FOUNDERS BASH 2022 - SEATTLE STARTUP PHOTO GALLERY 1

February 4, 2023

Seattle VC Profile: Sri Chandrasekar, Point72 Ventures

January 28, 2023

When I started Ascend in 2019, I realized even though I was o-l-d OLD, I had more in common with the folks in town who were earlier in their professional investing journeys than the venerable VC’s I’d pitched as a founder. I admire and respect the new wave of Seattle/Pacific Northwest venture capitalists, and thought it would be fun to profile some of our region’s up and coming VC talents in these pages. —KW

Sri Chandrasekar, Managing Partner at Point72 Ventures, is a builder at heart. And he’s quietly built a formidable career as a VC, having recently established a Seattle presence for multi-stage fund Point72. He’s a renaissance man and a great guy to grab a glass of wine with. Stoked to have him on the blog.

What made you decide to be a professional investor?

I stumbled into it. I always thought it was far more likely that I’d be a founder than an investor. But I had the opportunity to join In-Q-Tel (the strategic VC arm of the CIA and broader intelligence community) and that was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down. That job got me hooked – every day, I get to talk to people who quit their jobs to start something they are passionate about. There’s nothing more energizing than engaging with founders.

What did you do before becoming an investor and how does that benefit your founders?

I was an engineer, and still somewhat consider myself one. I spent the formative part of my career building systems for the US Military and Intelligence Community. In my role at In-Q-Tel, the closest analogue to what I did was probably a Technical Product Manager. And that’s what I bring to the table with our founders. I’ve built and shipped products. I’ve had hundreds of conversations with potential customers about their needs and turned that into product features. That experience translates to helping early-stage founders who are facing the same challenges.

Why should founders want you on their cap table?

We make every effort to support founders who want to go the distance. Because of our team, our experience, and our platform, we believe we are in a strong position to know what ‘good’ looks like from the earliest stages all the way to the public markets. We believe we have designed our fund to support scaling beyond just providing capital. We don’t want to lead your Series A and disappear. We pride ourselves on being value-additive investors.

How many new pitches (actual calls/zooms) do you take per month?

Talking to founders is in our DNA, so we do a ton of calls. We’re always happy to be available for exciting ideas.

How many new investments do you make per year?

Over the past three years, we have made, on average, 20-25 investments per year. Our full portfolio can be viewed at https://p72.vc/portfolio/

What's your sweet spot(s) in terms of check size, valuation, and vertical?

While we focus first on companies raising Seed and Series A capital, our capital is flexible, which gives us the ability to support our portfolio companies through subsequent rounds and find new opportunities with founders who are further along. We have teams investing in several verticals including deep tech, fintech, and enterprise software, and are always looking for bold ideas.

What one portfolio company do you want to hype for us here?

This is too hard! It’s like asking which child is your favorite…

What do you think the next ten years looks like for Seattle/Pacific Northwest startups?

I’m very bullish about the opportunity for PNW startups. I think there’s more technical talent here than almost anywhere else in the world. I’m particularly excited about Cloud, AI, and Space, because I see them all as areas where the Seattle ecosystem has the most expertise, and yet they’re all still in their infancy.

What song is currently getting the most run on your Spotify/Apple Music?

Primarily EDM. My wife recently went to an Alan Walker concert in SF, so let’s go with Alan Walker.

Favorite shoes?

I love British hand-made shoes. And since I don’t dress up very often these days, I love my Crown Northampton sneakers.

Favorite cooking ingredient?

Eggs. They’re magical and can be turned into everything from breakfast to dinner based on what you make.

Vancouver VC Profile: Chris Neumann, Panache Ventures

January 16, 2023

Chris Neumann is a General Partner at Panache Ventures, Canada’s top pre-seed venture capital fund. As a founder, he’s raised venture and exited. As an investor, he’s helped many dozens of Canadian entrepreneurs connect with Silicon Valley VCs. And as a Twitter follow, he’s top notch. I’m stoked we got to spend some time here learning what makes Chris tick.

What made you decide to be a professional investor?

After my last startup was acquired in 2016, I had the opportunity to join 500 Startups as an EIR to help them launch a program focused on data, AI and ML companies (my background as a founder). At that point, I'd spent more than a decade in VC-backed startups and jumped at the opportunity to share some of my experiences with other founders. Six years later, I still wake up every morning feeling beyond privileged that I get to meet and work with incredible founders every single day.

What did you do before becoming an investor and how does that benefit your founders?

Prior to becoming an investor, I was the CEO and Cofounder of DataHero (acquired by Cloudability in 2016) and the first employee at Aster Data (acquired by Teradata in 2011). Over the years, I've been a part of five startups, including three as the CEO. Some of these companies were VC backed, while others were bootstrapped. I've done both product and services businesses. Some of those companies were "successful," others less so. I believe that those diverse experiences are what make the difference between investors who possess deep founder empathy (we've been there… we know what it feels like) and investors who took other journeys.

Why should founders want you on their cap table?

Our firm, Panache Ventures, is one of the few VCs in Canada with a team that's almost entirely ex-founders (we like to say that we have more exits than partners). We understand how difficult entrepreneurship is and that there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach to building a company. We also have deep experience building and financing successful, high-growth businesses outside of California. We operate a San Francisco-based accelerator, Panache Academy, to help our portfolio companies and others in the ecosystem learn the best practices and access the networks that are typically only available to founders based in Silicon Valley. Simply put, we believe that Panache Ventures provides the most credible path for Canadian startups to succeed on a global scale.

How many new pitches (actual calls/zooms) do you take per month?

In 2022, we met almost 3,000 founding teams across Canada (about 250/month) across four investment teams.

How many new investments do you make per year?

We target 20 new investments per year, with 60% pre-seed and 40% seed (about 12 pre-seed and eight seed investments per year).

What's your sweet spot(s) in terms of check size, valuation, and vertical?

Our initial check size is between $250K and $1M. We are a geographically specific (Canada only) and sector agnostic fund, and have invested in everything from AI to drug discovery to traditional B2B SaaS.

What one portfolio company do you want to hype for us here?

Some of our most promising companies come from British Columbia, including Certn (background checks), Audette (carbon reduction), Dooly (AI for sales/CRM hygiene) and Big Whale Labs (pseudonymity and privacy infrastructure).

What do you think the next ten years looks like for Seattle/Pacific Northwest startups?

Despite a lot of talk, for years the PNW has stubbornly remained a region of independent ecosystems, with Vancouver, Seattle/Tacoma and Portland all operating relatively independently. It feels to me like founders, investors and supporters alike are finally starting to see strength in numbers and the boundaries between our ecosystems are blurring. We see many more investors and founders from Washington and Oregon coming up to Vancouver in recent years (and vice versa), as well as angel groups and accelerators increasingly operating cross-border. To me, these are signs of a region that's growing in awareness of its collective strength, which is incredibly promising and bodes well for startups across the region.

What song is currently getting the most run on your Spotify/Apple Music?

Been listening to a lot of Tribe Called Quest lately.

Favorite shoes?

Classic Converse Chucks (hi-top). I wear lots of them.

Favorite cooking ingredient?

Anything from Meat Church.

Ascend Founder Profile: Elizabeth and Nora Sheils - Rock Paper Coin

October 25, 2022

This is a series of real talk blog posts meant to let founders share a bit about themselves and their companies without the marketing jargon and “killing it” puffery of most tech startup profiles.

What does your company do, for who, in plain English please!

Rock Paper Coin provides contracts, invoicing and document sharing for the wedding and event industry.

What's a typical day like for you, from wakeup ‘til bed?

E: I typically am awake by 6:00AM to allow myself time to work out, get my two boys to school and get ready for the day. Usually I am at my desk around 8:30AM. Most days are typically filled with back to back meetings. Since we are fundraising right now, a lot of the meetings are around this topic. I also oversee the technical and product side of our business so often working with the team on roadblocks, designs, etc. I take a break around 4:00PM to pick up my two boys (Gus & Finn) from school. We typically have a snack together, play at a park, play with cars or climb trees. My husband Tim comes home and around 5:30PM we have dinner together as a family. After dinner usually involves a neighborhood walk or scooter ride, followed by a bath and books for the boys. 6 out of 7 nights I typically am back online around 8PM and work till 10:30PM.

N: I am up and at 'em by 5:30 am to bust out some emails and get a sweaty workout in while catching up on my favorite show, podcast or pump-you-up music to start the day off right. From there, its a whirlwind getting my kids ready for school and either my husband or I will take them when the other gets to work. I like to block a solid hour off at the beginning of the workday to catch up on any time sensitive emails or Slack messages--I know myself and if I cannot see the bottom of my email inbox, it is stressful! From there, its a busy schedule of Zooms with partner pitches and demos, company 1:1's and marketing meetings. I oversee the Member Success, PR/Marketing and HR for our team so there is a lot of brainstorming, follow up, and compliance that needs to be managed on a regular basis. With some time padded in at the end of the day to flush out the inbox again, I am typically home by 5:30. Family dinner is a priority for us, so most nights we all hang out or finish homework while dinner is prepped and enjoy a meal together sharing our wins and losses. After baths/showers and reading, the boys are in bed by 8:30 and I have time to tidy the kitchen if my husband hasn't beat me to it. I will hop back on my laptop for a few hours (sometimes less, sometimes more!), read and then start the grind all over again!

What keeps you up at night?

E: Fundraising, managing our company goals vs investor goals, worrying about team or personal issues that occasionally arise.

N: This is a loaded question! I do some of my best brainstorming and troubleshooting as I'm trying to fall asleep. What keeps me up most is meeting our goals and new creative ways we are going to make that happen.

What brings you joy?

E: Being on the water, swimming with my boys, a date night out at a good restaurant and a delicious meal with my college girlfriends are all what truly fill my cup.

N: Nothing brings me more joy than spending time with my kids. As cliche as it is, they make me laugh until I cry and are genuinely so fun to be around. I love a good extended family style meal with my husband and our close friends or family, celebrating team member wins, dessert of any kind (except lemon) and an amazing glass of champagne.

What is one word you hate to hear?

E: No. I understand that this is a common answer, but with problem solving at my core (and Nora's) - I like to brainstorm deeply before coming to a no answer.

N: I'm with Elizabeth..."no" is not a word in our vocabulary. There is always a creative way to make something happen, maybe not as originally intended but maybe better. Getting creative and problem solving is something we excel at together!

What is one word you love to hear?

E: Helpful. I love when our team comes together to be helpful to one another. Or when someone offers to be helpful to myself or Nora. Team mentality over me mentality is essential.

N: Thank you. Ok...that's two words but being a company founder is a thankless job. There are so many early mornings and late nights, so much stress that you would never know having never done it. We put our team before ourselves time and time again. A simple thank you goes a long way.

What was your biggest failure in the past year?

E: Not keeping one of our employees ego in check. It was a slow burn of an ego getting out of control and it wasn't until the well was poisoned that I looked back and saw how I did keep things in check and ultimately negatively affected our team for months to follow.

N: I think our biggest failure has been trusting the wrong people and not getting second opinions. We were naive to think that everyone had our best interest at heart when giving advice.

What was your greatest accomplishment in the past year?

E: Having our first $1M transaction month.

N: We've had so many great accomplishments but I think the most exciting is our month-over-month growth. We've shown proof of concept and the fact that we've turned on subscriptions and our members are willing to pay is very exciting to me. While it seems obvious and minor, the continuation and increase of monthly subscriptions has felt very validating.

Who or what inspires you most?

E: All female entrepreneurs. The juggling act of pregnancy, kids, family, household things, etc. is not for the faint of heart. Anyone who starts a business with the cards stacked against them before they even start is incredibly inspiring. The easy thing is to not start a company, the hard thing is being so determined you do it anyways.

N: A big surprise when we came into the tech world was the number of entrepreneurs that have gone out of their way to help us, encourage us and cheer us on. It's inspiring to see so much support in this industry, especially to two non-technical founders. I'm inspired by the kindness and will absolutely pay it forward.

What's your best tool for managing stress?

E: Working out and time to work through the situation.

N: Exercise is my stress relief. I turn my brain off if stress is overwhelming and come out with a clear mind. Or, if I'm struggling to find a solution to a problem, a long run helps me work through it and come up with creative ideas. I feel it when I skip workouts and even though it means early mornings to fit them in, it's 1000% worth it and I make it a priority.

What's getting the most burn on your playlist right now?

E: n/a - when working I do not listen to music as my brain doesn't work that way.

N: I'm easily distracted when I listen to music while I work and find it difficult to focus. Mostly I listen to music in my car with the kids, so on their playlist there is a lot of DJ Marshmello!

Favorite shoes?

E: Nike running shoes

N: My wedding Monolos, saved for special occasions!

Favorite cooking ingredient?

E: Jennifer Fisher Spicy Salt

N: Za'atar!

Ascend Founder Profile: Brad Van Vugt - Battlesnake

September 14, 2022

What does your company do, for who, in plain English please!

We build competitive games for experienced web developers!

Our flagship game, Battlesnake, helps senior and intermediate developers deeply explore new tech in a way that is self-directed, challenging, and fun for their friends and their families.

What's a typical day like for you, from wakeup ‘til bed?

My day begins at 5:30 am when I get up with the kids and get them through their morning routine. I usually start working around 8 am.

Our team is distributed across North America, so our daily standup is earlier than most to accommodate all time zones. We try to schedule any synchronous meetings in the hours following, usually up until my lunchtime.

My afternoons are reserved for deep work like writing, brainstorming, or —if I’m lucky— coding 😊

At 4 pm I’ll break for kids’ dinner, the bedtime routine, and then spend a few hours working most evenings.

It took me some time to become comfortable creating protected family time in my schedule, but it’s become very important to me. I also encourage our team to do the same.

What keeps you up at night?

Not much these days, I’ll take whatever sleeping hours I can get! 😴

What brings you joy?

Seeing an idea come to life! This can be a new project, feature, or even a new team or growth initiative. I love building, and I like seeing the results of what I’ve built.

What is one word you hate to hear?

Haha, I really hate the term “no-code” 😅 It’s used to describe an arbitrarily specific class of software tools and abstractions that aren't particularly novel, just hard to describe.

What is one word you love to hear?

Not a single word exactly, but I love the moment when a developer first understands what Battlesnake is and their brain starts firing on all cylinders. Every instance of this is unique, and immediately recognizable. I live for that moment.

What was your biggest failure in the past year?

Probably holding onto control of smaller decisions for too long. Battlesnake is a small yet mighty team, with incredibly capable people in every role. It’s irrationally difficult to hand over the reins to something you’ve worked and fought so hard to build, but that is often required to reach the next stage.

What was your greatest accomplishment in the past year?

As a person? I taught my daughter how to blow her nose, which is astoundingly difficult to explain to someone who’s never done it before.

As a founder? It’s cliché but I’m very proud of the team we’ve built around Battlesnake. The jump from 3 to 8 team members is a critical one, and I’m constantly humbled by the talented folks that chose to join us in the past year 😊

Who or what inspires you most?

Definitely our community of Battlesnake players and developers. Without them, we’d be lost, and since they’re all accomplished developers, the amount of empathy, support, and feedback we receive daily is one of our greatest advantages.

What's your best tool for managing stress?

Music is a great outlet for me. The right song hitting at the right moment can instantly change my mood, and I’ll often be playing something in the background during meetings and zoom calls.

What's getting the most burn on your playlist right now?

90s Electronica. Underworld, Sneaker Pimps, Massive Attack. I’m a 90s kid at heart.

Favorite shoes?

Big ol’ doc martens. See above 😉

Favorite cooking ingredient?

Coriander and cumin, particularly in stewed or braised dishes. I love cooking Indian and Mexican food — if it’s on rice or in a tortilla, I’m in.

Seattle VC Profile: Elizabeth Scallon, Find Ventures

September 12, 2022

Elizabeth Scallon, Cofounder and Board Chair of Find Ventures, has been a catalyst for change and a friend to founders for years. From HP to Amazon to WeWork, she’s run incubators, seeded talent, and created hundreds of opportunities for startup to find their wings. Now, she’s created Find Ventures: a first-stage non-dilutive funder that envisions a world where all entrepreneurs have an equitable opportunity in building companies and a confident shot at solving our world’s greatest challenges.

What made you decide to be a professional investor?

A few things:

I want to live in a better world tomorrow than I live in today.
I love how imagination and wondering "what if" can lead to new business ideas, and through team building, customer discovery and product creation can turn into a thriving business (with a bunch of steps in between of course).
I want to support entrepreneurship for everyone. I am tired of the perpetual funding bias for BIPOC, LGBTQIA, Women, Non-binary, disabled, immigrant, and other founders.
I believe when people are business creators, they can increase economic wellbeing and quality of life not only for themselves, and family, but also for their community. And it's important to create businesses that have a sense of responsibility to their communities from the start.

What did you do before becoming an investor and how does that benefit your founders?

I have led many startup/new venture creation programs. Some of them are: CoMotion Labs at University of Washington, WeWork Labs for West Coast and Latin America, the inaugural Softbank Emerge Accelerator program, the inaugural Maritime Blue Innovation Accelerator, and now the inaugural Equity Innovation Accelerator.

I have worked at Amazon in their corporate venture arms, Alexa Fund and Smbhav Fund, as well as their innovation arm, Grand Challenge. My day job is currently the Lead of Incubation Enablement at HP.

I teach entrepreneurship at the UW Foster Business School, part of the undergraduate and MBA programs and Masters in Science of Entrepreneurship program.

How this helps founders is that I have deep networks, some insights, and lots of learning lessons to share.

What are your most successful investments so far?

For Find Ventures, we have just started to allocate funding and time will tell. Our portfolio is: Bio Fiber, Circled In, ClearBrief, Coltrain, GoldenSHERPA, Intentionalist, Lightsprite, NiftMint, Spritz, & WhyLabs.

I would love to shout out the following startups that have been part of my earlier programs/ones that I have supported in some small way (but may not have received funding directly from the program): GameJolt, Rebellyous Foods, CloudPaper, Pure Watercraft , Discovery Health , Koniku and so many more!

Why should founders want you on their cap table?

Find Ventures is a non-dilute investment. I won't be on your cap table, but you will have to sign a pledge to pay it forward if you make it big to seed the next generation of founders.

How many new pitches (actual calls/zooms) do you take per month?

It's summer, so for this month 8 (and some fall/winter months can easily go to 50+), and currently my calls revolve around if I can provide help/guidance/connections for the teams. This is not for an investment from Find Ventures, as Find Ventures is not actively seeking founders/startups right now.

How many new investments do you make per year?

We have just started this year, and our first portfolio is 10. Our goal is to raise enough capital each year to deploy to 10+ startups.

What's your sweet spot(s) in terms of check size, valuation, and vertical?

Up to $100K, early stage, and high tech. I personally love deep tech that has the convergence of multiple scientific disciplines.

What one portfolio company do you want to hype for us here?

ALL OF THEM!

Bio Fiber, Circled In, ClearBrief, Coltrain, GoldenSHERPA, Intentionalist, Lightsprite, NiftMint, Spritz, & WhyLabs.

What do you think the next ten years looks like for Seattle/Pacific Northwest startups?

We have the best minds in the world here, I want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to solve our biggest challenges and I think with Find Ventures and other great programs around our city, we will be leading the way to having Seattle break into the top 5 startup ecosystems in the world (currently we are number 9).

What song is currently getting the most run on your Spotify/Apple Music?

My daughter owns the music - it is anything from the Bluey soundtrack.

Favorite shoes?

Skye - they work great around town, hiking, in the rain, traveling, etc.

Favorite cooking ingredient?

Broccoli.

Anything else to say?

Two things: 1) We are always looking for donors that share our mission at Find Ventures! If inspired, donate today.

2) Thank you Kirby! Your commitment to Seattle and our founders is awe inspiring. Big love to you & your community!

Seattle VC Profile: Sara Lindquist, FUSE

August 29, 2022

Sara Lindquist of FUSE has already had careers as a DI college athlete and a published Nashville musician. Now, she’s one of the most compelling and energetic investors in Seattle, and we were lucky to catch up with her for this debut profile.

What made you decide to be a professional investor?

I have always been intrigued by the investment frontier and seeing “what’s next.” I was fortunate to intern at Ignition Partners (FUSE’s alma mater) in college, which was my first direct exposure to Tech and early-stage investing. I had deep respect for the team and excitement about the breadth of markets/products/verticals to learn about. The experience immediately sparked my interest. At my core, I love intellectual rigor and people, so it’s a great matchup.

My work with FUSE has granted me the opportunity to meet brilliant individuals each day who are seeking to change the way we live, work, and engage with the world. It is fun, inspiring, and the opportunity to steward capital towards these individuals is important. It is an invigorating responsibility to be trusted by our investors to find and sponsor the best people and the best ideas that will win in the long run.

What did you do before becoming an investor and how does that benefit your founders?

I worked with the Industry Analyst Relations team at Smartsheet. We focused on building / defining a market category and then establishing the company's product position within that category. As such, we were always trying to determine (1) the market scale and viability, (2) why customers needed the product, and (3) how to talk about the product in a way that people would best understand. It’s storytelling… and storytelling = influence. I try to contribute that experience to our portfolio companies as they work to hone their market position and tell their story.

Why should founders want you on their cap table?

The FUSE community. FUSE has always been intensely focused on building a community that offers founders access to thoughtful guidance, top talent, customers to help them scale…and more. This comes via the support of our entire team, and the 150+ PNW leaders, executives, and investors we are fortunate to call our LPs. Our team is a group of smart, high integrity, “roll up your sleeves” people who will work relentlessly to help portfolio companies succeed. Feel free to check out our website or reach out to any of us directly to learn more!

How many new pitches (actual calls/zooms) do you take per month?

We take about 150/month on average.

How many new investments do you make per year?

About 10.

What's your sweet spot(s) in terms of check size, valuation, and vertical?

Our focus is Pre-seed through Series A and check sizes range between $500K-$12M. Our core area of focus is B2B software, but we also will invest in B2C and other digital businesses as well.

What one portfolio company do you want to hype for us here?

How about two? :) I’ll first give a shout out to Zuper. They are changing the game in field service management and Co-founder/ CEO Anand Subbaraj is a terrific leader, and a great product-mind. He truly lives out a customer-obsessed mentality.

Also want to mention Xemelgo. Founders Rich Rogers and Akhila Tadinada are building a team and product that is completely transforming manufacturing and factory operations. Industry 4.0 here we come!

What do you think the next ten years looks like for Seattle/Pacific Northwest startups?

The PNW looks strong! The next generation of founders/leaders get to stand on firm “bedrock” – this business community now represents an abundance of top talent, investors, mentors, coaches, etc. that have evolved from the region’s numerous startup and corporate success stories.

What song is currently getting the most run on your Spotify/Apple Music?

Oh man, who to choose… have been listening to a lot of Moon Taxi, Chris Stapleton and Emily King lately. And then of course anything by the one and only Grace Potter.

Favorite shoes?

They certainly aren’t the best-looking shoes in the closet, but I’ve got to say my Hokas. Those babies are CLOUDS to walk/run on.

Favorite cooking ingredient?

Bomba Sauce from Trader Joes. Perfect little kick for everything – pasta, pizza sauce, you name it. It’s fire.

Ascend Founder Profile: Matt Meyers - Yesler

August 29, 2022

What does your company do, for who, in plain English please!

Yesler is a marketplace plus tools for sellers and buyers of bulk lumber (truck and railcar quantities).

What's a typical day like for you, from wakeup ‘til bed?

Up by 5 (lumber trades early) working from home watching the GYM (Go Yesler Marketplace, our internal slack channel to monitor marketplace activity), prepping for customer calls or creating new GTM ideas to share with the team. In office by 8 or 9, customer meetings/demos, internal meetings, zoom, whiteboarding. Late afternoon ideation with other team members as the day slows down around 3 or 4. Water taxi home. Run. Cook dinner for the family or drive a kid to soccer training. Work from the car or home on the couch cleaning up from the day's email or uncompleted tasks. Wordle and NYT Spelling B with my 12 year old around 9pm. Asleep by 10. Repeat.

What keeps you up at night?

Whenever I sense: 1) Lack of urgency/intensity 2) Lack of creativity or grit at roadblocks 3) When the team is asking what to do, instead of doing and telling me what they have done. Why? These indicate that the culture has crept toward command and control, instead of empowered, entrepreneurial, supported.

What brings you joy?

Signs of magic in little wins. Failure full of lessons. Working with smart people. Family.

What is one word you hate to hear?

Phrase: "I know you don't want to hear this..." Yes, I do. Whatever it is.

What is one word you love to hear?

Why?

What was your biggest failure in the past year?

Too slow to figure out that customers would let us do the work for them.

What was your greatest accomplishment in the past year?

Grit

Who or what inspires you most?

Creativity of any kind - art, music, invention

What's your best tool for managing stress?

Running

What's getting the most burn on your playlist right now?

I’m all in on podcasts

Favorite shoes?

Altra Running

Favorite cooking ingredient?

Tamari

Ascend Founder Profile: Dave Siegfried - LOANtuitive

August 15, 2022

What does your company do, for who, in plain English please!

LOANtuitive empowers commercial mortgage brokers to match loan requests to lenders better than anyone else.

What's a typical day like for you, from wakeup ‘til bed?

The typical day I strive for includes waking up by 5:30 am, two cups of coffee while sending emails / working on more creative tasks. By 7:00am I bike ride for 10 to 20 min to get the blood pumping and clear my head. By 8:00 am I’m usually in my first meeting. Later in the day I try to step away from the computer for an hour to go to the gym. I try to break from working by 6:00 pm so that I can spend time with my husband before working a few more hours. My last task for the day is preparing the coffee machine for the next morning before reading in bed.

What keeps you up at night?

It varies, though it is usually something I’m excited for or anxious about. Generally a problem I’m trying to work through.

What brings you joy?

Family, Friends, Team. I’m fortunate that my personal Venn diagram would intersect with each.

What is one word you hate to hear?

COVID

What is one word you love to hear?

Uncle

What was your biggest failure in the past year?

Finding balance between the I time spent working and time I spent with family and friends.

What was your greatest accomplishment in the past year?

Assembling our current team at LOANtuitive.

Who or what inspires you most?

The people I’ve been fortunate enough to surround myself with.

What's your best tool for managing stress?

I find consistent exercise is the best lead indicator for whether I will feel stressed or calm.

What's getting the most burn on your playlist right now?

The archived streaming set from KEXP’s Friday Night with Michele Myers

Favorite shoes?

Whichever pair is closest to the door I’m leaving from.

Favorite cooking ingredient?

I use DoorDash too often. When I don’t its a dash for garlic salt in what ever dish it is I’ve MacGyver’d from our refrigerator.

Ascend Founder Profile: Aaron Ambuske - HEST

August 9, 2022

What does your company do, for who, in plain English please!

HEST develops and delivers high-performance and portable sleeping solutions for camping and travel. HEST revels in the idea of enabling more people to get outdoors and enjoy all that it has to offer, especially after a good night's sleep.

What's a typical day like for you, from wakeup ‘til bed?

Wake at 6 AM, Check email and Oura sleep score, run with the dog (or bike), take youngest son to school, work at HEST warehouse until 6 PM, dinner at home, walk dog with wife, try to get through all emails and go to bed.

What keeps you up at night?

I try to have a good sleep routine, but sometimes my mind gets going with HEST product ideas and responsibilities which wake me up in the night.

What brings you joy?

Designing products to help people find joy in the outdoors.

What is one word you hate to hear?

Impossible

What is one word you love to hear?

Iterate

What was your biggest failure in the past year?

Hmmm. Seems like I fail everyday in something, but fortunately, there have not been any big ones the past year.

What was your greatest accomplishment in the past year?

Developing, commercializing and launching new products to drive over 50% of our sales YTD.

Who or what inspires you most?

Other founders. I’ve been fortunate to meet some amazing founders since creating HEST, and I’m so impressed and inspired by people building companies from scratch.