Office Hours with Spencer Rascoff

Sami Inkinen, CEO of Virta Health, talks about his personal journey with prediabetes and his determination to reverse type 2 diabetes. He discusses the unique approach of Virta Health, offering telemedicine and nutritional intervention to help patients. Inkinen also shares insights on being a second-time founder, the motivation behind the mission, and the importance of building a strong board.

Julia Boorstin is CNBC’s Senior Media & Tech Correspondent and has been an on-air reporter for the network since 2006. She also plays a central role on CNBC’s bicoastal tech-focused program “TechCheck” delivering reporting, analysis, and CEO interviews with a focus on social media and the intersection of media and technology. In 2013, Boorstin created and launched the CNBC Disruptor 50, an annual list she oversees, highlighting private companies transforming the economy and challenging companies in established industries. She also helped launch the network’s ‘Closing the Gap’ initiative covering the people and companies closing gender and diversity gaps. Boorstin speaks with Spencer in this fireside chat recorded at the third annual dot.LA Summit, held on October 20 at The Petersen Automotive Museum located in Los Angeles. Julia’s new book When Women Lead: What They Achieve, Why They Succeed, and How We Can Learn from Them, profiles female entrepreneurs and businesswomen and draws lessons and inspiration from their stories. A graduate of Princeton University, Boorstin has been a reporter for Fortune magazine, as well as a contributor to CNN and CNN Headline News. She was also an intern for Vice President Gore’s domestic policy office. She lives in L.A. with her husband and two sons.

Tricia Han, the head of MyFitnesesPal speaks with Spencer about her journey from being a Product Manager to becoming a CEO in this episode of Office Hours. MyFitnessPal is a leading health and wellness tech brand, whose popular mobile app allows users to track their daily food intake. Tricia talks about the differences of working in East Coast tech vs West Coast tech, heading a start-up through a change management process, and the importance of representation in the tech space. Tricia also shares some suprising data points logged from L.A. users of the app.  Prior to MyFitnessPal, Tricia was the Chief Product Officer of Care.com, a U.S. marketplace connecting families and caregivers, CEO of Daily Burn, a fitness tech brand, and Chief Product Officer at Dotdash, all operating businesses of IAC. Her professional experience also includes leading product management teams at a variety of technology companies and start-ups including WebMD, DailyCandy, and Vindigo. Han earned her Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University.

Host Spencer Rascoff speaks to David Fields, founder and CEO of both Afterparty and Wander. Afterparty is looking to evolve the event-ticketing space with NFTs to assist creators, musicians and collectors. Previously, Fields worked at Disney and was part of the team that helped acquire Pixar. David was also formerly the head of acquisitions and investments for Disney CEO Michael Eisner’s Investment group, The Tornante Company. Fields has a BA in Economics from Harvard. (Disclosure: dot.LA co-founder Spencer Rascoff is an investor in Afterparty.)

As CEO and co-founder of Tomo, Greg Schwartz leads the company in its mission to transform the home buying experience. Tomo was founded in the fall of 2020 and raised a $70 million seed round, reportedly the largest in U.S. history. The company’s initial product, Tomo Mortgage, launched in June of 2021 to streamline the mortgage process by bringing e-commerce to the paperwork heavy part of home transactions. Previously, Greg was the lead business executive of Zillow Group for 13 years. Before Zillow, Greg was vice president of advertising sales at CNNMoney, where he launched the advertising sales team and platform. He also served as national accounts director for Yahoo's automotive and finance properties and held multiple senior roles at DoubleClick.  (Disclosure: dot.LA co-founder Spencer Rascoff is an investor in Tomo.)

Rand Fishkin, co-founder and CEO of SparkToro, and formerly of Moz speaks with Spencer in this revealing conversation about the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. Rand started out as an SEO enthusiast writing about increasing organic traffic through his SEOmoz blog, and then realizing that his expertise had the makings of a business, he began consulting and then developing Moz into a SaaS. Rand helped grow Moz to more than 130 employees, with over $30M in revenue, and traffic reaching 30M visitors per year. Rand is known for his marketing videos, public speaking, and his book Lost and Founder, in which he reveals with incredible candor his struggles with depression.  Rand Fishkin is an investor in dot.LA. 

In this episode of Office Hours, Spencer speaks with Colin Walsh, CEO and Founder of Varo Bank about the importance of their startup getting its charter and being FDIC insured, what it's like leading the way of a "challenger bank" in the fin-tech space, the tough decision he's had to make to stay competitive, and how the bank aspires to create financial inclusion by focusing on its younger customer base. Colin also talks about his journey through the financial services industry having worked for large corporate institutions like Wells Fargo, Visa, American Express, and Lloyd's Banking Group.  (Disclosure: dot.LA co-founder Spencer Rascoff is an investor in Varo.)

Blackstone Growth's Jon Korngold joins Spencer on this episode of Office Hours for a conversation about how the recent stock market downturn is affecting the tech sector and whether a market correction lies ahead. Korngold is Senior Managing Director and Head of Blackstone’s global growth equity investing platform, where he focuses on funding growth-stage companies. Prior to joining Blackstone in 2019, Korngold was on the Management Committee of General Atlantic, leading both the global financial services and health care sectors. Korngold also worked at Goldman Sachs and is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations. He's also active with Harvard University, where he serves on the Harvard College Fund’s Executive Committee.

Roman Kaplun is the CEO and Co-founder of Zoolatech, a custom software development company specializing in high-end software engineering based in the San Francisco area. Born in Leningrad in the former Soviet Union, his family moved to the United States as Jewish refugees in 1988, right after he completed High School. Zoolatech has workers in the U.S., Ukraine, Mexico, and Poland. The startup was able to evacuate, relocate, and resettle many of its employees from Kiyv after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.  Prior to Zoolatech, Roman held a number of Engineering Management and QA roles for Hotwire, Expedia, and IAC. Roman's career began in the maritime sector where he spent a few years at sea, mostly in commercial fishing. Roman has more than 20 years of experience overseeing critical information technology deployments for leaders in the e-commerce, Travel, Media, and Mobile space. Kaplun holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Transportation, Logistics, and Business Administration from California State University Maritime Academy.

On this episode of Office Hours, Spencer speaks with John Shegerian, CEO and chairman of ERI, the largest cybersecurity-focused hardware destruction and electronic waste recycling company in the United States. Shegerian is a serial entrepreneur who helped found FinancialAid.com, Addicted.com and Engage, LLC, a speaker-booking platform, among other organizations. In the early '90s, Shegerian co-founded Homeboy Tortillas and Homeboy Industries, led by Father Greg Boyle, to help improve the lives of former gang members in East Los Angeles. The organization has since evolved into the largest gang-intervention, rehab and re-entry program in the world. John is co-author of "The Insecurity of Everything" and "101 Tips from the Marketing Masters: Ways to Supercharge Your Marketing & Exponentially Grow Your Business." He also hosts "Impact with John Shegerian," a weekly podcast featuring conversations with some of the greatest business minds and thought leaders known today.