upside
Named a top 27 business podcast by Fortune, upside examines startup investing outside of Silicon Valley.
Every Wednesday, we speak with an early stage founder. We interview them as if we are angel investors considering the company as an investment opportunity.
Each show has three segments:
1.) Intro: independent research of the company
2.) Interview: interview with the founder
3.) Debrief: breaking down the opportunity
Sometimes, we share Coffee Chats interviewing venture capitalists, community builders, and later-stage founders.
Subscribe and see why Business Insider called our podcast "Almost as Good as Getting an MBA."
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 59 minutes
- Episodes
- 219
- Years Active
- 2018 - 2021
UP047: Momentous // supplements used by professional athletes and available to you (feat. Tenika Seitz)
Interview begins: 09:33
Insight begins: 1:00:43
Debrief begins: 1:08:09
Matt Wan is the founder and CEO of Momentous.
Momentous is a nutritional supplement company driven by science, consumed by transp…
CC022: connecting the coasts to the heartland // a Coffee Chat from the Comeback Cities Tour
Interview starts: 06:15
This conversation took place on the third Comeback Cities tour on May 15, 2019, aimed at connecting venture capitalists from the East and West Coasts with investment opportunit…
UP046: MITO Material Solutions // chemical additives for tougher composites
Haley Keith is the co-founder and CEO of MITO Material Solutions.
MITO Material Solutions developed a nano-additive named the “MITO T-Series.” The T-Series is mixed in with any epoxy or resin, which t…
UP045: GTI Fabrication // scaling modular construction through pre-fabrication
Interview begins: 09:04
Debrief begins: 49:12
Rich Stapleton is the co-owner and CEO of GTI Fabrication.
GTI Fabrication creates modular containerized solutions. Products include Modular Shower, Kitchen…
UP044: Semtive // building a peer-to-peer power grid using wind turbines (feat. Benjamin Stafford of Clean Energy Economy Minnesota)
Interview begins: 07:30
Insight begins: 58:56
Debrief begins: 1:21:22
Ignacio Juarez is the Founder and CEO of Semtive.
Semtive is a Clean Energy startup that was born in Argentina. They believe that acc…
UP043: inKind // redesigning restaurant financing with House Accounts (feat. Kevin Tien of Himitsu and Hot Lola's)
Interview begins: 07:12
Insight begins: 57:53
Debrief begins: 1:05:28
Johann Moonesinghe is the co-founder and CEO of inKind.
inKind has invented a new form of finance where they purchase a bulk amount …
CC021: thinking big, fearing less, and listening deeply in Madison // a Coffee Chat with Scott Resnick (StartingBlock)
Interview begins: 05:12
Debrief begins: 39:24
Scott Resnick is the founder and former executive director of StartingBlock Madison.
StartingBlock is a 50,000 sq foot entrepreneurial hub which opened in 2…
UP042: Threatcare // automated third-party threat detection
Interview begins: 07:55
Debrief begins: 52:27
Marcus Carey is the founder and CEO of Threatcare.
Threatcare allows organizations to better defend against cybersecurity threats by improving vulnerability…
CC020: bootstrapping the world’s largest real estate community to over 1m members // a Coffee Chat with Josh Dorkin (BiggerPockets)
Interview begins: 07:00
Debrief begins: 1:04:20
Josh Dorkin is the founder and former CEO of BiggerPockets. BiggerPockets.com is the nation’s largest and most active real estate investing social networ…
Library Magic Pt. 2 // Jay's one year reflection
Hey guys, welcome to part two of Library magic.
Eric and I are celebrating one year of upside, and as he mentioned last week in part one, we were particularly struck by Monique Villa’s comment in our …
CC019: take two // a surprise Coffee Chat with Nathan Todhunter (editor)
We've had a lot of success in our first year of upside.
Or at least it seems that way, through the magic of post-production!
A few weeks ago, our editor + audio engineer Nathan told us he had a surpris…
Library Magic Pt. 1 // Eric's one year reflection
On upside, failure hasn’t really been the default. Most initiatives have come naturally and been met with, at worst, mildly positive reception. For the last few months, Jay and I have been struggling…
CC018: building the front door to #StartupCincy // a Coffee Chat with Eric Weissman (Cintrifuse) (Live from Cincinnati Podcast Festival 2018)
This episode comes from the Cincinnati Podcast Festival on November 1, 2018.
Eric Weissman is the Vice President of Communications, Community & Economic Inclusion at Cintrifuse.
Cintrifuse has one clea…
UP041: HoloMe // human holograms made easy with augmented reality
Interview begins: 07:10
Debrief begins: 55:08
Janosch Amstutz is the Founder and CEO of HoloMe.
HoloMe creates life-sized, high definition, real humans in augmented reality. Their software allows brand…
CC017: building a world class venture firm in Chicago // a Coffee Chat with Ezra Galston (Starting Line)
Interview begins: 05:47
Debrief begins: 47:55
Ezra Galston is the Founding Partner at Starting Line. Starting Line is a thematic early stage venture capital fund focused on investing in consumer servic…
UP040: Plus One Robotics // solving the cluttered pile problem with vision-based robotics (feat. Nick Solaro of Drive Capital)
Interview begins: 07:58
Insight begins: 1:03:34
Debrief begins: 1:20:42
Erik Nieves is the Founder and CEO of Plus One Robotics. Plus One Robotics develops computer vision software to enable robotic aut…
CC016: a new source of funding and optionality for early stage founders // a Coffee Chat with Tyler Tringas (Earnest Capital) and Kevin McArdle (SureSwift Capital)
Interview begins: 06:02
Debrief begins: 58:45
Tyler Tringas is the General Partner at Earnest Capital.
Earnest Capital provides early-stage funding, resources and a network of experienced advisors to b…
UP039: Backtracks // data analytics for podcasters (feat. Meb Faber of Cambria Investment Management)
Interview begins: 07:29
Insight begins: 1:15:07
Debrief begins: 1:28:18
Jonathan Gill is the founder and CEO of Backtracks.
Backtracks is an analytics and hosting platform that helps podcasters know & g…
JE008: consume, contribute, create // how founders, VCs, and community builders should podcast
Nearly a year into publishing weekly episodes of the show, we have a lot of thoughts about the world of podcasting and specifically how startup founders, VCs, and community builders can leverage podc…
CC015: geography and investing, should location matter? (live from SXSW 2019) // a panel with Andy Sparks (Holloway), Rachel Carpenter (Intrinio), and Brandon Bryant (Harlem Capital)
Last month, we had the pleasure of hosting a panel at SXSW called Geography vs. Investing: Should Location Matter?
This would not have been possible without the support and voting of our listeners, an…