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…

- 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:

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)

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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:

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)

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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:

Item’s mentioned in the episode:

That’s all from me. I hope you enjoy the episode! You can find me on Twitter @mspiro3.

— Michael

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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:

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:

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:

Want to get involved with Ramp? Check out their Careers page here.

Items mentioned in the episode:

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:

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:

Item’s mentioned in the episode:

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:

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.

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