Business podcast

Michael is a 14x Serial Entrepreneur who has created tens of billions of dollars in net worth from companies he has started.. As one of the pioneers of telemedicine, Gorton helped create, what is now a quarter TRILLION dollar industry. The lessons learned from building 14 companies are reflected in his best seller: Broken Handoff, a book that educates entrepreneurs, human capital experts, and investors.
Audacious goals and adventure have always been an integral part of his daily life. The results of these goals can be seen in industry changing results from companies he has founded like Internet Global, Teladoc, Palo Duro Records, Back To Space, and Principal Solar. The current goal is to continue developing new ideas and technologies that have a transformative foundation, and can generate returns for stakeholders. Two of his books have made Amazon Top 10 lists, with Forefathers and Founding Fathers reaching the #1 position. In the world of adventure, Michael and his family are climbing the highest point of elevation (mountain) in each of the 50 states. Michael has 42 complete with 8 to go. He is working on his 3rd degree black belt in Kenpo Karate from Jim Dryburgh's Power Kenpo Studio.

Specialties: Telemedicine, Engineering, Space, early and mid stage company building, serving on Boards, as Advisor or Director, development of corporate culture, writing, legal analysis, capital raising and problem solving. Michael enjoys working with early and growth stage entrepreneurs who have industry-changing ideas, but need help "avoiding the potholes."

MICHAEL'S CURRENT PASSION PROJECT: BackToSpace.com

Michal is a marketing professor and the Director of the Elfenworks Center for Responsible Business at Saint Mary’s College of California. She is also an honorary Research Fellow at the University of Wollongong in Australia. Michal earned her doctorate in marketing from the University of California at Berkeley. Her research focuses on how emotions affect decision-making. Her research has been published in the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Consumer Psychology, the Journal of Business Research, Marketing Letters, the Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, and the Journal of the American College of Radiology. She is regularly quoted in the media on topics related to marketing, consumer psychology, prosocial behavior, and behavioral economics. She has won multiple teaching and research awards from more than one university. She is particularly passionate about helping people become happier, healthier, and more resilient. In today's episode, Michal shares talks about what she has learned from teaching her favorite course: The Science of Happiness and Well-Being.

To learn more about her research, watch Michal’s recent panel discussion with professors from Yale, the University of Michigan and the University of Texas on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Az9N0eBUY

To read Michal’s Psychology Today Blog go to: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/contributors/michal-ann-strahilevitz-phd and

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-money-and-your-heart

To read Michal’s Journal Articles go to: Saint Mary’s College Profile: https://works.bepress.com/michal-strahilevitz/

You can also follow Michal on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marketingprof/ and Twitter: @MarketingProf

Dr. Dileep Rao is a VC turned Reverse-VC. VCs finance after the 'Aha' moment. As a Reverse-VC, he teaches entrepreneurs to get to Aha!

Previously, Dileep financed ventures (~400 deals using equity, debt, leases, development finance) and managed business turnarounds (succeeded on 4/5) . Now he teaches Unicorn-Entrepreneurship:

* Small business is about low-growth
* Entrepreneurship is about take-off with VC -- but 99.98% of entrepreneurs should avoid VC and the rest should delay.

Unicorn-Entrepreneurship (U-E) is about taking off without VC:
* VC focuses on opportunities. Reverse-VC focuses on entrepreneurs.
* VC focuses on capital. Reverse-VC focuses on skills and smart strategies.
* VC funds hot ventures after Aha. Reverse-VC helps entrepreneurs get to Aha
* VC helps 20/100,000 ventures. Reverse-VC helps 100,000/100,000.

U-E trains entrepreneurs to grow from idea to Aha using the proven skills and strategies of u-entrepreneurs, which are included in his latest books:
• Finance Secrets of Billion-Dollar Entrepreneurs: discusses finance and launch secrets of u-entrepreneurs
• Nothing Ventured, Everything Gained: discusses opportunity and business secrets of u-entrepreneurs.

Dileep learned unicorn secrets by financing entrepreneurs, 9 of whom became unicorn-entrepreneurs, interviewing 33, and analyzing 80. 87 were billion-dollar entrepreneurs (BDEs):
• 1% got VC after Tech Aha. 5% got VC after Strategy Aha! These entrepreneurs were replaced by a CEO
• 18% used Reverse-VC till Aha. They got VC after Strategy and Leadership Aha and stayed as CEO.
• 76% used Reverse-VC, avoided VC, and stayed as CEO.

The 94% of BDEs who avoided or delayed VC retained 2x – 7x the wealth created. For more, see “The Truth About Venture Capital” (dileeprao.com).

Dileep's previous books were on venture financing, including Business Financing: 25 Keys to Raising Money (NY Times) and Handbook of Business Finance & Capital Sources (AMA, NY).
Inc. magazine noted: “Like the U.S. Cavalry, this Handbook enters the scene just in time.”

Dileep has consulted on venture development with entrepreneurs, Fortune 500 corporations, economic developers, the U.S. government, and community development corporations to help them bridge the VC gap from Idea to Aha. Dileep has served on boards of many companies and been the chair of one.

He has taught entrepreneurship, unicorn entrepreneurship, VC, and venture financing at Florida International University, Harvard, Stanford, INCAE, University of Minnesota and the Warsaw School of Economics.

Brooke is a growth and performance marketer who specializes in working with wine industry and consumer goods businesses. Particularly those who do most of their business online or that want to do more and better business through digital channels. She has been in the wine industry for close to 20 years and worked in DTC sales management and wholesale/import sales management before moving over to the digital online strategy side more recently.

Brooke has worked with companies as:

- International wine education and certification organizations (B2B and B2C)
- Wine Importers with a DTC/Wine Club business model
- Online wine clubs
- Small to mid size wineries
- Groups of wine bars and retailers (local chain)
- Language Immersion Program Providers
- Tour Companies with DTC wine sales and/or online wine club
- Boutique Hotels and B&B's
- B2B Software startups

Brooke loves connecting people with businesses/brands/products/people that are a great fit for them and businesses with the right audiences. She offers strategies and implementation of those strategies to drive increased website visits, online and on-site sales, and brand awareness. This includes overall marketing strategy, email marketing strategy, online ad campaigns, content marketing strategy, and SEO content strategy.

She looks at the big picture and long term when it comes to sales, marketing and brand building with educated decisions based upon previous experience in both the DTC side (DTC sales management) and the wholesale and import side of the industry.

Tori Johnston is an experienced Chief Marketing Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the health, wellness, and fitness industry with brands like Pure Barre, SoulCycle, Xtend Barre, and AKT. Tori is a seasoned leader with a result-oriented, data-driven, innovative and passionate approach to marketing.  With a passion for health and fitness, Tori has brought her marketing and branding expertise to the Xponential Fitness family and is currently overseeing all brand and marketing initiatives as CMO of one of the fastest-growing boutique fitness studios in the country - AKT

Dr. Art Weinstein is a professor of marketing at Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida (USA) and Author of Superior Customer Value. Art is a 4-time recipient of the “Faculty of the Year” and “Excellence in Scholarly Research” awards. His marketing experience includes the A.C. Nielsen Company (Senior Marketing Researcher); Small Business Development Center at FIorida International University (Regional Manager); and Pro-Mark Services, a marketing consulting firm specializing in professional services marketing (Partner).  Art has consulted for some of the largest tech companies in the world such as Bayer Diagnostics, Cordis Corporation, Citrix Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Motorola.  He was the founding editor of the Journal of Segmentation in Marketing and is currently on the review board for the Journal of Small Business Management and the Journal of Marketing Analytics.  Dr. Weinstein has published more than 80 scholarly articles on B2B segmentation, customer value, and entrepreneurial marketing.  In addition, he is the author of 8 books. His latest book is Superior Customer Value – Finding and Keeping Customers in the Now Economy (Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2019). Art’s marketing blog “Customer Value in the Now Economy”  https://SCV-Weinstein.blogspot.com was named a Top 15 Business Education Blog in 2021 by feedspot.com.  Art Weinstein may be reached at [email protected]. Connect with him via LinkedIn or visit his website at artweinstein.com for further information.

Andrew Romans is a successful, consistently top quartile performing VC, VC-backed entrepreneur and 3x author, former tech VC and M&A investment banker, CEO and General Partner of 7BC Venture Capital and previously the founder and General Partner of Rubicon Venture Capital. He is also the cofounder of Georgetown Angels and author of THE ENTREPRENEURIAL BIBLE TO VENTURE CAPITAL: Inside Secrets from the Leaders in the Startup Game, Masters of Corporate Venture Capital and Masters of Blockchain, which have been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Italian and Russian by major publishers. He is also the host of podcast “Fireside with a VC”. Romans also advises large corporations and governments on policies about Venture Capital and Corporate Venture Capital (CVC). Romans pioneered a new model of establishing Joint Venture VC funds in China, South East Asia and other parts to the globe to fund global expansion of VC-backed startups in partnership with government and other Limited Partner investors. Romans raised over $48m for tech startups he founded by the age of 28. Romans founded numerous startups and raised hundreds of millions of dollars in VC funding and led startups to exits. He is also a frequent guest speaker on MSNBC, CNBC, and ABC. Fluent in English, French and German he holds a BA from the University of Vermont, studied in Paris and Berlin at École Active Bilingue (now École Jeannine Manuel), Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin and Freie Universität Berlin and an MBA in finance from Georgetown University, which he completed on scholarship. Reach Andrew via [email protected]

Zach joined Pure Crypto during launch in January of 2018 as the head of operations and investor relations. Prior to joining Pure Crypto, Zach worked on the operations team at CMT Asset Management, a proprietary trading and alternative asset management firm working in the cryptocurrency space.

Additionally, he brings some entrepreneurial experience having helped launch Thunder Strength LLC and Betasol Consumer Products LLC. Mr. Lindquist received a B.S. in Physics from Wheaton College.

Pure Crypto is an investment firm dedicated 100% to the emerging digital asset class of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. Their goal is to create diversified investment allocations to the most compelling strategies across an array of crypto market segments and opportunities

Meaghan B. Murphy is an author, editor, on-air personality, lifestyle and health expert and influencer, a home-hack master and certified trainer. Meaghan was recently named Editor in Chief of Woman’s Day (the #1 selling magazine on newsstands), charged with energizing the brand across print and digital. This follows a 6-year stint as executive editor at Good Housekeeping, where Meaghan helped dust off and reimagine the 130-year-old megabrand with a soup-to-nuts redesign that took a more modern, fun and can-do approach to domesticity, boosting the magazine’s cool factor and its readership in the coveted 18-to-34 category without losing its core, older audience.

Along with guiding Woman’s Day creative vision, which reaches 18 million readers each month, Meaghan also develops strategic partnerships across all platforms, conceives of new ways to generate revenue and promotes WD in the media as a regular guest expert on “Live with Kelly & Ryan,” “Today,” “GMA”, “The Dr. Oz Show,” and many more. Additionally, she’s been featured on many radio shows and podcasts (she co-hosted “Conversations with Maria Menounos” on SiriusXM!), Fashionweekdaily.com’s “The Daily Front Row,” The Everymom.com, The Newsette, Macaroni Kid and more, and recently launched her own podcast entitled Off the Gram with fellow wellness influencers.

Jason currently focuses on managing and scaling his first independent venture, TapRm, an e-commerce based platform acting as a launch vehicle for the next generation of culture and story-led brands. TapRm's omni-channel platform builds beer, cider and hard seltzer brands by combining traditional beer distribution with direct-to-consumer e-commerce for the first time in the United States

With over 7 years of experience successfully driving investment, acquisitions and corporate strategy for a versatile range of companies from Fortune 100s to early stage startups, Jason's expertise is inventing new, more powerful and profitable ways to launch game-changing customer focused ideas.

Prior to TapRm, he managed investments and acquisitions decisions into a host of beverage businesses including e-commerce, CPG, technology and logistics startups at Zx Ventures, the global incubator and venture capital team funded by Anheuser Busch InBev, the leading global brewer. There, he helped grow them into thriving, capitalized businesses, each designed to scale into high value assets.

Jason holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from Harvard College with a concentration in economics with time spent studying global finance at the National University of Singapore.