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Just Go Grind

Justin Gordonwww.justgogrind.com
Tactics, strategies, and stories of world-class founders and investors. Hosted by Justin Gordon.
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Episodes

#251: Steve Massey, Co-Founder & CEO of Prewitt Ridge, on Partnering with NASA JPL, His Experience at Techstars, Lessons from His Time at SpaceX and Slingshot Aerospace, and Building Collaboration Software for Deep Tech Teams

Steve Massey is co-founder and CEO of Prewitt Ridge , which was founded in 2019 to tackle the largest meta-problem in deep tech: systems engineering. They reduce friction in collaborative design efforts by connecting critical data elements between engineering teams and offering git-like tracking of project-wide changes. Prior to co-founding Prewitt Ridge, Steve was at Slingshot Aerospace for 2 years where he led the development of their real-time edge analytics pipeline working with USAF and def...

Dec 14, 202043 min

#250: Matteo Franceschetti, Co-Founder & CEO of Eight Sleep, an Innovative Sleep Fitness Startup That's Raised $60M+ from Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, and Other Top Investors

Matteo Franceschetti has always been obsessed with performance. Athletic performance, business performance, and now sleep performance. An athlete from a young age—he was a competitive ski racer in his native Italy and played tennis and raced cars on the European stage—Matteo has always been focused on winning, and on winning in record time. That drive to succeed propelled him from sports podiums to the top tier of the international legal world and to start two clean-tech companies on two contine...

Dec 11, 202048 min

#249: Deon Nicholas, Co-Founder & CEO of Forethought, on Raising $27M from Top VCs, the Importance of Self-Awareness as a Founder, and Building an Innovative Company Empowering Customer Support Teams with AI

Deon is the Founder of Forethought . Previously, Deon built products and infrastructure at Facebook, Palantir, Dropbox, and Pure Storage. He has ML publications and infrastructure patents, was a World Finalist at the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, and was named to Forbes 30 under 30. Originally from Canada, Deon enjoys spending time with his wife and son, playing basketball, and reading as many books as he can get his hands on. Some of the Topics Covered by Deon Nicholas in th...

Dec 09, 202046 min

#248: Emily Best, Founder & CEO of Seed&Spark, a Platform that Makes Entertainment More Diverse, Inclusive, Connected, and Essential

Emily Best is the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark , a platform that makes entertainment more diverse, inclusive, connected, and essential. Seed&Spark’s platform and national education program have helped thousands of bold storytellers raise millions to bring to life entirely new stories, and Seed&Spark delivers those stories into workplaces for employee training, engagement, and intelligence through their proprietary Impact Screening Platform. They gather the qualitative and quantitati...

Dec 07, 202048 min

#247: Andrew Kline, Founder & Managing Director at Park Lane, a Sports-Based Investment Bank, and Former NFL Athlete with the St. Louis Rams

Andrew Kline brings a broad background of professional sports experience, investment banking expertise, and industry knowledge to Park Lane . Kline has advised on M&A transactions in all of the major sports and also been fundamental in obtaining financing for many early-stage sports-based businesses. Kline is currently a member of the Stanford Executive Circle, Young Presidents Organization (YPO), the Association of Corporate Growth, the NFLPA, and the NFL Retired Players Association. In 201...

Dec 04, 202050 min

#246: Kalyan Varma, Co-Founder & CEO at Almabase, on Hitting $100K MRR, Value-Based Pricing, GTM Strategy, and Helping Universities & High Schools Build Relationships with Alumni and Increase Donations

Kalyan Varma is a co-founder and CEO at Almabase , a company that helps universities and high schools build lifelong relationships with their alumni and drive higher donations. Educational institutions do a poor job of maintaining a good relationship with their alumni after they graduate. Typically the only time alumni hear from their alma mater is when they are being asked to donate. This broken relationship leads to an extremely low alumni donation rate (~2%). Almabase's SaaS platform provides...

Dec 02, 202047 min

#245: Melanie Stricklan, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer at Slingshot Aerospace, a Company Building Situational Awareness Technology to Bring Clarity to Complex Environments and Create a Safer World

Melanie Stricklan is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Slingshot Aerospace , which applies advanced analytics, computer vision, and collaborative tools to data from earth and space, providing customers with clarity in complex situations. Melanie is a retired US Air Force Officer and combat-tested executive leader with expertise across battle management, space operations, and advanced technology development and previous experience in the development, acquisition, and operation of exper...

Nov 30, 202043 min

#244: Charles Hudson, Managing Partner at Precursor Ventures, on Raising a Fund, Investing at the Earliest Stages, the Role of Platform in VC, and the Importance of Storytelling for Founders

Charles Hudson is the Managing Partner at Precursor Ventures , a classic seed-stage investment firm based out of San Francisco, CA. Precursor seeks to invest in a company's first round of institutional investment and focuses on investments in B2B software applications, B2C software and services, and connected hardware. Prior to launching Precursor, Charles Hudson was a Partner with SoftTech VC, one of the most active seed-stage investors in Internet and mobile startups. He focused on identifying...

Nov 27, 202049 min

#243: Lori Shao, Founder & CEO of Finli, on Building an Innovative Fintech Company Powering Neighborhood Businesses

Lori Shao is a financial services veteran with deep expertise in payment technology and innovation. In April 2019, she walked away from her 17-year career in banking to build Finli , a vertical payment solution to power neighborhood schools and freelance instructors. Finli stands for financial lift and operates with the clear mission to financially lift communities through innovation and narrow the gap of accessibility, affordability, and outcome for all. Lori resides in Arcadia CA with her husb...

Nov 25, 202055 min

#242: Joshua Itano, Co-Founder & CEO at CareCar, a Company Creating Improved Access to Care for Hundreds of Thousands of People

Josh Itano is the CEO and Co-Founder of CareCar , a supplemental benefit manager and market network platform for home care and medical transport. From his early career working on US Defense contracts to his work with healthcare startups, he’s had one driving mantra: “Do well by doing good.” That mantra has led him and his team at CareCar to grow 3x every year since inception, creating improved access to care for hundreds of thousands of people in need over the past 3 years. Josh is a former coll...

Nov 23, 202045 min

#241: Gregory Ugwi, Co-Founder of Thinknum, a Web Platform that Allows Investors and Large, Fast-Growing Tech Companies to Wield the Web as Data to Outsmart Competitors

Gregory Ugwi is the cofounder & CEO of Thinknum , KGBase and the Business of Business . Thinknum Inc has raised $12.6 million to date. Prior to founding Thinknum, Greg graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and worked at Goldman Sachs. Greg was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. Greg enjoys playing soccer and is an investor in New Amsterdam FC . You can find Greg on Twitter and Linkedin . Some of the Topics Covered by Gregory Ugwi in this Episode What Thi...

Nov 21, 202044 min

#240: Gale Wilkinson, Founder and Managing Partner of Vitalize Venture Group, a Seed-Stage Fund and Angel Group

Gale Wilkinson is the Founder & Managing Partner of Vitalize Venture Group , a seed-stage fund and angel group based in Chicago and San Francisco. Gale previously started two businesses, both of which failed, teaching her valuable lessons about what does not work at the early stage. She loves helping founders with startup strategy and is currently conducting research on how to innovate on the legacy VC model. Vitalize Venture Group is an early-stage venture capital platform consisting of two...

Nov 20, 202050 min

#239: Josh Clemente, Founder of Levels, an Innovative Andreessen Horowitz-Backed Startup with a 45,000 Person Waitlist Helping People Maximize Their Metabolic Health

Josh Clemente , Founder of Levels , is a mechanical engineer and CrossFit-L2 trainer. At SpaceX, he led a team to develop life support systems that sustained astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on their May 2020 trip to the International Space Station aboard Dragon Endeavor: the first new crew-carrying spacecraft since 1980. Josh has also spent time designing and building Hyperloop technology and leading engineering for a company providing vehicle-based rescue systems for emergency response t...

Nov 19, 202053 min

#238: Ranbir Arora, Co-Founder & CEO of Dorm, a University for the Passion Economy

Ranbir Arora is the Co-Founder and CEO of Dorm , a hypercasual learning app that aggregates and curates the world's audio content to provide a seamless learning experience that fits into your day and makes your downtime more gratifying. Previously, Ranbir was the Chief Growth Officer at Sweatcoin, which he grew to 50M users. Some of the Topics Covered by Ranbir Arora in this Episode What Dorm is and how it got started The business model behind Dorm Why Ranbir chose audio as the way to educate pe...

Nov 18, 202053 min

#237: Chris Bennett, Co-Founder & CEO of Wonderschool, a Company on a Mission to Ensure Every Child has Access to Early Education That Helps Them Realize Their Potential

Chris Bennett is the Co-Founder & CEO of Wonderschool . Wonderschool’s mission is to ensure every child has access to early education that helps them realize their potential. Wonderschool programs are diverse in structure and approach, but they all combine engaged teachers, thoughtful education design, and the warmth of an in-home program. So far, Wonderschool has helped thousands of parents find quality in-home care, and our network is growing every day. Wonderschool is hiring! https://ange...

Nov 17, 202046 min

#236: Joel Milne, CEO of RepairSmith, the First and Only Full-Service Mobile Delivery Solution for Car Repair and Maintenance

Joel is a serial technology entrepreneur, with a love for building consumer-facing products. Joel previously co/founded four venture-backed technology startups and brings a lifetime of experience building and operating technology companies to RepairSmith . As a technical founder, Joel has served as CEO, COO, and CTO for his previous companies, having raised over $100M in venture financing and scaled multiple businesses nationally. Joel began programming at age 10, started college at 16, and foun...

Nov 16, 202051 min

#235: Santi Bibiloni, Founder & CEO of COR, the Next-Generation Solution for Creative and Professional Teams that Intelligently Suggests How to Manage your Projects, Teams, and Finances

Santi Bibiloni is a Silicon Valley-based technology entrepreneur and co-founder & CEO at COR , an AI Management Software that serves Worldwide top Agencies and Consultants. Prior to COR he founded Balloon Group , one of Argentina’s fastest-growing digital agencies, among other businesses. Today he also mentors on Sales & Fundraising in 500 Startups. Some of the Topics Covered by Santi Bibiloni in this Episode What COR is and how it got started Going after a $50T market Some of the questi...

Nov 15, 202045 min

#234: The Journey to $200K MRR and Beyond with Amit Mishra, Co-Founder & CEO of iMocha

Amit Mishra is the Co-Founder and CEO of iMocha, a company providing AI-powered digital skills assessments. iMocha enables tech hiring managers and learning and development professionals with the ready-to-use, latest, and most comprehensive online skills assessment solution, offering 2000+ skills tests. About Our Partner This episode is also brought to you by Hawke Media . Hawke Media is a full-service Outsourced CMO based in Santa Monica, CA, providing guidance, planning, and execution to grow ...

Nov 14, 202045 min

#233: Harsh Vathsangam, Co-Founder & CEO of Moving Analytics, on Building an Innovative Company Conquering Heart Disease Through Digital Prevention Programs

Harsh Vathsangam is the Co-Founder and CEO of Moving Analytics, Inc. ( https://www.movinganalytics.com/ ) He is driven by a passion for taking technological solutions and applying them to benefit people's lives. He received his PhD from the University of Southern California working at the intersection of big data and mobile health. He holds an undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Harsh is also one of the inventors of iGest, an alternative communication device for...

Nov 13, 202051 min

#232: Myles Hunter, Co-Founder of TutorMe, an On-Demand Tutoring Platform

Myles Hunter is the Co-Founder & CEO of TutorMe . TutorMe ( https://tutorme.com/ ) is a revolutionary online education platform that provides on-demand tutoring and online courses. They believe there are more teachers in the world than are actually teaching so they want to empower more people to learn from each other. Their platform enables thousands of tutors to share their knowledge with students around the globe. Whether you need help with high school algebra or you want to learn how to p...

Nov 12, 202049 min

#231: Magnus Hillestad, Co-Founder & CEO of Sanity, a Unique Developer-Focused Content Platform, on Choosing Co-Founders, Raising Millions in Venture Capital, and Building a Fast-Growing Startup

Magnus is CEO and co-founder of Sanity.io , the American-Norwegian Content Platform company that is reinventing the content space with its unique customizable and collaborative approach. Having worked in investment banking and private equity, Magnus started coding at age 35 and left his finance career, and later joining Sanity.io as co-founder. Sanity now has almost 40 employees and serves more than 4 billion API calls per month. Magnus is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of the Topics ...

Nov 11, 202048 min

#230: Eytan Bensoussan, Co-Founder & CEO of NorthOne, a Digital Business Bank Built for America and Trusted by Over 190,000 Businesses

Eytan deeply believes that the success of the small business sector is one of the most important causes of our time. It has the potential to reduce income inequality, empower immigrants, and provide disproportionate leadership opportunities for female and minority businesspeople. Creating a banking service that is as modern as these companies is why Eytan started NorthOne . Prior to NorthOne, Eytan was a Sr. Engagement Manager for McKinsey & Company. He served many wonderful clients in Finan...

Nov 10, 202049 min

#229: Jeff Annison and Paul Scanlan, Co-Founders of Legion M, the World's First Fan-Owned Entertainment Company

Jeff Annison and Paul Scanlan are Co-Founders of Legion M. Founded by serial entrepreneurs with an Emmy Award for Innovation, Legion M is a first-of-its-kind entertainment company built from the ground up to be owned by fans. Legion M is uniting fans together to invest in and/or produce a diverse slate of original projects in various stages of development, including the critically acclaimed Colossal, starring Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis, the cult hit Mandy starring Nicolas Cage and directed...

Nov 09, 202056 min

#228: Vivek Khandelwal, Founder of iZooto, a Company that Helps Media Publishers and Retailers to Own, Build, and Engage Their Audience Using Web Push Notifications

Passionate about mobile and technology, Vivek leads the Marketing and Customer Operations at Datability. At Datability, they are building iZooto - an owned audience marketing platform that helps publishers build, engage, and retain their owned audience using web push notifications. iZooto is the World's First Owned Audience Marketing Platform that helps media publishers and retailers to own, build, and engage their audience using web push notifications. Over 15,000 marketers push over 18B notifi...

Nov 08, 202047 min

#227: Danny Shader, Founder & CEO of PayNearMe, on Building a Company Processing Billions of Dollars for Clients Annually, the Impact Bill Campbell Had on His Life, and His Advice to His Younger Self

Danny Shader founded PayNearMe , Inc. in 2009 and currently serves as CEO. PayNearMe processes billions of dollars annually for over 5,000 clients in lending, property management, and more. PayNearMe originated as a real-time electronic cash transaction network, and today supports every form of payment – cards, ACH and mobile-first payment systems including Google Pay and Apple Pay, in addition to cash through our expanding network of over 27,000 retail stores. Previously, Danny led Good Technol...

Nov 07, 202044 min

#226: Chai Mishra, Founder & CEO of Move, the First Community-Owned National Retailer, on the Journey to Building the Largest Digitally Native Supermarket in the U.S.

​​Chai Mishra is the Founder & CEO of Move , which is based on a simple idea — modern commerce is not as good as it can be. They work directly with award-winning producers to make their own brand of products. And they deliver these products straight to their members. By cutting out the middlemen, they're making a retailer that’s more efficient, ethical, and enjoyable. Invest in Move: https://wefunder.com/move Learn more about Move: https://shopmove.co/ About Our Partners This episode is brou...

Nov 06, 202049 min

#225: Gary Skulnik, Founder & CEO of Neighborhood Sun, a Mission-Driven Company Using Community Solar to Fight Climate Change

Gary Skulnik is a senior executive and strategic thinker who has been a leader in developing the clean energy market in Maryland and Washington, DC, through innovative marketing and sales, partnerships, community building, business management, and legislative advocacy. Founder of two entities focused exclusively on marketing clean energy, a for-profit and a non-profit, which collectively helped more than 17,000 consumers and businesses switch to clean power. Currently, Gary is the Founder and CE...

Nov 05, 202050 min

#224: Zach Adamson, Founder at DIVERTbrands, on Pivoting During COVID-19, Raising $500K in 10 Days on Wefunder, and Creating Positive Change by Making Action Sports More Accessible to All

Zach Adamson is the Founder of DIVERTbrands , the parent company of two subsidiary companies, both of them with one unified purpose, breakdown the barriers to Action Sports for at-risk inner-city youth as a platform for creativity, self-discovery and passion in order to help them "Achieve their I'mpossible." The first is DIVERTcity/sessions, a mixed-use Action Sports Facility currently under development in cities across the country that brings Surfing, Skateboarding, Snowboarding, and Lifestyle ...

Nov 04, 202053 min

#223: Tyler Hayes, CEO of Atom Limbs, the World's First Mind-Controlled Bionic Arm

Tyler Hayes is CEO of Atom Limbs , the world's first mind-controlled bionic arm. Tyler was previously Co-Founder of Bebo (acq. Amazon) and Executive Producer of Minka which won Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Short at the FFF. About Our Partner This episode is also brought to you by Hawke Media . Hawke Media is a full-service Outsourced CMO based in Santa Monica, CA, providing guidance, planning, and execution to grow brands of all sizes, industries, and business models. Hawke Media was re...

Nov 03, 202053 min

#222: Michael Barlow, Co-Founder & CEO at Fernish, a Los Angeles-Based Furniture Rental Startup that's Raised $45M and is Redefining an Industry

Michael Barlow is the Co-Founder & CEO of Fernish ( https://fernish.com/ ), a premium furniture rental service that turns your space into a meaningful home you love. Pick from a curated selection of furniture essentials, knick-knacks, and things that just make you feel good. Pay monthly, and decide later what you want to keep, return, or swap out. About Our Partner This episode is brought to you by our sponsor WeAreNoCode . WeAreNoCode’s mission is to empower non-technical founders. The prob...

Nov 02, 202048 min
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