Office Hours with Spencer Rascoff

Spencer speaks with Ian Cinnamon, the CEO and co-founder of Culver City-based startup Apex, which manufactures productized, configurable satellite buses for the expanding space industry. As access to space becomes democratized, Apex's is poised to offer its scalable solutions to both commercial and government customers. Prior to Apex, Ian founded Synapse, a startup that built AI systems for the defense and security worlds, which he helped grow before it was acquired by Palantir. Ian is an alumnus of the Y Combinator accelerator program and received his undergraduate degree from MIT and MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. (Disclosure: dot.LA co-founder Spencer Rascoff is an investor in Apex.)

Eddy Lu, CEO of GOAT, explains his pivot from a restaurant meet-up app, the ups and downs of working with his co-founder, and how insight into the sneaker vertical on eBay helped build the start-up into what it is today. This episode was originally released in February of 2011.

Howie Liu is the co-founder and CEO of tech decacorn Airtable, a connected apps platform that lets users build and customize apps using shared data. As a no code platform, Airtable has iterated and innovated their product by combining the features of a relational database by using an interface that looks like a spreadsheet. Since it's founding in 2012, the company has raised nearly $1.4B in funding and is currently valued at $11B. In this episode, Howie talks about starting his first company, taking part in the Y Combinator accelerator, and how selling his company Etacts to Salesforce led him to innovating and creating products with enterprise clients in mind. Liu is a graduate of Duke University.

In this episode of Office Hours, Spencer speaks with L.A.-based entrepreneur Shiloh Johnson, the CEO and founder of ComplYant, a digital tax assistant tool. The technology platform offers small business owners and entrepreneurs an easy way to handle business taxes. The fintech startup was originally bootstrapped by Johnson, who as a Black female founder thought she'd be overlooked by VCs. Since then, Shiloh raised $5.5M in seed funding through Techstars’ Los Angeles program.

Bill Gurley, Legendary Silicon Valley VC, is a general partner at Benchmark and famously known for investing early in trailblazing companies including Uber, GrubHub, Zillow and so many others. Hear this conversation with Spencer from the dot.LA Summit where they discuss marketplace-based companies, how work-from-home will accelerate business opportunity, and why startups—though they might be attached to their autonomy—should pick up the phone when a big company calls. Plus, hear Bill’s thoughtful take on big tech and antitrust. This interview was originally published on December of 2020, and was recorded at the inaugural dot.LA Summit held October 27th & 28th.

Growing up as the son of a nationally renowned veterinarian, Brandon knows first-hand the importance of having access to experts when your pet is sick. In 2018, Werber launched Airvet, a Beverly Hills-based digital health company for pets. Airvet works with employers and business partners to make sure pet parents get affordable and fast access to virtual vet care via video and chat. (Disclosure: dot.LA co-founder Spencer Rascoff is an investor in Airvet.)

Roy Swan, Director of The Ford Foundation's Mission Investments team, is committed to increasing the impact of their portfolio of mission-related investments (MRIs). He works alongside the organization's leadership to identify opportunities and guide decision-making processes as they relate to its global activities. Prior to joining the Foundation, Roy served as managing director and co-head of Global Sustainable Finance at Morgan Stanley. While there, he oversaw massive community development transactions that generated over $13 billion in value for investors. Roy received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a JD from Stanford Law School, where he was an editor of the Stanford Law Review.

Spencer speaks with Isa Watson, the Founder & CEO of Squad. Watson, author of the upcoming book, "Life Beyond Likes: Logging Off Your Screen and Into Your Life." In the book, she raises awareness around how social media has impacted our daily lives, self-worth, and real life relationships. With so much of our lives lived online, Isa argues, we’ve never been more connected—or disconnected—from what’s most important to us. It’s time to let go of our curated online worlds and get beyond our need for likes. As the founder of Squad, an audio- focused app, Watson created a fun and easy way to stay in touch with your best friends everyday—away from the distractions of traditional social media.

Diankha Linear, CEO of Community, an SMS marketing platform for business, speaks with Spencer in this episode of Office Hours. Ms. Linear was an officer and early executive team member at Convoy, serving as General Counsel and corporate secretary—overseeing one of Seattle’s largest VC transactions with a Series D Round of $400M, among other roles in the startup. Diankha comes from a strategy and leadership background, built on her years of military education and training with the Army and as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) officer. Ms Linear spent nearly a decade in leadership roles at Nordstrom and Expeditors International of Washington. Her early career was spent at big firm antitrust, complex commercial, constitutional, and employment law counsel. Diankha is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the University of Washington. (Disclosure: dot.LA co-founder Spencer Rascoff is an investor in Community.)

Steve Case, co-founder of AOL and CEO of Revolution speaks with Spencer about his current mission to locate compelling investment opportunities outside of the traditional tech hubs like Silicon Valley. Case's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund is a Revolution initiative aimed at accelerating the growth of early-stage startups across the country. The ideas is that there's more opportunity for investors to back companies in other parts of the country during their early stages, since valuation and arbitration are lower in less competitive sectors. Starting about eight years ago, Case hit the road on a bus tour where he visited various cities around the U.S., contributing seed funding to local startups through pitch competitions, and speaking to local innovators, business, and policy leaders. Steve's latest book The Rise of the Rest: How Entrepreneurs in Surprising Places are Building the New American Dream is available now.

Spencer speaks with Sami Inkinen, the CEO and Founder of Virta Health. After winning the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in 2011, the triathlete found out that he was pre-diabetic that same year. Unsatisfied with the conventional wisdom of “exercise more and eat less,” Sami dug into the science of type 2 diabetes, by consulting experts on the science of carbohydrate restriction and metabolic health. Seeking to raise awareness about the dangers of sugar, Inkinen and his wife rowed across the Pacific Ocean for 45 days—completely unsupported—from California to Hawaii for 2,750 miles. While on that journey, the idea for Virta was born. His personal mantra on that trip was "Use Sisu, not Sugar"—with the Finnish concept of Stoicism, tenacity, and grit, as determination to help himself and others reverse their diagnoses. Virta is an app-based, health technology start-up that offers treatment to reverse type 2 diabetes without surgery, allowing patients to work with medical providers and health coaches on a nearly real-time basis. Virta’s approach helps patients get off of all diabetes-specific medications while achieving sub-diabetic HbA1c (blood sugar)—in 60% of patients who complete one-year of the Virta Treatment. Of those patients prescribed insulin, 94% reduce or fully-eliminate usage. Previously, Inkinen was the co-founder of real estate marketplace Trulia, serving as its COO and president and board member until its IPO and sale to Zillow Group. Sami is also an active angel investor in healthcare. Inkinen started his career as a radiochemist at a nuclear power plant. He holds a Master of Science in engineering physics from the Helsinki University of Technology, and a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University. (Disclosure: dot.LA co-founder Spencer Rascoff is an investor in Virta.)

Julia Boorstin is CNBC’s Senior Media & Tech Correspondent and has been an on-air reporter for the network since 2006. She also plays a central role on CNBC’s bicoastal tech-focused program “TechCheck” delivering reporting, analysis, and CEO interviews with a focus on social media and the intersection of media and technology. In 2013, Boorstin created and launched the CNBC Disruptor 50, an annual list she oversees, highlighting private companies transforming the economy and challenging companies in established industries. She also helped launch the network’s ‘Closing the Gap’ initiative covering the people and companies closing gender and diversity gaps. Boorstin speaks with Spencer in this fireside chat recorded at the third annual dot.LA Summit, held on October 20 at The Petersen Automotive Museum located in Los Angeles. Julia’s new book When Women Lead: What They Achieve, Why They Succeed, and How We Can Learn from Them, profiles female entrepreneurs and businesswomen and draws lessons and inspiration from their stories. A graduate of Princeton University, Boorstin has been a reporter for Fortune magazine, as well as a contributor to CNN and CNN Headline News. She was also an intern for Vice President Gore’s domestic policy office. She lives in L.A. with her husband and two sons.

Tricia Han, the head of MyFitnesesPal speaks with Spencer about her journey from being a Product Manager to becoming a CEO in this episode of Office Hours. MyFitnessPal is a leading health and wellness tech brand, whose popular mobile app allows users to track their daily food intake. Tricia talks about the differences of working in East Coast tech vs West Coast tech, heading a start-up through a change management process, and the importance of representation in the tech space. Tricia also shares some suprising data points logged from L.A. users of the app. Prior to MyFitnessPal, Tricia was the Chief Product Officer of Care.com, a U.S. marketplace connecting families and caregivers, CEO of Daily Burn, a fitness tech brand, and Chief Product Officer at Dotdash, all operating businesses of IAC. Her professional experience also includes leading product management teams at a variety of technology companies and start-ups including WebMD, DailyCandy, and Vindigo. Han earned her Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University.

Host Spencer Rascoff speaks to David Fields, founder and CEO of both Afterparty and Wander. Afterparty is looking to evolve the event-ticketing space with NFTs to assist creators, musicians and collectors. Previously, Fields worked at Disney and was part of the team that helped acquire Pixar. David was also formerly the head of acquisitions and investments for Disney CEO Michael Eisner’s Investment group, The Tornante Company. Fields has a BA in Economics from Harvard. (Disclosure: dot.LA co-founder Spencer Rascoff is an investor in Afterparty.)

As CEO and co-founder of Tomo, Greg Schwartz leads the company in its mission to transform the home buying experience. Tomo was founded in the fall of 2020 and raised a $70 million seed round, reportedly the largest in U.S. history. The company’s initial product, Tomo Mortgage, launched in June of 2021 to streamline the mortgage process by bringing e-commerce to the paperwork heavy part of home transactions. Previously, Greg was the lead business executive of Zillow Group for 13 years. Before Zillow, Greg was vice president of advertising sales at CNNMoney, where he launched the advertising sales team and platform. He also served as national accounts director for Yahoo's automotive and finance properties and held multiple senior roles at DoubleClick. (Disclosure: dot.LA co-founder Spencer Rascoff is an investor in Tomo.)

Rand Fishkin, co-founder and CEO of SparkToro, and formerly of Moz speaks with Spencer in this revealing conversation about the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. Rand started out as an SEO enthusiast writing about increasing organic traffic through his SEOmoz blog, and then realizing that his expertise had the makings of a business, he began consulting and then developing Moz into a SaaS. Rand helped grow Moz to more than 130 employees, with over $30M in revenue, and traffic reaching 30M visitors per year. Rand is known for his marketing videos, public speaking, and his book Lost and Founder, in which he reveals with incredible candor his struggles with depression. Rand Fishkin is an investor in dot.LA.

In this episode of Office Hours, Spencer speaks with Colin Walsh, CEO and Founder of Varo Bank about the importance of their startup getting its charter and being FDIC insured, what it's like leading the way of a "challenger bank" in the fin-tech space, the tough decision he's had to make to stay competitive, and how the bank aspires to create financial inclusion by focusing on its younger customer base. Colin also talks about his journey through the financial services industry having worked for large corporate institutions like Wells Fargo, Visa, American Express, and Lloyd's Banking Group. (Disclosure: dot.LA co-founder Spencer Rascoff is an investor in Varo.)

Blackstone Growth's Jon Korngold joins Spencer on this episode of Office Hours for a conversation about how the recent stock market downturn is affecting the tech sector and whether a market correction lies ahead. Korngold is Senior Managing Director and Head of Blackstone’s global growth equity investing platform, where he focuses on funding growth-stage companies. Prior to joining Blackstone in 2019, Korngold was on the Management Committee of General Atlantic, leading both the global financial services and health care sectors. Korngold also worked at Goldman Sachs and is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations. He's also active with Harvard University, where he serves on the Harvard College Fund’s Executive Committee.

Roman Kaplun is the CEO and Co-founder of Zoolatech, a custom software development company specializing in high-end software engineering based in the San Francisco area. Born in Leningrad in the former Soviet Union, his family moved to the United States as Jewish refugees in 1988, right after he completed High School. Zoolatech has workers in the U.S., Ukraine, Mexico, and Poland. The startup was able to evacuate, relocate, and resettle many of its employees from Kiyv after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Prior to Zoolatech, Roman held a number of Engineering Management and QA roles for Hotwire, Expedia, and IAC. Roman's career began in the maritime sector where he spent a few years at sea, mostly in commercial fishing. Roman has more than 20 years of experience overseeing critical information technology deployments for leaders in the e-commerce, Travel, Media, and Mobile space. Kaplun holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Transportation, Logistics, and Business Administration from California State University Maritime Academy.

On this episode of Office Hours, Spencer speaks with John Shegerian, CEO and chairman of ERI, the largest cybersecurity-focused hardware destruction and electronic waste recycling company in the United States. Shegerian is a serial entrepreneur who helped found FinancialAid.com, Addicted.com and Engage, LLC, a speaker-booking platform, among other organizations. In the early '90s, Shegerian co-founded Homeboy Tortillas and Homeboy Industries, led by Father Greg Boyle, to help improve the lives of former gang members in East Los Angeles. The organization has since evolved into the largest gang-intervention, rehab and re-entry program in the world. John is co-author of "The Insecurity of Everything" and "101 Tips from the Marketing Masters: Ways to Supercharge Your Marketing & Exponentially Grow Your Business." He also hosts "Impact with John Shegerian," a weekly podcast featuring conversations with some of the greatest business minds and thought leaders known today.