Technori

In this episode of the Technori podcast, host Scott Kitun interviews Jeff Annison, the co-founder and president of Legion M. They discuss Annison's journey from mechanical engineering to entrepreneurship, highlighting his experiences in various startups, including a streaming mobile television venture and a music-related startup. Annison shares insights into his career transitions, the challenges he faced, and the evolution of his ventures.Key Highlights:Quibi chat: despite failures, a quick look at its innovative content creation and distribution model. (5:52)Legion M proposition as a fan-owned movie studio. (9:09)Hollywood strikes and the future of entertainment. (15:11)Hollywood's shift to streaming and Legion M's fan-owned model. (24:12)Using fan funding for Hollywood movies. (28:09)Investing in fan-funded content. (37:59)

Scott Kitun sits down with acclaimed journalist and author Taylor Lorenz to set the record straight regarding internet history, the premise of her book, "Extremely Online," (available now). She discusses the evolving landscape of the tech world, the importance of strong social safety nets, the impact of AI on content creation, and Lorenz's thoughts on various social platforms. Key Highlights:The impact of social media on fame and celebrity. (2:51)The fundamental issues creators face including the challenges of accessing healthcare and unions' potential role (and over-reliance) in addressing these concerns. (3:12)The evolution of influencer culture and the impact of social media platforms. (7:50)Creator unions and collective bargaining in the digital media industry. (15:19)The discussion shifts to the influence of AI, with Scott highlighting how it might disrupt the middle class and alter traditional career paths. (20:41)Taylor provides a balanced view on AI's potential, noting that while there are concerns, AI also offers various creative tools. She also mentions using ChatGPT and its current limitations are not scary. (22:18)Scott dives into the human element in content creation, emphasizing that human-driven competition and creativity remain irreplaceable. (24:14)The conversation concludes with Lorenz's thoughts on the best platforms to follow her work,  her move away from Twitter (X) for tech commentary. (27:54)

Scott Kitun talks to StartEngine co-founder Howard Marks. The conversation starts with Kitun's curiosity about Marks' early involvement in crowdfunding, despite having been an entrepreneur (founder of Activision) for a long time. Marks recounts his journey from investing in entrepreneurs in Los Angeles to eventually building StartEngine. He reflects on entrepreneurs' difficulties when raising capital, especially those who don't fit the traditional "Stanford-educated, white male" profile. Marks shares his experience with the initial skepticism and resistance faced, emphasizing the potential opportunity when the general consensus is against a new idea. He also highlights the success of StartEngine so far, its future prospects, and the company's recent launch of a secondary marketplace for trading alternative assets.Highlights include:Howard Marks reflects on his entrepreneurial journey, the origin of StartEngine, and the difficulty entrepreneurs face in raising follow-on investments, particularly those from diverse backgrounds (1:58).Marks expresses his frustration with the traditional investment model and discusses how the Jobs Act of 2012 sparked his interest in crowdfunding as a potentially revolutionary opportunity (12:39).Marks discusses the growth and success of StartEngine, the launch of its marketplace for trading, and the future prospects of the platform (14:02).

Scott Lynn, founder and CEO of Masterworks, joins Scott Kitun on the show. As a long time art collector and enthusiast, Lynn saw a massive space in the market for fine art - which includes many pieces that are valued in the millions of dollars - to be invested in fractionally but art lovers and investors worldwide. In this episode, Scott Lynn shares his foray into entrepreneurship, developing the Masterworks platform and the promise of the art + internet to make incredible opportunities. The two Scotts digs into the markets, expressing confidence the markets will swing back for alts. Lynn also  dives into the Masterworks platform and how to think about artwork as a part of a diverse portfolio and how to build your own portfolio. Check out Masterworks here.  

Bored Elon Musk, a pseudonymous influencer, joins Scott Kitun on the pod. Bored has built his following over most of the past decade on Twitter. What started out as a joke account gradually - alongside the growing notoriety of Elon Musk - into an influencer account with over a million followers. Bored shares how he built his following and monetized his account, including his Bored Box. Scott and Bored talk about the idea of playing a character as a business, performing in good faith and best use cases for crypto and NFTs. Bored also talks about distancing his brand separate from Elon and shares a few thoughts on the latest Twitter company news. 

Harper Reed, founder and CEO of Galactic, joins the show with Scott Kitun. Reed, the former Head of Commerce at Braintree and President Obama's CTO during his re-election campaign, is a longtime tech entrepreneur (and Technori supporter) working to make technology work better for everyone. Like many founders experienced early on in the pandemic, Reed had to make a major pivot. He shares his latest entrepreneurial journey moving Galactic from health/medtech-centered company into one focused on building fintech products native to Web3. Scott and Harper dig into the utter lack of accessibility for regular people to use crypto in their everyday lives, and how to build products with the user in mind. Reed  makes an actionable use case for Bitcoin, and ways of thinking about crypto and blockchain in a way that touch people's lives. They also touch on their Chicago roots, finding funding amidst the pandemic for veteran and rookie entrepreneurs. 

Milan Kordestani, founder and CEO of Audo, joins the show with Scott Kitun. Audo is a career building platform that combines e-learning and job opportunities that fit the skills you learn. Scott and Milan dig into the changes coming to education, the value of college and avoiding debt. They also touch on just how gamification could and should play into the ways we learn, and building curriculum around engagement. Milan dives into his own college experience and not finding value in curriculum options given to him in college, which ultimately was the first kernel of his idea for Audo. 

Lorel Scott, co-founder and COO of StartupStarter, joins the show with Scott Kitun. StartupStarter is launching the first ever in-person Equity Crowdfunding Week (ECW), a showcase and awards show for equity crowdfunding startups and investors to come together for a 3 day celebration of a growing crowdfunding community. Lorel shares  how he and his co-founder came up with  StartupStarter in the height of the pandemic and have been working the past two years to put together a showcase that shines a bright light on the equity crowdfunding sector. They talk about the faults of the industry, how to grow awareness for crowdfunding and why the lack of volatility in private markets is such a heavy factor. They also dive into ECW (which Scott will be keynoting the awards show), the focus on music and inclusivity and special events happening in LA from 11/9-11/11. You can register here for the conference. 

Brittany Davis and Christie Pitts, general partners at Backstage Capital, join the show with Scott Kitun. Brittany and Christie talk about the present day investing landscape and why the future of VC will trend towards inclusiveness (or lose). The group shares their thoughts and experiences with the top VC firms, why so many are resistant to change and where the next generation of founders and investors is primed to shape who and what gets funded differently from their predecessors. We also talk about Backstage's new Flex Fund II, which KingsCrowd (Technori's parent company) will provide data and ratings on promising online deals that have underrepresented founders. You can learn more here.

Mike Mercier, founder and CEO of VonMercier, joins the show with Scott Kitun. They talk about how changing what we can do with vehicles, starting with the idea of VonMercier's electric hovercraft Arosa. Mike dives into his 10-year founding journey with late nights and weekends dedicated to coming up with the concept, finding the right materials and creating something from just an idea to a full-fledged company. Scott and Mike also dig into the building a business model for small-scale vs mass market. VonMercier is currently raising a CF round on Republic. 

Justin Miller, founder and CEO of Showplace, joins the show with Scott Kitun. Showplace aims to be a one-stop shop for people looking to rent out their properties with the supplies, design, furnishings and everything else you need to set up a short-term rental. Justin shares the company's hefty aim to be the modern infrastructure for short-term rentals, and filling a space opened up by the past decade's surge of companies like AirBnB and VRBO. As a three-time founder, Justin also dives into his decades long journey as an entrepreneur, including his first company  Notehall which was the first company on Shark Tank to receive an offer from the Sharks. Scott and Justin talk about becoming repeat founders, working with longtime colleagues and capitalizing on the startup mindset. For any founders listening to this, it's a must listen for turning ideas into businesses and how to move your company forward. 

Ashik Ahmed, co-founder and CEO of Deputy, joins the show with Scott Kitun. Deputy is a company focused around simplifying work life for the shift worker. As an employee management platform, Deputy specializes in timesheets, scheduling, tasks and workplace communication. Ashik shares the founding story starting with his own childhood growing up around shift workers in the family to working on the initial concept  with his cofounder who ran an aviation ground handling business at the time. Seeing how many people airlines didn't employ themselves, but were in fact shift workers, sparked the idea of creating a platform that better serves the tens of millions of gig workers across the globe. Scott and Ashik dissect the concept of the gig economy, its pros and cons, and how to empower shift workers besides lip service. 

Rory Rubin, co-founder and CEO of S.I. Container Builds, joins Scott Kitun on the show. S.I. Container Builds offer customizable ADUs (accessory dwelling units) using shipping containers that are affordable, simple and environmentally conscious. Rory shares with Scott the origin story for starting S.I. Container Builds. According to Rory, there are more than 23 million shipping containers that can be recycled as potential ADUs that are low-cost to build and be built quickly. Rory talks mission to address the housing crisis, why this opportunity left her switching careers and entering the construction space she grew up around with her family. They share stories about the various use-cases for ADUs, getting seed investment from Hyde Park Angels (and from previous guest Pete Wilkins) and starting a company from scratch.   

John Wu, CEO of Gryphon, joins the pod with Scott Kitun. Gryphon is a wireless router built around online safety, privacy and protecting the central point of your digital life at home. John first starting thinking about the idea for the router after watching his young daughter access the internet and come across NSFW (or children) content. Scott and John catch up about the essential role of data in our lives, why we should care where it goes and treating children's digital lives with equivalent protections and safeguards we use in the physical world. John also shares new features coming to Gryphon including password manager functionalities, VPN and other privacy protections using  blockchain technology that transfer control away from third parties and into the hands of the user.  Gryphon is currently raising a CF round on Republic. 

Cody Barbo, founder and CEO of Trust & Will, comes back on the show with Scott Kitun.  Cody catches up with Scott after three years of growing the Trust & Will business  from a seed round CF raise on Republic to a $15 million Series B and recent venture round led by UBS. They talk about the journey Trust & Will has been on, how Cody first got the idea after trying to work through finances with his wife and identifying a very clear need for simple, easy to set up estate plans and wills. Scott and Cody lament on the state of fundraising and its challenges. They dig into the different type of rounds Trust & Will has endured, the highs and lows of their equity crowdfunding campaign, why venture is still best suited for later rounds and touching on the evolving mindset of the retail investor. 

Alex Giannikoulis, founder of Ivee, joins the show with Scott Kitun. Ivee is a "mobility as a service (MaaS)" platform that adds a suite of apps and experiences that elevate your time as a passenger in commute. The Ivee dashboard connects your phone to a 10" tablet in the backseat to access services like Netflix, Spotify, Calm as well as physical experiences like surround sound and in-chair massage functionality. Alex and Scott go into the state of the auto industry, improving the in-car experience and why Tesla  - despite its flaws - raised the bar by changing customer expectations. Ivee is currently raising on a CF round on Republic. 

Vijay Kedar, co-founder and CEO of Tomorrow Health, joins Scott Kitun on the show. Tomorrow Health is a health tech company that aims to restore at-home care as the primary & preferred destination for patients of all ages. Vijay dives into how Tomorrow Health streamlines healthcare processes and at-home service to enable patients to go home and spend less time at the hospital. He shares his founding story of taking time off from his job at Oscar Health to help his mom through her cancer treatments and noticing all the deficiencies from insurance to  point of care. Scott and Vijay also talk about the problems of health care, how patients fall through the cracks, and creating businesses that serve providers, patients and companies equally well. 

Ana Mahony, founder and CEO of Addition Wealth, joins the show with Scott Kitun. Addition Wealth is a fintech platform that offers a suite of tools, resources and financial advisors to help employees make better financial decisions. Ana shares how she decided to jump into entrepreneurship after struggling to help her mom figure out her finances and the complications she faced. Scott and Ana  go back and forth over the lack of financial literacy employees have with their own contracts, how to understand their equity compensation and why that understanding doesn't exist across the wealth gap. They also talk about the inherent risks of joining a startup and why early employees carry the of that  risk burden. They touch on Addition's B2B2C business model, how to offer personalized financial advice at scale and why learning about your money early makes many decisions down the road that much easier.  

Nathan Beckord, founder and CEO of Foundersuite, joins the show with Scott Kitun. Foundersuite offers a suite of software tools, templates and education to help founders and CEOs execute more efficiently. Nathan comes back on the pod to talk about the Foundersuite journey, lessons he's learned from working with thousands of founders and learning strategies to successfully get early stage projects off the ground. Scott and Nathan share investor stories, teaching founders the volume game when it comes to getting investments and why it's critical for founders up to Series A to lead the charge on fundraising rounds. 

Galiano Tiramani, CEO and founder of Boxabl, joins the show with Scott Kitun. Boxabl makes ADUs (accessory dwelling units) that  can ship anywhere as a giant box that unfolds onto your plot of land. Galiano dives into his entrepreneurial journey with startups in the trendy spaces such as Bitcoin and cannabis, as well as his years long pursuit of getting Boxabl up and running. Scott and Galiano talk about the the logistics behind mass production and Galiano's plan to get several manufacturing warehouses - essentially auto plants but houses - to meet demand and ship Boxabls around the country. Besides being famous for Elon Musk's rumor of living in a Boxabl, they are also taking investments on Start Engine with over $12 million raised to date. Disclaimer: Anyone can buy shares in Boxabl for $0.80 at invest.boxabl.com and read the offering circular contract at boxabl.com/circular