Today we’re celebrating the 100th episode of If Not Now Wen. Thank you to all the listeners. Your support truly means the world to me. In this episode we’re switching things up a bit, and I’m passing the mic to my dear friend Wendy Shew. People often ask to hear more about my story, so I thought it would be fun to have a conversation and dive more into my journey. You may already know that I am the founder of the INNW Institute, a global accelerator supporting entrepreneurs from all over the wor...
Dec 27, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 100
In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re excited to talk with special guest Jason Scharf. Jason is a bio strategy leader and active early-stage investor in the life science and digital health sectors. He has built and led teams in strategic planning, market intelligence, and innovation at large biopharma, genomics, and medtech companies. In addition to his roles within the corporate environment, Jason has served as a co-fund manager of the San Diego Angel Conference, an investor with NuFund V...
Dec 20, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 100
In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re excited to talk with special guest Wendy Shew. As a first generation Asian American, Wendy experienced firsthand how education can ultimately become the equalizer in anyone’s life. At an early age, she experienced the tragedy of losing her mother, which has become her catalyst for 25 years in social impact work. Determined to break through gender barriers, Wendy studied aviation, learned to fly single engine prop planes, and worked in the international...
Dec 13, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 99
My special guest in today’s episode of If Not Now Wen is Igor Vainshtein, a serial entrepreneur from Australia. Igor started his entrepreneurial journey at age 16 building websites in 1996, when most people didn’t even know what a website was. When Igor was a child, his parents migrated from former USSR (Moldova/Ukraine) to Australia in search of a brighter future. Following in his father’s steps, Igor became passionate about tech and built a successful career in IT, later becoming CTO for sever...
Nov 15, 2022•59 min•Season 1Ep. 98
In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re excited to talk with special guest Marc Nathan. Marc is an experienced leader in the technology startup community with a talent for connecting entrepreneurial business owners to customers, employees, investors, and partners. Marc is the Vice President of Client Strategy of a law firm based in Austin, Texas where he helps his clients discover appropriate capital sources, and he founded T-Squared Agency to support selected clients with a comprehensive gr...
Nov 08, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 97
My special guest in today’s episode of If Not Now Wen is Deanna Brown. Deanna is an early-stage innovation specialist and start-up strategist. She is recognized for delivering extraordinary growth and innovation for some of the world’s most influential brands such as Yahoo and AOL. Today Deanna is a managing partner for PMC Venture, a venture fund based in Austin, TX. Deanna is passionate about supporting diverse teams and mission driven founders. She believes that it’s time for more diversity i...
Nov 01, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 96
My special guest in today’s episode of If Not Now Wen is my friend and mentor, Satish Kambalimath. Satish is a serial entrepreneur who has over 25 years of experience in a vast array of leadership roles at IBM, AT&T Bell Labs, Lucent, Cadence and Niksun. Satish has held senior leadership positions at Fortune 500 companies as well as startups, and he has a proven track record in taking emerging technologies from inception to market validation, customer acquisition and revenue growth. He is cu...
Oct 18, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 95
In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re excited to talk with special guest Heather Emerson. Heather is a founder of Prep To Your Door, a food business serving Austin, TX and beyond organic, farm-to-table meals in zero-waste packaging. Heather is passionate about the impact food has on human health as well as on the environment. Her mission is to change food through strengthening local food systems so that everybody wins: the community, our health, our planet. In this episode we discuss: 🔹 O...
Oct 04, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 94
In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re excited to talk with special guest and serial entrepreneur Daran Herrman. Daran is the founder and CEO of Goboto, a full-service marketing firm that brings efficiency to the online real estate marketplace. He is the host of the Establishing Your Empire show which is a podcast that inspires entrepreneurs, creatives, and future business owners to pursue their passions, grow their organization, and build their empire. Daran is a natural leader and visiona...
Sep 20, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 93
My special guest in today’s episode of If Not Now Wen is Brian Beck. Brian is the Managing Partner and co-founder of Sabio Tech Partners, an Austin-based technology advisory firm focused on helping middle market private equity firms achieve greater investment valuation with reduced risk. Sabio has developed an innovative approach and toolset, called “Quality of Technology”, specifically designed to enable private equity firms to conduct robust and rapid technology diligence of their potential ac...
Sep 13, 2022•59 min•Season 1Ep. 92
In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re excited to talk with special guest Joshua Lee. Joshua is a serial entrepreneur who has built 16 companies throughout his career. Today he is an expert on LinkedIn and is proud to have earned the nickname “The Dopamine Dealer of LinkedIn”. Joshua is the founder and CEO of StandOut Authority where he works with entrepreneurs to help humanize professional or company brands on LinkedIn using authentic, inspirational engagement with your clients or audience...
Sep 06, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 91
In today’s episode of If Not Now wen, we’re talking with special guest Shawn Flynn. Shawn started his life as a business owner founding and growing a successful company in Beijing China before returning to the US to work with companies ranging from fast growing Silicon Valley startups to established overseas public companies. He brings his international experience working with all stages and sectors of businesses to his role as Principal at a premier middle market investment bank with expertise ...
Aug 23, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 90
My special guest in today’s episode of If Not Now Wen is Rajesh Gopi. Rajesh is the co-founder at TWO12, an Austin-based FinTech SaaS company providing equity management and fund administration solutions. Rajesh is passionate about supporting founders to build great companies by sharing valuable lessons learned from his experience being part of multiple successful startups. In this episode we discuss: 🔹 The drive to step outside of your comfort zone 🔹 How you can capture the market without a l...
Aug 09, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 89
Welcome to today’s episode of If Not Now Wen. We are talking with special guest and serial entrepreneur Henrik Johansson. Henrik co-founded and built the product company Boundless into a $100M company. Currently he is the co-founder and CEO of Gembah, a product development platform and marketplace with a vision to democratize product innovation. Henrik specializes in technology-enabled services, marketplaces, and software as a service. He is an expert on scaling startups, building world-class te...
Aug 02, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 88
We’re so excited to be talking with special guest Jaclynn Brennan in today’s episode of If Not Now Wen. Jaclynn is a creative executive and expert on connecting between business and branding. She has over a decade of experience as a creative director for a variety of luxury fashion brands. Jaclynn has helped lead twenty-two major corporations in executing their branding strategies, and she is also the authority on taking brands, organizations, and entrepreneurs on to the next level of their succ...
Jul 26, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 87
In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re talking with special guest Joel Trammell. Joel is a serial entrepreneur and lifelong learner who is super passionate about building great organizations. His leadership has led to multiple successful exits and exceptional investor returns over his 30-year career. Joel is the owner of Texas CEO Magazine, which reaches more than 10,000 CEOs across the state. He is a pioneer in the field of CEO education and training. After discovering there might be some ...
Jul 19, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 86
Today we’re talking with special guest and serial entrepreneur Christine Prydatko. Christine is a founding partner in Simple Vodka, a fully sustainable product with a social impact model. She is the co-publisher and SVP of business development at James Lane Post, a media company and publication on the East End of Long Island, New York. She has also joined Ethereal Global which is a web3, blockchain, & NFT consulting firm, and is also producing the first ever Hamptons Tech Week. Christine als...
Jul 12, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 85
In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re talking with special guest Juan Ignacio. Juan was born and raised in his beautiful country, Costa Rica. He has extensive experience in country development strategy, as well as in the investment, wealth management, and real estate development sectors, where he has served as a general manager and director of expansion and marketing for Central America and consultant for renowned national and international firms. He earned his bachelor's degree from Corne...
Jun 21, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 84
My special guest in today’s episode of If Not Now When is Rena Pacheco-Theard. Rena is the CEO of Boutiq, which is building a trusted vacation rental brand and real estate investment engine. At Boutiq they use data science to acquire and manage luxury vacation rentals. They believe that time is precious, and special memories will last a lifetime. Prior to launching Boutiq, Rena came from a corporate as well as a startup world. She earned her MBA from MIT, Master of Public Affairs from University...
Jun 14, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 83
In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re talking with our special guest Chris Fronda. Chris comes from a corporate background with years of experience in software development. Today he is a chief logic officer at Logictry where they are helping organizations overcome knowledge transfer and software development challenges and streamline their business for success. Chris loves continuous learning and helping other people learn complex topics. His current passion project aims to provide better d...
Jun 07, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 82
My special guest in today’s episode is Brooke Bains. Brooke has over 20 years in sales, go-to-market operations, and consulting for businesses, whether publicly traded, privately held, or venture-backed companies. She is passionate about the customer experience and believes that this is where the journey to creating valuable partnerships ultimately begins. Brooke founded the company Bombshell, simplifying business travel for women. She is currently the Chief Commercial Officer with Thinktiv, a v...
May 24, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 81
In today’s podcast we’re speaking to Chris Beaman who is a software developer, product designer, growth marketer, and serial entrepreneur. Over the past 10 years, Chris has built several companies, as well as mentored dozens of early-stage founders. A natural super connector, Chris is most passionate about introducing great people. In his current role as CEO at Astronomic, Chris is building software to connect founders with the cofounders, advisors, investors, contractors, and employees who will...
May 17, 2022•59 min•Season 1Ep. 80
My special guest in today’s episode of If Not Now Wen is Martin Martinez. He is the Entrepreneur in Residence at Founder Institute, the world’s most proven network to turn an idea into startup and turn a startup into global business since 2009, helping 5500 companies across the world and on six continents. Martin is also the host and producer for the online show Global Startup Report and Founder Showcase Series. He is passionate about supporting founders as an advisor and he serves on the adviso...
May 03, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 79
Today I want to share a little bit more about my story and my why. I was born and raised in a little mountain town in China. There were no cars, no internet, no way out. Girls like me were expected to follow a specific path, but I never saw myself in it. I always dreamed about seeing the world beyond the mountain. In the episode I will share: 🔹 How the discovery of a cassette tape changed my life 🔹 Why my years in the startup space and then working in businesses operating at the large and glob...
Apr 21, 2022•9 min•Season 1Ep. 78
My special guest in today’s episode is a successful multi-disciplinary leader working with amazing people at global innovators, including NASA (Senior Engineer), Goldman Sachs (VP - Product Strategy), Hypersciences (COO), and ibble (Co-Founder and CEO). Raymond Kaminski's goal is to bring accessibility to complex ideas, and this is such an inspiring episode, I know you're going to love to hear! On the podcast, we discuss: 🔹How taking risks can lead to huge rewards 🔹How failure can be a game th...
Apr 06, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 77
My special guest in today’s episode is long time Silicon Valley technology and startup veteran, Paul O’Brien. Paul has been in Austin, Texas for a dozen years and is heavily involved in the startup boom of the state, working at the crossroads of economic development and venture capital. He’s a founder and the CEO of MediaTech Ventures, a venture development company in Media, worked to bring Founder Institute and MassChallenge to Texas, serves on the board of a number of startup incubators and ac...
Mar 10, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Season 1Ep. 76
On today’s podcast, we are joined by the inspiring Marcos Gutierrez, who is the CEO of QA Systems, Inc based in Austin, Texas. With over fifteen years in the high tech industry, Marcos leads his businesses with a motivational and charismatic methodology that promotes constant personal and professional improvement. Marcos has worked with both commercial and public entities of all sizes by promoting an excellent customer service mentality which creates and cultivates long-term business relationshi...
Feb 22, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 75
In today's episode, welcome with me the CEO of global consultancy "Strategy Sprints", Simon Severino. Simon is the author of "Strategy Sprints" & "Habits of Success" , Creator of the Strategy Sprints Method , and a contributor for Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine . He's also a member of Silicon Valley Blockchain Society and the #1 speaker on agile strategy and agile sales. In his 19 years of entrepreneurship, he has executed hundreds of go-to-market strategies with B2B teams around the globe...
Feb 15, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 74
In today’s episode, my special guest is the Founder and Chief Experience Officer of MODintelechy, Scott Thomas. Scott has an impressive background which includes corporate/marketing strategy and execution, lead generation, intellectual property licensing, and software selection/implementation. He worked for and with several industry leaders. Prior to founding Intelechy Group, a leading Revenue Growth Marketing Agency, Scott was the Director of Client Marketing, Lead Development at Rainmaker Syst...
Feb 01, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 73
In today’s podcast, we are speaking to CEO and co-founder of DivInc., Preston L James II. Preston is a startup advisor/consultant, investor and evangelist for tech startups with 25+ years in the technology sector, mostly in IT technology sales/consulting. Preston joins us today to talk about his work on diversity and inclusion and to give us a different perspective on how to approach our differences as humans. We discuss: - How to approach differences with curiosity instead of assuming the negat...
Jan 25, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 72
