Lay of The Land

Ryan Young is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Fello (formerly FlashHouse) where he's on a mission to create a seamless real estate experience, empower realtors, and simplify the stressful process of buying and selling homes.Ryan was born with real estate in his blood as a third-generation in this industry. He is also the CEO of the Young Team, named by Real Trends and The Wall Street Journal as one of the top 250 real estate teams In the country where they have helped thousands of clients buy and sell homes.We cover the ins and outs of iBuying, trends in the larger real estate industry (and here in Cleveland), Ryan's journey as an entrepreneur, and how FlashHouse has differentiated itself in a truly competitive market — please enjoy my conversation with Ryan Young.--Learn more about FlashHouseConnect with Ryan on LinkedIn

Our guest today is Jack Grover — Founder and CEO of Grove Bags, a provider of cannabis packaging specifically tailored for the unique physiology of the plant to create the perfect climate for cannabis preservation.After graduating from Babson College in 2014, Jack was inspired by his brother Charlie’s battle with cerebral palsy to enter the cannabis industry and create packaging that preserves medicine at its highest quality. Four and a half years later, Jack’s company Grove Bags continues its commitment to manufacturing products in the United States and has gained industry-wide praise for its proprietary TerpLoc technology — which we'll explore in great detail in our conversation. Grove Bags' growth and positioning to take advantage of the growing cannabis space is more than apparent here — we cover the ins and outs of the cannabis industry, the history and challenges of marijuana's legalization and regulatory standing, and building a market-leading company in the space. Connect with Jack Grover on LinkedInFollow Grove Bags on TwitterLearn more about Grove Bags

Our guest today is Dr. Daniel German — founder & CEO of orthobrain!Dr. Dan German is a man who loves smiles. All kinds of smiles. So much so, he’s devoted a lifetime to bringing more of them to the world. Thirty-plus years ago, Dr. German started an orthodontic practice that became one of the largest privately held practices in the country; he has cared for 30,000 patients. Through this, he became an orthodontic pioneer in the field and today he is well known throughout the dental world for educating 1,000s of professionals.In 2016, Dr. German transitioned from his practice to found orthobrain®.  orthobrain has effectively transformed the delivery of orthodontics, solving the global orthodontic skills shortage with proprietary technology that puts a virtual orthodontist chairside with every dentist. Now, dental practices from around the globe have access to Dr. German’s predictable and proven systems -- and to the orthodontic expertise that enables them to create successful orthodontic outcomes for their patients at scale.He has served as Faculty in Orthodontics at The Ohio State University College of Dentistry, where he trained post-doctoral residents and was an attending clinical doctor, and for the past 25 years he has traveled the world as a keynote speaker, teaching orthodontics and business optimization to specialists and general practitioners alike. This includes teaching tours in Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and throughout the USA. Recently, he was a full-day keynote speaker at the Global Orthodontic Program at the Greater New York Dental meeting where 53,000 people attended the conference.In 2014, Dr. German received what he considers the crown jewel of his career - The Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Louisville Orthodontic Department. This is only the second time the award has been bestowed.Throughout Dr. German’s career, all of his energy has consistently been focused on giving people the confidence they need to achieve more and to make smiles happen. I can tell you that Dan made me smile more than a few times throughout this conversation — very much enjoyed this one and I hope you all do as well.————Connect with Dr. Daniel German on LinkedInFollow orthobrain on TwitterLearn more about orthobrain————Learn more about Jeffrey Stern @ https://jeffreys.pageConnect with Jeffrey Stern on Linkedin or on TwitterFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter and on LinkedIn

Our guest today is Jane Alexander, who is the Chief Digital Information Officer for The Cleveland Museum of Art where she is responsible for creating awe-inspiring and iterative digital projects supporting a vision of innovation, technology implementation, and digital transformation that exemplify the CMA’s mission. In her tenure at the museum, Jane has moved the organization to be a data-driven, forward-thinking institution through championing endeavors like the Open Access initiative in 2019, allowing the public to share, collaborate, remix, and reuse high-resolution images of 30,000 public-domain artworks as well as metadata for 61,000 artworks for commercial and non-commercial purposes. Jane has led the many iterations of ARTLENS Gallery, originally known as Gallery One. This world-renowned, innovative experience uses cutting-edge technology to inspire visitors to look closer, dive deeper, and connect with the museum's encyclopedic collection.Jane also leads the development of in-gallery digital experiences, including Revealing Krishna, an unprecedented, immersive mixed-reality exhibition that opened in November 2021, an entirely new museum experience where technology is used alongside exceptional Cambodian artworks, to tell the story of these objects and their restoration. This will be the first scholarly exhibition of its kind.Prior to joining the CMA, Jane developed and directed Columbia University’s distance education program and has served as the technology director and design consultant to Frank Gehry's Peter B. Lewis Campus at Case Western Reserve University and as the virtual CIO to Great Lakes Science Center.This was an awesome conversation — I hope you all enjoy it.————Connect with Jane on LinkedInFollow Jane on TwitterLearn more about The Cleveland Museum of ArtLearn more about Revealing Krishna Exhibition Learn more about Open Access: Learn more about ArtLens Gallery————Learn more about Jeffrey Stern @ https://jeffreys.pageConnect with Jeffrey Stern on Linkedin or on TwitterFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter and on LinkedIn

Our conversation this week is with Eric Diamond who is the co-founder and CEO of Central Kitchen, which has a massive physical presence here in Cleveland, hundreds of thousands of square feet out of their main food hub headquarters located at 7501 Carnegie Ave. off East 77th where former lay of the land guest Cleveland Kraut (now Cleveland kitchen) operates out of in addition to other staples like Cleveland Bagel!From incubating startups, to co-packing for successful brands like Randy's Pickles, to supporting ghost kitchens, to educating aspiring food entrepreneurs, to trends like fermenting and veganism, Central Kitchen is the driving force behind the local craft food scene here in Cleveland and it's clear from Eric's passion and vision they’re just getting started!Previously Eric spent over twenty years in banking, lending and community development. Throughout his career, Eric has developed a passion for helping small businesses and entrepreneurs start and expand their businesses — realizing their aspirations and seeing them through. Loved learning the story of Central Kitchen and the outsized impact it has had on Cleveland's food scene and some of my own favorite local brands. Please enjoy my conversation with Eric Diamond————Connect with Eric on LinkedInFollow Eric on TwitterLearn more about Central KitchenFollow Central Kitchen on Instagram————Learn more about Jeffrey Stern @ https://jeffreys.pageConnect with Jeffrey Stern on Linkedin or on TwitterFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter and on LinkedIn

Our conversation this week is with David Boone Jr. — co-founder and CEO of BlendED — an education technology company which has raised over $1mm in funding from leading education-technology investors and local-Cleveland investors like Jumpstart.David is a Cleveland native who has recently boomeranged back to Cleveland from Seattle, where he gained experience leading data teams at Microsoft, to found and grow his company BlendED — an instructor experience platform, making hybrid learning experiences more accessible for instructors. David experienced firsthand the discrepancies in available resources of college instructors between Ivy League schools and community colleges, which account for 0.4% and 46% of U.S. undergraduates, respectively. So he set out to create an all-in-one solution for multi-modal digital resources with a specific focus on community colleges.Based here in Cleveland, the company will be launching in the spring semester of 2022 with Lorain County and Wake Technical Community Colleges.I know I've said this a few times, but genuinely one of my favorite conversations so far hearing David's story and the work he's doing with BlendED. We're lucky to have him back here in Cleveland and look forward to collaborating with him going forward! Please enjoy my conversation with David Boone.————Connect with David on LinkedInLearn more about BlendEDFollow BlendED on TwitterFollow David on Twitter————Learn more about Jeffrey Stern @ https://jeffreys.pageConnect with Jeffrey Stern on Linkedin or on TwitterFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter and on LinkedIn

Our conversation this week is with Mike Belsito who is the Co-Founder of Product Collective — an organization he started here in Cleveland back in 2015 which now boasts a thriving community for over 30,000+ product management professionals —  and Co-Organizer of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference & New York Product Conference, two of the top rated conferences for product people anywhere.For his leadership at Product Collective, Mike has been named one of the Top 40 influencers in the field of Product Management on several occasions. Mike also serves as a Faculty member of Case Western Reserve University in the department of Design and Innovation, and is Co-Host of one of the top startup podcasts online, Rocketship.FM.Prior to Product Collective, Mike spent over a decade in startup companies as an early employee, Co-Founder, and Executive. Mike's businesses and products have been featured in national media outlets such as the New York Times, The Atlantic, CNN, NPR, and elsewhere. Mike is also the Author of Startup Seed Funding for the Rest of us, one of the top startup books on Amazon.This is a fascinating deep dive into the world of product management and the business of community and conferences.————Connect with Mike on LinkedInLearn more about Product CollectiveFollow Product Collective on TwitterFollow Mike on TwitterFollow rocketship.fm on Twitter————Learn more about Jeffrey Stern @ https://jeffreys.pageConnect with Jeffrey Stern on Linkedin or on TwitterFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter and on LinkedIn

Our conversation this week is with Robert Baskette — founder and CTO of Roundtable Learning (originally founded as Knowbase) — on immersive learning and the commercial applications of virtual reality.Bob founded Roundtable Learning in 1998 as a learning management technology (LMS) company where he shaped the vision and led technical growth to where it is today as a leading corporate training company leveraging and pushing the boundaries of mixed, virtual, and augmented reality for immersive learning. A fascinating deep dive into the future of learning!————Connect with Bob on LinkedInLearn more about Roundtable LearningFollow Roundtable Learning on Twitter————Learn more about Jeffrey Stern @ https://jeffreys.pageConnect with Jeffrey Stern on Linkedin or on TwitterFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter and on LinkedIn

Happy holidays everyone! We’re revisiting a topical and popular episode now that Justin Bibb has secured his position as Mayor-Elect of Cleveland. We cover a lot in this conversation — through a lens of technology, entrepreneurship, and equity, we explore Justin’s vision for the city of Cleveland. Really enjoyed this conversation and hope you do too!We’ll be back next week with new founder stories!————Learn more about Justin’s Platform: https://www.bibbforcle.com/Follow Justin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JustinMBibbFollow Justin’s Campaign on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BibbForCLE————Learn more about Jeffrey Stern @ https://jeffreys.pageConnect with Jeffrey Stern on Linkedin or on TwitterFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter and on LinkedIn

Lay of The Land’s 50th episode is a reflection on the 50 before it, my own professional journey & how Lay of The Land came to be, and some musings on what gets a startup ecosystem’s flywheel going.Thanks for tuning in for a year now!Please enjoy and let me know if you all have any feedback. To the next 50!————Learn more about Jeffrey Stern @ https://jeffreys.pageConnect with Jeffrey Stern on Linkedin or on TwitterFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter and on LinkedIn