303 Generating 50,000,000 Unique Visitors & Raising a $6.6 Million Series B w/ Luke Skurman4/18/2018 
Niche.com generated 50,000,000 unique visitors last year. They announced a $6.6M Series B round of fundraising in February 2018. They’ve come a long way from their humble beginnings in 2002.
In my interview with Luke Skurman, the Founder & CEO of Niche.com, we discuss the challenges of raising venture capital as an established company, the marketing & business development talent in Pittsburgh, and importance of aiming at a big target. Luke is also a Co-Founder of Ascender, a non-profit, 501(c)(3), focusing on bolstering innovation and entrepreneurship in the Pittsburgh region. They host the annual Thrival Innovation + Music Festival every year in Pittsburgh. Never miss one of our best episodes by subscribing to the newsletter. Luke’s Challenge; The more you give, the more you get back. Have an impact in a meaningful way through service. 
Connect with Luke
Website Underwritten by Piper Creative A digital agency that provides strategy, delivery, and analysis specializing in a few key service offerings. Documentary-as-a-Service (Vlogging 2.0) Instagram Content Production & Account Building Podcast Production, Strategy Consulting, and Guest Acquisition If you aren’t creating or curating content regularly, your clients and customers might forget you’re open for business. YouTube If you liked this interview, check out a bunch of previous interviews with Pittsburgh entrepreneurs like David Cristello, Jorgen Pederson, and Darrin Grove. Subscribe on iTunes | Stitcher | Overcast | PodBay
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Rich, President & CEO of Innovation Works, leads one of the nation’s most active early-stage investors. In this conversation, we discuss a recent report IW authored with Ernst & Young that detailed the last decade of venture investing in the region.
Some highlights of recent activity include the $225 million acquisition of security awareness trainer Wombat Security by California-based Proofpoint and the $1 billion round of funding recently raised by self-driving car intelligence provider ArgoAI from Ford. Further, Pittsburgh tech companies have attracted over $3.5 billion in funding over the past 10 years, including $2.1 billion in the past five years. What will this mean for the future of the region? Never miss one of our best episodes by subscribing to the newsletter. Rich’s Challenge; Advocate for the startup community in your region to elected officials. Connect with Rich Website Connect with Piper Creative YouTube Website If you liked this interview, check out our dozens of interviews with Pittsburgh influencers and business leaders including entrepreneurs than Innovation Works has invested Henry Thorne, Hahna Alexander, and Ryan Green. Subscribe on iTunes | Stitcher | Overcast | PodBay 
How do you go from studying journalism in the midwestern United States to revolutionizing the education system of another continent? I don’t know. So I asked Audrey Cheng about her company.
The Moringa School is enabling a whole generation of high-potential, proactive people passionate about technology to become top mobile and web developers by equipping them with skills to do so. Through top quality teachers and a curated curriculum, the school aims to world-class developers in Africa. Founder Audrey Cheng has partnered with Hack Reactor, a top Silicon Valley coding school, to develop a world-class intro-to-programming course and an immersive, intensive 19-week program to train top mobile, web and front-end developers. The World Bank has chosen Moringa School to be their Middle East and Africa location in their study on the effectiveness of coding bootcamps in emerging markets. Attend my one-day conference January 27th in Pittsburgh. Learn more here. Audrey’s Challenge; Be aware of your emotions. Pause. And tell yourself, “It’s going to be ok.” Connect with Audrey Audrey's Twitter Moringa’s Twitter Website If you liked this interview, check out previous episodes with sous vide entrepreneur Lisa Fetterman and angel investor Li Jiang. Subscribe on iTunes | Stitcher | Overcast | PodBay 
The world is a funny place. Every once in awhile, you run into someone cut from the same cloth as you. Whenever you find someone like that, i recommend recording a podcast together!
My guest, Li Jiang is a venture capital specialist, angel investor, and a co-owner of the San Francisco Flamethrowers. After leaving investment banking, he moved to Silicon Valley and has amassed a portfolio of angel investments and a family of entrepreneurs to support. As a student, Li founded a student storage and shipping company and grew it into Northwestern University’s largest student company. You’re gonna like this interview. Resources AngelList Syndicates Bill Campbell Attend my one-day conference January 27th in Pittsburgh. Learn more here. Li’s Challenge; Go and try to help someone without any way for them to repay you. Ask them to pay it forward. Connect with Li Medium If you liked this interview, check out previous tech interviews with Robert Scoble, Andy Rachleff, and Mark Leslie. Subscribe on iTunes | Stitcher | Overcast | PodBay 
Sean Ammirati joined Birchmere Ventures in 2012 to as the partner leading Birchmere Labs, a seed and studio fund focused on community driven commerce startups. Prior to that, he had over 12 years founding, building and selling businesses in the media and software industries.
Sean was previously Chief Operating Officer of ReadWriteWeb, one of the most influential sites about the future of technology and innovation. In December 2011, the company was acquired by SAY Media to strengthen its technology channel. Sean was previously co-founder and CEO of mSpoke, which was the first acquisition of LinkedIn. Sean is currently an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University. He also was a founding advisor to Innovation Works’ AlphaLab accelerator. He holds a B.S. in computer information systems from Grove City College and was a research fellow at Carnegie Mellon’s Sloan Software Industry Center. Check out his new book about how lean startups can find growth; The Science of Growth: How Facebook Beat Friendster--and How Nine Other Startups Left the Rest in the Dust Sean’s Challenge; We need to do a better job conditioning ourselves to understand that failure is not as scary as we tend to think it is.
Connect with Sean Ammirati
Website If you liked this interview, check out episode 16 with Zach Malone where we discuss raising venture capital and the Pittsburgh startups scene. 
Underwritten by Piper Creative
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Henry Thorne serves as a Mentor at AlphaLab Gear. He founded Aethon Inc. in 1997 and served as its President. He co-founded Thorley Industries LLC in 2005 and serves as its Chief Technology Officer. Henry is a mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, graphic user interface designer and computer scientist. He received BS degree in 1982 and MS degree in 1984 from Carnegie-Mellon University.
Upon graduation, Henry joined General Motors Corporation. During his five years there, among his many accomplishments were the invention of the first weld path adjustment system, the invention of the first fully automatic tool center point calibration system (eliminated the single largest cause of downtime in automated arc welding); the design and implementation of the world's largest automated arc welding system (still running today with the lowest downtime in the auto industry); and the development of a spot weld controller (software installed on thousands of robotic welding machines). Further, Henry invented and patented the world's leading system for calibrating robotic tools, still licensed to ABB. In 1990, Henry left General Motors Corporation and founded Cycle Time Corporation to design and market "Tophat," a graphic user interface for robotic welding. Under contract to ALCOA, he also invented the first system for real time arc weld quality measurement, still the best available measurement of the quality of a weld as it is being produced. He served as Director of Aethon Inc. It was here that he invented and patented three technologies that solve the “navigation riddle,” without using elaborate and expensive laser and inertial guidance systems. He is currently the CTO for 4moms, a company he co-founded with partner Rob Daley. He is also the longest sitting board member for USA Ultimate and has remained very active in the ultimate community. He also serves as a special advisor for Ultimate Peace, a non-profit committed to using ultimate to help teach conflict resolution in Israel.
Zach is an associate at Draper Triangle Ventures where he helps identify and conduct due diligence on potential investments. He spends his days meeting with entrepreneurs, attending tech-community events, and developing relationships in the innovation community.
Draper Triangle is a Venture Capital Firm that partners with the Midwest’s most extraordinary entrepreneurs who set out to change the world. Founded in 1999, Draper Triangle has invested in some of the Midwest’s most successful startups including TOA Technologies, Renal Solutions, BodyMedia, CardioInsight, and Carnegie Learning. DTVC partners with early stage companies to create iconic and disruptive businesses in emerging markets including software, digital media, robotics and medical devices. Draper Triangle is a proud member of the Draper Venture Network, a robust venture collective bringing together experienced investors and innovative entrepreneurs from around the globe to share strategies, source opportunities, and create greater value. Over the last 25 years the Draper Venture Network has grown into a self-governed organization of independent venture funds on four continents who cooperate on investment diligence, marketing intelligence, corporate relationships and co-investments. Through DVN, members can leverage the collective intelligence of 100+ invested more than $3B in over 500 ventures. Zach’s Challenge; Meet an early stage entrepreneur and help introduce them to a new potential customer. This will stoke the local economy and solidify a valuable connection Connect with Zach Twitter @zacharymalone Website Draper Triangle twitter @drapertriangle Website Draper Venture Network twitter @drapernetwork Website |
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