Lay of The Land

Jeffrey Stern
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Lay of The Land

Telling the stories of entrepreneurship and builders in Cleveland and throughout Northeast Ohio. Every Thursday, Jeffrey Stern helps map the Cleveland/NEO business ecosystem by talking to founders, investors, and community builders to learn what makes Cleveland/NEO special.

  1. #202: Jared Semik (Eternium Aerospace) — Transcontinental Electric Flights

    6 MAR

    #202: Jared Semik (Eternium Aerospace) — Transcontinental Electric Flights

    Jared Semik, founder of Eternium Aerospace, a long-range, zero-emissions aircraft development company, is focused on sustainable transatlantic flight. A multi-service military aviation veteran with three global deployments, Jared began his career in the Marine Corps in 1999. He is an aerospace research and development engineer with over 20 years of experience working with next-generation zero-emissions aircraft systems. His expertise spans R&D, aircraft systems engineering, program management, talent and supplier development, and corporate partnerships for several global industrial and aerospace corporations. He has been ultimately responsible for the program development of 14 proprietary technologies. Jared holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration and has earned two U.S./PCT patents for aircraft systems and propulsion. As you’ll hear in our conversation, Eternium is a multi-decade endeavor, and Jared has taken a highly strategic and intentional approach to building the company. This includes fostering local partnerships with organizations like NASA Glenn and implementing a tiered development strategy that stages the creation of commercially viable milestones—such as the power unit, superconductive motor, and ultimately, the Archangel aircraft. Jared has an insightful perspective on risk and is a strong believer in the philosophy that “nothing ventured, nothing gained” and that “all the best things in life are on the other side of one’s fear.” This philosophy extends beyond his business and into his personal pursuits, which include rock climbing, mountaineering, SCUBA diving, skiing, and more. We discuss the challenges of achieving aircraft range and efficiency, the intersection of creativity and engineering, the technological breakthroughs required for zero-emission travel, the importance of long-term thinking, and much more. Please enjoy this fascinating and educational conversation with Jared Semik. ----- LINKS:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jared-semik-aab07358/ https://www.eterniumaerospace.com/ ----- SPONSORS: Impact Architects & Ninety Impact Architects & NinetyLay of The Land is brought to you by Ninety. As a Lay of The Land listener, you can leverage a free trial with Ninety, the platform that helps teams build great companies and the only officially licensed software for EOS® — used by over 7,000 companies and 100,000 users! This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm! ----- Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here. Past guests include Justin Bibb (Mayor of Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Steve Potash (OverDrive), Umberto P. Fedeli (The Fedeli Group), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Stewart Kohl (The Riverside Company), Mitch Kroll (Findaway — Acquired by Spotify), and over 200 other Cleveland Entrepreneurs. Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/ Follow Jeffrey Stern on X @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayoftheland https://www.jeffreys.page/

    1 h
  2. #201: Robert Marks (Projector) — Keepsake and Personal Streaming for Legacy

    27 FEB

    #201: Robert Marks (Projector) — Keepsake and Personal Streaming for Legacy

    Robert Marks founded Fidelity Voice and Data in 1999 with just a $600 investment, which he grew into a business generating over $30 million in revenue, making it one of the largest telecommunications and cloud services competitors throughout the Midwest. The company focused on providing high-speed Internet access to various industries. After selling the company in 2015, Robert turned his attention to giving back to his local community through various philanthropic initiatives. In 2020, however, Robert’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to solve a deeply personal problem during the pandemic—centered around the difficulty of sharing personal media with family. He raised $1.2 million and founded Projector as a keepsake company, building a personal streaming platform for legacy and memory preservation—the platform he wished had existed. The company now has thousands of subscribers, and Robert is in the process of raising a larger venture round to scale Projector. In our conversation, we unpack Robert’s journey as an entrepreneur, his transition from B2B to B2C, the nuances and opportunities within the keepsake and legacy market, how AI serves as technological leverage to lower the barriers to building companies, the lessons he imparts as an educator, the importance of corporate culture, his love for Cleveland, and much more! ----- LINKS:https://www.linkedin.com/in/-robertmarks/ https://projector.app/ ----- SPONSORS: Impact Architects & Ninety Impact Architects & NinetyLay of The Land is brought to you by Ninety. As a Lay of The Land listener, you can leverage a free trial with Ninety, the platform that helps teams build great companies and the only officially licensed software for EOS® — used by over 7,000 companies and 100,000 users! This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm! ----- Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here. Past guests include Justin Bibb (Mayor of Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Steve Potash (OverDrive), Umberto P. Fedeli (The Fedeli Group), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Stewart Kohl (The Riverside Company), Mitch Kroll (Findaway — Acquired by Spotify), and over 200 other Cleveland Entrepreneurs. Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/ Follow Jeffrey Stern on X @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayoftheland https://www.jeffreys.page/

    1 h y 3 min
  3. #200: Andy Tran (Arthur Street Ventures) — A Modern Renaissance Man

    13 FEB

    #200: Andy Tran (Arthur Street Ventures) — A Modern Renaissance Man

    Andy Tran has lived more lives than just about anyone I know. He’s a serial entrepreneur who has started multiple businesses across industries, including tech, ammunition manufacturing, defense contracting, and tequila, among many others. Andy is a true modern Renaissance man whose path defies convention and serves as a testament to his deep curiosity, creativity, ability to execute, and humility. He has alpine mountaineered in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego while living out of the back of a truck; spent months in the interior of Alaska guiding caribou and moose hunts, as well as driving jet boats for the Discovery Channel. He has been embedded with Special Mission Units and Anti-Poaching Task Forces in South Africa and Kruger National Park. Additionally, he worked with Ecuadorian Special Forces on missions to hunt narco submarines in the Amazon jungle.Andy was also a professional MMA fighter, finishing his career with an undefeated record of 6-0. Beyond fighting, he helped start and lead Beta Academy DC, an MMA gym in Washington, D.C. At just 18 years old, he co-founded an architectural practice with his uncle and led the firm to become a multi-million-dollar enterprise.Most recently, Andy joined fellow Cleveland entrepreneur and Renaissance man Nick Dadas (featured on Lay of The Land episode #158) as Chief Marketing Officer of SISU Lifestyle....And the list goes on.It’s difficult to assign Andy a single label or category. However, to ground our conversation today: Andy is the founder of Arthur Street Ventures, a Cleveland-based venture design studio and holding company focused on developing, incubating, and providing seed and early-stage capital to companies operating in media, defense, consumer packaged goods, alcohol & spirits, cannabis, and apparel sectors. ----- LINKS:https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyctran/https://www.instagram.com/actran001 ----- SPONSORS: Impact Architects & Ninety Impact Architects & NinetyLay of The Land is brought to you by Ninety. As a Lay of The Land listener, you can leverage a free trial with Ninety, the platform that helps teams build great companies and the only officially licensed software for EOS® — used by over 7,000 companies and 100,000 users! This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm! ----- Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here. Past guests include Justin Bibb (Mayor of Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Steve Potash (OverDrive), Umberto P. Fedeli (The Fedeli Group), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Stewart Kohl (The Riverside Company), Mitch Kroll (Findaway — Acquired by Spotify), and over 200 other Cleveland Entrepreneurs. Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/ Follow Jeffrey Stern on X @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayoftheland https://www.jeffreys.page/

    55 min
  4. #199: John Knific (Squad) — The EdTech Guru

    6 FEB

    #199: John Knific (Squad) — The EdTech Guru

    John Knific is a serial entrepreneur and investor who has built three venture-backed software companies here in Cleveland. His latest venture, Squad, is a peer discovery platform designed to gamify ratings and rankings for Gen Z, starting on college campuses, delivering valuable preference data to marketers. Before Squad, John co-founded Wisr, a virtual communities platform that transformed how universities engage students. Wisr ultimately served nearly one million active users before being acquired by the Education Advisory Board (EAB) and Vista Equity in 2021. For those interested in diving deeper into Wisr’s story, I’d recommend checking out ​Episode 35 of Lay of The Land​, where Kate Volzer, one of John’s co-founders shared her perspective on their journey! John’s entrepreneurial journey began with Decision Desk, a company he started out of his dorm room as a student at Case Western Reserve University when he was still on a music and pre-medicine track and ultimately raised $6mm in venture funding for. Today, alongside building Squad, John is also a co-founder of K2 Venture Partners where he and Kris Ciccarello, his other co-founder from Wisr, invest in and advises regional startups. In our conversation, we’ll cover how John has evolved as a founder, his philosophy on product management and go-to-market strategy, the intersection of jazz and entrepreneurship, opportunities in education and ed-tech, building for enterprise vs consumers, mentorship, and lots more lessons learned from his journey across three startups. ----- LINKS:https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnknific/https://www.k2vp.com/https://getsquad.app/ ----- SPONSORS: Impact Architects & Ninety Impact Architects & NinetyLay of The Land is brought to you by Ninety. As a Lay of The Land listener, you can leverage a free trial with Ninety, the platform that helps teams build great companies and the only officially licensed software for EOS® — used by over 7,000 companies and 100,000 users! This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm! ----- Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here. Past guests include Justin Bibb (Mayor of Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Steve Potash (OverDrive), Umberto P. Fedeli (The Fedeli Group), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Stewart Kohl (The Riverside Company), Mitch Kroll (Findaway — Acquired by Spotify), and over 200 other Cleveland Entrepreneurs. Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/ Follow Jeffrey Stern on X @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayoftheland https://www.jeffreys.page/

    1 h y 6 min
  5. #198: Rob van Haaren (Proximal Energy) — Powering The Solar Revolution

    30 ENE

    #198: Rob van Haaren (Proximal Energy) — Powering The Solar Revolution

    Rob van Haaren is a Dutch-born entrepreneur and CEO of Proximal Energy, a Cleveland-based SaaS company transforming asset management for solar and energy storage projects. Rob has long been interested in renewable energy engineering — he holds a Master’s from Columbia University in Earth and Environmental Engineering and a PhD from Columbia as well with a focus on utility-scale energy storage optimization and engineering. He also has over a decade of experience blending bridging academia and industry, working as a photovoltaic and storage analyst at First Solar. Since founding Proximal, Rob leads a remote AI-driven team to deliver advanced analytics and agentic tools that help large asset managers optimize performance and reliability in utility-scale projects spanning multiple gigawatt hours of storage. In addition to his work at Proximal, he is also an Expert in Residence at BRITE Energy Innovators, which we’ve heard about from Rick Stockburger back on Episode 161. As you’ll hear in our conversation today, Rob is an engineer, a problem solver, and a deep thinker who is passionate about transforming the way society manages utility-scale energy, and we’re lucky to now have him as a founder in Cleveland! ----- LINKS:- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-van-haaren/- https://proximal.energy/ ----- SPONSORS: Impact Architects & Ninety Impact Architects & NinetyLay of The Land is brought to you by Ninety. As a Lay of The Land listener, you can leverage a free trial with Ninety, the platform that helps teams build great companies and the only officially licensed software for EOS® — used by over 7,000 companies and 100,000 users! This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm! ----- Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here. Past guests include Justin Bibb (Mayor of Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Steve Potash (OverDrive), Umberto P. Fedeli (The Fedeli Group), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Stewart Kohl (The Riverside Company), Mitch Kroll (Findaway — Acquired by Spotify), and over 200 other Cleveland Entrepreneurs. Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/ Follow Jeffrey Stern on X @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayoftheland https://www.jeffreys.page/

    1 h y 3 min

  6. 23 ENE

    #197: Ali Bonar (Oat Haus) — The Granola Butter Company

    Ali Bonar — CEO & Co-Founder of Oat Haus, a food company bringing fun and play to eating. Their flagship product, Granola Butter, is the world's first oat-based spread and while Oat Haus was born out of Ali's decade-long battle with an eating disorder, and it's now her mission to help others feel less alone. Since its beginnings in 2018, Oat Haus has evolved from Ali’s personal project to a Cleveland-based, nationwide company with distribution in over 5,000 stores, including Target, Whole Foods, Publix, and more. This conversation was a lot of fun — Ali shares the challenges and joys of entrepreneurship, the importance of authenticity in branding, reflecting on scale having packed over 4 million jars of Granola Butter by hand with her team, her experience pitching on Shark Tank, the power of community engagement through social media and growing her base to over 100,000 followers, moving to Cleveland, overcoming adversity, and a whole lot more. ----- LINKS:- www.granolabutter.com - www.instagram.com/oat.haus - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alibonar/ - www.instagram.com/alibonar ----- SPONSORS: Impact Architects & Ninety Impact Architects & NinetyLay of The Land is brought to you by Ninety. As a Lay of The Land listener, you can leverage a free trial with Ninety, the platform that helps teams build great companies and the only officially licensed software for EOS® — used by over 7,000 companies and 100,000 users! This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm! ----- Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here. Past guests include Justin Bibb (Mayor of Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Steve Potash (OverDrive), Umberto P. Fedeli (The Fedeli Group), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Stewart Kohl (The Riverside Company), Mitch Kroll (Findaway — Acquired by Spotify), and over 200 other Cleveland Entrepreneurs. Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/ Follow Jeffrey Stern on X @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayoftheland https://www.jeffreys.page/

    58 min

  7. 16 ENE

    #196: Stephen McHale (Graici & Unify Labs) — Serial Entrepreneurship & the Pursuit of Inclusive Prosperity

    Stephen McHale — a long-time Cleveland serial entrepreneur with a 40-year career founding, investing in, and building companies. Most notably, Steve served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Explorys, which he formed in 2009 in partnership with The Cleveland Clinic. He co-founded and funded Explorys with Charlie Lougheed, one of my former co-founders from Axuall, where Steve is also a board member. In six years, Explorys became the leader in leveraging electronic medical records, healthcare big data, and value-based-care analytics, spanning 26 healthcare networks, 60 hospitals, and 60 million patients across the US — ultimately leading to its acquisition by IBM in April 2015. Prior to Explorys, Steve served as the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Everstream, the company he founded in 1999 which was sold to Concurrent [NASDAQ: CCUR] in 2005 as a market leader in broadband and content analytics. Beyond his roles serving on Boards of The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, JumpStart, and others, today he serves as the co-founder and director of Unify Labs — a 501c3 he formed in 2017 to power inclusive prosperity — and CEO of Graici, a universal personal AI-powered assistant inspired by the work and research conducted at Unify Labs. ----- LINKS:https://graici.com/about-graicihttps://www.unifylabs.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/stmchale/ ----- SPONSORS: John Carroll University Boler College of Business || Impact Architects & Ninety John Carroll University Boler College of Business: https://business.jcu.edu/ As we’ve heard time and time again from entrepreneurs on Lay of The Land — many of whom are proud alumni of John Carroll University —  success in this ever-changing world of business requires a dynamic and innovative mindset, deep understanding of emerging technology and systems, strong ethics, leadership prowess, acute business acumen… all qualities nurtured through the Boler College of Business! With 4 different MBA programs of study — spanning Professional, Online, Hybrid, and 1-Year-Flexible — The Boler College of Business provides flexible timelines and various class structures for each MBA Track — including online, in-person, hybrid and asynchronous — to offer the most effective options for you, in addition to the ability to participate in an elective International Study Tour, providing unparalleled opportunities to expand your global business knowledge by networking with local companies overseas and experiencing a new culture. The career impact of a Boler MBA is formative and will help prepare you for this future of business and get more out of your career. To learn more about John Carroll University’s Boler MBA programs, please go to business.jcu.edu The Boler College of Business is fully accredited by AACSB International, the highest accreditation a College of Business can have. Impact Architects & NinetyLay of The Land is brought to you by Ninety. As a Lay of The Land listener, you can leverage a free trial with Ninety, the platform that helps teams build great companies and the only officially licensed software for EOS® — used by over 7,000 companies and 100,000 users! This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm! ----- Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here. Past guests include Justin Bibb (Mayor of Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Steve Potash (OverDrive), Umberto P. Fedeli (The Fedeli Group), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Stewart Kohl (The Riverside Company), Mitch Kroll (Findaway — Acquired by Spotify), and over 200 other Cleveland Entrepreneurs. Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/ Follow Jeffrey Stern on X @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayoftheland https://www.jeffreys.page/

    52 min

  8. 9 ENE · CONTENIDO EXTRA

    [Bonus] Rust Belt Rundown featuring Jeffrey Stern of The O.H.I.O. Fund

    Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Lay of The Land podcast. Today, we're doing something a bit different as I take on the role of guest on other podcasts to discuss recent developments in my journey and offer a glimpse of what lies ahead. As some of you may know, I've recently embarked on a new professional path by joining the founding team of The O.H.I.O. Fund. In the near future, I'll be recording a dedicated episode to delve deeper into The O.H.I.O. Fund alongside some of my partners. In the meantime, join me in these conversations as I share my insights and experiences about transitioning to this exciting new venture, reflect on building Axuall, Lay of The Land, Cleveland, and much more! In this specific conversation, I sat down with Paul O’Connor of the Rust Belt Rundown podcast, hosted by Rust Belt Recruiting. We've actually featured Rust Belt Recruiting on Lay of The Land's 180th episode featuring Taylor Evans — so please go check out that episode if you want to hear more about Taylor Evans' journey and Rust Belt Recruiting's story! With that, please enjoy my conversation with Paul O’Connor. ----- Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here. Past guests include Justin Bibb (Mayor of Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Steve Potash (OverDrive), Umberto P. Fedeli (The Fedeli Group), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Stewart Kohl (The Riverside Company), Mitch Kroll (Findaway — Acquired by Spotify), and many more. Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/ Follow Jeffrey Stern on X @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayoftheland https://www.jeffreys.page/

    49 min
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    Telling the stories of entrepreneurship and builders in Cleveland and throughout Northeast Ohio. Every Thursday, Jeffrey Stern helps map the Cleveland/NEO business ecosystem by talking to founders, investors, and community builders to learn what makes Cleveland/NEO special.

    Información

    • Creador
      Jeffrey Stern
    • Años de actividad
      2020 - 2025
    • Episodios
      209
    • Clasificación
      Apto
    • Copyright
      © 2024 Lay of The Land
    • Mostrar sitio web
      Lay of The Land

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