Building Fires

#20 Carl Copeland | CEO - Möbius Air

Carl is one of the brightest engineers there is and he's been building a game-changer of a product that's going to reflect just how talented he is. Carl & his team are representing the good 'ol US of A in the launch of the new Formula One Electric Air Race! It's going to be the world's first electric air race and Carl's team is the only team competing for the USA. The electric motor he built will be powering the USA plane and in the podcast, we have the breaking news on who the pilot will b...

#19 Paul Yacoubian | Co-Founder - Copy.ai

Angel investor, startup mentor, and now founder himself - Paul Yacoubian has done basically everything in the startup world at this point. After gaining access to a powerful AI (artificial intelligence) software, GPT-3, Paul and his Co-founder Chris decided they wanted to do something powerful with it. They set out to make the world's greatest copy-generator and they have done just that. Personally, Farhaj and I use Copy.ai at least once a week for our own companies. It's a mind-blowing sof...

#18 Yash & Puneet | Aevus

Yash Santani & Puneet Chadha are the founders of aevus.ai and they are absolutely changing the world. They are both Johns Hopkins grads who are actively trying to improve the lives of diabetics around the world. "We are building an AI-powered prescription guidance platform for treating Type-2 diabetes - Precision Rx. All it does is give a doctor a second pair of clinical eyes" They discovered that health systems have been accumulating health data for 30+ years and it basically just sits th...

#17 - Martin Lien | Founder @ Respond Flow

Martin Lien has one of the coolest startup stories out there. His story begins in Norway, where he was born and raised...and then he ends up attending the University of Oklahoma (just a bit of a culture shock, no?). After college he found himself working at a company and noticed a problem. The solution to this problem would end up becoming Respond Flow. He was trying to help grow the company through texting and he just couldn't find a single solution that would help him send mass texts to cu...

#16 Greg Hallman | Founder @ Ocupath

Greg Hallman is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet and he's also an extremely successful entrepreneur. A few years ago, he wanted to get into the OKC Thunder Startup accelerator, Stitch Crew, (the same accelerator Farhaj & I have done) but he didn't have a company. He went through his list of company ideas and Ocupath was born. After a lot of hard work, his company was able to win multiple grants, one of them being a $1 million contract with the US Navy...so awesome! Ocupath is a VR pr...

#15 Jordan Walker | Founder @ Yac

Jordan Walker has been successful in the startup world for a while now. Yac started with an idea and a very successful ProductHunt campaign. After getting thousands of companies on their waitlist, Jordan and his team knew they were onto something big. Yac is voice messaging for teams and, personally, I’m a huge fan. You can only text so much to your team members and phone calls are mostly unnecessary. Being able to send a quick voice message whenever you want to speak your mind is exactly w...

#14 Vincent Dorrian | Co-Founder $350M Exit

Vincent Dorrian never expected to be the co-founder of a company that exited for $350 Million. When his business partner approached him with the idea for EcoAtm in the early 2000's, the future success was something he could have only dreamed of. EcoAtm is a company that provides a kiosk that allows you to exchange your old cell phones for cash. Over the past 10+ years they've collected/recycled over 25 million phones and they exited to the parent company of RedBox several years ago. Throug...

#13 Garrett Scott | CEO - Pipedream Labs

Garrett Scott and his co-founder gave his company the name Pipedream because what they're trying to accomplish sounds just like that...like a dream. Their goal within the next several years is to take advantage of the tunnel systems in cities to deliver goods, supplies, etc. to homes through underground tubes. I'll let Garrett's website blurb explain: "Pipedream is a network of underground tubes that offers near-instantaneous delivery of objects to and from homes and businesses." BOOM! They...

#12 Adelle Archer | CEO - Eterneva

I first heard about Adelle while watching Shark Tank years ago. Despite the bright spotlight of being on national television (and having millionaires yell at you), she remained composed and very well-spoken. They even landed a deal with Mark Cuban! Now, years later, their company is growing even faster than they were before and they also just raised a massive funding round! At Eterneva, they help with your grieving process by turning the ashes of your lost loved ones into diamonds. Adelle a...

#11 Russell Wilde Jr. | COO - Front Office Sports

Russ Wilde and his business partner started working on a simple sports blog years ago...they never could have imagined what it would become. Most people write a few posts and then quit. Only a few can stick around creating quality content for years and years until they finally find their big break. After multiple funding rounds, countless staff hires, and 1000's of articles, Front Office Sports is now one of the most successful sports news platforms on the planet. Their articles reach massi...

#10 Nathan Butorac | CEO - Piñatagrams

Nathan Butorac is a true entrepreneur down to his core. He started his entrepreneurship journey at just three years old and he hasn't stopped since. After working in several startups, he decided to get one going himself. He's run Better Than a Letter (Parent company) for a few years now and underneath that is his flourishing company, Piñatagrams. If we skip past all the struggles of a typical early-stage entrepreneur, we'll end up with Piñatagrams absolutely blowing up in sales this past Ma...

#9 Nathan Hirsch | CEO @ Outsource School

This is the 2nd time that Nathan has been interviewed on our Podcast (Episode #31).  Nathan started off his entrepreneurship journey by selling things online. It started with re-selling college textbooks and led to selling millions of dollars on Ebay. After that, he ran one of the best Freelancer businesses on the planet, Freeeup.com. The best part? He ran his freelancer business...with freelancers. Since Episode 31 was recorded, Nathan has actually sold Freeeup and now runs Outsource schoo...

#8 Ara Ghougassian | Co-Founder @ Fluent

This week we had the privilege of interviewing Ara Ghougassian with usefluent.co. His website is beautiful and the product itself is even better. Every language platform on the planet focuses on teaching you a new language by using the same, worn-out methods. With Fluent, you're constantly learning words that you actually care about and want to use for your daily life. They are currently available in French as a Chrome Extension and plan on expanding to other languages in the near future. A...

#7 Brian Leonard - CTO @ TaskRabbit, CEO @ Grouparoo

Brian Leonard was the first employee and Co-founder of a company you’ve definitely heard of…Task Rabbit. He and his Co-founder basically pioneered the ‘task’ or ‘local freelance’ market. By definition, “TaskRabbit is an American online and mobile marketplace that matches freelance labor with local demand, allowing consumers to find immediate help with everyday tasks, including cleaning, moving, delivery and handyman work”. After years of success and growth, their team had a successful exit...

#6 Dr. Eric Cole - Cyber Security Legend

Dr. Eric Cole is one of the "OG's" in Cyber Security. After raising his hand in a CIA meeting 25+ years ago asking the simple question, "How do we know if these systems are defensible", his life was changed forever. Eric was one of the first hackers at the CIA and spent his life figuring out how to make our country's online defenses more defensive. He's worked as a 'cyber bodyguard' for the likes of Bill Gates, The Obama Administration, and so many more. Listen in to hear about how the face...

#5 Shrevan Marath | CEO - Work Simplr

Shrevan started off his career as a Sound Engineer in the UK. After going through a tough situation where his years of working as a Sound Engineer were considered 'invalid', he decided to do something about it. That's when he created Work Simplr. "Work Simplr is a virtual co-working platform for students, businesses, and professionals to network and collaborate with each other. We aim to create a centralized and professional gig working economy that is fuelled by local communities." Throug...

#4 Yoann Bohbot | Founder - dots SPACE Co-working

Yoann Bohbot is the founder of dots SPACE, a higher-end co-working space that operates in Beverly Hills and  Culver City, California (Los Angeles area). Early in his career, he was a critical piece of an IT company whose biggest clients included Honda, Adobe, Nestle, as well as several high profile real estate companies, doctors, lawyers, celebrities such as Seal, the Fugees, Lindsay Lohan, and more. He later managed the e-commerce department for Christian Audigier, a French fashion designe...

#3 Hirbod Bigvand | Founder - Surfboard

Hirbod is the CEO and founder of Surfboard, a geo-location app platform that allows you to explore your community. In this episode, we talk about his experience immigrating to America as a young adult who barely knew how to speak English, what got him into the startup scene in college, and the state of diversity in venture capital today. Be sure to subscribe and tune in every Monday to hear more amazing interviews #FireTeam

#2 Dillon Breslin | CEO - Round2

Dillon Breslin is the CEO of Round2, an AI-powered sporting goods platform connecting youth athletes to affordable gear and equipment. Previously, he spent 6 years doing B2B sales at prominent startups in the NY tech scene. He was inspired to launch Round2 after being snubbed on OfferUp during a trade of Jordan 11's. Be sure to subscribe and tune in every Monday to hear more amazing interviews #FireTeam

#1 Steve Young | CEO - AppMasters.com

Farhaj and I want to welcome you to the brand new Building Fires Podcast (originally called WeStrive). For our first episode, we have the incredible Steve Young.  Steve is the CEO of AppMasters.com and he is just that...an App MASTER. Steve knows everything there is to know about the app store, ASO, getting featured, and tons of hidden tips/tricks. Throughout the episode, we cover his early life in startups, what it was like dealing with the App store back in the early days of smart-phones,...

#1 Steve Young | CEO - AppMaster.com

Farhaj and I want to welcome you to the brand new Building Fires Podcast (originally called WeStrive). For our first episode, we have the incredible Steve Young.  Steve is the CEO of AppMaster.com and he is just that...an App MASTER. Steve knows everything there is to know about the app store, ASO, getting featured, and tons of hidden tips/tricks. Throughout the episode, we cover his early life in startups, what it was like dealing with the App store back in the early days of smart-phones, ...

Building Fires (Trailer)

#70 CEO @ Bouqs | John Tabis

John Tabis has been at the top of the floral industry for quite some time now...but it wasn't always that way. After moving on from his first startup, John started working at Disney (not the worst career move lol) and after several years he decided he wanted to get back into the startup world. John felt like he could take the floral industry by storm and he did just that. After years of steady growth and hard work, he appeared on Shark Tank (where I first saw him). He didn't get a deal on t...

#71 CEO @ Boundless Labs | Chase Dimond

First off, I want to congratulate Chase on having his first kid 👶Chase started off by being a key part of a business that scaled to 300,000 students. After this accomplishment, he created one of the most successful 'email travel series' lists in existence and he did it all from scratch. This is when he realized that he had become a master email marketer. Fast forward to today and he runs an email marketing agency, focusing on e-commerce brands, called boundlesslabs and they are working with ...

#69 CEO @ Boundless Labs | Chase Dimond

First off, I want to congratulate Chase on having his first kid 👶Chase started off by being a key part of a business that scaled to 300,000 students. After this accomplishment, he created one of the most successful 'email travel series' lists in existence and he did it all from scratch. This is when he realized that he had become a master email marketer. Fast forward to today and he runs an email marketing agency, focusing on e-commerce brands, called boundlesslabs and they are working with ...

#70 Co-Founder @ StitchCrew | Erika Lucas

Erika Lucas is the Co-Founder of the StitchCrew Accelerator program based out of Oklahoma City, OK.  Growing up in Mexico with 'bootstrapping' entrepreneurial parents, Erika learned early on what it takes to be successful. After moving to Oklahoma, she realized there were so amazing startups in her area that were leaving for big cities like LA, San Fran, and NY. She and her partner created StitchCrew to help fight this problem. They have already made a huge impact on their state through the...

#68 Co-Founder @ StitchCrew | Erika Lucas

Erika Lucas is the Co-Founder of the StitchCrew Accelerator program based out of Oklahoma City, OK.  Growing up in Mexico with 'bootstrapping' entrepreneurial parents, Erika learned early on what it takes to be successful. After moving to Oklahoma, she realized there were so amazing startups in her area that were leaving for big cities like LA, San Fran, and NY. She and her partner created StitchCrew to help fight this problem. They have already made a huge impact on their state through the...

#69 Lead Investor @ Luma Launch | Laurent Grill

This week I had the privilege of interviewing Laurent Grill with Luma Launch and I'm excited to tell his story. Laurent has been involved with the startup world for years. When the opportunity to become the Lead Investor at Luma Launch presented itself, he took full advantage. He now runs one of the best early-stage VC's in California out of their office in Santa Monica. Keep in mind, the beginning of this interview was included in last week's episode involving Pitch Decks. We dive into pitc...

#67 Lead Investor @ Luma Launch | Laurent Grill

This week I had the privilege of interviewing Laurent Grill with Luma Launch and I'm excited to tell his story. Laurent has been involved with the startup world for years. When the opportunity to become the Lead Investor at Luma Launch presented itself, he took full advantage. He now runs one of the best early-stage VC's in California out of their office in Santa Monica. Keep in mind, the beginning of this interview was included in last week's episode involving Pitch Decks. We dive into pitc...

#68 Pitch Deck Mastery | Laurent Grill, Vik Sasi, Farhaj Mayan

Pitch Decks, Pitch Decks, Pitch Decks...that's pretty much all I've heard since I entered the entrepreneurial world years ago. How they look, what pages go where, what investors like what...it goes on and on. That's why I wanted to have an episode to pull three unique perspectives from three incredible entrepreneurs/investors. Farhaj Mayan is the founder of Kanna and has won several pitch competitions with his amazing presentation skills and pitch decks. Laurent Grill is the lead investor at...

#66 Pitch Deck Mastery | Laurent Grill, Vik Sasi, Farhaj Mayan

Pitch Decks, Pitch Decks, Pitch Decks...that's pretty much all I've heard since I entered the entrepreneurial world years ago. How they look, what pages go where, what investors like what...it goes on and on. That's why I wanted to have an episode to pull three unique perspectives from three incredible entrepreneurs/investors. Farhaj Mayan is the founder of Kanna and has won several pitch competitions with his amazing presentation skills and pitch decks. Laurent Grill is the lead investor at...

#65 Founder/CEO BANDWAGON | Harold Hughes

Shortly after graduating from Clemson, Harold realized he wanted to rewrite the ticketing space. He was upset that so many home fan tickets were sold to opposing teams, so many fake tickets were being sold, and he was just frustrated with the ticketing industry as a whole. After years of work, bandwagonfanclub.com is now flourishing and Harold himself has embraced the startup world. His company now has two offices in the US and he has personally invested in multiple startups (one of those st...

#67 Founder/CEO BANDWAGON | Harold Hughes

Shortly after graduating from Clemson, Harold realized he wanted to rewrite the ticketing space. He was upset that so many home fan tickets were sold to opposing teams, so many fake tickets were being sold, and he was just frustrated with the ticketing industry as a whole. After years of work, bandwagonfanclub.com is now flourishing and Harold himself has embraced the startup world. His company now has two offices in the US and he has personally invested in multiple startups (one of those st...

#64 NFL Coach/Public Speaker | Daron K. Roberts

Daron Roberts has an incredible story. He went from being the Student Body President at the University of Texas (which at the time had over 50,000 students and was the biggest school in the country), to applying to Harvard Law 4 times before finally getting in, to finally getting his law degree...only to go coach at the NFL. Sounds crazy right? But as we discuss on the podcast, life isn't a straight line and when he realized coaching was his true passion, there was nothing going to stop him ...

#66 NFL Coach/Public Speaker | Daron K. Roberts

Daron Roberts has an incredible story. He went from being the Student Body President at the University of Texas (which at the time had over 50,000 students and was the biggest school in the country), to applying to Harvard Law 4 times before finally getting in, to finally getting his law degree...only to go coach at the NFL. Sounds crazy right? But as we discuss on the podcast, life isn't a straight line and when he realized coaching was his true passion, there was nothing going to stop him ...

#63 CEO - Boardsi | Martin Rowinski

Martin Rowinski is the CEO of boardsi.com (Pronounced Board-Z) which is a platform that connects top-level executives with startups looking to fill out their advisory board. Martin has spent years in the tech industry advising countless companies and founding a few of his own. Over the course of the podcast, we cover his early life, his experience with running a real estate company during the stock market crash, having an exit, and so much more. How to get ahold of Martin & Boardsi: schedu...

#65 CEO - Boardsi | Martin Rowinski

Martin Rowinski is the CEO of boardsi.com (Pronounced Board-Z) which is a platform that connects top-level executives with startups looking to fill out their advisory board. Martin has spent years in the tech industry advising countless companies and founding a few of his own. Over the course of the podcast, we cover his early life, his experience with running a real estate company during the stock market crash, having an exit, and so much more. How to get ahold of Martin & Boardsi: schedu...

#62 Million Dollar Exit Founder - Vadi Efe

Vadi Efe was the co-founder and COO of Dekatlon Buzz which was based out of Istanbul, Turkey. After years of working in the media and tech industry, he decided to create his own media empire. After close to 7 years of working with some of the biggest companies in the world, they finally had an offer they couldn't refuse. Over the course of this podcast, we'll cover the companies Vadi worked for, the way they approached their multi-million dollar exit, his nomination into Fortune 40 under 40,...

#64 Million Dollar Exit Founder - Vadi Efe

Vadi Efe was the co-founder and COO of Dekatlon Buzz which was based out of Istanbul, Turkey. After years of working in the media and tech industry, he decided to create his own media empire. After close to 7 years of working with some of the biggest companies in the world, they finally had an offer they couldn't refuse. Over the course of this podcast, we'll cover the companies Vadi worked for, the way they approached their multi-million dollar exit, his nomination into Fortune 40 under 40,...

#61 Co-Founder Holistapet | Charlotte Hodgson | $6K - $500K/month in 6 months

This week we have Charlotte Hodgson and basically everything she touches turns to Gold. She grew up with loving parents who she later found out were addicted to hard drugs. At an early age, she was responsible for taking care of her siblings, eventually joined the army, got her Masters in Education, and eventually joined a Charter School. When she joined, the school had 250 students and by the time she left the school had over 35,000. After seeing an opportunity with her friend's company, H...

#63 Co-Founder Holistapet | Charlotte Hodgson | $6K - $500K/month in 6 months

This week we have Charlotte Hodgson and basically everything she touches turns to Gold. She grew up with loving parents who she later found out were addicted to hard drugs. At an early age, she was responsible for taking care of her siblings, eventually joined the army, got her Masters in Education, and eventually joined a Charter School. When she joined, the school had 250 students and by the time she left the school had over 35,000. After seeing an opportunity with her friend's company, H...

#62 Founder - Surkus, Co-Founder - Groupon | Stephen George

Stephen George has been an entrepreneur his entire life. In his early 20's, he was one of the Co-Founders of the company Groupon and managed hundreds of employees at the age of 21. After Groupon's multi-billion dollar IPO, he decided to leave the company and traveled around the world for several years. After 3+ years of traveling, he returned to the US and became the founder of Surkus - https://surkus.com/ Surkus offers members exclusive access to paid events and offers from brands in excha...

#60 Founder - Surkus, Co-Founder - Groupon | Stephen George

Stephen George has been an entrepreneur his entire life. In his early 20's, he was one of the Co-Founders of the company Groupon and managed hundreds of employees at the age of 21. After Groupon's multi-billion dollar IPO, he decided to leave the company and traveled around the world for several years. After 3+ years of traveling, he returned to the US and became the founder of Surkus - https://surkus.com/ Surkus offers members exclusive access to paid events and offers from brands in excha...

#61 CEO - Toasty | Kevon Cheung

Kevon Cheung grew up in Hong Kong and at just 15 years old he flew by himself to Boston so he could attend school. He ended up staying in the US for 8 years before heading back to China to pursue entrepreneurship. Kevon has been involved with countless companies over the years. He helped launch/grow First Code Academy (a coding academy that has helped over 15,000 students learn how to code) and now he is the CEO/Founder of his networking software company, Toasty (toasty.ai).  When I was fir...

#59 CEO - Toasty | Kevon Cheung

Kevon Cheung grew up in Hong Kong and at just 15 years old he flew by himself to Boston so he could attend school. He ended up staying in the US for 8 years before heading back to China to pursue entrepreneurship. Kevon has been involved with countless companies over the years. He helped launch/grow First Code Academy (a coding academy that has helped over 15,000 students learn how to code) and now he is the CEO/Founder of his networking software company, Toasty (toasty.ai).  When I was fir...

#58 Founder - First Text | Cory Levy

Cory Levy (@Cory on Instagram)  is the founder of First Text, Internapalooza, After School, and is involved in countless additional projects. In his younger days, Cory was smart enough to start his career out by interning at incredible companies like Techstars. This is one of the best ways to enter into the tech/startup world and learn as much as you can before creating your own startup. Throughout the episode, we talk about doing things that don't scale when your company is just starting ou...

#60 Founder - First Text | Cory Levy

Cory Levy (@Cory on Instagram)  is the founder of First Text, Internapalooza, After School, and is involved in countless additional projects. In his younger days, Cory was smart enough to start his career out by interning at incredible companies like Techstars. This is one of the best ways to enter into the tech/startup world and learn as much as you can before creating your own startup. Throughout the episode, we talk about doing things that don't scale when your company is just starting ou...

#59 CEO - Marketli | Forrest Hosten

Forrest has been an entrepreneur his entire life. He started working on his own business when he was just a kid and now he's only 23 and has run multiple companies. He' has a great understanding of what it takes to grow a business and his current business, Marketli, is growing rapidly in the eCommerce world. He sold his first company just after his 21st birthday and he's on his way to becoming one of the world's top CEO's. Enjoy the interview! WeStrive: Be sure to check out the WeStrive Ap...

#57 CEO - Marketli | Forrest Hosten

Forrest has been an entrepreneur his entire life. He started working on his own business when he was just a kid and now he's only 23 and has run multiple companies. He' has a great understanding of what it takes to grow a business and his current business, Marketli, is growing rapidly in the eCommerce world. He sold his first company just after his 21st birthday and he's on his way to becoming one of the world's top CEO's. Enjoy the interview! WeStrive: Be sure to check out the WeStrive Ap...

#58 Founder - Roper | Maeve Garigan

Maeve Garigan is an extremely successful entrepreneur who holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Her company, Roper, is Leading the development and commercialization of high-value technology for smart and sustainable beef production. In other words, they've created a high-tech ear-chip for cattle that allows ranchers to track their whereabouts and vitals. This leads to a much higher quality of beef and makes the rancher's job much easier. Over the years she has h...