What Fuels You

Yoko Miyashita is the CEO of Leafly, the go-to platform for cannabis education, discovery, and community. Yoko joined Leafly in 2019 as general counsel and stepped into the CEO role the following year, right in the middle of the pandemic and a major turning point for the industry. Born in Japan and raised in the US, Yoko spent much of her childhood translating for immigrant parents, an experience that gave her an early understanding of voice, access, and responsibility. That thread has carried through her career from practicing law to leading through change. Before Leafly, Yoko spent over a decade at Getty Images as SVP and general counsel, guiding the company through the global legal strategy during a time of massive digital transformation. She's a UC Berkeley and UW law school grad. At Leafly, Yoko is helping shape what the future of cannabis can look like, centered around trust, education, and community. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Sam Heidari is the CEO of Lumotive, a groundbreaking semiconductor manufacturer based in Redmond, WA. Sam holds a PhD in electrical engineering from USC and previously served as CEO of Quantenna, where he led the company through a public offering and $1 billion acquisition by ON Semiconductor. At Lumotive, Sam is leading a team that's building award-winning programmable optical semiconductors that improve perception, increase computing power, and enable reliable high-speed communication in various industries. The Light Control Metasurface™ (LCM) is a patented, software-defined photonic beamforming solid-state technology. As the first of its kind, it meets essential needs in various sectors, including 3D sensing and AI computing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emily Long is the co-founder and CEO of Edera, the pioneer of strong workload isolation technology for cloud and AI infrastructure. She places the highest value on people and bringing diverse teams together to build something that is greater than the sum of its parts. Emily is a tactical and strategic leader who’s proven in scaling operations, fostering strong company cultures, and driving strategic execution. She’s also an unapologetic people person who believes in the capacity of humor and human connection to motivate and empower team members to achieve more. Prior to Edera, she was the COO at Chainguard, where she built, scaled, and led core business functions that helped lead the company to its Series C and Unicorn status. Emily also served as Chief Operating & People Officer at Anchore, where she oversaw business operations and sales and spearheaded its DEI initiatives. She’s also held strategic operations roles at LogicMonitor and KPMG. Emily is based in Santa Barbara, California and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Howard Behar's career in business spans over 50 years, all in consumer-oriented businesses covering several industries. He retired from Starbucks Coffee after 21 years where he led both the domestic business, as President of North America, and was the founding President of Starbucks International. During his tenure, he participated in the growth of the company from 28 stores to over 15,000 spanning five continents. He served on the Starbucks Board of Directors for 12 years before retiring. Howard is currently a Trustee for the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation and is on the advisory board of Anthos Capital. He is committed to the development and education of our future leaders and has been a longtime advocate of the Servant Leadership Model. He has also authored two books on leadership titled It's Not About the Coffee and The Magic Cup.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Elizabeth Wako is president and CEO of Swedish Health Services, where she oversees an organization with more than 1,500 licensed patient beds, 48,000 annual inpatient admissions and $3.4 billion in revenue. Dr. Wako has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare field. Before stepping into her current role, she worked as a registered nurse in behavioral health and held several key executive positions at Swedish. She received her medical degree from the University of Utah and returned to the University of Washington to complete a medical residency in anesthesia, a fellowship in perioperative medicine, and finally, her MBA. Dr. Wako lives in Seattle with her husband and four children. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kristen Hamilton is a three-time technology entrepreneur and CEO with multiple exits, a board director of late-stage startups, and a professional CEO Advisor. She is a General Partner at Enjoy The Work, where she teaches founders to become great CEOs. She co-founded the predictive hiring software leader Koru, and was CEO until it was acquired by UK-based Capfinity in 2019. Kristen grew up near Montreal, and currently splits her time between Seattle and Whistler. She is a mom to two university-aged daughters and a golden retriever, and has deep passion for skiing, biking, rowing, and spending time outdoors in the mountains.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jim Weber is a Director, Advisor, serial CEO, Author, and Speaker. Jim joined Brooks Running Company's Board of Directors in 1999 and was named CEO in 2001. He stepped down in 2024 after 23 years in the position, during which time he is credited for the Seattle-based running company's aggressive turnaround story.  In 2022, Jim wrote a challenger brand, leadership memoir called “Running with Purpose: How Brooks Outpaced Goliath Competitors to Lead the Pack.”, with inspirational stories and tangible takeaways for current and aspiring leaders, entrepreneurs, and runners. He currently serves as a member of the board of advisors at his alma mater, the University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sujal Patel is Founder and CEO of Nautilus Biotechnology, a life sciences company creating a large-scale, single-molecule platform for quantifying and unlocking the complexity of the human proteome, with the goal of enabling fundamental advancements across human health and medicine.   With nearly 20 years of executive leadership experience driving innovation for high-growth companies, Sujal is a successful entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist who founded and served as CEO of Isilon Systems, an enterprise data storage company. After completing one of the most successful initial public offerings of 2006, Isilon was acquired by EMC in 2010 for $2.6 billion. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Oren Etzioni is the founder of TrueMedia.org, a free-use product that allows critical election audiences from around the world to quickly and effectively detect deepfakes. He was the Founding Chief Executive Officer at the Allen Institute for AI (AI2), having served as CEO from its inception in 2013 until late 2022. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington where he helped to pioneer meta-search, online comparison shopping, machine reading, and open information extraction. He has also authored several award-winning technical papers, and founded and sold many companies. In addition to his role at TrueMedia.org, he is currently a technical director of the AI2 Incubator and a Venture Partner at Madrona.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marc Rousso is the CEO of JayMarc Homes, a national award-winning home builder specializing in new custom homes in the Greater Seattle area. Marc founded JayMarc Homes along with childhood friend Jay Mezistrano in 2010, and together they've created a company culture that's entrepreneurial, inclusive, and respectful. Marc has degrees from the University of Washington and the Sloan School of Management's Executive Entrepreneurship Program at MIT. When not conversing with contractors, sharing ideas with real estate professionals, and talking to JayMarc homeowners past, present, and future, Marc balances his work life with a wonderful family: his wife, Leslie, and their two beautiful children, Lee and Siena.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a condensed version of Shauna Swerland's 2020 interview with Kate Wallich, the Founder and CEO of Dance Church. Kate's desire to study and practice dance led her to people and places she never thought possible while growing up in Michigan. When this pursuit took her to Seattle, she learned how sharing the power of dance can forge meaningful connections and inspire others. In this recap episode, Kate emphasizes the power of expressing yourself and how movement can promote healing and create positive communities. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a condensed version of Shauna Swerland's 2019 interview with Sue Suh, then Chief People Officer at Time. Before working at Time, Sue's career took her around the world on campaigns for international cooperation and change at the U.S. Departments of Defense, State, and the Rockefeller Foundation. In this recap episode, Sue shares great advice for younger people with stories from her college and early career days. She also emphasizes the power of gratitude and human connections in her professional and personal lives and how daily choices add up to big opportunities.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a condensed version of Shauna Swerland's 2019 conversation with Jeremy Lott, President of SanMar. SanMar gave Jeremy his first job, modeling on the cover of the company's first catalog at the age of two. Since then, he's learned the family business inside and out, from pulling orders to purchasing. Now as president, he focuses on creating a culture of opportunity and sustainability at SanMar and in their factories and offices around the world. To learn more about SanMar, visit www.sanmar.com. In this recap episode, Jeremy discusses SanMar's philosophy that products should make positive impacts and how family values lead to success.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a condensed version of Shauna Swerland's 2019 interview with Dan Levitan, the co-founder of the venture capital firm Maveron.  Dan started the firm with Howard Schultz in 1998 after helping the Starbucks team accomplish its IPO. Under Dan's guidance, Maveron focused on “creating a cauldron of consumer passion” by forming partnerships with non-normal entrepreneurs. These partnerships have included brands like Allbirds, Ebay, Lovevery, and Zulily. To learn more about Maveron and the team behind their consumer-focused culture, visit maveron.com. In this recap episode, Dan explains the importance of investing in consumers and relationships, the significance of seeing the opportunity, and how to elevate your aspirations.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this condensed version of Shauna Swerland's conversation with Chad Robins from 2019, you'll hear the origin story of Adaptive Biotechnologies, the corporate culture Chad is building there, and what Chad sees as the most important tasks of a CEO.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emily Pesce is CEO of Joon, whose mission is to make mental healthcare and well-being broadly accessible and effective for 13-24 year olds. Emily has over twenty years of experience across healthcare, e-commerce, grocery, supply chain, technology, mobile, and cloud computing. She has led product, marketing, design, technology, forecasting and replenishment teams, among others. Her primary operating experiences were at Amazon (AmazonFresh, Kindle, Gaming, AWS) and Nerdy (Product). Emily has also been an investor, providing early stage capital, sometimes the first money in, to over 30 companies (Working Lab Capital, Pesce Family Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kellan Carter is a founding partner of Bellevue-based FUSE where he focuses on early-stage investments in intelligent software in both horizontal and vertical categories. He currently sits on several Boards, including Zuper and Pictory. Previously, Kellan spent seven years at Ignition Partners, a leading early-stage venture capital firm, and two years in investment banking at Mooreland Partners in San Francisco. Kellan also currently sits on the Board of the Bellevue Boys and Girls Club.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode, we're sharing some of the most insightful clips from past interviews. You'll hear from Jane Park, Matt Oppenheimer, Dan Shapiro, Robi Ganguly, and Sue Suh. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Powers is the Founder and President of Alliance Partition Systems, with over 20 years of experience in the industry. He has done everything from scrapping at Safeco Field as a 1st bracket apprentice, to successfully bidding and managing multi-million dollar projects as an estimator/project manager, to President of one of the largest drywall companies in the state. He has three children: two teenage girls and a tween boy, who he enjoys spending time with, as well as traveling. His goal is to keep APS rated as the best place to work in the industry, and as a side effect grow to be the largest drywaller in Washington and Oregon. Mike Powers founded this company in September, 2007.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anoop Gupta is the CEO and Co-Founder of SeekOut, an AI-powered Talent Intelligence Platform helping organizations recruit, retain, and grow talent. Anoop started SeekOut after an 18-year career at Microsoft. During his tenure, Anoop was the Corporate Vice-President of the multibillion-dollar Unified Communications Group (Skype + Exchange). He was TA to Bill Gates, advising on technology and product strategy, and as a Distinguished Scientist at MSR, he led work on AI, Natural User Interfaces, and Telepresence. Prior to Microsoft, Anoop was a tenured professor at Stanford University and he holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Christie Lagally is the founder and CEO of Rebellyous Foods, a food production technology company working to make plant-based meat price-competitive with animal-based meat. Lagally began her career in the aerospace industry working on testing, designing, and manufacturing commercial airplanes at Boeing. Now at Rebellyous, she focuses on designing novel manufacturing equipment that addresses the two most significant obstacles facing the plant-based meat industry: cost and quality at scale.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nicole Schmidt has worked in the construction industry for 18+ years, starting as a designer for large and small hospitality and housing projects around the country before spending the second half of her pre-Source career at a variety of manufacturers in sales and business development. After teaching herself enough code to launch Source on her own, Nicole has become passionate about the ways in which technology can serve the construction industry and cognizant of the places that complicated projects will always need a human touch.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Varun Puri is the co-founder of Yoodli, an AI powered communication coach. Yoodli helps you ace your next presentation or interview by providing private and judgment-free analytics on your filler words, body language, content and more. Yoodli (www.yoodli.ai) is being rolled out to 300k+ Toastmasters members globally, has raised $7M+ in funding, and been featured across media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and Inc. Before Yoodli, Varun led Africa Operations for a GoogleX initiative that used invisible lasers to bring the internet to unconnected areas. He also ran special projects for Sergey Brin, one of Google's founders. Varun is a TEDx speaker, part of Forbes 30 under 30, was voted the Best Young Entrepreneur in the Pacific Northwest, and gave the commencement speech at Claremont McKenna College, his alma mater.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spencer Rascoff is an entrepreneur and tech executive who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso, Recon Food, Queue, and heyLibby, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. Spencer is an active angel investor and is starting new companies through his Los Angeles venture capital firm and startup studio, 75 & Sunny. He is also on the Board of Directors of Varo Bank. In the spring of 2022, Spencer was a Visiting Professor, where he taught Harvard College's first-ever startup class, "Startups from Ideation to Exit," in the fall of 2019, he co-created and co-taught the Harvard Business School course, "Managing Tech Ventures. Spencer hosts "Office Hours," a podcast featuring candid conversations between prominent executives on leadership, diversity and inclusion, and startups. Spencer graduated cum laude from Harvard University.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a repost of one of our most popular episodes of 2023. Happy holidays to you and your families. We look forward to bringing you new guests and conversations in 2024! -- Dr. Daniela Braga is the Founder and CEO of Defined.ai, one of the fastest-growing startups in the AI space. She has been the recipient of several awards, including the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Pacific Northwest 2020 Award, #27 Deloitte Fast 500 2020 (#1 in the Pacific Northwest region); #27 in Inc.5000 in 2020, and Goldman Sachs Most Intriguing 100 Entrepreneurs in 2021. She is a member of the World Economic Forum's Expert Network as a Tech Pioneer and AI Expert in WEF Davos 2022. She's also a YPO and a Chief member. Dr. Braga has raised over $80 million of Venture Capital, making her the woman founder in AI who has raised more capital in the world. Dr. Braga has been appointed to the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Resource Task Force, a 12-person body that advises the US president on the AI strategy of the United States. She is also an advisor to the President of Portugal.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to a short message from Shauna Swerland about wrapping up 2023 and plans for the podcast in 2024. Thanks for listening this year!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jon Staenberg has been an active venture capitalist for over 30 years, serving as a General Partner in three Funds managing over $250 million. As an angel investor, Jon has made over 250 investments. Currently, he is focused on building Agate Hound Fund, a fund for Search Funds. This asset class is relatively unknown but has shown exceptional performance over the past 40 years. Additionally, he spends his spare time working on his vineyard in Argentina, www.handofgodwines.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anna Gudmundson has been a senior tech business leader in the international high-growth scene for 15+ years. Her present-day focus is on transformational technologies which impact the world in a significant, positive way while also having strong commercial viability. As CEO of Sensate, a consumer stress-management technology company, she is tackling one of the biggest challenges of our time: stress and mental health. Apart from a passion for technology business, Anna has a huge curiosity for personal growth and the human potential - both in what she produces and how she leads. Anna leads Sensate to mobilize cutting-edge science and technology, informed by wisdom drawn from old traditions and practices, to bring greater calm and consciousness to our current, overstressed world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Krish Ramineni is the Co-Founder and CEO of Fireflies.ai, an AI meeting assistant that transcribes, summarizes, and analyzes meetings. Named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, Krish graduated from UPenn. He was one of the youngest Product Managers at Microsoft, leading projects in customer voice and growth. He has guest lectured at Stanford on machine learning and holds patents in workflow automation. Krish is a thought leader in SaaS/AI and an active startup advisor.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Raquel Barrett is a dynamic entrepreneur and leader known for her expertise in e-commerce, technology, and operations. As one of the co-founders of FUNBOY, a leading leisure and lifestyle brand, Raquel has played a pivotal role in shaping the brand's success. Driven by an innate passion for problem solving and a keen understanding of consumer behavior, Raquel has always been at the forefront of adopting new technology and e-commerce strategies. Before co-founding FUNBOY, she served as the Head of Marketing for a Seattle-based consumer tech startup. Beyond her professional achievements, Raquel is a mom to two young boys, balancing the demands of entrepreneurship with the joys of raising a family with her husband and fellow co-founder.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alessya Visnjic is the CEO of WhyLabs, the AI Observability company building tools that power robust and responsible AI deployment. Prior to WhyLabs, Alessya was a CTO-in-residence at the Allen Institute for AI, where she evaluated commercial potential for the latest AI research. Earlier, Alessya spent 9 years at Amazon leading ML initiatives, including forecasting and data science platforms. Alessya is also the founder of Rsqrd AI, a global community of 1,000+ AI practitioners who are committed to making enterprise AI technology responsible.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gaurav Oberoi is the CEO and co-founder of Lexion. He started his career as an engineer at Amazon, before moving on to found and sell two startups (BillMonk, and Precision Polling), and build a $20M+ ARR business from $0 as a VP of Product at SurveyMonkey. Gaurav co-founded Lexion as the first EIR at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. He thrives on building products that customers love, with diverse teams that enjoy working together.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Case brings nearly three decades of industry leadership in cloud services, software product management, marketing, partner sales, digital promotion, and brand development to his role as CEO of Acumatica. Before joining Acumatica, John served as president and CEO of Unify Square, a leading provider of operations and performance management software and cloud-managed services. He also spent 16 years at Microsoft in a variety of executive-level positions, including corporate vice president of Office and Office 365, where he spurred the digital transformation of Microsoft's most successful cloud business; and vice president of the worldwide OEM division in marketing and sales, where he jointly oversaw the global distribution and reseller channels for Microsoft.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Walter Berger currently serves as President and Co-CEO as well as a director of Kymeta Corporation. Under his leadership, the company successfully released its second-generation product and broadband service, improving performance through an integrated WAN device providing seamless satellite and cellular communications, accelerating Kymeta's global market penetration. Walter has served on several public boards including REG a renewal energy company and private boards including Sirius Computer Solutions, a national integrator of technology-based business solutions. He holds a BBA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hope Cochran is currently a Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group. Previously, she served as the CFO of King Digital, the creators of Candy Crush. At King, she not only led the company through an IPO and acquisition to Activision but also became a rockstar Candy Crush player. Prior to that she was the CFO of Clearwire through its sale to Sprint in 2013 and was the founder of her own company, SkillsVillage which she went on to sell to PeopleSoft. In 2013 Fortune named her to the top 10 Most Powerful Women in Gaming and in 2018 Women's Inc named her Most Influential Corporate Director. She is also on the boards of three public companies, Hasbro, MongoDB, and New Relic. Hope has a passion for the arts and holds a B.A. in Economics and a B.A. in Music/Opera from Stanford University.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Derek Streat is the Co-founder and CEO of DexCare, a data-driven intelligence company that makes healthcare access better for everyone. He is an accomplished healthcare technology entrepreneur and executive, having co-founded and/or led six venture-backed companies including three in health tech and four acquired by public companies. Prior to joining Providence as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence to commercialize DexCare, Derek served as Vice President of Digital Solutions at Johnson & Johnson after it acquired his surgical AI company, C-SATS. Derek is also actively involved in national healthcare data transparency efforts for the improvement of patient care as a Co-founder and Board member of two leading data-sharing organizations, PEDSnet, and the Improving Renal Outcomes Collaborative.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kris Engskov is the Co-Founder & CEO of Rippl, a venture-backed start-up redefining the next generation of mental health for seniors. Leveraging a value-based approach, disruptive technology, and a relentless focus on empowering its clinicians, Rippl is pioneering a new care model to dramatically expand access to high-quality, wrap-around mental and behavioral healthcare for seniors, their families, and caregivers. Most recently, Kris served as President of Aegis Living, one of the nation's leading innovators in providing assisted living, memory care, and wellness services to seniors. Prior to jumping into senior health, Kris spent over 16 years at Starbucks Coffee Company where he held multiple senior leadership roles including President of the company's flagship U.S. Retail division and earlier as President of Starbucks Europe, Middle East & Africa. Previously Kris worked for Madrona Venture Group, LLC, a Seattle-based venture-capital fund, and earlier in his career, he was in public service. From 1993 to 2000, Kris held several positions in the Clinton White House, including Assistant Press Secretary and Personal Aide to the President. He received his B.A. in Public Administration from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Welcome, Kris!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mo Afshar is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pipe17 - Bringing the power of modern enterprise software to the e-commerce marketplace. Previously, he was CEO of Spoken Communications which was acquired by Avaya and served in various positions at Oracle. Over his fourteen years at Oracle, he built and managed multi-billion-dollar businesses. Mo is an advisor to several venture and private equity firms. He was educated in the UK and attended Cambridge University for his Ph.D. in Computer Science. See omny.fm/listener for privacy information.

Grant Ries is the CEO of Deep Sync, a leading data and technology company in the marketing industry. Before Deep Sync, Grant was a member of the executive leadership team at Liveramp, where he continues serving as a strategic advisor. During his time at the company, he held several roles, including CEO of Liveramp B2B, as well as running the following businesses: Data, Marketplace, Advanced TV, and most recently as the Executive VP of Emerging Markets. Grant joined Liveramp through the acquisition of Pacific Data Partners, a B2B data and technology company he co-founded. Prior to Liveramp, Grant co-founded and served as a Board Member and Chief Revenue Officer of BlueKai. When Oracle acquired BlueKai in 2014, Grant co-launched the Oracle Data Cloud, a global business unit, and served as its Vice President. Grant currently serves on the board of directors of Mountain and Rembrand, is an active angel investor, and has provided advisory and operating support for his various investments in the technology sector over 20 years.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the What Fuels You Podcast, Shauna talks with T.A. McCann, managing director at Pioneer Square Labs, a startup studio and venture capital firm. They discuss T.A.'s background in sailing, winning the America's Cup, swimming, his successful career in startups, and his tips for staying healthy and productive. This episode covers topics such as entrepreneurship, validation of startup ideas, time management, and health and human performance.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Craig Unger is the Founder and CEO of Hyperproof, a security assurance and compliance operations platform transforming the way you manage and do the work. Craig is an expert in building technology businesses and teams. Prior to founding Hyperproof, Craig founded Azuqua and was a leader at Microsoft where he led the development of Microsoft Dynamics and Access. He has 30 years of experience building software used around the world. Craig loves technology and he is addicted to designing software that delights and disrupts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stephanie Sprangers is the Founder and CEO of Glamhive, the online personal styling service that brings expert personal stylists and makeup artists - recruited directly from Hollywood and Instagram - to everyone. Stephanie is a lifetime style-seeker and tech executive turned entrepreneur. With vast experience in the affiliate marketing and digital rewards space, she launched Glamhive as a place for the average consumer to share images of their outfits and get rewarded for the purchases they drive. Stephanie later expanded her vision to create a virtual styling platform that would democratize personal styling by creating a way for people to work with the influencers, stylists, and makeup artists that they admired in traditional and social media. Under Stephanie's leadership, Glamhive has developed patented technology that allows stylists and makeup artists to take clients through a styling experience that is 100% online which means people can work with stylists anywhere in the world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nicole Alvino is the Founder and CEO of Firstup, a leading enterprise SaaS company in workforce engagement and intelligence. She is a passionate entrepreneur making millions of global employees more supported and productive and enterprise customers – including 40 of the Fortune 100 – more agile with workforce intelligence. Previously, was the Founder and CEO of Dermalounge and started her career at Enron where she learned important lessons about how to lead authentically and transparently. She received her BA in Economics and Japanese at Vanderbilt University and attended Stanford University Graduate School of Business for her MBA. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dave Cole is the CEO and Co-Founder of Open Raven, a Kleiner Perkins-backed post-series B company focused on reimagining data security for the modern era. He also started the Security Voices podcast as a sponsorless show focused on highlighting the diverse people and perspectives in cybersecurity. Dave's fingerprints are visible across the cybersecurity industry from his 26 years of working as a leader in consulting (at Deloitte and ISS), enterprise products (at Foundstone, CrowdStrike, and Tenable), and consumer products (at Norton). Dave is a frequent spokesperson, making appearances on NBC, CNN, and elsewhere while speaking at industry events such as RSA, Black Hat, and B-Sides Las Vegas. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor and is a member of the board of UM School of Information and Inspectiv. Dave is an investor focused on helping to grow businesses in his hometown of Los Angeles where he lives with his wife and son. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katherine Sizov is the CEO and Co-Founder of Strella, a biosensing hardware and software company that provides data to optimize the produce supply chain and decrease losses due to food waste. She started the company when she read that 40% of food was wasted before being consumed. Now, Strella has helped Washington state apple and pear growers organize their inventory based on shelf life to reduce food waste and improve the overall quality. Katherine studied molecular biology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she further explored her passion for applied science and food.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Grin Lord is a clinical psychologist and AI empathy innovator. She is the founder/CEO of mpathic.ai - AI empathy at scale -  and of Therapists in Tech, a collaborative of 3k+ digital mental health experts who are defining the digital mental health revolution together. Grin was previously the Chief Clinical Officer of Lyssn.io, a Clinical Product Psychologist at Youper.ai, and a Research Scientist at the University of Washington where she studied the key ingredients in conversation that make therapy effective and promote change. Her areas of expertise include conversational design, using machine learning to augment human connection, evidence-based therapy, and empathy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Daniela Braga is the Founder and CEO of Defined.ai, one of the fastest-growing startups in the AI space. She has been the recipient of several awards, including the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Pacific Northwest 2020 Award, #27 Deloitte Fast 500 2020 (#1 in the Pacific Northwest region); #27 in Inc.5000 in 2020, and Goldman Sachs Most Intriguing 100 Entrepreneurs in 2021. She is a member of the World Economic Forum's Expert Network as a Tech Pioneer and AI Expert in WEF Davos 2022. She's also a YPO and a Chief member. Dr. Braga has raised over $80 million of Venture Capital, making her the woman founder in AI who has raised more capital in the world. Dr. Braga has been appointed to the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Resource Task Force, a 12-person body that advises the US president on the AI strategy of the United States. She is also an advisor to the President of Portugal.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John DeFeo is the President and CEO of Rapid NanoSensor, Inc and President of Venture Advisors, LLC. Previously, he served as the Chairman, President, and CEO of CoCo Communications. John is a seven-time CEO with more than 40 years of leadership experience in strategic planning, marketing and sales, customer care, six-sigma, lean manufacturing, and product & business development. His experience touches nearly every facet of telecommunications and medical device industries. He has extensive experience in complex capital financings, having raised more than $1.7 billion in private, venture, and public markets. John attended Temple University, where he received his BBA in Business Administration and AT in Electrical Engineering.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vishal Sunak is the Founder and CEO of LinkSquares, the company behind the fastest-growing AI-powered contracting platform for legal teams. LinkSquares is trusted by more than 800 legal teams at mid-to-large companies, including Commvault, Fitbit, and Wayfair, to move their businesses forward faster. Vishal was named to Boston Business Journal's 2022 40 Under 40 list, honoring the Boston area's young professionals who are achieving the most in their careers and giving back to the community. LinkSquares' rapid growth ranks #10 in Massachusetts and #379 overall on the 2022 Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing companies, landing a top spot for the second year in a row. The company also ranked #90 on the 2021 Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ awards, recognizing North America's most innovative, fastest-growing technology companies. Vishal has a B.S. in Engineering from Northeastern University and an M.S. from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Outside of LinkSquares, Vishal mentors local Boston-based startup founders, plays covers and the blues on his guitar and spends time adventuring with his wife and two young daughters.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Allison Arzeno is the CEO of Assurance, which helps people choose the best insurance products for themselves. As CEO, Allison leads the company's strategy to scale and drive growth while staying true to its original mission of building a better insurance solution for the mass market. Allison joined Assurance in 2017 as a chief data scientist, then became president in 2020 and CEO in 2021. She is passionate about using data science to help people address life's most important challenges and teaching others to find answers in data for themselves. It started with her work in operations research at MIT, where she earned her PhD studying how predictive modeling can help diabetes patients personalize care. She later applied this expertise as CEO of a health wearables startup focused on heart health and as a data science consultant at Sequoia Capital. Allison is the co-author of “The Analytics Edge,” a widely accredited business analytics textbook, as well as a former lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and MIT Sloan School of Management. In addition to receiving her PhD from MIT, Allison holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of California, Davis.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Allison Arzeno is the CEO of Assurance, which helps people choose the best insurance products for themselves. As CEO, Allison leads the company's strategy to scale and drive growth while staying true to its original mission of building a better insurance solution for the mass market. Allison joined Assurance in 2017 as a chief data scientist, then became president in 2020 and CEO in 2021. She is passionate about using data science to help people address life's most important challenges and teaching others to find answers in data for themselves. It started with her work in operations research at MIT, where she earned her PhD studying how predictive modeling can help diabetes patients personalize care. She later applied this expertise as CEO of a health wearables startup focused on heart health and as a data science consultant at Sequoia Capital. Allison is the co-author of “The Analytics Edge,” a widely accredited business analytics textbook, as well as a former lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and MIT Sloan School of Management. In addition to receiving her PhD from MIT, Allison holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of California, Davis.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.