The Executive

Meet Richard Tame, a seasoned finance executive who is now serving as the CFO of Coeus Institute, an AI data driven analysis company. His journey across various industries and renowned corporations, from British Airways to tech giants like Amazon, Meta, and Lyft, has been marked by a wealth of diverse experiences. With a standout tenure as CFO at Aurora, the groundbreaking autonomous vehicle startup, Richard navigated the complexities of a rapidly expanding enterprise, orchestrating successful capital raises and forging strategic alliances that propelled Aurora to success in the fiercely competitive realm of self-driving cars. During our conversation, Richard shares insights into his unique experience in raising capital, particularly with Aurora's journey from the Series B stage to its public listing via a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). He offers invaluable advice for navigating the complexities of high-growth startups, from charting a course for success to achieving a balance between career and personal life pursuits.

Dr. Seth Lederman, CEO and Chairman of Tonix Pharmaceuticals, shares insights into his journey from medical practice to pharmaceutical entrepreneurship. From his early days combating the AIDS epidemic to specializing in rheumatology and fibromyalgia research, Dr. Lederman discusses the lessons learned from founding and leading Tonix Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Lederman offers valuable insights into the dynamics of drug development and commercialization. He also shares his perspective as a seasoned CEO, providing actionable advice on effective leadership and fostering a culture of innovation within the company. With the impending launch of Tanmaya, Tonix's pioneering product for fibromyalgia management, Dr. Lederman highlights the company's mission to address unmet medical needs and enhance patient well-being.

Justus Kilian, Managing Partner at Space Capital, discusses how to create a culture of excellence, why Elon Musk interviewed the first 1,000 hires at Tesla, and how to find your dream mentor. Space Capital is a venture firm at the forefront of the Tech-Space intersection, boasting a robust portfolio with over $100 million in assets under management. With a steadfast commitment to innovation, Space Capital has joined forces with visionary founders and made strategic investments in breakout companies like Rocket Lab and SpaceX.

Meagan Murphy Crawford, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of SpaceFund, which has invested in over 20 Aerospace companies including SpaceX, Axiom Space, and Voyager Space. Meagan also co-founded the world’s longest running space business plan competition, and has taught, coached, and advised hundreds of space startups through their earliest stages – including some of the most successful aerospace companies around today.

--Topics Covered --

Trailblazing Her Own Path In Venture Capital In Space (0:00)

Meagan M. Crawford's journey from a personal financial planner at Primerica to her role in space-related industries ⁠(02:07)⁠

Meagan's perspective on evaluating business plans and what stood out in successful pitches ⁠(14:13)⁠

Setting the company up for success ⁠(21:40)⁠

How to manage being on eight boards and how to effectively run them ⁠(23:49)⁠

Maximizing the value in board meetings ⁠(26:53)⁠

Meagan's reflections on mistakes made in her career and how she overcame them ⁠(29:31)⁠

The importance of asking “Why Not?” ⁠(30:47)⁠

The impact of educators and counselors on her career ⁠(32:49)⁠

Founders' Common Mistakes ⁠(34:13)⁠

Finding the balance of being a mom and a partner ⁠(37:50)⁠

Managing the dark days as an entrepreneur ⁠(44:20)⁠

One piece of advice that Meagan received ⁠(45:38)⁠

Meagan's favorite book ⁠(48:09)⁠

The number one piece of advice for founders ⁠(56:52)⁠

Andrea Hippeau is a Partner at Lerer Hippeau, an early-stage venture capital fund that has invested in some of the most forward thinking brands - Warby Parker, Allbirds, Cotopaxi, Casper, and Thrive. Andrea shares what traits all the best founders have, what her investor matrix is, how she uses her network, how founders should leverage their investors, and what her number one focus would be if she was starting all over again in venture capital.

Hadi Chaudhry is the CEO & President at CareCloud, a publicly traded healthcare technology company. Hadi was an early employee at CareCloud where he rose the ranks helping take the company public and eventually becoming CEO. He has over 20 years of experience in the industry, and has been at the forefront of driving innovation and efficiency in healthcare management.

Matthew Price, COO of Promontory Therapeutics is an experienced biotech entrepreneur / C-level executive, and the only company co-founder named a 2022 Emerging Pharma Leader by Pharmaceutical Executive. He is responsible for industry collaborations with Pfizer and Merck KGaA, and for Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Cancer Institute. He previously held research and managerial roles in the NGO and non-profit sectors working in the US and Germany. He holds an AB from Princeton University, and earned his MBA from Columbia Business School, where he was a Chazen Society Fellow in International Business.

Shannon Erley, Founder & CEO of Pomp a groundbreaking platform connecting estheticians with their clients through technology in the beauty industry. She shares her journey from frustration with the crowded beauty market to building a resilient company that attracted major investors, including the Zuckerberg family when it seemed like they were at the end of their rope.

Erik Mitisek, Co-Founder & President of Highwing, the first open data platform for commercial insurance. Highwing spun out of IMA Financial Group with a $4M seed round led by BRP Group and BrokerTech Ventures. Erik has over 2+ decades of operating as a c-suite executive, and founder of numerous companies. Erik was the Co-Founder of The Commons on Champa & Denver Startup Week, Chief Innovation Officer for the Governor John Hickenlooper, and CEO of the Colorado Technology Association.

Joanna Arras joined Baird Capital in 2014, a venture capital investor focused on early- and expansion-stage companies that leverage technology to solve business problems or just make life easier. She is also currently a board member of ChurnZero, Circonus, FullContact, and SourceDay and was previously a board member of Appcast, Startwire, and Autobooks. She has also previously served as a board observer of HouseCall Pro, Hireology, NowSecure, Datica, and Sittercity. Before joining Baird Capital, Joanna worked as an Associate in Baird's Investment Banking and Business Development departments, focusing on strategic investments and initiatives. Additionally, she previously served as an Equity Research Analyst at Baird, specializing in semiconductor companies. Joanna earned a B.S. in management and international business from Indiana University and holds an MBA from The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School with majors in finance and entrepreneurship.

Jennifer Henderson is the Founder and CEO of Tilt, a venture-backed SaaS platform that redefines the employee leave experience. Based on her own experience of leave being a career killer, Jennifer decided to change that narrative and create a platform that allows employees to take the necessary time when life happens. Prior to founding Tilt, Jennifer was the Director of Operations at Noodles & Company and is a Board Member for CSU’s College of Business, Institute for Entrepreneurship. This interview is in partnership with Colorado Venture Summit.

Robert Jacks has 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He has founded or co-founded multiple companies and raised more than $170 million with several successful exits. He is now the President & CEO of Sparrow Pharmaceuticals which is developing targeted therapies for serious disorders of steroid excess and raised a $50M Series A in 2021.

Dr. Marcelo Bigal, President and CEO of Ventus Therapeutics, a company that expects to become the leader in the field of using precision medicine to identify subsets of patients with severe chronic neurological conditions. Prior to Ventus, Dr. Marcelo held multiple positions in the industry, including CSO at Teva, leading a group of over 1,300 people, as well as CMO of Purdue. Prior to Teva, he was also the CMO at Labrys Biologics, Inc., leading the team responsible for the development of Fremanezumab (approved as Ajovy), a humanized monoclonal antibody against CGRP, an anti-migraine and pain target. He has published over 322 peer-reviewed articles in indexed journals, edited six books, and authored / co-authored 35 book chapters in the field of neurology.

Monica Palko, Chief Legal & Administrative Officer of York Space Systems. She discusses how leadership is not a one-size-fits-all approach, how to advance in an organization, and what trait surprised her the most in a great founder. York Space Systems, who design and manufacture space systems, is one of the fastest growing aerospace companies in the country. They were awarded a $382 Million dollar contract with the Department of Defense's Space Development Agency to manufacture satellites and recently received a significant investment from AEI to continue their impressive growth.

Prior to York Space, Monica was the VP & General Counsel of Lockheed Martin Space and is a Director of the Global Board of the Association of Corporate Counsel which is a 45,000-member global bar association that promotes the common professional and business interests of in-house counsel.

Kelly Hennig, Chief Operating Officer of Stoke Space, one of the fastest growing aerospace companies developing reusable rockets to provide the satellite industry with low-cost, on-demand access to and from any orbit. Stoke’s investors include NFX, MaC Ventures, YC, Seven Seven Six Ventures, and several others. Prior to Stoke Space, she was an Engineering Executive at Raytheon Technologies for two years and the Chief Engineer at Advanced Concepts & Technology for Northrop Grumman for eighteen years and has also been the Electronics Division Chair at the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). Kelly has an MS in Electrical Engineering/Electromagnetics/Optics from the University of Michigan and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University.

Molly Harper, Chief Business Officer of Synlogic, a biotechnology company that went public in 2021 through a reverse merger with Mirna Therapeutics raising an additional $40M after $100M in venture capital funding. Molly is also a member of the Board of Directors for Catalyst Pharmaceuticals and PreciseDX. Molly attended Wharton for her MBA, Healthcare Management, and Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University.

Vlad Vitoc is the Founder & CEO of MAIA, an immune-oncology company, focused on the development of first-in-class drugs with novel mechanisms of action that are intended to meaningfully improve and extend the lives of people with cancer. Vlad and his team took MAIA public successfully in 2022 in one of the most difficult IPO markets in recent years.

Hans Keirstead is a serial entrepreneur and currently the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Aivita Biomedical, a biotechnology company developing personalized vaccines for the prevention of infectious disease and treatment of cancer. He has now founded four biotechnology companies with successful exits in his previous three companies.  Dr. Keirstead also holds Board positions in several prominent biotechnology companies.

Mani Mohindru, CEO of Novasenta has a non-traditional career path, starting as a scientist studying immune cells in the context of autoimmune diseases. She later worked in investment banking, which exposed her to different therapeutic areas, treatment modalities, and a full view of what a company can grow into. She then transitioned to the operations side of public biotechs as Chief Strategy Officer and eventually became a Chief Financial Officer before becoming the CEO of Novasena. Mani’s diverse experiences have enriched her vision of what a company can be and how to build one. Her scientific background and experience in finance and operations have taught her the discipline and focus needed in running the company.

Brian Finrow is the CEO of Lumen Bioscience, where they are reinventing how biologic drugs are made. Dissimilar to a lot of Bioscience CEO’s, Brian comes from the legal industry having graduated from Harvard and spent over 8 years at Cooley. Lumen's patented technology allows them to use the well-known food algae spirulina to deliver therapeutic proteins.

Ed Messman is the CEO of Rook Capital, a company that's on a mission to make home ownership and affordability more attainable for the next generation of home owners and real estate investors. He brings his experience in finance and building startups to lead his team with authenticity, getting them on board to make a big impact in what many have found to be a right of passage they've been barred from... owning a home.

We're joined by Joanne Mizell to talk about the Banner|Aetna merger to transform the health care industry and how they're uniquely positioned to fix much of the broken aspects of this space.

As mentioned: The Banner|Aetna Way / Fundamentals https://www.banneraetna.com/en/documents/BA-Code_of_conduct_2022.pdf

Caleb Avery is the Founder & CEO of Tilled, a PayFac-as-a-Service company helping software companies monetize their payments. Tilled raised a Series of A of $11M in May of 2021 and raised another $11M in the beginning of 2022 as they quadrupled their team and tripled their valuation in just over 6 months.

A Denver Startup Week discussion about what is possible for humanity with the space revolution, the future of tech, and how it could impact lives on earth for generations to come. 

Panelists - 

- Steve Lindsey, CTO & SVP Advanced Programs, Sierra Space 

- Monica Palko, Chief Legal & Administrative Officer, York Space Systems

- Adam Harris, Chief Commercial Officer, Orbit Fab

Christine Spraker & Dr. Aki Alzubaidi are the Co-CEO's of Eon Health, a data science company that is on a mission to defy diseases by ensuring the right data reaches the right people at the right time. Eon Health is notably backed by Mark Cuban and recently raised a $16M series A led by Integrity Growth Partners. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Eon has over 100 employees and is quickly growing to help healthcare providers be proactive in diagnosing life threatening diseases sooner to ultimately save lives.

Isaac Freckleton, CEO & Founder of Eve Financial, shares how his company is helping consumers pay for unexpected expenses. He also discusses his role as the CEO, what's helped him most as a Founder, and how mentors have played such a big role in his career.

Kevin McGarvey is the Founder & President of Hippo Health which is on a mission to easily connect patients and doctors through virtual care. Hippo Health has built a platform where you can talk, text, or video chat with a doctor when you need too. Kevin shares about his entrepreneurial journey and what he is trying to build for the future.

Rob Carpenter discusses how his company is solving for labor shortages in retail by building AI to help with things like drive thru and call ahead ordering. Rob also discusses how founders need to adapt to the current environment and what he is focused on as the CEO. 

Cara Morphew is a Partner at Sweater Ventures, a venture fund for everyday investors, including non-accredited retail investors. Sweater is looking to democratize venture capital by giving access to an asset class that historically is limited to the wealthy. Sweater recently raised $12M to build out their team and technology. Prior to Sweater Cara was an investor at Chicago Ventures, Selwyn Ventures and Co-Founder of BeenThere Technologies.

Interview with Jen Farmer who is the CMO of Neat Capital, a Colorado based Fintech company that recently raised their Series B-1 from Forecast Labs which is a division of Comcast. Neat has raised over $40M in venture capital and is revolutionizing the home lending process allowing people to compete with all cash buyers. Prior to Neat, Jen was the Head of Content Strategy for Pie Insurance where she started as employee #3 before they quickly grew to over 300 people.

Vanessa Clark & William Kowalski are the founders of Atomos Space, a venture backed startup focused on building the future of space mobility and logistics. Atomos is developing orbital transfer vehicles that reduce the cost of access to space by fostering greater ridesharing in launch vehicles which extends the useful life of a satellite. Atomos recently raised $5M led by Cantos Ventures.

Josh Chapman is the Managing Partner of Konvoy Ventures, an early-stage venture fund investing exclusively in platforms and technologies in video gaming.   Konvoy has invested in over 21 companies and is now investing out of their second fund of approximately $65M. Prior to co-founding Konvoy Ventures, Josh was an analyst at BlackRock, sales and trading at Morgan Stanley and a management consultant at Toptal.  https://www.theexecutive.io/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/68726260

Jonathan Jachimiec is the Chief Financial Officer of MycoTechnology, a food ingredient company that is on a mission to solve some of the hardest challenges in the food and beverage industry. Jonathan has helped MycoTechnology raise over $120M in funding and recently negotiated a joint venture in the Middle East. He is also the Co-founder of Molly Brown, a true "Grain to Glass" spirits company.

Joe Musselman is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Broom Ventures, a Venture Firm backing some of the most mission-oriented founders out there with the belief that Teams, Leadership, and Culture are the critical factors to the ultimate success of an organization. Prior to Broom, Joe was the CEO and Founder of Honor.org, America’s first career transition institute for Navy SEALs and the U.S. Special Operations community. He also served on the board of the NASDAQ Center for Entrepreneurship in San Francisco.

Yosh Eisbart is the Co-Founder & CEO of Fullfilld, an intelligent location-aware warehouse

management platform, which recently raised a $2.5M seed round that included former

Amazon exec Jeff Wilke. Prior to Fullfilld, Yosh co-founded NIMBL which he and his team built

to over $50M in revenue and over 300 employees before they were acquired by Techedge.

“What is luck? It’s putting yourself in the path of opportunity and seizing it.”

You’ve already built a really successful company with a successful outcome - 

What are you

doing back at the startup line with a new company?

"Focus on your hires – especially early on. A bad hire costs so much more than almost any other mistake you make as an early startup because you have fewer people."

Jeff Foley is the Co-Founder and Board Member of Propeller, a management consulting firm he grew to two hundred employees and $40M in revenue. Jeff also sits on the advisory board of Wishlist, Energy Keepers, and is now an investor through Oregon Venture Fund.

https://www.theexecutive.io/jefffoley