Abdo John Hajj is the Managing Partner at Type One Ventures, a multi-dimensional investor and former founder who's deployed over a billion dollars into some of the most transformative companies in tech, AI, and space—names like SpaceX, OpenAI, and Neuralink. With a bold mission to accelerate humanity’s path to a Type One Civilization, Abdo combines a cinematic storytelling background with deep conviction in frontier technologies. In Today's Episode We Discuss: 00:01 – Welcome and guest intro 01:...
Jul 13, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 176
Malcolm De Leo is the Co-founder and Chief Business Officer at GraphIQ, an innovation-first platform redefining how enterprises discover and connect with business intelligence. With a PhD in chemistry and a 20+ year career spanning Clorox, Orbital Insight, and Quantified, Malcolm has built a reputation for evangelizing innovation, data-driven transformation, and cultural change inside legacy organizations. In this episode, he shares how GraphIQ was born from repeated market frustration, and why ...
Jul 08, 2025•47 min•Ep. 174
Chris O'Neill is a seasoned tech executive with over 25 years of leadership experience at companies like Google, Glean, and Xero. As the current CEO of GrowthLoop and a board member at GAF, Chris brings deep expertise in AI, cloud, and go-to-market strategy. With a track record of navigating both wartime turnarounds and scaling peacetime operations, he offers a rare blend of operational rigor and visionary thinking. In this episode, he shares why the concept of “wartime vs. peacetime leadership”...
Jul 03, 2025•55 min•Ep. 173
Oliver Libby is the co-founding Managing Partner of H/L Ventures and City Rock Venture Partners. With nearly two decades of experience backing high-impact, mission-driven startups, he has pioneered a unique venture studio model rooted in daily active engagement. He's also the co-founder and Chair of the Resolution Project, which has helped launch over 1,000 social ventures around the world. In this episode, he offers a deep dive into values-driven investing, the future of venture capital, and th...
Jul 02, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 172
David Meerman Scott is a marketing strategist, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR, and the originator of the term “newsjacking.” With a career that spans decades and a front-row seat to the evolution of real-time, fan-first marketing, David offers insights into how founders and brands can break through the noise without losing their authenticity. In this episode, he shares how to humanize your marketing, leverage AI with purpose, and turn passion into influence. In Today’s E...
Jun 25, 2025•54 min•Ep. 171
Mala Ramakrishnan is the founder and managing partner of Progressive Ventures. A Stanford-trained computer scientist, she brings over two decades of experience as a technologist, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. With multiple startup exits and a background as head of privacy at WhatsApp, Mala offers rare insight into B2B AI SaaS, privacy, and inclusive investing. In this episode, she shares her journey from founding startups in grad school to launching a mission-driven VC fund focused on em...
Jun 23, 2025•39 min•Ep. 170
What if the secret to building enduring billion-dollar businesses isn't chasing growth at all costs—but betting on slower, more sustainable scale, even if it means skipping the traditional exit? Jim Curry thinks most of Silicon Valley has it backwards—and he’s proving it, one founder-led company at a time. Jim Curry is the co-founder of Build Group, a $330M permanent capital firm that invests in long-term, operator-led businesses. Before that, he co-founded OpenStack while at Rackspace and playe...
Jun 18, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 169
Osama Elkady is the co-founder and CEO of Incorta, the only open data delivery platform enabling real-time analysis across all systems of record without complex ETL. With nearly two decades at Oracle—where he led innovations in BI, mobile strategy, and enterprise reporting—Osama holds several patents in data architecture and has helped numerous Fortune 100 companies become real-time enterprises. In this episode, he offers deep insights into unlocking the true power of enterprise data, challengin...
Jun 16, 2025•50 min•Ep. 168
Minha Hwang is a principal applied scientist with a rare blend of technical depth and cross-disciplinary experience—holding dual PhDs in materials science and marketing science. He’s spent his career at the intersection of machine learning, experimentation, and causal inference, helping scale some of the most sophisticated AI evaluation systems in the world. Prior to his current work, Minha helped launch a data science arm within a major consulting firm and served as a business school professor ...
Jun 09, 2025•37 min•Ep. 167
Steve Kann is a Partner at Ocean Street Partners, a prolific investor, capital markets strategist, and Amazon #1 bestselling author of Microcap Magic. With over 30 years of experience in investment banking, public markets, and entrepreneurship, Steve has advised or raised over $1 billion in deals. He’s known for uncovering massive value in overlooked public companies and helping growth-stage startups navigate IPOs, M&A, and strategic fundraising with precision. Prior to Ocean Street, Steve b...
Jun 05, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 166
What do Looney Tunes, hedge funds, and a $10M smartwatch Kickstarter have in common? For Benjamin Bryant, they’re all part of the unlikely path that led him to become one of the most prolific early-stage investors in YC history. A former VFX engineer turned Pebble exec turned venture fund builder, Benjamin now runs the AngelList Demo Day Funds—backing hundreds of YC startups with a quantitative edge and a founder’s intuition. In this episode, Benjamin unpacks what 480+ startup investments have t...
May 27, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 165
What happens when a Bay Street dealmaker trades spreadsheets for seed rounds—and turns Canada’s next wave of startups into a global force? Alex Norman, co-founder of N49P and Canadian partner of TechTO, went from investment banking and private equity to becoming one of the country’s most connected early-stage investors and ecosystem builders. Through N49P, he’s backing founders who are flipping the script on what Canadian innovation looks like—scaling globally from day one, with grit, ambition, ...
May 22, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 164
What if one of the sharpest minds in finance wasn’t shaped by textbooks—but by watching Lehman Brothers collapse from the inside? Chris Zaccarelli, CIO of Northlight Asset Management and co-founder of Beacon Capital Advisory Group, went from coding derivatives at Goldman Sachs to redefining how everyday investors navigate risk, recession, and returns. A Cornell-trained computer scientist and CFA, Chris shares how a career across Wall Street’s biggest players taught him that the real edge in inve...
May 21, 2025•43 min•Ep. 163
What if one of the boldest early-stage investors in frontier tech got her start chasing down a job over yoga pants and no website? Kristina Simmons, founder and managing partner of Overwater Ventures, began her career launching Lululemon’s e-commerce before rising through the ranks at Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures. Now she’s channeling that rare mix of brand, ops, and VC experience into Overwater, a fund built to help science-backed startups become world-shifting companies. From AI-pow...
May 13, 2025•46 min•Ep. 162
What if the most viral bedding brand in America was born not from a lifelong passion—but from a movie scene that made its founder furious? Colin McIntosh, founder and CEO of Sheets & Giggles, turned a rage-fueled reaction to War Dogs into a fast-growing, pun-powered DTC bedding company built on eucalyptus, humor, and heart. A Techstars alum, former pitch coach, and comedy nerd, Colin shares how he scaled from an impulsive business plan to a record-breaking Indiegogo launch, a Good Morning Am...
May 12, 2025•50 min•Ep. 161
What if the person shaping the future of AI at one of the world’s biggest companies started by modeling the brains of bumblebees? Daniel Hulme, Chief AI Officer at WPP and founder of Satalia (acquired by WPP), is a rare hybrid: academic, founder, and futurist. Now he’s building Consium—the first commercial research organization focused on machine consciousness—while leading AI transformation across a 120,000-person creative empire. In this episode, we dive into how Daniel built a bootstrapped AI...
May 08, 2025•59 min•Ep. 160
If your startup’s logo disappeared tomorrow, would anyone still remember your brand? Today’s guest, Michelle B. Griffin, knows exactly why the answer matters. As a Forbes-featured visibility strategist, author of The LinkedIn Branding Book, and founder of Brand Leaders, Michelle has built a career helping B2B founders stop hiding behind logos and start standing out as authority brands. After starting her career shaping the images of global sports giants and corporate titans, Michelle realized th...
May 04, 2025•40 min•Ep. 159
What if your first investor didn’t just invest in startups—but had personally helped launch thousands? Jenny Fielding, former Managing Director at Techstars and now Co-Founder of Everywhere Ventures, has been behind some of the biggest startup successes you’ve heard of—and is now reimagining how early-stage investing works in a borderless world. From scaling companies as a two-time founder to accelerating hundreds at Techstars, Jenny brings a unique lens to what it really takes to back founders ...
Apr 30, 2025•52 min•Ep. 158
What if your biggest startup insight came not from a spreadsheet—but from knocking on 150 doors and listening? Louis Retief is the co-founder and former CEO of Hubly, a vertical SaaS platform that reimagined how financial advisors manage compliance, capacity, and client service. What began as a peer-to-peer lending idea pivoted—through sheer grit and real-world curiosity—into a back-office automation engine used by hundreds of firms, eventually leading to an acquisition by Docupace as WealthTech...
Apr 28, 2025•55 min•Ep. 157
What if your first investor not only knew how to scale a brand—but had built them alongside Jay-Z, Will Smith, and Kevin Hart? Samyr Laine, Olympic triple jumper turned Harvard-trained lawyer and VC, is the co-founder of Freedom Trail Capital—a venture firm backing consumer brands at the intersection of culture, lifestyle, and influence. From Roc Nation to Westbrook, from athlete to operator, Samyr brings a rare lens to talent-led ventures—investing in the next generation of consumer breakouts w...
Apr 23, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 156
What happens when a finance-savvy product leader, obsessed with automating herself out of a job, meets the generational shift in AI? Erin Kim, former Carta exec and investment banker turned founder, is reimagining what a finance team even is. Now CEO of Mesh, Erin is building a fully agentic AI-powered finance team—starting with automated bookkeeping and reconciliation. In this episode, we dive into how Mesh is replacing traditional workflows with intelligent agents, the trust challenges of AI i...
Apr 21, 2025•29 min•Ep. 155
What if cracking video game copy protection as a teenager could someday lead you to reshape how Main Street businesses adopt AI? Mike Ghaffary’s journey is anything but typical: from reverse-engineering games at age 12 to co-founding Stitcher (acquired for $300M) and scaling Eat24 to $750M GMV as Yelp’s Head of BD turned CEO. Now as General Partner at Burst Capital, he’s backing the next generation of AI, software, and marketplace startups—especially those empowering the overlooked backbone of t...
Apr 17, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 154
What if your first check came from someone who actually understood your scrappy MVP, your emerging market, and your ramen-burn rate lifestyle? Ali Jamal, global operator turned full-time investor, is the founding partner of First Check Ventures—one of AngelList’s most prolific syndicates, now evolved into a pre-seed fund backing founders in 30+ countries. With experience scaling at Zynga, Agoda, and Rappi, and over 200 startup investments under his belt, Ali brings an eye for overlooked gems and...
Apr 16, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 153
What if your favorite store knew exactly what you wanted—before you even asked? Alain Denzler, bootstrapped founder turned AI commerce pioneer, is making that vision real. As co-founder and CEO of getitAI, Alain is transforming e-commerce with AI-powered live store avatars that act like personal shoppers—turning product pages into real-time, high-conversion conversations. After scaling Pitcher, a sales enablement platform, to double-digit millions in ARR and a successful exit, Alain is back with...
Apr 10, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 152
What if business valuations were as fast and affordable as ordering an Uber? Cameron Long, ex-consultant turned fintech founder, is betting on it. As COO and co-founder of ValueBuddy, Cameron is helping banks ditch the $5K, 3-week manual appraisals for AI-powered reports that cost half as much and arrive in days. With roots in management consulting and private equity, Cameron brings a framework-driven mindset to a surprisingly broken process—valuing small businesses for SBA loans. In this episod...
Apr 06, 2025•35 min•Ep. 151
What do derivatives trading and credit card points have in common? More than you'd think—especially when the person connecting the dots is John Taylor Garner. As the former volatility trader turned founder & CEO of Odynn, John is building the infrastructure to fix the fractured world of loyalty rewards. Named to Focusrite’s 35 Under 35 and featured in Bloomberg and Wired, he’s helping banks and fintechs retain customers by transforming how users redeem points across travel and finance platfo...
Apr 02, 2025•56 min•Ep. 150
In this episode of the Ignite Podcast, Brian Bell interviews Peter Livingston, founder and GP of Unpopular Ventures. Peter shares how his journey from being the first engineer at iRhythm to an angel investor was shaped by early lessons in under-compensation and startup chaos. After a frustrating experience with equity negotiations, he pursued an MBA at Stanford, which expanded his network and perspectives. A failed startup post-MBA proved more educational than his earlier success and underscored...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 8 min
In this episode of the Ignite Podcast, Brian Bell sits down with Cole Napper, a leading voice in people analytics, workforce planning, and talent intelligence. As VP of Research at Lightcast and co-host of the "Directionally Correct" podcast, Cole brings a wealth of knowledge from his experience leading HR innovations at global organizations like FedEx, Toyota, and Pepsi. Together, they explore the evolution of people analytics, its growing role in shaping the future of work, and how it intersec...
Mar 26, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 148
In this episode of the Ignite Podcast, Brian Bell sits down with Xan Wood, investor at Canvas Ventures, to explore his unconventional path into venture capital. From building an events business in Edinburgh to working in private equity across Asia, Xan shares how his diverse global experience led him to co-found Courtyard Ventures at Berkeley and ultimately join Canvas, where he now leads Series A and B investments in fintech, digital health, and AI. The conversation dives into the differences b...
Mar 25, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 147
In this episode of The Ignite Podcast, host Brian Bell sits down with Kevin Carter, founder and CIO of EMQQ Global, to explore the evolution of emerging market investing. Kevin shares his unconventional entry into finance—hired after a 20-minute chat about college basketball—and how reading Burton Malkiel’s A Random Walk Down Wall Street shaped his approach. He explains his shift from active investing to indexing, driven by mutual fund inefficiencies and the long-term benefits of passive strateg...
Mar 24, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 146
