Midwest Moxie

WUWM - Milwaukee's NPR
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Hear about the successes, failures, insights and opportunities that shape some of the Midwest’s most exciting entrepreneurs. Host Kathleen Gallagher, executive director of 5 Lakes Institute, talks with company founders who are taking risks, disrupting the status quo and driving economic growth in the region.

  1. Using sound waves to evaporate tumors

    12/27/2025

    Using sound waves to evaporate tumors

    Zhen Xu knew that most people thought it was impossible to use an ultrasound machine to destroy tumors inside the body. But Zhen was still a University of Michigan Ph.D. student; she decided she could afford to try. After years of testing how to control the high-intensity sound waves, that decision paid off and a new, non-invasive medical procedure was born. In 2009, Zhen co- founded HistoSonics, a Plymouth, Minnesota company whose non-invasive platform liquifies and destroys tumors at the sub cellular level.  HistoSonics was acquired in August 2025 for $2.25 billion by a consortium of top-tier investors that included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and PayPal and Palantir Technologies co-founder Peter Thiel acquired a majority stake in August 2025 in HistoSonics. The sale made HistoSonics the second-largest venture capital-backed medical device exit ever, excluding IPOs or public company acquisitions Midwest Moxie's executive producer is Audrey Nowakowski. She produced this episode. Subscribe to Midwest Moxie wherever you get your podcasts. And if you love Midwest Moxie as much as we do, help us out by posting a review.

    29 min

  2. 12/24/2025

    Smart sponges that absorb toxic gases

    Omar Farha discovered in graduate school at UCLA that he was wowed by Metal-Organic Frameworks – MOFs as they’re called by chemists. MOFs were like sponges that could soak up toxic gases and other health hazards -- one of the most exciting and oft cited areas of chemistry.  So when Omar arrived at Northwestern University in 2007 it took him just four years to find two like-minded co-founders and start NuMat. The Chicago company designs custom MOFs that provide chemical protection, safe storage of toxic gases, and carbon reduction in energy intensive processes. NuMat has three facilities -- in Illinois, Wisconsin and South Korea -- employs about 80 people and has raised $78 million. Midwest Moxie's executive producer is Audrey Nowakowski. She produced this episode. Subscribe to Midwest Moxie wherever you get your podcasts. And if you love Midwest Moxie as much as we do, help us out by posting a review.

    16 min

  3. 12/20/2025

    Analyzing mammogram changes over time to predict breast cancer risk

    Graham Colditz is an internationally known breast cancer prediction expert. Joy Jiang is a young biostatistician. ​​Together they created Prognosia’s cutting edge software. Graham Colditz is an internationally recognized scientist who’s written more than one thousand research papers and created several award-winning models for predicting women’s breast cancer risk. But it wasn’t until a young biostatistician named Joy Jiang (Jee-ang) arrived at Washington University in St. Louis that the idea of a startup took hold. The two developed AI technology that analyzes subtle changes in mammograms over time and predicts a woman’s five-year risk for cancer. Then in 2024, Graham and Joy co-founded Prognosia to commercialize their software. A little more than a year later, Prognosia was acquired for an undisclosed price by Lunit, a South Korean company whose AI software helps doctors detect cancer. Midwest Moxie's executive producer is Audrey Nowakowski. She produced this episode. Subscribe to Midwest Moxie wherever you get your podcasts. And if you love Midwest Moxie as much as we do, help us out by posting a review.

    15 min

  4. 12/13/2025

    Toys, Valentine’s Day cards and a newsletter with personal stories

    John Rinaldi started Real Time Automation in 1988 to make products that help the factory floor run more smoothly. It had a slow start. No matter how much time John and his team put into engineering the products, RTA sunk further into debt. Then, after attending a seminar run by a famous business expert, everything changed. John re-organized the entire office around his new-found insight: He needed to spend his time on marketing, not engineering. Pewaukee, Wisconsin-based Real Time Automation has 27 employees. In 2025 John created an ESOP, or Employee Stock Ownership Plan, and sold 20% of the company to his employees. Midwest Moxie's executive producer is Audrey Nowakowski. She produced this episode. Subscribe to Midwest Moxie wherever you get your podcasts. And if you love Midwest Moxie as much as we do, help us out by posting a review.

    29 min

  5. 12/10/2025

    In 50 mph gusts, how many poles break? How many customers lose power?

    Steven Quiring knew his technology solved a problem for utilities. And based on projects he’d been involved in, he knew they’d pay for it. But it wasn’t until a student brought it up, that the idea took hold. This was a viable business. It could be a startup. So, in 2022, Steven co-founded StormImpact, whose predictive analytics helped electric utilities forecast weather-related damage and service disruptions. StormImpact grew to six employees, but just three years later, in 2025, sold for an undisclosed price to Urbant, a Miami Beach company that uses AI to predict threats to workers and critical infrastructure. Midwest Moxie's executive producer is Audrey Nowakowski. She produced this episode. Subscribe to Midwest Moxie wherever you get your podcasts. And if you love Midwest Moxie as much as we do, help us out by posting a review.

    15 min

  6. 12/06/2025

    Image, destroy and get out quick

    Mike Schultz had spent more than a decade in his lab at the University of Iowa discovering a pair of radioactive substances that could detect and destroy cancer cells. Fran Johnson, his wife, had spent just as much time running the university medical center’s heart disease treatment program. So, when they launched a startup in 2015, the division of work was obvious. Mike stayed at the university to continue his research, and Fran left to run the company. Viewpoint Molecular Targeting in 2023 merged with Isoray to form a new public company called Perspective Therapeutics.  It’s headquartered in Seattle and has about one third of its employees in Iowa. Midwest Moxie's executive producer is Audrey Nowakowski. She produced this episode. Subscribe to Midwest Moxie wherever you get your podcasts. And if you love Midwest Moxie as much as we do, help us out by posting a review.

    16 min

  7. 12/03/2025

    What’s next after a job deploying 4.2 billion diaper emails a year

    Ben Ivers was four years old when he cut up some carrots and tried to sell them from a table in front of his house at the far end of the cul de sac. Fast forward a few decades and Ben is having much greater success selling marketing automation software. After a decade working at three companies in the industry, Ben co-founded Tenon, an Indianapolis company that helps teams collaborate on marketing campaigns and integrate with sales and customer service. Midwest Moxie's executive producer is Audrey Nowakowski. She produced this episode. Subscribe to Midwest Moxie wherever you get your podcasts. And if you love Midwest Moxie as much as we do, help us out by posting a review.

    13 min

  8. 11/29/2025

    Such luck! As EnsoData got going, sleep medicine woke up

    Chris Fernandez could have continued to grow his t-shirt company, which had more than $50,000 of sales in its first year. But he sold it, got a graduate degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and in 2015 co-founded a completely different type of company. EnsoData pioneered the use of AI and machine learning to analyze medical tests like EKGs and pulse oximeters. Today, the Madison company’s products and services help clinicians diagnose and care for patients with sleep disorders. Midwest Moxie's executive producer is Audrey Nowakowski. She produced this episode. Subscribe to Midwest Moxie wherever you get your podcasts. And if you love Midwest Moxie as much as we do, help us out by posting a review.

    17 min
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Hear about the successes, failures, insights and opportunities that shape some of the Midwest’s most exciting entrepreneurs. Host Kathleen Gallagher, executive director of 5 Lakes Institute, talks with company founders who are taking risks, disrupting the status quo and driving economic growth in the region.

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