of background noises popped up. We did our best to get rid of them all, but, unfortunately, we're not audio engineers)

Thanks to Eric Cohen, an early investor in Levels, I (Lukas Steinbock) had the chance to speak to Sam Corcos, their CEO and Founder. Levels helps thousands of people stay healthy by tracking their glucose levels through its biowearable CGM metabolic sensor. Levels recently raised a $12M seed round led by Andressen Horowitz (read more about the round on TechCrunch). Sam is also the founder of three previous companies, including Cardash, which went through Y Combinator in 2017. He shares plenty of wisdom with us in this episode, including: Key takeaways from his past experiences as an entrepreneur The origin of Levels How research has helped Levels The most recent funding round Advice to the younger generation How to destress (don't consume news?!) If you enjoy the episode, be sure to find us on Twitter @_TheTakeoff and to subscribe to our Substack (https://thetakeoff.substack.com/) to be notified when we release new interviews and to have all future content sent directly to your inbox. What is The Takeoff: We're a student-run podcast & newsletter hoping to become the go-to spot for students and young professionals looking to learn more about startups, tech, venture capital, and more. Follow along and learn by subscribing to our newsletter: https://thetakeoff.substack.com/ Relevant past interviews: Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI) (podcast) Henrique Dubugras (Founder & Co-CEO of Brex) (newsletter) Anu Hariharan (Partner at Y Combinator's Continuity Fund) (newsletter) Saam Motamedi (GP at Greylock) (newsletter) Russell Glass (CEO of Ginger) (podcast) Jeff Morris Jr. (Founder & Managing Partner at Chapter One) (newsletter)

Ryan Kohlman is Founder & CEO at TriviaHub, the digital events company helping businesses build culture and increase employee engagement through virtual trivia events and experiences. Prior to founding TriviaHub, Ryan was Direct of Product at Ascend Learning, a PE-owned online learning platform (acquired by Blackstone in 2017). Before that, Ryan spent some time in various consulting roles throughout the Midwest. TriviaHub is headquartered in Minneapolis. In this episode, Ryan and The Takeoff's Michael Spiro talk about: - What Ryan is building with TriviaHub - What TriviaHub's growth has been like to date - How being HQ'd in Minneapolis has impacted the business's ability to raise capital and hire top talent - How Ryan's experiences before TriviaHub make him well-prepared for his new journey - Advice for students interested in starting their own companies - Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs who may not have the most traditional tech founder & CEO background - & much more. You can find a written version of the conversation on our Substack (https://thetakeoff.substack.com/), and be sure to find us on Twitter @_TheTakeoff. Relevant past interviews: - Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI) (podcast) - Henrique Dubugras (Founder & Co-CEO of Brex) (newsletter) - Anu Hariharan (Partner at Y Combinator's Continuity Fund) (newsletter) - Saam Motamedi (GP at Greylock) (newsletter) - Russell Glass (CEO of Ginger) (podcast) - Jeff Morris Jr. (Founder & Managing Partner at Chapter One) (newsletter) Huge thanks to our former interview guest Andrew Oved (Reformation Partners) for the intro! PXA03dt1bntax8DrbBdd

Sam Altman is the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI. Prior to joining OpenAI as CEO, Sam was the president of Y Combinator, the world's leading startup accelerator, having helped launch companies such as Stripe, Airbnb, DoorDash, Twitch, Reddit, Brex, and Dropbox. Before joining Y Combinator, Sam founded Loopt (a location-based social networking app) while at Stanford in 2005. He later sold Loopt for $43.4M. (Sam's blog) In this episode, Sam joins The Takeoff's Michael Spiro to discuss: His experience founding Loopt while at Stanford His experience running Y Combinator What he is building with OpenAI The benefits of founding / joining a high-growth startup early in your career Why long-term thinking is critical The importance of “getting good at sales” How to know which projects to pursue further His favorite food dish in St. Louis Why poker is a great way to learn certain business / psychological skills This is Michael's first podcast episode for The Takeoff. You can find a written version of the conversation on our Substack (https://thetakeoff.substack.com/p/samaltman). We decided to put together this podcast after getting tons of great reactions to the written version of the conversation. Be sure to find us on Twitter @_TheTakeoff and to subscribe to our newsletter (https://thetakeoff.substack.com/) to have all future interviews and other content sent directly to your inbox. We'd love your feedback. This is only our fifth podcast episode, so we know there are lots of ways we can improve :) Relevant past interviews: - Henrique Dubugras (Founder & Co-CEO of Brex) (newsletter) - Anu Hariharan (Partner at Y Combinator's Continuity Fund) (newsletter) - Saam Motamedi (GP at Greylock) (newsletter) - Russell Glass (CEO of Ginger) (podcast) - Jeff Morris Jr. (Founder & Managing Partner at Chapter One) (newsletter)

Thrilled to release the fourth episode of The Takeoff's Telehealth Podcast, where I interview Justin Holland, CEO and Co-Founder of HealthJoy. After founding two companies, one being acquired by Rakuten Inc., Justin founded HealthJoy, which has funding from firms like Health Velocity Capital and U.S. Venture Partners (USVP). Special thanks to Saurabh Bhansali for the intro and I hope you enjoy! Topics include: Lessons from a serial entrepreneur, the current go-to-market landscape, selling to HR and HR selling to employees, HR's relationship with benefits consultants, effects of COVID-19 on Telehealth companies, pro's and con's of selling to employers and payers, how to prevent burnout. Check out previous episodes: Episode 1 w/ Russell Glass, Episode 2 w/ Guy Friedman, Episode 3 w/ Saurabh Bhansali

Welcome to the third episode of The Takeoff's telehealth podcast with Saurabh Bhansali, Partner at Health Velocity Capital (a leading healthcare-focused venture and growth equity firm). Saurabh currently sits on the Board of Directors at HealthJoy, Zipari, and Jvion. He is a Board Observer at Ginger. Special thanks to our first podcast guest, Russ Glass, who made the intro to Saurabh and our second guest, Guy Friedman, for encouraging me to make more intro requests. I had an amazing time talking to an investor in this episode (Russ and Guy are both operators), which gave a refreshing perspective. You can find the interviews with Russ and Guy, here: Russ (Spotify, Apple Podcasts), Guy (Spotify, Apple Podcasts) We hope you enjoy the episode :)

In the second episode of The Takeoff's telehealth Podcast series, I interview Guy Friedman, Co-founder and CEO of SteadyMD. Before founding the primary care focussed Telehealth company that is SteadyMD, Guy founded HigherNext, which was acquired by ProctorU in 2014. Guy now lives and works out of St. Louis, where he came and spoke in one of my classes at Washington University in St. Louis last year. His passion for helping students and energizing entrepreneurial spirit spoke to me, and I hope he does the same for you. We hope you enjoy the podcast :) Guest Profile: Interview Guest: Guy Friedman (Twitter: @guyfriedman) Role: Co-founder & CEO at SteadyMD What is SteadyMD?: SteadyMD is a technology and healthcare company that helps members find long-term relationships with doctors online. Previous: Prior to founding SteadyMD, Guy founded an online test platform, HigherNext, which was acquired by ProctorU in early 2014. Moderator: Lukas Steinbock (@lukassteinbock)

Welcome to The Takeoff Podcast! In this Podcast series, focused on telehealth, I (Lukas Steinbock) will be detailing the rise and challenges of telehealth with our insightful guests. Our first guest, Russell Glass (@glassruss), is the CEO of Ginger, an on-demand mental health company backed by Bessemer, Khosla Ventures, Health Velocity Capital, and Kaiser Permanente Ventures, among others. Prior to joining Ginger as CEO, Russ was the Founder & CEO at Bizo, a B2B audience marketing and data platform. Bizo was acquired by LinkedIn in 2014 (Russ then joined the LinkedIn team as VP of Products). In this episode of our telehealth Podcast series, we discuss the market imbalance that exists within the space, go-to-market strategies for healthcare companies, the surge in growth that telehealth companies have seen due to COVID-19, career advice for students, and more. We are super excited to officially launch our first podcast episode! This is the first episode in our telehealth series, and we look forward to releasing additional episodes in the coming weeks. Subscribe to The Takeoff at thetakeoff.substack.com to receive all future content (newsletters, podcasts, etc.) sent directly to your inbox. You can also find us on Twitter @_TheTakeoff.

What is The Takeoff Podcast? In this trailer episode, Michael Spiro, Lukas Steinbock, and Roshan Chanda (undergrads at WashU and founders at The Takeoff) discuss The Takeoff, why they are launching The Takeoff Podcast, and more. Background on The Takeoff: The Takeoff's goal is to inspire the next generation of startup and technology leaders. We do so through long-form interviews with leading founders, operators, and investors (Domm @ Fast, JMJ @ Chapter One, Ashley Brasier @ Lightspeed -- to name a few), curated content, cool projects, and more. Check out our Substack newsletter, here: https://thetakeoff.substack.com/ (If you like our podcast interviews, you'll definitely want to subscribe to the newsletter, too) We have a lot in store and are super excited to launch the Podcast! Note: The Takeoff Podcast is currently being run as an experiment. We want to see how our followers / listeners reach to our early episodes before deciding whether or not to continue the Podcast moving forward. With that said, if you have any feedback, shoot us a DM on Twitter @_TheTakeoff.