DC Entrepreneur

Jake Kramer, Managing Partner of FedTech is guest on this season's final episode of DC Entrepreneur. FedTech is a venture builder that thrives at the intersection of US entrepreneurship, breakthrough technologies, and mission-driven organizations. Since 2015, they've been driving forward deep tech ventures across the DoD, NASA, DoE, universities, and federal labs. Through their startup studios, accelerators, internal innovation and corporate venture programs, FedTech works with individuals, companies, and government agencies to stay at the bleeding edge of innovation.

Kramer is concurrently a venture partner at NextGen Venture Partners and Thundermark Capital, formerly working at Goldman Sachs and as a U.S. Army Officer. NextGen Venture Partners is a network-driven venture firm that brings together hundreds of part-time venture capitalists to invest in their portfolio of entrepreneurs.  Thundermark Capital is a New York and San Francisco based Venture Capital firm investing in Deep Tech, specifically early-stage rounds of startups innovating in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Robotics and other Deep Tech areas. 

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Jay Newton-Small, CEO and Founder of MemoryWell, a digital storytelling platform for seniors, speaks to George on this episode of DC Entrepreneur. You'll hear how Newton-Small got the idea for the start-up when filling out paperwork to get her father into assisted care after he was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease.

As a TIME Magazine correspondent, journalist, and author of Broad Influence, she wrote his story down to help her father's caregivers understand his past better.  In this conversation, Jay talks about how MemoryWell worked with Brookdale Senior Living for their pilot program, how she bootstrapped the idea through Kickstarter and by winning pitch competitions before focusing on fundraising, and how her involvement through accelerators such as TechStars and the Halcyon Incubator helped her learn to build a business. 

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George speaks with friend of the podcast Dr. Joseph Cardillo, PhD, about his new book "12 Rules of Attention: How to Avoid Screw-Ups, Free Up Headspace, Do More and Be More At Work."  Dr. Joe is an inspirational speaker and nationally best-selling author of multiple books in the fields of health, mind-body-spirit, and psychology. In this conversation Dr. Joe talks about how entrepreneurs can get off of autopilot and refocus their attention throughout their daily lives and in their work.  

You'll learn about the three "Mindwares" and what are the differences with attention, mindfulness, and awareness. Dr. Joe also talks about how using a "power word" can focus your attention,  how to talk to your brain by using a "self-scan," and how studying martial arts inspired him to learn more about attention. Plus he has some fantastic tips on how to deal with the stress nearly all of us are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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On this episode George speaks with Colin Moffett and Joel Daly co-founders of Artemis Ward. Colin and Joel met at Mindshare Interactive, one of the old guard of digital agencies, in 2005. They made the move to one of the world’s most prestigious agencies in 2008, building a large team and servicing top clients. Despite this success, Colin and Joel often talked about what life would be like if they could produce the same (if not better) work of a big agency without all the red tape. In 2015, they decided it was time: Colin and Joel made the leap to start Artemis Ward. Colin is a highly experienced strategist and former Georgetown professor. He believes smart and agile agencies are needed more than ever to help brands and organizations navigate a complex world. Joel is insight-driven, loves design and UX, and is the host of CreativeMornings/DC.

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Robert L. Longyear III, author of "Innovating for Wellness," is guest on this episode of DC Entrepreneur. Innovating for Wellness examines crucial innovations at the intersection of digital health technology and value-based payment. Robert speaks with George for an in-depth conversation about health care policy, innovation, and how that relates to health-tech & mHealth. Their chat delves into how this relates to patient-generated clinical data, human care teams, and telehealth as part of the patient journey.
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Avenue—a Wanderly company—is a digital health company with a mission to provide highly modular and scalable care management programs with technology and clinical staff whose model supports turn-key remote-patient monitoring, chronic disease management, and post-acute services. Their belief is that driving patient-based innovations is the best path forward toward building a health system that promotes and proactively assists patients in their pursuits of health and wellness in light of the chronic disease epidemic facing the U.S.

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George speaks to Erik Rind the CEO of Imagine BC on this episode. ImagineBC aims to be for blockchain technology what “You’ve got mail” was for the Internet. It's a membership based platform that helps its community earn money for sharing their data. Inspired by a talk that Jaron Lanier gave, Erik started the company to correct the privacy and ethical issues that big tech companies pose to their users. In this conversation Erik shares his vision for how people can begin to be compensated for sharing their data. 

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On this episode, George speaks with Dawn Myers, founder of THE MOST and of The Vinetta Project. THE MOST is a beauty-tech company looking to disrupt an $87 Billion dollar Industry featuring natural hair products for women of color, to help address the invisible pain points in textured hair styling. 

Dawn lives to inspire entrepreneurs to walk in their purpose and build out their visions through her legal background and work as an entrepreneur. Dawn is a start-up ecosystem architect, having launched and managed educational programming for entrepreneurs throughout the Washington metropolitan area. As Ambassador to Black Girl Ventures and Director at The Vinetta Project, Dawn develops seminars, bootcamps, and accelerator programming for up and coming founders of color. 

The Vinetta Project is a capital platform and deal flow pipeline that supports high growth female tech founders. It helps source high potential female founders with proven business models, offering them unprecedented access to proprietary events, resources, exclusive networks and capital from vetted investors. Vinetta has one of the largest databases of Seed to Series A female founders in North America, and has helped women access over $180 million in early stage investment.

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Chad Frey is guest on this episode in a policy discussion about the advancement of the hemp industry as a whole. As a board member of four industry associations, Chad is an expert on the legal initiatives, industry policy and federal compliance regarding hemp and cannabis regulations. As the executive director for the Nebraska Hemp Industries Association—one of the nation’s leading hemp advocacy organizations—Chad works closely with legislators to help create new infrastructure for a new commodity with the purpose of guiding the industry in the right direction. Even though we are living in a very progressive cultural climate, Chad claims that the biggest obstacle the industry faces is lack of education and the stigma associated with the hemp and legal cannabis industries which fuel his mission.

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Dave Forbes is the food entrepreneur and owner of Disturbingly Delicious Foods. His sauce creations are healthier than most of the stuff in the grocery store that also taste great. Dave's first creation was a kale-based substitute for ketchup when Forbes was throwing a high school graduation party for his son. After obtaining a patent on this product, he began selling "Kalechup" at the Falls Church Farmers market. He's since gone on to create over 70 different sauces which he sells in a retail storefront and kitchen including "Mayonot," "Faux Queso," and "Yumchup." Dave's background as a software design guru has helped inform how he goes about creating his unique food creations, many of which are great for vegans, people on low-sodium diets, or those doing the Whole 30 or Keto diet. 

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George speaks with Jonathan Wasserstrum the CEO of SquareFoot. SquareFoot is a tech-driven commercial real estate company that helps companies find their next office space by providing transparent access to inventory, brokerage services, and a flexible spaces. The New York City-based start-up, which was created in 2011, raised $16 million in 2019 in a Series B financing round having raised $29 million total since its founding. SquareFoot’s platform features over 300,000 office listings, with 5,000 new listings posted monthly. The company has executed over 1,300 leases to date.

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