Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders

ICR

In the increasingly crowded and competitive corporate and financial ecosystem, it’s harder than ever for companies to break through the clutter and be heard. The media, investors, agenda-driven influencers, even customers and competitors, are defining your business story on their terms. Therefore, it is imperative that companies take control and proactively drive the conversation with stakeholders in an effort to build & maintain equity value. In Welcome to the Arena from ICR, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of ICR, Tom Ryan, interviews key business and financial players who influence the fate of public or aspiring public companies in the capital markets. As a former Wall Street Journal ranked sell-side equity analyst and the founder of one of the largest strategic communications firms in the world, Tom understands what it takes to navigate this complex environment. This is a forum for CEOs, CFOs, institutional investors, sell-side analysts, financial journalists, private equity professionals and other financial community participants to share their stories and give advice in an open and candid conversation. For more information, visit http://www.icrinc.com

  1. George Tomeski, CEO, Helfie.ai – Paging Dr. iPhone: Using AI to help you take control of your health (Re-broadcast)

    2H AGO

    George Tomeski, CEO, Helfie.ai – Paging Dr. iPhone: Using AI to help you take control of your health (Re-broadcast)

    AI coverage tends to skew pretty negative, with things like energy consumption and job losses dominating the headlines. Today, we're re-running an episode that spotlights the hopeful side of AI, and how one company is using it to help the millions of people around the world who lack access to adequate medical care. Enjoy! Summary: In today's medical system, getting a proper diagnosis and course of treatment can take ages, with potentially disastrous consequences for your health. Today, we're spotlighting a company that's trying to change that paradigm, using the power of AI.   George Tomeski is the CEO of Helfie.ai, a company whose platform will allow you to assess a whole host of health conditions using only your smartphone. And they hope to bring that ability to billions of people around the world who have historically lacked access to proper medical care.    In this episode, we get into the fascinating origins of Helfie.ai, the company's groundbreaking tech, and George's thoughts on AI's evolving role in the healthcare sector. Highlights: George's professional journey (2:18)Origin of Helfie.ai (3:32)The people healthcare is leaving behind (5:45)How Helfie.ai works (7:28)Working with healthcare orgs (9:53)Next steps after disease identification (10:58)Choosing which diseases to tackle (13:15)Building the algorithm (14:19)Partnerships (17:35)Helfia.ai funding (18:33)The leadership team (19:41)Thoughts on the future of AI in healthcare (20:49)What's on the horizon for Helfie.ai (24:10)Links: George's LinkedIn Helfie.ai LinkedIn Helfie.ai Website ICR LinkedIn ICR Twitter ICR Website Feedback: If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, joe@lowerstreet.co.

    28 min
  2. MAR 25

    Joe Musselman, Founder & Managing Partner, BVVC — Building Deterrence: Bolstering national security by investing in defense tech

    When it comes to defense tech, it's not enough to design the best weapons systems, you need to be able to actually build them. Today's company is investing in the infrastructure that will restore American arms manufacturing capabilities, and preserve our advantage in a world that's becoming more dangerous.  Our guest today is Joe Musselman, Founder and Managing Partner of Bravo Victor Venture Capital, a US-based early seed and series-A venture capital fund. Joe is accountable for the firm's strategic vision and day-to-day mission, and leads all teams at the firm, including capital, investment, portfolio, and fund operations.   Since 2019, Joe's invested in companies like Firestorm, Epsilon3, Havoc AI, and notable early breakouts like Anduril, and Figure AI. And importantly for our conversation today, he recently led investments into Union, a new energetics prime where he is Co-Founder and Chairman. Today, Joe discusses his fascinating journey as a founder, how BVVC is enabling national security start-ups to scale effectively, and why winning the AI race will be crucial for the future of our country.   Highlights: Joe's journey (2:17)Why defense tech? (6:01)Fund in the field (8:26)Scaling national security startups (13:18)Union and the manufacturing advantage (19:01)The importance of AI (23:25)Why defense tech investments are crucial (27:29) Links: Joe Musselman LinkedIn Joe Musselman LinkedIn BVVC Website ICR LinkedIn ICR Twitter ICR Website   Feedback: If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, joe@lowerstreet.co

    32 min
  3. MAR 18

    Taylor Lauber, CEO, Shift4 — Removing Pain Points: Providing payment solutions for merchants, from stadiums to mom-and-pop shops

    Running a hotel can mean processing all sorts of guest transactions, from check-in, to spa treatments, to a martini in the lobby bar. One company promises to consolidate all of those transactions — and all of that customer data — onto one single platform.   Taylor Lauber is the CEO of Shift4 payments, which trades under the symbol FOUR. Taylor's been with the company since 2018 with prior roles including President and Chief Strategy Officer, he was also one of the company's first interns 25 years ago.   Taylor joins us to discuss Shift4's incredible growth over the last few years, how they differentiate themselves in the crowded payments industry, and their strategy for generating new revenue streams organically or through M&A. Highlights: What is Shift4? (2:02)Shift4's Market Share (5:38)Brands within the brand (8:55)Taking over as CEO (10:26)Strategy for Organic Growth (11:49)M & A Strategy (13:58)Global Blue Acquisition (17:22)Stable Coin payment processing (20:18)Building cross-regional consistency (22:18)AI's evolving role in the business (23:47)Balancing growth and profitability (25:47)Exciting things ahead (27:41) Links: Taylor Lauber LinkedIn Shift4 LinkedIn Shift4 Website ICR LinkedIn ICR Twitter ICR Website Feedback: If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, joe@lowerstreet.co

    31 min
  4. MAR 11

    Marco Santori, CEO, Solmate — Crypto Simplified: Giving retail investors easy access to SOL while growing the Solana network

    Heavy hitters like Larry Fink and Paul Atkins have said that tokenization is the future, but acquiring and managing tokenized assets can be a tall order for the average retail investor. Today's company is working to change that, with a unique strategy that provides value far beyond market exposure.  Marco Santori is the Chief Executive Officer of Solmate, which trades under the symbol SLMT. Solmate is an institutional infrastructure company accelerating Solana’s growth, and giving investors exposure to Solana's native token, SOL.   Marco is a treasury company pioneer, launching the very first Altcoin treasury on Nasdaq, and he was a partner at Pantera Capital where he helped to structure some of the industry's best performing treasuries. Marco was also the Chief Legal Officer at Kraken, one of the world's largest digital asset exchanges, served as the President of Blockchain.com, and he was a partner at the law firm Cooley, where he led the firm's global fintech team.   Today, Marco joins us to explain how Solmate's infrastructure flywheel creates value, what makes Solana unique among blockchains, and how the emergence of digitized capital markets will impact the world of finance. Highlights: Blockchain basics (2:22)What is Solana? (4:27)What sets Solmate apart (7:28)Infrastructure flywheel (11:08)Digital capital markets (13:31)Why the UAE? (15:42)Institutional readiness and blockchains (19:30)How will blockchains change finance? (21:17)Innovations in the works (24:53)Solmate's investment thesis (27:19)   Links:   Marco LinkedIn Solmate LinkedIn Solmate Website ICR LinkedIn ICR Twitter ICR Website   Feedback: If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, joe@lowerstreet.co

    28 min
  5. FEB 11

    Mark Goldston, Executive Chairman, The Beachbody Company — Heavy Lift: A renowned turnaround executive reinvigorates one of the world's foremost fitness brands

    When a once-successful business falls on hard times, it can sometimes be hard for them to diagnose and fix the problem from within. Today's guest has built a career out of helping these businesses turn things around, and he's doing it again with one of America's premiere fitness brands. Mark Goldston is the Executive Chairman of The Beachbody Company, which trades under the symbol BODI. Mark is one of the world's most respected turnaround executives, and has spent his career reviving some of the best known brands in the world, including Revlon, Reebok, and LA Gear to name a few. He is also a prolific inventor with 135 US and foreign patents to his name.   Today, Mark walks us through the history of The Beachbody Company, the issues he identified within the business, and how he and his team are working to right the ship.    Highlights: Mark's Career (1:40)Symptoms of a struggling business (6:34)The Beachbody Company turnaround (10:12)Navigating a difficult retail environment (17:16)Brand Awareness (21:58)How GLP-1's are impacting the business (26:46)What are investors missing about Beachbody? (29:50)   Links: Mark Goldston LinkedIn The Beachbody Company LinkedIn The Beachbody Company Website ICR LinkedIn ICR Twitter ICR Website   Feedback: If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, joe@lowerstreet.co.

    34 min
5
out of 5
83 Ratings

About

In the increasingly crowded and competitive corporate and financial ecosystem, it’s harder than ever for companies to break through the clutter and be heard. The media, investors, agenda-driven influencers, even customers and competitors, are defining your business story on their terms. Therefore, it is imperative that companies take control and proactively drive the conversation with stakeholders in an effort to build & maintain equity value. In Welcome to the Arena from ICR, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of ICR, Tom Ryan, interviews key business and financial players who influence the fate of public or aspiring public companies in the capital markets. As a former Wall Street Journal ranked sell-side equity analyst and the founder of one of the largest strategic communications firms in the world, Tom understands what it takes to navigate this complex environment. This is a forum for CEOs, CFOs, institutional investors, sell-side analysts, financial journalists, private equity professionals and other financial community participants to share their stories and give advice in an open and candid conversation. For more information, visit http://www.icrinc.com

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