Throughout his career, Hanna Kassis has overseen $1.5 billion in capital deployment. Hanna began his entrepreneurial journey in Youngstown, where he... more

It is with a heavy heart that I honor Bob Sopko’s memory by revisiting Lay of The Land's 12th episode.... more

Ryan Schreiber is a long-time Clevelander and major advocate for the city, as well as the founder and CEO of... more

Jim Weisman, CEO of Ingine, exploring deep into the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcareIn our world where healthcare costs... more

Lance Hill, CEO of Within3, has led one of Cleveland's most well-capitalized startups, raising over $100 million to transform how... more

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Lay of The Land podcast. Today, we're doing something a bit different... more

Chas Withers, chairman and CEO of Dix & Eaton, the storied Cleveland integrated communications firm, known for its specialization in... more

Joe Pulizzi is a serial entrepreneur and deeply passionate about all things content marketing and entrepreneurship —he is the bestselling... more

Aaron Hoffman and John Zinno — co-founders of DeliverThat, based in Canton Ohio.Friends for life, the two of them started... more

Andrew Rising, CEO of Encore Venture Labs.As someone who believes deeply in the opportunity for Cleveland’s future, I find Andrew’s... more

Franco Kraiselburd — Co-Founder and CEO of Asclepii — building the next generation of tissue engineering therapeutics for wound healing.I’ve... more

John Vickers, Founder & CEO of Blue Abyss.John is building one of the most ambitious and inspiring projects I’ve encountered... more

Laura Bennett and Alex Krooglik, co-founders of Embrace Pet Insurance, which was sold in 2023 for $1.5 billion to JAB... more

Dan Nitowsky, Chair of TIGER 21 Cleveland.Dan, like me is a native New Yorker who has made Cleveland his home... more

Fred DiSanto, Chairman and CEO of Ancora — the Cleveland-based investment firm with nearly $10B in assets under management and... more

Taylor Evans — Founder and President of Rust Belt Recruiting, a leading local manufacturing recruiting agency, which also hosts a... more

My guests this week are my friends and partners over at Impact Architects —who many of you will note are... more

Sandor Gyerman and Jared Anderson, the dynamic co-founders of Andor Creative.Founded in 2018 when they were Sophomores at Cleveland State... more

Joshua Edmonds, CEO of DigitalC.The digital divide — this gap between people who have access to the internet and those... more

Mike Malley, President and CEO of Malley's Chocolates.If you grew up in northeast Ohio it’s very likely you know of... more

Craig Hassall, CEO of Playhouse SquareCraig is a mainstay in the international theater community, with decades of experience operating and... more

Keith Gerchak and Marisa Guterman — Founders @ Double G FilmsThis is a truly special episode — I always love exploring... more

Mitchell Vargo, Partner at Forward Hospitality Group.Since its founding in 2015, the Cleveland-based Hospitality Group has built out unique entertainment,... more

Ian Maurer — Chief Technology Officer at GenomOncology and co-lead of the Cancer Informatics for Cancer Centers’ AI working group.With... more

Umberto P. Fedeli —  Founder, President, and CEO of The Fedeli GroupI first had the opportunity to speak with Umberto... more

Matt Buder Shapiro — Chief Marketing Officer at Vytalize Health, Previously Founder at MedPilot (Acquired)I first spoke to Matt on... more

Aaron Slodov — CEO of Atomic Industries, a company he co-founded back in 2019 and has raised over $20 million... more

Darren Small, co-founder and CEO of Oko.With over a decade of experience on Wall Street, Darren’s analytical background from the... more

John Kempf — founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA), a regenerative agronomy company started back in 2006 to share the... more

Adam Graybill, co-founder and CEO of Journey Biosciences.With a robust 20-year tenure in the diabetes market, Adam has been at... more

Phil Londrico, Founder & CEO of JaTango — an interactive broadcasting and e-commerce platform that gives individuals the power to... more

Dr. James Kenyon, Director of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OhioThe road to the Moon goes through Cleveland. With... more

Ryan McManus — founder and CEO of SHARE MobilityRyan is passionate about solving workforce and rural mobility challenges, creating and... more

Today we’re running a replay of one of my favorite conversations from 2022 with Lila Mills of Signal Cleveland. Since... more

Andre Cisco — Manager for MGK and XX Brands, Brand Strategist and Investor, co-owner of the 27 Club — the... more

Rick Stockburger, CEO of BRITE Energy Innovators.Located in the City of Warren, just outside Youngstown in the Mahoning Valley, BRITE... more

Kyle Maggard, Founder & CEO of Over Easy.Kyle started OverEasy in the fall of 2018, reflecting on his time as... more

Azadeh Hardiman — Business Leader of Level20, the new business incubator of Progressive Insurance, one of the largest insurance carriers... more

Nick Dadas — Co-Founder of University Tees, SISU Lifestyle, Acton Academy Lakeside, ISI, and MasterPlan Coach.In 2003, still a sophomore... more

Reilly Berk, CEO of Berk Enterprises.Founded back in 1946 by her grandparents, Suzanne and Harold Berk, Berk Enterprises boasts a... more

Mary Cowan, the President of NCS Credit, based here in the greater Cleveland area.The story of NCS Credit is one... more

Ethan Holmes — founder and CEO of Holmes Mouthwatering, a Cleveland-based manufacturer of all-natural applesauce, made with Ohio-grown apples, pears,... more

Mohamed Kamara, founder and CEO of InovCares.Grounded in a sobering reality: The United States has the highest rates of maternal... more

David Tirpak, founder of Miracle K9 Training — Since founding the company in 2019, David has grown Miracle K9 Training... more

Jim Pshock, Founder of Bravo Wellness, which he successfully exited to Medical Mutual in 2020.After 20 years working in the... more

Kaleb Dumot — founder of Integrity Power Search here in Cleveland, a boutique search firm for technology companies all across... more

Every 50th episode on Lay of The Land thus far, I’ve tried to honor the request I occasionally get, that... more

Andrew Maurer is the co-founder and CTO of Rise Works, an all-in-one compliance and payment platform designed for companies with... more

Patrick Ghilani, CEO of MRI Software.Founded in 1971 & based in Solon, Ohio — MRI Software has been a leading... more

Erin Holston Singh, founder of Options Naturapathic, the Ohio Association of Naturopathic Doctors (OHNDA), and in private practice since 1999.She... more

Meg Mayhugh, Founder and Managing Partner at People Architects as well as the Head of Talent & people at Ninety.io... more

Brian Krusz is the Founder & Managing Partner at Sgt. Clean Car Wash —  a premier express carwash organization proudly... more

TJ Gliha, Co-Founder of Journey Wealth.Established in 2021, Journey Wealth is a full-service wealth planning firm that helps entrepreneurs explore... more

Our conversation this week is with Tom Lix — founder & CEO of Cleveland Whiskey — on pushing the boundaries... more

Todd Goldstein — Founder & CEO of Whoa DoughIn 2008, Todd co-founded LaunchHouse with the mission to invest, develop, and... more

Gerald Hetrick (CEO of Docket (formerly Bezlio) & Professional EOS Implementer) Gerald has been on the show once before; those... more

Jack Greco, co-founder and former CFO and COO of ACV Auctions, a Buffalo-based wholesale online marketplace for cars (ACV Auctions... more

Tracy Strobel — CEO of the Cuyahoga County Public Library (CCPL)Tracy Strobel was appointed Chief Executive Officer of CCPL in... more

Ethan Karp — President and CEO of MAGNET: The Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network which, founded in 1984, has been... more

Mike Maczuzak — a product designer, early-stage investor, and founder of SmartShape Design — an innovative product development and industrial... more

Adam Rakestraw — co-founder, chairman, general counsel, and chief business development officer of MediView XR, based here in Cleveland Ohio!... more

Michael Sirpilla, co-founder and CEO of Society Brands.Under Michael’s leadership as CEO, Society Brands has raised $205 million in capital... more

Umberto Fedeli — Founder, President, and CEO of the Fedeli group — one of the largest risk management and insurance... more

Andrew Wolfe, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Bloomfilter.Andrew is a software engineer turned entrepreneur who is passionate about improving the ways... more

Mike Schroeder, Founder & President of Roundstone.Mike founded Roundstone Insurance in 2003 — when they launched the first Group Medical... more

David Levine — Co-Founder/CEO @ Wireless Environment (Acquired by Ring, Acquired by Amazon) & Co-Founder/CEO @ My Home Park Having made... more

Stewart A. Kohl is Co-CEO of The Riverside Company — a $14 billion global private equity firm founded to invest... more

Bill Manby, Founding & Managing Partner at Interstate Fusion Ventures.An entrepreneur at heart, Bill grew up in NEO and has... more

John McKenna, CEO of Peachtree VA, a virtual assistant staffing organization & President of The Emerald Group, a premier mortgage... more

Mitch Kroll, co-founder & CEO of Findaway (acquired by Spotify).Mitch started Findaway back in 2004, a time when audiobooks were... more

Michael Crawford — Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO of the Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company, which... more

Michael Goldberg, Executive Director of the Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship, as well as an Associate Professor of Design and Innovation... more

Angie Dianetti — President and driving force behind Radcom, a company specializing in performance improvement consulting, which she founded back... more

Andrew Spott — Founder & President of HR Signal, and the Founder & Chairman of the VividFront.Andrew founded VividFront back... more

Justin McLoughlin — Founder & CEO of airCFO — on building a bootstrapped company, scaling a professional services organization, the... more

Tory and Michael Waxman — the founders of Sundays (>$14 million raised, Cleveland-based) — on building Sundays for Dogs to... more

Dom Raban — Founder and CEO of Xploro®While originally founded in the UK, Xploro has recently established its headquarters here in... more

Mike Bruckman, CEO of Haima Therapeutics.With a PhD in organic chemistry and additional training in biomedical engineering and management, Mike... more

Brendan Anderson and Donnie Bedney on their work at ScaleCo — a Cleveland-based entrepreneurship-through-acquisition organization that has invested more than... more

Tanya Budler, Founder of Rise Together, on building an impact consulting firm based here in Cleveland that partners with civic,... more

Our conversation this week is with Lindsay Watson, CEO & Founder of Augment Therapy.Augment Therapy was founded in 2017 when... more

Dr. Onas Bolton — Founder and CEO of Octet Scientific, a specialty Cleveland-based chemical manufacturer unlocking the full power of... more

Anees Pretorius and Cono Onorato — co-founders of Bean ($1.7mm in funding) — on the pursuit of their vision to... more

Julia Solooki & Lior Shafir — the co-founders of Smart Soda, headquartered here in Cleveland — on revolutionizing the beverage... more

Adrian Bota — co-founder and CEO of ORIGIN Milk — on creating the superlative, regenerative A2 heritage milk company!Adrian’s roots... more

Ed Largent — President, CEO, and Board Chair of Westfield, one of the most enduring companies in Ohio.Very few companies... more

Matt Crowley and Bill Wichert, the co-founders of TonDone, have recently secured $1.5 million in funding and facilitated over $30... more

Dan Hampu and Daniel Isenberg on their collective work at the Burton D Morgan Foundation and Scalerator NEO — covering... more

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Brian Folmer.Born and raised in Cleveland, Brian has boomeranged back to Cleveland... more

Afif Ghannoum, a biotech attorney by background and the CEO of BIOHM Health — which he co-founded with his father,... more

Adam Fleischer — President of Cleveland’s Entrepreneurs' Organization and founder & co-owner of The Wine Spot here in Cleveland Heights.A... more

Michael Murphy, on a mission to bring professional soccer to Cleveland as the Co-founder and CEO of the Cleveland Soccer... more

Aleksandra Brankov and Cole Worley — the co-founders of Cafilia, a Cleveland startup and network of curated local coffee shops... more

Jeremy Umansky, the renowned chef and owner of Larder!Larder Delicatessen and Bakery — as it’s known in full — is... more

Lay of The Land's conversation today is with Artur Grabowski — co-founder of Extendify.Artur emigrated from Poland to the Cleveland... more

Chuck Snider, Jamey Snider, and Jeff Snider — the family behind Snider Recreation — on building & growing a recreational and... more

Dr. Elad Granot — Dean of John Carroll University’s Boler College of Business, co-founder and managing member of an early-stage... more

Jan Jenson — Ph.D., CEO/CSO/Founder of Trailhead Biosystems — on the basics of cell differentiation and development biology, and the vast... more

Aaron George — Founder/CEO of SupplyNow — on building the on-demand wholesale grocery delivery market for foodservice and his journey as an... more

Jeffrey Stern — host of the Lay of The Land Podcast and co-founder at Axuall — reflecting on the... more

Steve Santamaria — CEO of Folio Photonics — on innovating storage media and the future of storage technology, the opportunity... more

Kris Snyder — founder of Vox Mobile and Impact Architects & Head of Finance and Partnerships at Ninety.io — on working... more

Raji Sankar — co-founder of Wholesome International & co-CEO of Choolaah — on building best-in-class restaurants, culture, and customer experiences after... more

Lukas Minkov & Logan Schouman — Co-Founders at afters.io & IDRA — on unlocking the value of instant local delivery services!

Ed Weinfurtner — Executive Chairman of Great Day Improvements (one of NEO's largest companies employing over 2,000 people) & Co-Founder at... more

Chef Douglas Katz — chef & owner of Amba, Chimi, Zhug — on creating fulfilling, transportive experiences that nurture and inspire... more

Michael Kubinski — Founder & CEO of Cleveland Clothing Company — on spreading Cleveland pride, one t-shirt at a time since... more

Leopoldo Peña — Co-Founder & CEO of Presta — on startups, his passion for expanding access to those who historically... more

Heather Lenz — Founder & CEO of Sangfroid Strategy — on her entrepreneurial journey, how data is currently used in... more

Pat Conway & Mark King — Co-founder & CEO respectively of Great Lakes Brewing Company — on building Ohio’s original craft... more

Lila Mills — founding editor-in-chief of Signal Cleveland — on starting a newsroom from scratch and building the trust required to... more

Anne Skoch — Founder and CEO of Anne Cate — on how to marry art and business, pursue your passion... more

Sherrill Paul Witt — founder of Lolly The Trolley — on running one of Cleveland's most beloved icons since 1985, covering... more

Dallas Hogensen — CEO of Felux (>$24mm raised) — on marketplaces, importance of culture, and creating the world’s largest operating platform... more

Shawn Rech — Co-Founder/CEO/Director at Transition Studios, AGTV & TruBlu — on growing Cleveland's permanent media industry, the importance of... more

Graham Veysey & Fisk Biggar — founders of Graham+Fisk’s Wine-In-A-Can \\ Firehouse Can Co. — on building the first exclusive wine-in-a-can... more

Tom Tyrrell — founder and Chairman of Great Lakes Biomimicry & co-founder of Segmint — on the power of biomimicry... more

Baiju Shah — President and CEO of Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP) — on economic development in Cleveland and leading the... more

David Sylvan — president of UH Ventures, the innovation and commercialization division of University Hospitals, a Cleveland-based health system with... more

Dr. Colleen M. Lorber — Founder & CEO of Wraparound Experts — on the current state of our society’s mental... more

David Davis II — Founder & CEO of FBA Flip — on entrepenuership, the changing dynamics of the modern internet-first world we... more

William (Billy) Littlefield II — President & CTO of Wizest — on Wizest's (recently raised $1.7mm) vision to democratize access... more

Dr. Chelsea Monty-Bromer — founder & CEO of SweatID (aka RooSense) — on bridging the academic-entrepreneurial gap, the implications of... more

Mark D’Agostino — founder and president of ConnectedHR — on the changing macro-dynamics of employment, how the nature of... more

Chris Wentz — Founder and CEO of Everykey — on taking an idea at his Case Western entrepreneurship class to... more

Dennis Althar — Founder & CEO of Althar Audio and All-tronics Medical Systems — on everything from his prodigal expertise in electronics,... more

Dennis Althar — Founder & CEO of Althar Audio and All-tronics Medical Systems — on everything from his prodigal expertise in electronics,... more

John Wetzel, Alex Hilleary, Brooks Sime — Co-Founders of Gather — on building a company oriented around a future of work... more

Camille Heard — CEO & Co-Founder of FELOH — on building a beauty tech startup celebrating diversity in beauty through... more

Patrick M. Howard and Ben Kanelos — founding team of RustBit Studios and creators of the Grip of Madness game... more

Eugene Malinskiy — Co-Founder and CEO of Lazurite — on the future of the operating rooms, the path to get... more

Ray Leach (Founder/CEO) & Hardik Desai (Sr. Partner) on the history of JumpStart, the launch of JumpStart Ventures and its... more

Nolan Gallagher — Founder and CEO of Gravitas Ventures — on building a global all rights theatrical distribution company that... more

Dave Kennedy — Founder of Binary Defense and TrustedSec — on his journey to becoming a cybersecurity authority, building two of... more

Tony Pietrocola — Co-Founder & President of AgileBlue — on serial entrepreneurship, technology waves, and cybersecurity.

John Nottingham — Co-Founder & Co-President of Nottingham Spirk — on building the longest-standing design collaborative in the world (celebrating its... more

Rick Simmons — Co-Founder & CEO of the telos institute — on leadership, personal betterment, liminal spaces, embracing disruption, ultramarathons,... more

Drew Kraemer — CEO of Code3 & Founder of Marketplace Strategy — on building a digital performance marketing agency that... more

Jamie Van Doren — Founder & CEO of NeverEnding — on gaming, entertainment, entrepreneurship, pseudonymity, the future of storytelling,... more

Ryan Lambacher — Founder & CEO of Graffle — on unlocking the value of NFTs and solving the infrastructure layer... more

Cal Al-Dhubaib — Founder & CEO of Pandata - on the design and development of human-centered, trusted AI solutions that... more

Daniel Brown — Co-Founder of Rust Belt Riders and Tilth Soil — on providing people with a clean, timely, and... more

Ryan Young — Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Fello (formerly FlashHouse) — on the real estate industry today, ins... more

Jack Grover — Founder & CEO of Grove Bags — on the ins and outs of the cannabis industry,... more

Dr. Daniel German — founder & CEO of orthobrain — on transforming the delivery of orthodontics, solving the global orthodontic... more

Jane Alexander — Chief Digital Information Officer at The Cleveland Museum of Art — exploring the state of the art... more

Eric Diamond — co-founder and CEO of Central Kitchen — on building the driving force behind the local craft food... more

David Boone Jr. — co-founder and CEO of BlendED — on boomeranging back to Cleveland from Seattle to found and... more

Mike Belsito — Co-Founder of Product Collective (based here in Cleveland) — on bootstrapping his organization back in 2015 which... more

Bob Baskette — founder and CTO of Roundtable Learning (originally founded as Knowbase) — on immersive learning and the commercial... more