In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino speaks with Harmen van Kamp, CEO of GACW, about reinventing the wheel with an airless suspension system. (00:00–01:45)

GACW’s technology integrates suspension directly into the wheel, eliminating traditional tires, shocks, and complex components. (02:10–04:20)

Originally built for military and extreme terrain use cases, the product is now expanding into broader commercial applications. (05:30–07:10)

Harmen explains the engineering challenges behind the system and how it improves durability, maintenance, and performance. (08:40–11:15)

They discuss early traction, partnerships, and how the company is approaching manufacturing and scaling production. (12:30–15:45)

Finally, the episode explores long-term opportunities across EVs, defense, and industrial mobility markets. (16:20–19:00)

In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino speaks with Jim Iversen, CEO of Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical, about building a platform of therapeutics targeting inflammation across multiple diseases. (00:00–01:28)

The company is advancing a pipeline of drugs addressing conditions like COVID, alcohol-related inflammation, and arthritis, with multiple Phase 2 trials completed. (01:28–02:27)

Jim explains how drug development works—from preclinical research to Phase 1 (safety), Phase 2 (efficacy), and Phase 3 (confirmatory trials). (04:14–06:05)

They explore how Sen-Jam uses AI and over one million data points to validate its platform and identify new drug opportunities. (08:32–09:30)

The discussion also covers how the company allocates resources across its pipeline and its strategy to license drugs after Phase 2 rather than fully commercialize them. (13:10–14:32)

Finally, Jim breaks down the economics of drug licensing, potential valuation inflection points, and how investors can think about returns in biotech. (19:31–21:58)

In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino speaks with Jordan Taylor, managing member of Atari Hotels, about the development of a $124 million Atari-themed destination hotel planned for downtown Phoenix. (00:00–02:14)

The project combines real estate development with immersive gaming culture, featuring a 91-room hotel, gaming-inspired experiences, and a venue for esports events, concerts, and creator gatherings. (03:21–13:14)

Jordan explains how the team secured licensing rights from Atari, why Phoenix’s population growth and urban revitalization make it an ideal location, and how the hotel is designed to serve both travelers and the local community. (06:34–10:01)

The conversation also dives into the investment structure behind the project, where investors acquire a majority interest in the physical real estate rather than just a brand concept. (04:39–05:36)

Jordan walks through the $124 million capital stack, including equity from investors and family offices alongside construction financing. (05:42–06:16)

Finally, they discuss how stabilization and refinancing could provide early liquidity for investors, followed by ongoing cash flow distributions and potential exit scenarios down the road. (19:28–21:10)

In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino sits down with Jason Fishman, founder of Digital Niche Agency (DNA), one of the earliest and most active “capital raising agencies” in equity crowdfunding. (00:00–02:45)

Pirouette Pharma CEO Conor Cullinane returns to Inside Startup Investing to share the company’s progress since its last Wefunder raise—spanning FDA engagement, IND planning, and major steps toward scalable manufacturing.

Pirouette is building a disc-shaped, push-button delivery system for injectable medications—aiming to turn the “violent, error-prone” experience of legacy auto-injectors into something closer to the Staples Easy Button: push once, and the device handles the rest.

Chris and Conor discuss why intimidation and usability are major barriers in today’s injection landscape, how Pirouette is approaching OTC naloxone via a combination-product regulatory pathway, what a pharmacokinetic study looks like, and why Pirouette is investing in manufacturing capacity to support both commercialization and pharma partnerships.

Chapters 

00:44 What Pirouette is building 03:42 Progress since last raise 06:26 FDA pathway explained 09:08 PK study + size/cost/timeline 13:07 Partnerships vs. standalone commercialization 16:15 Revenue timing + adoption expectations 20:12 Manufacturing scale plan 23:34 Founder “why” 26:07 Investor close

Sunstone Health CEO Joshua Resnikoff joins Chris Lustrino to explain how Sunstone uses AI on healthcare claims data to proactively identify children with developmental delay—starting with epilepsy and autism—and help families reach the right specialists and diagnostics faster.

They break down what claims data is, why the healthcare system is reactive by default, and how Sunstone’s approach can compress what often takes years into roughly weeks by flagging high-need cases, coordinating advanced diagnostics, and delivering actionable next steps. Joshua also shares Sunstone’s go-to-market strategy (positioned as an employer-paid benefit), why the pricing model is designed to reduce “point-solution bloat,” and how expansion could move across employers, TPAs, reinsurers, and large insurers.

00:00 Needle-in-a-haystack intro
03:13 What Sunstone does (AI + claims data)
05:32 Flagging patients vs. diagnosing
07:21 Employer benefit + privacy model
15:54 GTM + sales cycle reality
17:57 Outcome-based pricing model
20:16 Unit economics ($10k per case)
22:11 Expansion paths + other diseases
26:23 Fundraise use of proceeds
28:03 Investor closing

Atombeam CEO Charles Yeomans joins Chris Lustrino to break down a deceptively simple idea with massive implications: make data smaller while it’s streaming so you can move and process more of it—without upgrading networks.

Charles explains Atombeam’s commercial product NeurPack, how it can often quadruple effective bandwidth, and why this matters across IoT, smart meters, satellites, defense, oil & gas wells, fintech, and eventually data centers and GPU utilization. They also dig into the realities of commercialization—choosing near-term deals that close fast while still pursuing multi-year “industry standard” opportunities—and why execution (not invention) is the real differentiator.

00:00 What Atombeam does (pizza analogy)
03:13 NeurPack explained
05:35 Why 95% of IoT data doesn’t move
09:38 “Like launching 3 more satellites”
13:57 Commercialization + customers
16:31 Data centers + GPU utilization
24:29 Defense traction + partnerships
26:44 What success looks like (distribution)

Founder Clint Brauer explains how Greenfield Robotics builds compact, row-running robots that mow weeds and lay mulch while enabling nighttime foliar feeding—helping farms reduce herbicides and improve soil biology. He shares the personal catalyst (his father’s Parkinson’s), why tillage damages soil ecosystems, and how small, autonomous swarms can cover large acreages more cheaply than traditional machinery. We dig into go-to-market (from RaaS to equipment sales with software/telemetry fees), manufacturing with partners, and adoption curves from organic innovators to conventional growers. Brauer outlines the roadmap (attachments, reliability, self-charging), unit counts across 17 states, and potential exit paths with ag OEMs like John Deere—all while keeping the mission clear: get chemicals out of agriculture.

Highlights include...

Why “weed by day, foliar-feed by night” changes farm economics
How mulch from cut cover crops suppresses weeds & feeds soil
RaaS → leases → direct sales: what farmers prefer (and why)
Swarm autonomy vs. ever-bigger tractors—cost & uptime math
Manufacturing scale via Amity Technologies; why small wins here
Early-adopter profile: regenerative, organic, and safety-driven growers
Exit lanes with major OEMs—and the case for remaining independent

Today, Chris sits down with Joe Schaeppi, co-founder & CEO of Solsten—a deep-tech company mapping human psychology and turning it into actionable AI for creative, targeting, and product personalization. After 8 years of R&D, Solsten's “human context layer” helps enterprises and SMBs understand why people act the way they do—then adapt ads, products, and AI agents to match. Clients like LEGO and Peloton report creative wins and 3× conversion lifts, while a new self-serve product opens the stack to smaller teams.

Highlights include...
• Building a cognitive-behavioral AI model from clinical-grade psychometrics and authentic behavior data
• Why “creative is the new targeting” (Meta’s Andromeda) and how psychology-matched creative cuts CPI/raises LTV
• Personalization beyond demographics—training AI agents to speak in users’ thinking and communication styles
• Go-to-market shift: from years of R&D to scale (>$35M raised; investors incl. RedBird & Galaxy)
• Use cases across gaming, fintech, health/fitness, hospitality, and more

Cleveland Whiskey was my first-ever equity crowdfunding investment (May 16, 2016), and founder/CEO Tom Lix has sent detailed quarterly updates ever since. In this episode, we cover 00:00–03:03 why Tom built a technology company in spirits—not just another craft label; 03:03–06:09 how pressure-aging in stainless tanks unlocks flavors from non-oak woods (black cherry, hickory, apple) and produces great whiskey in hours not years; 06:09–09:27 the pivot to concentrates and why India’s “Indian-Made Foreign Liquor” niche is a game-changer for price and margin; 09:27–12:47 the new 45,000 sq. ft. Cleveland facilities, 12× capacity today with room to double again, plus how shorter cycle times unlock multi-shift throughput; 12:47–16:09 resilience through a U.S. whiskey slump, tariffs, and changing consumer trends; 16:09–20:03 valuation, real-estate upside on Cleveland’s waterfront, and IP; and 20:03–28:19 the founder mindset—why Tom keeps going and how global demand (India, SE Asia, Africa) can drive the next chapter.