Conquering Columbus Podcast

Summary: In this episode we sit down with current President & CEO of Wolfe Insurance Group to talk about his path from playing college basketball at Capital University, to eventually completely buying out his dad from the company he built from scratch and recently acquiring one of the most historic homes in Ohio. Wes takes …

Summary: A nice little chat with Rise Brands (16-Bit Bar & Arcade and Pins Mechanical) Founder, Troy Allen – Troy tells us about his path from designing highly flammable, and possibly explosive, snow globes to creating several successful companies like Elevate Thinking & Rise Brands. Troy is a very creative mind, who thinks about things …

Summary: We talk with Chris Warner, one of the world’s most accomplished mountain climbers, CEO of a company that serves over 1 millions customers a year, and an Emmy nominated filmmaker. Chris has climbed nearly all of the world’s tallest peaks, and is one of less than 400 humans to have made the summit of …

Summary: We sit down with the CEO of the Columbus, Ohio based company, Air Force One. Air Force One has hundreds of employees, has been around since 1984, and is known for delivering superior service & quality to all of their customers in the facilities services space. Greg’s father, Bill, founded the company here in …

Summary: President of Fast Switch, one of the fastest growing, privately-held, IT staffing companies in the nation, sits down with us to to talk about his childhood, high school with experience with classmate Brad Pitt, path to an MBA at the University of Michigan, growing his current company, Fast Switch, from $5-million/year in revenue to …

Summary: Interim Director at Connects Columbus, Founder of the Small Business Beanstalk, Partner at Atlas Community Partners, and proclaimed (by former guest Steve Weaver) “Connector of Everyone” (Timothy) Wolf Starr sits down with us to talk about his path from dropping out of college to establishing himself as a high-level leader in several businesses before …

Summary: Former Ohio State NCAA & Big Ten Champion in Men’s Gymnastics, 3x World Team Member, World Medalist, Certified Personal Trainer, and Fitness Cover Model, Brandon Wynn, sits down with us to talk about this path to finding the sport of gymnastics, reaching the pinnacle of the sport, and what his goals are for the …

Summary: Dr. Gayle Gordillo, MD sits down to talk with us about her path to becoming one of the country’s premier researchers and practitioners in the field of plastic surgery. From her start at Stanford to her path to Columbus, we cover Dr. Gordillo’s childhood, what helped drive her through some of the most grueling academic …

Summary: Nancy Kramer, Founder & Chairman of Resource/Ammirati, which was recently acquired by IBM, takes us through the journey of creating one of the largest independently owned digital marketing agencies in the country. We cover everything from Nancy’s childhood and family, to landing Apple as her first customer and what her life is like today …

Summary: Director of Operations for some of Columbus’ hottest spots, including Forno, Standard Hall, and Pint house, Reed Woogerd, sits down with us. Reed takes us through his earlier days, his life under an entrepreneurial father, his wildcard trip to New Zealand, and his path to meeting Chris Corso & helping create and grow Corso …

Summary: Joe DeLoss, Founder & Head Fryer at Hot Chicken Takeover, sits down with us to talk about his background, business successes/failures leading up to Hot Chicken Takeover, the “why” behind creating Hot Chicken Takeover, what his hiring process is like and how he separates those to bring on the team vs those to not, …

Summary: In honor of National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month and in celebration of The Black Lens recently winning the Grand Prize at the Self Published eBook Awards, we welcome Columbus-based author, Christopher Stollar. Christopher has an extensive background in journalism, which he has leveraged over the last 5-years to write an award winning …

Summary: Wil is a serial entrepreneur who started his first company at the ripe age of 19 years old. Since then he’s had numerous successful exits, most with very strong returns, and runs one of the world’s largest startup platforms, startups.co. On this episode we cover a bit of his life story, his take on …

Summary: Co-Founder of TrashCab LLC, a valet recycling service for businesses, apartments, and condominiums sits down with us to discuss his journey from studying accounting at Notre Dame to starting his own business. We cover everything from how studying accounting & Brennan’s first job out of college played a crucial in his ability to start …

Summary: A Harvard graduate & an all around-brilliant individual, Greg Ubert takes us through the creation of Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea from ideation to present day. Greg’s idea started fairly simple with a go-to-market approach of wholesale distribution, but has since evolved to a somewhat “specialty coffee shop consultant” of sorts, by still focusing …

Summary: On this episode we sit down with another wrestling alum and Co-Founder of FloSports, Martin Floreani. Martin takes us through his first few business attempts in college, where some failed and some dissipated on behalf of an unclear vision, up through the founding and creation of the multi-million dollar (and growing) sports media company, …

Summary: We sit down with UFC Welterweight and MusclePharm sponsored athlete, Matt Brown, to talk about his transition from training and living in Columbus, to training and living in Colorado, his battle with drug addiction growing up and how he survived a near-death heroin overdose experience, his fighting career up until now with MMA and …

Summary: On this episode we were fortunate enough to sit down with Definitive Homecare Solutions (DHS) Founder, Stuart Crane. With the help of his partner, Stuart bootstrapped their company to a $43 million exit, and split the cash right down the middle. There’s something special and inspiring about the story of their successful company, maybe …

Summary: Unfortunately, Mike had to miss out on this episode due to unforeseen circumstances, but Josh was fortunate enough to sit down with Jungle Jack Hanna and capture a great look inside the life and mind of the Columbus Zookeeper and TV Personality. Jack is one of the most authentic people you’ll ever meet, and …

Summary: On this episode we sit down with Ryan Frederick: Principal at AWH, Director at Startup Grind (Columbus), Advisor at Rev1 Ventures, Advocate at i.c.stars, Principal at Stepside Co. LLC, and an all-around household name in the Columbus startup community! We cover everything from Ryan’s background (up to where he is today), his current role …