Great Entrepreneurs with RJ Lumba

Cookie Monster Growth: Crumbl Cookies’ Founder Jason McGowan

In this episode, we speak with Jason McGowan, one of the Co-Founders of the fastest-growing cookie companies in the nation since 2017. With over 700 locations in the US and Canada, Crumbl Cookies is powered by cutting-edge technology, iconic branding, delicious desserts, and passionate people.
In 2017, two cousins, Jason McGowan, with career experience in technology and marketing, and Sawyer Hemsley, still finishing his college degree, teamed up to create a new kind of cookie company. What started as a side hustle and several trials and errors in their baking quests, eventually led to creating the world’s best chocolate chip cookie.
From there, the rest is history. Opening their first store in Logan, Utah, which only served their signature chocolate chip cookie, they eventually expanded to a weekly rotating menu of several flavor options and quickly made their way to opening locations throughout the states.
In 2023, Crumbl Cookies expanded internationally and opened stores in Canada. The company’s famous pink branded box and weekly flavor rotations make them stand out from the baking crowd.
I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode click to subscribe

Supercharging With Protein: The EVERY Company’s Arturo Elizondo

In this episode, we speak with Arturo Elizondo, Co-founder and CEO of The EVERY Company, which is an American biotechnology company that develops proteins and other products traditionally sourced from animals.
The company’s versatile proteins are proven solutions for a variety of applications, from bars and beverages to bakery, alt meat and novel foods and beverages that benefit from a protein boost.
Arturo has led The EVERY Company as its Co-founder and CEO for the last decade from concept through commercialization.  The Company has raised over $200 million dollars from notable investors.
I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode, click to subscribe.

A 1000x Faster Database Solution: ClickHouse’s Aaron Katz

In this episode, we speak with Aaron Katz, Co-Founder and CEO of ClickHouse. ClickHouse is an open-source database management system which allows users to generate analytical reports using SQL queries in real-time.
Its technology works 100-1000x faster than traditional database management systems, and processes hundreds of millions to over a billion rows and tens of gigabytes of data per server per second.
Before founding ClickHouse, Aaron helped grow salesforce.com between 2002 - 2014 from a private, 200 employee startup, to a $200 billion market leader. He was also part of the team that took Elastic public and drove revenue from $5 million to $500 million.
I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode, click to subscribe.

Tech Entrepreneur Polymath: Figment’s Lorien Gabel

In this episode, we speak with Lorien Gabel, Co-founder and CEO of Figment, the leading provider of blockchain infrastructure. The company has raised over $150 million and is backed by Thoma Bravo, B Capital, Two Sigma, and other notable investors.
Figment provides comprehensive staking solutions for over 250 institutional clients. The world’s largest asset managers, custodians, exchanges, foundations, and token holders leverage Figment’s infrastructure and APIs to earn staking rewards. Staking is a process in which token holders can earn rewards by helping to secure a blockchain network.
Before Co-Founding Figment, Lorien was both a serial entrepreneur and corporate executive.  Along with his brother, Lorien founded three companies - 1) pingg.com, which was acquired by 1800-Flowers, 2) Bird on a Wire Networks, which was acquired by AT&T Canada and 3) Interlog, one of Canada’s first commercial ISPs, which was acquired by a large multinational telecommunications provider.
Lorien also spearheaded the exponential U.S. growth of UK-based tech company MessageLabs as Global VP Business Development, ran a division of Fortune 500 company Micron, and has served on the advisory board of a number of start-ups.
Lorien supports The Murph Challenge. To learn more about the annual event click here.
I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode, click to subscribe.

Becoming The Market Leader: GPRS’ Matt Aston

In this episode, we speak with Matt Aston, President and CEO of GPRS, who has built his company from an idea to over $160 million in annual revenue. GPRS or Ground Penetrating Radar Systems is the nation’s largest company specializing in the detection of underground utilities, video pipe inspection, and the scanning of concrete structures.
Matt founded GPRS in 2001 and the company has grown to be a great success in its market. Its 99.8%+ accuracy rating on over 250,000 projects leads the industry.  The company has worked on some of the largest and most significant construction projects in the country. GPRS is backed by CIVC Partners.
Matt supports LifeWise Academy. To learn more about this organization click here.
I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode, click to subscribe.

A Business Savant: Ardurra’s Ernesto Aguilar

In this episode, we speak with Ernesto Aguilar, the President and CEO of Ardurra, which is a multidisciplinary services firm, providing broad-based solutions that are tailored to the specific needs of the public and private sector. The company is backed by Littlejohn & Co, a middle market private equity firm.
Ardurra provides services in the areas of water, transportation, public works, environmental, aviation, civil, aquatics, emergency management, transit, surveying, structural, community relations and landscape architecture, among others.
Ernesto is a visionary leader and seasoned Professional Engineer with 30+ years of experience encompassing all aspects of operations, management, business development and project delivery for engineering and consulting. He also leads the sourcing, valuation and merging of acquired companies, with an emphasis on integration as the key to building a unified firm.
I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode, click to subscribe.

Best in Class Revenue Platform: Clari’s Andy Byrne

In this episode, we speak with Andy Byrne, CEO and Co-founder of Clari. Clari is a platform that uses AI and machine learning to support sales teams by integrating with their existing CRM systems.
Thousands of sales, marketing, and customer success teams at leading companies, including Okta, Adobe, Workday, Zoom, and Finastra, use Clari’s execution insights to make their revenue process more connected, efficient, and predictable.
The company is backed by Blackstone, Silver Lake, Sapphire Ventures, Tenaya, Bain Capital, Sequoia and other notable investors.
Prior to Clari, Byrne was a founding executive at Clearwell, which he helped grow from pre-product and pre-revenue in 2005 to an $80 million annual revenue run rate until its acquisition by Symantec in 2011.
Andy supports Rise Against Hunger. To learn more about this organization click here.
I am your host RJ Lumba. We hope you enjoy the show. If you like the episode, click to subscribe.

Engineering Healthier Sweets: Nick’s Niclas Luthman

In this episode, we speak with Niclas Luthman, Founding Partner of Nick’s. Based in Sweden, Nick’s develops "better for you" alternatives to popular sugar packed and carb loaded foods, such as confectionery, ice cream, snacks and sweeteners. Nick’s seeks to eliminate the gap between indulgent and healthy, through food innovation, to empower more people to make better food choices.
An entrepreneur with a mechanical engineering background, Niclas became a self taught food engineer in 2014 after having to change his diet and lifestyle.  He worked with food scientists to develop a range of sugar, wheat and gluten-free snacks that can be part of every-day life.  The Nick’s range has become a permanent fixture in the Swedish confectionery aisles and also has a home in the US.
I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode, click to subscribe.

The Education Entrepreneur: Elevate K-12’s Shaily Baranwal

Shaily Baranwal is the Founder-CEO of Elevate K-12. She started Elevate K-12 with a passion for bringing high-quality synchronous instruction to K-12 schools to solve the teacher shortage crisis.
Shaily is a non-conformist, disrupting the status quo to truly make an impact in the educational field and beyond. Prior to starting Elevate K-12, Shaily was a management consultant at AT Kearney and has founded both a chain of pre-schools and a chain of restaurants in India; her restaurant chain was acquired by India’s largest food and beverage conglomerate, Dabur.
Elevate K-12 is backed by General Catalyst, Arsenal Growth Equity and other notable investors.
Shaily holds degrees in Industrial Engineering and Early Childhood Education, as well as an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. She is on the board of the University of Michigan Zell Lurie Institute and advises the development of students who want to take and continue on the path to entrepreneurship.
Shaily launches the Baranwal Entrepreneurial Scholarship Fund at the University of Michigan - Stephen M. Ross School of Business and Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. The scholarship will fund the entrepreneurial aspirations of University of Michigan students.
I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode click to subscribe

The Future of Software Sales: Tackle’s John Jahnke

In this episode, we speak with John Jahnke, the CEO of Tackle, the leading solution built to help software companies generate revenue through a data-driven Cloud go-to-market (Cloud GTM).
John is a business and technology leader with a successful track record of building great teams to drive emerging technology patterns.
Tackle works with more than 550 software companies including CrowdStrike, HashiCorp, Lacework, New Relic, VMware, and many more at every stage - from companies scaling their go-to-market to the largest software companies in the world.
They are venture backed by three of the world's top SaaS investors - a16z, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Coatue.
I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode, click to subscribe.