Lay of The Land

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

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