Going Deep with Aaron Watson

Charlie Dolan is the founder of Sequoia Waste Solutions, a technology company aimed at modernizing waste management.   When Charlie first looked at the waste management industry, he saw business still being run on paper with enormous inefficiencies needing to be addressed. So, he started building.   Today, the firm employs more than a dozen people and offers a suite of software and hardware solutions that drastically reduce costs associated with billing for and hauling away garbage.   In this conversation, Aaron and Charlie discuss the evolution of the company, the benefits of bootstrapping, and when to ‘build’ vs ‘buy’.   Pittsburgh’s best conference to Expand your Mind & Fill your Heart happens once a year.   Charlie Dolan’s Challenge; Realize most of the world around you was designed by another human. Use that to build confidence in your own ability to make an impact.   Connect with Charlie Dolan Linkedin Twitter SequoiaWaste.com Discoveryapp.io   If you liked this interview, check out more interviews with entrepreneurs and leaders that have vision, patience, and work ethic.   Text Me What You Think of This Episode 412-278-7680 Underwritten by Piper Creative Piper Creative creates podcasts, vlogs, and videos for companies.    Our clients become better storytellers.    How? Click here and Learn more.   We work with Fortune 500s, medium-sized companies, and entrepreneurs.   Follow Piper as we grow YouTube TikTok Instagram Subscribe on iTunes | Stitcher | Overcast |

John Feghali’s technology startup blends augmented reality, digital media, and animation to enable a new style of storytelling.   Most animated videos take thousands of hours of work and come with hefty price tags. For example, Frozen 2 cost $150 million and Toy Story 4 cost $200 million.   John’s company, Toaster Pets Cartoons, allows children and adults to make their own animated cartoons by recording cardboard cutouts and using artificial intelligence to translate the live action into a digital cartoon.   Explainer Video   In this episode, Aaron and John discuss how he found this market opportunity, the technology powering the service, and the enormous potential of the Intellectual Property.   Pittsburgh’s best conference to Expand your Mind & Fill your Heart happens once a year.   John Feghali’s Challenge; Create opportunity for others.   Connect with John Feghali Linkedin Instagram Twitter ToasterPets.com Getpaperstudio.com   If you liked this interview, check out episode 361 with Jason Wolfe where we discuss his string of enormously successful technology startups.   Text Me What You Think of This Episode 412-278-7680 Underwritten by Piper Creative Piper Creative creates podcasts, vlogs, and videos for companies.    Our clients become better storytellers.    How? Click here and Learn more.   We work with Fortune 500s, medium-sized companies, and entrepreneurs.   Follow Piper as we grow YouTube TikTok Instagram Subscribe on iTunes | Stitcher

Luke Glass is building a digital marketplace for land rights in the US. That means that any property owner can list their property’s rights to timber, solar, wind, or oil & gas for sale.   Luke’s company, RealX is aiming to unleash the trends of digitization, globalization, and virtualization on a marketplace that still operates on postcards and paper contracts.   As vice president and general manager of ListHub, which was purchased by Move in 2010, Luke Glass grew the platform into the nation’s largest online real estate listing syndicator.   In this podcast, Luke and Aaron discuss how this platform allows landowners to identify more buyers, why Luke believes solar will be more dominant over the next 20 years, and why he’s not the Garbage King of West Virginia.   Pittsburgh’s best conference to Expand your Mind & Fill your Heart happens once a year.   Luke Glass’s Challenge; Find a local Food Bank and donate.     Connect with Luke Glass Linkedin RealX.io   If you liked this interview, check out our interview with Matt Wieszczyk where we discuss natural gas land rights.   Text Me What You Think of This Episode 412-278-7680 Underwritten by Piper Creative Piper Creative creates podcasts, vlogs, and videos for companies.    Our clients become better storytellers.    How? Click here and Learn more.   We work with Fortune 500s, medium-sized companies, and entrepreneurs.   Follow Piper as we grow YouTube TikTok Instagram Subscribe on iTunes | Stitcher | Overcast | Spotify

Luke Skurman is the CEO and Founder of Niche.com. Niche is an informative website that provides insight and analysis from experts and neighbors to help people choose colleges, K-12 schools, and places to live.    Niche, formerly College Prowler, was founded in 2002 and recently raised $35 Million to expand its client base and grow its team. This Series C funding was led by the New York-based Radian Capital and San Fransisco-based Salesforce Ventures.    Luke has been at the helm of this college resource dynamo since its founding and has led it through tremendous years of growth. In 2019, Niche grew its client-base by 60% and increased annual recurring revenue over 100%.   In this episode, Aaron and Luke discuss the Series C funding, how to grow a tech business in Pittsburgh, and the future of remote work in lieu of COVID-19. Pittsburgh’s best conference to Expand your Mind & Fill your Heart happens once a year.   Luke Skurman’s Challenge; Increase your level of empathy for others.   Connect with Luke Skurman Linkedin Twitter Instagram Niche.com   If you liked this interview, check out episode 303 with Luke Skurman where we discuss the origins on Niche.com and the first large raise.   Also, listen to Glen Meakem talk about his billion-dollar valuation after a 1999 IPO.   Text Me What You Think of This Episode 412-278-7680 Underwritten by Piper Creative Piper Creative creates podcasts, vlogs, and videos for companies.    Our clients become better storytellers.    How? Click here and Learn more.   We work with Fortune 500s, medium-sized companies, and entrepreneurs.   Follow Piper as we grow YouTube TikTok Instagram Subscribe on iTunes

Keith Hamon has over 30 years of operational restaurant experience, with 10 years in active financial management and 7 years of direct experience owning, operating, growing, and stewarding a small group of restaurants.    His firm, Alchemy Financial, serves as a bookkeeper, financial planner, and CFO for clients in the hospitality space.   Keith is committed to helping small restaurants and bars survive and thrive using better financial planning and thinking strategically about pricing.   In this episode, Keith and Aaron discuss pricing strategy, how restaurants deal with food delivery, and Cloud Kitchens.   Pittsburgh’s best conference to Expand your Mind & Fill your Heart happens once a year.   Keith Harmon’s Challenge; Be mindful of everything.   Connect with Keith Harmon   Linkedin We Live to Serve Twitter Alchemy Financial Website alchemyboston@gmail.com    If you liked this interview, check out two interviews with award-winning chefs and entrepreneurs. Kevin Sousa’s Superior Motors was named one of the greatest places on Earth and Jamlika Borges is a James Beard semi-finalist.   Text Me What You Think of This Episode 412-278-7680 Underwritten by Piper Creative Piper Creative creates podcasts, vlogs, and videos for companies.    Our clients become better storytellers.    How? Click here and Learn more.   We work with Fortune 500s, medium-sized companies, and entrepreneurs.   Follow Piper as we grow YouTube TikTok Instagram Subscribe on iTunes | Stitcher |

Ben Hunt is the creator of Epsilon Theory and co-founder of Second Foundation Partners.    Epsilon Theory is a newsletter and website that studies markets using game theory and history. It is read by over 100,000 professional investors and allocators across 180 countries.   Ben is the founder of two technology companies, a past professor of political science, and a successful investor. He’s worked in venture capital and subsequently on two long/short equity hedge funds. He evolved to blend his background as a portfolio manager, risk manager, and entrepreneur with academic experience in game theory and econometrics to improve client outcomes.   In this conversation, Ben and Aaron discuss how Ben outlined the false numbers coming out of China in a blog post titles Body Count, how to channel anger into Hope, and how he thinks about fatherhood.   Essential Reading Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose Things Fall Apart #1 Things Fall Apart #2 Pittsburgh’s best conference to Expand your Mind & Fill your Heart happens once a year.   Ben Hunt’s Challenge; Take Action. Do not allow yourself to be convinced that it’s insignificant.   Connect with Ben Hunt Linkedin Twitter Epsilon Theory Website   Frontline Heroes   If you liked this interview, check out interviews with investors Andy Rachleff, Anthony Pompliano, and Morgan Housel.   Text Me What You Think of This Episode 412-278-7680 Underwritten by Piper Creative Piper Creative creates podcasts, vlogs, and videos for companies.    Our clients become better storytellers.    How? Click here and Learn more.  

Flori Marquez is the cofounder of BlockFi, a fintech firm that provides wealth management products to investors in cryptocurrency.   BlockFi currently offers interest-bearing crypto accounts, crypto trading, and crypto-backed loans.   In the last year, BlockFi has raised an $18.3 million Series A and a $30 million Series B from investors like Morgan Creek Digital, Fidelity, the Winklevoss twins, and Valar Ventures.   Flori has spent her career managing alternative lending products, including a $125MM portfolio for Bond Street (acquired by Goldman Sachs).    In this conversation, Flori and Aaron discuss the founding of the company, the new customers BlockFi is targeting, and why banking people across the world is challenging.   Text Me What You Think of This Episode 412-278-7680   Flori Marquez’s Challenge; Take $100 and invest in something new or different.   Connect with Flori Marquez Linkedin Twitter Website support@blockfi.com   If you liked this interview, check out our past blockchain and crypto interviews with Anthony Pompliano, Brendan Eich, and Joe Lubin. Underwritten by Piper Creative Piper Creative creates podcasts, vlogs, and videos for companies.    Our clients become better storytellers.    How? Click here and Learn more.   We work with Fortune 500s, medium-sized companies, and entrepreneurs.   Follow Piper as we grow YouTube TikTok Instagram Subscribe on iTunes | Stitcher | Overcast | Spotify 

The Coronavirus (rightfully) gets most of the headlines. However, we are also living through an oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia that has worldwide ramifications.   Matt Wieszczyk is the Managing Member of Par City Holdings, a land services company that specializes in the acquisition of oil and gas mineral and royalty rights. At PCH, he has placed $15mm for various investors in SW Appalachia.   Prior to Par City, Matt was Acquisitions Manager & General Counsel for San Jacinto Minerals. At SJM, he placed $39mm in 15 months, leading the mineral market in Washington and Greene Counties, in PA.   In this interview, Matt and Aaron discuss the shale industry in Appalachia and how the price war could positively affect the region. They also discuss Matt’s business model and how he got into the industry. Text Me What You Think of This Episode 412-278-7680   Matt Wieszczyk’s Challenge; Write someone a handwritten note.   Connect with Matt Wieszczyk Linkedin Facebook parcityholdings@gmail.com   Mentioned Henry Hub Natural Gas Futures Eia.gov Underwritten by Piper Creative Piper Creative creates podcasts, vlogs, and videos for companies.    Our clients become better storytellers.    How? Click here and Learn more.   We work with Fortune 500s, medium-sized companies, and entrepreneurs.   Follow Piper as we grow YouTube TikTok Instagram Subscribe on iTunes | Stitcher | Overcast | Spotify

LBRY is a place where they can find great videos, music, ebooks, and more. How? LBRY started as a new protocol that allows anyone to build apps that interact with digital content on the LBRY network.    Apps built using the protocol allow creators to upload their work to the LBRY network of hosts (like BitTorrent), to set a price per stream or download (like iTunes) or give it away for free (like YouTube without ads). The work you publish could be videos, audio files, documents, or any other type of file.   Traditional video (or other content) sites such as YouTube, Instagram, and Spotify store your uploads on their servers and allow viewers to download them. They also allow creators to make some money through advertising or other mechanisms. However, there are some well-known drawbacks, especially for people whose material is perceived as not being advertiser-friendly.   Jeremy Kauffman created LBRY because he fell in love with the idea of shared, global content registry that is owned and controlled by no one.    In this podcast, Aaron and Jeremy discuss how it works and the challenges of building a new model for media.   Text Me What You Think of This Episode 412-278-7680   Pittsburgh’s best conference to Expand your Mind & Fill your Heart happens once a year.   Jeremy Kauffman’s Challenge; Bet on your beliefs.   Connect with Jeremy Kauffman Linkedin Twitter LBRY.tv   If you liked this interview, check out other blockchain interviews with Brendan Eich and Anthony Pompliano.   LBRY sync with YouTube Underwritten by Piper Creative Piper Creative creates podcasts, vlogs, and videos for companies.    Our clients become better storytellers.    How? Click here and Learn more.   We work with Fortune 500s, medium-sized companies, and entrepreneurs.   Follow Piper as we grow YouTube TikTok Instagram

Two years ago, Ian Rosenberger and his company took a leap forward by launching a backpack. It was made from Thread International’s first product, fabric made from plastic waste that had been recycled.   The backpack raised $571,000 on Kickstarter and represented an important new chapter for the business.   At the beginning of 2020, they launched two specific brands; Day Owl (for consumers) and First Mile (for brands like Reebok, Puma, and Converse to buy the fabric).   In this conversation, Ian and Aaron discuss the strategy behind the rebrand, managing a retail company through the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, and how Day Owl re-tooled their facility to make Personal Protective Equipment for healthcare workers.   Pittsburgh’s best conference to Expand your Mind & Fill your Heart happens once a year.   Ian Rosenberger’s Challenge; Identify the Day Owls in your world and figure out how you can support them.   Connect with Ian Rosenberger Day Owl Website Day Owl Instagram   If you liked this interview, check out episode 336 for our first conversation with Ian Rosenberger where we discuss recycling waste, mission-driven startups, and the grit required to survive. Underwritten by Piper Creative Piper Creative creates podcasts, vlogs, and videos for companies.    Our clients become better storytellers.    How? Click here and Learn more.   We work with Fortune 500s, medium-sized companies, and entrepreneurs.   Follow Piper as we grow YouTube TikTok Instagram Subscribe on iTunes | Stitcher | Overcast | Spotify