Lay of The Land

Our conversation this week is with Michael DeAloia — CEO at Evergreen Podcasts  — on the business of podcasting, building a media company here in Cleveland, content creation, and Cleveland startups!Evergreen Podcasts is a fast growing podcast network designed for the creative class to create, listen and inspire. To date, Evergreen Podcasts has grown from four podcasts to over 30 with millions of downloads. Prior to Evergreen, Michael served as the executive for technology development, more colloquially as the “Tech Czar”, for the City of Cleveland under Mayor Jane Campbell's administration where he was responsible for economic development for technology startups — essentially helping attract new technology companies to Cleveland and supporting the ones already here. Before stepping into city hall, Michael was a co-founder and CFO at Blue Bridge Networks, a data storage company also based here in Cleveland. On the side, Michael is a Cleveland history buff and author of Lost Cleveland, Lost Hotels of Cleveland, and Lost department stores of Cleveland where he traces the cherished places in Cleveland that time, progress and fashion have swept aside. Please enjoy my conversation with Micahel DeAloiaLearn more about Evergreen PodcastsFollow Michael on TwitterConnect with Michael on LinkedIn————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 Scott Colosimo  — Founder at Cleveland CycleWerks & LAND Energy  — on Cleveland manufacturing, commitment to design, and the future of motorcycles, electric vehicles, and energy distribution!Scott founded Cleveland CycleWerks, a global motorcycle lifestyle brand, back in 2009. More recently he founded LAND Energy which focuses on distributed power and e-mobility! LAND paints a fascinating vision for the future of motorcycles, mobility, and connectivity — I loved hearing about Scott's transition from CycleWerks to LAND shifting focus from heritage and tradition to innovation and thoughtful applications of technology with a firm commitment to design tying it all together.I believe this conversation is greatly complemented with a visual counterpart, so I definitely recommend taking a look at LAND Energy & Cleveland CycleWerks’ motorcycles to visually understand what Scott means when he talks about his commitment to design.As a motorcyclist, it is hard for me to not be a huge fan of Scott's work to push this space into the future, with a focus on keeping the manufacturing here in Cleveland, sourcing it from the US, reducing the supply chain, all while implementing new manufacturing techniques spanning hardware, software, and technology. One of my favorites so far, please enjoy my conversation with Scott Colosimo.Learn more about Cleveland CycleWerksLearn more about LAND EnergyFollow Cleveland CycleWerks on InstagramFollow LAND Energy on InstagramConnect with Scott Colosimo on LinkedIn————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 47th conversation is with Stan Garber & Alex Yakubovich — Co-Founders of Scout RFP (now known as Workday Strategic Sourcing) — on serial entrepreneurship and Scout RFP’s journey from inception here in Cleveland to acquisition by Workday for $540mm in 2019, where both of them still work leading Workday’s strategy and growth in the source-to-pay space.Stan Garber is Vice President, Spend Management GTM at Workday, and leads the effort to deliver exponential growth within the procurement source-to-pay space. As Scout RFP’s President, Stan set the company’s growth strategy and spearheaded go-to-market activities. Alex Yakubovich is General Manager, Spend Management at Workday, and leads product development and strategy within the source-to-pay space. As Scout RFP’s CEO, Alex set the business direction and product strategy for the company. Prior to ScoutRFP, Alex and Stan co-founded Onosys together, a digital ordering platform for restaurant chains, which they sold to Living Social in 2012. Both Alex and Stan are graduates of Case Western Reserve University.There's a lot from this conversation I'm working to internalize and apply to my own work — it was awesome to learn about their startup philosophies and practices which have allowed them to be successful multiple times over in serial entrepreneurship here in Cleveland.Learn more about Workday Strategic SourcingLearn more about ONOSYSFollow ONOSYS on TwitterConnect with Stan Garber on LinkedInFollow Stan on TwitterConnect with Alex Yakubovich on LinkedInFollow Alex 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 Steve Potash  — Founder, President, and CEO of OverDrive.Steve founded OverDrive here in Cleveland back in 1986. Over the last 3 decades Steve has led OverDrive to become the leading digital reading platform for ebooks, audiobooks and other digital media for libraries, schools, government agencies, corporate learning centers and colleges and universities worldwide. OverDrive now manages the largest global network of digital book lending libraries — over 40,000 libraries and schools worldwide in over 72 countries, with over a billion checkouts of eBooks.As CEO, Steve focuses on OverDrive’s vision to create a world enlightened by reading. A pioneer in the digital content and distribution industry, Steve was among the first to develop useful applications for digital books in the 1980s. He began his career offering innovative floppy diskette, CD-ROM and print-to-digital conversion services, and introduced early versions of digital books to the law, accounting and healthcare industries, which we cover in our conversation!Really enjoyed Steve's perspective on the importance of libraries in our society and technology's implications for reading and literacy. Hope you all heed Steve's advice to visit your local library and enjoy my conversation with Steve Potash.————Learn more about OverDriveLearn more about OverDrive’s Libby appFollow Steve on Twitter @OverDriveSteveConnect with Steve on LinkedIn————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 India Johnson — Founder of UAVistas.With a background in biology and computer science, India Johnson is an unmanned aerial systems pilot, entrepreneur, public servant, and geospatial developer. India is responsible for flying, processing data from, and maintaining the Cleveland Metroparks drone fleet flying. Applications of her work include natural resource management, planning and engineering projects, as well as marketing videos and stills. In her role as a geospatial developer for the Metroparks, she wears many hats from securing and maintaining servers, developing web apps, and writing code to solve problems.Outside of her work with the Metroparks, she’s founded her own business, UAVistas, where she incubates different drone applications. Really enjoyed learning about drones and India’s passion for them —  please enjoy my conversation with India Johnson!————Learn more about UAVistasConnect with India on LinkedIn————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 Jake Bailosky  — CTO & Founder of OnStation — on revolutionizing how road workers locate and communicate in the field.Jake spent 10 years as a construction project engineer with the Ohio Department of Transportation after studying and becoming a Civil Engineer. Through his time working on transportation projects in the field, he experienced firsthand the challenges that would later inspire PROJiTech (parent company) & OnStation. Jake taught himself how to code and spent 5 years developing the initial product and validating OnStation in the market. Earlier in 2021, Jake secured $1.4mm in funding from Jumpstart and pre-seed investment Glide — OnStation is now being used on over 200 transportation projects and has 1500 users including major contractors, consultants, and a handful of state Departments of Transportation.Please enjoy my conversation with Jake Bailosky!————Learn more about OnStationConnect with Jake on LinkedIn————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 James Barnes Jr. — Founder & President of Immaculate Cleaning — on building Northeast Ohio’s fastest-growing janitorial services company.James launched his first successful business endeavor as a high school student. From this experience he learned the basic principles of running a profitable business enterprise which he then leveraged to build Immaculate Cleaning. He’s since been able to expand from janitorial services to a broader conglomerate model rolling up and starting up service providers across other industries like lawn services.To James, Immaculate cleaning is more than a business — it's a means to his passion for community engagement and economic empowerment — working toward social impact in the areas where he grew up in Cleveland. As of 2021, Immaculate Cleaning Company has become the proud Cleaning Partner of The Cleveland Monsters hockey team to amplify their impact in Greater Cleveland communities.Loved learning about Jame's story and preparedness for every opportunity that comes his way. Hope you all enjoy my conversation with James Barnes.————Learn more about James BarnesConnect with Charlie on LinkedIn————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 Charlie Lougheed — Co-founder & CEO of Axuall, a Cleveland-based company which recently closed on $10.4mm in financing.Axuall is a bot-enabled, real-time HR data network that empowers healthcare providers to manage and share their verified career data and credentials with healthcare organizations and plans. This enables these organizations to build better networks, eliminate deployment delays, meet patient demand, and improve their bottom line. Prior to Axuall, Charlie co-founded and co-funded Explorys, now IBM Watson, in 2009 as a spin-off from the Cleveland Clinic. In six years, the company became the leader in healthcare big data and value-based-care analytics, spanning 26 healthcare networks, 60 hospitals, and 60 million patients across the US.Prior to Explorys, Charlie co-founded Everstream in 1999 which later became the market leader in broadband and content analytics before being acquired by Concurrent, a public company in 2005. There he served as CTO and later as President of the company enabling its clients to leverage their data to exponentially scale their networks and broker better deals with their content providers.Charlie is also an active leader in the local community serving as the Chairman of The Lougheed Initiative Foundation, Vice Chairman of Friends of Breakthrough Schools, and Chairman of the Galen Foundation and PeopleBeatingCancer[dot]org.Incredibly exciting to finally have Charlie on the podcast to share his story and the work we're doing together at Axuall — I’ve personally learned an immeasurably great deal from Charlie over the last two years and I hope through this conversation you all can enjoy and glean some insights as well. Please enjoy my conversation with Charlie Lougheed.————Learn more about AxuallConnect with Charlie on LinkedIn————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 Aaron Grossman — Founder & CEO of TalentLaunch.TalentLaunch, which Aaron founded back in 2016 after over a decade working in the staffing industry, is a network of independently operated staffing and recruitment companies that share back-office support, now generating hundreds of millions in sales and employing over 200 employees.TalentLaunch was established to help solve a problem that is prevalent throughout the staffing industry. There are over 20,000 staffing firms in the United States, with 97% of all staffing firms having less than $25 million in annual revenues. 82% of the 20,000 staffing firms have less than $5 million in annual revenues. While this fragmentation in the industry could suggest that local communities enjoy working with local community based staffing firms, the average Net Promoter Score which gauges the customer experience is an abysmal 4 out of a possible 100. Many small and mid sized staffing firms do not have the tools and resources available to them to drive a better experience. By design, Talentlaunch infuses big company resources and tools into the member companies that operate within the network to help them reach new heights.This was one of my favorite conversations so far hearing about how Aaron thinks about culture and the intentionality he brings to it, in service of helping others realize their potential. Hope you all enjoy my conversation with Aaron Grossman. ————Learn more about TalentLaunchConnect with Aaron on LinkedIn————Learn more about Jeffrey @ https://jeffreys.pageConnect with Jeffrey on Linkedin or on TwitterFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter 

Our conversation this week is with Brian Zimmerman — CEO of The Cleveland Metroparks. As CEO of the Metroparks, Brian is responsible for the management of over 24,000 acres of green space in Northeast Ohio including 18 park reservations, eight golf courses, and the nationally-acclaimed Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, roughly 1000 employees, hundreds of miles of parkways and trails serving roughly 40 million visitors annually. Brian has helped lead the Park District’s highest rate of land acquisition under any Cleveland Metroparks leader in the park’s 104-year history aside from the Metroparks' founder, William Stinchcomb. Under Brian's leadership, Cleveland Metroparks has been recognized nationally through several agency awards including the 2016 National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park Management by National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), the highest national honor in parks and recreation.It is quite awesome to learn about the history and diversity of all the work that goes into maintaining and preserving what so many of us here in Cleveland value and treasure in the nature afforded by the Metroparks. Please enjoy my conversation with Brian Zimmerman.————Learn more about The Cleveland MetroparksConnect with Brian on LinkedIn————Learn more about Jeffrey @ https://jeffreys.pageConnect with Jeffrey on Linkedin or on TwitterFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter