My guest for the latest episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up is Rob Ryan, Co-Founder of Ascend Communication. Ascend was acquired by Lucent Technologies in 1999 by Lucent Technologies.Rob is a fount of knowledge about entrepreneurship and courageous leadership. He’s also a great story teller and a hoot! Check out this clip for a sneak peek into our talk where Rob talks about something important for your company’s long term success: profits. As an early internet pioneer, Rob Ryan served as principal architect in developing the V.32 Modem. He also developed the ethernet blue book standards for the first ethernet chips used in server farms as well as establishing the first decentralized network while working at DECNET.Ryan is the founder, past chairman and CEO of Ascend Communications. Ryan earned national attention when he grew his 1989 start-up company, Ascend Communications, to more than $2 billion in sales. Lucent Technologies acquired Ascend in 1999 for approximately $22 billion in what was termed at the time the "largest technology merger ever."Effectively, Ascend helped create the modern Internet by building all of the infrastructure equipment that powered the Internet worldwide. At the end of 1995, Rob won the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for Northern California (including Silicon Valley). Rob also was selected as the Cornell University Entrepreneur of the Year for 2002. Following Ascend’s success, Rob has helped build several start-up and early-stage ventures into multi-billion dollar companies, including Right Now Technologies and Silicon Spice, among others. His entrepreneurial successes have transformed businesses using his Sunflower Model®.In 2020 Rob co-founded SunVia, a metaverse infrastructure management company helping to usher in the new age of the internet. Rob also is the co-founder of Sunflower Academy, a non-traditional mentorship platform that utilizes the Sunflower Model® to help startup companies and entrepreneurs realize their full potential.Follow Rob on LinkedIn | WebsiteConnect with Alisa! Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohn Twitter: @alisacohn Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisacohn/ Website: http://www.alisacohn.com Download her 5 scripts for delicate conversations (and 1 to make your life better) Grab a copy of From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn from AmazonLove the show? Subscribe, Rate, Review, Like, and Share!

This new episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up features a dynamic tag team of David Meltzer, the Co-Founder of Sports 1 Marketing, and Peter Goldstein, entrepreneur and the author of “The Entrepreneur’s IPO”!You’ll hear about David’s complete rebirth in his life and career journey as he shares the surprising ways that money impacts your life, and Peter shares solid gold advice about how you can prepare to take your company public.David Meltzer is the Co-Founder of Sports 1 Marketing, and a legendary sports executive. He formerly served as CEO of the renowned Leigh Steinberg Sports & Entertainment agency, which was the inspiration for the movie Jerry Maguire. He is one of the world's top Entrepreneurs, Investors and Business coaches. David has been recognized by Variety Magazine as their Sports Humanitarian of the Year and awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.Learn more about David | Websitehttps://dmeltzer.com/ Peter Goldstein is a seasoned entrepreneur and capital market expert with over 30 years of experience. His diverse background in international business has equippedhim with valuable insights across various markets and industries.Peter began his entrepreneurial journey as the Founder and CEO of a specialty food distributor, pioneering the farm-to-table organic produce industry in renowned NewYork City restaurants. He is also the author of The Entrepreneur's IPO: The Insider's Roadmap to Taking Your Company Public.Learn more about Peter | Websitehttps://pgoldstein.co/Connect with Alisa! Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohn Twitter: @alisacohn Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisacohn/ Website: http://www.alisacohn.com Download her 5 scripts for delicate conversations (and 1 to make your life better) Grab a copy of From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn from AmazonLove the show? Subscribe, Rate, Review, Like, and Share!

How do you find your new idea?What does it take to attract a team of true believers?And what does glass-blowing have to do with entrepreneurship? Hint: the key is timing.All of these questions are answered in my newest episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up with Jim McKelvey, the Co-Founder of Block (previously known as Square)!Jim McKelvey is best known for co-founding Square, now called Block.  He also founded LaunchCode.org, which has provided free training and jobs for thousands of aspiring programmers.  He is the former Chair of the St. Louis Federal Reserve and a trustee of Washington University. Jim is also an artist/designer. Art of Fire is the world’s top textbook on glassblowing and his industrial designs are in both the Smithsonian and Museum of Modern Art. He co-founded Third Degree Glass Factory, one of the top centers for glass artwork.   He is currently working on a plastic-free diaper. Jim’s book, The Innovation Stack, explains how industry-creating innovations actually happen.Learn more about Block | Websitehttps://block.xyz/Connect with Alisa! Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohn Twitter: @alisacohn Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisacohn/ Website: http://www.alisacohn.com Download her 5 scripts for delicate conversations (and 1 to make your life better) Grab a copy of From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn from AmazonLove the show? Subscribe, Rate, Review, Like, and Share!

If you’re looking for inspiration to upgrade your leadership for 2024, you’ll want to listen to my conversation with Josh Reeves, CEO and Co-Founder of Gusto on the newest episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up.These are just three topics from our talk that are fantastic guides to follow into the new year:➡️ The key to hire the right people for your company ➡️ The one rule that will help you manage everyone. ➡️ The most important meeting to add to your calendar (hint: it’s with yourself.) Josh Reeves is the CEO and co-founder of Gusto, a startup on a mission to create a world where work empowers a better life. By making the most complicated business tasks simple and personal, Gusto is reimagining payroll, benefits and HR for modern companies. Gusto has offices in San Francisco and Denver, and its investors include Google Capital, General Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and the founders of Instagram, Stripe, Nest, PayPal, Yelp, Box and Eventbrite, among others.Learn more about Gusto | Websitehttps://www.gusto.comConnect with Alisa! Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohn Twitter: @alisacohn Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisacohn/ Website: http://www.alisacohn.com Download her 5 scripts for delicate conversations (and 1 to make your life better) Grab a copy of From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn from AmazonLove the show? Subscribe, Rate, Review, Like, and Share!

Does your company have an employee bill of rights?Jon Beckstrand put one together for his team as CEO of MasterControl.That’s just one of the strategies that Jon has used at MasterControl to grow the company and successfully execute a pivot. We talked about his leadership philosophy, his tools for learning, and how he’s come to embrace having difficult conversations. Listen to the rest of it for helpful strategies you can use right now to become a better leader. Jon Beckstrand is responsible for the overall direction and vision of MasterControl. Since his leadership began in 2002, MasterControl has enjoyed robust growth, introduced an array of new solutions, continued the company's push for innovation, and advanced its position as a leading provider of quality management software and services for regulated companies.Over the course of his 20 years in the software industry, Beckstrand has served on the executive team of a midmarket financial services-focused software provider and advised software and IT companies on company strategy and mergers and acquisitions as part of a team at KPMG in Chicago and Silicon Valley.Learn more about MasterControl | Websitehttps://www.mastercontrol.comConnect with Alisa! Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohn Twitter: @alisacohn Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisacohn/ Website: http://www.alisacohn.com Download her 5 scripts for delicate conversations (and 1 to make your life better) Grab a copy of From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn from AmazonLove the show? Subscribe, Rate, Review, Like, and Share!

Former CEO of Snowflake, Bob Muglia, shares his experiences at Microsoft, including being fired by Steve Ballmer twice. He discusses his playbook for taking Snowflake from 0 revenue to $100M. Topics include values vs. performance, scaling a company, and the impact of AI and human values.

Jerry Colonna, Author and Executive Coach, discusses radical self-inquiry, the power of positive feedback, and the distinction between honesty and vulnerability. Discover how self-awareness and curiosity play a role in personal growth and leadership. Explore the concept of the shadow and its impact on leaders. Learn about the importance of breaking the bonds of othering and creating systemic belonging. Gain insight into strategies for empathy in the workplace and how to address imposter syndrome.

In this podcast, Jim Kwik, a brain coach and author, discusses the concept of dominant questions and how they shape our perception of the world. He shares his journey of overcoming challenges after a childhood brain injury and finding a mentor who helped him optimize his brain. They also explore the power of mindset, motivation, and methods in achieving success and breaking down big goals into manageable steps.

Gareb Shamus is a visionary in the Superhero and character-based franchise worlds. Throughout the last 30 years, he’s made a tremendous impact on geek and nerd culture and formed relationships with an unrivaled collection of artists, writers, toy developers, game designers, and celebrities. Gareb founded Comic Con as we know it today, producing 180 events with millions of tickets sold, reaching billions of people worldwide. He is also the founder of Wizard, ToyFare, and Anime Insider magazines with over 100 million issues sold in 75 countries His most recent endeavor, ACE Universe, achieved instant success having produced seven events over two years with the most popular Superhero celebrities that were live-streamed to massive global audiences. Comic Con, the largest comic, sci-fi, and fantasy event in the world, almost never happened. That’s because as a young founder, Gareb Shamus, the founder of ACE Comic Con, was on the brink of shutting down his upstart comic magazine, Wizard. Gareb turned to his father and got some surprising, life-changing advice. This episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up is a highlight reel of Gareb Shamus, a superhero visionary, who championed inclusion in his business by focusing on a niche market. You will learn about perseverance, how to take the fuel of your passions and harness it into a product, and how inclusion drives profits. Connect with Alisa! Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohn Twitter: @alisacohn Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisacohn/ Website: http://www.alisacohn.com Download her 5 scripts for delicate conversations (and 1 to make your life better) Grab a copy of From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn from AmazonLove the show? Subscribe, Rate, Review, Like, and Share!

Joe Landolina, co-founder and CEO of Cresilon, shares his journey of starting a company in his dorm room, finding the right investors through a viral video. He discusses the challenges of the biotech industry, the importance of supportive investors, and building a harmonious team based on soft skills. He also highlights the significance of safeguarding mental health as a founder and provides valuable advice on the path to leadership.