Lay of The Land

Ed Largent — President, CEO, and Board Chair of Westfield, one of the most enduring companies in Ohio.Very few companies in the world can boast the longevity of Westfield, which is celebrating its 175th year of existence. Originally founded by a small group of Ohio farmers in 1848, Westfield is now one of the largest non-public companies in Ohio, the largest employer in Medina County, Ohio, and has grown to be one of the nation’s leading property and casualty insurance companies, with recent international expansion, and as the largest writer of contract performance bonds in Ohio, with over $2.5 billion in direct written premium and $8.5 billion in consolidated assets.Ed joined Westfield in 1986 and was appointed CEO and President of Westfield in 2015 after having served in a variety of previous leadership roles, including as Westfield’s Administration Leader and Chief Technology Officer.In our conversation today, we explore the ingredients that make for longevity and unpack how and why Westfield has been able to balance its multi-generational growth and commitment to ensuring the financial stability of its customers all without sacrificing its own resiliency and antifragility through some of the most risk-on periods of American history. We talk about the importance of cultivating people and empathy, being grounded in purpose, and aligning culture around these tenets.It was a real privilege to hear Ed's reflections on leadership and on Westfield’s history, present, and future going forward — please enjoy my conversation with Ed Largent.-----This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects and Ninety. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects or leverage a free trial through Ninety, the software platform that helps teams build great companies, by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm!-----Learn more about Westfield — https://www.westfieldinsurance.com/Follow Westfield on Twitter — https://twitter.com/Westfield1848/Connect with Ed Largent on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/edlargent/-----Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Matt Crowley and Bill Wichert, the co-founders of TonDone, have recently secured $1.5 million in funding and facilitated over $30 million in work orders through their platform. Their mission is to solve the challenges faced by building and facility services.Matt and Bill first crossed paths at Case Western Reserve University and decided to work together going forward. In an eclectic joint career experience, they served as Chief Information Officers at Philadelphia International Airport and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, where they oversaw the development of technology resources for millions of airline customers annually. Their industry knowledge and experience in aviation inspired them to create software for airport operations, which eventually — through a series of learnings and pivots, and participation in Akron's Bounce Innovation Hub accelerator and Techstars accelerator programs — led them to the idea of developing a business operating system for the building and facility service market at large — they developed a platform to help frontline employees get a ton done, hence TonDon!In this episode, Matt and Bill discuss their experience with airport innovation, the ups and downs of pivoting, team building, the importance of falling in love with the problem instead of an idea, knowing your own strengths and weaknesses, the power of accelerator programs, and much more.Please enjoy my conversation with Matt Crowley and Bill Wichert!--Learn more about TonDone — https://www.tondone.com/Connect with Bill Wichert on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/billwichert/Connect with Matt Crowley on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/k8cle/Follow TonDone on Twitter — https://twitter.com/gettondone/Follow Matt Crowley on Twitter — https://twitter.com/variables--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Dan Hampu and Daniel Isenberg on their collective work at the Burton D Morgan Foundation and Scalerator NEO — covering why it’s important to focus on companies at scale relative to startups when thinking about the overall prosperity of an entrepreneurial ecosystem, the state and trajectory of Northeast Ohio’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, and the challenges that scaling companies experience, and how the Burton D. Morgan Foundation and Scalerator NEO can help.Dan Hampu joined The Burton D. Morgan Foundation in 2022 as the President and CEO —  Previously, he served in a number of roles within the entrepreneurial landscape through Northeast Ohio. Most recently he served as the Executive Director of the Northeast Ohio Student Venture Fund, as a Venture Partner with Interstate Fusion Ventures, and as the Chief Operating Officer and board member of the Akron-based software startup company, Fontus Blue.Joining Dan, Daniel Isenberg has been an entrepreneur, teacher of entrepreneurship, and venture capitalist in Israel who has made investments in many dozens of startups across the world — he was a professor at Harvard Business School for 11 years where he pioneered education in international entrepreneurship, and since 2010 has been teaching at Columbia Business School through all of which, he has written over 35 articles on entrepreneurship and authored his book Worthless Impossible and Stupid: How Contrarian Entrepreneurs Create and Capture Extraordinary Value where he’s been featured on Harvard Business Review, the Economist, Forbes, Bloomberg, Wallstreet Journal, Financial Times and many others. Outside of the academic world, he’s put it all into practice through Scalerator NEO, which we’ll spend our time on today, in addition to Scale Up Milwaukee, Scale Up Rio, Scale Up Atlantic Canada, Scale Up Trinidad and Tobago, all of which he has founded.Tying these two organizations together, Scalerator NEO is made possible by the support of the Burton D. Morgan Foundation, whose mission is to foster free enterprise through grantmaking, ecosystem building, and knowledge sharing and whose efforts are built around fostering youth, collegiate and adult entrepreneurship in our region. Scalerator NEO is a program is for scaling companies in Northeast Ohio with annual revenues in the range of $3M to $15M with the potential for further growth — Companies from all sectors partake in a six-month, seven-workshop curriculum to help founders and owners realize that growth — for example, the first Scaleraor NEO cohort collectively experienced a growth in earnings of 40% over the year.In our conversation today, we cover why it’s important to focus on companies at scale relative to startups when thinking about the overall prosperity of a entrepreneurial ecosystem, we talk about the state and trajectory of Northeast Ohio’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, and we explore what are the kinds of challenges that scaling companies experience and how the Burton D. Morgan Foundation and Scalerator NEO can help. Please enjoy my conversation with Dan Hampu and Daniel Isenberg.--Connect with Daniel Isenberg on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/disenberg/Connect with Dan Hampu on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/danhampu/Learn more about Scalerator NEO — https://www.scaleratorneo.org/Learn more about The Burton D. Morgan Foundation — https://www.bdmorganfdn.org/Follow Scalerator NEO on Twitter @ScaleratorNEO — https://twitter.com/ScaleratorNEOFollow The Burton D. Morgan Foundation on Twitter @bdmorganfdn — https://twitter.com/bdmorganfdn--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Brian Folmer.Born and raised in Cleveland, Brian has boomeranged back to Cleveland after 6 years in NYC and starting his own company.Brian is the founder of FirstLook.vc and Distrobox.co; he’s a mentor at Techstars and a16z, Managing Partner of the FirstLook Syndicate, and a proud Ohio State Alum. He previously led BD & Strategic Partnerships at XRC Labs, International Operations at Victoria's Secret, and took his first startup through a technology startup accelerator in his hometown Cleveland, OH.Through his work at FirstLook, he’s come to believe founders are the dreamers in action who drive innovation, push the world forward, and create the bedrock of our economy — and in practice, he’s focused on helping those founders build exciting brands and realize their visions. FirstLook is dedicated to cutting the friction and red tape between founders and investors by sending innovative products from emerging, high-growth consumer brands directly to early-stage investors via their subscription box.In our conversation today, we explore how by connecting these two groups in a new, efficient, and practical way, Brian can uncover far more promising brands than before and begin to rewrite the script on consumer investing. Please enjoy my conversation with Brian Folmer--Connect with Brian Folmer on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfolmer/Follow Brian Folmer on Twitter @homerfolmer — https://twitter.com/homerfolmerLearn more about FirstLook VC — https://firstlook.vc/Follow FirstLook VC on Twitter @firstlookvc — https://twitter.com/firstlookvcConnect with FirstLook VC on Linkedin — https://www.linkedin.com/company/firstlook-venture-co/--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Afif Ghannoum, a biotech attorney by background and the CEO of BIOHM Health — which he co-founded with his father, Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum, a leading microbiome researcher and recognized for naming the mycobiome (the body's fungal community). With over 30,000 citations and 500 published papers, Dr. Ghannoum is one of the top 0.5% of cited microbiologists and the top 2% of all scientists across all disciplines and has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1991, including just receiving his latest NIH grant at age 72.Leveraging his own background launching and selling consumer products in over 27,000 stores and licensed IP to companies around the world in addition to holding several biotech patents, Afif partnered with his dad to commercialize his research and science into world-class consumer products through their company, BIOHM Health.With state-of-the-art science and one of the largest microbiome datasets in the world that combines bacterial and fungal sequencing, BIOHM was the first to address the critical link between fungi and bacteria in gut health. Over the last year, BIOHM has expanded its role with some of the largest global ingredient companies to offer a world-class suite of services, including product development leveraging its industry-leading database, bioinformatics, testing, and clinical trial support — their first BIOHM FX probiotic supplement was designed to specifically help reduce digestive plaque found in the gut.BIOHM is currently embarking on a clinical extension directly for medical practitioners and is quickly expanding into retailers across the country, as it not only manages one of the most comprehensive gut health datasets, but also has access to one of the largest collections of fungi strains, second only to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).In late 2022, Afif secured $7.5 million in funding for BIOHM to support their broader vision. BIOHM is a fascinating company based here in Cleveland and I loved learning more about Afif’s journey building it — please enjoy my conversation with Afif Ghannoum--Connect with Afif Ghannoum on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/afifghannoum/Follow Afif Ghannoum on Twitter @AfifGhannoum — https://twitter.com/AfifGhannoumLearn more about BIOHM Health — https://www.biohmhealth.com/Follow BIOHM Health on Twitter @biohmhealth — https://twitter.com/biohmhealth--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Adam Fleischer — President of Cleveland’s Entrepreneurs' Organization and founder & co-owner of The Wine Spot here in Cleveland Heights.A proud product of Cleveland, Adam joined the United States Air Force just after graduating from Cleveland Heights High School and spent four years on active duty as a medic. After relocating back to Cleveland to attend Cleveland State University, Adam got a job at a local hospital’s inpatient pharmacy, where he began implementation of one of the first clinical information systems (also known as an Electronic Medical Record) in the country — with that experience, Adam was hired on by the company, Cerner Corporation, which was recently purchased by Oracle. After 20 years of experience in corporate America, he decided to focus his energy on his passions — the Cleveland community, and wine!Adam and his wife Susan followed their dream of owning their own business and being entrepreneurs by opening The Wine Spot in Cleveland Heights on December 16, 2011. From the onset, they wanted to be part of the local food and beverage community and began partnering with like-minded entrepreneurs like: Restless Coffee, Brew Nuts, Mister Brisket, many local micro-breweries, and artists to create a relaxing destination where all feel welcome and can enjoy the fines wines, craft beer, and cocktails.In addition, Adam is active in the community as the creator and co-creator of The Heights Music Hop, The Cleveland Heights Happy 5K and 10K, 46 and 2 Brewing Cold Brewed Coffee now part of Six Shooter Coffee, Bitcoin Boulevard USA, and The Wine Spot Salami.It was a lot of fun to hear about Adam’s journey to entrepreneurship, the work he’s doing at the Wine Spot, and understanding the role of EO — the Entrepreneur's Organization — which we’ve heard mentioned many times throughout Lay of The Land but are finally making the space to talk about specifically today! Please enjoy my conversation with Adam Fleischer--Connect with Adam Fleisher on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamefleischer/Learn more about The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Cleveland — https://www.eonetwork.org/cleveland/Learn more about The Wine Spot — https://thewinespotonline.com/ Follow The Wine Spot on Twitter @TheWineSpotCH — https://twitter.com/TheWineSpotCH--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Michael Murphy, on a mission to bring professional soccer to Cleveland as the Co-founder and CEO of the Cleveland Soccer Group.Previously, Michael served as President of Gravitas Ventures — whose story we featured back on Lay of The Land’s 68th episode with Gravitas’ CEO (linked here), Nolan Gallagher, Michael’s current co-founder at Cleveland Soccer Group!At Gravitas, Michael was instrumental in growing the company’s distribution footprint, managing their library of more than 3,000 titles of movies and TV to over 100 transactional, subscription, and ad-sponsored Video-on-demand operators on a worldwide basis — ultimately affording Gravitas distribution into over 100 million homes in North America and over 1 Billion homes worldwide.Prior to joining Gravitas Ventures in 2007, Michael was Captain in the US Army where he served on active duty as a Judge Advocate. In 2005, he deployed with the 3rd Infantry Division in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.Michael is a member of the Cleveland Chapter of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), a member of the U.S. Soccer Development Council, on the board of Boys Hope Girls Hope of Northeast Ohio, and on the advisory council for the Northeast Ohio Women’s Sports Alliance.He also coaches track, basketball, and, of course, soccer at St. Dominic School in Cleveland.This was a really fun conversation — we cover everything from the cultural importance of sports in American society, how he envisions Cleveland Soccer as a community pillar going forward, to the logistics of starting a professional soccer club, from stadiums to financing to building a competitive and formidable platform and team. Really enjoyed learning more about Michaels’ vision for the Cleveland Soccer Group and I am excited to follow along on this journey as it unfolds — please enjoy my conversation with Michael Murphy.--Connect with Michael Murphy on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-murphy-5602005/ Connect with Nolan Gallagher on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-gallagher-7a6a852/Follow Cleveland Pro Soccer on Twitter @cleprosoccer — https://twitter.com/cleprosoccerFollow Michael Murphy on Twitter @CLE_MMMurphy — https://twitter.com/CLE_MMMurphyFollow Nolan Gallagher on Twitter @NolanGravitas — https://twitter.com/NolanGravitasLearn more about The Cleveland Soccer Group — https://www.clevelandprosoccer.com/--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Aleksandra Brankov and Cole Worley — the co-founders of Cafilia, a Cleveland startup and network of curated local coffee shops where people can purchase monthly memberships and enjoy a sustainable and community-driven coffee experience.Aleksandra is a proud product of Serbian immigrant parents — Born in Cleveland, she moved to Europe to continue her professional career in strategy implementation consulting for Global Fortune 500s after receiving her Master’s in International Management in Madrid, Spain. Now back in Cleveland, Aleksandra came up with the idea for the Cafilia during a winter retreat in Canada and decided to pursue it, launching the pilot program in July 2020 in the Cleveland market.Cole had earned his degree studying Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the University of Dayton, and has worked with companies all over the world in marketing, business development, and product management. He's had a hand in launching new business units, managing mass market and luxury products, and consulting with small and medium-sized businesses. In addition, Cole led and organized the StartupBus competition across North America, where people come together, pitch their skills and startup ideas, form teams, build and launch a product in just three days, all while traveling to a final destination.Collectively, Cole and Aleksandra are working to bring the Cafilia to every major city all in support of local, sustainable, and quality coffee, for coffee shop owners and coffee enthusiasts alike. We cover everything from historical coffee macro trends, to the meaning of Cafilia, to managing a coffee subscription service — please enjoy my conversation with Aleksandra Brankov and Cole Worley--Connect with Aleksandra Brankov on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandrabrankov/Connect with Cole Worley on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/coleworley/Learn more about Cafilia — https://becafilia.com/--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Jeremy Umansky, the renowned chef and owner of Larder!Larder Delicatessen and Bakery — as it’s known in full — is a staple and favorite of many here in Cleveland, housed in the historic Ohio City Firehouse, where the from-scratch Eastern European deli embodies Jeremy’s philosophy with a focus on the use and promotion of sourcing and foraging local and wild food, cooking as seasonally as possible, with minimal to no ecological impact on the environment, all without sacrificing on intensity and deliciousness of flavors and the overall experience.Larder was nominated by the James Beard Foundation as the Best New Restaurant in America in 2019 and Jeremy was further recognized as Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2020 and in 2023 with his wife and co-owner, Allie La Valle-Umansky!Jeremy has a fascinating mind and it was a genuine pleasure to hear his thoughts on things far beyond the realm of Larder — although we do talk a lot about Larder too and his interests in mushrooms and foraging, Koji, fermentation, culinary technology, sustainability, Cleveland’s food scene, fulfillment, his motivations and much more — this perhaps was of the most wide-ranging and varied conversations we’ve had on the show so far, and as a big fan of Larder myself, I had a lot of fun learning a lot more about Jeremy and his story. Hope you all enjoy my conversation with Jeremy Umansky--Learn more about Larder — https://larderdb.com/about/Follow Larder on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/larderdb/Follow Jeremy Umansky on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/tmgastronaut/Follow Jeremy Umansky on Twitter @TMGastronaut — https://twitter.com/TMGastronaut--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Artur Grabowski — co-founder of Extendify.Artur emigrated from Poland to the Cleveland area at the age of 8 — where he later attended Case Western and got exposure working both with a hardware measurement instruments company and a Silicon Valley software startup that later became a unicorn. Artur then transitioned to the business world working with KeyBank's investment banking team in Cleveland and with the startup ecosystem while at Silicon Valley Bank in the Bay Area. After completing an MBA at the University of Chicago, Artur returned to San Francisco to join Adobe where he lead acquisitions and investments, and launched Adobe's early-stage investments through the Fund for Design. Artur then returned to Cleveland and joined Automattic, the company behind WordPress, to lead acquisitions, investments, and strategic initiatives.Most recently, in 2019 — and where we’ll spend most of our conversation today — Artur left Automattic to co-found Extendify where they are a mission to help web hosting companies deliver delightful WordPress experiences and has since raised venture capital in support of this mission, with the initial investment led by Village Global, and subsequent investment from a variety of angel and strategic investors, including his former company, Automattic.WordPress powers an almost unbelievable 43% of websites on the internet today and Artur is set on supporting those in this goliath ecosystem! Artur has great perspective on the landscape of the internet, building a fully remote company before it was the popular thing to do so, venture, and I feel has a refreshing and unique take on many aspects of the entrepreneurial journey — please enjoy my conversation with Artur Grabowski!--Learn more about ExtendifyConnect with Artur Grabowski on LinkedInFollow Artur Grabowski on Twitter @arturgrabo--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedInFollow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/