Going Deep with Aaron Watson

Zach is an Associate at Draper Triangle Ventures where he helps identify and conduct due diligence on potential investments. He spends his days meeting with entrepreneurs, attending tech-community events, and developing relationships in the innovation community.   Draper Triangle is a Venture Capital Firm that partners with the Midwest’s most extraordinary entrepreneurs who set out to change the world. Founded in 1999, Draper Triangle has invested in some of the Midwest’s most successful startups including TOA Technologies, Renal Solutions, BodyMedia, CardioInsight, and Carnegie Learning. DTVC partners with early stage companies to create iconic and disruptive businesses in emerging markets including software, digital media, robotics and medical devices. Draper Triangle is a proud member of the Draper Venture Network, a robust venture collective bringing together experienced investors and innovative entrepreneurs from around the globe to share strategies, source opportunities, and create greater value. Over the last 25 years the Draper Venture Network has grown into a self-governed organization of independent venture funds on four continents who cooperate on investment diligence, marketing intelligence, corporate relationships and co-investments. Through DVN, members can leverage the collective intelligence of 100+ invested more than $3B in over 500 ventures.   Zach’s Challenge; Meet an early stage entrepreneur and help introduce them to a new potential customer. This will stoke the local economy and solidify a valuable connection   Connect with Zach   Twitter

Victor is a recognized technical cycling expert and is co-host of the top-ranked podcast, Cycling 360. Which has a worldwide audience and downloaded by more than 40k listeners each month and over 2 million lifetime listeners. Victor also created several online video-based courses to help road cyclists and triathletes become better riders while consulting with select athletes one-on-one to help with the technical aspects of cycling.   Victor Jimenez has been a trusted advisor and enabler, helping people have fun and do what they love for nearly 30 years.  A consummate entrepreneur Victor has founded many small businesses focused around his passions of fitness, cycling, business, marketing, and conversation. The one thing that has connected all of his ventures is helping people do what they love. Some have been wildly successful and some have been abysmal failures. One thing that has been common among all of his ventures, is they were based on interests and dreams. He knows what it feels like to start from scratch and also to salvage a good business that is not reaching its potential.     Victor’s Challenge; Write down your five immaterial values and post them somewhere you will see them every day so that they may guide your daily activities.   Book Recommendations: The Little Prince

Scott Rogerson, Chief Executive Officer at Community Elf, specializes in strategic and business planning, data-driven decision making, process improvement, security, management, and compliance, as well as the development of custom applications for data collection and analysis.  He is also President-elect of the Pittsburgh Community Services, Inc. (PCSI) Board of Directors. PCSI is the Community Action Agency of the City of Pittsburgh.  The goal of PCSI is to help low income persons achieve self-sufficiency through the development of processes and activities that empower individuals and families to make life-altering changes, which can reduce the barriers and characteristics of poverty. Prior to joining Community Elf, Scott was co-founder and Managing Director of Oakhill Equity, an operator-led private investment fund employing the search fund model. Oakhill was capitalized by a diverse mix of institutional and individual investors.  A magna cum laude graduate of Duquesne University, Scott earned a BSBA degree in Economics, Information Systems Management, and International Business. He earned an MBA at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University with concentrations in Finance, Operations, and Marketing. Book Recommendation - The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz Challenge; Don't be passive in sharing the best content you find on the web and adding your opinion/perspective to people in your network.

Po Shen Loh took an hour out of his day to sit down with the Going Deep podcast and discuss his company Expii that helps students learn difficult STEM topics.   He represented the USA Math team at the International Mathematical Olympiad as a high schooler in 1999, where he won a silver medal. He came back to the team as a deputy leader (assistant coach) in 2004 and 2010-2013. He took over the Head Lead role in 2014 and led the US to its first championship in 21 years in 2015.   Po founded Expii Inc. in January of 2014 as a learning tool to help replicate the most effective methods of teaching students all over the world. Expii's mission is as follows;    "We believe that high-quality educational resources should be available to anyone, no matter where they are or what they can afford. We also believe that students and teachers are the best at explaining things. We build the tools ordinary people need to educate one another. So far, we've designed an approachable markup language that enthusiasts have used to create thousands of lessons. We've also created a free platform to interconnect these lessons." Po got his PHD in Mathematics from Princeton in 2010, where his thesis discussed combinatorics (the study of discrete systems) and probability theory. Prior to his work at Princeton, Po-Shen received the equivalent of a masters degree in mathematics from the University of Cambridge in 2005, where he was supported by a Winston Churchill Foundation Scholarship. He received his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Caltech in 2004, graduating first in his class, and his undergraduate thesis later received the Honorable Mention for the 2004 AMS-MAA-SIAM Morgan Prize.   After getting his PHD, he went on to immediately begin an assistant professorship in mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University. 

Jason is true kid at heart. Anything that involves play or being active is fair game for him. This very well could explain the hobbies and career path he's taken throughout the years. In his professional life, Jason serves as the Assistant Director for the Department of Intramurals & Recreation at the University of Pittsburgh. In his roll he helps to oversee all aspects of campus recreation for the University community, including club sports, intramural leagues, aquatics, special events and facility rentals.    Prior to working at Pitt, Jason was Director of Aquatics at Central York High School in York, PA. During his time there he oversaw all programs and operations for a brand new, state of the art natatorium. He was also the head coach and president of Central York Aquatics (CYA), a competitive age group swim team that he grew to a 140 member club.   Jason earned Bachelor and Master Degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and was a member of the Varsity Swimming & Diving Team where he broke several team records, earned back to back MVP awards, earned Academic All-American status, and was the 2006 recipient of the Varsity Walk Blue-Gold Award. In 2008, Jason competed in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials, placing 48th overall in the 100M Butterfly.   In his spare time Jason enjoys spending time with his wife (Megan), two kids (Jenna & Jacob) and two dogs (Riley & Carey). He also enjoys cycling, family runs, and of course working on his project, Active Cities.   Jason's points for success: - Be observant of the world around you and always be thinking. - Remain curious and continually explore new ideas. - Never lose the desire to achieve, it's your driving force.

Charlie Eisenhood is the Editor and Founder of Ultiworld, "the premier media site for the sport of ultimate". Charlie started Ultiworld in 2012 after graduating cum laude from NYU with a degree in economic theory. He grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico and has worked at the Albuquerque Journal, Center for American Progress, and NYU Abu Dhabi before starting his own media site. He has played ultimate since 2005 and captained the NYU team his senior year. He currently resides in Brooklyn and travels the country covering elite ultimate in all divisions and leagues. From the Show The original article that inspired Charlie to launch Ultiworld.

A self-described ‘activator and connector,’ Larry Gioia doesn’t let the grass grow under his feet (and thinks that sleep is overrated!) Larry, a Pittsburgh native, graduated from Gannon University in 2004 and Carnegie Mellon in 2005. At Gannon, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems.  During his sophomore year, Larry began exploring his entrepreneurial interests and started GioiaDesign.net, where he worked as an independent consultant advising Erie businesses as they established their presence on the Internet. After Gannon, Larry went on to attend the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).  It was here that he earned his Master of Information Systems Management degree. While at CMU, Larry continued his passion for leadership and entrepreneurship.  He was the recipient of the MISM Student Leadership Award and also helped launch COMPackage.com, the Alphabot mobile app, and advised numerous other technology start-up ventures. Upon graduation from CMU, Larry joined Diamond Management & Technology Consultants in 2005 as a technology consultant.  Diamond was later acquired by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 2011.  At PwC, Larry serves as a Senior Director in PwC’s Health Industries Advisory technology consulting practice.  As a digital architect and thinking partner, Larry has worked alongside healthcare executives and innovators across the healthcare ecosystem – predominately in big pharma.  He is passionate about the future of healthcare and how technology is disrupting the delivery and consumption of health services in the New Health Economy. Beyond his work at PwC, Larry remains active with his alma maters and also in the Pittsburgh community.  Larry is a regular guest lecturer at CMU on the topics of leadership, consulting, enterprise architecture, and technology trends, he has sponsored four IS capstone projects, serves as the lead for PwC Advisory recruiting efforts across campus, serves as an alumni mentor, and is the recipient of the 2015 Carnegie Mellon Alumni Meritorious Service Award.  

When I finally decided to start this podcast, "Mick" was the first person I asked to be on the show. He has been an amazing mentor, teammate and friend to me over the years and is always up for a great conversation. We recorded in a shared work space that he occupies when putting in hours for Zero Six Eight.  Mike's Challenge; Put other people's problems ahead of your own. This completely typifies Mike's personal philosophy and I encourage you to make a greater effort to incorporate this into your own life. Connect with him on Twitter @paxnobiscum

Aaron lays out his plans for the show.   Be sure to check out goingdeepwithaaron.com  Twitter @AaronWatson59 Snapchat aaron_watson   Please subscribe, like and leave us a review!