Innovation with Mark Peter Davis

On today’s pod I chat with Richard Harris, the Founder & CEO of Black Crow AI.Black Crow is a no-code, real-time machine-learning based predictive software that helps companies understand likely customer behavior.Richard’s a veteran entrepreneur and has been involved in tech since the 90s. He cut his teeth in the world of consulting, was involved with Travelocity during the dot com boom, then has continued to be a serial founder.As you’ll hear him explain, the world is turning into a browser. Between mobile devices, computers, wearable tech, self driving cars - real time data will be streaming from every part of our lives. He’s using this insight to build a company to help startups and brands collect and understand their first party data so that they can increase revenue and margins.In addition to discussing how Black Crow operates and the machine learning industry, we also talk about some strategies for how founders can navigate down market cycles - like the one we’re entering now. He’s been through three of these cycles and has some very helpful wisdom. If you started your company after 2010, then I definitely recommend that you give this one a listen.Show Links:Follow us on Twitter: @blackcrowai, @mpdGuest Links: Black Crow AIReferenced Content: Waking Up appPodcast Links: Website, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedInPlease note, Interplay is an investor in Black Crow.

On this week’s episode I chat with Andrew Gazdecki, Founder & CEO of MicroAcquire. MicroAcquire is a marketplace that helps software companies match with interested buyers.Andrew is a serial founder with a clear passion for entrepreneurship - which I obviously love. After selling his last company, he embarked on his current mission to help founders sell their companies more easily. He’s making a ton of progress. A significant number of companies are being sold through MicroAcquire every month.During our chat we went well beyond MicroAcquire. We discussed Andrews’s tips for being a solo founder and dove deep into how to sell a company - where we covered important strategies to consider, the M&A process and market dynamics.Show Links:Follow us on Twitter: @agazdecki, @microacquire, @mpdGuest Links: MicroAcquireReferenced Content: Andrew’s skateboard petition from when he was a kid, MPD’s article about M&APodcast Links: Website, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedInPlease note, Interplay is an investor in MicroAcquire.

On this week’s episode I chat with Ryan Eisenman, Co-Founder & CEO of Arch. Arch is a tech-enabled service that helps private investors organize all of the paperwork associated with their investments.Collecting statements, tax documents and legal docs from private markets has become a nightmare for investors, and Arch is providing a way to solve that. Ryan interestingly compares the admin of the private markets to what it used to be for public companies back when companies issued paper stock certificates.Arch’s tech tentacles into dozens of platforms to centralize data and the flow of information seamlessly. During the convo we discuss the Arch solution, startup lessons and the fairness of investor accreditation laws in the US. Enjoy.Show Links:Follow us on Twitter: @Ryeisenman, @mpd Guest Links: ArchPodcast Links: Website, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

On this week’s episode I chat with Diana Heldfond, Founder & CEO of Parallel. Parallel is an edtech platform empowering students with learning differences by providing them with a lower cost, faster solution for getting the support they need. Parallel is tackling a big problem. According to Diana 1 in 5 students has a learning and thinking difference that her platform can help address.Their service is cheaper and faster because it’s tech-enabled. They create efficiencies by automating the admin work that specialists used to have to do and by mixing and matching specialists to make sure fewer specialists bottleneck the process. This has brought the price of care down by a whopping 50%. And it allows parents to get their child’s assessment done in days, whereas it used to take weeks. They work directly with families and with school districts. It’s pretty smart. It’s always so cool to see founders start a company that hits close to home.  Diana was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. That didn’t hold her back - she went to Georgetown and worked on Wall Street before starting Parallel.It’s a great conversation. I learned a lot and hope you do too. Enjoy.Show Links:Follow us on Twitter: @dheldfond, @joinparallel_us, @mpdGuest Links: ParallelReferenced Topics: The Lime Connect Fellowship ProgramPodcast Links: Website, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

On this week’s episode I chat with Jeremy Levine, a Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. Bessemer has been around for over 100 years and was originally founded by a family that partnered with Andrew Carnegie back in the day.Jeremy has been at the firm for 21 years and has seen a few cycles. He’s a hell of an investor and has quite the track record. He’s been on the Forbes Midas List and his investments include the likes of Yelp, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Shopify.If you’re interested in how the VC industry works this is a great conversation for you. We cover how Bessemer operates, how to be a good early-stage investor, the impact of macro trends on the VC landscape, Jeremy’s point of view on contrarian investing and much more. Enjoy.Show Links:Follow us on Twitter: @jeremyL, @mpdGuest Links: Bessemer Venture PartnersPodcast Links: Website, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

On this week’s episode I chat with the Founder and CEO of MARGIN, Chas Sanders. MARGIN is a tech-enabled procurement solution that helps Ambulatory Medical Centers purchase the equipment they need to operate. Apparently, before MARGIN supplies were purchased via phone calls and fax machines. MARGIN has not only put that process on the Internet, but they have also helped doctors to reduce their spend by 15-20%. That’s big bucks - in many cases that’s hundreds of thousands of dollars per office. Chas is a veteran of the healthcare industry. He’s been an executive at Zimmer Biomet, DaVita and others. After that he stepped out of the  industry to launch MARGIN.In addition to hearing about his company and lessons learned as a founder, what’s great about this conversation is hearing a sophisticated business person provide insights into why the healthcare industry is dysfunctional. And low and behold, one of the reasons is that it’s managed in a similar way to the government of communist Russia. Enjoy.Show Links:Follow us on LinkedIn: /chassanders, /markpeterdavisGuest Links: MARGINMentioned Media/Organizations: Vinod Dasa: Doc Social, Aaron Fritts: BackTableBooks: The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff CoxPodcast Links: Website, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn**** MARGIN is an Interplay Incubator portfolio company.

I’m super excited about this week’s episode because it hits close to home. If you’ve listened to the pod before, you’ve probably heard me mention the passion project I’m involved with, a platform that’s helping to democratize access to capital called Thunder. On this week’s episode I sit down with Thunder’s Co-Founder and CEO, Jason Kirby.To give a bit more context, Thunder is a company that’s come out of the Interplay Foundry, the part of Interplay that builds companies from scratch. Jason is the incredible CEO we brought in to build and grow Thunder.Thunder is a platform that connects founders and VCs by utilizing a double opt-in, AI-based matching protocol that not only creates relevant deal flow for all parties, but also helps everyone save time and avoid spam. We started this with the mission of helping founders that lacked a strong network raise capital.Jason is a serial entrepreneur and has done an incredible job so far. Not only has he advanced the business, but he has also advanced the vision. I think this company is going to materially improve the way capital flows in the alternative asset classes such as venture capital. I’m so excited to watch what he does and help support him. Be sure to check it out at thunder.vc.During our chat we talk all about how Thunder works, how it helps both founders and investors, why it’s important for platforms like it to exist and much more. Enjoy.Show Links:Follow us on Twitter: @jasonkirby, @mpdGuest Links: Thunder.vcPodcast Links: Website, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

On this week’s episode I chat with Sterling Campbell, CEO of Minotaur. Minotaur is a web3 platform that helps people and brands launch NFT projects. There are a lot of steps - including a fair bit of technology - required to take an NFT launch from concept to launch. Minotaur’s tech-enabled service does all of this. As they put it, they “bring together artists, blockchain engineers and community managers to build successful NFT projects that can scale.”Sterling has been in NFTs since 2017, which for this space is a long time, so he’s been around the block a few times and learned a bunch of stuff.If you are still scratching your head when you hear about NFT, well he breaks it down pretty well in this conversation.He also dives into what’s wrong with the industry right now and how he is hoping for a transition to what he calls NFTs 2.0, where NFTs flip from their focus on providing membership access to being technically more integrated as a method for adding value to communities. Sterling is the right guy for this space - he has lived at the nexus of media, entertainment and business. And as far as being in a risky space - that’s not really an issue. He tells us about the time his parachute didn’t open while sky diving. Oh yeah…and if that wasn’t enough…he’s a DJ that toured with the likes of Lil John and T-Pain. Enjoy the conversation.Show Links:Follow us on Twitter: @djsterlingc, @mpdGuest Links: MinotaurGuest Articles: NFTs: What You’re Missing And Where They’re Going Podcast Links: Website, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn**Note** I’m an investor in the company.

This week I chatted with Fabrice Grinda, Founding Partner at FJ Labs. FJ Labs is a VC that specializes in marketplaces and invests in every geography in every category at any stage. As Fabrice puts it they do angel investing at venture scale, meaning they don’t lead rounds but do a massive number of investments every year. Last year they made almost 200 investments.Fabrice is super interesting beyond being a VC. He’s been a serial entrepreneur for a couple of decades at this point and has interesting views on wealth and impact.He started what was essentially the ebay for Europe and then OLX, the Craigslist for the rest of the world.During our chat he shares some incredibly useful tips for entrepreneurs - especially for those who are interested in marketplaces. We talk all about his approach to venture capital, how FJ Labs operates and makes decisions and much more. Enjoy.Show Links:Follow us on Twitter: @fabricegrinda, @mpdGuest Links: FJ LabsGuest Articles: Pandemic, Populism and Policy Failure – The Surprising Case for Optimism in 2020Podcast Links: Website, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

This week I chat with Zack Gray, Co-Founder and CEO of Ophelia. Ophelia is helping to combat the opioid crisis by revamping the drug rehab model. As they put it, their mission is to “replace folklore with science, drug dealers with doctors, and stigma with privacy, convenience, and choice.”Covered by either health insurance or a monthly subscription of $195, Ophelia helps people struggling with addiction by plugging them into their platform that connects them with clinicians that use modern, science based treatments.We chat all about the company and the general opioid epidemic, including its history and the failed government response. Zack breaks it all down for us. He also shares why he started the company in the first place, which has a touching personal story about the loss of a loved one to opioids. Ophelia and Zack are on a mission and Interplay is proud to be an investor.As usual, the conversation goes beyond just the formal topics. Zach studied astrophysics and philosophy at Columbia and it’s safe to say he’s a deep thinker. We talk about whether for-profit companies are good or evil, a new concept for taxation based on social utility and much more. Enjoy.Show Links:Follow us on Twitter: @meetophelia, @zarkgray, @mpdGuest Links: OpheliaPodcast Links: Website, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn