The Takeoff Podcast

We got another behavioral health interview here where I speak to Jack Swain, Head of Clinical Operations for Mindbloom. Mindbloom's mission is to transform lives to transform the world, and it does so by helping people reach their full potential through science-backed, clinician-prescribed ketamine therapy for anxiety and depression. Mindbloom's fully-guided virtual treatment makes it an affordable, accessible, and convenient solution for the millions in the U.S. who seek continued growth in all areas of their lives. Prior to Mindbloom, Jack led strategy and operations projects for the nation’s largest health systems as a Manager at The Chartis Group. He formerly worked in technology consulting at Accenture and received his MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School Business. As Mindbloom’s first employee, Jack worked side-by-side with their Medical Director to develop clinical protocols, launch in-person and telemedicine care models, and build an exceptional team of psychedelic medicine providers. I’m thrilled to release this interview as it is one of my personal favorites. Not only is Mindbloom’s mission one to admire, but also their culture follows that mission in a way that makes them destined for long-term success. Mindbloom's Website: https://www.mindbloom.com/ Video about Mindbloom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISnJVzZj0A4 What we chat about… What a typical Ketamine session at Mindbloom looks like. How Mindbloom tracks outcomes in its therapy. Mindbloom’s newest outcomes study which is tracking hundreds of patients Building a company with your best friend The benefits of remote work What kind of people this industry needs - Lukas (@lukassteinbock)

Today, I’m excited to release an interview with Robert Bent, co-founder and CEO of Inward Breathwork. Before Inward, Robert was the founder of two tech companies in Roamly and INVI Energy and an employee at Ethereum. Based in Toronto, Robert has a sauna and cold bath in his backyard/garage creating a growing community that replaces drugs and alcohol with healthy connections. As this commnuity came to a halt during COVID-19, Robbie turned to an online platform providing breathwork classes. In this episode, we chat about: Robert’s prior experience founding companies and at Ethereum Robert’s prior experience with drug addiction How to be motivated by your intrinsic value of success What is Inward Breathwork? What is a dark retreat?

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of chatting with Seth Winterroth, Partner at Eclipse VC. Seth and I met just over a year ago now when he came to WashU and Anton Salem and I tracked him down to get drinks after the career fair. Ever since that day his story and words of wisdom have stuck with me and I hope they do the same for you in this interview. Seth Winterroth attended Claremont McKenna, and after a year of traveling post-grad got started at GE, then GE Ventures, and later Eclipse, where he has made various deals in hardware and robotics.  In this episode, we chat about:  -Seth’s fascinating story -Pursuing your passions -How to optimize time with mentors  -Importance of mental health

Hey everyone! Welcome back for a new Edition of The Takeoff Podcast. Today's episode is with Barak Kaufman, co-founder & CEO of Intello, a SaaS management startup that he co-founded in 2017 and recently sold to identity security leader SailPoint ($5b market cap). If you want to learn more about the SaaS management space as a whole, check out my deep dive from earlier this year. Before starting Intello, Barak was an Investor at leading growth equity / VC firm Insight Partners. He earned his undergraduate degree from Michigan Ross. I hope you enjoy the episode! Reach out if you have any questions. - Michael (@mspiro3) Follow The Takeoff: https://thetakeoff.co/ https://thetakeoff.substack.com/  https://twitter.com/_TheTakeoff  Michael: https://twitter.com/mspiro3

Follow The Takeoff: https://thetakeoff.substack.com/ https://twitter.com/_TheTakeoff Michael: https://twitter.com/mspiro3 Sara Mauskopf (@sm) is co-founder & CEO of Winnie, the leading marketplace for child care. To date, Winnie has raised over $15M from investors including Rethink Impact, Reach Capital, Afore Capital, Homebrew, and Ludlow Ventures, among others. Prior to founding Winnie, Sara was Director of Product at Postmates. Before that, she spent a number of years at Google, YouTube, and Twitter. In this episode, you will learn about: What Winnie is and the company’s mission. How Winnie approaches content moderation on its platform. PM v. CEO. Hiring great talent. Advice for aspiring female founders and why female founders often have more sustainable businesses. Joining a big company v. a small company. The importance of relationships. Advice for aspiring founders If you want to learn more about Winnie, head over to https://winnie.com/ and follow their journey on Twitter @winnie. Likewise, you can find Sara on Twitter @sm. Be sure to head over to https://thetakeoff.substack.com/ and subscribe with your email to have all future content sent directly to your inbox. That’s all from me. I hope you enjoy the episode! - Michael (@mspiro3) Follow The Takeoff: https://thetakeoff.substack.com/ https://twitter.com/_TheTakeoff Michael: https://twitter.com/mspiro3

Hey everyone, Michael here 👋. Welcome back to a new Edition of The Takeoff Podcast. Today’s episode guest is Dave Fano, Co-founder & CEO of Teal. Teal is “an online community and digital platform that enables professionals working in the tech industry to grow their careers with confidence.” Today, the Teal community has over 3,000 individuals from leading tech companies such as Peloton, Facebook, Asana, and many more. Teal has raised over $5M to date from investors including Flybridge, Lerer Hippeau, Aleph, Alpaca, and Oceans (thanks for the intro, Joshua Rahn!). If you are currently looking for a job / internship, I highly recommend heading over to https://www.tealhq.com/ and at least adding the Teal Job Tracker Chrome Extension to your browser (it’s free!). Prior to founding Teal, Dave spent almost 4 years at WeWork, where he held positions including Chief Product Officer and Chief Growth Officer (keep in mind, this was peak hyper-growth at WeWork). Before WeWork, Dave was Partner & Managing Director at CASE Design, an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, and CEO of WHObyYOU. In today’s episode, Dave and I dive into: How Teal helps people take control of their careers. What it was like in the earliest days of Teal. Being obsessed with the problem you’re solving. Building a “Peloton for your career.” The importance of having a growth mindset. Mayor Francis Suarez and the future of the Miami tech scene. Item’s mentioned in the episode: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck Why I Believe in Growth Mindset by Pedro Franceschi That’s all from me. I hope you enjoy the episode! You can find me on Twitter @mspiro3. — Michael

Follow The Takeoff: https://thetakeoff.substack.com/ https://twitter.com/_TheTakeoff Welcome back for a new episode of The Takeoff Podcast!  This is our first-ever podcast collab. Who’d we collab with? The Seed -- The Startup Journey, a podcast hosted by fellow WashU undergrad Rick Liu. Let’s get into the episode itself… Today’s episode is with WashU alum, billionaire philanthropist, and author of The Innovation Stack, Jim McKelvey. Jim is best known for being the co-founder of Square, which he co-founded with Jack Dorsey in 2009. Moderator: Roshan and Rick (The Seed) In today’s episode, Roshan, Rick (The Seed), and Jim discuss: How Square survived against Amazon (quick note: if you’re a truly innovative company, Jim suggests it may actually make sense to “ignore your competition”) What it means to be an entrepreneur, versus a businessperson Jim’s new book, The Innovation Stack The most important skills for founders Jim’s passion for Glassblowing And, much more. This was an incredibly special episode for us given Jim’s connection to WashU. We hope you enjoy the listen and, as always, be sure to follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our Substack newsletter to have all future content sent directly to your inbox. Items mentioned in today’s episode: Jim’s book, The Innovation Stack Rick’s podcast, The Seed -- The Startup Journey Square Amazon Jim’s favorite book: Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S.

Eric Glyman (@eglyman) is Co-Founder & CEO at Ramp, the spend management platform and corporate card that helps businesses automate accounting and lower costs. Ramp has raised over $55M in funding to date from notable investors including D1 Capital, Coatue, and Founders Fund. Prior to founding Ramp, Eric was Co-Founder & CEO at Paribus. With Paribus, Eric went through Y Combinator and later sold the business to Capital One.  In the episode, Eric joins The Takeoff’s Michael Spiro to discuss: What Ramp is and how it differentiates from other corporate cards, particularly why it wouldn’t make sense for traditional corporate cards to incentivize customers to spend less. His experience building Paribus, going through YC, and selling the business. The importance of listening to customers and being customer-centric. The future of Silicon Valley. Want to get involved with Ramp? Check out their Careers page here. Items mentioned in the episode: Packy McCormick’s Not Boring post on Ramp: https://notboring.substack.com/p/ramp-the-card-sized-finance-team Wooden on Leadership Xixa If you dig what we’re doing with The Takeoff, go ahead and subscribe to our Substack https://thetakeoff.substack.com/ and follow us on Twitter @_TheTakeoff. We're a student-run podcast & newsletter working to become the go-to spot for students and young professionals looking to learn more about startups, tech, venture capital, and more. Here’s a bit of our recent stuff: What We’ve Been Following (Jan 2) Job van der Voort (Remote) Joshua Rahn (Oceans) Hunter Walk (Homebrew)

Job van der Voort (@jobvo) is the founder and CEO of Remote, the global HR solution for distributed teams, helping businesses manage international payroll, benefits, taxes, and compliance. Remote recently raised a $35M Series A led by Index Ventures, with participation from Sequoia, Aaron Levie (Box), Zach Weinberg (Operator Partners), and Kevin and Julia Hartz (Eventbrite). Two Sigma Ventures, General Catalyst, and Liquid2 are also early investors in the company. In today’s episode, Job joins Michael Spiro to discuss: What exactly Remote is and the business’s mission. The future of distributed teams and remote work. What growth has looked like at Remote, and how COVID has impacted the business. How Job has implemented GitLab’s idea of Transparency at Remote. How Remote differentiates from competition, and how the business can maintain this differentiation over time. What it was like raising capital amidst COVID. Advice he has for aspiring founders. The future of Silicon Valley as distributed workforces grow. His podcast hoarding nature (& his favorite podcasts). Item’s mentioned in the episode: Remote Work Podcast (Job’s old podcast) Remote Talks Podcast Job’s favorite podcasts: Reply All, FiveThirtyEight Politics, Accidental Tech Podcast, 99% Invisible The last business book Job read: The Toyota Way Book recommendation: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat As always, you can find The Takeoff and Michael on Twitter! And, be sure to subscribe to our Susbtack: thetakeoff.substack.com.

Joshua Rahn is Co-founder & Managing Partner at Oceans, a new, NYC-based early-stage venture fund working to help build the next trillion-dollar businesses. Oceans recently announced the close of Fund I, an $11M fund designed to make this mission a reality. Early investments include Famer, Mealco, Uppercampus, Teal, and Tembo Health, among others. Prior to founding Oceans, Josh spent 9 years at Facebook, where he helped grow their NYC office. Josh also had two successful exits as a founder before joining Facebook. He is a WashU alum! In the episode, Josh joins The Takeoff's Michael Spiro to discuss: His new venture firm Oceans and the firm’s mission Oceans’ focus areas How Oceans differentiates from other VCs What is was like raising Fund I during COVID Why $11m for Fund I made sense, and why Josh and the other partners’ friends, peers, and former coworkers thought they were crazy for launching an $11M fund: “Raise a $200M fund.” Finding product-market fit as a fund How to get more recent grads to join startups or start companies of their own & much more. Quick note from Michael: I had a ton of fun having a WashU alum in Josh on the Podcast. I can’t wait to see what’s ahead for him and Oceans. As a native New Yorker, I love the fund’s New York focus, and Josh’s passion for helping current students (particularly at WashU) means so much to me.  You can find Oceans by visiting oceans.ventures. And, if you want to get involved with one of their many incredible portfolio companies, you can check out oceans.ventures/jobs.  I had so much fun recording this episode and hope you enjoyed the listen. You can find me on Twitter @mspiro3, The Takeoff on Twitter @_TheTakeoff, and be sure to subscribe to our Substack newsletter at thetakeoff.substack.com so as to not miss a beat with any of our new content. Recent Podcast Releases: Hunter Walk (Homebrew) Sam Corcos (Levels) Ryan Kohlman (TriviaHub) Sam Altman (OpenAI)