Sacramento Startups Podcast

Sacramento Startup Profile: JAPA Co-Founder Mathew Magno

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 21:37:12 +0000

An interview with Mathew Magno, co-founder of JAPA, a Sacramento-based technology startup, JAPA delivers real-time parking availability to drivers and enhanced parking analytics to parking lot owners/management.

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with Manvir Sandhu, Co-founder and CEO of Zennify

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 00:51:50 +0000

In January StartupSac Happy Hour returned after a break in December, kicking off our fourth year of Happy Hour events. For this event, we welcomed Zennify co-founder and CEO, Manvir Sandhu. In this podcast episode, Manvir tells the origin story of Zennify, and how they’ve become one of the fastest growing tech startups in the […]

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with Kevin Kane, Beth Dodson, and John Bodrozic

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 21:37:06 +0000

Our October StartupSac Happy Hour featured a panel of three great veteran entrepreneurs — Kevin Kane, Beth Dodson, and John Bodrozic — who came out to share their experiences and expertise with the audience. In this podcast episode, they share their entrepreneurial journey and field questions from the audience about running a successful, high-growth startup. […]

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Sacramento Startup Profile: Humaxa Co-Founder Carolyn Peer

Jeff Bennett — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 17:36:33 +0000

Carolyn Peer is the founder of Sacramento startup, Humaxa. After spending more than 20 years in the HR industry watching organizations struggle getting to the root cause of employee retention issues, Carolyn and her team decided to do something about it. In the summer of 2017 the team launched Humaxa, an employee retention platform that […]

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Sacramento Startup Profile: RePurpose Energy Co-Founder & COO Ryan Barr

Jeff Bennett — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:10:58 +0000

Ryan Barr is the cofounder of RePurpose Energy, a Sacramento area cleantech startup. RePurpose Energy reuses electric vehicle batteries to store solar energy. By offering low-cost energy storage and reducing battery waste, it aims to enable the transition to renewable energy and electric vehicles. Ryan walked away with second place at StartupSac’s Warm-Up Pitch competition […]

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Sacramento Startup Profile: Egeria Research Founder Sedale Turbovsky

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 23 Aug 2019 16:33:07 +0000

Sedale Turbovsky is a serial startup founder in the Sacramento startup community. His latest venture, Egeria Research, has the potential to help other startups with their funding needs by making it easier to identify, find, and apply for grant opportunities. I met up with Sedale at his office at Granite City Coworking in Folsom to […]

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Sacramento Startup Profile: Founder of VertX Advertising, Wyatt Dike

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 16:08:41 +0000

Wyatt Dike is the founder of VertX Advertising, an early stage startup in the Sacramento region at the intersection of advertising and health-positive impact. They partner with public transit agencies and install their pathogen-reducing standing passenger handles that are supported by advertising into city’s fleet. Wyatt was the winner of StartupSac’s recent StartupSac Warm-Up Pitch […]

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with Jeremy Perkins, Founder and CEO of Precision Medical Products

Jeff Bennett — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 17:33:41 +0000

Our June StartupSac Happy Hour featured another great veteran entrepreneur — Jeremy Perkins, Founder and CEO of Precision Medical Products — who came out to share his experiences and expertise with the audience. In this podcast episode, Jeremy shares his entrepreneurial journey and fields questions from the audience about running a successful, high-growth startup. Check […]

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Sacramento Startup Profile: Swiss Monkey Founder Christine Sison

Jeff Bennett — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 14:25:53 +0000

Christine Sison had a busy life running a dental practice in Sacramento. One of the headaches she often experienced was finding talent affordably and quickly that was appropriate for her office. As many startup founders do, she thought there had to be a better way and came up with an idea to create a dental-specific […]

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with Waitr CMO Sonny Mayugba

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 30 May 2019 21:20:18 +0000

Our May StartupSac Happy Hour featured Sacramento serial entrepreneur, Sonny Mayugba. In addition to his current role as Chief Marketing Officer of Waitr, Sonny is the founder of several local restaurants and has a long history in the local startup community having launched several ventures over the years. In this podcast episode, Sonny shares his […]

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with Sama Learning CEO and CoFounder Barb DeHart

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 02 May 2019 16:20:26 +0000

Our April StartupSac Happy Hour featured Barb DeHart, a startup advisor, investor, and co-founder & CEO of Sama Learning, virtual reality learning platform that recently was awarded “Best Pitch” by a panel of judges at the Capital Region ARVR Accelerator Demo Day. Barb shared her experience and insights as she fielded a range of questions […]

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Sacramento Startup Profile: Tellus Title Founder David Howie

Jeff Bennett — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 23:37:54 +0000

For this episode of the Sacramento Startups Podcast I met up with David Howie, who is the founder of Tellus Title. They’ve designed a new approach to real estate utilizing Blockchain technology, believing that the industry will benefit from blockchain and reduce title insurance premiums by 30%, saving U.S. consumers 4 Billion per year. David […]

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Sacramento Startup Profile: HoopMaps Cofounder Donte Morris

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 21:45:55 +0000

I first heard about HoopMaps, a mobile app that allows people to find pickup games in their area, in 2017 when I saw them pitch at a Kings Capitalize event. I loved the idea, along with the passion that co-founding twin brothers Donte and Dominic Morris brought to their startup venture. Over the course of […]

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with Webconnex Co-founders Eric Knopf & John Russell

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 12 Apr 2019 14:12:50 +0000

StartupSac Happy Hour returned to Sacramento on March 26 at Hot Italian in Midtown. Our featured entrepreneurs fielding the questions this month were the co-founders of Webconnex, Eric Knopf and John Russell. Webconnex is a SaaS platform for event registration, ticketing and fundraising. They have over 30,000 customers and have processed billions of dollars of […]

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with Kevin Kane, CEO of LinkD

Jeff Bennett — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 23:58:53 +0000

Last week we took a road trip to Folsom at Gaslight Co. for our February StartupSac Happy Hour. The Founder AMA featured Kevin Kane, CEO of Linkd, a project management, collaboration SaaS application serving Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) industry. Kevin fielded a range of startup questions from the audience. We recorded it once again […]

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with Trifecta Cofounder & CEO Greg Connolly

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 21:23:40 +0000

At our first StartupSac Happy Hour of 2019 we were lucky enough to welcome back Greg Connolly, Cofounder and CEO of Trifecta Systems. This was a great event and with the support of our food and drinks sponsors, KiwiTech and Witan Law, we demolished all previous attendance records with 65 people turning out to Hot Italian […]

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Sacramento Startup Profile: Jocelyn Munroe, Founder & CEO of eHandoff

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 24 Jan 2019 16:02:15 +0000

Jocelyn Munroe, Founder and CEO of eHandoff, has developed an online patient note system for doctors and nurses for when they’re changing shifts or transferring patients that results in fewer communication errors and saving lives. She was also the winner at the StartupSac Warm-Up Pitch event recently. I met with Jocelyn at her office to […]

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with Emtrain Cofounder & CEO Janine Yancey

Jeff Bennett — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 19:54:49 +0000

Earlier this month we held our 20th StartupSac Happy hour event. Since launching in January 2017, this event has provided a networking and mentoring platform for over 600 people in our community. Once again we had a great veteran entrepreneur come out to share her experience and expertise with the audience at Hot Italian Pizza […]

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with Riskalyze Cofounder & CEO Aaron Klein

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 18:23:06 +0000

At the most recent StartupSac Happy Hour on October 23, over 40 people came out to the Monk’s Cellar in Roseville for an AMA (Ask Me Anything) with Riskalyze CEO and co-founder Aaron Klein. Riskalyze is an Auburn-based fintech startup that provides software as a service to financial advisors in the United States. They’ve raised a […]

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with Evolute Founder Kristopher Francisco

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 30 Aug 2018 22:17:06 +0000

For our most recent StartupSac Happy Hour AMA we partnered with Founder Institute Sacramento to bring in Founder Institute alum and CEO of Bay Area startup Evolute, Kristopher Francisco. Kristopher has innovated cloud computing, big data and storage architectures amongst the world’s most admired technology companies (Apple) and the world’s largest technology challenges (Chevron), so he has […]

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with Adam Kalsey

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 18:53:58 +0000

Last week, our StartupSac Happy Hour was at Hot Italian in midtown again and featured Adam Kalsey. Adam has been an Internet entrepreneur since 1995, starting five companies, including a few acquisitions with the most recent one by Cisco where he now leads Developer Relations for Cisco Webex, helping startups reach enterprise with Webex APIs […]

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with Engage3 Cofounder Ken Ouimet

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 29 Jun 2018 15:14:15 +0000

At the most recent StartupSac Happy Hour on June 26, dozens turned out to the patio of Hot Italian midtown for an AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the co-founder of Engage3, Ken Ouimet. Ken cofounded Engage3 with his brother to disrupt retail pricing using advanced data analytics. Once again we captured the AMA session to […]

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with Pondera Solutions Founder Jon Coss

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 23 May 2018 17:40:19 +0000

On May 22, StartupSac held another Happy Hour event where dozens turned out to the office of the law firm Buchalter, downtown for our founder AMA with guest entrepreneur Jon Coss, founder and CEO of Pondera Solutions.In 2017, this Sacramento-based govtech startup closed on an eight-figure equity deal and won the Sacramento Innovation Award in […]

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with Homezada Cofounder Elizabeth Dodson

Jeff Bennett — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 19:34:13 +0000

On April 18, StartupSac held another Happy Hour event where dozens turned out at Hot Italian in Midtown for our founder AMA with guest entrepreneur Beth Dodson, co-founder of Homezada. We captured that AMA session so we could share it with the broader startup community. Amidst the cacophony and at times raucous celebrations of a children’s birthday […]

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Sacramento Startup Scene Roundup – April 2018

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 22:47:57 +0000

In this episode of the Sacramento Startup Scene Roundup Laura Good and I rundown what happened in the Sacramento region startup community since the last episode, including: TechEdge on March 22 The final round and winner of the 3rd Annual Kings Capitalize Pitch contest StartupSac Happy Hour in Davis with John Bissell Tech Futures Group, […]

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StartupSac Happy Hour AMA with John Bissell

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 12 Apr 2018 15:03:20 +0000

On March 27, StartupSac took our monthly Happy Hour event on a road trip to Davis where dozens turned out for our founder AMA with guest entrepreneur John Bissell, cofounder of Origin Materials. Once again we captured that AMA session so we could share it with the broader startup community. In this episode you can […]

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Sacramento Startup Scene Roundup – March 2018

Jeff Bennett — Sat, 17 Mar 2018 20:58:00 +0000

In this episode of the Sacramento Startup Scene Roundup Laura Good and I cover what has happened in the Sacramento startup community over the last few weeks, including: 2 Startup Weekends StartupSac Happy Hour with Dermveda cofounder Venita Sivamani Kings Capitalize Semi-finals pitch day We also take a look forward at what’s coming up, including: […]

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FourthWave Panel Discussion at Startup Grind Sacramento

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 08 Mar 2018 16:26:53 +0000

At the Startup Grind Sacramento event on January 9, Tracy Saville, led a panel discussion consisting of the graduating 2017 FourthWave (a Sacramento startup program focused on scaling female-led technology companies committed to conscious leadership and inclusion as a path to higher value) cohort of female founders. Learn about the challenges and lessons they learned during […]

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Dermveda Cofounder Venita Sivamani at StartupSac Happy Hour

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 20:26:39 +0000

One of the programs we run at StartupSac is a monthly AMA mentoring and networking event with an entrepreneur answering questions from the audience. In this episode, Venita Sivamani, Cofounder of Dermveda, fields questions from the audience about entrepreneurship and her startup.

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Sacramento Startup Scene Roundup – February 2018

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 19:39:01 +0000

In this episode of the Sacramento Startup Scene Roundup I cover what happened at StartupSac Happy Hour with Brandon Salzberg on January 31, the Aggie Innovation and Startup Symposium on February 8, Startup Weekend Women on February 9 – 11 as well as upcoming events and happenings in the Sacramento region startup community.

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Lokesh Sikaria from Moneta Ventures Talks Venture Capital & the Sacramento Startup Ecosystem

Jeff Bennett — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 22:14:58 +0000

In the opening keynote address at the Aggie Innovation and Startup Symposium, Lokesh Sikaria from Moneta Ventures provided an overview of the Sacramento region’s innovation and startup ecosystem along with a primer on venture capital and the outlook and trends for startups in our region.

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Aggie Innovation & Startup Symposium Panel Discussion – Creating a New Normal: Increasing Diversity in the Startup Community

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 22:37:04 +0000

TheUC Davis STEM Strategies Group hosted the Aggie Innovation & Startup Symposium at UC Davis on February 8, 2018 to help students learn about career opportunities in entrepreneurship. In an afternoon panel discussion, Mariah Lichtenstern led the discussion with panelists Venita Sivamani, Anh Tran, and Kimmy Paluch around the theme, Creating a New Normal: Increasing Diversity in […]

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What’s up in the Sacramento Startup Community – January 2018

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 15:22:06 +0000

In this episode of the StartupSac podcast, Laura Good and I visit, CoWo Campus, a new coworking space opening soon, and chat about upcoming events in the startup community in the coming weeks and about what we hope to see in the startup community this year. In the episode, we mention several upcoming events. Links […]

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Happy New Year 2018, StartupSac Podcast Update

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 22:38:52 +0000

Hey everyone! Happy New Year and welcome back to the StartupSac podcast. It’s been awhile since we’ve released an episode. This episode is all about why we’ve been on hiatus and updates on what to expect from the podcast in 2018. Also a big shout out and thanks to SacTown Magazine for including us in their […]

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KickFactory Founder Ryan MacCarthy

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 17:13:29 +0000

Ryan MacCarthy has developed an innovative way to tap into social media signals and engage with consumers on behalf of brands to win customers for brands right when the customer is expressing a need. In this episode, learn about how Ryan’s startup KickFactory allows brands to reach customers even before they start shopping by engaging […]

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Spotlight on 2016 Sacramento Region Innovation Award Winners: Evolve Biosystems

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 14:19:23 +0000

Judging for the second annual Sacramento Region Innovation Awards wrapped up recently and many of the judges were winners from last year’s Innovation Awards, including last year’s winner in the medical and health technology category, Evolve Biosystems. Evolve Biosystems is a privately held microbiome company dedicated to developing the next generation of products to establish, […]

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Clayton Porscha, Executive Director of Valley Extends

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 14:34:48 +0000

Valley Extends is a Full Service Sales and Marketing Accelerator that helps Companies grow, by offering services that impact operations such as – hiring, sales and marketing, back office, payroll and human resources – with 35 companies in their program with plans to grow that number. I met with Clayton at Valley Extends to learn […]

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Moneta Ventures Associate Partner Sabya Das

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 15:23:52 +0000

In just a few short years, Moneta Ventues has become Sacramento’s largest venture capital firm. In this episode of the StartupSac podcast I chat with Sabya Das, Associate Partner at Moneta whose task is to evaluate new opportunities for investment and to assist Moneta’s portfolio companies in a variety of operational roles. I met with Sabya […]

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Kim Box, President and CEO of Gatekeeper Innovation

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 14:02:45 +0000

Kim Box, President and CEO at Gatekeeper Innovation, worked at HP for 29 years, leading a billion dollar organization as an executive of IT services. Eight years ago she decided to take a change in direction and doing something more purposeful that made an impact in the world. She wrote a book on diversity an […]

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Le Thuy Vuong, M.B.A., Ph.D. CEO/Founder The Redmelon Company

Jeff Bennett — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 14:23:39 +0000

Le Thuy Vuong is the founder and CEO of The Redmelon Company, formerly known as Fishrock Laboratories. As part of her PhD thesis she discovered that a fruit indigenous to her native country of Vietnam has the potential to help tackle Vitamin A deficiency in developing countries. In this episode, I sat down with Le […]

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A Discussion on Diversity in the Sacramento Startup & Tech Community

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 19:29:12 +0000

Inspired by Victor Patton’s recent article in the Sacramento Business Journal on diversity, I had the idea to organize a roundtable discussion on diversity for the StartupSac podcast. The main purpose in my mind was to get a group of Black entrepreneurs together in the studio to discuss the issue of diversity from their perspective […]

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Beata Adamczyk & Patrick Guderski Co-founders of Beekwee

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 15:22:09 +0000

During the third trimester of her pregnancy with her daughter, Beata Adamczyk was frustrated and alarmed by how difficult it was to find reliable and affordable products. Having worked with tech start-ups in Silicon Valley, she had the drive to launch her own solution to address the problem. She met her technical co-founder Patrick Guderski, a developer […]

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Kyle Kaneshiro from Sacramento’s Small Business Development Center

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 15:09:24 +0000

Mentors and advisors play a key role in any startup ecosystem. The knowledge and experience that veteran business people can share with entrepreneurs is incredibly valuable. Kyle Kaneshiro spent nearly 30 years working for Intel in Folsom, most recently as Director of Strategic Planning. About a year ago, Kyle retired and he now spends much […]

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Cinde Dolphin, Founder of KILI Medical Drain Carrier

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 18:50:28 +0000

For patients recovering from surgery, medical drains are a necessary yet uncomfortable and awkward part of post-op recovery. Medical drains like a Jackson Pratt® (JP) drain collect fluids from the surgical area. Most medical teams only offer safety pins to suspend and manage these drains. Experiencing this firsthand, Cinde Dolphin thought there had to be […]

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Co-founders of Two Wires Lab, Stephan & Criss Come

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 14:03:01 +0000

Stephane Come and Criss Come have created a STEM educational comic book series called PodPi for kids 9-14 as a series of story-based monthly adventures that teaches kids electronics and JavaScript coding by building their first simple circuits to WiFi enabled devices and the Internet of Things, all in comic book format, on a mythical […]

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Spotlight on 2016 Sacramento Region Innovation Award Winners: Riskalyze

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 09 Aug 2017 13:15:47 +0000

Open submission for the second annual Sacramento Region Innovation Awards wrapped up recently and the judging committees have begun reviewing submissions. Judges will include several winners from last year’s Innovation Awards, including last year’s winner in the software category, Riskalyze. Riskalyze believes that everybody has a Risk Number, a measurement from 1 to 99, that […]

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Elizabeth Dodson, Co-founder of HomeZada

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 04:38:58 +0000

Elizabeth Dodson is the co-founder HomeZada, a platform that gives homeowners a valuable tool to manage their home and the assets and possessions in it. I met up with Elizabeth in the wilds of the Sacramento startup scene at Old Soul Weatherstone in Middtown to learn more about her experiences in entrepreneurship. Old Soul was packed […]

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Deema Tamimi, Co-founder of Giving Garden

Jeff Bennett — Mon, 24 Jul 2017 21:56:18 +0000

Deema Tamimi is the co-founder and CEO of Giving Garden, a local food & gardening social network launched last year when she and her team won the 2016 Apps for Ag hackathon. She’s also the key organizer of this year’s Apps for Ag hackathon. I met up with Deema at Old Soul Weatherstone in Midtown […]

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Founder of Free Form Factory, Jordan Darling

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 20:25:13 +0000

As a mechanical engineering student at Rochester Institute of Technology, Jordan Darling created a new plastic for use in jet ski hulls that’s stronger and more durable than traditional fiberglass, then launched his business, Free Form Factory, based on that innovative technology. Faced with the challenge of growing his fledgling personal watercraft business in upstate […]

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Tapp That App Founder Charlie Hinojosa

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 29 Jun 2017 14:59:00 +0000

Charlie Hinojosa is passionate about finding great apps, but knows it can be difficult. So he set out to solve the problem of mobile app discovery by combining social networks with app marketplaces. In 2016 he founded Tapp That App, a new social, app discovery platform that allows you to see the favorite apps of people […]

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Spotlight on 2016 Sacramento Region Innovation Award Winners: Sierra Energy’s Rob White

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 28 Jun 2017 21:58:11 +0000

It’s Sacramento Region Innovation Awards time with submissions for the 2017 awards open through the end of July. To help celebrate innovation in our region, the StartupSac podcast will feature a series of podcast episodes on the awards program, including interviews with last year’s winners. In the previous episode of the StartupSac podcast I met […]

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The Sacramento Innovation Awards Organizers at Stoel Rives

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 16:30:00 +0000

The Sacramento Region Innovation Awards is an annual program designed to celebrate and spotlight the Sacramento’s region’s vibrant innovation community, from startups to established companies. Founded in 2016, the program is organized by Stoel Rives with support from the Sacramento Business Journal and Moss Adams. In this episode of the StartupSac podcast I met with […]

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Magilla Loans Co-founders Chris Meyer & Dean Sioukas

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 09 Jun 2017 15:04:40 +0000

As a businessman applying for several loans over the past decade, Chris Meyer, like a most people, found the whole process onerous and time consuming. This pain point sparked the idea that there had to be a better way. After failing to find one, he reached out to his friend, and soon-to-be-cofounder, Dean Sioukas, to […]

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Co-founder of Skyslope, D.J. Stephan at StartupSac Happy Hour

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 03:52:06 +0000

For this episode of the StartupSac podcast, I recorded co-founder of Skyslope, D.J. Stephan, at StartupSac Happy Hour answering questions from the audience about his entrepreneurial journey, the origins of Skyslope, insights into their business model, advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, and thoughts on the Sacramento startup ecosystem.

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Founder & Innovator Mariah Lichtenstern on Founder Institute in Sacramento

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 26 May 2017 16:27:00 +0000

Not only is Mariah Lichtenstern the founder of a startup, Cineshares, a motion picture marketplace to connect filmmakers and stakeholders, she’s also co-founder and Managing Director at DivereCity Ventures, an impact-oriented micro-VC firm. As if that weren’t enough to have on her plate, she’s also one of the key people involved with bringing Founder Institute […]

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CupAJoy Founder Shell Mendelson

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 10 May 2017 20:31:03 +0000

Shell Mendelson woke up one morning want to give a gift of coffee to a friend and to do it just by texting them or sending them an email that would allow them to go pick up their coffee at an independent coffee house. After failing to find an existing way to do this and asking […]

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tCubed Founders Chris Sprague & Liv Hoversten

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 04 May 2017 15:26:51 +0000

In this episode of the StartupSac podcast, I met with Chris and Liv, cofounders of tCubed, to talk about how they invented a classic game with a strategic twist for groups on the go, the origins of their game and how they’ve bootstrapped and gone from concept to paycheck.

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apiNXT Cofounders Henry Chang and Charlotte Danielsson

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 15:26:47 +0000

50% or more of the tech work force in Silicon Valley and Northern California is comprised of Asians. Yet this prominence doesn’t carry over into management and executive levels. One of the reasons for this is that APIs (Asian and Pacific Islanders) lack vital established networks due to only 2% of APIs being in executive […]

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Niki Peterson, Senior Program Manager UC Davis Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Jeff Bennett — Sun, 23 Apr 2017 16:23:32 +0000

UC Davis is recognized as a national center for new, creative, & innovative ideas and is ranked 16th highest in research funding. The UC Davis Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is a key component of the innovation powerhouse at UC Davis, with programs like the Big Bang! Competition and several Entrepreneurship Academies. Niki Peterson is […]

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ProPlanr Cofounder Brenda Tello Horton

Jeff Bennett — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 15:56:27 +0000

Brenda Tello Horton was organizing and planning a fundraising event for a Northern California children’s non-profit. The event had a lot of moving parts and logistics to coordinate in the planning process with her team. Using a set of disjointed tools she grew frustrated with the set of tools available. Like the origins of ideas for […]

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Fantag CEO Brian Dombrowski

Jeff Bennett — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 19:21:21 +0000

Brian Dombrowski, CEO of Fantag, relocated his young tech startup to Sacramento recently amidst much fanfare from the Greater Sacramento Area Economic Council and the City of Sacramento. Fantag’s pioneering mobile video technology enables people at live events to capture, replay, and share their favorite moments, with a simple tap on their mobile phones. Brian joined me […]

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Hoop Maps Cofounders, Twin Brothers Dominic & Donte Morris

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 00:43:26 +0000

Twin brothers Dominic and Donte Morris wanted a better way to find pickup basketball games. Being entrepreneurial-minded they created a mobile app called Hoop Maps that allows users to find pickup basketball games near them. It’s an app that is already getting some pretty impressive media attention. I met up with Donte and Dominic in the podcast studio of […]

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CarbonBLU Founder Sedale Turbovsky

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 22:53:04 +0000

Sedale Turbovsky’s startup, carbonBLU, helps fleets analyze and explore options for improvement and optimization, without the costs associated with hiring technical staff and additional personnel. Their software empowers fleet managers to purchase the right vehicle for the job, integrate alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technology into fleet operations and even improve energy use at their facilities. […]

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Cofounders of Trifecta, Greg Connolly & Elizabeth Connolly

Jeff Bennett — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 20:07:39 +0000

In the summer of 2015, the brother/sister cofounders of Trifecta saw an opportunity to address the obesity epidemic in the US with their idea to ship fully cooked organic meals directly to customers’ doorsteps. In this episode of the StartupSac podcast I met with Greg Connolly and his sister Elizabeth in their new podcast studio […]

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An Interview with Jesse Day, Cofounder of Text to Ticket

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 00:26:24 +0000

Text to Ticket aims to help make roads safer by reducing distracted driving. Through their app, their company will pay users to submit videos that catch texting and driving in the act. They were recently accepted into 500 Startups batch 20 and were also selected as one of the four finalists in the Kings Capitalize […]

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Benjamin Dorsinvil, Founder & CEO of SellBig

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 20:14:25 +0000

For Benjamin Dorsinvil, growing up in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, being entrepreneurial was not just about starting a business, but a necessity of survival. In his community, “there was always a sense of survival and a spirit of entrepreneurship that kept everyone alive in the gruesome face of poverty.” […]

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Venita Sivamani Founder of Dermveda

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 20:59:05 +0000

Venita Sivamani is the founder and CEO of Sacramento startup Dermveda. Dermveda’s mission is to improve health from the skinside out. As an online skin care education resource, Dermveda allows people to create a personalized skin health experience on their website, Dermveda.com. In this chat, Venita talks about the origins of Dermveda, her focus on […]

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Sonny Mayugba Q&A at StartupSac Happy Hour

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 05:22:23 +0000

Sonny Mayugba, serial entrepreneur, former budding rock star, skateboard & snowboard thrasher and publisher, founder and co-owner of Red Rabbit, founder of Requested, alum of Launch accelerator, and now CMO of Waitr spent an hour and half answering all kinds of questions from Sacramento startup founders and entrepreneurs at the inaugural StartupSac Happy Hour at […]

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Arya Rashid of CleanTech Startup Tenkiv

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 19:58:24 +0000

Arya Rashid from Sacramento cleantech startup Tenkiv chats about Tenkiv’s mission to democratize sustainable water and energy access, their current crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter and the clean tech industry in Sacramento. Subscribe to the StartupSac podcast on iTunes

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Gabriel Gutierrez of Nascent Games & IGDA

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 19:07:14 +0000

Gabriel Gutierrez is the founder of Nascent games and the head of the Sacramento chapter of IGDA, the International Game Developers Association. I sat down with Gabriel at CoinOp Game Room in downtown Sacramento to talk about Nascent Games and the game development community in Sacramento, all set to a soundtrack of rock music and […]

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Mike Hart CEO of Sierra Energy & Founder of Area 52

Jeff Bennett — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 19:25:54 +0000

In this episode of the StartupSac podcast I chat with Mike Hart, President and CEO of Sierra Energy and founder of Davis accelerator Area 52 about Area 52, Sierra Energy, the Sacramento region as a green and clean tech hub, as well as UC Davis’s Big Bang! program. Subscribe to the StartupSac podcast on iTunes

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Square One Clubs Founder Nathan Allshouse and the Sacramento Game Community

Jeff Bennett — Fri, 13 Jan 2017 21:35:10 +0000

Nathan Allshouse, an avid computer game fan, started developing his first game after getting hooked up with the local chapter of IGDA. He got his game to a point where he needed some business help and that inspired the idea of his startup Square One Clubs. Square One Clubs is a software and game developer […]

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Renter, Inc. Founder Vitaliy Merkulov, a Sacramento Startup Profile

Jeff Bennett — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 16:58:36 +0000

Like many entrepreneurs, the inspiration for Vitaliy Merkulov’s startup came from a need to solve a problem he had experienced. Vitaliy, a landlord, went through a very costly process of evicting a tenant. That problem motivated him to start asking around for better ways to predict bad tenants and not finding a solution, he launched […]

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Sacramento Startup Profile Podcast: Sofiia Co-founder Tracy Saville

Jeff Bennett — Sat, 31 Dec 2016 03:19:13 +0000

Humans, we’re complicated beings even as just individuals in isolation. Factor in interactions with family, friends, coworkers, and others with differing values, beliefs, and biases (conscious or unconscious) and you’ve got an incredibly complex tangle. It’s no wonder that we live in such tumultuous, contentious times. But imagine if we had a way to augment […]

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Sacramento Startup Profile: Foodfully Founder Brianna McGuire

Jeff Bennett — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 19:12:09 +0000

Every year Americans throw away more than 74 billion pounds of food. According to Brianna McGuire, Founder of Davis startup Foodfully, this is mostly because they have either forgotten about what food items they had or they’re not really sure how to cook something they know they have. She and her team have developed an […]

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Sacramento Startup Profile: GoHalfway

Jeff Bennett — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 19:07:18 +0000

I sat down with Sean Barry and his fellow team members from the new Sacramento startup GoHalfway, Donte Morris and Drew Peterson to chat about their experience of Startup Weekend and the challenges and rewards they’re seeing as the continue to pursue the project on a part time basis. Subscribe to the StartupSac podcast on iTunes

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Square Root Academy: Training Sacramento’s Next Generation of Innovators

Jeff Bennett — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 19:01:26 +0000

Square Root Academy, trains the next generation of engineers and scientists coming from underserved areas in the very communities this demographic resides in. It ensures that this program is accessible to those who need it most at no cost at all to the students using a hands on STEM-based curriculum, in-class mentors connect the mathematical […]

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Sacramento Startup Profile: Splor Founder Mike Mendelson

Jeff Bennett — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 18:56:47 +0000

In his book, ‘The Lean Startup,’ Eric Ries states, “I’ve come to believe that learning is the essential unit of progress for startups.” The concepts of learning in general as well as validated learning as a core metric for startups in particular, was the common thread in the conversation I had with Sacramento startup founder […]

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Sacramento Startup Spotlight: Gabe Gomez & Nicholas Trosko of GymHit

Jeff Bennett — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 18:53:13 +0000

The overarching problem in the fitness industry is how disjointed and antiquated it is from a business management perspective. Businesses of various sizes in the fitness industry are forced to use cobbled together solutions to meet their business needs. Sacramento startup GymHit is the only integrated communication, booking, billing and marketing platform designed specifically for […]

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Sacramento Startup Profile: Clare Price & Lacye Martini from Octain

Jeff Bennett — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 18:48:53 +0000

Freelancers spend too much time and money hacking together independent apps to manage the administrative duties of business. One local startup, Octain, is building an integrated, automated book-to-bill platform that helps consultants save time, earn more money and optimize their lives. I sat down with Octain’s two female founders, Clare Price and Lacye Martini to […]

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Interview with Thomas Hall of CleanStart

Jeff Bennett — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 18:45:59 +0000

I had a chance after 1 Million Cups event to sit down with Thomas Hall, Executive Director of CleanStart, and chat about the CleanStart program. CleanStart is accelerating the development of clean technology ventures within the Greater Sacramento Region. Subscribe to the StartupSac podcast on iTunes

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Sacramento Startup Founder Profile: John Parilo of wimZr

Jeff Bennett — Sat, 24 Dec 2016 23:15:41 +0000

I sat down with John Parilo, President & Co-Founder of wimZr. wimZr is a mobile application connecting people with social connections and the most up-to-date information before, during, and after any event or at travel destination around the world. John shares his entrepreneurial journey, some lessons-learned along the way, thoughts on entrepreneurship, and the Sacramento […]

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