Outlier On Air | Interviewing Founders, Disruptors, & Mavens

“If left to our own devices, we’ll always be on them.” - David Ryan Polgar About: David Ryan Polgar- Digital Lifestyle Expert & Tech Ethicist Overview: David Ryan Polgar shares his tactics on how we can become more balanced in our technology-overwhelmed world. David Ryan Polgar   Highlights: What is a Digital Lifestyle Expert & Tech Ethicist: A tech ethicist looks at tech use from an ethical, legal, sociological, and emotional framework. It came about because a few years ago he kept reading articles about the major impact of social media and how it’s affecting us. David a former college professor, attorney, and now a writer and public speaker decided to use all those skills to help people achieve balance with their technology. Who Hires David: Corporations and startups hire David to analyze their tech companies from every angle. For example, he is currently helping a startup that focuses on parental controls called CoPilot Family. Trends in the Tech World for Entrepreneurs: David feels we are becomi

"Treat your content like a comedian and treat your growth strategy like a business person." - Ezra Winter About: Ezra Winter- Writer and Social Media Professional Overview: Ezra is a social media and digital marketing professional who writes about his work and interviews interesting people in the field. He consults with companies and helps them boost their social media presence. His work has appeared in Complex Magazine and other popular outlets. Through this interview, Ezra shares with us how he maintains a work-life balance, and what a typical day in his life looks like. Highlights: What Ezra Does: Ezra helps companies with the social media strategy. For a few clients he does the actual posting, and also interacts with his client's followers. More frequently, he comes in to help train companies' staff, help set up accounts, and help share with those companies what works. End Goal: Ezra would like to get his personal brand off the ground and focus on doing more live events. He has a background in performin

About: John Jenkins-Sr. IEM & Special Projects Manager for Intel The following interview was conducted at the StartSLC conference in SLC, Utah January 29 & 30, 2015 Overview: John Jenkins is a tech representative for Intel. He primarily focuses on the startup tech community. He is here to find ways to support the startup community through resources that Intel has to offer. Specifically, in the mobile market and the X86 Architecture program. If a developer needs some hardware to test on, Intel is happy to provide those developers with that and John is there to help. For Utah, the funding and talent is there but has it's struggles. John shares with us about the gap between brilliant engineers and their struggle to business/market their great ideas. One of the goals for Intel in Utah is to continue the support and building within the tech community of Utah. Eventually, they want to develop a plan that will bridge the gap for engineers and launching their ideas. John advises entrepreneurs to not be afraid

“We build businesses, we sell businesses, and we do it in a way that our businesses operate with a very high standard of integrity. Our businesses all focus on making a positive change in someway in the world, and also helping people fulfill their dreams.” - Emma Ponsonby About: Emma Ponsonby- Founder of Emperia Ventures Overview: Emma shares with us about her drive for being a part of Emperia Ventures- an ecommerce business currently in Dubai. Emma Ponsonby   Highlights: Dubai Community: When Emma came to Dubai 2 years ago, there was a very small startup community, but Emma feels more support has evolved for startups since being there- from the government, community, and other startups. About Emperia Ventures: Emma started her first business in school designing logos for small entities all over the world. From that experience she really learned how to fend for herself. From there she went to New Zealand and worked with another design company. Over the last 13 years, she’s been involved in design, marketing

“Even if you’re not trying to be a high-growth company, it’s hard [being an entrepreneur], it’s a roller coaster. You go through crazy highs and crazy lows.” - Bradley Joyce About: Bradley Joyce- Founder of Velocis , SocializerHQ, and Launch DFW Overview: Bradley Joyce is the true definition of being an Outlier. During this interview, he shares with us all about the different companies he started and what it’s like balancing so many responsibilities in the entrepreneurial world. Bradley Joyce Highlights: Velocis: It is a company Bradley started in 2008 as a way to get into the web development world. It was the entity under which he did all of his work. He spent a lot of time helping small companies build their businesses, and eventually got into bigger build-up applications. It’s a team of 13 people- designers, developers, marketers, and sales people. They act as an incubator for a lot of the smaller companies. Up to this point, they have about 5 companies and have equity stake in most of them while helping

"Once you get into early stage companies, it’s hard to imagine doing anything else.” “It’s a hard road, there’s a lot of days when I wake up and think, "Man I wish I could just go work for a big company and cash a check and I’d be fine," but it’s just not the way I’m wired.” - Andrew Dumont About: Andrew Dumont- Entrepreneur in Residence at Betaworks Overview: Andrew is a determined and intelligent young man who has a passion for building businesses. He shares his experiences with starting the company Stride, and what he is doing now at Betaworks to prepare for future entrepreneurial work. Andrew Dumont   Highlights: Background: Andrew is originally from Seattle, but now living in New York working at Betaworks. He came to NY to elevate his entrepreneurial game and be surrounded by people who are always on the go. Betaworks: It's essentially like a startup studio and is structured by 2 sides. The first side is an investment side. They are currently involved in about 15-20 seed investments with about $100-$25

“If you don’t believe in all your heart and soul, that the thing you are offering, is the right thing, then it’s going to be hard for you to ever ask for the sale.” “Don’t fake it ‘til you make it, believe until the world catches up to where you are.” - Chris Brogan About: Chris Brogan- CEO of Owner Media Group Overview: Chris Brogan is a successful and approachable entrepreneur. He has consulted for large firms all over the world, including Disney, Google, Microsoft, etc. Chris provides education and tools to help you make your life and your business thrive, by teaching you how to own the game you most want to win. Throughout this interview, we learn some great tips on how to be a powerful salesman, and how Chris has become successful. Chris Brogan   Highlights: Why Meet with Outliers: We asked Chris why he was so willing to meet with us, and he responds by saying that he is always willing to help others, no matter what stage of work they are in and was excited to help you, Outliers. He states that everyon

“A failure is a failure when you fail and you don’t get up again.” - Hasan Mirjan About: Hasan Mirjan- Founder of SpherePad, &  SphereMail Overview: Hasan shares with us the struggles of immigrating from Iraq to America and the ups and downs of doing what you love. He had to be very patient along the way until he could create the company he was so passionate about. We learn all about SphereSpace and their sister companies, and how a co-working space can help any entrepreneur. Hasan Mirjan | Melinda Yeaman   Highlights: Background: Hasan’s story goes back 25 years or so. He comes from a family of entrepreneurs. The first business that he started was a chicken farm located in Iraq. The chicken business didn’t do so well, so he opened up a stationary store, but due to circumstances in the country, it ended. When he came to America, he worked for a company in the tech industry, but wanted to start something of his own. Once he got residency in the country- he quit his day-to-day job to finally start his own

  “Technology is the most extensible and scalable thing that you can leverage to build almost any type of idea.” “We were the black sheep of startups… in an industry that a lot of guys in tech just didn’t get.” - Melody McCloskey About: Melody McCloskey - Founder of StyleSeat Overview: Melody is a young, technology driven entrepreneur. She started StyleSeat to help provide hairstylists and salons a successful platform that will increase their business by 70%. Melody McCloskey Highlights: Background: Starting in her early 20's, Melody has been involved in the tech for the past 10 years- which began on the product side. After working for a TV network started by Al Gore where she was brought on to focus on helping monetize the network online, she decided to start her own company. Melody felt that after being in the entrepreneurial world for so long, it was time for her to venture off and do something that she was extremely passionate about. Starting StyleSeat: Melody sat on the idea for a couple of years befor

“Technology doesn’t create new behaviors, what it does is it facilitates and accelerates behaviors people already have.” “Technology changes fast, and people change slowly.” “The only reason we succeeded, is because no one took us seriously.” - Peter Horan About: Peter Horan – Founder of Horan MediaTech Advisors Peter C. Horan is an entrepreneur with a history of building successful media and internet businesses. He has played a role in five major revolutions in media and technology including: home video games; personal computers; cell phones; Windows computing; and the internet. Overview: Throughout this interview, Peter walks us through his entrepreneurial journey and how he became involved in the tech world. He discusses the ups and downs of technology, what is valued today, and how he learned to spot potential even when it seemed dim. Peter Horan   Highlights: History: Back when Peter got involved in technology, it was very risky to do so because of the unknown. In the early days, Peter was selling kit

"The most rewarding experience that I've had is the chance to know some of the young people when they started in their first year working for us [DDD], and to see them through the 4 years of work, and to have them go on to better things." - Michael Chertok About: Michael Chertok- Co-Founder and Chief Business Development Officer of Digital Divide Data Overview: Michael shares his experiences with DDD, which is a technology company that focuses on providing high quality services to companies large and small. He discusses with us the benefits of having employees in developing countries and how DDD is helping these young people become better educated and self reliant. Highlights: Background: Michael's drive started when he was in college. He was struggling to figure out how to pay for college, and over the summer, he got a job doing back office work for a medical supply company. It was tedious work, but it was his first job in an office that taught him great communication skills with his co-workers, and manage

 “There are no losers in innovation.” -Kym McNicholas About: Kym McNicholas - Emmy Award Winning Journalist Overview: Kym is a feisty go-getter and long-time broadcaster. She has worked as a journalist for Forbes and PandoDaily. Currently, Kym is involved as the Executive Director for the Extreme Tech Challenge. Kym McNicholas | Melinda Yeaman   Highlights: Kym’s Background: Kym has quite the resume, from professional water skier, to executive director of the Extreme Tech Challenge, Kym takes the cake on diversity. She graduated with a Communication Studies degree from Sacramento State University. Kym grew with a love of sports, and originally went to school for sports, but got a taste of broadcasting and ended up heading towards that direction. Throughout her life, she has been involved in many different types of broadcasting positions. What is the Extreme Tech Challenge: Kym has been involved with many entrepreneurs and has worked with Richard Branson on the Extreme Tech Challenge. To learn more about wha

“For me, the health benefits of doing training, vs not doing training have been tremendous, both in terms of confidence and how I carry myself. If I could get half of that to people who train with us, I think it’s a successful business.” – AJ Shewki “Working for someone is nice, but creating something from scratch can be a roller coaster, but at the same time it is very exciting.” - Yorgos Stavropoulos About: AJ Shewki, Yorgos Stavropoulos, and Bjorn Wanbo - Co-Founders of FYTNS. Overview: FYTNS is currently a locally based company in San Francisco. The goal at FYTNS is to connect people to great personal training. It’s also a platform for personal trainers to find a pool of clients who are looking for trainers. FYTNS allows trainers to become their own entrepreneurs where they don’t work for "the man" at the gym who takes a large percentage of their revenue. With FYTNS, these trainers get to structure their own workouts, and create their own schedules. FYTNS   Highlights: What is FYTNS: A platform for pers

“The best part about my job is bringing ideas to reality, and being able to see that manifestation.” - Kalin Kelly About: Kalin Kelly- “Founders Broker”- Founder of The Connector Habit Overview: Kalin Kelly is a talented young woman with a strong background in sales, communication, startups, and real estate. She shares the relationship between landlord brokers and what the commercial real estate is willing to give them. Kalin explains the troubles behind real estate in San Francisco and how having a “founders broker” can help so many young companies. Ergo- The Connector Habit. Highlights: Kalin’s Experience: She graduated from Berkley College and became a part of two startup companies that have given her the knowledge to know what founders actually need to begin. In her second startup, she became a marketing director, but later became interested in really changing the commercial real estate world. She realized there really is a disconnect and wanted to help solve the problem. How It Works: Kalin’s job is to

"I've essentially bootstrapped my entire racing career to date...It was the most 101 in Business I've ever had...The whole struggle financially, and having to put my business hat on at a young age is what has made me so passionate about entrepreneurship." Collete Davis About:  Collete Davis - Racecar Driver, Co-Founder of TechDrive, & CEO of Collete Davis Racing Overview: Young female Indy race car driver, Collete Davis, wows us with her amazing accomplishments, entrepreneurial skills, and involvement with co-founding TechDrive. She shares the ups and downs of competing in a highly dominated male sport and how TechDrive came about. Highlights: Getting Started: By the age of 12 years old, Collete Davis was professionaly go-cart racing. By the age of 16, she started college to become a mechanical engineer. Although she was outnumbered in her classes and career, she didn’t let being the only girl make her nervous or shy away from her dreams. She is currently pursuing Indy racing and aspires to win the Indy

“We are disrupting the negative behaviors and dynamics that aren’t conducive to a healthy relationship. – Matthew Arrington About Forte Strong:  Co-Founders: Matthew Arrington, and Brook Price. St. George, Utah. Overview: Forte Strong is a powerful startup company helping young male adults ages 18-26 overcome their failure to launch. They work with an average of 8-15 students on a 6 month basis to help break bad habits, teach them social and practical skills, boost confidence, and lead them to the path that will bring them success in the real world. They are driven by their pure desire to help build the next generation of strong men. Highlights: Why the need for Forte Strong: Failure to launch is a growing problem that consequently is affecting men more than women. Matt and Brook are determined to help build this next generation of strong men. Reasons for Failure to Launch: Social anxieties, technology, parenting styles Details of Forte Strong: It is a 6 month program for male students ages 18-26. They prov

Blankspaces is a brand of coworking offices in Los Angeles. Since 2008, they have cultivated a community of entrepreneurs and freelancers who share office space to collaborate. From private offices to a communal WorkBar, they have flexible plans for a variety of sizes for any workstyles. Blankspaces also has a variety of meeting room spaces that can be arranged to fit different events needs. 

Don't be afraid, you will fail and it's okay, keep plugging away." - David Kressel David Kressel - Founder/VP at NotaryCam NotaryCam has completely redefined the notarization process, providing the highest level of security possible, including positive verification as to the originality and integrity of the document to be notarized and absolute assurance the signer and notary are who they say they are. To prevent fraud before it occurs, we visually record the signing session and a personal information questionnaire must be completed by the signer. Connect With Professor David: Website | Facebook | @Kressel | @NotaryCam     If you enjoy Outlier On Air, please Subscribe & Review on iTunes or Stitcher

"Hire slow but fire fast." - Jeremy Dann Jeremy Dann, Professor of Entrepreneurship at USC Marshall, Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies Professor Jeremy Dann discusses the top three issues entrepreneurs struggle with. Find out what they are. Professor Dann's work has focused primarily on new product development, creative marketing strategies and effective organizational practices for encouraging innovation. Highlights: Company Entrepreneurship Business Plans Team Selection Virtual Teams Ivory Tower Ever Gonzalez | Melinda Yeaman | Professor Jeremy Dann Connect With Professor Dann: Website If you enjoy Outlier On Air, please Subscribe & Review on iTunes or Stitcher

"I see myself as helping my clients leverage the internet  and online media" - Dan Lundmark Dan Lundmark - Principal at Lundmark Newmedia & Co-Founder of Appr.TV LUNDMARK newmedia integrates solutions for online, print, interactive, and video production. Dan has worked on projects over the years that have included web development, interactive CDs for Sony and Warner Bros. LUNDMARK newmedia has also produced promotional videos, animation workshops at the American Film Institute, and brand ID, print collateral, and online content management systems for Long Beach public schools. Melinda Yeaman | Dan Lundmark | Ever Gonzalez | Andrew Grossman Takeaway: Long Beach, CA Internet Boom 3D Printing New Media Co-working Space Air Swimmers Collaboration & Relationships Takeaway:  "Time can be another form of poverty." - Dan Lundmark Connect With Dan: Website| LinkedIn | @danboarder If you enjoy Outlier On Air, please Subscribe & Review on iTunes or Stitcher