PODCAST · business
Let's Grab Coffee Podcast ☕
by George Khalife
Uncovering the entrepreneurial journey's of up and coming startup founders, over coffee
Episodes
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#179 – Henry Munez | Leadership, Relationships and the Future of Banking
Henry Munez is Vice Chair of BMO U.S., where he helps oversee the bank's U.S. business across Commercial Banking, Wealth Management, Personal & Business Banking, and Capital Markets. Over his 30+ year career, he has held senior leadership roles across commercial banking, specialty finance, middle...
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#178 – Christina Ackermann | Leading Beyond Legal: Strategy, Growth and Governance
Christina Ackermann is a global executive, board director, and former General Counsel with more than 25 years of leadership experience across pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer products. In this episode, we discuss leadership, career reinvention, moving from legal into business...
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#177 – Wendell Dallas | Powering Illinois: Leadership, Strategy & the Future of Energy
Wendell Dallas serves as president and CEO of Nicor Gas, one of America’s leading natural gas distributors and the largest distribution company of Southern Company Gas. In this role, he is responsible for ensuring that natural gas reaches more than 2.3 million homes and businesses in over 650...
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#176 – Varvara Alva | What Great CFOs Actually Do: Leadership, Teams & the C-Suite
Varvara Alva is a finance, strategy, and operations executive with 25+ years of experience scaling high-growth technology companies and leading successful public and private exits. She is an active investor and advisor to Chicago-based startups, deeply involved in the local startup ecosystem...
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#175 – Tyrone Thomas | Inside the Mind of a General Counsel: Leadership, Risk & Decision-Making
Tyrone Thomas is the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Doral Renewables, a leading developer, owner, and operator of renewable energy assets across the United States, with a portfolio exceeding 13 GW and more than $2.5 billion in long-term power purchase agreements. Over his career,...
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#174 – Nick Moran | Why Outsider Founders Win and How New Stack Picks the Best Early-Stage Teams
Nick Moran is a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and the Founder & General Partner of New Stack Ventures, a Chicago-based fund backing early-stage, often first-time founders building in emerging markets and overlooked categories. He’s also the creator and host of The Full Ratchet, one of the...
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#173 – Michael Roytman | How AI Is Changing Cyber Risk And What Most Companies Get Wrong
Michael Roytman is a cybersecurity data scientist and entrepreneur. Born in East Germany and raised between Ukraine and Russia, he immigrated to the U.S. and studied industrial engineering at UIUC and operations research at Georgia Tech. A lifelong builder, he founded TruckSpotting and Dharma...
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#172 – Betsy Fore | From First Indigenous Founder to Raise a Series A to Becoming a VC Leader
Betsy Fore is the first Native American (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) woman to raise a Series A and is now the Founding Partner of Velveteen Ventures, investing in children and the planet for the next seven generations. A three-time founder, she built two multi-million dollar brands — including Tiny...
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#171 – Rola Dagher | Rising from War to the Global Boardroom: Leadership with Purpose
Rola Dagher is one of the most influential leaders in global technology — having served as Global Channel Chief at Dell Technologies and President & CEO of Cisco Canada. Born in war-torn Lebanon, Rola’s journey from rebuilding her life in Canada to leading multibillion-dollar organizations is a...
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#170 – Terry Graunke | From Founder to Family Office: Lessons on Building Businesses That Last
In this episode of the Let’s Grab Coffee Podcast, George Khalife sits down with Terry Graunke, Founder and Chairman of Erie Street Growth Partners, to unpack lessons from more than 30 years of building, leading, and investing in high-growth companies.From founding and selling his first company to...
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#169 – Brian Wolfe | Private Equity in Chicago: Lessons on Building and Backing Startups
Brian Wolfe is Managing Partner at Funded Ventures, a private investment firm, and is a retired partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. In addition to his teaching at Booth, Wolfe also teaches courses on private equity and entrepreneurship at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Washington…
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#168 – Pablo Srugo | Inside Mistral VC: How Canadian Venture Capital Backs Startups
Pablo Srugo is a Partner at Mistral, based in Toronto. Prior to Mistral, Pablo was the co-founder and COO of Gymtrack– a VC-backed startup in the FitTech space. Before starting Gymtrack, Pablo co-founded an online tutoring platform, which was acquired in 2014.
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#167 – Vijen Patel | From P&G Exit to $41M VC Fund: Why Boring Industries Win
Vijen Patel is the Founding Partner of The 81 Collection, a $41 million early-stage venture fund that invests in founders building across "hard industries" like manufacturing, real estate, retail, and construction—sectors often overlooked by traditional VCs.Before becoming an investor, Vijen...
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#166 – Harry Kraemer | Leading with Values: Lessons from a Former Global CEO & Kellogg Professor
Harry Kraemer, Jr. is the former Chairman and CEO of Baxter International, a $12 billion global healthcare company. He is currently a Clinical Professor of Leadership at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, where he teaches values-based leadership and has been named Professor…
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#165 – Michael Fassnacht | Building Brands, Driving Growth, and Elevating Chicago
Michael Fassnacht is President of the Chicagoland Region and Chief Growth Officer at Clayco, where he drives business development, marketing, and sales while mentoring the team. Before Clayco, he was the first-ever Chief Marketing Officer for the City of Chicago and CEO of World Business Chicago,...
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#164 – Landon Campbell | Venture Capital, Community Building, and Chicago Tech
Landon W. Campbell is the General Manager for Drive Capital in Chicago, a $2.3B venture capital firm committed to investing in exceptional founders who are shaping the future of market-defining companies between the Hudson River and the Rocky Mountains. Landon oversees the firm’s $80M pre-seed…
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#163 - Edward Woodford | Crypto, Stablecoins, and the Future of Finance
Edward Woodford is the Co-Founder and CEO of Zero Hash, a leading crypto and stablecoin infrastructure platform based in Chicago. Since founding the company in 2017, Edward has been at the forefront of transforming the global financial landscape, enabling seamless access to digital assets for...
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#162 - Thomas Thayyil Thomas | Transforming Deal Strategy Using AI
TTT is the CEO of Teragonia, specializing in AI-driven analytics and value creation for PE-backed and founder-led middle-market companies. A seasoned M&A strategist with deep expertise in data science, he previously built and led Houlihan Lokey’s financial due diligence and data analytics...
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#161 - Duane Jackson | Investing in Founder-Led Businesses and Building Author Capital Partners
Duane is the Founder & Managing Partner of Author Capital Partners with 20 years of experience advising and investing in public and private companies. He serves on the boards of SilverIP Communications and ESD Global. Previously, Duane was an investment professional at BDT Capital Partners,...
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#160 - Shawn Ellis | Inside a $100M Fund Investing in the Future of Risk
Shawn Ellis is the Managing Partner of Distributed Ventures. He co-founded and manages the fund. Prior to Distributed Ventures, Shawn built and lead NFP Ventures, a captive early-stage venture fund sponsored by NFP Corp, the diversified insurance brokerage. Shawn’s investment approach leverages...
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#159 - Chris Crawford | Making Prescription Drug Costs Affordable
Chris Crawford founded RxSaveCard to make prescriptions more affordable for employers and employees. With over 25 years in employee benefits, including leadership roles at Mercer and experience in pharmacy benefits, Chris created RxSaveCard to offer cash and discount pricing without requiring a...
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#158 - Sean Johnson | Proven Marketing Strategies for Professional Services
Madison was started by Sean Johnson. For 12 years he was a founding partner at Manifold, an early stage venture fund and innovation consulting firm. For 9 years he taught digital marketing at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. Sean learned the hard way how difficult it can be to market…
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#157 - Samara Hernandez | Journey from Mexico to $52M VC Fund
Samara Hernandez is the founder of Chingona Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on investing in overlooked and underrepresented founders. Born in Mexico and raised in Rogers Park, Chicago, Samara's early life was marked by her family's hard work and resilience. She earned an engineering…
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#156 - Andrew Sykes | The Power of Habits & Building Trust
Andrew Sykes leads the Habits at Work team and is a Lecturer of Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He is also part of the Kellogg Sales Institute Executive Education Team, where he teaches the award-winning course "Entrepreneurial Selling," ranked by Inc....
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#155 - Mike de Vere | How Zest AI, a Fintech Breakthrough, is Making Fair Credit Accessible
As an executive at Zest AI, Mike has made it the company’s mission to leverage AI in consumer credit underwriting to build financial equity and create a better, richer, and fuller life for all. In his 25 years prior experience to Zest AI, Mike focused on amplifying the voice of consumers to...
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#154 - Victor Pascucci III | Pioneering Venture Capital at the Forefront of Natural Gas Innovation
Vic is a successful venture capitalist with 19+ years of broad professional experience. Top decile performing track record. Extensive ESG, digital transformation, fintech and Insurtech investing experience. Diverse background with Fortune 130 and early-stage venture companies. Complementary...
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#153 - Gale Wilkinson | Demystifying Investing, The Path to Inclusive Venture Capital
Gale Wilkinson is the Managing Partner at VITALIZE, early-stage fund & angel community investing in WorkTech startups. Gale is also revolutionizing angel investing through VITALIZE Angels, the largest inclusive angel group globally. She actively supports emerging talents in the VC sector via The...
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#152 - Allison Whalen | Balancing Parenthood and Career, The Journey to Founding Parentaly
Throughout her entire adult life, Allison has been intensely focused on her career, always ensuring that her current role is not only a stimulating challenge but also a stepping stone towards future growth. In 2017, while pregnant with her first child, Allison nearly resigned from a sales...
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#151 - Samir Mirza | The Ups & Downs of Entrepreneurship
Samir Mirza is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Fifth Star Funds - a venture philanthropy fund investing in Black tech entrepreneurs at the pre-seed / "Friends & Family" stage in Chicago. He was formerly the Co-Founder and CTO of TapCommerce (acquired by Twitter for $100M). He began his...
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#150 - Dan Zavorotny | leveraging technology to improve global health
Dan is on a mission to personalize nutrition by leveraging CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) and Machine Learning. In simple terms, Nutrisense helps reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes & heart disease, helping people shed unwanted weight, and advise athletes on how to become the best versions…
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#149 - Chris Kelly | The Sandler Sales Training Methodology
Chris Kelly is Owner of the Sandler Training® Center located in Toronto. His firm works with Business Leaders, Sales Leaders, Sellers & Customer Care professionals who are serious about personal and professional success and willing to succeed through ongoing improvement and implementation of…
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#148 - Claude Cimeus | Being Authentic & Bringing People Together
Claude Cimeus is a close personal friend and peer within Chicago's entrepreneurial ecosystem. He's currently Director of Platform at P33 Chicago; a non-profit focused on driving inclusive growth for Chicago’s tech sector. Prior to that, Claude worked as a Product Manager at five startups and...
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#147 - Swapnil Shinde | exiting 2 startups & building AI for finance teams
Swapnil is the CEO & Co-founder of Zeni.ai - Bookkeeping, Tax, and CFO Services Platform designed for Startup Founders. Zeni is his 3rd startup. He has built and sold two startups before. His first startup was Dhingana and his second startup was Mezi.
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#146 - Mark Achler | How to Sell Your Startup, Maximize Return and Build Legacy
Venture Capital investor, CEO, Serial entrepreneur, a faculty member at the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, and Co-author of Exit Right. Check out Mark's new book: https://amzn.to/3EGmqPS
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#145 - Kenny Rose | earning passive income through franchise investing
FranShares is an investment platform that lets anyone diversify their portfolio, hedge against inflation, and earn passive income through franchise investing. Our investors enjoy unparalleled transparency while investing in SEC and FTC regulated real assets that are rigorously-vetted and managed…
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#144 - Kristel Bechara | Becoming the First Female Artist From the Middle East to Launch NFT’s
Born in Lebanon and based in Dubai, Kristel Bechara is an award-winning contemporary artist who has quickly established herself as the rising star of the Middle Eastern art world. Recognized for her dynamic patterns and expressive colours, Kristel’s artwork consists of the revolutionary creation…
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#143 - Priyanka Jain | Reinventing How We Understand & Treat the Female Body
Evvy is on a mission to radically reinvent how we understand and treat the female body, starting with the vaginal microbiome. Evvy’s first product — the Evvy Vaginal Health Test — is the first-ever at-home vaginal microbiome test to use metagenomic sequencing to tell you what’s up down there, why...
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#142 - Daniel Dubois | Co-ownership Platform Providing Access to Real Estate for All
Daniel is a serial entrepreneur and passionate changemaker. He recently sold his last two venture-backed companies and joined Airbnb full-time. Daniel also spoke on stage in front of 20,000 youth at We Day, directed a film series on the sharing economy, received a monthly grant from the Austrian...
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#141 - Amanda Lannert | Vulnerability in Leadership & Daring to Be Great
Amanda Lannert is CEO of Jellyvision and has been a key figure in driving the company since its founding in 2001. Her focus at Jellyvision is on the company’s strategy, improving processes to better scale operations, partnership development, and customer acquisition to continue fueling the...
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#140 - Paul Hsu | Investing in Web3 With a $48.8M Blockchain Venture Fund
Paul Hsu is Founder and CEO of Decasonic, the venture and digital assets fund building blockchain innovation. As a tech investor and operator, Paul partners with outlier founders to accelerate product market fit and systematically scale early stage companies. Paul’s curiosity and conviction in...
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#139 - Guy Kawasaki | The Art of the Start & Lessons From Steve Jobs
Guy possesses extensive knowledge of innovation, entrepreneurship, social media, podcasting, and marketing. First and foremost, he is an evangelist. The term comes from a Greek word that means "bringing the good news." That's what he does--whether the good news of Macintosh or the good news of...
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#138 - Victor Gutwein | Building One of the Most Active VC Firms in the Midwest at 29
Entrepreneur, economist and strategist aiming to create value in the Midwest by investing in early-stage startups. https://m25vc.com/
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#137 - Boyede Sobitan | building a digital marketplace for cultural groceries
Boyede Sobitan is the Co-Founder and CEO of OjaExpress. OjaExpress is a digital marketplace for cultural groceries. OjaExpress seeks to provide a culturally competent service that is reflective and respectful of people's individual cultures. Check it out: https://ojaexpress.com/
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#136 - Anoop Gupta | SeekOut crossing unicorn status & lessons from working with Bill Gates
Anoop Gupta is the CEO and Co-Founder of SeekOut, the AI-powered Talent 360 platform. Anoop started SeekOut after a 20-year career at Microsoft, which began with the acquisition of his first startup, VXtreme, in 1997. During his tenure, Anoop was the Corporate Vice-President of the...
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#135 - Austin Long | Building Community Through Internet Collectibles
Youtooz is a company turning nostalgia and internet culture into amazing products that people love, has grown its online following to 2 million in just two years. It has also seen YoY growth of 600% from 2019 to 2021. About Austin long: former founder of SquareOne, former SVP of Gaming at Omnia...
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#134 - Pete Wilkins | Finding Purpose as an Entrepreneur
Pete Wilkins is a purpose-driven leader committed to creating a positive impact in the world. Before he was thirty, he was a critical part of two technology startups that sold and IPO’d for more than $2.8 billion. He later went on to lead the turnaround of a medical education company from record...
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#133 - Lauren Foundos | From Wall St. to Fitness Tech
FORTË is the fitness industry's only turnkey premium live and on-demand streaming white-label digital solution. For more information, please visit https://www.goforte.fit/ or email [email protected]
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#132 - Kyle Nakatsuji | Building a Smarter Choice for Car Insurance
Clearcover offers affordable car insurance that’s smarter, faster and puts your needs above all else, helping you make informed decisions every step of the way. Prior to starting Clearcover, Kyle helped launch a venture-capital fund at American Family Insurance. He convinced the insurer to invest...
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#131 - Yuval Brisker | The Emergence of Embedded Finance
About Yuval Yuval is a serial technology entrepreneur. Prior to founding Alviere, Yuval co-founded TOA Technologies, the leading global provider of field service management SaaS solutions. He led TOA over 40 straight quarters of recurring revenue growth, raising $133m in capital from Draper…
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#130 - Ash Agarwal | Digitally Transforming the Resource Industry
Symboticware is an Operating System of Intelligence that digitally transforms the resource industry in real-time with end-to-end actionable data insights. Website: http://www.symboticware.com Ash's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashutoshmagus/
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Uncovering the entrepreneurial journey's of up and coming startup founders, over coffee
HOSTED BY
George Khalife
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Let's Grab Coffee Podcast ☕ have?
Let's Grab Coffee Podcast ☕ currently has 177 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Let's Grab Coffee Podcast ☕ about?
Uncovering the entrepreneurial journey's of up and coming startup founders, over coffee
How often does Let's Grab Coffee Podcast ☕ release new episodes?
Let's Grab Coffee Podcast ☕ publishes regularly with 177 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Let's Grab Coffee Podcast ☕?
You can listen to Let's Grab Coffee Podcast ☕ on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Let's Grab Coffee Podcast ☕?
Let's Grab Coffee Podcast ☕ is created and hosted by George Khalife.
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