Lay of The Land

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with the family behind Snider Recreation a company in the very business of fun where they are focused on the development of Commercial Playgrounds — Chuck Snider, Jamey Snider, and Jeff Snider! Jamey and Jeff took over the business in 2014 and today run the company, focused on growing Snider Recreation’s brand and presence in the playground and recreation industry, while Chuck had founded the business back in the late 80s after over a decade working in the legal sector.If you’ve ever wondered, how does a playground come to be? Or what are all the considerations that go into making one that is fun and inclusive, and safe? That is what we’ll cover in this episode!From how the recreational and commercial playground industry has evolved over the last few decades, to how Chuck, Jamey, and Jeff think about innovation, to how they’ve continued to run a family business over the generations — really loved learning about this business that fundamentally ties its success to providing a fun safe environment for children to play — please enjoy my conversation with the Snider family.--Learn more about Snider RecreationFollow Snider Recreation on TwitterConnect with Jamey Snider on LinkedInConnect with Jeff Snider on LinkedIn--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedInFollow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Dr. Elad Granot — Dean of John Carroll University’s Boler College of Business, co-founder and managing member of an early-stage technology Venture Capital fund, and advisor to a $450mm VC fund. Elad is passionate about the role of higher education in the world of startups, and actively spends his time building & cultivating social connections for students to move up the academic and economic ladders & promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in the Cleveland business ecosystem.Prior to joining Boler College of Business as Dean and Professor of Marketing, Dr. Granot led Ashland University's Business College. His academic appointments also include Dean of the College of Business Administration and Professor of Marketing at Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey; Assistant Dean – MBA Programs at Cleveland State University’s Monte Ahuja College of Business in Cleveland, Ohio; and Special Assistant to the Provost for eLearning Development at Cleveland State University. In addition to his background in higher education leadership, Dr. Granot served as an officer in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) prior to beginning his international business career in 1994 as a sales manager for a US based freight forwarding company. He later established his marketing and strategy consulting practice. In 1998, he was recruited to be vice president of marketing for Israel’s largest private education company, later acquired by the Washington Post group. In 2000, Dr. Granot was named CMO of KPMG in Tel Aviv, a position he held until taking over as CEO of a large media production company.We cover a lot of ground in this conversation spanning what Cleveland can learn from Startup Nation and Elad’s time in Israel, the role of academia in fostering an entrepreneurial mindset, the tolerance for risk in North East Ohio, technology transfer out of academic institutions, and a lot more — please enjoy my conversation with Dr. Elad Granot!--Connect with Dr. Elad Granot on LinkedIn--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedInFollow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Jan Jenson — PhD, CEO/CSO/Founder of Trailhead Biosystems, based here in Cleveland.Jan is the Lead Inventor of Trailhead Technology and has 20 years as a molecular developmental biologist. He is the Eddie J. Brandon Endowed chair of Diabetes Research at the Cleveland Clinic and obtained his Ph.D. from U. Copenhagen in 1998 and has been faculty at US institutions since 2001 where he has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and is now engaged with multiple research projects and consortia covering neural, renal, pancreatic areas, as well as cancer and immunotherapy.The technology of Trailhead Biosystems — which exists around the high-dimensional design of experiments dependent on computerized designs and robotic executions — allows for the production of cellular ink as the biological building blocks to address a myriad of issues across cell-based therapeutics, drug discovery, organ printing, and disease modeling — ultimately aiming to arrive at the cures for diseases we’ve only historically been able to treat like Diabetes, which is one of Jan’s original motivations.Trailhead Biosystems is one of the most fascinating companies I’ve come across so far and I learned so much from this conversation with Jan — everything from the basics of cell differentiation and development biology, to the vast implications that unlocking industrialized manufacturing of specialized human cells can have for regenerative medicine! Please enjoy my conversation with Jan Jensen--Learn more about Trailhead BiosystemsConnect with Jan Jensen on LinkedIn--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedInFollow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Aaron George, Founder/CEO of SupplyNow! Growing up with a family of small businesses & food service owners, Aaron first came to the US in 2015 with a deep sense of respect for entrepreneurship and the food service industry from a very young age. At that time, he came to study Civil Engineering and Business Management from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) — during his time at CWRU, he founded PastryNow which was a digital, late-night delivery platform that connected local bakeries & home bakers to college studentsIn early 2020 though, when college campuses shut down overnight, Aaron had to close down the business and go back to the drawing board. He had noticed restaurants were amongst the hardest hit during the pandemic and was determined to find ways to help. After interviewing several restauranters and chefs, he found that there were inadequate solutions available to actually help restaurants control their purchasing costs, especially in the context of having to navigate frequent critical supply chain failures.In 2021, Aaron founded SupplyNow, leveraging his experience from PastryNow, to provide critical supply chain solutions that can save restaurants and local distributors, time and money. The company’s flagship service — Crisis Management — helps restaurants when their vendor has shorted them (potentially due to unexpected waste/demand, inventory miscalculations, etc) and are too short-staffed to send for a restaurant's emergency supplies. At the same time, the company has built out the supply-side of its network to service distributors who find it too expensive to offer same-day/on-demand deliveries to their customers, due to CDL driver constraints and preset weekly routes that are hard to deviate out of.Through our conversation, we also cover Aaron’s journey as an immigrant founder, the many additional challenges he’s had to navigate as a consequence of this, and the work of Global Entrepreneur in Residence program he is spearheading. Please enjoy my conversation with Aaron George.--Learn more about SupplyNowLearn more about Global ClevelandConnect with Aaron George on LinkedIn--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedInFollow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land’s 100th conversation is a reflection on the 99 before it — what universal lessons can we learn and patterns we can extract from recounting the stories of amazing people building amazing things! We'll cover what draws people to entrepreneurship in the first place, where do company ideas come from, and the real importance of culture — I hope you all can take these learnings with you as well. Thanks for tuning in for two years now :)Please enjoy and let me know if you all have any feedback. To the next 100!With Love — Jeffrey SternHost, Lay of The Land PodcastCo-Founder, Axuall

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Steve Santamaria, CEO of Folio Photonics, where he is focused on innovating storage media with the first-ever enterprise-scale, immutable active archive solution that delivers breakthrough cost, security, and sustainability!Steve — who resides here in Chagrin Falls — is a seasoned technology executive, entrepreneur, and student of disruptive technologies. Steve spent 14 years at Intel where he led an array of strategic projects including: Intel’s Microsoft partnership, colloquially referred to as Wintel, investment in China Software Park Program (with launches in Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shenzhen and Chengdu), global expansion of the Intel Developer Program, formation of the Visual Computing Group to move Intel into more graphics-oriented businesses such as VR and 3D animation and the launching of various Intel Service businesses including Intel Online Services, AppUp and Tizen.Prior to Intel, Steve had a successful sales and business development career with companies including: Control Data, Ceridian, Parametric Technology and Giga Information Group. Most recently, Steve started two companies: WebTuner Corp., an OTT video streaming company, and Envelop VR, which created the first Windows desktop environment for virtual reality.Really enjoyed getting Steve’s perspective on the history and future of storage, the prospects for Folio Photonics’s opportunity looking forward, Cleveland’s whole ecosystem, and his reflections on leadership! Hope you enjoy my conversation with Steve Santamaria--Learn more about Folio PhotonicsConnect with Steve Santamaria on LinkedInFollow Steve Santamaria on Twitter @SSantamaria7 --Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedInFollow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Kris Snyder! Kris has an extensive entrepreneurial past over the last 25 years building and leading five entrepreneurial companies, including founding Vox Mobile — an enterprise mobility management service here in Cleveland — back in 2006 where he served as CEO growing the organization to over 200 people, over $20mm in capital raised, and $10’s of millions in recurring revenue. In 2018 Kris founded a growth advisory firm called Impact Architects where he serves as the Managing Partner, and in 2019, he began working on Ninety, a company focused on supporting the same market as Impact Architects by providing company operating system software where he serves as the Head of Finance and Partnerships, sits on their board, and helped them recently close on a $20mm investment round led by Insight Partners.He is an active member of EO's Cleveland chapter as a member of the board, chairs the board of the NEO Arthritis Foundation, and has been recognized as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year!This really was one of my favorite discussions so far as Kris — who is one of the clearest thinkers I know — has this powerful ability to distill his extensive learnings into very concise meaningful takeaways as well as speak to his underlying motivations of working with entrepreneurial leaders to create impact and pursue a world where small and medium organizations and their employees can become more humane, productive and resilient in order to live their best lives. Please enjoy my conversation with Kris Snyder.--Learn more about Impact ArchitectsLearn more about Ninety.ioLearn more about Vox MobileConnect with Kris Snyder on LinkedIn--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedInFollow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Raji Sankar, co-founder of Wholesome International, a multi-concept restaurant development company and co-chief executive officer of Choolaah, a fast-casual Indian restaurant, owned and operated by Wholesome International, with a modern commitment to good health featuring traditional Indian recipes, spices, and tandoor cooking.Choolaah has become a beloved gem in and of itself here in Cleveland with a growing presence in other cities like Pittsburgh.Raji has a refreshing perspective on leadership and company building as a student of companies before her own and mastering the best of what they’ve already figured out — Raji operates with a level of intentionality paid to company culture and commitment to the customer experience that feels representative of the best of the restaurant industry!Previously, she held executive and operational leadership positions in technology and media companies. She has served as an adjunct professor of Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University and as a member of the Board of Directors for Pittsburgh Habitat for Humanity.In addition, Raji is an incredible storyteller and just fun to talk with — so please enjoy my conversation with Raji Sankar.--Learn more about ChoolaahConnect with Raji Sankar on LinkedIn--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedInFollow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Lukas Minkov and Logan Schouman.Born and raised in Vienna, Austria and a former member of the Austrian Armed Forces, Lukas is the son of first-generation immigrants. Launching his first startup at the age of 17, he’s serially created companies spanning e-commerce marketing businesses, to most recently in 2020, an organization providing masks to marginalized communities and selling into the German Red Cross during the pandemic.Logan — born in Buffalo, NY — has a passion for entrepreneurship, a background in sales, and connected with Lukas as students at Kent State where together, they founded Afters[.]io and are building out IDRA — an acronym standing for Intelligent Demand and Revenue Augmentation.As they can attest to firsthand, consumers — particularly college students today — expect instant gratification when it comes to e-commerce delivery. Existing options, like Instacart, offer same-day delivery on groceries but can’t accommodate 10-15 minute deliveries during late night hours when college students need it most. Their focus has been to build out a hyper-speed delivery service that delivers everyday convenience store items like drink mixers, cleaning products, and snacks in 10 minutes or less. Through their bootstrapped trial at Kent State, they’ve validated this hypothesis yielding a 7-minute avg. delivery time on 2,600 fulfilled orders with $31K in revenue.As part of their experimentation, they also discovered value they could unlock beyond a local delivery service, where they are focused on coupling modern logistics best practices with AI to increase delivery speed and predict product demand with increased accuracy.I enjoyed learning about Logan and Lukas’ experience so far and am excited to see where they take Afters and IDRA next — please enjoy my conversation with Lukas Minkov and Logan Schouman.--Learn more about Afters.ioFollow Afters.io on Twitter @AftersTweetsConnect with Lukas Minkov on LinkedInConnect with Logan Schouman on LinkedIn--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedInFollow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Ed Weinfurtner, Executive Chairman of Great Day Improvements & Co-Founder at Blue Olive PartnersEd is an entrepreneur at heart and has been an investor, operator, and board member in a variety of privately held businesses over the past 40 years developing specific expertise in DTC home improvement, distribution, and manufacturing businesses. Most recently at the helm of Great Day Improvements, he’s grown the company by an order of a magnitude from $44M to $922M in sales in just 7 years — in the last year alone, the company grew its remodeling jobs from 9000 the year prior to nearly 68,000!As one of the largest Northeast Ohio companies, employing more than 2,100 people, Great Day Improvements is a vertically integrated, direct-to-consumer provider of home remodeling and premium building products: including Patio Enclosures brand sunrooms and screen rooms; Stanek brand windows and doors; Apex Energy Solutions energy efficient windows and doors; and Hartshorn Custom Contracting pool enclosures.Since Ed acquired the business in 2014, it has quadrupled in size and is now ranked as the 11th largest residential remodeling company in the US by Qualified Remodeler. It was recently named among the fastest-growing private companies in America by INC. Magazine and by Crain’s Cleveland Business as the fastest-growing privately held business in Northeast Ohio.I really enjoyed Ed’s reflection on his career and learning how he navigated the business through the pandemic and the deluge of downstream headwinds to his business from labor shortages to inflated material costs, to double down on the company’s core competency and find success through it. Please enjoy my conversation with Ed Weinfurtner.--Learn more about Great Day ImprovementsLearn more about Blue Olive PartnersConnect with Ed Weinfurtner on LinkedIn--Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedInFollow Jeffrey Stern on Twitter @sternJefeFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/