Lay of The Land

Our conversation this week is with Shane Bigelow — CEO at CHAMPtitles — Cleveland-based startup, which has raised over $17.5 million in funding, on digitizing the process of vehicle titling. Currently, vehicle title creation, management and transfer - when a car is acquired or changes hands - is a cumbersome, paper-based process with different laws and practices in each U.S. state, creating significant complexity. The difficult process impacts everyone who comes in contact with the vehicle title, from citizens, to retailers, lenders, insurance companies, and state governments, leading to unnecessary costs, inefficiency and waste in the marketplace for all ecosystem participants.CHAMPtitles was built for insurance carriers, automotive retailers, lenders, state governments, and others to allow insurance carriers to more quickly acquire and dispose of vehicles in instances of total loss by digitizing the process from owner engagement to title application submission, reducing cycle times significantly. CHAMPtitles also gives state agencies the ability to modernize their title and registration systems, providing significant benefits to all users of these upgraded systems.I have a general affinity for those working to close the gap between the ubiquity of technology in people's everyday lives and the relative lack of it in the governments supporting those people, which is why it was awesome to have Shane on the podcast — hope you all enjoy our conversation!————Learn more about CHAMPtitlesFollow CHAMPtitles on TwitterConnect with Shane 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 Kate Volzer — Co-Founder and CEO at Wisr, an education technology company based here in Cleveland which was acquired by EAB back in March of 2021.Wisr, which specializes in building affinity between prospective students and colleges, was acquired by EAB — a key player in the education industry — in March 2021 in a move to further EAB's efforts to help schools and students find, learn about and interact with each other. Wisr, which Kate co-founded back in 2016, has grown rapidly since the company began building private, online communities for colleges that enable students to connect with peers and campus leaders. Prospective students use the platform to get a sense of what life is like at a given school and to find friends and mentors with similar interests. The technology also enables faculty to offer guidance on majors and classes, while giving institutions a direct channel for delivering personalized content to interested students.I loved learning about Kate's reflections on transitioning post-acquisition to EAB and working through the challenges she encountered taking Wisr from idea to exit. I hope you all enjoy my conversation with Kate Volzer!————Learn more about Wisr (@ EAB)Follow Wisr on TwitterFollow EAB on TwitterFollow Kate on TwitterConnect with Kate————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 Jacob Sheridan — Co-Founder and CEO at TPA Stream, an insurtech software company based here in Cleveland having raised ~ $4mm in capital.TPA Stream is focused on automating employee benefits and solves communication challenges across all benefit types, making it simpler, safer, and more cost-effective for everyone that helps make employee benefits happen.As CEO, Jacob oversees company growth and investment, helps lead product development, and works directly with customers to help save them time and eliminate manual workloads. Jacob brings over a decade of experience to TPA Stream, leveraging deep experience in technology to help individuals, employers, brokers, and third-party administrators streamline and simplify healthcare administration challenges.Prior to his role at TPA Stream, Jacob founded Lake Erie Partners, a consortium dedicated to providing resources to young professionals and companies in the Lake Erie region. He also served as channel sales manager at OnShift and president of Calverton Consulting.Learned a lot from Jacob in this deep dive — hope you all enjoy our conversation!————Learn more about TPA StreamConnect with Jacob————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 Charu Ramanathan, PhD  — Co-Founder and CEO at vitalxchange, based here in Cleveland having raised over $2mm in capital.vitalxchange and Lokyata are the latest iterations of Charu’s entrepreneurial career, which began transitioning her Case Western Reserve University PhD thesis into a medical device company — CardioInsight — which she grew and sold to Medtronic in 2015 for nearly $100 million. Charu spent the following two years shepherding the technology's integration, before co-founding Lokyata, a fintech company promoting financial inclusion and providing digital self-learning software solutions & services in emerging economies, and vitalxchange, whose mission is to enable participatory healthcare by empowering healthcare consumers. We spend most of the conversation focused on her current work at vitalxchange, but cover the breadth of her experience and impact as well.  Charu is a force, a wealth of knowledge, and genuinely passionate about her work to elevate human life — really enjoyed and learned a lot from this conversation!————Learn more about vitalxchange: https://vitalxchange.com/about-usConnect with Charu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charu-ramanathan-phd/Follow Charu: https://twitter.com/charuramanathan?lang=enFollow vitalxchange: https://twitter.com/vitalxchange————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 David Edelman  — CEO & Founder of Thrivable, based here in Cleveland. David is an entrepreneur, author, and speaker who developed the vision for Thrivable through his work building Diabetes Daily, a leading online community helping those with diabetes thrive. A firm believer that every key decision health care companies make should have patient input, he created the Thrivable rapid-research platform to make it easy for companies to connect with the patients that matter most to make better products and services. Thrivable recently closed on $1.7mm in seed funding.We cover everything from how to foster and build community, to market research, to fundraising, to the challenges of company building and many of David’s entrepreneurial stories along the way! Enjoy.————Learn more about Thrivable: https://thrivable.app/Connect with David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidedelman/————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 Terence McCarron — CEO & Founder of OpinionRoute LLC, a Cleveland, OH-based Market Research Data Collection Services and Sample Technology firm. Terence’s career spans 20+ years including leadership positions for firms like Greenfield Online (sold to Microsoft in 2008), Kantar Health (now a Cerner subsidiary), and Cint AB (STO: CINT). A native of New Jersey, Terence moved with his wife and 4 kids to Cleveland in 2013 in order to start OpinionRoute, which is in the business of helping market researchers produce accurate results through both their technology and services.We’re lucky to have Terence here in the Cleveland startup scene as both a mentor and entrepreneur — OpinionRoute has flown under the radar for a bootstrapped business generating over 8-figures in revenue and growing rapidly! Excited to amplify Terence and OpinionRoute’s story here! Enjoy.————Learn more about OpinionRoute: https://www.opinionroute.com/Follow OpinionRoute: https://twitter.com/OpinionRouteConnect with Terence: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terence-mccarron-mr/Follow Terence: https://twitter.com/tmccarron————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 Lindsay Watson, CEO & Founder of Augment Therapy.Augment Therapy was founded in 2017 when Lindsay — who is a pediatric physical therapist from Chagrin Falls, Ohio — was searching for a way to solve the problems she was experiencing in her own physical therapy practice. Lindsay had spent years working with children and was frustrated with the inefficiency of treating kids once a week, with no way to help them exercise on a daily basis for faster progress. And with that, Lindsay set out to find a way to encourage and motivate them to exercise and Augment Therapy was born.Augment Therapy is an interactive software that uses the medium of augmented reality to engage kids to exercise. Using depth-sensing camera technology, Augment Therapy functions as a motivational tool, exercise prompt, and progress tracker for children needing therapeutic exercise – with no headsets or other wearables required. It can be used in the hospital and clinical setting or in the home environment – any place where added motivation is needed.Augment Therapy looks like a game to the child, but solves real problems of exercise adherence – its portability and anywhere/anytime access make the completion of daily therapeutic exercise simple, convenient, and fun!This was one of my favorite conversations to date! Lindsay’s passion for her work is infectious and I learned a lot from her story — hope you enjoy it too.————Learn more about Augment Therapy: https://augmenttherapy.com/Follow Augment Therapy: https://twitter.com/augment_therapyConnect with Lindsay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsay-watson-pt-mpt-68103a134/Follow Lindsay: https://www.twitter.com/@lindsaywatson26————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 Jarred & Brandon Smith — co-founders of NOOMA.The NOOMA journey began for Jarred & Brandon as hockey-playing brothers who couldn’t stand the sugar-packed, artificial sports drinks we've all been given our whole lives, all the way up to their time as professional athletes. The whole thing made no sense to them; they were competing at the highest level, yet given products based on big corporate partnerships, not what’s actually good for you. So they forged their own path using only organic, plant-based, and real ingredients - and no added sugar - to make products that taste great and actually work. The other part of their mission is to go beyond making drinks and build a company that makes an impact on society.NOOMA is a Cleveland staple and increasingly a national one! Really enjoyed this conversation!————Learn more about Nooma: https://www.drinknooma.com/Follow Nooma: https://www.instagram.com/drinknooma/————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 Todd Federman — managing director of North Coast Ventures.North Coast includes six funds and has closed $65M+ of capital in 60 early-stage companies since 2007. Prior to joining North Coast, Todd launched a consumer packaged goods company, One With Nature, and worked for technology consulting company, DiamondCluster. We cover a lot in this conversation from what makes for a good early-stage funding ecosystem to what’s working in Cleveland and what could we be doing better. We deep dive into angel networks, founder mentality, valuation, risk aversion, startup quantity, geographic competition, and much more!Todd’s perspective is critical in understanding the lay of the land — Enjoy!————Connect with Todd: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddfederman/Learn more about North Coast Ventures: https://northcoast.vc/————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 Brett Lindsey — CEO of Everstream & Founder of Snip Internet here in Cleveland!We cover the infrastructure of the internet, the future of telecom, and how he’s realizing that future by growing Everstream to over 25,000 route miles of fiber and multiple $100 millions in contract value while simultaneously building Snip Internet as a residential internet provider.Previously as Chief Operations Officer of OneCommunity, Brett oversaw the $100 million expansion of the network that became Everstream. Brett brings more than 25 years of experience in successful operations management and business development efforts for venture-backed organizations to the Fortune 500. He has extensive experience in the telecom industry, having served as President of Elantic Telecom and Chief Operations Officer of Vox Mobile. Brett also held management positions with City Signal Communications, Qwest Communications, XO Communications, and Williams Communication Systems.Brett is an absolute force and it’s amazing to see what he’s been able to build. Listen and Learn!————Connect with Brett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettrlindsey/Learn more about Everstream: https://everstream.net/Learn more about Snip Internet: https://www.snipinternet.com/————Learn more about Jeffrey @ https://jeffreys.pageConnect with Jeffrey on Linkedin or on TwitterFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter