Shows
One the Come UpMegha Parekh, Executive Vice-President and CLO of the Jacksonville JaguarsLife after One-L: This is the unofficial (and unaffiliated) podcast auditory extension of your favorite legal-drama series, Suits. Joining me today is Megha Parekh, Chief Legal Officer of the Jacksonville Jaguars. The first NJ native on the podcast, this Manalapan(ian?) started her career at Harvard, obtaining her undergraduate in three years before graduating magna cum laude from HLS in 2008. While a law student, Parekh interned at the Boston Red Sox, an experience that served as her entry point into sports law. Interviewing in 2007 and 2008, Parekh began at Proskauer Rose—having declined other firms’ offers—where her early work in spo...
2026-05-0116 min
One the Come UpCalvin Bohn from Thrive. Former co-founder of Smalls!For this episode of One the Come Up, I was joined by Calvin Bohn, former co-founder of Smalls and Head of Partner Success at Thrive. Starting his career at Yale, Bohn was a reporter and broadcaster for the Bulldogs while pursuing his degree in humanities. Unsure of what to do after college, Bohn’s first job was at the front desk of a four-star hotel in New York as part of a rotational managerial track. After two years of working at the hotel, where he scaled intake from $0 to $150,000 in ARR in his department, Bohn was bitten by the st...
2026-04-2038 min
One the Come UpTom Coburn, the CEO of Waking UpJoining me for today’s podcast is Tom Coburn, the CEO of Waking Up. Coburn’s career began at Boston College far from entrepreneurship. Originally pursuing a pre-med path, Coburn was even accepted to Tufts Med school while in his sophomore year and started a double major in Theology, before a startup pitch competition shifted his focus to entrepreneurship. Competing in this competition, Coburn created the original idea for Jebbit, which was then a website for companies to run their advertisements and quiz viewers to gauge engagement, paying the viewer for each correct question.Through several iterations and business cycl...
2026-04-1345 min
One the Come UpMichael Carter from UStrive — One The Come UpIf you’re like me and navigating the college application process, you may have heard of today’s company, UStrive, but you also may not of heard of its founder and today’s guest, Michael Carter. In the event the latter fact is true, you’re in the right place. Carter’s career began as a freshman at WashU, where he recognized that many qualified high school students were not pursuing 4-year college educations simply because they did not have adequate guidance resources in high school to help them navigate post high school life. Creating a solution to this issue, Car...
2026-04-0330 min
One the Come UpAngel Low from Malaysia, The HiveThe podcast is back! and joining me for the first conversation in almost two months is Angel Low, Venture Capitalist and Operator @ The Hive. Low's career began at Beijing University where she obtained her degree in economics. After graduating, she landed her first job in the ultra competitive Chinese job market as an analyst at Huisheng Consulting Group. Today, Low works at The Hive in Malaysia, where she oversees how the firm invests its $50 million to drive Malaysia's startup ecosystem. As the my guest join me from Southeast Asia, Low brings to the podcast a unique and diverse perspective...
2026-03-2234 min
One the Come UpJames Ellsmoor discusses Island InnovationA little bit late in the makings, this is an episode from the archives! I don't know how this conversation slipped between the cracks. Originally recorded in March of 2025, this was the 23rd podcast. Enjoy!
2026-01-3025 min
One the Come UpAlexei Mlodinow discusses entrepreneurship and medicineToday I was joined by Dr. Alexei Mlodinow, founding CEO of Surgical Innovations Associates (SIA), a med tech company spun out of Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine and Kellogg School of Management in 2016, and acquired by Integra LifeSciences in 2022. Alexei’s career began at UC Santa Barbara where he studied business economics and Japanese language and culture. You might be asking yourself at this point: I thought he was a doctor, where was his premed? I was wondering the same thing, so I asked him: he took the necessary medical courses on the side. Ever get the impression that th...
2026-01-1246 min
One the Come UpAmy Zitelman from SoomFoodsFor this episode, I was joined by Amy Zitelman, the CEO and Co-founder of Soom Foods, a Tahini brand. Completing their first sale in 2013, Zitelman and her two sisters founded Soom to capitalize on tahini’s relative obscurity in the American market. While tahini is a primary ingredient in everybody’s favorite dip - hummus - few people realize the full versatility of this delicious spread. But Soom’s efforts to grow Tahini’s recognition have paid off. From starting as a three-person team, with Zitelman bringing this little-known ingredient to farmers markets and sampling events and packaging Amazon orders b...
2026-01-0232 min
One the Come UpRachel Mercer from JPMorganChaseJoining me on today’s episode is Rachel Mercer, MD of Design and Customer Experience at JPMorganChase. Mercer started her career at Northeastern University, where she obtained her Bachelor’s in Design and Interactive media. A unique part of Northeastern University is the co-op program which rotates 6 months of full time work with 6 months of coursework. In 2011, Mercer started at CP+B as a UX Designer where she worked on various projects such as Domino’s Pizza Tracker. In 2014, Mercer made it across the pond to London, working for digital consultancies Made By Many and The Upside. In 2020, Mercer (by thi...
2025-12-2129 min
One the Come UpMatthew Rooda from SwinTech!For one of the most fun conversations I’ve had on the podcast so far, today I was joined by Matthew Rooda, the CEO and Founder of SwineTech. Rooda’s career began at Hawkeye Community College, a time in which he worked on a pork worked on a pig farm caring for sows and delivering piglets - perfect preparation for med school. It was also at Hawkeye that he met his co-founder. The two would then transfer to the University of Iowa, a place where Rooda would learn that he was not meant to be a med student after all...
2025-12-0840 min
One the Come UpNathanael Ren - Former Co-Founder of Buoy Health; Trading PalsToday I was joined by Nathanael Ren, former co-founder of Buoy Health (2014-2022). Ren’s career began at Harvard, where his first assignment was an unlikely destination for an 18 year fresh out of high school: go undercover to an iPhone factory in China. Returning to the States, he completed his degree in 2012, when he began working on Buoy Health. After building in a cave for the first three years (a move he says he wouldn’t repeat) Buoy launched to the public in 2017. Buoy was the avant-garde brain child of three Harvard graduates, who imagined a ChatGPT for the heal...
2025-11-3032 min
One the Come UpBlue LatitudesI was honored to be joined by Emily Hazelwood and Amber Sparks, the co-founders of Blue Latitudes, a certified women-owned marine environmental consulting firm. Before starting Blue Latitudes in 2015, Hazelwood and Sparks started their careers on opposite sides of the country. Hazelwood’s career began at Connecticut College where she obtained her B.A. in environmental science. In 2011, she worked on the BP 252 Oil Spill where she witnessed firsthand the devastation and destruction of oil spills. It was here, however, that she learned of a unique silver lining in this mercurial industry: the Rigs to Reef program. Meanwhile, on th...
2025-11-2330 min
One the Come UpHristo Tenchev - XS Software and Software UniversityToday I had the pleasure of speaking with Hristo Tenchev. Tenchev, for my international listeners, is the CEO and founder of the company that probably makes your favorite video game - XS Software. Tenchev began his career when he was 18, creating a web-based video game that quickly went viral in Bulgaria. Pursuing his education at the Technical University of Sofia, Tenchev wanted to study computer science but the only thing he ended up learning was that the Soviet style curriculum of Bulgarian higher education was out of date for 21st century concepts (to say the least). So, not one...
2025-11-0936 min
One the Come UpMatthew Simmonds - Speakset, The Meaning of Work, and ENTOCYCLEI’m starting to lose count of the episodes, so I’ll ditch the tradition of saying it’s such and such number of episodes, and instead I’ll resort to saying it’s n and n+1 episodes. But then I’ll exhaust n and lose track of counting again, so I think I’ll just stop counting altogether ;)
I was honored to be joined by Matthew Simmonds. Simmonds' career began at the University of Oxford, where he graduated with a degree in engineering in 2012. There, he met his co-founders with whom he started Speakset. Speakset developed a device for o...
2025-10-311h 00
One the Come UpTeasha Feldman-Fitzthum from Commonwealth Fusion SystemsI was honored to be joined by Teasha Feldman-Fitzhum. Feldman-Fitzthum’s career began at MIT as a physics major. Originally intending to pursue graduate school, she pivoted to entrepreneurship after enrolling in MIT’s 13.366 entrepreneurship class, where she and her cofounder successfully launched EverVest. Originally known as Cardinal Winds, and a company a little bit beyond my understanding to explain, EverVest used copula modeling to predict wind in order to calculate the revenue of future wind farms, and was acquired by UltraCapital in 2016. Currently, Feldman-Fitzthum works at Commonwealth Fusion Systems, the largest fusion energy company in the world, in tech...
2025-10-2534 min
One the Come UpKostapanos Miliaresis discusses volunteeringKostapanos Miliaresis and I covered a lot of ground, so I suppose I’ll go in chronological order. Miliaresis' journey began in the Boy Scouts, where he first discovered a passion for volunteering. The idea of volunteering continued with him to Athens University of Economics and Business, where he was involved with AIESEC (an opportunity that brought him to Taiwan to teach for three months) and served as an event curator for TEDx. It was in college as well that he and his co-founders started GloVo (later to become ethelon) in 52 hours at a startup competition, making volunteering more ac...
2025-08-1732 min
One the Come UpAnton Toll Hakånson from DayCapeIt was my fortune to be joined by Anton Toll Håkanson, the CEO and founder of DayCape. Toll Håkanson’s career began somewhere far away from entrepreneurship or user experience: scuba diving. After being a scuba diving instructor for a year, he decided to head off to Hyper Island, where he got his first taste of entrepreneurship, and where he developed his idea for DayCape. After completing his time on the Island, and subsequently following that up with a year at Berghs School of Management, it was time to launch DayCape and Daymonics. The former is an app...
2025-07-2531 min
One the Come UpFerdinand Grapperhaus from NextsenseThe first Dutchman on the Podcast!, Ferdinand Grapperhaus is the CEO of Nextsense, a company aimed at decarbonizing real estate. Grapperhaus’ career began at Delft University of Technology, where, when pursuing his MSc, he made a once-in-a-lifetime discovery: a substance to be used in windows to convert natural light into energy. Recognizing the potential of this innovation, Grapperhaus and a co-founder started Physee in 2014 (Physics + Seeing = Physee). In 2024, they merged with EDGE Next, the daughter company of Edge Technologies, becoming NextSense. Pivoting to AI and software, their new technology aims to reduce energy consumption of real estate through data in...
2025-07-1229 min
One the Come UpMatthew Rastovac from Salesforce and RespellI was fortunate to share the time with Mr Matthew Rastovac. The former CEO of Respell (now acquired by Salesforce), his career began at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Here, Mr Rastovac was co-president of Founders, the university’s entrepreneurship club, where he doubled the group’s budget and grew from 5 to 60 members. During this time, he also landed internships at NASA and Facebook. One semester shy of completing his four years, he landed a job at Cameo (who can turn down a startup soon-to-be Unicorn?) where he designed and implemented core components of Cameo's infrastructure. However, realizing he had...
2025-07-121h 01
One the Come UpMilagros Barsallo from the City of DenverI was honored to be joined by Ms. Milagros Barsallo, who currently serves as the Outreach Director for the Denver Mayor’s Office. Her career began at Cornell University, where she studied Government and International Relations. After college, her first role was as a bilingual third and fourth grade teacher through Teach For America in Colorado, working to support underserved students. Afterwards, seeing the persistent barriers between families and the education system, she founded RISE Colorado in 2012. The mission of RISE Colorado is to bridge gaps between underserved families and public schools by promoting educational equity and community organizing. Ov...
2025-07-0530 min
One the Come UpPeter Hazlehurst from SyncteraI was fortunate to be joined by Mr Peter Hazlehurst. The CEO and founder of Synctera, a platform that provides the technology infrastructure, compliance tools, and banking partner connections to enable FinTech companies and other businesses to build and launch financial products like bank accounts, debit cards, and lending services. Originally from Australia, Mr Hazlehurst landed in North Carolina in the early ‘90s, where he started his career at Phoenix International. It’s hard to imagine a time before mobile email, and in part we have Mr Hazlehurst to thank for that: His startup Eizel innovated the mail system that...
2025-07-0532 min
One the Come UpCommu! Karolina KauhanenI had the fortune of speaking with Mrs Karoliina Kauhanen – twice. Unfortunately (or, maybe, fortunately) the first go around had issues with the recording (and prompted new measures on my part), so I had the pleasure of a second interview. Mrs Kauhanen joined me all the way from Finland, where her career began at Humak University of Applied Sciences and the University of the Arts Helsinki, where she obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Arts and Events Management. During this time, she worked at the Classic Floorball Academy [Floorball is Finland’s most popular sport], where she was intr...
2025-06-0625 min
One the Come UpAza Steel from CoDream and GoGuardianThe Podcast is back!! After a little hiatus (Thank you AP Exams ;), I was excited to debut the podcast again with Mr Steel! Starting his career at UCLA, where he majored in Sociology, Mr Steel started his first company (GoGuardian) in a different direction. After his friend’s backpack was stolen (and in it was his personal computer), Mr Steel decided to create a Chromebook tracker to recover the device in case of a robbery. Posting it to the Chrome Store, it quickly generated traction. Listening to his customers, his prowess soon expanded and he began creating other features mo...
2025-06-0625 min
One the Come UpYoussef El Kaddioui from ScalelistJoining me all the way from Hong Kong, as my first guest from Asia Forbes, I was excited to have Mr Youssef El Kaddioui as my guest. The CEO and Founder of Scalelab, a venture-building studio and lead generation agency based out of Hong Kong, Mr Youssef began his career at Rouen Business School. Here he acquired his Masters degree, before going to Zhejiang University and Wharton to further his studies. Immediately after college, he began working for Google in Dublin as an Associate Account Strategist. After that, he worked at Mettā, a global entrepreneurs’ club and innovation platform des...
2025-03-2127 min
One the Come UpErnest Owens From Ernest Media EmpireI was honored to have Mr Ernest Owens as my guest. What’s to say about him – what’s not to say about him? – where to even start – where will it end? – fortunately the story’s been given to me, for I’m no writer, myself. A Renaissance Man is the only character in my story, but I have quite the story to tell. I suppose the best way to tell a story is to tell it from the beginning – for that’s how it was told to me. Born in Chicago, raised in Houston, went to UPenn in Philly, USC in LA, an...
2025-03-1833 min
One the Come UpIva Tsolova from JAMBAFor episode number 20 – wow! That’s a lot of episodes – I was honored to have Ms. Tsolova as my guest – the CEO and Founder of JAMBA, a company that provides educational and employment opportunities for those with disabilities in Austria, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Starting in high school where she volunteered at an orphanage, Ms Tsolova has always had a passion for meaningful causes. She obtained her education from the University of National and World Economy for her Bachelor’s and TU Wien and the Vienna School of International Studies for her Master’s. It was also during this time that she sta...
2025-03-0730 min
One the Come UpStephanie Michelsen from JellatechI was joined by Ms Stephanie Michelsen – the CEO and Founder of Jellatech, a biotechnology company based out of Raleigh, North Carolina that seeks to create highly valuable proteins in a scalable, efficient, and sustainable way. Her career began in Denmark, where she attended the University of Copenhagen, and then the University of Denmark. It was also during this time that she partook in a scholarship where she interned at biotech startups in the Bay Area for 6 months. After realizing most biotech companies were focused on recreating animal agriculture, she decided to flip the script – what would happen if anim...
2025-03-0123 min
One the Come UpAmaury Hayat from Ecole des PontsFor the 18th – or maybe 17th, it’s starting to get hard to count – episode, I was fortunate to have Professor Amaury Hayat as my guest. A researcher in mathematics at Ecole de Pont, I’m sure he could help me keep track of my episode numbers – that, and a little bit more. His academic career began in Classe Preparatoire at Lycée Sainte-Geneviève, before he continued on to obtain his PHD from Sorbonne University and his Masters from Cambridge. His first work in AI began with a collaboration with Meta, where he created a neural network that could prove...
2025-03-0122 min
One the Come UpChoë Downes from WeSHFTI was excited to have Ms Chloë Downes as my guest. The CEO and Founder of SHFT, an influencer talent management agency based in the UK, she seeks to bring genuine inclusivity to an industry of smoke and mirrors. While many companies have an inclusive work culture on paper, Ms Chloe has seen firsthand that doesn’t always translate to the real world. After graduating from Bournemouth University, she worked for 2 events companies where she was underappreciated. The only person of color, and from a working class background, she worked and succeeded more than anyone else, but was never tre...
2025-02-2229 min
One the Come UpRichman Neumann from Modumate and YelpIt was a pleasure to have Mr Richman Neumann as my guest. An architect, a businessman, an acapella singer, a mathematician, a man of many hats – some have been led to call him a human podcast. Mr Neumann got his start at Carnegie Mellon University where he studied architecture – the art of “frozen music” that perfectly blended his interests in math and design. Upon graduating in 2013, he worked for Solomon Cordwell Benz, a large multi-family firm where he designed high rises in San. Fran., Honolulu, and Seattle. Larger (and limitless) than the skyscrapers he was building, “a man’s reach should...
2025-02-1523 min
One the Come UpValentin Meaux from Raisers PartnersI was excited to have Mr Valentin Meaux as my guest, for his first podcast experience!! The Co-Founder and Managing partner of Raisers Partners, a Fundraising/M&A advisory firm for African startups, they’re based out of Paris, France. Mr Meaux started his career in a program called Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Écoles, where students go through 2 years of intense preparatory school, until taking an entrance exam for placement to their respective colleges. Receiving the highest marks (of course) Mr Meaux attended HEC Paris, where he partook in an international program that took him to Sydney and Bang...
2025-02-0734 min
One the Come UpAlexia Cooper from 1SolarI was honored to have Ms Alexia Cooper as my guest. The Senior VP of One Solar, she used to be the CEO of Bell Solar until it was acquired. Starting her career at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, she started in air conditioning before moving to Bell Electrical. Initially a sales representative, before buying the owner out, she quickly grew the company and pivoted to residential solar installation and servicing. Revenue increased 400% yearly, her vision exceeded years into the future, and was brought to fruition when she was given full reign. The company donated $100,000 to GivePower, a...
2025-02-0729 min
One the Come UpLiam White from Dr Will'sUnlucky 13 wasn’t unlucky at all – I was fortunate to have Mr Liam White as my guest. CEO and Co-Founder of Dr Will’s, a condiment and beverage brand centered in the UK that focuses on a healthier – but still great tasting – alternative to traditional condiment brands such as Heinz, Hellman’s, etc. Starting his career at the University of Bristol, and landing a job at Morgan Stanley as an investment banker, Mr White initially didn’t plan on becoming an Entrepreneur. After two years, though, at one of the most prestigious investment firms in the world, he realized finance wasn’t...
2025-01-3132 min
One the Come UpAlexander Harmsen from Global PredictionsI was excited to have as my guest Mr Alexander Harmsen. The CEO and Founder of Global Predictions, their flagship model is portfolio pilot, your personal AI financial advisor. A Loran Scholar, Mr Harsem decided to attend University of British Columbia for his degree in engineering physics. After graduating in 2015, he started his first company Iris Automation, an AI tech company that specialized in Beyond the Line of Sight capabilities for drones and other uncrewed aerial vehicles. After scaling that company to work with some of the largest fortune 500 companies in the world, and landing government contracts with the...
2025-01-3133 min
One the Come UpMisha Vitels from Earth BrandsEntering into the double digits now, a big milestone for the podcast, what better way to celebrate than to have a big man with an even bigger dream: Mr Vitels, with Earth Brands, and his goal to take down the plastic, red solo cup that plagues college campuses across the nation. Mr Vitels and his Co-Founder started this company in 2021 in his junior year at Williams College, where they were star varsity tennis athletes. A tough start for a party accessory company, Covid was a big challenge for the young duo but they persevered. Reaching out to Williams Alumni...
2025-01-2429 min
One the Come UpOscar Walter from StocklyJoining me all the way from Paris, for the eleventh episode, is Mr Oscar Walter. The co-founder and CTO of Stockly, a retail technology company that creates a network of shared inventories for partners to sell items they don’t have in stock. The company was conceived in 2016, albeit slightly differently, and officially launched in 2018, a time in which they were a part of the Techstars accelerator. Through several rounds of funding, and keeping up with the latest development in technology, Stockly has proliferated throughout most of Europe. Though the network is not quite as large as Amazon – the main...
2025-01-2428 min
One the Come UpAhana Banerjee, CEO of Clear: Skin SocialI was honored to have Ms Banerjee as my guest. The CEO and Founder of Clear: Social Skincare – a free skin care routine tracking app – Ms Banerjee has always had one goal in mind: to bring a positive value to the world. A never ending pursuit, it started from the culture shock she experienced moving to India from the UK. There, she saw the dual realities of life: luxury and poverty. Questioning why she had the privilege of being born into the former group, she took it as her responsibility to give back for all she’s been given. This in...
2025-01-2438 min
One the Come UpLouis Phillip Broze from SpentlysI was honored to have Mr Louis Phillip Broze as my guest. He’s our first European Forbes 30U alumni, with his company Spentys based out of Brussels, Belgium. He’s also the first of our guests to go through a seed accelerator – both hub.brussels and BEyond Program. Mr. Broze’s company, Spentys, uses 3D modeling, scanning, and printing to create custom-made orthotics and prosthetics. They are in 20 different countries and have helped over 10,000 patients. Something else unique about Mr. Broze is that he is a Kairo Fellow, a very distinct honor for entrepreneurs in Europe.
2025-01-1739 min
One the Come UpTom Shea from Adgile Media GroupTom Shea, from https://www.adgile.co/, joined me today to discuss the newest form of advertisement: mobile billboards. His company turns last mile delivery trucks into billboards, and then tracks their efficacy by collecting nearby user data. It sounds like something out of a sci-get movie — or 1984 — but it’s the way of the future.
A native of Long Island, New York, Tom started his first company while a junior in high school. He attended college at BC, graduated with a degree in Computer science, and got a job at McMaster-Carr that eventually led him to C...
2024-12-2839 min
One the Come UpShirah Benarde from Night CapShirah Benarde is the founder and inventor of Nightcap, a scrunchie-like device for users to put over their cups to prevent spiking. The idea first came to her in a dream when she was just 16 years old, after a college friend of hers was spiked. The product quickly drew national attention, going viral on Tik Tok and appearing on Fox news. In August 2020, Nightcap appeared on Shark Tank, and Shirah closed a deal with Lorrie for $60,000 for a 25% stake. Since then, Nightcap has never slowed down. They are now in 150 universities and colleges, Forever 21, Bumble, and are making their...
2024-12-2820 min
One the Come UpHenry Michaelson from HallaI discuss with Henry Michaelson the technological side of groceries. His company, Halla, is the search engine behind any e-commerce grocery store platform. Initially, you might not understand the importance or magnitude of this niche, but it is a big, multi billion dollar problem that many grocery chains have. Previously, the technology used by grocery store chains wasn’t up to date. This resulted in sud-par customer satisfaction, and profits being lost. But Halla has fixed that problem.
In this episode, we dive deep into what goes on behind the everyday things that you use. The algorithms and...
2024-12-2137 min
One the Come UpMitch Deforest, Ramped Careers, Episode FourA Forbes 30 under 30 entrepreneur; a nomad that travels the world; and a surfer dude that flies first class – Mitch Deforest is a man of many hats. His company, Ramped Careers, has simplified the job search. Just enter your job preferences, add a little bit of information about yourself, and then leave it to AI to get the perfect job for you.
Maybe the most fun interview I’ve had so far, Mitch is down-to-Earth and relatable. Although to most people it would seem like he’s living the dream, Mitch knows what it’s like to be “on...
2024-12-2029 min
One the Come UpDaniel Saks from Appdirect, Landbase, Episode threeDaniel Saks has always been at the lead of technology. In 2009, Daniel recognized the emergence of the Cloud as the future of SaaS. He and his partner started Appdirect, and quickly grew to become the leading B2B commerce platform. Over the course of 15 years, Daniel grew Appdirect to a 1.5 billion dollar company. But he’s brought our current technology to its culmination – it’s great right now, could be better, but never good enough.
So he’s at it again, starting all over, and creating an entirely new technology – agentive AI. With his new com...
2024-12-2039 min
One the Come UpSeamus Ruiz-Earle from CarabinerMr Seamus and I discuss starting his creating of Carabiner, a Rev-Ops and software implementation company. We also discuss Nature vs Nurture, growth and development of a company, and about the several types of entrepreneurs there are.
2024-11-3034 min
One the Come UpCavan Klisnky from Healthie -- InterviewMr. Klinsky and I discuss UPenn, the telehealth industry, starting a multi-million dollar company, and the journey of an entrepreneur.
2024-11-3037 min