Shows
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarHow I Raised My Seed, Series A, & Series B This episode of Ambition Today is supported by: Finta, The Capital Copilot In October 2024, Finta hosted a panel for LA Tech Week called “How I Raised - Seed, Series A, Series B.” Featuring founders exploringthe unique challenges and insights of securing capital at different stages of their company. Our incredible panel for this event consists of: David Kervin Proteus Space ($8M Raised) - Revolutionizing satellite design with AI-driven platforms, aiming to reduce the time and cost of deploying satellites through automation and cutting-edge technology. Gaurav Bhattacharya Jeeva ($16M Raised) - Harness AI-driven customer intellige...2024-10-2953 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarFundraising Perspectives From 3 Sides Of The Table: An Investor, a Founder, and a LawyerDuring NY Tech Week 2024 we hosted a live panel discussion in midtown Manhattan on the state of fundraising in 2024. Delving deep into the nuances of fundraising from three different perspectives: an investor, a founder, and a lawyer. Hear from 3 different sides of the table when we gather an investor, founder, and a lawyer to discuss what fundraising venture capital in 2024. Our incredible panel for this event consists of: The Founder David Silverstein, is the CEO of Ned, a white label lending platform that makes it easy for lenders to effortlessly deploy capital. The Investor R...2024-06-181h 05
The Intrinsic Value Podcast - The Investor’s Podcast NetworkMI Rewind: Venture Capital Investing w/ Kevin SiskarKevin Siskar talks about venture capital investing, the types of companies emerging in the venture capital space, how you can shift yourself to have a growth mindset, and more!Kevin Siskar is the Vice President of Portfolio & Selection at 43North, where he has built a portfolio of over 150 early-stage technology startup companies.IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN: 00:00 - Intro02:01 - What types of companies 43North looks to invest in.07:29 - What types of industries are currently most exciting from Kevin’s point of view?11...2023-02-0350 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarHow Lorenzo Thione Is Scaling Support For Diverse Founders With GaingelsWe sat down with one of the most influential people in tech, Lorenzo Thione, who shares his very inspiring journey and how that led him to be where he is today. Lorenzo grew up in Milan, Italy and had a technical background at an early age. He completed his studies at the University of Texas at Austin, from which he holds a M.S. in Computer Engineering. He is now the Managing Director of Gaingels, a leading LGBTQIA+/Allies investment syndicate and one of the largest and most active private investors in North America. He...2022-06-0230 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarHow Jordan Levy Left His Mark On The Venture Capital Industry In the fall we sat down with one of the godfathers of Venture Capital, Jordan Levy, who shares his very inspiring founder story and how that led to his career as an investor. Jordan co-founded Software Distribution Services which was acquired by Ingram Micro, before going on to be a Partner on the early-stage investing team at SoftBank Capital (SBNY) for 16 years. Jordan has served on the boards of BuzzFeed, TalkSpace, Work Market, ACV Auctions, and many others. Using his upbringing and religion to pay it forward (Tzedakah) to the community that he grew up...2022-03-0546 min
The Intrinsic Value Podcast - The Investor’s Podcast NetworkMI123: Venture Capital Investing w/ Kevin SiskarIN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:
02:01 - What types of companies 43North looks to invest in.
07:29 - What types of industries are currently most exciting from Kevin’s point of view.
11:16 - How studying human behavior can help you as an investor.
21:42 - The differences between working at a large corporation and working at a smaller company.
42:13 - How luck has played into the companies that Kevin has worked with.
And much, much more!
*Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences.BOOKS AND RESOURCES
Join...2021-12-0949 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarScott Wayman's Plan for Kangarootime to Support the $648 Billion Care Economy Scott Wayman's shares his epically inspiring founder story. His passion for Kangarootime is next level and the company is currently focused on winning the childcare management software space for daycares and preschools. With plans to expand to the larger “care economy” which includes not only early education & childcare but also elder & senior care. A $648B TAM in the U.S. Alone according to Melinda Gate's Pivotal Ventures. The Kangarootime team brilliantly positioned themselves throughout COVID19 as leaders in the space, by taking time to host educational sessions about how their customers can best adapt their centers, as well...2021-10-0556 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarCreating Data-Driven Sales Leaders With Peter Kazanjy Pete Kazanjy is Ambition Today’s new guest from Southern California. He is sitting in San Francisco, CA right now as we speak, enjoying Alamo Square. He is a serial founder and seasoned early stage Saas executive, advisor, and investor. Pete has cofounded many companies including TalentBin, Modern Sales, and Atrium. He is also an author of “Founding Sales”. He went to Stanford where he learned English and Philosophy. Pete is still going strong and has a lot to offer his clients, be sure to read his book “Founding Sales”, a Startup Sales Handbook.2020-11-1347 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarJack Greco Builds A Unicorn Company In Buffalo From growing up on a dairy farm, to a successful entrepreneur with hundreds of employees, meet our next guest, Jack Greco. Greco co-founded ACV Auctions, an online auction dealer platform, which was last valued at $1.5B. He never thought that he would be the person to co-found Buffalo’s first unicorn startup in 2014. The great part is the story behind his success. He later reveals to Kevin that he has been fired from every job before he became a founder, and what kicked him in gear, was learning that he had a baby on the way. Every success story is...2020-11-0634 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarNews Roundtable: Future of American Cities and Working From Home Kevin Siskar and Tim Shisler are at it again, discussing the current news in our world today. Each person brings one topic to the table and they talk about them both. Kevin’s Topic: The Future of American Cities. Kevin starts by discussing how he lived in NYC for a full decade and how he has seen the cost of living has increased significantly, but at the same time, the storefronts are leaving! This is due to the commercial investors also increasing their rent too much where small shops are no longer able to handle the cost. Kev...2020-10-2335 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarBringing Back Jeff Wald To Discuss The End Of Jobs Our next guest is so amazing, we had to interview him a second time! He was on nearly 5 years ago on Episode 8! Jeff Wald is an entrepreneur who has started three technology companies, with his latest company, WorkMarket, being sold to ADP. Monday was officially his last day. He is a Board Member on the following boards: Steel Connect, Costar Technologies, TransfrVR, Peerless Systems, and Register.com. But the true reason we brought him on the podcast today was to talk about his book, “The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations”. Tune in to hear all about his book...2020-10-1640 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarNews Roundtable: R.I.P. to RBG and Facebook In this new episode, Kevin Siskar and Tim Shisler discuss the current news in our world today. Each week, each person brings one topic to the table. This week Tim chose to talk about the sad passing of former Associate Judge, Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 18, 2020. She passed away after complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer. And brought Facebook to the table. There are real issues with Facebook. Everything from the false advertising that Facebook is not taking responsibility for, mental health issues stemming from addiction to Facebook, and now election interference! On September, 3rd Facebook...2020-10-0731 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarJoin The Bandwagon With Harold Hughes Our next guest on the show, is the amazing Harold Hughes. He is the founder of Bandwagon, which helps companies discover the identity of their fans in order to increase attendance, offer personalized services, and increase revenue. Growing up, Harold made his first dollar selling AirHeads for cheaper than the school sold them at their cafeteria until he got caught! He went to Clemson University where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics, before going back for his Masters's degree later. It was then, while he was taking his strategic management course that he...2020-02-2139 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarAlexis Beechen Drops Knowledge From Building Her Wine Empire Imagine being on a cruise with friends and a good business idea comes to mind, then months later, your idea is now being distributed in Walmart’s around the world! Today’s guest, Alexis Beechen was enjoying her time partyin’ and thought, putting wine in a can would be much easier to casually drink. She got home and decided to research this idea and discovered that there would be a good market for it. She partnered with some amazing people and created her brand, The Drop, which is now at concert venues, small wine stores, and as of late last y...2020-01-2929 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarAutomating Indoor Agriculture with Dan Nelson's Grow ComputerPacking for a nice relaxing vacation, you look around, and realize, you have these beautiful plants that you have worked so hard in growing, and you wonder, are they going to be thriving when you get home? Our amazing guest today, Dan Nelson thought just that as he prepared for his honeymoon a few years back. There has to be a better way than having dead plants when you get back from vacation! This is the event that gave him a new chapter in life. After countless hours of studying under his belt, he helped create Grow Computer as...2019-12-1148 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarTaylor Jacobson Teaches Us Distraction-Free Productivity with FocusmateAfter a summer break, we are back with a brand new season of Ambition Today! Season 3 brings with it some fresh new changes to the podcast, coming to you from our brand new podcast studio in the heart of New York City! We have some exciting guests coming up and I can’t wait to share all of the great conversations & new questions with you! I hope you enjoy Season 3, now on to the episode! Who struggles with procrastination? Did you know that studies show up to 95% of people struggle with procrastination! 2019-11-2746 min
A Better MousetrapKevin Siskar, Co-Founder of EquityToken, A Blockchain-based Cap TableWhen a startup is created, a record is created that shows who has a stake in that company - i.e. equity. This is called a Capitalization or Cap Table. Over time,investments are made in that company, employees are offered stock options and other events change the Cap Table. Managing equity and stock options and keeping a Cap Table current has been a laborious and costly task to manage. To address this, startups have been forming to make this task easier, more transparent and cheaper.
Enter EquityToken. This startup not only digitizes the entire process but...2019-09-1527 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarBryan Janeczko Is Helping Entrepreneurs Gro Bryan Janeczko was recently named one of the Top 23 LGBTQ people in Tech, along side other notable figures such as Tim Cook, Peter Thiel, and more. He has built a strong track record for building great businesses including: NuKitchen, a food preparation service that helped people eat healthier. NuKitchen was later sold to Nutrisystem and pioneered the market long before Blue Apron or Plated even existed. Now Bryan is the Founder of Gro, an on-demand startup academy. As part of the Loeb.NYC family, a venture studio in the heart of New York City, Bryan is helping f...2019-05-1332 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarSkip Hop's Michael Diamant Innovates Baby Products From being forced to layoff his whole staff, to selling his company for $140 million, our next guest, Michael Diamant, has great insight on how he became successful. Michael Diamant created a well-known brand with his wife, called Skip Hop, which was sold to Carter’s for $140 million. It all started with a diaper bag in 2003. Michael and his wife wanted a diaper bag that was fully functional, however, also appealed to a fashion savvy crowd. The company continued to grow for 15 more years creating several more innovative baby care products before they were bought by Carter’s. Now both Mich...2019-04-0850 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarAustralia's Benjamin Chong Helps Startups Excel With Right Click Capital Today, my guest is a fellow Founder Institute Director, Benjamin Chong. Benjamin has been the director of Founder Institute in Australia since 2011 and is also well known as a partner at Right Click Capital. Right Click Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups. He is an active technology startup community member that has served as a mentor and guest speaker at many different entrepreneurial programs in Sydney, South East Asia, and the United States. Benjamin Chong grew up in Australia and says his life-changing entrepreneurial moment was when he was in a program called Young...2019-03-2538 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarMichael Loeb's New Approach To Launching Billion Dollar Companies Joining us today is Founder and CEO of Loeb Enterprises, Michael Loeb. Loeb Enterprises is an early stage venture investing company and an incubator for startups. Prior to Loeb Enterprises, Michael co-founded Synapse in 1992 with Jay Walker. Synapse then became the largest seller of consumer magazine subscriptions worldwide and now is a subsidiary of Time Warner. Along with Jay Walker, Michael assisted with the creation and early stage funding of Priceline. Although Michael was born in St. Louis, MO, he has been in New York since the age of one years old. He was your typical entrepreneur f...2019-03-1154 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarBrian McCullough How The Internet Happened & What Is Happening Today Approaching two decades later, our guest, Brian McCullough’s company is still going strong. Brian is CEO of ResumeWriters.com which is the longest lasting company for this service, shout out to Brian. Not only is he a successful entrepreneur, he is also the Author of “How The Internet Happened.” In 2016, he became a Ted Talk Resident, and is also known for his podcasts: Internet History Podcast and Techmeme Ride Home, which is a News Aggregator that now gives you a daily dose of tech news. Brian grew up in Florida with no entrepreneurial background as his parent...2019-02-2136 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar50 Episodes Later, Ramphis Castro Returns To Talk About Investing In Hard-Tech & Life Science Startups Reminiscing on my first podcast is my guest, Ramphis Castro. We sat down for my very first podcast in August of 2015 and he has watched it grow over the years. It was great to have him here with me again. Ramphis is a serial entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist that has impacted several companies across 40 countries. His quote sums him up very well, “I am a Computer Engineer and Lawyer by training, serial entrepreneur by experience, and grass-root ecosystem builder by conviction.” A Puerto Rican Native, Ramphis grew up by the beach with his dad, mom and three sibl...2019-02-0753 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarUnderstanding Your Habits To Become Indistractable, With Nir Eyal Join the A-list backchannel to get "Single greatest piece of advice ever received": https://siskar.me/best-advice-ever Author, Blogger, Entrepreneur, Teacher, Investor, and Consultant, also known as our next guest, Nir Eyal. Well known for his blog, Nir & Far, Nir writes about “behavioral design” the intersection of psychology, technology and business. He helps companies with techniques to motivate and manipulate users. He has successfully founded and sold two businesses in the tech industry and now has his book “Hooked” on the market, with another book coming in September. Nir, originally born in Israel, moved to the US when...2019-01-2443 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarByron Reese Believes Technology Will Bring About A New Golden Age Of HumanityJoin the A-list backchannel to get "Single greatest piece of advice ever received": https://siskar.me/best-advice-ever Fascinated about how things worked and technology from a young age, today’s guest, Byron Reese, makes you question, are you a machine? Today, he puts his fascination into good use as the CEO and publisher of Gigaom, an industry-leading technology research company. Bryon is also an award-winning public speaker and author of “The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity.” Byron grew up in Austin, TX and became an entrepreneur at the young age of 12. He did not have en...2018-12-1836 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarMatt Mandell Is Automating Businesses So They Can Focus On Higher Priorities Join the A-list backchannel to get "Single greatest piece of advice ever received": https://siskar.me/best-advice-ever Starting out young, today's guest, Matt Mandell, created his first company at the age of 12. Matt grew up with a supportive family full of entrepreneurs, so Matt was very comfortable with entrepreneurship from the start. He attended college in DC, where he spent the next several years developing multiple companies that were selective to college students. Matt is well known for his serial entrepreneurship and has spoken all across the nation teaching students how to become entrepreneurs themselves. He h...2018-11-1941 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarDr. Dileep Rao Teaches Us How to Create Wealth and Keep It Join the A-list backchannel to get "Single greatest piece of advice ever received": https://siskar.me/best-advice-ever Entrepreneur, investor, public speaker and author are a few titles that Dr. Dileep Rao is known for. He came from India to America in 1973 for his education, and has been a success ever since. While obtaining his PhD, he started working for an Adventure Capital firm one summer that ended up changing his life. He since then has helped invest in hundreds of businesses, which includes four businesses he started himself. He is now a professor at the Florida International Univ...2018-10-2931 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarGreg Alterman is Making Life Simpler with Gender Neutral Everyday Products Join the A-list backchannel to get "Single greatest piece of advice ever received": https://siskar.me/best-advice-ever Today’s guest grew up with Entrepreneurial spirit surrounding him. All of the men in Greg Alterman’s family for generations owned and operated one of the largest grocery stores chains in the South since the early 1900’s. With all the entrepreneurial passion within him, he started his first successful shirt business while attending college at the University of Florida. Alternate Apparel successfully grew until he sold the company for $60 million dollars nearly 30 years later. In 2015 Greg suffered from a brai...2018-10-1550 minAmbition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarNASA's Parker Solar Probe Launch: A Historic Interview To Touch The Sun Join the A-list backchannel to get "Single greatest piece of advice ever received": https://siskar.me/best-advice-ever NASA made history on August 12, 2018, launching the Parker Solar Probe; their first ever mission to touch the sun. Luckily, I was invited by NASA to come down to Cape Canaveral to have a front row seat to the rocket launch! This was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity that I am proud to say I was able to witness with my own two eyes. While there, I had the opportunity and pleasure of interviewing Felipe Ruiz, who is t...2018-10-0215 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarAlex Batdorf Is Teaching Female Entrepreneurs How To Get Shit DoneDid you know that only 17% of all startups have a female founder? Well, we are lucky enough to have a female founder on our show today, Alex Batdorf. Alex is a business coach, co-founder of Zip Fit, a company that delivers a perfect fit denim for every body and now the creator of a YouTube series called Get Sh!t Done. This series focuses on helping female entrepreneurs maintain a balance between pursuing purpose and profit. Growing up in Seattle, Alex had a lot of family support; they always told her the sky was the limit. She...2018-09-1244 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarMitch Wainer: Bringing an Infectious Energy to the Marketing WorldWe are exploring the marketing world on today’s episode, with our special guest, Mitch Wainer. He is the creative marketing leader with many accomplishments such as Co-Founding Digital Ocean and being the Chief Marketing Officer at Clubhouse, a project management platform for software teams that provide the perfect balance of simplicity and structure. Mitch is an active advisor and speaker on entrepreneurship and growth marketing to the startup community Mitch grew up with a great family support system, that he feels is an important part in his entrepreneurial success. He graduated with a degree in Marketing fr...2018-08-1440 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarBrian Pasalich Is Setting The Foundation For Financial Health And WellbeingGrowing up in an immigrant family, Brian Pasalich lived in Chicago, Croatia and even a small town in Montana all by the age of 13, which allowed him to have a deeper understanding of the different walks of life that people face. This combined with a passion for helping people led him to his career in financial planning. He is now the founder of Foundational, a consumer-mindset driven platform for financial health and wellbeing Since a young age, Brian’s passion has been helping others. In his career, he has been a volunteer EMT, a flight paramedic with th...2018-08-0140 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarMatt Britton Is Changing The Face Of Consumer Intelligence For The Millennial Generation With Suzy As a serial entrepreneur, Matt Britton has successfully acquired and sold many companies at the perfect time. He is most known for his important role in creating MRY (Mr. Youth) and Suzy. MRY is a digital and social media marketing agency that helps companies market to the youth, which is tomorrow’s future leaders. His latest venture, Suzy, is a consumer intelligence platform which helps bring the voice of real consumers directly to brands. Now known as America’s leading expert on the Millennial Generation, Britton’s entrepreneurial spirit all started because of parties believe it or not. H...2018-07-1032 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarAdam Tishman, Bringing Customization To Your SleepDo you have to be an expert on a product in order to become a successful entrepreneur? Let’s ask today's guest, Adam Tishman. Tishman is a New Yorker through and through, growing up in Manhattan helped his independence from a young age. He received his Bachelors Degree at Princeton in History before he decided to pursue an MBA where he met his co-founders of Helix Sleep. Tishman knew he wanted to be a successful entrepreneur one day, however, he never thought it would be in mattresses. Knowing that mattress buying was confusing, expensive and hard for a...2018-06-2634 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarAllen Saakyan's Simulation, Discussing The Future Of HumanityWe are proud to have Allen Saakyan on our show today. Not only do I get the pleasure of interviewing him, but I also had the privilege of being interviewed for his podcast, Simulation, as well! This episode will be a little different as we go back and forth asking questions for both of our podcasts, you won’t want to miss it! Growing up, Allen knew he was destined to take a different path. He was always curious, which drove him to wonder why so many people always took the same path. His quest became to fi...2018-06-1148 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarWes Schaeffer, The Sales Whisperer On Truly Knowing Your CustomerA successful entrepreneur, TED speaker, and father of seven, Wes Schaeffer is the person you seek when you want to generate more sales. Wes Schaeffer is a marketing strategist and is best known as The Sales Whisperer. He grew up in Houston, TX, served in the Air Force, graduated from A&M and became a successful salesman. Although he had the income and personal life he wanted, he wasn’t happy with his job, which is when he became decided to become the Sales Whisperer. Wes's analogy of being a sales whisperer came to him after some in...2018-05-2541 min
The Sales PodcastSee If You Have What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur With Kevin SiskarFind your best CRM for sales for free here. Get all of the notes and links for every episode of The Sales Podcast. Overcome your toughest sales objections with these sales training flashcards. Get a signed copy of Wes's book here. Grow your sales with this on-demand video series, Make Every Sale. Know your sales numbers with this free Sales Calculator. Connect with Wes: Twitter LinkedIn Instagram Facebook 2018-05-2241 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarGabe Zichermann's Onward Helps You Achieve Tech-Life BalanceAuthor, public speaker, and entrepreneur are just a few great titles for today’s guest, Gabe Zichermann. He is the CEO and Founder of Onward, a company that helps you achieve tech-life balance. Gabe is also known for his expertise on the topic of Gamification. Having written three books, “The Gamification Revolution”, “Gamification by Design” and “Game-Based Marketing”. Gabe grew up in Toronto with his two parents that immigrated from Hungary and Romania. He had a passion for games from a young age of 8 when he got his first computer, a Commodore VIC-20, and programmed his first computer game. A...2018-04-2643 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarTerry Young's Sparks & Honey Is Mapping Culture To Forecast The FutureFrom a small town in Western Kentucky to becoming an entrepreneur on Madison Ave, Terry Young joins us on this episode of Ambition Today. Terry is a successful advertising entrepreneur and the CEO of Sparks & Honey, a company identifying and mapping emerging cultural waves through the use of machine learning systems, algorithms, and human insight. After earning his Master’s Degree in advertising, Terry started working in the digital advertising industry in 1995, when digital marketing was just getting started. A short two years later, he was running the company. Terry got the opportunity to live in China and...2018-03-2736 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarAnthony Pompliano Is Going Full Tilt To Invest In World-Class Blockchain And Crypto Asset VenturesAnthony Pompliano is the Managing Partner at Full Tilt Capital, an early stage venture capital firm. Full Tilt Capital focuses exclusively on investing in world-class companies in the blockchain and crypto asset space. "Pomp" was raised in Raleigh, NC, and is one of the first south easterners that we have had on the Ambition Today podcast. He is the oldest brother of five and during his junior year of college, he was deployed to Iraq. During his deployment, he gained a unique perspective on life. His world traveling allowed him to learn about new cultures all around th...2018-02-2851 min
Ambition TommorrowBlockchain for DJ’s 🕺🏼A Blockchain for DJ’s that let artists get paid out for streams of their samples music.2018-02-2200 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarLIVE EVENT! Cryptocurrency, ICO, & Blockchain Law in 2018 with Joe Daniels of McCarter & EnglishThis episode comes to you from the heart of New York City for our first live podcast episode discussing cryptocurrency, ICO, & blockchain law. In late January almost 100 founders gathered at the offices of McCarter & English for our January Founder Institute Meetup! The crypto founders there heard from Joe Daniels, who is the Co-Chair of the McCarter & English's Venture Capital & Emerging Growth Companies practice. Joe has worked on numerous SAFT & token offerings, including San Francisco based Quantstamp, which just raised $30 million in its pre-sale, along with Augmate, The Valorem Foundation, RealECoin, VIMarkets, CoinBoost, and RecylcleGO. During this event, J...2018-02-071h 05
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarEO Global Chairman Brian Brault On Investing In Community And YourselfToday we have the pleasure of speaking with Brian Brault; a successful entrepreneur that has been recognized twice in his career by the Inc. 500 for building one of the fastest growing companies in America. Currently Brian is the Global Chairman of the Board at Entrepreneurs' Organization. He is also the founder of Advanced Facility Services and Pure Rooms which was deemed one of the best companies to work for in western New York and was awarded best entrepreneurial company in western New York. A graduate of the University of Buffalo’s School of Business, Brian is...2018-01-1839 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarHow Peter Shankman Thinks "Faster Than Normal" And Built Help A Reporter Out (HARO)On this episode of Ambition Today we explore Peter Shankman’s journey. Peter is the perfect example of what happens when you combine creativity with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Peter shows us how ADHD can be a gift and a strong advantage in business. He is not only an entrepreneur, but an author and a notable public speaker. Many know him for founding Help A Reporter Out, (HARO). He is also the founder of ShankMinds Business Masterminds and he is the Host of the Faster Than Normal Podcast. Peter was born and raised in Manhattan, and wa...2017-12-1822 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarWhy Sean Ellis, Co-Author of Hacking Growth, Optimizes For Reputation And LearningIn 2010 Sean Ellis coined the term Growth Hacking and now he joins us on Ambition Today. Sean is the Co-author of Hacking Growth with Morgan Brown and currently the CEO of Growth Hackers. Sean has had quite an impressive career both as a marketer and as an entrepreneur. He was the first marketer at Dropbox, Lookout and Xobni and he has taken companies LogMeIn and Uproar from launch to IPO. Sean is also known for popularizing the term product/market fit. We cover some of Sean's best practices for growing your company, as well as how he th...2017-11-2945 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarHow Adeo Ressi Empowered 2,700+ People To Become Startup Founders Through The Founder InstituteOver the summer we sat down with Adeo Ressi, the CEO of the Founder Institute, a startup accelerator program that operates in nearly 200 cities worldwide. Throughout his time as a founder, Adeo has pioneered innovations in the protection of founder rights, the raising of early-stage capital and the scaling of new businesses. Previous to the Founder Institute, Adeo has helped to create nearly $2 billion in shareholder value by founding or running nine businesses, including TheFunded, Game Trust, Xceed and Total New York. Adeo previously served on the Board of the X Prize Foundation to pursue hi...2017-11-1545 minAmbition TommorrowHere Is How We Got To HereThis episode we talk about Twitter, Trump, North Korea, Equifax, Village, Prosperworks, and some new music from Chance The Rapper! Enjoy!2017-09-2612 minAmbition TommorrowGame of HBO HackersIn this episode we discuss HBO's recent hacking, Uber's CEO search, and cover what is Bitcoin Cash!2017-08-0805 minAmbition TommorrowNew Richest Person Alive 💰Jeff Bezos is now the richest person alive! Also, Samsung, Twitter and Slack!2017-07-2703 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarAndrew Weinrich Is Predicting Our FutureOn this episode Andrew Weinrich sits down with us at his offices in Brooklyn New York. Andrew is the founder of Andrews Roadmaps and the host of the new "Predicting Our Future" podcast. As a serial entrepreneur, Andrew created the first ever social network called, Six Degrees. At its height, SixDegrees had around 3,500,000 fully registered members before being bought by YouthStream Media Networks in 1999 for $125 million. In more recent years, Andrew has sold 2 more businesses including Xtify and Meet-Moi. He is currently the co-founder and Chairman of Indicative, a data analytics startup. He also hosts Predicting Our Futu...2017-07-2538 minAmbition TommorrowThe Secret Is...The secret is there is no secret. It’s just boring old habits.2017-07-2503 minAmbition TommorrowAlexa + SEARS = Mindblown!Amazon has partnered with SEARS to start selling its Kenmore appliances. Could this be the start of the truly smart Alexa powered kitchen?!2017-07-2101 minAmbition TommorrowInternational EntrepreneursHow we can protect the United States Net Neutrality and International Entrepreneur Rule!2017-07-1306 minAmbition TommorrowAnchors Changes Podcasting 👏🏻What Steve Jobs & Anchor Have In Common! • Anchor ⚓️ Changes Podcasting Forever 👏🏻 • Anchor Makes Podcasts Simple 🎙 | Make your own podcast: https://anchor.fm/ambition-tomorrow2017-06-2903 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarDennis Mortensen Is Hyper Focused On The Future Of Artificial Intelligence With X.aiFrom the brand new Fulton Center in downtown Manhattan we bring you Dennis Mortensen. He is founder and CEO at X.ai, an artificial intelligence driven personal assistant named Amy who schedules meetings for you. Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs in Denmark, Dennis initially strove to be a game engineer at IBM. He soon failed to resist the call to entrepreneurship though as he started and sold three of his first four companies. Dennis is now changing the way people interact with artificial intelligence by pioneering it's future. After raising $30+ million and growing the team...2017-05-3032 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarFrom Israel to Silicon Valley, Niv Dror's Journey To Conquer Social MediaSeason Two of Ambition Today is happy to welcome Niv Dror, head of social media for Product Hunt. Niv boasts an impressive resume in both startups and finance, stemming from his education at UC Santa Barbara. After moving to Silicon Valley at a very young age, Niv had surprisingly little involvement in the tech world. It surrounded him entirely and thus he never noticed it, as water to a fish. However, after auditing a few hedge funds and VC funds as a CPA, he knew where his skills truly belonged. His taste of the tech community flourished very...2017-04-2531 min
CityscapeThe Entrepreneurial SpiritWhat do names like Ben Franklin, J.P. Morgan, Martha Stewart and Steve Jobs all have in common? They’re all among the greatest entrepreneurs of all time. They’re people who had the courage, determination and belief in themselves to pursue a dream, to overcome challenges, and nurture ideas to fruition. On this week’s Cityscape, we’re exploring what it means to be an entrepreneur. Our guest is Kevin Siskar. He's the Managing Director of the Founder Institute in New York and host of the Ambition Today Podcast.2017-04-1230 minCityscapeThe Entrepreneurial SpiritWhat do names like Ben Franklin, J.P. Morgan, Martha Stewart and Steve Jobs all have in common? They’re all among the greatest entrepreneurs of all time. They’re people who had the courage, determination and belief in themselves to pursue a dream, to overcome challenges, and nurture ideas to fruition. On this week’s Cityscape, we’re exploring what it means to be an entrepreneur. Our guest is Kevin Siskar. He's the Managing Director of the Founder Institute in New York and host of the Ambition Today Podcast.2017-04-1230 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#25 Joe Fairless' Journey From Madison Avenue To An $85 Million Real Estate PortfolioIn keeping with last weeks' real estate theme, Episode 25 of Ambition Today finds us across the table from Joe Fairless, Real Estate Investor and Host of the Best Real Estate Investing Advice Ever Show. Joe set his roots in advertising after a bit of soul-searching during his undergrad years at Texas Tech. Fighting complacency, he left Madison Ave. for the allure of real estate investing and entrepreneurship, and was met with incredible success, with due credit to his persistence and work ethic. Owing his early sense of drive to his start in landscaping, Joe Fairless has always...2016-12-2031 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#24 How Matt Rodak Plans To Fund Every House Flip In AmericaAny amount of research into the seemingly eternal-growing market of real estate investment will almost surely make one familiar with Matt Rodak. The 2007 John Carroll grad is the founder and CEO of Fund That Flip, a company which allows anyone to apply for fast and affordable funding in the rehabilitative real estate investment business. The New York based startup had already raised $2 million by April 2016, shortly after graduating from Manhattan's Entrepreneur Roundtable Accelerator in the summer of 2015 and Founder Institute New York prior to that. Fund That Flip finds its niche by bridging the gap between accredited investors and...2016-12-0936 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#23 Lessons Howard Love Learned From While Sitting On Both Sides Of The TableOver the last 30 years Howard Love has founded 15 companies and invested in over 50 early stage startups. His new book "The Startup J Curve" organizes his experience into the 6 phases startups go through as they grow. Howard also is the Founder & CEO of LoveToKnow, a digital publishing firm with over 30 million monthly visitors. With Coal Magnates and Aviators as his ancestors, entrepreneurship has been in Howard's bloodline for generations. In this episode, Kevin speaks to Howard about what he has learned from sitting on both sides of the table, both as a founder and an investor. We also discuss the 6...2016-11-0937 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#22 Kelly Roach, From NFL Cheerleader to Million Dollar BrandKelly Roach is the founder of Kelly Roach Coaching and host of the Unstoppable Success Radio podcast. With a resume of NFL cheerleader, fitness enthusiast, and mother, Kelly doesn’t exactly fit the usual business coach profile. In Episode 22 of Ambition Today Kelly gives us some great insight into how she leverages her unique experience to grow her businesses, how she published an internationally bestselling book, and why she started the Unstoppable Success Radio podcast. Growing up in a financially struggling family, Kelly learned the value of hard work at a very early age while working for the NFL be...2016-10-2627 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#21 Pioneering the Social Media Frontier with Jonathan Abrams, Founder & CEO of NuzzelThe godfather of social media, Jonathan Abrams, joins us on this episode of Ambition Today. He is now the founder & CEO of Nuzzel, a new platform to discover the top news from your friends and influencers. Letting users cut through the muddle of content on social media to emphasize only their most relevant content. Previously, Jonathan has founded several other companies; Socializr, HotLinks, Founder's Den and most notably Friendster. He is also a top-rated mentor at The Founder Institute and has been extensively involved in the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial community for over ten years. After growing up in Canada...2016-10-2134 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#20 Jesse Middleton Talks Building WeWork Labs & Investing With Flybridge CapitalOver the years WeWork has grown to become a $16 billion empire of co-working office spaces that are disrupting the traditional real estate markets all over the world. Our guest today, Jesse Middleton, joined the team as the founder of WeWork Labs, the company’s startup focused community. Since then he has helped the company grow into the giant it is today. Recently he has just joined the venture capital firm Flybridge as a General Partner. Early on with entrepreneurial parents, Jesse learned that he did not have to take the traditional path in life and that he could forge hi...2016-10-1339 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#19 Paul Polizzotto Transforms Advertising Into Real World Positive Social Change With CBS EcoMediaFrom the CBS EcoMedia office’s in New York City, Serial Social Entrepreneur Paul Polizzotto, who is one of the most passionate and dedicated entrepreneurs I know, joins us for episode 19. Paul is the founder and CEO of CBS EcoMedia, which harnesses the power of advertising and transforms it into a powerful engine for positive social change. Paul’s personal philosophy and actions around social entrepreneurship over his lifetime have created an incredible story thus far. His journey started in California when he was younger and used to surf the then polluted waters of Santa Monica Bay. Paul noticed that...2016-08-1654 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#18 Amir Salihefendic Grew The Todoist App From Solo Project To Millions Of People By BootstrappingThe most ambitious people “Get. Sh*t. Done.” and that is what today’s guest Amir Salihefendic specializes in. Joining us from Portugal, Amir is the founder of Doist, the company which makes the very popular Todoist app. With millions of users, Todoist is one of the top to-list apps in the Apple App Store & Google Play Store. Amir grew up in an entrepreneurial family in Denmark after his family moved from Bosnia. Starting projects seems to have been in Amir’s blood from an early age. When he was fifteen he sold his first website and invested the money he...2016-07-2034 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#17 David S. Rose Explains How The New Startup Crowdfunding Rules Affect YouOn this episode of Ambition Today David S. Rose explains his new book The Startup Checklist, how the new startup crowdfunding rules affect you & angel investing 101. A third generation serial entrepreneur, David's new book The Startup Checklist which is now a New York Times Bestseller. David is also the author of the Angel Investing: The Gust Guide to Making Money and Having Fun Investing in Startups, as well as the Founder and CEO at Gust. A man of many titles: Entrepreneur, Angel Investor, Mentor, and Author; David has had an incredible career starting several businesses. Crain's New York Business...2016-06-2143 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#16 How Jeff Stewart Helps Loan Money To Strangers All Over The World With LenddoLend an ear as we interview how NY Serial Entrepreneur Jeff Stewart founded numerous companies, including his most recent business, Lenddo. Jeff was a pioneer in the early days of the internet. He started Square Earth in the mid 90's and it eventually got acquired. His second company Mimeo was started in 1998 and is still operating today. Now he is the Founder and Chairman of Lenddo, which uses non-traditional data such as your social media profiles to provide credit scoring and verification to economically empower the emerging middle class around the world. To hear about the rest of Jeff's...2016-06-0143 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#15 Patrick McGinnis Coined The Meme F.O.M.O. And Now Tells You How To Be A 10% EntrepreneurFOMO Alert! You are not going to want to miss out on this episode! Patrick McGinnis, Author of the 10% Entrepreneur joins Ambition Today for episode fifteen. We talk about the unique ways in which people can engage in entrepreneurship on the side, how to travel the world, and how Patrick coined the term F.O.M.O. (Fear of Missing Out) on the internet. Patrick went from growing up in the small blue collar town of Sanford in Maine to visiting over 70 countries, investing in several companies with AIG Capital, co-founding his company Real Influence, and now publishing his...2016-05-1148 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#14 Adam Besvinick Teaches The Art of Hustle and How To Break Into Your Dream RoleVenture Capitalist Adam Besvinick explains the value of pure hustle in pursuing his dreams of breaking into the Startup and Venture Capital industry. Recently named to the Forbes 30 Under 30, Adam has invested in several startup companies as Principal at Deep Fork Capital. In episode 14 we explore where Adam came from and how that connects to where he is now. Adam started blogging on VentureMinded.Me years ago and created his own track record through taking ownership of his brand. He has always strived to be continually helpful and add value to others. Through that hustle he previously worked his...2016-03-3054 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#13 Alex Konrad of Forbes on Harvard, Media, and Startup Venture CapitalEpisode 13 comes to you from New York Offices of Forbes as we are joined by Alex Konrad. Alex is a staff writer at Forbes covering venture capital, startups and enterprise tech. Aside from our discussion around Kanye West's recent discovery of Twitter we explore Alex's journey to now. Alex grew up in New York City, then went on to write at the Harvard Crimson before working at Fortune. Alex now is a staff writer at Forbes and also works on the Forbes Midas List, ranking the top Venture Capitalists of the past year, and the Forbes 30 Under 30, highlighting up...2016-03-0842 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#12 Avi Yashchin of Clean Edison Talks Having His Company Acquired, Data Science And Clean EnergyThe sounds of science are ringing through episode 12 of Ambition Today when Avi Yaschin comes on the show. Avi is the founder of Clean Edison, the nation's largest sustainable energy education and training firm in the US. for those seeking to enter the Solar, Wind, and larger Energy space. Avi had a fascinating front row seat to the great recession in 2008 while employed by Lehman Brothers and his story is quite incredible. The lessons and uncertainty created from being inside a failing company led Avi to afterword, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, found Clean Edison. In this...2016-02-1646 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar# 11 Justin Dombrowski Uncovers The Power Of Curiosity, History, Bitcoin, & Education In LifeBreak out your pen and paper and get ready to take notes because you will be tested on this episode! Justin Dombrowski, Principal at Historiocity teaches some incredible lessons during Episode #11 of Ambition Today. One of my favorite quotes from this episode perfectly embodies Justin's strong curiosity from a young age: "I was trying to figure what kind of things best explained the world that I was interested in." Justin has more degrees than you can count from institutions such as Columbia and Oxford. The real question though is why? Listen in to find out what Justin thinks of...2016-01-2240 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#10 John Federico, Co-Founder Of Event Hero On The Future Of Podcasting, Marketing, and SupermanWhat an event episode ten of Ambition Today is as Jon Federico, co-founder of Event Hero and @GadgetBoy himself comes on the show all the way from the warm and sunny Austin, Texas. Ever wonder why most podcasts are sponsored by Audible.com? Today we a speaking with John Federico who years ago worked at Audible and invented the podcast sponsorship program. Through the years he also worked at Advance Internet, Blog Talk Radio, and more. He is now the co-founder of Event Hero which is the first integration Platform-as-a-Service for event technologies. He also hosts the EventTech Podcast...2015-12-3046 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#9 Rob Principe, Founder & CEO of Scratch on Partnering With Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C. & MoreEpisode nine of Ambition Today finds us with the King of the DJ's, Rob Principe, the Founder & CEO of Scratch Music Group. Growing up on Long Island as a child Rob loved music, especially Run D.M.C. One day the popular music group happened to sit down next to him on a plane as he was traveling to a tennis tournament. Afterword he took a picture with the group. Fast forward years later Rob had founded Scratch Music Group and after some hustle, Rob would show this very picture to Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C. in...2015-12-1545 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#8 Jeff Wald, Co-founder of Work Market, talks Harvard, NYPD, Venture Capital, Startups, and MentorsOn episode eight Jeff Wald, Co-founder and President of Work Market joins Ambition Today. "The only thing I know with 100% certainty is that it ain't going down like this." - Jeff Wald Jeff's background is nothing short if impressive. He started at Cornell University and then went to J.P. Morgan. He then went back to school at Harvard for an MBA. After Harvard Jeff spent time at Glen Rock Group before going on to Co-found Spin Back. The wild ride of Spinback, his first startup, took Jeff to almost moving back home after coming close to running out...2015-11-2647 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#7 Beatriz Helena Ramos, Founder & CEO of DADA Restores Power To The ArtistOn episode 7 Beatriz Helena Ramos, Founder and CEO of DADA & Dancing Diablo is with us. Her most recent startup, DADA is a visual conversation platform for artists and art enthusiasts. Her other company, Dancing Diablo is is live action and animation production company based in DUMBO, Brooklyn. After moving from Venezuela to find success in America, Beatriz thought that would be the hardest thing she ever had to do. Then she started her first business and learned that was not going to be true anymore. During this episode we go through: + Starting a brick and mortar Comic book store...2015-11-1438 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#6 Eric Duffy, CEO of Pathgather on What's Next For Learning Management & Silicon Alley Startup LifeEric Duffy, Co-Founder and CEO of Pathgather, a beautiful and engaging learning platform for the modern workforce joins us on episode 6 of Ambition Today. We get into the insights fast on this episode: "What do I think will allow me to have the most impact on my short time on earth" - Eric Duffy For Eric, after some time abroad in Africa, the answer to his question was to start Pathgather. We discuss how traveling the world can lead to inspiration for new great ideas. From there Eric moved back to Silicon Alley and joined the Founder Institute in...2015-10-1430 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#5 Cory Crosland of Croscon on Bootstrapping, Grammys, and the Future of Mobile.Kevin Siskar was joined by Cory Crosland on this episode of Ambition Today. Cory is the founder of Croscon, an engineering company which partners with big thinkers to plan, engineer and support their digital business. Today we talk about how to bootstrap a startup company from one person just doing freelance work to a growing team of almost 20 people. How you can stay motivated years into your company. What it is like being nominated for a Grammy and winning a Webby Award. Also, what is the future of mobile now that Android has 1.4 billion users and much more. Be...2015-10-0531 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#4 Shahab Kaviani of CoFounders Lab, Breezio, and Hyperoffice on entrepreneurship across 3 startups.On this episode of Ambition Today, I was joined by serial entrepreneur Shahab Kaviani. Shahab is most notably the co-founder of CoFoundersLab, a global organization helping entrepreneurs find their co-founder and launch lasting new businesses together. Previously he cofounded Hyperoffice and recently he is the co-founder of a new company Breezio, which is a collaboration platform for research scientist to accelerate discoveries through team science. Today we discuss Shahab's journey through serial entrepreneurship. We explore some questions such as: When is the right time to replace yourself as CEO? What to do when Google decides to enter your market...2015-09-2844 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#3 Clark Dever of Heads Up Display Talks Wearables, Travel, and Elon Musk's Solar City in BuffaloJoined today by Clark Dever, the founder of Head Up Display, a visual notification system for workers in hazardous environments. Today we discuss how to travel the United States of America for only $600, the future of e-sports entertainment, and how to compete with Google Glass and Oculus Rift. Also, how do you grow a startup ecosystem out of a an industrial renaissance? Buffalo N.Y. may have the answer. Elon Musk's Solar City, ecosystem driving programs like Z80 Labs and 43 North, and affordable cost of living are some of the things driving Buffalo forward as a startup city. Be...2015-09-1026 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#2 Interview with Serial Entrepreneur Hans Bakan of Open DreamsToday's guest is serial entrepreneur Hans Bakan. Hans is the founder of Open Dreams, a non profit working to provide education and mentorship to young students in global emerging markets. We discuss what it takes to avoid failure in your first company and carry those lessons learned with you to make your current company more successful. Also, how you you can use a company to improve the world. We discuss how Open Dreams is working to do just that in emerging global markets.2015-08-2327 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin Siskar#1 The News: Google Changes It's Name, Zirtual Goes Dark Overnight, NBC Invests In BuzzfeedJoined today by Ramphis Castro of the Founder Institute, we explore some of the recent news in the technology, business and startup industries. Today's news includes: Google Changes It's Name To Alphabet, Zirtual Goes Dark Overnight, & NBC Invests In A Large Chunk of Buzzfeed.2015-08-1223 min
Ambition Today, Startup Stories with Kevin SiskarAn Ambitious PrequelAmbition Today started as something out of nothing. It has since grown and evolved over time to explore how people build their legacy throughout their lives. With this special “prequel” I wanted to provide some background on why Ambition Today exists as well as some direction on where to start with the show for those who were new to Ambition Today. I really hope you enjoy all our episodes and find them helpful in your own life. Thank you for being here. I really appreciate it and hope to be with you during all the future episodes of Ambition Toda...2015-08-0103 min