The Ignite Podcast
Conversations that
move the field.
Hosted by Brian Bell, Ignite brings founders, investors, and thought leaders together for candid conversations about startups, venture capital, technology, and society.
Oct 15, 2026 · 00:53:01
Ignite Marketing: How to Turn Customers into Lifelong Fans with David Meerman Scott | Ep302
A Los Angeles dentist increased new patients by 33% and revenue by 23% after turning his skateboarding obsession into a marketing strategy. David Meerman Scott joins Brian Bell for this episode of the Ignite Podcast to discuss The Fandom Playbook, his fourteenth book. David is a…
Oct 8, 2026 · 00:40:55
Ignite AI: The AI Gateway for Models, Agents and Multi-Device Inference with Jonathan Archer | Ep301
A $200 Claude subscription can deliver almost $10,000 worth of usage, but Jonathan Archer thinks those economics will not last. Jonathan Archer is co-founder and CEO of Open LLM, a gateway designed to put multiple AI models, subscriptions, and API keys behind one layer. Before…
Oct 6, 2026 · 00:45:57
Ignite Startups: Ganesh Padmanabhan on Building AI Infrastructure for Healthcare | Ep300
Autonomize AI now powers four of the five largest U.S. health enterprises, targeting the administrative work consuming clinicians’ time. Ganesh Padmanabhan is the founder and CEO of Autonomize AI. Before founding the company, he spent 11 years at Dell, where he worked across…
Oct 2, 2026 · 00:48:50
Ignite Career: AI Is Changing the Rules of Tech Careers with Alana Karen | Ep299
After 23 years at Google, employee #319 Alana Karen says tech careers are getting harder as AI reshapes jobs and corporate priorities. Alana Karen spent 23 years at Google across search, ads, fiber, and other teams, joining as employee #319. She is the author of the best-selling…
Sep 29, 2026 · 00:44:35
Ignite Startups: Why Corporate Training Is Being Rebuilt Around AI and Just-in-Time Learning | Ep298
Arusto has seen roughly 40–50% of demos convert to pilots, with about 80–85% of pilots converting to rollouts. Yuvraj Singh Shergill is the co-founder and CEO of Arusto. He launched his first company at 17, grew it to about $1 million in revenue over five years, and eventually…
Sep 22, 2026 · 00:41:54
Ignite AI: How AI Can Let One Fund Controller Manage 10X More Capital with Rajesh Gopi | Ep297
Zive says a 14-person team and 200+ AI agents are supporting $6.2 billion in assets while automating core fund administration workflows. Rajesh Gopi is founder and CEO of Zive AI, an AI-native fund operating system for GPs, fund admins, and CFOs. He has spent 30 years as a…
Sep 15, 2026 · 00:42:47
Ignite Marketing: The Real Growth Engine Behind Profitable Apps with Jonathan Maxim | Ep296
Jonathan Maxim once drove 14,000 app downloads in a single day, but not one of those users became a paying customer. Jonathan Maxim is the founder of Viral App Launch. In 2019, he worked on TikTok’s U.S. expansion before campaigns in Brazil, the UK, Italy, and Thailand. He says…
Sep 10, 2026 · 00:50:01
Ignite Startups: Why Distribution Matters More Than Margins in Insurance Tech with Terry Wang | Ep295
Release planned for a 40% loss ratio and ended up near 75 to 80% before winding down in March. Terry Wang is the founder of Clarity Labs. Before that, he spent four years building Release, where the team built an insurance MGA with a cell captive and assembled reinsurance…
Sep 8, 2026 · 00:48:24
Ignite VC: The New Funding Models Founders Need to Know with Ethan Mayers | Ep294
Ethan Mayers is tracking venture-adjacent funds targeting $50 million to $500 million exits instead of betting every portfolio on unicorns. Mayers is a venture partner, operator, and former founder who has worked across 50-plus countries. He produced Stephen A. Smith’s talk…
Sep 1, 2026 · 00:35:44
Ignite VC: The Startup Metrics VCs Actually Care About with Frank Mastronuzzi & Laurel Mintz | Ep293
Fabric VC screens for roughly $40K MRR while deliberately looking beyond the AI deals consuming most of venture’s attention. Laurel Mintz and Frank Mastronuzzi bring unusually deep operational backgrounds to venture investing. Laurel built Elevate into a marketing agency that…
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