Tacos and Tech Podcast

Hayley Brooks is co-founder & CEO of Whooo's Reading, an EdTech company that provides a machine learning algorithm that automatically assesses students’ comprehension for elementary and middle school teachers. Listen in to hear all about the genesis of Whooo’s Reading, Hayley’s plans for the future of the company, and her local favorite eats and brews. Thanks to our partners Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Mike Glanz is the co-founder and CEO of HireAHelper, an online marketplace for shopping of moving services. The company has full-service and labor-only movers in 50 states. A San Diego native, Mike grew up in the Mission Bay area. Listen in to hear all about the challenges Mike had to overcome in the first few years of HireAHelper and his plans for the future of the company. Thanks to our partners Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Nicole Carr is the CFO of Measurabl, a software platform that enables owners and operators of real estate to measure, manage, and report non-financial ESG data, such as energy, water, and waste consumption data. Listen to Nicole's story and also check out her local favorites when it comes to tacos, coffee, and beer spots. Thanks to our partners Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Craig Cecilio is the founder & CEO of DiversyFund, a fintech platform created to build wealth for anybody regardless of their net worth and socioeconomic background. In the next couple of years, Craig plans on introducing another product, like a venture fund or another alternative investment. Additionally, Craig shares what he loves about living in Downtown San Diego. Thanks to our partners Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Alessandra Lezama is the CEO of AbacusNext, a San Diego-based TaaS (technology-as-a-service) company. The company provides professionals at large with an ecosystem, where they are able to integrate and have access to all their applications in a private cloud. When she’s not in the office, you can find Alessandra outdoors, going on hikes, enjoying the beach, and going horseback riding. Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support of our tech ecosystem.

Meet Mike Allman, co-founder & Executive Chairman of Voterfied, a voter engagement platform that’s revolutionizing the way elected officials and government officials interact with their constituents. Listen in as Mike takes us through his journey from growing up in rural Michigan to moving all around the world before settling down in San Diego, where he had a long career in tech before taking on a new challenge with entrepreneurship. Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support.

Dawn Barry is President & Co-founder of LunaDNA, created by co-founders of the $40 billion DNA sequencing leader Illumina. LunaDNA incentivizes the sharing of health & DNA data for research by rewarding people for sharing that of their own while contributing to medical research & discovery that saves lives. Listen in to find out where in North County Dawn likes to frequent for tacos and coffee. Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for the ecosystem support.

Sergey Sundukovskiy Co-founder, CTO, and CPO of Raken - a field management solution for the construction industry. Tune in to hear all about Sergey's journey from Ukraine to UCSD and his career path to entrepreneurship. Have you ever met someone who has never eaten a taco? Listen to Sergey's story! Thanks to Cox Business for their of the local startup ecosystem.

Meet Dan Hendricks, a retired Navy Captain who specialized in nuclear engineering, and is the Founder of Open Source Maker Labs (OSML). OSML is an innovation lab for makers and developers of new products. The favorite phrase and criteria for new projects at OSML is “we’ve never done this before”, which demonstrates the lab’s vision for innovation. Thanks to our partners Cox Business for their support of the local startup ecosystem and in support of this episode. 

Meet Doug Winter, founder and CEO of Seismic Software, an enterprise SaaS tool for sales enablement. Thanks to our friends at Cox Business for their support of this episode.

Meet Scot Chisholm, CEO & co-founder of Classy - A social enterprise fundraising software focused on helping non-profits grow their revenue. Classy was named while he and his friends were first brainstorming the concept of Classy while watching Anchor Man - Stay Classy San Diego. Classy is now a 200+ employee SaaS startup that has now processed over $1 billion in funds for non-profits through its platform. Thanks to Cox Business for their support of the local startup ecosystem.

On October 24, Tech Coast Angels San Diego, San Diego Venture Group, and Cox Business came together to put on one huge blockbuster event, The 12 Annual John G. Watson Quick Pitch Competition. With a record number of applications - 280+ submissions - the organizers had a big task of weeding down to 10 finalists to present. A cool $75,000 is on the line and entrepreneurs are pitching in front of over 700 audience members. Listen in to the remaining finalists and hear who wins!

On October 24, Tech Coast Angels San Diego, San Diego Venture Group, and Cox Business came together to put on one huge blockbuster event, The 12 Annual John G. Watson Quick Pitch Competition. With a record number of applications - 280+ submissions - the organizers had a big task of weeding down to 10 finalists to present. A cool $75,000 is on the line and entrepreneurs are pitching in front of over 700 audience members. The energy is electric and the curtain is ready to raise.

Meet Samantha Urban, CEO of Urban Translations and an all around inspiring founder in tech. Urban Translations, which translates paper menus into interactive experiences and languages. Thanks to Cox Business for their sponsorship support of this episode and the tech ecosystem.

Meet Jason Pang, serial entrepreneur and current COO of Whiff.com While Jason has been building startups in San Diego for over 18 years, he is also a prolific startup mentor and career advisor to students. Listen in as we discuss the wins and the big blow ups of the startup world. Thanks to Cox Business for their sponsorship support of this episode and the tech ecosystem.