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PHX Founders
We sit down with remarkable founders who are making Phoenix a top software city. In these interviews, we dig in to the highs and lows of company building, and get a little vulnerable to find out what makes these founders keep going.
The PHX Founders Podcast is a production of PHX FWD.
PHX FWD is on a mission to prove Phoenix a top city for sustainable, high growth software companies to start, scale, and succeed. We've seen firsthand how software ventures can be a force for good for individuals, families, and communities.
We believe Phoenix is the best city to start a company, with the best talent, and without a doubt the very best company builders. Watch us prove it.
Episodes
20 episodes
PHX Founders interview with Clate Mask, Co-Founder & CEO of Keap
Before Phoenix became one of the fastest growing tech markets in the country, we had a handful of visionary, ambitious founders building software companies. One of them is Clate Mask. He co-founded Infustionsoft, now Keap, at a time when no one...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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38:52
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PHX Founders Interview with Rachel Mertensmyer & Elizabeth Furst, Co-Founders of Rivia Health
When Rachel started working on a solution to the headache that is patient payments in healthcare, she knew she had a tall mountain to climb. And climbing is always easier when you have a partner on the adventure, which is why she sought out a c...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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1:06:52
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PHX Founders Interview with Bryce Deeney, CEO & Founder of Equipifi
Few things can prepare someone for being a founder. But poker might be one of the exceptions. In this interview with Bryce Deeney, founder and CEO of Equipifi, Gregg learned that paying millions of hands (yes, millions) is a great way to learn ...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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1:00:00
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PHX Founders Interview with Cindy Jordan, Founder and CEO of Pyx Health
When we think about the worst epidemics in this country, “loneliness” doesn’t usually top the list. But it should. 44 million Americans struggle with loneliness. And not just older Americans. For the first time in history, it's highest among yo...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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54:50
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PHX Founders interview with Anthony Kennada, Founder and CEO of AudiencePlus
Anthony Kennada tells us his story of learning how to be resilient. He got bit by the startup bug early in his career, working for some of the fastest growing tech companies in Silicon Valley. Then decided that Phoenix was the best place to sta...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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1:02:41
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PHX Founders interview with Matthew Pittinsky, CEO of Parchment
We kick off Season 2 of the PHX Founders Podcast with one of the most successful founders in Arizona, Matthew Pitinsky, CEO of Parchment.Matthew found tremendous success with his first ed tech venture, Blackboard, where he was the found...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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1:02:11
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PHX Founders Interview with Chris and Jonathan Ronzio
In our final episode from S1 of the PHX Founders Podcast, we continue our conversation with Chris Ronzio, founder and CEO of Trainual, and we're also joined by his co-founder, CMO, and brother, Johnathan Ronzio. This episode is a t...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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54:08
PHX Founders Interview with Chris Ronzio, Part 2
Our conversation with Chris veered into some interesting places. From starting any business he could imagine as a kid, to learning to live with Type 1 Diabetes, to distance running in Antarctica. In Part 2 of our conversation, Chris continues t...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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35:45
PHX Founders Interview with Chris Ronzio, Part 1
It’s hard to be around Chris Ronzio, founder and CEO of Trainual, and not feel energized. He brings that excited, passionate energy everywhere he goes, and it’s infections. He’s also a workhorse, who never stops trying and learning. Which is wh...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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31:46
PHX Founders Interview with Scarlett Spring, Part 2
Scarlett Spring is building a software company in a sector of healthcare that is notoriously underfunded and difficult to navigate. Or is it? Scarlett might know something about the future of personalized care and doesn’t mind the headwinds. Sh...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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17:21
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PHX Founders Interview with Scarlett Spring, Part 1
When you’re a seasoned healthcare executive, biotech founder, and prominent board member, starting a software company should feel easy, right? When you’re Scarlett Spring, founder and CEO of Taproot, it feels like any other new thing. Which is ...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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28:10
PHX Founders Interview with Nirit Rubenstein, Part 2
In the first part of our conversation, we learned that Nirit faces the same challenges as every other software founder. Raising capital is hard, building a customer base is hard, building a team and culture is hard. But Nirit has a trick to kee...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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24:27
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PHX Founders interview with Nirit Rubenstein, Part 1
Nirit Rubenstein feels a deep responsibility to take care of others, but don’t think for a moment that means she’s a pushover. From training pilots in the Israeli Armed Forces, to building a new kind of credit improvement company that values pe...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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30:44
PHX Founders Interview with Enoch Ko, Part 2
In this episode we learn more about how he got on a path to both engineering and entrepreneurship. Both start when he was a kid in a foreign country. He didn’t know the language, or the culture. But he had curious brothers, his dad’s TI calcula...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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31:42
PHX Founders Interview with Enoch Ko, Part 1
Enoch Ko, founder and CEO of Soraban, has a solid handle on process, iteration, and relentless learning. He’s also incredibly tenacious, a skill he developed as child when he immigrated not once, but twice. We’re going to hear how Enoch sparked...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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26:52
PHX Founders Interview - Gabe Cooper, Part 2
Gabe Cooper talks about the endurance of growing Virtuous, a responsive giving platform. In part 2 of our interview, we dig into how he builds culture, community, and category. We also learn that Gabe's knack for endurance extends beyond the wa...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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29:47
PHX Founders Interview Gabe Cooper, Part 1
Gabe Cooper talks about the endurance of growing Virtuous, a responsive giving platform. In part 1 of our interview, we learn about his funding journey, what's been really hard in scaling his company, and what's been really rewarding.
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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25:40
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Interview with Heidi Jannenga Part 2
In the second part of our interview with Heidi, we talk about company culture, the shift from early to later-stage scale, and what success looks like for her personally, including her impact work and giving. We also lean what...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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23:26
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Interview with Heidi Jannenga, Co-Founder, Chief Clinical Officer, WebPT
If you’ve been in PHX for a while, you know the name Heidi Jannenga. She’s a little famous in this community, for co-founding one of the most successful software companies to come out PHX – WebPT. Hers is the quintessential story of a subject m...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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21:10
