Founders

Lindsay Tjepkema, CEO and Founder of Casted, joins Mike to chat all things podcasting, leadership, and startup building. Casted is the first and only podcasting platform built for B2B companies. Being our very first episode of the Founders Forward we could not think of a better guest than Lindsay. If there is one thing we know about Lindsay — it is that she knows podcasting.

On episode 2 of the Founders Forward Podcast we are joined by Amanda Goetz, CMO of Teal and Founder at House of Wise. Before taking the leap into her second time as a founder, Amanda was the VP of Marketing at The Knot. With her experience in branding and recent jump to starting House of Wise we couldn’t think of a better guest to chat about all things branding and founder life.

On episode 3 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Jeff Kahn, the CEO and Founder of Rise Science. Rise is the only app that unlocks the real-world benefits of better sleep. Jeff has 10 years of sleep science experience and research. Before starting Rise Science Jeff spent time publishing academic articles and supporting world class athletes and teams with better sleep. There is no doubt about it that Jeff knows about sleep. 

On episode 4 of the Founders Forward Podcast we are joined by Aishetu Dozie, the CEO and Founder of Bossy Cosmetics. Before starting Bossy, Aishetu worked in banking at just about every major firm. Aishetu has an incredible story from banking to beauty. From her struggles raising venture capital to the incredible community she has built at Bossy.

On episode 5 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Kyle Poyar, VP of Growth at OpenView Ventures. OpenView Ventures is an expansion stage venture firm with an extreme focus on software (SaaS) companies. Unique to OpenView is their team of in-house experts, like Kyle, that portfolio companies can call on to help tackle a growth issue. OpenView coined the term product-led growth. If there is one person that knows the ins and outs of PLG, it's Kyle. 

On episode 6 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Yin Wu, CEO and Founder of Pulley. Pulley is a cap table platform for hyper-growth startups. Pulley is the third company that Yin has started so it is safe to say she knows the ins and outs of building a startup. 

On episode 7 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Cheryl Campos, Head of Venture Growth and Partnerships at Republic. Republic is a crowdfunding platform for startups. It allows founders to access a wide range of angel investors and small check investors. Cheryl has been there for 3+ years and has watched the market transform and become a popular funding option for startups.

On episode 8 of the Founders Forward Podcast we interview Nate Turner, Co-Founder of Ten Speed. Ten Speed helps "companies accelerate funnel growth by quickly growing traffic to existing content." Prior to starting Ten Speed, Nate was the VP of Marketing Operations at Sprout Social (and their first marketer). Nate helped take Sprout Social from a modest startup doing a $100k in revenue to a publicly traded company doing over $22M in revenue during his time there.

On episode 9 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Don Brown, Founder and CEO of LifeOmic. Prior to starting LifeOmic Don started 6 companies with his first being acquired by GM in 1986 and his most recent, Interactive Intelligence, being acquired for $1.4B in 2016. Since the acquisition Don has turned to his passion of medicine and the medical field by founding LifeOmic. LifeOmic is a single platform that "activates precision health and wellness."

On episode 10 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Jim McKelvey, Co-Founder of Square. The now publicly traded company with a $100B+ market cap has humble beginnings dating back to Jim and his time in a glass studio. Jim recently published his book, The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time, that studies how Square managed to thrive and beat Amazon and draws on similar stories from companies like Southwest and Ikea.