What Fuels You

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 omnystudio.com/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.