Jorge Mazal is the Chief Product Officer for Duolingo. Duolingo is a free language-learning website and mobile app with over 500 million downloads, 40 million monthly active users, and a valuation of over $1 billion.
Jorge previously worked on the product for Zynga, MyFitnessPal, and Kleiner Perkins. Today he blends skills in design, gamification, and leadership to manage a product team that has 10xed in size since he joined the company.
In this episode, Jorge and Aaron discuss how Duolingo makes product decisions, the importance of interpersonal skills, and how Jorge’s background has prepared him to excel in this role.
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Jorge Mazal’s Challenge; Find some time to go help someone, with no expectation of anything in return.
If you liked this interview, check out our conversation with Jason Wolfe where we discuss tech products, leadership, and entrepreneurship.
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Marko Papic leads the strategy team at Clocktower Group, an alternative investments firm. Clocktower offers long-term strategic investment strategies to their clients, investment managers and institutional allocators.
Marko brings his constraints framework, outlined in his book Geopolitical Alpha, to analyzing the geopolitical trends of the day. His ability to accurately forecast major political events has enormous ramifications for portfolios.
In this episode, Marko and Aaron discuss how the future of China-US conflict, Turkey’s geopolitical prospects, and how to break into the geopolitical analysis field.
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Marko Papic’s Challenge; Spend time around people with the opposite political and cultural perspective of you.
Website
If you liked this interview, check out our interview with Mike Green where we discuss Bitcoin and index funds.
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Andy Norman is a researcher focused on studying how ideologies short-circuit minds and corrupt moral understanding.
His studies have led him to develop a toolkit of methods for improving reasoning and share them in his book, Mental Immunity.
His hope is that a collection of academic research can be lassoed together to serve as the foundation of a new scientific field, Cognitive Immunology. Cognitive immunology would explore the ability of researchers to develop a mind vaccine to inoculate individuals against dangerous ideas.
In this conversation, Andy and Aaron discuss the dangers of loneliness, the importance of dialogue, and the future of viral ideas.
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Andy Norman’s Challenge; Learn to treat your ideas as houseguests. Perhaps one day they will depart, and you will be glad.
Books Mentioned
Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think by Andy Norman
Tribe by Sebastian Junger
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
If you liked this interview, check out episode 472 with Demetri Kofinas where we discuss epistemic truth, geopolitics, and.
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Geng Wang is the CEO and co-founder of Civic Champs, a software startup focused on creating s seamless and rewarding volunteering experience for both volunteers and service organizations
This is Geng’s third commercial venture. He’s previously co-founded two companies; RentJungle.com, an apartment search engine that sold in 2014 to The Rainmaker Group, and Community Elf (rebranded as Cosmitto), a social media management firm which we sold in 2017 to a PE firm, Topanga Partners.
Given his past successes, Geng is looking to both create financial and social impact with his latest company. He has leveraged a number of startup incubators, including TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield, Elevate Ventures, Innovation Works, TechStars Iowa, and Mass Challenge, to get it off the ground.
In this episode, Geng and Aaron discuss how motivation changes through an entrepreneur’s career, the nature of product development, and how to design a startup’s culture.
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Geng Wang’s Challenge; For National Volunteering Month, get out there and go find an avenue to help your community.
geng@civicchamps.com
If you liked this interview, check out episode 12 with Scott Rogerson where we discuss Community Elf, social media management, and their software spinout UpContent.
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Sanjiv Singh is CEO and cofounder of Near Earth Autonomy, a technology company focused on autonomous flight.
Sanjiv has 25 years of experience working on autonomous ground and air vehicles. He came to Pittsburgh 30 years ago to participate in the DARPA challenge and has spent decades exploring different applications for self-driving and self-flying robots.
Near Earth Autonomy started by developing self-flying technology for the United States Government and has expanded to bring their technological capabilities to a variety of enterprise customers.
In this conversation, Sanjiv and Aaron discuss applications for self-flying vehicles, the origins of the company, and the difference between working with the military and the FAA.
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Sanjiv Singh’s Challenge; Imagine a world in which you could autonomously fly from point A to point B.
If you liked this interview, check out episode 306 with Bryan Salesky where we discuss autonomous vehicles and episode 340 with Craig Markovitz where we discuss university technology transfer.
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Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and host of Hidden Forces, a podcast devoted to exploring the underlying forces driving the most powerful changes we see in the world.
His show covers a wide range of topics, including culture, philosophy, economics, technology, social science, and the hard sciences.
Demetri has previously co-founded Guerilla Gaming Concepts, an interactive entertainment company focused on the middleware of gaming. He has also reported on financial news and told stories to hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
In addition to his show, Demetri consults blockchain and distributed ledger technology companies, helping them anticipate security vulnerabilities by building theoretical attack frameworks against token-based systems, and he consults hedge funds and venture capital firms on how to invest in and around these same emerging technologies.
In this episode, Aaron and Demetri have a far-reaching conversation about truth, technological progress, and geopolitics.
Mentioned
The Meaning of Human Existence by Edward O. Wilson
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Demetri Kofinas’s Challenges; 1. Hold yourself to a higher standard.
If you liked this interview, check out episode 463 with Jeff Booth where we discuss the deflationary nature of technology.
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Black Tech Nation Ventures is launching its first flagship venture fund in Pittsburgh, PA. The firm is founded by three managing partners, Kelauni Jasmyn, Sean Sebastian, and David Motley have come together to form an investment thesis focused on investing in black and other minority founders who have historically missed out on opportunities to raise venture capital.
As David outlines in this podcast, these represent an underutilized asset capable of creating outsized returns, not a charitable donation.
David brings experience from three decades in corporate America, sitting on the boards of multiple public companies, investing tens of millions of dollars into real estate, and a track record of venture investments through the Blue Tree Venture Fund. David has also raised a $207 Special Purpose Acquisition Vehicle (SPAC) called Deep Lake Capital.
David Motley has also co-founded 3 enterprises: The BlueTree Venture Fund, DLM-WCM (a real estate development company) and, MCAPS, LLC (a professional services company focused on Managed Services, Staff Augmentation, and Consulting).
In this episode, David and Aaron also discuss how to craft a fulfilling career, how to raise money from large institutions, and why SPACs are taking off.
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David Motley’s Challenge; Don’t undershoot. Set a goal and go after it.
If you liked this interview, check out episode 265 with Kelauni Jasmyn about Black Tech Nation, episode 290 with Ned Renzi about Birchmree Ventures, or episode 405 with Matt Kesinger about his medical device startup.
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Paul Martino is a venture capital investor and has raised 5 funds totaling over $350 million in capital. That money has been deployed into FanDuel, Grove, Ipsy, and SpotHero.
Before forming Bullpen, Paul was an active angel investor and personally invested in the first rounds of Zynga, TubeMogul, and uDemy.
Prior to his investing career, Paul founded four companies including Ahpah Software (a computer security firm acquired by InterTrust) and Aggregate Knowledge (a big data advertising attribution company acquired in 2014 by Neustar). He is the holder of over a dozen core patents covering social networking and big data.
In this episode, Paul and Aaron discuss the FanDuel success, his advice for startups going through tough times, and the different space that venture capital investors make their mark.
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Paul Martino’s Challenge; Start every meeting on time
If you liked this interview, check out episode 231 with Andy Rachleff where we discuss how to find non-consensus investing ideas that work.
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Aubrey Strobel is the Head of Comms for Lolli, a free browser extension that lets users earn free bitcoin when shopping online.
The platform’s mission is to help make cryptocurrency more accessible to the average shopper. Founded in 2018, Lolli has over 1,000 retail partners including Expedia, Nike, and Glossier.
In this episode, Aubrey and Aaron discuss stacking sats, bringing women into crypto, and how Aubrey has modeled the Lolli brand and marketing off of Barstool Sports.
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Aubrey Strobel’s Challenge; Call an elderly person in your life.
If you liked this interview, check out episode 426 with Flori Marquez where we discuss creating the ‘Chase Bank’ of crypto, BlockFi.
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Mike Green is the Chief Strategist at Logica Funds and has spent nearly 30 years studying markets.
These days, he calls on that experience and his proprietary research to educate the public, the Federal Reserve, the BIS, and the IMF about the shift from actively managed portfolios and investment funds to systematic passive investment strategies.
Previously, Mike has served as the portfolio manager for Thiel Macro, an investment firm that manages the personal capital of Peter Thiel, founded Ice Farm Capital, a discretionary global macro hedge fund seeded by Soros Family Management, and founded and managed the New York office of Canyon Capital Advisors, a $23B multi-strategy hedge fund.
In this conversation, Mike and Aaron discuss the popular narratives around index funds and Bitcoin, what those narratives get wrong, and how to effectively develop non-consensus views when investing.
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Mike Green’s Challenge; Vote better.
If you liked this interview, check out episode 427 with Ben Hunt where we discuss investing and the Coronavirus, or episode 339 with Jim DeCicco where we discuss building his healthy coffee company.
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Mark Kovscek is a mathematician, inventor, and entrepreneur. His company, Conservation Labs, builds and sells a smart water meter that provides consumption insights, custom conservation recommendations, and leak detection.
At the cutting edge of Internet-of-Things and conservation, Mark uses his experience from a career building products and delivering solutions to address multi-billion dollar challenges.
He has spent time using his mathematics skills in marketing analytics, finance, and supply chain management, but says this is the most compelling challenge he’s ever faced.
In this episode, Mark and Aaron discuss the sound that pipes make, where the idea came from, and the potential for environmental and bottomline impact.
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Mark Kovscek’s Challenges
Referenced
If you liked this interview, check out episode 432 with Charlie Dolan where we discuss waste management, tech, and bootstrapping a software company.
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Matt Harbaugh is a co-founder and Managing Director at Mountain State Capital. The 20 million dollar fund has invested in over 16 firms in the greater Appalachia region.
Prior to founding MSC, Matt served as CEO of a machine learning-based software company that was acquired by Facebook and was the Chief Investment Officer at Innovation Works, one of the most active seed funds in the United States.
Across his career, Matt has invested in, managed, and advised more than 100 private companies over the past twenty years. He realized that he was interested in being involved in venture capital back in 1999 as an investment banker at PNC and has spent more than a decade and a half preparing himself to succeed.
In this episode, Matt and Aaron discuss his career arc, the venture capital business model, and how startups in the region are still lacking enough funding options.
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Matt Harbaugh’s Challenge; Build the skills and find an avenue to be an entrepreneur.
Mountain State Capital Website
If you liked this interview, check out our conversation with Stephen Gurgovits about private equity in Western PA and our conversation with Glen Meakem about the DotCom bubble and his experience venture investing.
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Andrew Gazdecki is the solo founder of MicroAcquire, a marketplace for buying and selling small Software-as-a-Service companies.
He has previously started two companies, Bizness Apps and Altcoin.io, which were both acquired.
MicroAcquire has reached $250,000 in annual revenue in just one year, by collecting fees from buyers in exchange for connecting with the entrepreneurs selling their business. Andrew is applying lessons that he’s learned from past successful companies to *hopefully* make this his best business yet.
In the episode, Aaron and Andrew discuss playing entrepreneurship on “hard mode”, the mistakes Andrew has made in the past, and how MicroAcquire has grown to more than 30,000 subcscribers.
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Andrew Gazdecki’s Challenge; Start journaling. Document your goals, memories, and experiences.
If you liked this interview, check out episode 394 with Ryan Kulp where we discuss buying and selling small businesses.
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Chris Anderson is the founder and Chief Technical Officer of Innotescus. He leads a multi-functional team of machine learning scientists, software architects, and engineers that are innovating in the world of image annotation software.
Prior to founding Innotescus, Mr. Anderson was the Director of Software Engineering and IT for ChemImage. Here he oversaw the core innovative software products for hyperspectral data acquisition, analysis and visualization. These products range in application potential across forensics, defense, pharmaceutical and medical markets.
He joined ChemImage in 1999 as intern developing a data-driven course on “Chemical Imaging”; assuming exponentially increased responsibilities over time as the core imaging technology of ChemImage required ever more dynamic and intuitive software.
In this conversation, Aaron and Chris discuss spinning the company out of ChemImage, how Chris has taught himself the technology, and the constant curiosity needed to succeed.
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Chris Anderson’s Challenge; Learn something new every day.
If you liked this interview, check out episode 399 with Hayden Cardiff where we discuss spinning the company out of Pitt Ohio, challenges in the trucking industry, and raising capital.
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Jeff Booth led BuildDirect, a technology company he co-founded in 1999, for nearly two decades through the dot-com meltdown, the 2008 financial crisis, and many waves of technological disruption.
BuildDirect aimed to simplify the building industry and graduated from online catalog to logistics network to artificially intelligent platform.
Last year, Jeff released his first book “The Price of Tomorrow – Why Deflation is Key to an Abundant Future” where he outlines the current state of our economy and what must happen to enable a brighter future.
Jeff believes it essential for everyone to understand the deflationary nature of technological progress and the implications of this core truth. In this episode, Aaron and Jeff discuss this idea, the story of BuildDirect, and how anyone can use this period of upheaval as an opportunity.
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Jeff Booth’s Challenge; Have empathy. Recognize that economic deflation and its symptoms are causing political polarization.
If you liked this interview, check out episode 440 with Brent Johnson where we discuss his Dollar Milkshake Theory and its implications for entrepreneurs.
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Stephen Tse, is founder and CEO of Harmony.one. Harmony is a blockchain-based open source development project with its own cryptocurrency.
Stephen has been obsessed with protocols and compilers since high school. He reverse-engineered ICQ and X11 protocols, coded in OCaml for more than 15 years, and graduated with a doctoral degree in security protocols and compiler verification from the University of Pennsylvania.
Prior to founding Harmony, he has worked a researcher at Microsoft, a senior infrastructure engineer at Google, and sold his startup, Spotsetter, to Apple.
In this conversation, Stephen and Aaron discuss how a blockchain project is like a traditional startup, the technical tradeoffs of blockchains, and how Stephen expects future projects to work together.
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Stephen Tse’s Challenge; Set up a monthly newsletter to your close friends and family to keep them updated on recent events.
If you liked this interview, check out our library of past episodes with blockchain innovators, investors, and entreprenuers.
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Joshua Lisec has been a ghostwriter for a decade. Public figures hire him to write compelling books, newsletters, and tweets in their voice, so that they can build their media platform.
He has helped to write best selling and critically aclaimed books and teaches the best practices publicly online. Joshua coaches his clients to offer higher-ticket services, courses, and products in conjunction with book sales to build a sustainable business.
In this podcast, Joshua and Aaron discuss the business model behind most successful books, why traditional publishing deals are hard to get, and how ghostwriters are like actors.
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Joshua Lisec’s Challenge; Use the ‘Jobs to be Done’ framework to evaluate your business offering and improve it.
If you liked this interview, check out episode XX with XX where we discuss XX.
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Patrick Colletti is the founder of Net Health a $100M+ cloud-based provider of specialized software that serves specialized medical facilities like wound centers, senior care, and occupational therapy.
When Patrick began his tenure as company president in 2001, Net Health was experiencing significant financial turmoil resulting in laying off all but 2 employees.
By utilizing a Refounder mindset as a framework for success, Patrick was able to spur rapid business growth and cultivate a flourishing corporate culture. He has spent two decades serving in multiple leader positions at Net Health, including the president, chief revenue officer, and
chief operating officer.
Now he wants to share what he has learned.
In this episode, Patrick and Aaron discuss selling to private equity, building a company culture, and scaling the company.
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Patrick Colletti’s Challenge; Regardless of your experience or seniority, recognize that you can be the change that you want to see in your organization.
Book Referenced
4 Disciplines of Execution by Jim Huling Chris McChesney, and Sean Covey
If you liked this interview, check out our interview with Dr. Chris Howard where we discuss leadership and the role of universities.
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Alex Berman is an actual serial entrepreneur. Before the age of 30, he has built a 7-figure agency, completed multiple movie projects, and built a 50,000 subscriber YouTube channel.
Most folks feel content to throw that title in their bio as a way to summarize some half-finished projects.
Alex, on the other hand, builds systems in a focused and brutally efficient way. He has delegated leadership of his agency, Experiment 27, to someone else and has now set about acquiring more companies for his growing empire.
Further, he has generated millions of dollars of B2B services revenue with his cold emailing skill.
In this conversation, Alex and Aaron jump around discussing how Alex got his start, what makes a good cold email, and lay out the interrelated conglomerate Alex is building.
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Alex Berman’s Challenge; Find someone that you look up to and reach out with a cold email.
If you liked this interview, check out episode 394 with Ryan Kulp where we discuss avoiding competition, thinking creatively, and how he’s built a business empire through acquisitions.
Also, Noah Kagan.
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When Mark Marmo took over as the CEO of Deep Well Services, the company was losing $2 million per year on $9 million in revenue. Six years later, Deep Well Services was making $30 million in net income on $110 million in revenue.
Mark accomplished this by focusing on bringing an innovative & efficient service to the market, building a healthy company culture, and trusting his data analysts to make good decisions.
In this conversation, Aaron and Mark discuss the standard he has implemented, the challenges of 2020, and the plans Mark is making for the future.
Deep Well Services’ mission is to help make North America energy independent and his team is proud to be working toward that end.
Their clients include Ascent Resources, CNX, Chevron, Shell, XTO Energy, Hess Oil, Eclipse Resources, Range Resources, Gastar, Arsenal, HG Energy, Gulfport, Rice Energy, and Southwestern Energy.
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Mark Marmo’s Challenge; Find a mentor. Build your network. Get into a firm with a great culture.
mmarmo@deepwellservices.com.
If you liked this interview, check out episode 425 with Matt Wieszczyk where we discuss land rights, gas prices, and the Marcellus Shale formation.
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Frank Augustine is the founder of ILLEGAL apparel.
Frank and his brother created the brand, and associated company, in their parent's basement back in 2013. He has spent the last 7 years scaling production, opening a store on the South Side of Pittsburgh, and learning many lessons about entrepreneurship.
He’s gotten the business off the ground via a relentless commitment to sales and a willingness to experiment with designs. Not bad for someone still in his early 20s.
In this episode, Aaron and Frank discuss the way he has positioned the brand, how Frank sold shirts in the early days, and the hard lessons he’s had to learn along the way.
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Frank Augustine’s Challenge; Be grateful and be positive. Check out Earl Nightingale and Positive Mental Attitude.
If you liked this interview, check out episode 451 with Will Dzombak where we discuss managing Wiz, marketing in Hip Hop, and launching a cloud kitchens restaurant.
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Pete DeComo is the chairman and CEO of ALung Technologies. ALung is developing an artificial lung for patients suffering from Acute Respiratory Failure and has raised over $100 million to bring their product to market.
ALung’s Hemolung Respiratory Assist System is a dialysis-like alternative or supplement to mechanical ventilation that works by removing carbon dioxide directly from the blood. The medical device, which has been approved for use in 35 countries outside the U.S., has proven relevant during the 2020 Pandemic.
Prior to running ALung, Pete was the founder and CEO of Renal Solutions. Renal Solutions developed of similar product focused on kidney dialysis and was sold to Fresenius in 2007 for $200 million.
In this conversation, Pete discusses the arduous process of getting a medical device approved by regulators, how he has raised over $140 million for his companies, and his advice for all entrepreneurs.
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Peter DeComo’s Challenge; Dont be afraid to take some risk
pdecomo@alung.com
If you liked this interview, check out episode 405 with Matt Kesinger where we discuss the development of his life saving medical device and episode 413 with Dr. Gordon Vanscoy where we discuss his startup which serves as a pharmacy for treating rare diseases.
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Michael Mayer is the co-founder and CEO of Bottomless, a company that uses wifi connected weight sensors to do automatic home restocking. Their first, and only, offering is fresh roasted coffee.
Every customer pays an annual fee (like an Amazon Prime membership) and receives a coffee scale. The scale measures the amount of coffee remaining in your bag and automatically sends you the next one when you’re running low.
Over time, Bottomless learns your coffee preferences and sends you personalized selections.
This is not a paid endorsement.
Bottomless was founded by Seattle-based by Mayer and his wife Liana Herrera in 2016. In 2018, they were admitted into the Y Combinator accelerator program.
In this episode, Aaron and Michael discuss the constraints Bottomless has had to overcome, the future products that Bottomless might sell, and what he learned at Y Combinator.
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Michael Mayer’s Challenge; Curate your inputs. Unfollow anything in your information diet that is not a building block for good thought.
Get a Free Bag from Bottomless
If you liked this interview, check out this interview with Dr. Timothy Wong where we discuss reducing the cost of visiting a doctor and fundamentally rethinking medical care.
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Teresa Whalen is the CEO of CytoAgents, a startup focused on the development of solutions to combat persistent and potentially deadly strains of Influenza, COVID19, and other viruses.
Teresa’s career spans 20 years in the healthcare industry, including health technology executive, life sciences investor, and clinical pharmacist. She has brought multiple successful life-changing healthcare products to market.
She currently leads a team of clinical drug development experts and scientific advisory board members aiming to revolutionize treatment for respiratory illnesses and viral epidemics.
In this interview, Teresa and Aaron discuss the long process of FDA approval, how Teresa came to lead the company, and the dangers of a cytokine storm.
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Teresa Whalen’s Challenge; Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you.
If you liked this interview, check out episode 338 with Courtney Williamson where we discuss developing a medical device or episode 413 with Dr. Gordon Vanscoy where we discuss his pharmacy that collects drugs for treating rare diseases.
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Brock Blake is the founder and CEO of Lendio, a marketplace for small business loans. Lendio offers borrowers access to loan options from more lenders than any other marketplace in the industry.
Brock has been building his company for nearly a decade and raised more than $100 million in venture capital. 2020 has stretched his team and tech to new heights, as they’ve facilitated over 100,000 PPP loan approvals and the issue of $8 Billion in funds.
In this conversation, Aaron and Blake discuss why Brock pivoted away from his first company, the challenges and constraints of scaling, and the values he’s instilled in his company culture.
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Brock Blake’s Challenge; Identify someone important in your life and go have an experience with them.
If you liked this interview, check out episode 434 with Henry Schuck where we discuss his recent dollar IPO and becoming a billionaire.
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