Shows
Talking TradeTalking Trade Ep. 9 - Presidential candidates' trade policies“Talking Trade” hosts UW-Madison Prof. Ian Coxhead and M. E. Dey & Co. President Sandi Siegel use the 2020 election to evaluate President Trump’s trade policy. They also discuss potential changes with a Joe Biden victory.2022-08-0206 min
Talking TradeTalking Trade Ep. 1 - Shanghai Attorney Kelvin Ma on U.S. and China tradeJeff Mayers of WisPolitics.com talks with Shanghai attorney and trade consultant Kelvin Ma about whether the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China are in a trade war or a tech war in this bonus episode of “Talking Trade.” 2022-08-0104 min
WisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Ross Leinweber for Bold Coast CapitalThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Ross Leinweber, managing director for Bold Coast Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Milwaukee.
As a geographically focused fund, Bold Coast Capital will only be investing in startups based in Wisconsin. The fund recently announced its first closing, and Leinweber discusses the areas of the state he’ll be targeting for investment.
“I think what you see in Madison is a much more mature community,” he said. “You have an entrenched set of investors, advocates that have been engaged with entrepreneurial activities for a longer period of time.”
Mil...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Sheila Long, founder of MalamaDoeThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with returning guest Sheila Long, founder of MalamaDoe.
She discusses what’s new with her Milwaukee-based coworking community for women including a new incubator program aimed at helping members grow their businesses. After categorizing companies into various stages of development, Long is looking to provide personalized guidance on how to reach the next level.
“I’m very excited about rolling out this incubator,” she said. “We have a calendar of events, of different opportunities that women businesses can be a part of.”
The co-working space now has 26 member businesses and Long said she’s ab...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Jennifer Gottwald, director of licensing for WARFThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Jennifer Gottwald, director of licensing for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
In the podcast, Gottwald discusses a persistent gender gap in patenting and details strategies for improving diversity in the field. She previews the message she’ll be bringing to an upcoming meeting of the Madison Women in Intellectual Property, or MadWIP.
The Jan. 24 luncheon will be held at the Foley & Lardner offices in Madison, where Gottwald will discuss unconscious biases and the effects they’re having on patenting. She explained that many more patent applications are submitted by men than w...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Rose Oswald Poels, president of the Wisconsin Bankers AssociationThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Rose Oswald Poels, president of the Wisconsin Bankers Association.
In the podcast, Oswald Poels discusses her biggest takeaways from the 15th annual Wisconsin Economic Forecast Luncheon, highlighting comments from WEDC Secretary and CEO Missy Hughes as well as Bullard.
She also discusses results from recent polling of WBA members showing bankers in the state have a largely positive outlook for Wisconsin’s economy in 2020.
“I’m very pleased to report that for several years in a row now, we continue to see steady growth in Wisconsin throughout 2019, and expect that positiv...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Ben Camp, CEO and co-founder of RehabPathThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Ben Camp, CEO and co-founder of RehabPath, a Madison-based startup that helps people find treatment options by aggregating online information and providing other resources.
“We have a global reach; one of our premier websites is actually in India, so it’s one of the top places for people in India to find addiction treatment,” he said. “We have some websites covering lots of other markets internationally.”
Camp told WisBusiness.com the platform will soon be launching in the United Kingdom, and he plans to launch in the United States after raising mo...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Teresa Esser, managing director for Silicon PasturesThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Teresa Esser, managing director for Silicon Pastures, an angel investor network based in Milwaukee.
“We look for entrepreneurs who we believe can build strong, valuable businesses in our city and our state and region,” she said.
Since the network is based in Milwaukee, she says it’s easier to work with companies based in southeast Wisconsin. But she noted Silicon Pastures has been investing across the state and elsewhere for about two decades.
In the podcast, Esser discusses the Milwaukee Rotary Club and the Invest in Milwaukee Committee. This group has be...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Richelle Martin, managing director of the Winnow FundThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Richelle Martin, managing director of the Winnow Fund, a women-led fund that’s based in the state and investing in Wisconsin companies.
In the podcast, Martin talks about the challenges associated with entering the venture capital world, particularly for certain underrepresented groups.
“Venture in general for anyone is not easy. Fundraising is not easy. Quitting your job to go into this and fundraising while not getting paid is not easy,” she said. “It does still take a certain kind of person who’s maybe a little more risk-tolerant.”
She also discusses the...2020-02-0205 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Manuel Altuzar, owner of Globaltranz ConsultingThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Manuel Altuzar, president and owner of Globaltranz Consulting, an agricultural staffing agency based in Madison.
The company got its start in 1996 as a translation and interpretation services provider and has since grown to offer consulting for dairy and swine farmers, as well as other producers. It now has marketing services as well and consults with businesses expanding to Spanish-speaking areas outside of the country.
Globaltranz Consulting is active in 17 states and Altuzar recently told WisBusiness.com that Missouri is his next target for expansion.
In the podcast, Altuzar discusses the ri...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Clay Burdelik for Cockpit MobileThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Clay Burdelik, a Madison-based entrepreneur who recently launched a new venture called Cockpit Mobile.
He built his company’s software with a team of developers at StartingBlock Madison, an entrepreneurial hub and coworking space.
The platform helps event organizers and workers coordinate tasks and communicate through a news feed. Burdelik and his team launched the company earlier in the summer, and have piloted at several music festivals including Austin City Limits, Voodoo Fest in New Orleans and Freakfest in Madison.
In the podcast, Burdelik discusses a recent pivot he made aft...2020-02-0205 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Katie Gold, plant disease researcherThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Katie Gold, a researcher and graduate of UW-Madison who helped develop a method for earlier detection of plant disease.
“Disease today is one of the biggest problems in agricultural production; billions of dollars are lost every single year due to disease,” she said. “We estimate about 30 percent yield lost globally.”
She and her colleagues combined advanced field, aerial and satellite-based methods of disease detection to identify infections before visual symptoms manifested. They started with late blight in potatoes, which famously led to the Irish Potato Famine. And she said late blight re...2020-02-0205 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Doug Stafford, president and CEO of PanthericsThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Doug Stafford, president and CEO of Pantherics Inc., a Milwaukee startup developing a pill-based alternative to treat asthma.
His company spun out of research from UW-Milwaukee, focused on ways to treat various inflammatory diseases of smooth muscles, including asthma, irritable bowel syndrome and other conditions.
“In asthma, there’s inflammation in the lung, and as a result of the inflammation, the muscle in the airways contract and that’s responsible for the difficulty breathing,” he said. “But it’s not just in the lung — there are other conditions in other organs in the...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Laura Heisler, director of the Wisconsin Science FestivalThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Laura Heisler, director of the Wisconsin Science Festival.
The podcast centers on the upcoming events, which run Oct. 17-20 with discussions, presentations and experiments planned across the entire state. It’s been held every year since 2011, around the same time the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery was launched on UW-Madison’s campus.
“We were really interested in creating a community connection between scientific research at UW-Madison — but also more broadly across the state — and the citizens of Wisconsin,” she said.
Heisler says the Wisconsin Science Festival is part of a “global movement” of...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Shree Kalluri, founder and CEO of ZerologyThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Shree Kalluri, CEO and founder of a Madison startup called Zerology.
Kalluri and others announced this week that Zerology is partnering with Green Cab of Madison to replace the taxi cab company’s hybrid electric fleet with fully electric Tesla Model 3s. In the podcast, he explains what drove him to launch his tech startup earlier this year.
Over the past 20 years, Kalluri has seen “phenomenal growth” in the Madison area but notes that development has led to congested freeways and rising emissions. He says partnering with Green Cab is just the...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Matt Cordio, president and founder of Startup MilwaukeeThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Matt Cordio, president of Skills Pipeline, Startup Milwaukee and Startup Wisconsin.
The podcast centers on the upcoming Startup Wisconsin Week, which is anchored by Startup Milwaukee Week. It will be held Nov. 11-17, with over 50 events in Milwaukee alone and many more spread across the state.
He says these initiatives “are focused on connecting, educating and celebrating high-growth tech entrepreneurs” throughout Wisconsin.
“We think they’re a critical part of the economy as we evolve forward to a tech-driven economy,” he said.
Events will highlight the various organizations working in the startup s...2020-02-0207 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Sheila Long, founder of MalamaDoeThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” features Sheila Long, founder of MalamaDoe, a Milwaukee-area coworking community for women.
“We’re an inclusive working community for every woman, so we’re all about building community one woman at a time,” she said. “And we really want to help women increase their reach in business and grow businesses, or grow their place at the table.”
The companies represented in MalamaDoe are diverse, including a battery technology company, an attorney focused on startups and nonprofits, a travel agency, an online clothing retailer and other women-led businesses.
Long discusses the importance of leadership and...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Lisa Johnson, CEO for BioForwardThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Lisa Johnson, CEO for BioForward Wisconsin.
She discusses the upcoming Wisconsin Biohealth Summit and provides an update on an initiative first launched in 2017 called Women in Biohealth.
The initiative held nine events last year covering professional development and networking within the industry, and more events are being held this year.
“And actually making them also connect with women outside of their companies, so they’re understanding how important that is to advance their careers,” she said. “We’re getting a lot of interest from elsewhere in the country about what we’ve done...2020-02-0205 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Steve Conway, executive director of the Chiropractic Society of WisconsinThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” with Steve Conway, executive director of the Chiropractic Society of Wisconsin.
He discusses a new bill that would enable more groups — including CSW — to offer continuing education for chiropractors in the state. Under current law, sponsoring these programs is restricted to certain organizations, but Conway sees the legislation as a chance to even the playing field.
“So an association like ours — which is a full-fledged chiropractic association; we’ve been around for seven years — we cannot provide continuing education for our members,” he said. “This is going to be very helpful for our organization...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Greg Keenan, WARF Accelerator program managerThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Greg Keenan, manager of the WARF Accelerator program.
He discusses some of the research being commercialized through the program, which will be showcased at the upcoming WARF Innovation Day in early November in Madison.
“As you might imagine, this campus covers a very broad spectrum of technologies,” he said. “Our program supports everything from medical devices to innovations in food and ag, to material science to chemistry.”
He says the program has more than 100 technologies in the Accelerator portfolio alone, each of which has received investment from WARF.
“We talked about the...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Kevin Klagos, chief financial officer of First Choice DentalThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Kevin Klagos of First Choice Dental, a Dane County care provider with 11 clinics in the Madison area.
He discusses a bill the company is supporting aimed at getting more early-career dentists to work in rural areas of the state.
The bill would create a scholarship program that would award five $75,000 scholarships each year to students at the Marquette University School of Dentistry who commit to practicing in qualifying rural areas that lack access to dental care. The legislation is backed by the Wisconsin Dental Association, Marquette University and the Wiscon...2020-02-0207 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Grady Buchanan, CEO and co-founder of OmniValleyThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Grady Buchanan, an investment analyst at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and the CEO and co-founder of OmniValley.
Buchanan discusses the growth of the platform, which connects investors and others in the venture capital space across the country. When he first came on the podcast in summer 2018, the platform had about 100 members. That’s now risen to 450.
“It’s funny to think about just what’s happened in a year,” he said. “We’re still targeting about a third accelerators, a third venture firms and a third what we call limited partner...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Andrea Dlugos, co-manager for Wisconsin Investment PartnersThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Andrea Dlugos, co-manager for Wisconsin Investment Partners, one of the state’s largest angel investor networks.
“That means we’re a group of individual angels — each member makes their own investing decisions,” she said. “In our group, each member has their own contribution to make. Both in terms of monetary contributions, but also what each member has to add from an experiential standpoint to the group.”
Dlugos gives an overview of WIP, which has a portfolio of investments totaling more than $25 million. She explains why individual investors would band together in a partne...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Taralinda Willis, CEO and co-founder of Curate SolutionsThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Taralinda Willis, co-founder and CEO of Curate Solutions, a Madison startup with a platform for aggregating and analyzing publicly available documents.
Curate scans through public municipality data, including documents from city councils, school boards and county boards of supervisors. The company searches these documents for clues to upcoming projects and delivers insights to its customers. These are typically general contractors in the commercial space looking for private projects.
“In this area, a lot of people tell me they read the Madison Plan Commission, but there’s no way they could also...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Craig Doriot, CEO of DodlesThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with returning guest Craig Doriot, CEO for an Appleton-based startup called Dodles.
He gives an update on his company, which is developing a social animation platform that aims to make it easier for anyone to animate. He also talks about a new venture that spun out of Dodles, called Pound Social, focusing on social media engagement and growth for companies and individuals.
On the previous podcast with Doriot, in August 2018, he outlined his strategy for user acquisition, which involved both face-to-face interactions at comic cons and other events, as well as onl...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with JP Miller for MaydmThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with JP Miller, curriculum director and programs lead for a Madison company called Maydm.
Maydm aims to teach girls and youth of color in sixth grade through high school about opportunities in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
“We teach them skills such as web development, Android app development … all sorts of these STEM-related engineering skills that can be used in the workplace,” he said. “Our ultimate goal is to reach parity with national demographics.”
Program participants are as young as 10 years old, and JP says Maydm’s recent summer prog...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Eric Borgerding, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Hospital AssociationThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Eric Borgerding, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Hospital Association.
He discusses WHA’s budget priorities ahead of the Assembly and Senate taking up the spending bill passed by the Joint Finance Committee. He touches on provisions that would increase reimbursement, as well as budget changes to regulations surrounding telehealth.
Borgerding said the budget put forth by Gov. Tony Evers was “probably the strongest health care budget I’ve seen in 30 years.” He said the guv listened to concerns raised by WHA and others, and proposed a “really strong piece of legisla...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Sean Marschke, president of the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police AssociationThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Sean Marschke, president of the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association and chief of police in Sturtevant.
He discusses a bill from bipartisan authors that would provide health insurance to the families of police officers killed in the line of duty. The legislation has 91 sponsors, representing about 70 percent of state lawmakers.
“These legislators are saying, finally this is something we can do to say that we back the badge, that we back first responders in our state, and that we’re going to take care of their families,” Marschke said.
He says comm...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: the Podcast with Ellen Sexton, CEO for UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of WisconsinThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Ellen Sexton, CEO for UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Wisconsin.
She discusses a housing support program UHC is piloting with a goal of reducing health care costs for some of its “most complex” Medicaid members. The program is covering all housing costs for 12 individuals with some of the highest costs and utilization numbers, many of whom were previously homeless.
These individuals are housed throughout Milwaukee County and were able to choose the area they wanted to live. The program was launched last summer in partnership with the Milwaukee County Housing Division...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Wally Block, founder of TherVoyantThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Wally Block, founder of TherVoyant, a Madison research startup focused on precision guidance for complex medical procedures.
“We’re experts in guiding this therapy called convection-enhanced delivery,” Block said in a recent interview. “You put small holes into the skull, put catheters into the brain, and then under pressure, you push the drug through the spaces between cells to move it much further than you could go with just a hand injection.”
In many cases where this therapy was attempted and failed, Block says autopsies revealed the drugs didn’t go where they we...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Amy Achter of the UW-Madison Office of Business EngagementThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Amy Achter, managing director of UW-Madison’s Office of Business Engagement.
She’s held the position for about a year, since the university’s former Office of Corporate Relations shifted to its current structure as the Office of Business Engagement. She discusses details of that transition, including how OBE is developing new strategies for connecting with businesses in the state and elsewhere.
“Folks realized that companies view us as one UW, and want to be able to come here and talk to one person about all the opportunities — and that wasn’t real...2020-02-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with John Sauer, president and CEO of LeadingAge WisconsinThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features an interview with John Sauer, president of LeadingAge Wisconsin, a nonprofit nursing home company based in Madison.
In the discussion, he highlights challenges facing nursing homes in the state, and explains why LeadingAge is backing an $83 million budget request for the coming biennium. If approved, he says those funds would be used to boost reimbursement for nurses and other care providers.
Sauer notes that Wisconsin has the second-worst Medicaid nursing facility rates in the country. And one in five caregiver positions in the state are currently unfilled, based on a survey...2020-01-2306 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Ali Bakhshinejad, founder of VasoGnosisThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Ali Bakhshinejad, a researcher and founder of a Milwaukee startup called VasoGnosis.
After working as a research assistant and earning his PhD from UW-Milwaukee, Bakhshinejad spent six months in a postdoctoral fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin where his research formed the basis of his early-stage company.
He’s creating software that could help guide health care specialists as they attempt to diagnose brain aneurysms and plan surgical approaches.
Building on years of research, Bakhshinejad officially launched the company in February and is continuing to develop specialized software tools.
...2020-01-2306 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Amy Arenz, CEO of ConceroThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Amy Arenz, CEO of Concero, a recruitment consulting firm that works in the software and technology space.
The Madison company doesn’t recruit software programmers and others for the technical side of these businesses, although Arenz said that’s a potential area of growth. For now, Concero focuses on recruiting for senior executive positions in sales and marketing.
“That’s why being here in Madison works, because it’s not necessarily recruiting for companies at their corporate sites, which would be San Francisco or the Bay Area for us,” she said. “It’s ch...2020-01-2305 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Elmer Moore Jr. of Scale Up MilwaukeeThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Elmer Moore Jr., the executive director of Scale Up Milwaukee.
He was recently announced as one of the co-chairs of the upcoming Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference, to be held June 4-5 in Milwaukee by the Wisconsin Technology Council. In this week’s podcast, he discusses what attendees can expect from the event, as well as some of the work Scale Up Milwaukee is doing to foster growth in the area’s business ecosystem.
“We are consistent, very loud, very provocative champions for growth,” he said. “We recognize how entrepreneurial growth can really catalyze a...2020-01-2306 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Jon Young, head of WARF TherapeuticsThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Jon Young, head of WARF Therapeutics, a relatively new effort at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
“The UW-Madison campus has always had a strong focus on biological and clinical translational sciences,” Young said.
He noted two of the most lucrative products in the WARF portfolio are Warfarin and Zemplar. He says these “life-changing” drugs have impacted the lives of thousands of patients, and generated millions of dollars in royalties.
Those funds were then used to catalyze new research on campus and improve infrastructure at the university.
In his new role, Young sa...2020-01-2306 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with John Imes, executive director of the Wisconsin Environmental InitiativeThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with John Imes, executive director of the Wisconsin Environmental Initiative.
He discusses the state’s push toward clean energy, touching on Gov. Tony Evers’ plan to get the state to carbon-free electricity, as well as how businesses could capitalize on this shift.
“If you believe in climate change and you believe in science, well then it’s reasonable to expect that we can accelerate and scale up the solutions that are in front of us and create a green economy for the state,” he said. “The science to me is demanding that we...2020-01-2306 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Barbara Hastie, founder and CEO of PoWERThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features a conversation with Barbara Hastie, founder and CEO of PoWER, a startup that aims to provide security certification for ride-sharing apps.
She’s joined by Paul Jones, a lawyer with Michael Best & Friedrich who specializes in startups, venture investment, business development and other related topics. As an experienced entrepreneur himself, he’s acting as a mentor to Hastie as she works toward launching her early-stage business.
The company’s name stands for Protecting Women Every Ride.
“PoWER is a rideshare enhancement app and also a certification service that connects female passengers wit...2020-01-2306 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Lane Brostrom, CEO for CmxtwentyThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Lane Brostrom, CEO for Cmxtwenty, a Milwaukee company developing a pain management drug that could serve as an alternative to opioids.
The company recently completed a Phase 1 human clinical trial that showed its drug candidate has similar effects to strong opioids without the negative side effects normally associated with opioids. These include respiratory depression, risk of addiction, nausea and constipation.
Brostrom says company leaders are currently focused on preparing for a Phase 2 proof of concept study with an intravenous form of the company’s drug, also called CMX-020. It will be teste...2020-01-2306 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Mike Partsch, chief venture officer for the Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Mike Partsch, chief venture officer for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
“Because of our role with the university, we have a major impact on the ecosystem in Madison,” he said. “And because of that, I think we also have a role, a responsibility to help the ecosystem statewide.”
Under a newly formalized structure called WARF Ventures, WARF’s $110 million investment fund will invest directly in startup companies. The organization typically invests in UW-Madison startup companies that rely on WARF intellectual property.
“There can be some investments outside of that space, but there h...2020-01-2306 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Scott Birrenkott for the Wisconsin Bankers AssociationThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Scott Birrenkott, assistant director of legal for the Wisconsin Bankers Association.
He provides an update on a survey released in December gauging bankers’ views on industrial hemp.
At the time, WBA found about 80 percent of banker respondents said they wouldn’t provide loans to industrial hemp farmers or processors. But over the past several months, Birrenkott has seen that shift in conversations with members.
He said someone responded in the negative. “But after reading more about it, after learning more about it, discussing it, they’re feeling that they’re more open to it...2020-01-2306 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Brad Hollister, founder of SwanLeapThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Brad Hollister, founder of a Madison-based logistics firm called SwanLeap.
SwanLeap was named by Inc. magazine as the fastest-growing U.S. company of 2018. Hollister discusses that meteoric rise, as well as his plans for sustaining the company’s growth.
Over a three-year period, SwanLeap grew from $113,000 in revenue to over $100 million, for a growth rate of over 75,000 percent.
“It’s been an absolute rocketship,” he said. “The numbers look really big and impressive when they start small. But now that the numbers are big, certainly we’re seeing a lot of growth but we d...2020-01-2306 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Yu-Lin Yang, president of Transcend UWThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Yu-Lin Yang, president of Transcend UW.
This student org, which grew out of UW-Madison’s engineering department, helps connect participants with funding sources for their startup ideas.
Student organizers put on a number of events throughout the year, including an innovation competition, project reviews with Madison entrepreneurs, pitch events, workshops on intellectual property and coaching opportunities.
Transcend UW gave $55,000 last year in equity-free funds to student entrepreneurs.
As Yang explains, other student orgs on campus will work with business clients that need a certain project done, so they structure student projects...2020-01-2306 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Joe Scanlin, CEO and co-founder of ScanalyticsThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Joe Scanlin, CEO and co-founder for a Milwaukee startup called Scanalytics.
The company was founded about six years ago around a technology with broad applicability: smart floor sensors which help building managers track human movement.
“Our floor sensor can be imbedded into existing flooring, it can be added on top of existing flooring, or be part of new construction,” he said. “We’re finding a non-invasive way to measure the paths people are taking.”
That can include retail locations, elderly care facilities and even commercial real estate firms with millions of squa...2019-07-1205 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Roxie Hentz for CEOs of TomorrowThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features returning guest Roxie Hentz, founding executive director for CEOs of Tomorrow.
She discusses an upcoming trip to Botswana she’s planning for youth entrepreneurs where they will hone early-stage business ideas while learning about other cultures.
“What I realized is the social issues that they are addressing are actually global issues,” she said. “So we really want to push them to think locally but act globally.”
The Social Global Excursion Program heads to Gaborone, Botswana in August. Participants will train impoverished African youth to “understand and promote and learn” entrepreneurial skills.
“Long-ter...2019-07-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with partners for Rock River Capital PartnersThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Andy Walker and Chris Eckstrom, partners with Rock River Capital Partners.
The firm is looking to make $1 million investments in post-revenue companies, according to Walker. But Eckstrom says about 20 percent of the fund is set aside for more “opportunistic” investments, which can range from $250,000 to $2 million “for the right deal.”
Walker (pictured here) says Rock River Capital Partners is one of the larger recipient funds for the Badger Fund of Funds, and was meant to be growth-focused rather than an early-stage seed fund. About 28 percent of Rock River’s fund came from the Ba...2019-05-1006 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Dave Grandin, president and CEO of KiioThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Dave Grandin, CEO for Kiio.
This Madison startup has a pain management system for people with lower back pain. Grandin returns to the podcast to discuss what’s changed for Kiio in the past year, and touches on a new partnership with Walgreens, Kiio’s biggest customer yet.
“Since the last time we spoke, there’s really been some significant progress,” he said. “We did a study with Quartz, which is the UW health plan, as well as we’ve added on a significant number of new customers.”
Kiio supplies its digital therapeuti...2019-05-1006 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Erin Rasmussen for the American Wine ProjectThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Erin Rasmussen, founder of an early-stage business called the American Wine Project.
She grew up in Madison but spent the last decade in California studying winemaking. Her new venture has several wines in development, and she says she wants to stimulate interest in the “farm-to-table” model of wine in Wisconsin.
“How do I as a Midwest native bring thoughtful, artistic, high quality winemaking to a region that is really just beginning its wine industry lifespan?” she said. “It’s really only pretty recently that we’ve had the technology and the research don...2019-05-1006 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Saran Ouk, CEO and founder of ConNEXTionsThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Saran Ouk, CEO and founder of ConNEXTions, a Madison nonprofit startup connecting low-income youth with mentorship and financial education.
She says the goal of her business is to guide underrepresented adults in the Madison area toward financial, educational and career goals.
After starting the program in 2016, Ouk says the community response was impressive.
“We’ve actually had a lot more mentors apply than mentees. The first year we started with just seven mentees and 25 mentors applied. So we don’t really have to work hard to find mentors,” she said. “People...2019-05-1006 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology CouncilThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council.
He discusses the Governor’s Business Plan Contest, now in its 16th year, which gives entrepreneurs the chance to have their business ideas validated through several stages of competitive judging.
The deadline to enter the first round of competition is 5 p.m. on Jan. 31. Applicants will submit 250-word write-ups for the first round, which go through an initial judging period.
Those that make it through the first stage will submit a 1,000-word essay, followed by another round of judging. Winners from that rou...2019-05-1006 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Dr. Tim Bartholow, chief medical officer for WEA TrustThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Dr. Tim Bartholow, chief medical officer for WEA Trust.
This Madison-based insurance company has a public employee member population of nearly 100,000 people. He explains that the health problems he’s trying to solve for those people “are problems that I couldn’t have solved patient-by-patient.”
“My job every day is to figure out how to match patient need with the skill sets that are available to take care of those individuals,” he said.
Bartholow discusses the company’s health management programs, which have successfully driven down rates of hospitalizations and opioid prescript...2019-05-1006 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Paul Jirovetz and Michael Terrill for DevCodeCampThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Paul Jirovetz and Michael Terrill for DevCodeCamp, a program teaching people software development skills.
Terrill is the director of instruction for the program, and says individual class sizes vary from just a handful of people to larger groups.
“With the larger classes, you can get nice group projects going as well,” Terrill said. “You get that individual experience, but you also get that collaboration experience… When you go on a job, you’re not going to be working by yourself. You’re going to be working on a team of people.”
J...2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Erin Tenderholt, co-founder of BlexxThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Erin Tenderholt, founder of a Madison-based startup called Blexx.
Tenderholt has created a new patent-pending technology in hopes of improving how people dispose of hypodermic needles.
“This cost is bigger than you imagine. Ask a nurse, ask a tattoo parlor, ask a funeral home director about their experience with hypodermic needles,” she said. “The time to change this is now.”
She notes that Americans go through 7 billion hypodermic needles each year. The current method of disposal requires several logistical steps, including a disposal unit, transportation and storage resulting in incineration off-site.
...2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with AkkeNeel Talsma, CEO and founder of Melius OutcomesThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with AkkeNeel Talsma, CEO and founder of Melius Outcomes.
This Milwaukee-based startup has a quality improvement software platform for hospitals and other care facilities. It was built with technology developed at the University of Michigan.
The company has raised $150,000 to date, according to an info sheet from the Wisconsin Technology Council. Talsma is currently seeking $3 million in capital financing, to support further growth efforts. As of now, she has a “functional prototype” of the software, which is ready for implementation.
“We did a pilot study with 25 hospitals and had incredible outcomes,” s...2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Wes Schroll, founder and CEO of Fetch RewardsThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Wes Schroll, founder and CEO of Fetch Rewards.
This Madison-based startup has thousands of brands listed on its app, which lets consumers scan receipts from grocery and convenience stores for coupons while they peruse the shelves.
Schroll is originally from Massachusetts, and came to UW-Madison for his undergraduate education. He studied entrepreneurship at the UW-Madison School of Business, where he came up with the idea for his company between his freshman and sophomore year.
“It really stemmed from going to as many different grocery stores as I did,” he said. “I h...2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Sherry Zhang, CEO and founder of GenoPalateThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Sherry Zhang, CEO and founder of GenoPalate, a Milwaukee company that provides healthy eating guides based on genetic analysis.
The startup analyzes saliva samples, which are collected in small plastic tubes and mailed to the company. If a customer has already had their DNA analyzed by another genetic analysis company, the GenoPalate test is less expensive.
“To me, DNA is the most precious, personal thing we possess. We take the highest caution in managing everything that comes into our management,” Zhang said. “Everything that we collect will travel in our very len...2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Chris Roche of RecruitChuteThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Chris Roche, founder and CEO of RecruitChute.
This Whitewater startup connects promising high school soccer players with college programs, giving each a chance to create their own pages and search for potential matches. After nearly two years of growing a pilot platform, Roche is planning to launch a commercial version of the product on Dec. 15.
“It works; it beats other companies,” he said. “People tend to appreciate that we’re soccer exclusive.”
Roche explains that the recruiting process for sports like football, basketball and baseball is very different from soccer. Rather than look...2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Tobias Zutz, founder and CEO of Gregor DiagnosticsThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Tobias Zutz, founder and CEO of Madison-based Gregor Diagnostics.
He’s developing a method to test seminal fluid for signs of prostate cancer. Zutz is a former employee of Exact Sciences in Madison, which has a similar test for colorectal cancer which relies on stool samples.
“My background has always been R&D,” Zutz said. “I’ve been a bench-level scientist and worked there, so transitioning to more of a business-focused role, putting together a business plan, pitching to investors and getting money -- that was all brand new to me.”
The sta...2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Benjamin Morales, CEO of LatinoProThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Benjamin Morales, CEO of Milwaukee-based startup LatinoPro.
Morales is a graduate of UW-Whitewater and developed his business plan through the school’s Launch Pad accelerator program.
“We allow companies to get equipped with the finest Spanish-speaking talent depending on their specific needs,” he said.
He emphasizes the social impact of his company’s work, saying “we want to provide Spanish speakers with career and financial paths… [so that] they look in retrospect and really realize the value that we have.”2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Byron Reese, author and tech entrepreneurThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” features Byron Reese, author of the book, “The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers and the Future of Humanity.”
Reese will be a keynote speaker for the upcoming WARF Innovation Day, planned for Oct. 17 at the Discovery Building in Madison. He writes optimistically about the future, touching on artificial intelligence and other technological developments.
“Technology is this trick we learned as a species that multiplies what we’re able to do,” he said. “With that trick, we’re going to be able to solve all kinds of technical problems. We’ll be able to end hunger...2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Roxie Hentz for CEOs of TomorrowThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Roxie Hentz, founding executive director of CEOs of Tomorrow.
This Madison-based nonprofit teaches social entrepreneurship to students, using market principles and bright ideas to bring about positive change. The end of 2017 marked its first full year, in which youth participants -- from fourth grade through high school -- piloted several revenue-generating business ideas.
These projects addressed problems like homelessness, childhood cancer, childhood hunger, animal abuse, disabilities, racial inequities in education and more. Each was profitable, and earnings were passed directly to those participating kids.
“They start with an idea, and they hav...2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Christina Wichman, director of the Periscope ProjectThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness the Podcast” features Dr. Christina Wichman, an associate professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin and director of the Periscope Project.
“Most of our providers -- our obstetricians, midwives, family practice docs, even psychiatrists -- have very little education about the mood and anxiety disorders that can occur during pregnancy and postpartum,” she said. “And so it really has become a very subspecialty niche of medicine in which a lot of providers simply don’t feel comfortable treating.”
The Periscope Project aims to help out those providers by providing expert advice on mental health for pregn...2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Bill Murphy, director of Forward BIO InstituteThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features a conversation with Bill Murphy, director of the recently announced Forward BIO Institute.
Murphy is a professor of biomedical engineering at UW-Madison. The Forward BIO Institute was announced late last week as part of the Forward BIO Initiative, a new effort focused on translating research into industry applications.
“What I’ve discovered over the past 15 years of doing research at the University of Wisconsin is that the greatest impact we can have is if our technologies, our inventions, make their way out of the university and get out into companies that can g...2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Dave Gee and Professor William Dougan, directors of UW-Whitewater’s Launch PadThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Dave Gee and Professor William Dougan, directors of UW-Whitewater’s Launch Pad, a startup accelerator for students.
In under 10 years, the program has led to several success stories, including Scanalytics of Madison, which has developed a floor sensor analytics platform.
“One of our really big successes is Joe Scanlan and Scanalytics, which has gone on to get a significant amount of traction with his value proposition, and has attracted a significant amount of capital,” Dougan said.
Another Launch Pad grad made it all the way to ABC’s “Shark Tank.” Though He...2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Jocelyn Kopac, small business consultantThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Jocelyn Kopac, a small business consultant based in Johnson Creek.
She focuses on digital marketing, but says she often ends up playing the role of business coach, guiding decisions in a number of areas. Specializing in companies with about five employees or fewer, she says one of the most common questions is, “How do I start?”
“I don’t know how many people have come to me over and over… ‘How did you start? How did you get to where you are?’” she said. “I tell them, you just have to launch. I see these b...2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Kim Litwack, dean of the College of Nursing at UW-MilwaukeeThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features a discussion with Kim Litwack, dean of the College of Nursing at UW-Milwaukee.
She discusses an initiative the university is launching alongside Heritage Senior Living, a West Allis company with about 20 care facilities across the state. Through this partnership, students will be researching technologies like virtual reality and social robotics in the context of these care facilities.
“It’s not just cardiac monitors and IV pumps and things that everyone can use -- these are special,” she said. “To be on the driving edge and help design them, determine best practices, I t...2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Derek Zenger, co-founder for Live Undiscovered MusicThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Derek Zenger, co-founder for LUM, a music startup that’s launching its platform Friday.
“We’ve been hearing grumblings within the music community for artists not being able to promote and advocate for themselves and getting drowned out by corporate music, as well as fans lacking the ability to discover these very talented artists that are connected,” he said.
LUM, or Live Undiscovered Music, is seen by its founders as a way to solve both of these problems with one platform.
“LUM is a music-streaming and discovery application that’s actually built o...2018-12-1206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWIsBusiness: The Podcast with Dean Foreman, chief economist for the American Petroleum InstituteThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features a chat with Dean Foreman, chief economist for the American Petroleum Institute.
He discusses a “renaissance” in energy in the United States, driven by innovation and new technology. He also gives his take on the ongoing tariffs situation, and how it could affect the energy industry in Wisconsin.
“When you’re producing a lot of farm machinery, automotive things and selling these globally, there’s a lot of plastics, a lot of materials that go into that,” he said. “These are all byproducts of the energy renaissance.”2018-08-1005 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Craig Doriot, CEO for DodlesThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Craig Doriot, CEO for an Appleton-based animation startup called Dodles.
“Dodles is a social animation platform, and that means we make it really easy for people to animate, even if you have no artistic abilities,” he said. “We really try to reinvent the animation process to simplify it, and make it mobile-friendly so people can do this right form their phones.”
Doriot got the company started with $2 million of his own money. Last year, local investors contributed to a $300,000 funding round, and a $600,000 is currently underway with just over $450,000 raised.2018-08-1006 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Lisa Johnson, CEO for BioForward WisconsinThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features a chat with Lisa Johnson, CEO of BioForward Wisconsin.
This Madison-based nonprofit supports the state’s biohealth industry, putting on events and providing relevant services and resources. It represents over 200 Wisconsin companies in fields like medical devices, diagnostics and digital health, as well as research institutions and others involved in the industry.
She discusses an initiative called “Women in Biohealth,” which began in 2017 and helps provide opportunities for professional development.
“It’s really a support network,” she said. “A safe environment, to really uplift women and give them the tools they need to advance2018-08-1006 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Ellen Sexton, CEO for UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of WisconsinThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features a discussion with Ellen Sexton, CEO of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Wisconsin.
She discusses the social determinants of health -- things like education, housing, food, access to medical care and more. These factors are getting increased attention from insurance companies and other businesses involved in health care, as improving them can lead to fewer costs down the road.
“One of the things that we’re looking at launching is with some of our most complex members, people that have high ER visits and impactable cost of care,” she said. “Actually subsidizing th...2018-08-1006 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast featuring Lucas Frisbie of StartingBlock MadisonThis week's episode of "WisBusiness: The Podcast" features Lucas Frisbie, startup team strategist for StartingBlock Madison.
He discusses the recent soft launch event of the entrepreneurial group's co-working space and offices, and talks about how the startups he works with are adjusting to their new digs.
Looking ahead, Frisbie touches on some of StartingBlock's planned events and the importance of getting community buy-in for the space to thrive.
"We want people to remember that this isn't just for StartingBlock, this is for the community in general," Frisbie said. "It's going to take the community itself to come together to...2018-08-1005 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Christopher Patterson on blockchain technologyThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features a chat with Christopher Patterson, CEO of Madison-based Metisoft Solutions.
The discussion is about blockchain -- the technology behind cryptocurrencies, smart contracts and other industry advances.
“The key characteristics of blockchain technology which makes it so valuable is its acts as a ledger to record transactions in a which that is immutable -- you can’t change them after the fact,” he said. “It’s distributed, so not just one computer or one organization has access. And it also provides a means of trust in an environment that might otherwise be trustless.”
...2018-08-1006 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Grady Buchanan for OmniValleyThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Grady Buchanan, the co-founder and CEO of OmniValley.
Buchanan is an investment analyst with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The OmniValley platform is a private, online community for professionals in his space -- investors, venture capital firms, accelerator organizations and others.
After launching in March, OmniValley now has more than 100 members.
“One of the luxuries that I have as an institutional investor, we can connect with other institutions -- we’re a fairly close-knit group,” he said. “The world is pretty small altogether, and our world is even smaller.”2018-07-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Pete Layton, CEO and owner of Tallgrass RestorationThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Pete Layton, CEO and owner of Tallgrass Restoration, a Milton company that restores land to its natural state with native plants and animal species.
“When the earlier settlers came here they did a lot of planting in the wetlands because they could plow it up,” he said.
Nowadays, when businesses impact wetlands with a development, they are required to do some restoration to offset the damage done to the environment.
“What they’ve found is it’s much better to hire a firm like ours -- that are professionals about it and do...2018-07-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Andrew Verboncouer of Digital FertilizerThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Andrew Verboncouer, president of Digital Fertilizer, a northeast Wisconsin entrepreneurial support group.
This community-building group is celebrating its fifth anniversary next week in Green Bay.
“What we try to do is engage, connect and empower the startup community in northeast Wisconsin,” he said. “We bring in speakers, sometimes from the Fox Valley, sometimes from San Francisco, Chicago, to really share their story and some hiccups along the journey.”
He says this inspires community members to get started with their own business ideas and take some risks as they lean on the resources...2018-07-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with John Ernst and Irene Strohbeen of KinnektorThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features a discussion with John Ernst and Irene Strohbeen (pictured here) of Kinnektor, a Fox Valley entrepreneurship group with plans to extend its reach into the greater Midwest.
“When we look at other regions, we see there are many nodes involved in making the ecosystem successful, and helping each individual that has a business-related mission and goal to accomplish,” Ernst said.
He sees help coming from: entrepreneurial support organizations like Kinnektor, venture capital investors, universities, accelerators and other groups.
“What I see in the future and what we hope to see here in Wisc...2018-07-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Jonathan Wiggins, president and CEO of myAgameThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Jonathan Wiggins, president and CEO of Madison-based sports startup called myAgame.
He’s developing an “interactive playbook” for use by football teams and their coaches, with a second round of beta testing to begin in the fall.
“We’re going to have a few teams utilizing our software. My goal is to have 30 teams total -- 20 youth, 10 high schools -- across the state,” he said. “I just want to build on the success we had last year with Memorial High School’s program.”
The school’s football team hadn’t won a game in four years, an...2018-07-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Don Eisenhauer, program director and area franchisee of Young RembrandtsThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Don Eisenhauer, the program director for Young Rembrandts Metro Milwaukee.
This company goes into local schools and school districts in the Milwaukee area to put on before- and after-school art activities with a goal of supplementing existing art programs. Parents pay the company directly for these activities, which are hosted with permission from the school.
Eisenhauer says this provides creative growth opportunities for kids that are dwindling as funding for art programs dries up in some areas and schools statewide put increasing focus on high-stakes testing.
“I believe the future worker i...2018-07-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with co-founders of Reinvent FermentThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Karen and Eric Riggers, co-founders for Appleton-based food startup Reinvent Ferment.
After starting the company late last year, they began selling their fermented food products in early 2018. Though they do have their own version of sauerkraut, they also sell kimchi, and curried cauliflower as well as fermented fruit products like mango and raspberry.
Their goal with this company is to provide all-natural foods with positive benefits on digestive health.
“Living fermented foods introduce good bugs,” she said. “Your gut health is responsible for your immunity, it’s responsible for inflammation in body system...2018-07-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Jignesh Patel, UW-Madison professor of computer sciencesThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features a discussion with Jignesh Patel, a computer sciences professor at UW-Madison.
He discusses the role of computer sciences in Wisconsin’s biggest industries, explaining how agriculture, manufacturing and health care are being transformed as technology becomes more widespread.
“Every sector of our economy is now becoming data-driven [but] in many cases we are still in very early days,” he said. “You act on what the data is telling you now based on patterns that you’ve inferred, from collecting and learning… you can make better decisions, you can make manufacturing much more economic2018-07-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Shirley Malski for SBDCThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Shirley Malski, an international business consultant at the Small Business Development Center in UW-Oshkosh.
She helps businesses identify opportunities and resources for international trade as they work to develop a global presence.
In this discussion, she talks about the importance of international trade to Wisconsin companies.
“Oftentimes, you can see mitigation of risk by diversifying across a number of different economies and a number of different geopolitical environments,” she said. “Here your product might be in a mature or even a declining stage, but if you introduce it to a new market s...2018-07-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Dale Willis, co-founder of Curate SolutionsThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Dale Willis, co-founder of Curate Solutions.
This Madison-based startup relies on artificial intelligence to parse through government minutes and agendas to find opportunities for companies in the construction industry. Willis says the company has specialists on hand to help determine if the data identified is valid.
Curate is currently focused on the Midwest, but he says the team is looking to expand nationwide.
“The only way we could really do that and scan through this data across the entire country is by taking the data we have labeled, and use arti...2018-07-0205 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Paul Krupski, director of opioid initiatives for DHSThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Paul Krupski, director of opioid initiatives for the state Department of Health Services.
He comments on the U.S. Surgeon General’s recent advisory on the importance of overdose reversal medication, and discusses the state’s ongoing effort to reduce opioid deaths and abuse.
“The state of Wisconsin, specifically the Department of Health Services, is taking a three-pronged approach to combat the opioid crisis in our state,” he said. “We are working to prevent opioid use, invest in treatment, and also support recovery.”2018-07-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Clay Burdelik, CEO for YoEatsThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Clay Burdelik, CEO for software startup YoEats.
He explains how this Madison-based startup is building out its platform with pilots at local restaurants, and gives an update for an ongoing fundraising round. The company provides a system which handles both ends of the restaurant sales operation, including point-of-sale on the restaurant side and an ordering app for customers.
“It’s way more convenient for the customer, for the server -- they don’t have to split a million bills,” he said. “The house gets this unprecedented data feedback in terms of rating each d...2018-07-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Mike Semmann, co-founder for Advancing AI WisconsinThis week’s podcast features Mike Semmann, co-founder for Advancing AI Wisconsin and COO for the Wisconsin Bankers Association.
Advancing AI Wisconsin is a grassroots initiative formed about 18 months ago aimed at boosting awareness related to several disruptive innovations -- machine learning, artificial intelligence and other technologies.
The initiative is the brainchild of Semmann and co-founders Oliver Buechse and Kurt Hahlbeck. They came together after travelling the country and learning about the numerous applications of artificial intelligence and other tech.
“We need to raise the alarm to generate awareness, so these types of new digitally disruptive technologies can be avai...2018-07-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Peter Menet, COO of Menet AeroThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Peter Menet, COO for Milwaukee-based drone services company Menet Aero.
He discusses cybersecurity in the drone world and explains why he’s developing a new open-source aircraft for infrastructure inspections and analysis.
“The open-source side has come so far from where it was in the last two years,” he said. “You have so many more options of what you can do and what you can integrate… we started designing an aircraft that really starts meeting our needs from a professional aviator background.”2018-07-0206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Craig Davis, president and CEO of NovaScanThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Craig Davis, president and CEO of NovaScan.
This Milwaukee-based oncology diagnostics company uses a novel electrical technique for finding cancer in a patient’s body.
Davis sat down for a chat at the recent Wisconsin Tech Summit, held in Waukesha by the Wisconsin Technology Summit. This annual event lets early-stage startups like NovaScan meet representatives of some of the state’s biggest companies.
“We have a platform technology that’s not exclusive to skin cancer or breast cancer; its broadly applicable to cancer,” he said. “For the other applications -- and there are a...2018-05-0405 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Don Stanley, co-founder and CEO of 3Rhino Media
This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features a discussion with Don Stanley, CEO and co-founder of 3RhinoMedia and a lecturer on social media and digital marketing at UW-Madison.
He explains how he helps major companies, professional athletes and others better understand how to effectively communicate online, turning digital platforms into assets rather than liabilities.
“One of my friends says, if you want to be a successful fisherman, fish where the fish are,” he said. “You have to go where people you want to attract are, and digital is that space where people spend time.”
He talks about location-based...2018-05-0406 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Ryan Prellwitz, president of the Wisconsin Winery AssociationThis week’s podcast is with Ryan Prellwitz, president of the Wisconsin Winery Association and owner of Vines and Rushes Winery in Ripon.
He discusses legislation recently approved by the Assembly to extend late-night hours for wineries. He also explains why the state’s three craft beverage silos -- wine, beer and distilled spirits -- are striving for simplification of Wisconsin’s alcohol industry laws.
“If we can move forward the industry as a whole, everybody benefits,” he said. “A rising tide floats all boats, so to speak.”2018-05-0406 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Maximilian Christman, sustainability specialist for UW Health
This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Maximilian Christman, sustainability specialist for UW Health.
He discusses the challenge of pushing for sustainability on a system-wide level, working within the unique constraints presented by the medical field.
“You want to obviously have materials and cleaning and disinfecting supplies that are environmentally responsible. But at the same time you can’t be increasing infection rates, you can’t be allowing antibiotic-resistant bacteria into your hospitals, your clinics,” Christman said.2018-05-0406 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Deb Thompson and Laura Berkner of StimmiThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Deb Thompson (pictured here) and Laura Berkner, co-founders of Stimmi.
This Madison-based startup is currently pilot-testing a website meant to be used by caregivers for people with autism and other disabilities.
These caregivers can input personalized care information on the site, then share it with loved ones and other caregivers. The site also supports instant messaging so everyone involved can be constantly in the loop.
“Often times, people who have special needs will have multiple caregivers in different agencies, and those people don’t have the community or platform to communi...2018-05-0406 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Dan Nelson, head of Nelson Schmidt Inc.This week’s podcast features a discussion with Dan Nelson, president, CEO and chief creative officer for Nelson Schmidt Inc., the marketing agency behind the ongoing talent attraction campaign for Wisconsin.
Nelson Schmidt worked with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation on the statewide Think-Make-Happen branding campaign, and created the millennial-focused promotions that are now running in the Chicago area.
“Early in our journey of economic development marketing and promoting Wisconsin as a place to do business, we realized that workforce development and promoting Wisconsin as a place to live was equally important,” he said.2018-05-0406 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Gus Faucher, chief economist for PNC Financial Services GroupThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features a discussion with Gus Faucher, chief economist for PNC Financial Services Group.
He sat down for a chat this week at the Wisconsin Bankers Association’s Economic Forecast Luncheon in Madison. He commented on how evolving tech is changing opportunities for work, and gave his take on tackling the workforce shortage in Wisconsin.
“I think it's not going to be a one-size-fits-all approach,” Faucher said. “You're going to need to take a number of different approaches and do that in order to build the kind of 21st century workforce that Wisconsin will...2018-02-0105 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Kevin Dwyer and Nick Meyers for the Nonprofit Draft DayThis week’s podcast is with Kevin Dwyer, CEO for the nonprofit Where Is Care, (pictured here) and Nick Meyers -- both members of the planning committee for the upcoming Nonprofit Draft Day.
The NFL draft-style event will bring together nonprofit groups from all over the state that are seeking new members for their boards of directors. The event will be held at Edgewood College in Madison Saturday from 9 a.m. until around noon.
Where Is Care is an online platform for social and health services currently being developed in Dane County. It was previously known as HealthConnect.Link.2018-02-0105 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Christopher Patterson, CEO of Metisoft SolutionsThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Christopher Patterson, CEO of Metisoft Solutions, a company building out websites and mobile applications for Wisconsin’s tech startup industry.
Patterson's company designed and developed the Kilter Rewards app, which is used by over 1,500 users in Madison.
He explains how constructing an online presence can be challenging for entrepreneurs with big ideas, touching on some upcoming projects and technologies he’s most excited about.2018-02-0105 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Robert Meyer of Ventris LearningThis week’s podcast is with Robert Meyer, president of Ventris Learning in Sun Prairie.
This publishing startup creates educational materials aimed at improving literacy for low-income kids. Ventris Learning’s ToggleTalk curriculum provides a structure for young students to learn how to switch between standard English and their own at-home manner of speaking.2018-01-0506 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Jason Stringer for PACE WisconsinThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features a chat with Jason Stringer of the Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation.
He talks about the PACE program, which helps commercial property owners get long-term, low-cost loans for upgrading energy efficiency. He explains the benefits for property owners and other stakeholders, and gives an update on how the program is spreading through the state, county by county.2017-12-2206 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Dave Geisler, CEO of Rapid ImagingThis week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features a discussion with Dave Geisler, CEO of Rapid Imaging.
This early-stage Madison startup combines drones with augmented reality technology to deliver insights to its customers. He talks about the company’s roots in aviation-based intelligence used by NASA, and explains how merged technologies can be used in real estate, construction, agriculture, and in emergency situations.2017-12-1405 minWisBusiness: The PodcastWisBusiness: The Podcast with Dave Grandin, president and CEO for KiioThis week’s episode of WisBusiness: The Podcast features a discussion with Dave Grandin, president and CEO of Madison-based Kiio.
He discusses the tech startup’s recently formed partnership with insurance company WEA Trust, as well as the company’s mobile engagement tools for health and wellness, such as its lower back pain product.2017-12-1406 min