Liftoff with Keith Newman: For Founders looking for a new growth playbook and further inspiration.

Such a great time catching up with Mike Bell, CEO of Miso Robotics. We met when he was slinging software in the B2C consumer space (Encore Software) and then he transitioned his business management and leadership strength into a few enterprise tech companies but now Mike is running Miso - what an amazing new play in robotics - revolutionizing Restaurant/QSR space. Great chat, give a listen and pick up some great insights into leadership and a hot new market segment.

Dan is the CEO of Chegg and has become a huge advocate for reform of the education system and promoting school to be more affordable and relevant and inclusive in today’s tech-driven economy. His passion behind this cause in infectious. Crazy to think a few short decades ago we toiled in the world of ‘special interest publishing’ at the likes of Ziff-Davis but that turned into a treasure trove of learnings, contacts and more and led to even great heights for Dan as he went to run CNET, Yahoo and other businesses before turning to Chegg. I caught up with him a few weeks ago - he was in NY thinking about Springsteen and weekends @the shore, and I was transfixed on the pending Warriors playoff game. It was a blast to catch up. Give a listen here….

The Look Back catches up @Heini Z. - who I worked with in the security software market while he was still living in his hometown of Denmark -  only to later find him pop up as Founder and CEO of Vivino living in the California Bay Area. Vivino is a great success story and the #1 wine review site but he's also a passionate promoter of entrepreneurship and advocate of new founders - see his podcast here: https://youtube.com/c/rawstartup and check out https://www.vivino.com/US/en  Great conversation - and we weren't even drinking!

Randy has founded nine venture-backed technology companies including an autonomous vehicle insurance company, a digital avatar company, two software-publishing companies, two Internet technology companies, an e-commerce company, and two celebrity-based digital media companies. He has published more than 30 consumer software applications that collectively have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, raised more than $100MM in venture and has had five successful start-up exits returning more than $10B to investors. He is credited with the creation of PDF and Acrobat, the first eCommerce site on the web, the first web browser on a phone, co-founding Funny Or Die and the initial governance of Yahoo. Currently he is creating Metaverse venues in 25 world cities, including Paris, London, Barcelona, New York, Los Angeles, Sidney and Singapore.

It’s wonderful to bring to the podcast a veteran and friend my our days in media tech who has pivoted only to find challenge, change and a new path. Today, the amazing Debbie Gisonni is the Founder of SELF POWER NOW and is a best-selling author and life coach who inspires people to make simple changes that radically improve self-awareness and success. With over two decades in corporate leadership and a parallel career as a wellness entrepreneur, Debbie has been a role model and was one of the first female publishers in the tech market for Network Computing and Internet Week. The courses she offers today holistically address all realms of life – mental, physical, spiritual and emotional – and empower people to rise above the daily challenges of life and work. She is also the author of, The Goddess of Happiness: A Down-to-Earth Guide for Heavenly Balance and Bliss, Vita’s Will: Real Life Lessons about Life, Death & Moving On, Note to Self: Love, and a contributing author to, If Women Ruled the World. For More Info: www.selfpowernow.com

What a great chat with Christina who I’ve known for forever > as the leader at My Software Company,  then Maximum Games - and now she is CEO of Zordix AB, as well as founder and CEO of video game publishers Maximum Games and Modus Games, and development team Modus Studios. Maximum Games is an award-winning video game publisher with over 300 titles in its catalogue. She’s also one of the  few female leaders of a software company, and even in more select company if you count the number of female CEO’s running a gaming company but she is absolutely a force of nature and you have to check this pod out to know why Im betting on her (and more female leaders) in the world of software and gaming.

They call him The SuperAngel. The Godfather of Silicon Valley - I think that’s a bit unfair since he’s not really that old - anyway, I just call him Ron. I’ve known him for years. Back when he was running a startup (Personal Training Systems) and not just investing in them (he’s run SV Angel since Internet 1.0). We had a great chat that covered all of this and much more. Please give a listen, share with a fellow entrepreneur or investor and subscribe: The Look Back with Ron Conway….

Jerry Colonna CEO, Reboot.io Check-in, Reboot > Grow Up My former colleague Jerry Colonna is just a wonderful person to connect with for many reason including some insight and perspective - and a little grounding as it were. His words always land and his sharing is as challenging in tone as they are in revealing. In this episode of The Look Back we revisit our time together as journalists (@CMP) and technology guys and traverse over to his successful run as  venture investor which  set him up for what is now his current focus as a personal coach (CEO Whisperer) and author….btw, Unbelievable read. Check this out! “Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up” and can't wait to read the next one already!  Have a listen, share, enjoy! 

We’re not in E-Commerce 101 anymore! Marketing maestro and super e-commerce veteran Greg Writer shares his view of what’s going on in the world of e-commerce and why it rivals his passion for hang gliding for drama and excitement. We have a fun chat just days before the launch of his latest e-Commerce platform LaunchCart > check it out @ www.launchcart.com

Technologist, Scientist and Mathematician and I met him and saw a swash-buckling entrepreneur. He had just left France with nothing but a few bucks in his pocket and a computer software program he brought to the West Coast Computer Faire in the early to mid 80s. He was essentially selling software from a table and demand started to grow. He couldn’t afford ads to promote his software, heck he even couch surfed at the home of former Byte (Magazine) Editor Jerry Pournelle and his Co (Borland) became a huge success as did his subsequent ventures and now he’s connecting AI with IOT and working on sensor data into apps. What a journey - a great Look Back for anyone around in those days or for aspiring entrepreneurs, technologists, and software programmers. Listen and Share.