Cooper Munroe, CEO of The Motherhood, was interviewed by Aaron Watson about the origins of influencer marketing, what the early days of blogging looked like, and how to communicate authentically with your stakeholders. Cooper is an award-winning influencer marketing expert and her firm works with the largest consumer brands, nonprofits, and agencies in the world. She is a specialist in maximizing the effectiveness of campaigns, the reach of content, and measuring the results. She got her start w...
Apr 01, 2019•33 min
Being a refugee in a new country can be scary, confusing, and lonely. While there are agencies in the US that help refugees with resettlement during the first 3 months, resource constraints leave them unable to assist past that point. Sloane Davidson created Hello Neighbor to help connect refugees with friends and mentors in their community who can be a sustainable support system. The families Hello Neighbor supports all have kids under 18 in the home. Mentors range from young professionals to f...
Mar 25, 2019•34 min
Dr. Christopher Howard is the eighth president of Robert Morris University. A university with more than 80 undergraduate and graduate degree programs , more than 5,000 students, and a 100 year history. In this conversation, Chris and Aaron discuss the future of college, timeless leadership lessons, and Dr. Howard’s background. Dr. Howard is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, a Rhodes Scholar, and a graduate of both the University of Oxford & the Harvard Business School. ...
Mar 18, 2019•32 min
What does it take to become the top referred real estate agent on Zillow? A lot of reviews and hustle. Brian Teyssier shared his perspective on the industry during a riveting 30-minute conversation at his home in Mount Washington. Brian has worked with some of the top real estate coaches in the business and has some seriously impressive stats. He's surpassed $19 million in volume in both 2017 & 2018. He's accrued 333 reviews on Zillow. As Brian battles to the top of the luxury home market, h...
Mar 11, 2019•42 min
Piper Creative Director of Operations Tori Meglio joins me on the podcast to discuss how Linkedin has transformed our business in the last year. Here's our new podcast. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-piper-podcast/id1454137800?mt=2
Mar 10, 2019•23 min
Restaurants are a brutal business. It’s worth studying those that succeed. Nick Bogacz is the Founder of Caliente Pizza & Draft House. He opened his first location in fall of 2012 and has grown quickly to open four more locations. Prior to that, he spent over a decade in the industry, starting as a delivery driver in 1996. He went on to lead sales at multiple corporate pizza chains and learn the pizza business inside and out. His company now employs more than 185 people and has been recogniz...
Mar 04, 2019•29 min
Teresa Huber is the CEO of Intervala, a full-service manufacturer that produces customized electronic and electromechanical solutions for the industrial, medical, and transportation sectors. She has led Intervala since it’s inception in January 2016 and is responsible for leading the company’s strategic direction and long-term growth. Teresa was named 2018 CEO of the Year by the Pittsburgh Technology Council. Teresa previously served as chief executive officer for TMG Electronics and chief opera...
Feb 20, 2019•23 min
Nick Merich has been an entrepreneur for a while. As a kid, he’s ring doorbells and ask to mow lawns for money. Today, he DMs the world’s biggest music artist to educate them about his service, Songlink. Songlink empowers musicians to share their music more efficiently with platform-agnostic links. In this discussion, Aaron and Nick talk about the disintermediation of the music industry, how Nick DMs dozens of artists every day, and why they’ve stayed bootstrapped. Never miss one of our best epi...
Feb 18, 2019•41 min
Courtney Ehrlichman is an expert in mobility and specializes in advising economic development organizations, startup founders, venture capitalists, and government agencies. Her job requires fluency in new modalities of mobility, connected/autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, and smart city applications. Her background is extensive. She designed and implemented Carnegie Mellon University’s Smart Mobility Challenge in Southwestern PA, matching identified mobility needs of local municipali...
Feb 13, 2019•44 min
Aaron Morris is a roboticist and computer vision expert working on his third startup. After earning a PHD from Carnegie Mellon University, Aaron has spent his career in the world of autonomous robots, mapping, perception, computer vision, planning systems and machine learning. His career has placed him in companies at varying sizes and stages where he has launched products, raised venture investment, and built products. His second startup, AllPoint Systems was acquired by Autodesk, which led to ...
Feb 11, 2019•37 min
How do you go from selling medical equipment to running a high-end clothing company? Ask David Alan. David Alan Clothing company produces custom clothing, but it has been a long and arduous process to figure out this industry. In this interview, David graciously shares his experiences finding manufacturers in China, keeping celebrity clients happy, and outworking the competition. David taught himself to sew from YouTube and sunk his life savings into making his company a reality. This degree of ...
Feb 04, 2019•39 min
There are plenty of people that think they have a good chili recipe. Very few bet their careers on it. That’s what first caught our eye about Jordan Robarge. After working in the startup world as a Venture for America fellow, Jordan started a food truck business called Revival Chili. He found success quickly and was profitable within three months. Revival Chili’s business is simple: Sell delicious chili products to the people of Pittsburgh in a tiny house style food truck. What makes it differen...
Jan 28, 2019•42 min
It takes guts, vision, and intelligence to see where things are going before everyone else and act upon it. Tracy Certo is the founder and publisher of NEXTpittsburgh, an online magazine about the people advancing Pittsburgh and the cool and innovative things happening in the region. Tracy previously started the first online publication in Pittsburgh as editor and then publisher 11 years ago and left to launch NEXT in 2014. In this conversation, Aaron and Tracy discuss how Tracy has grown as a b...
Jan 21, 2019•30 min
Rachel Reid founded her cosmetics company, Subtl Beauty, to better serve women on the go. Her line of makeup products comes in compact, customizable stacks that can be easily thrown into a purse or bag. Rachel first realized this need when she was consulting during the summer of 2016. Since she wasn’t even spending 2 nights a week in her own home, she needed a beauty solution that traveled well and could fit in a small clutch. Now, she is challenging the status quo of lazy, bulky cosmetic design...
Jan 14, 2019•37 min
You gotta check out part One before listening to this one. In Part Two, Jason discusses his current companies, how he invested in Glen Meakam's company ( Forever.com ), and how he thinks about giving back to others. Never miss one of our best episodes by subscribing to the newsletter . Jason’s Challenge; Give more. Be Kind. Pull someone else up. Connect with Jason Linkedin Website jason@wolfe.com If you liked this interview, check out episode 263 with Audrey Russo where we discuss what the Pitts...
Jan 08, 2019•22 min
Jason Wolfe is an entrepreneur through and through. After growing up in the Milton Hershey School, an orphanage founded by Milton Hershey, Jason found himself living out of his car. He taught himself how to code by using books at the local library and CompUSA's 'Building the Perfect Web'. This led to building the first coupon website and launching his first internet business. From 1995 to 2000, Jason built the business, raising $500k in VC from Jupiter Media and garnering >$1 million in annua...
Jan 07, 2019•44 min
Anthony Hughes is the CEO and founder of Tech Elevator, a coding bootcamp programs with physical locations across the Midwest. His work is oriented around supporting people in rapidly acquiring technology skills so they can have more meaningful careers. Anthony previously worked for JumpStart, an economic development organization focused on startups in Northeast Ohio. At JumpStart, he founded the Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program, which matched successful entrepreneurs and executives with buddin...
Dec 26, 2018•37 min
Pittsburgh is a sports town. But, is the city ready to rally for gaming? Rob Lee thinks so. He co-founded the Pittsburgh Knights to compete in esports competitions like PUBG, Fortnite, and Super Smash Bros. He also recently inked a partnership with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Their core mission is to take the best practices from traditional sports and apply them to esports. Pittsburgh is the City of Champions; it has a long history of strong sports franchises and passionate fans. Can they continue ...
Dec 19, 2018•32 min
I sat down with Jamilka Borges for 45 minutes on a cold December morning to find out. She’s run kitchens at a number of Pittsburgh’s finest restaurants and surely has some stories to tell from each experience. Jamilka is currently the Executive Chef at Independent Brewing Company & Hidden Harbor, which is part of the S+P Restaurant Group. Prior to joining IBC & Hidden Harbor, she served as Executive Chef at Pittsburgh’s Spoon, the Livermore and Bar Marco. She has an expertise in French, ...
Dec 17, 2018•45 min
Jim Gibbs is the CEO & Co-founder of Meter Feeder, a low cost payment and enforcement solution for small to mid-sized governments. Jim’s startup is modernizing the way that people pay for parking and has already been through Y Combinator in the winter of 2016. The company is headquartered in Braddock and can boast a considerably lower burn rate than companies that stuck around in the Bay Area. In this conversation, Aaron & Jim discuss the how he sells into municipalities, why his technol...
Dec 10, 2018•30 min
Toni Murphy is a VP at Comcast Business and can teach you a lot about leadership. At Comcast, Toni leads a team of more than 150 across four states. She is a force in shaping cultural transformation at the company by leading the creation of the Keystone Region’s Diversity & Inclusion Council. She also acts as executive champion for its Black Employee Network. Prior to Comcast, Toni worked in Investment Banking at UBS and the Gores Group. Aaron and Toni discuss how she mentors hundreds of peo...
Dec 03, 2018•34 min
Kevin Sousa is the chef and owner of Superior Motors, an American restaurant that opened in July 2017 in Pittsburgh. It was named one of the World’s 100 Greatest Places by Time Magazine, a Top 10 best restaurant in the country by Food and Wine Magazine, and the best new restaurant of 2018 by Pittsburgh Magazine The restaurant was partially funded through Kickstarter, setting a record for a restaurant by raising $310,225 to break ground Kevin was previously the chef/owner of Salt of the Earth, Un...
Nov 26, 2018•31 min
I solicited my friends for advice and wisdom they wish they had when they were 27.
Nov 20, 2018•9 min
Priya Amin is the cofounder of Flexable, a company that specializes in providing pop up childcare at professional & personal events, offices, and retail stores. Priya discovered this need when she became a mother and realized she was missing out on networking opportunities and events because of her need for childcare. Together with previous guest Jessica Strong , she founded Flexable to solve the problem and create a more inclusive business community. She holds an MBA from the University of ...
Nov 19, 2018•27 min
Kate Zarvis has been in the beauty industry since she was 15 and got a job washing hair. Now, she owns her own nail salon that is growing rapidly. Hannah and I cam by her salon to learn about how she’s doing it. Perhaps the most interesting idea we touched on was the difficulty technology will have in disrupting her industry. Never miss one of our best episodes by subscribing to the newsletter . Kate’s Challenge; Stop comparing yourself to other people on social media. Connect with Kate Facebook...
Nov 12, 2018•26 min
Piper Creative CEO Aaron Watson was invited to speak to the Professional Sales Class at Duquesne University. Aaron made a point of driving home that every college student should establish a presence on LinkedIn and use it to find their next job. 2018 is the year of LinkedIn. It will likely never be as good again.
Oct 22, 2018•44 min
Dave Mastovich is the founder and CEO of Massolutions. In this conversation talks about how he transitioned out of the corporate world into owning his own business and how he developed entrepreneurial tendencies while working in other businesses. Dave has been on the cutting edge of utilizing the gig economy to build his business and has inspired his team to be creative, loyal, and scrappy through trust and freedom. Never miss one of our best episodes by subscribing to the newsletter . Dave’s Ch...
Oct 17, 2018•41 min
Bri Conley is the founder of No. 14 Boutique in Lawrenceville, one of the few shops bucking the trend of “The Death of Retail”. How? By establishing great relationships with clients, staying on top of fashion trends to offer a distinct selection, and masterfully utilizing Snapchat and Instagram to create demand. In this conversation, Brianne explains how she used Snapchat & Instagram stories to drive demand, what she felt like the market was missing when she opened her store, and how she’s b...
Oct 15, 2018•35 min
Amir Banifatemi is the General Manager for Innovation and Growth at XPrize and is an Executive Advisor for the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE & the ANA Avatar XPRIZE. Prior to joining XPRIZE, Mr. Banifatemi began his career at the European Space Agency and then held executive positions at Airbus, AP-HP and the European Commission division for information society and media. He’s previously managed two venture capital funds and contributed to the formation of more than 10 startups with emphasis on Infor...
Oct 10, 2018•31 min
Michael Hruska is a technologist with experiences spanning across standards, emerging technologies, learning, and science. He is a former researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and now provides technology, business model and innovation solutions to Fortune 500, government and startups. His team has built award winning products and delivered solutions that support millions of users. Michael is an advisor/mentor to ed tech startups for GSV Capital. Michael hosts a monthly...
Oct 08, 2018•36 min
