Triangle Tweener Talks

Triangle Tweener Fund
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A podcast for builders by builders in the Triangle. We explore the startup journey and stories with local Triangle founders, from the idea to the exit and everything in between. Triangle Tweener Talks is hosted by Scot Wingo, presented and produced by Triangle Tweener Fund, with creative assets and design support from Walk West. We couldn’t share posts like this without our amazing sponsors: Gold Sponsors: Balentine: https://www.balentine.com/triangle-entrepreneurs EisnerAmpner: https://www.eisneramper.com Robinson Bradshaw: https://www.robinsonbradshaw.com Silver Sponsors: Automated Consulting Group: https://automated.co Bank of America: https://business.bofa.com/en-us/content/technology-industry-group.html 2025 Sponsors: Extensis HR: http://www.extensishr.com/

  1. From Duke Football to 3D-Printed Medical Devices: How PROTECT3D Scaled Mass Customization with Kevin Gehsmann

    6D AGO

    From Duke Football to 3D-Printed Medical Devices: How PROTECT3D Scaled Mass Customization with Kevin Gehsmann

    In this episode, we unpack how a college capstone project turned into a scalable system for custom-fit 3D-printed bracing, moving from “hours in CAD” to minutes with automated design templates. We get into the origin story, the technology moat, go-to-market evolution, fundraising, and the founder mindset required to stay in the game. Highlights covered How PROTECT3D started with a custom brace for a Duke teammateWhy “one-size-fits-none” is the real problem in bracingThe core workflow: iPhone scan → automated digital design → 3D printHow they reduced design time from 5+ hours to under 5 minutesMaterial/printing approaches and why they use multiple technologiesScaling from sports to insurance-reimbursable clinical productsExpansion into military / defense applications via non-dilutive fundingFounder lessons: failing fast, surviving COVID-era building, and gritKevin’s advice to younger founders: keep going, the grind is the gameCustom-fit should be the norm, and PROTECT3D is building the rails to make that possible at scale. If you’re a founder working at the intersection of software + real-world manufacturing, this one is packed with practical lessons and a lot of heart. Timestamps:00:04:29 — Kevin’s background: Greensboro → Duke mechanical engineering + football 00:05:43 — The spark: 3D-printing a custom brace for an injured teammate 00:06:37 — “One-size-fits-none”: why off-the-shelf bracing fails most bodies 00:10:23 — Turning it into a real company through Duke I&E + early traction 00:12:21 — Early funding: friends & family + NC IDEA Micro Grant path 00:16:45 — The modern 3-step process: app scan → digital fabrication → 3D print 00:17:11 — From traveling to scan athletes… to scanning with an iPhone app 00:23:29 — Scaling breakthrough: design time drops from 5+ hours to 5 minutes 00:24:19 — Growth: working with over half of NFL teams + other leagues 00:25:21 — Beyond sports: clinics, insurance reimbursement, nationwide footprint 00:32:44 — Fundraising + non-dilutive: ~$5.5M raised, including DoD/SBIR support 00:34:44 — Founder lessons: fail fast, market expansion timing, surviving COVID 00:36:25 — Team size: 12 FTE + ~5 contractors; vision for clinical-scale bracing 00:38:30 — New channel: “at-home” scanning + direct-to-consumer experiments 00:41:18 — Kevin’s message to young founders: keep at it, the grind doesn’t stop Where to Find Kevin Gehsmann:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-gehsmann/Front PROTECT3D: https://protect3d.io/ Where to Find Scot Wingo: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thescotwingo/ Tweener Times: https://www.tweenertimes.com/ X: https://x.com/scotwingo ---  This episode of Triangle Tweener Talks is hosted by Scot Wingo, presented and produced by Triangle Tweener Fund, with creative assets and design support from Walk West.  We couldn’t share posts like this without our amazing sponsors:  Platinum: NC IDEA: https://ncidea.org Gold Sponsors: - Balentine: https://www.balentine.com/triangle-entrepreneurs - EisnerAmpner: https://www.eisneramper.com - Robinson Bradshaw: https://www.robinsonbradshaw.com  Silver Sponsors: - Automated Consulting Group: https://automated.co - Bank of America: https://business.bofa.com/en-us/content/technology-industry-group.html   ------Triangle Tweener Talks is sponsored by: Atomic Object: https://atomicobject.com/

    44 min
  2. Will AI Kill SaaS? Triangle Founders Want to Know! We Deep Dive Into the SaaSageddon with Joe Mancini, GP at Front Porch Ventures

    FEB 26

    Will AI Kill SaaS? Triangle Founders Want to Know! We Deep Dive Into the SaaSageddon with Joe Mancini, GP at Front Porch Ventures

    This episode is a big one. There’s a lot of noise right now around AI, venture, and whether SaaS is fundamentally broken. Public markets are re-rating software companies. Seed rounds are shifting. Pricing models are changing. And founders are asking the same question: “Are we toast?” Joe Mancini from Front Porch is in a unique position to answer that. His firm sits inside dozens of funds and startups across the Southeast and beyond. He sees what’s working, and what’s not, in real time. So we dug into the thesis behind their “SaaS is Dead” piece, what it actually means, and what founders should be doing right now. Highlights covered Why SaaS is being re-rated in public marketsWhether this is permanent or cyclicalAI-native vs. AI-immigrant companiesThe collapse (and split) of the traditional “seed” roundWhy vertical SaaS may explode in this eraHow founders should think about churn in the AI eraInternal resistance to AI adoption (and why it’s dangerous)What venture firms are actually looking for right nowThe next decade belongs to founders who deeply understand their vertical, obsess over customer value, and move fast enough to build moats before the standards settle. Timestamps:07:00 – From sports radio to venture capital 10:30 – The hybrid fund model explained 16:50 – Why they wrote “Yes, SaaS Is Dead” 18:00 – The SaaS public market re-rating 21:00 – The split in seed investing 23:30 – AI-native vs AI-immigrant companies 27:00 – The 3-layer cycle of every tech revolution 30:00 – The 2x2: where opportunity lives now 33:00 – Why vertical beats horizontal right now 38:00 – Internal AI adoption is non-optional 39:30 – The shift from seat pricing to performance pricing 51:00 – What actually counts as a moat in AI Where to Find Joe Mancini:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpmancini/Front Porch Venture Partners: https://www.frontporchvp.com/ Where to Find Scot Wingo: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thescotwingo/ Tweener Times: https://www.tweenertimes.com/ X: https://x.com/scotwingo ---  This episode of Triangle Tweener Talks is hosted by Scot Wingo, presented and produced by Triangle Tweener Fund, with creative assets and design support from Walk West.  We couldn’t share posts like this without our amazing sponsors:  Platinum: NC IDEA: https://ncidea.org Gold Sponsors: - Balentine: https://www.balentine.com/triangle-entrepreneurs - EisnerAmpner: https://www.eisneramper.com - Robinson Bradshaw: https://www.robinsonbradshaw.com  Silver Sponsors: - Automated Consulting Group: https://automated.co - Bank of America: https://business.bofa.com/en-us/content/technology-industry-group.html   ------Triangle Tweener Talks is sponsored by: Atomic Object: https://atomicobject.com/

    53 min
  3. Announcing: NC IDEA and Tweener Fund Partnership

    FEB 20

    Announcing: NC IDEA and Tweener Fund Partnership

    We started the Tweener List in 2015 with the idea of local founders paying it forward to help amplify and support our local startup ecosystem. Based on the popularity of that list and a grassroots effort to innovate a new way to help fund and support local founders, in 2022 we started the Tweener Fund. That’s good, but it’s not enough. We’re always asking the community of founders we support - what else can we do to help you grow your companies, raise capital, provide more resources, enhance the community, etc. So, in the last two years we launched numerous community facing resources, including Tweener Talks. What’s Next? 👉 NC Tweener Fund, Powered by NC IDEA! In this episode, Scot and Robbie hit the highlights of our newest adventure: Expanding geography from Triangle to NC (strategy and everything else stays consistent)Increasing our investment $/Q - that means more companies will be supportedBigger pool of potential investors (LPs)We'll be expanding our events, content and moreStay tuned for future news! Timestamps:00:32 – Big Announcement: Becoming the North Carolina Tweener Fund (Powered by NC IDEA)00:53 – The Origin Story: Tweener List (2015)01:28 – Launch of the Tweener Fund (2022)01:35 – Expansion into Founder Content (Tweener Times, Tweener Talks, Community Hub)03:52 – Robby’s NC IDEA Grant Story (2009)04:36 – Why the NC IDEA Partnership Makes Sense05:08 – Expanding Beyond the Triangle to All of North Carolina06:07 – What Qualifies as a North Carolina06:53 – Increasing Investments Per Quarter07:22 – What’s NOT Changing (Commitment + Triangle HQ)08:32 – Breaking Down NC Regions09:40 – PitchBook Data: Where NC Startups Are Located10:23 – Geographic Diversification Strategy Going Forward11:21 – How to Get Involved (Investors + Sponsors)12:26 – Thank You + Official Welcome to the NC Tweener Fund Era ---  This episode of Triangle Tweener Talks is hosted by Scot Wingo, presented and produced by Triangle Tweener Fund, with creative assets and design support from Walk West.  We couldn’t share posts like this without our amazing sponsors:  Platinum: NC IDEA: https://ncidea.org Gold Sponsors: - Balentine: https://www.balentine.com/triangle-entrepreneurs - EisnerAmpner: https://www.eisneramper.com - Robinson Bradshaw: https://www.robinsonbradshaw.com  Silver Sponsors: - Automated Consulting Group: https://automated.co - Bank of America: https://business.bofa.com/en-us/content/technology-industry-group.html  ------Triangle Tweener Talks is sponsored by: Atomic Object: https://atomicobject.com/

    14 min
  4. Dr. Helen Gu on Building InsightFinder, AIOps, and the “Last Mile” of Enterprise AI

    FEB 17

    Dr. Helen Gu on Building InsightFinder, AIOps, and the “Last Mile” of Enterprise AI

    In this episode of Triangle Tweener Talks, we unpack what it really takes to go from professor to CEO, how InsightFinder built trust in a skeptical enterprise market, and where LLMs help (and don’t) when you’re dealing with machine telemetry data. They also explore multi-agent workflows, “composite AI,” practical enterprise adoption hurdles, and Helen’s advice for students navigating an AI-shaped future. Highlights covered Helen’s origin story: NASA Pathfinder work → distributed systems reliability → ML-based predictionThe Google chapter: being invited to evaluate anomaly-detection algorithms with SRE teamsBootstrapping InsightFinder via NSF/SBIR funding + early angels, before raising traditional VCThe professor-to-CEO transition: prioritization over “balance,” and learning to adapt dailyWhy founders should lead early sales (especially when the product is new-to-the-world)How InsightFinder runs enterprise PoCs using a “replay mechanism” on historical incidents“Composite AI” + using LLMs to translate technical insights into understandable narrativesIf you’ve ever wondered what “AI that actually works” looks like in the enterprise, and how a research-driven founder earns trust at Fortune scale, this one’s a must-listen. Timestamps 00:02:12 — Intro to Helen + what InsightFinder does00:04:32 — Helen’s background at NC State00:05:49 — Google discovers the research00:06:24 — NSF/SBIR bootstrap + company start00:07:10 — Early ML roots (since 2000)00:08:54 — NASA Pathfinder origin story00:12:03 — Teaching + student questions evolving00:13:28 — Student → PhD → InsightFinder spark00:14:36 — Professor + CEO time management00:17:39 — Learning sales as a founder00:21:24 — Funding path: SBIR + angels + first VC00:22:44 — IDEA Fund connection story00:24:19 — LLM era impact + “composite AI”00:26:45 — LLMs as the interface layer00:28:20 — Plain-English explanation of InsightFinder00:31:04 — Agent workflows (Jira, probing, reports)00:32:31 — Multi-agent + SLM orchestration00:35:32 — PoCs: dogfood + replay mechanism00:37:41 — How early detection works (hours ahead)00:39:00 — Series B + scaling go-to-market00:43:00 — LLMs: maturity + “last mile” problem00:45:30 — Fine-tuning + trust risks00:47:14 — Advice for students + fundamentals#TriangleTweenerTalks #TriangleStartups #NCState #AIOps #Observability #SiteReliability #SRE #DistributedSystems #MachineLearning #EnterpriseAI #LLMs #AgenticAI #MCP #StartupJourney #FounderStories #B2BSoftware #DeepTech #RaleighDurham #NorthCarolinaTech ---  This episode of Triangle Tweener Talks is hosted by Scot Wingo, presented and produced by Triangle Tweener Fund, with creative assets and design support from Walk West.  We couldn’t share posts like this without our amazing sponsors:    Gold Sponsors:  - Balentine: https://www.balentine.com/triangle-entrepreneurs  - EisnerAmpner: https://www.eisneramper.com  - Robinson Bradshaw: https://www.robinsonbradshaw.com    Silver Sponsors:  - Automated Consulting Group: https://automated.co  - Bank of America: https://business.bofa.com/en-us/content/technology-industry-group.html  ------Triangle Tweener Talks is sponsored by: Atomic Object: https://atomicobject.com/

    48 min
  5. From Founder to Chief of Staff: How Offline Runs on AI with David Shaner

    FEB 12

    From Founder to Chief of Staff: How Offline Runs on AI with David Shaner

    In Part 1 of this conversation on Triangle Tweener Talks, we walked through how David built Offline over 13 years, three companies, multiple pivots, and a subscription model that finally worked. In Part 2, we shift gears. This episode is about leverage. David breaks down how he went from running a ~34-person team to operating a multi-city business with ~2.5 people, not by cutting corners, but by rebuilding the company around AI-first systems, orchestration, and context-aware automation. This is not “AI news.” This is how a founder is actually using AI day to day. Highlights from Part 2 AI adoption started as a “copywriting intern,” not a silver bulletThe biggest fork: people who learned how to talk to models vs. people who gave upThe real unlock came when David built his first full-stack app himselfTools like Cursor and Cloud Code collapsed the barrier between idea and executionOffline stopped adding features to a monolith, and started building around itn8n became the orchestration layer that glued everything togetherMost business problems don’t need apps, they need glue codeAI SDRs fail today because context is fragmented and CRMs are a messThe right approach is decomposing SDR work into atomic stepsContext windows are the real constraint, not intelligenceDavid now runs a personal “Chief of Staff” GitHub repo with 70–80 skillsThe company itself is slowly becoming a file system agents can read and write fromIf you’re thinking about automation, agents, or headcount, this one will change how you think about all three. Where to Find David Shaner:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidshaner/Offline Media: https://www.letsgetoffline.com/ Where to Find Scot Wingo: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thescotwingo/ Tweener Times: https://www.tweenertimes.com/ X: https://x.com/scotwingo Timestamps00:00–02:30 – Why Part 2 matters02:30–06:00 – Phase 1: AI as a copywriting intern06:00–10:00 – Phase 2: coding, Cursor, and the “hit by a bus” moment10:00–13:00 – Why founders need to build something themselves13:00–17:00 – Orchestration layers and why n8n won17:00–21:00 – Why AI SDRs mostly don’t work yet21:00–24:30 – Context windows, atomic steps, and agent design24:30–27:30 – Debugging workflows like a human27:30–31:30 – How Offline reduced headcount without losing velocity31:30–36:00 – Self-service platforms for restaurants and events36:00–39:30 – Cloud Code, skill files, and the “singularity” moment39:30–44:00 – The Chief of Staff repo and what comes next ---  This episode of Triangle Tweener Talks is hosted by Scot Wingo, presented and produced by Triangle Tweener Fund, with creative assets and design support from Walk West.  We couldn’t share posts like this without our amazing sponsors:  Gold Sponsors: Balentine: https://www.balentine.com/triangle-en... EisnerAmpner: https://www.eisneramper.com Robinson Bradshaw: https://www.robinsonbradshaw.com  Silver Sponsors: Automated Consulting Group: https://automated.co Bank of America: https://business.bofa.com/en-us/conte...  2025 Sponsors: Extensis HR: http://www.extensishr.com/ ------Triangle Tweener Talks is sponsored by: Atomic Object: https://atomicobject.com/

    46 min
  6. Three Companies, One Brand: Building Offline Over 13 Years with David Shaner

    FEB 5

    Three Companies, One Brand: Building Offline Over 13 Years with David Shaner

    This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. In this episode, we focus on Offline’s origin story and business evolution, not AI (yet). Highlights from Part 1 Offline has effectively been three different companies under one brandEarly versions tried to reinvent Meetup, and failedA city-guide app reached ~3M people/month but couldn’t monetizeConsumer businesses can look successful while quietly breakingSubscription was the first model that truly workedRestaurants don’t want “deal seekers”, they want incremental revenueOffline works because it optimizes excess capacity, not discountsCOVID forced a near-shutdown, and a total rethink of operationsToday, Offline runs across 10 cities with ~600 restaurants and ~10,000 subscribersMost founders only hear about the winning version of a company. This episode shows the cost of getting there: years of pivots, wrong turns, false confidence, and learning, sometimes the hard way, how markets actually work. Offline didn’t succeed because of a clever growth hack. It survived because David kept learning, iterating, and refusing to confuse traction with sustainability. Where to Find David Shaner: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidshaner/ Offline Media: https://www.letsgetoffline.com/ Where to Find Scot Wingo:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thescotwingo/  Tweener Times: https://www.tweenertimes.com/  X: https://x.com/scotwingo Timestamps00:00–02:30 – Introduction & what this two-part series will cover02:30–05:30 – David’s background, NC State, and discovering entrepreneurship05:30–08:00 – The original idea: human connection in a screen-first world08:00–11:30 – Era 1: trying (and failing) to reinvent Meetup11:30–13:30 – Era 2: city guides, millions of users, zero monetization13:30–15:40 – Era 3: subscriptions finally click15:40–17:30 – COVID, near shutdown, and survival17:30–23:30 – Why restaurants accept discounts (the airplane seat analogy)23:30–25:30 – Why Groupon failed restaurants — and why Offline didn’t25:30–44:00 – Productivity, systems thinking, and process obsession44:00–45:10 – What’s coming in Part 2---  This episode of Triangle Tweener Talks is hosted by Scot Wingo, presented and produced by Triangle Tweener Fund, with creative assets and design support from Walk West.  We couldn’t share posts like this without our amazing sponsors:    Gold Sponsors:  - Balentine: https://www.balentine.com/triangle-entrepreneurs  - EisnerAmpner: https://www.eisneramper.com  - Robinson Bradshaw: https://www.robinsonbradshaw.com    Silver Sponsors:  - Automated Consulting Group: https://automated.co  - Bank of America: https://business.bofa.com/en-us/content/technology-industry-group.html   2025 Sponsors:  - Extensis HR: http://www.extensishr.com/ ------Triangle Tweener Talks is sponsored by: Atomic Object: https://atomicobject.com/

    46 min
  7. Tony Atti: Phononic Founder: Scaling Phononic from 2008-2026 and Beyond | PART 2 of 2

    JAN 29

    Tony Atti: Phononic Founder: Scaling Phononic from 2008-2026 and Beyond | PART 2 of 2

    Part 2 picks up where the origin story ends, and where the real work begins. Tony breaks down the three phases of Phononic: proving the science, surviving productization, and ultimately finding the market where solid-state cooling wasn’t just better, but mission-critical. It’s a candid look at why deep-tech companies require patience, capital discipline, and brutal focus to survive. This is the episode for founders navigating scale, manufacturing, or markets that don’t yet exist. Highlights from Part 2 The three semiconductor problems Phononic had to solve, togetherWhy feasibility took ~$10–15M before a real product even existedThe hidden cost of productization (and why Phase 2 was the most dangerous)Why Phononic nearly spread itself too thin across HVAC, cold chain, and data centers“Market → product fit” vs. product → market fitThe moment AI and accelerated computing changed everythingWhy data centers became Phononic’s core focusLicensing non-core markets instead of shutting them downTony’s three most important lessons for founders building outside Silicon ValleyPhononic’s story isn’t about chasing trends, it’s about surviving long enough for timing, technology, and market need to finally align. For founders building deep tech, Part 2 is a reminder: focus is strategy, patience is power, and big outcomes demand big ambition. Where to Find Tony Atti: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-atti-ph-d-316483/ TradePending: https://phononic.com/ Where to Find Scot Wingo:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thescotwingo/  Tweener Times: https://www.tweenertimes.com/  X: https://x.com/scotwingo Timestamps: 05:55 — Back in conversation: “layman’s version of the 3 problems” 06:06 — The 3 fundamentals: material science, semiconductor processing, packaging 07:40 — The 3 metrics that matter: coldness, electricity consumed, work/heat pumped per area 08:31 — Doing university partnerships “right the first time” (no cap table traps) 09:35 — Key insight: academia solved pieces separately; Phononic integrated all 3 09:47 — First chips built on Centennial Campus; early build process vs today’s automation 10:36 — Cost to feasibility: roughly ~$10M to get to commercially meaningful chips 11:33 — Phase 2 = productization (unexpected + expensive) 11:45 — Big lesson: market/product fit (not product/market) 12:28 — Reality of productization: inventing mechanical/thermal/software/firmware + supply chain from scratch 13:30 — The mistake: trying to productize across 3 huge markets at once (HVAC, cold chain, data centers) 15:34 — Why it was intoxicating: solid-state = smaller/better/faster/efficient + millisecond response time 16:25 — The strategic pivot: raise $100M to go deep in one vertical + license non-core 17:22 — Data centers weren’t obviously mission-critical (then) 18:15 — Inflection: jump to 1.6T + cooling becomes critical for signal integrity 19:08 — COVID tailwinds: vaccine cold chain + air quality/HVAC relevance 19:37 — AI compute explosion: optics → GPUs → switches → whole data center becomes thermal hotspot 20:38 — Licensing moves: PeltierPro for cold chain/merchandising; Halton for HVAC 21:17 — Company snapshot: ~100–140 people; 30k sq ft fab in Durham; Fabrinet Thailand; teams in Thailand + China 21:53 — EBITDA positive Q4; 2026 forecast revised up; possible cash-flow positivity mid-2026 23:26 — Tony’s 3 founder lessons: market/product fit, ruthless focus, dream big (same work for $100M vs $1B) ---  This episode of Triangle Tweener Talks is hosted by Scot Wingo, presented and produced by Triangle Tweener Fund, with creative assets and design support from Walk West.  We couldn’t share posts like this without our amazing sponsors:    Gold Sponsors:  - Balentine: https://www.balentine.com/triangle-entrepreneurs  - EisnerAmpner: https://www.eisneramper.com  - Robinson Bradshaw: https://www.robinsonbradshaw.com    Silver Sponsors:  - Automated Consulting Group: https://automated.co  - Bank of America: https://business.bofa.com/en-us/content/technology-industry-group.html   2025 Sponsors:  - Extensis HR: http://www.extensishr.com/ ------Triangle Tweener Talks is sponsored by: Atomic Object: https://atomicobject.com/

    26 min
  8. Tony Atti and How Phononic Was Founded During the 2008 Financial Crisis| PART 1 of 2

    JAN 22

    Tony Atti and How Phononic Was Founded During the 2008 Financial Crisis| PART 1 of 2

    In this episode (Part 1), we cover the origin story.  Tony walks through the decisions, failures, and inflection points that led to Phononic’s founding: leaving the Northeast for graduate school at USC, working on applied energy systems at JPL during the Mars rover era, and learning painful but formative lessons from a university spin-out that didn’t work. Then comes the moment you can’t script. In the fall of 2008, while the global financial system is actively collapsing, Tony presents a research thesis on why semiconductors transformed everything except cooling. He walks out that same day with a term sheet and a $2M commitment to found Phononic. Highlights from Part 1 Growing up blue-collar in Buffalo and why that shaped Tony’s leadership styleThe career-defining decision to leave the Northeast for USCWhat JPL teaches you about rigor, testing, and humilityWhy most university spin-outs struggle with equity alignmentHow venture capital experience sharpened Tony’s founder instinctsWhy cooling is the last unsolved semiconductor frontierFounding Phononic the day Lehman collapsedWhy the Triangle, and NC State’s Centennial Campus, won as Phononic’s homeWhere to Find Tony Atti: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-atti-ph-d-316483/ TradePending: https://phononic.com/ Where to Find Scot Wingo:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thescotwingo/  Tweener Times: https://www.tweenertimes.com/  X: https://x.com/scotwingo Timestamps: 01:40 — Scot tees up why Tony is a “special treat” + why Phononic matters in the Triangle 03:50 — Travel / frequent flyer miles (4M miles + recent global sprint) 05:10 — Why Phononic is a “quiet deep tech giant” more people should know 05:23 — Tony background: blue-collar Buffalo + early “entrepreneur roots” (paper route, driveways, grass) 06:00 — Parents + upbringing + being the only Italian family in an Irish neighborhood 06:50 — “Boardroom to factory floor” comfort as a leadership superpower 07:07 — College path: biochem → decides against med school → USC opportunity 08:20 — USC + energy/sustainability roots before it had a name 08:50 — JPL/Caltech work: solid polymer electrolytes + Mars-era applied R&D 10:07 — JPL geek-out: what JPL does + Tony’s work context 11:42 — Engineering culture: redundancy, testing, quality mindset 11:56 — Funny JPL story: Tony’s dad jokes “it’s all fake, filmed here” 12:26 — The Martian detail: radioisotope thermoelectric generator explanation 12:59 — First startup failure: university IP / cap table misalignment lessons 14:23 — Timeline bridge: how that failure pushed Tony into VC + founding MHI Energy Partners 15:48 — The Phononic founding story starts: 2007–08 crisis + job search 16:46 — Venrock mentor moment: “world doesn’t need another VC” challenge 17:00 — Thesis: semiconductors transformed everything except cooling/heating 17:41 — 3-month “liars and thieves” tour: universities + semiconductor ecosystem due diligence 18:20 — Thermoelectrics vs vapor compression (what makes solid-state different) 19:16 — The pitch day: Lehman collapse on the screens while Tony presents 20:45 — Term sheet drop: $2M commitment + “founded the company that afternoon” 21:33 — Why Venrock matters / halo effect (Scot commentary) 21:59 — Why North Carolina: portfolio company move + Tony relocates 23:26 — Why RTP/NC State won: Centennial Campus enabled fast lab/fab buildout ---  This episode of Triangle Tweener Talks is hosted by Scot Wingo, presented and produced by Triangle Tweener Fund, with creative assets and design support from Walk West.  We couldn’t share posts like this without our amazing sponsors:    Gold Sponsors:  - Balentine: https://www.balentine.com/triangle-entrepreneurs  - EisnerAmpner: https://www.eisneramper.com  - Robinson Bradshaw: https://www.robinsonbradshaw.com    Silver Sponsors:  - Automated Consulting Group: https://automated.co  - Bank of America: https://business.bofa.com/en-us/content/technology-industry-group.html   2025 Sponsors:  - Extensis HR: http://www.extensishr.com/ ------Triangle Tweener Talks is sponsored by: Atomic Object: https://atomicobject.com/

    27 min
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About

A podcast for builders by builders in the Triangle. We explore the startup journey and stories with local Triangle founders, from the idea to the exit and everything in between. Triangle Tweener Talks is hosted by Scot Wingo, presented and produced by Triangle Tweener Fund, with creative assets and design support from Walk West. We couldn’t share posts like this without our amazing sponsors: Gold Sponsors: Balentine: https://www.balentine.com/triangle-entrepreneurs EisnerAmpner: https://www.eisneramper.com Robinson Bradshaw: https://www.robinsonbradshaw.com Silver Sponsors: Automated Consulting Group: https://automated.co Bank of America: https://business.bofa.com/en-us/content/technology-industry-group.html 2025 Sponsors: Extensis HR: http://www.extensishr.com/

Information

  • Creator
    Triangle Tweener Fund
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    74
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Triangle Tweener Fund
  • Show Website
    Triangle Tweener Talks

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