Dare to be Legendary by Daversa Partners

Daversa x Applied Digital: Building the AI Infrastructure of Tomorrow ft. Wes Cummins, CEO at Applied Digital

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 15:00:00 +0000

Wes Cummins, CEO of Applied Digital, joins Frank Cumella, Partner at Daversa, to break down how they’re building the backbone of AI. From a $5B raise to hyperscale data centers powered by stranded energy, this is what it takes to scale the future of compute.

Transforming Defense with AI: A Deep Dive into DEFCON AI's Mission to Redefine Mobility and Logistics ft. Yisroel Brumer, Co-Founder & CEO

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Thu, 6 Mar 2025 22:27:14 +0000

AI is reshaping defense, mobility, and logistics. Yisroel Brumer, Co-founder & CEO of DEFCON AI, joins Paige Kuderka, Partner at Daversa, to discuss the future of AI in national security, scaling defense tech, and the challenges of innovation in a high-stakes industry. Tune in for a sharp look at how AI is redefining modern warfare and beyond.

From Architecture to Climate Pioneer: Sandeep Ahuja's Journey to Sustainable Building Design with Cove.tool

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 05:44:20 +0000

Sandeep Ahuja, the CEO and Co-founder of Cove.tool, shares her journey from architecture to becoming a pioneer in sustainable building design. She discusses her decision to shift her focus towards finding solutions for climate change and explains her driving purpose and mission behind designing Cove.tool, the leading software for sustainable building planning. Ahuja's discussion of the current state of climate change serves as a call to action for us all and she reminds us of the importance of our actions towards a more sustainable future. Hosted by Partner, Jack Dunn.

Climate Code: Uniting Environmental Shifts, Leadership Evolution & Technology ft. Tara Green, Crusoe Energy's Chief People Officer

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 22:00:00 +0000

Tara Green, Chief People Officer at Crusoe Energy discusses her evolution from candidate to tech leader, the seismic shift across the tech landscape, and her strategic insights into talent acquisition. Discover how she's capitalizing on the market pulse in climate tech, a sector supercharged with billions in funding and gain insight into her transition into this ecosystem, emerging trends, and an innovative perspective on navigating the ever-changing terrain. Hosted by Managing Director, Samantha Pernice.

Revolutionizing Retail: Unleashing AI and Cutting-Edge Tech Across E-Commerce ft. Julie Bornstein, Founder & CEO of THE YES (acquired by Pinterest)

nicole@daversapartners.com (Katie Fischer, Julie Bornstein) — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 19:31:42 +0000

Dubbed the “The Queen of E-Commerce,” Julie Bornstein is a visionary in the fashion industry who has a track record for transforming the retail space by harnessing cutting-edge technology. She sits down with Managing Director, Katie Fischer, to share her founding journey, the immense impact AI will have on e-commerce and retail, and how she builds an intentional culture that empowers women in the workforce.

From Legal Mind to Business Vision ft. Bryan Leach, Founder & CEO of Ibotta, Inc.

nicole@daversapartners.com (Bryan Leach, Alex Lebow) — Tue, 6 Jun 2023 18:38:21 +0000

Ibotta is revolutionizing consumer shopping habits by offering thousands of opportunities for people to earn cash rewards on their everyday purchases. Bryan Leach, Founder & CEO of Ibotta, sits down with Partner, Alex Lebow, to share his journey from lawyer to CEO, why it’s crucial to hire a General Counsel early on, his unique insights into Ibotta’s evolution, and the thriving tech ecosystem in Denver, CO. https://home.ibotta.com/

The Power of Product Led Growth ft. Francois Dufour, CMO at Decibel (ex Twilio & LinkedIn)

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Tue, 16 May 2023 17:28:26 +0000

We’re joined by Francois Defour, Partner and CMO in Residence at Decibel Partners, to discuss the significance of product-led growth (PLG) in today's marketing landscape. Francois brings us through his insights on the core principles of PLG, its advantages and differences from a sales-led approach, and the potential impact of emerging technologies like AI on today’s MarTech landscape to stay ahead of the ever-evolving world of marketing. https://www.decibel.vc/

Next Gen Quantum Computing ft. Ariel Braunstein, SVP Product and Marketing at IonQ

nicole@daversapartners.com (Ariel Braunstein, Paige Kuderka) — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 20:13:12 +0000

Quantum computers are a cutting-edge technology that has the potential to transform businesses, society, and the planet for the better. IonQ is a leader in the quantum computing industry, with a mission to build the best quantum computers to solve the world’s most complex problems. Ariel Braunstein, SVP Product and Marketing at IonQ, demystifies the quantum computing industry for us and takes us through what he perceives to be the future of technology as we know it.

https://ionq.com/

Reality Capture to Manage and Analyze the Built World ft. Jeevan Kalanithi, CEO at OpenSpace

nicole@daversapartners.com (jeevan kalanithi, jack dunn) — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 16:16:59 +0000

OpenSpace helps industries like construction and real estate work more efficiently and operate with less risk. Powered by AI technology, OpenSpace enables complete site documentation, provides insightful progress analytics, and improves remote collaboration for those who build, manage, maintain, insure, and finance the built world. Jeevan Kalanithi, CEO at OpenSpace, takes us through his journey to revolutionize the real estate and construction industry, his personal entrepreneurial path, and key learnings as a leader in an emerging industry.

https://www.openspace.ai/

Riding the Miami Tech and Talent Wave ft. Keith Rabois, General Partner at Founders Fund

nicole@daversapartners.com (Keith Rabois) — Thu, 6 Oct 2022 17:57:27 +0000

Tenured partner Nicolette Hartman and Keith Rabois, prolific founder, operator, investor, and General Partner at Founders Fund, discuss the tech and talent revolution happening in Miami.

National Security Tech Company, Rebellion Defense, Is Working To Keep The US and Its Allies Ahead Of Its Adversaries ft. Chris Lynch, Co-Founder & CEO

nicole@daversapartners.com (Chris Lynch, Paige Kuderka) — Tue, 6 Sep 2022 23:00:36 +0000

Defense is becoming as much about code as combat, and Rebellion Defense is part of an elite group of GovTech unicorns (SHARPE), that is powering our nation's defense. We’re joined by Chris Lynch, Co-Founder & CEO, to discuss how his company is working to keep the US and its allies ahead of its adversaries, while ushering in a new wave of innovation.

https://rebelliondefense.com/

Meet Dutchie, The Technology Platform Powering Cannabis Commerce ft. Ross Lipson, Co-Founder & CEO

nicole@daversapartners.com (Ross Lipson, Julie Wrapp) — Wed, 3 Aug 2022 19:00:00 +0000

As the leading cannabis technology platform, Dutchie is on a mission to provide safe and easy access to cannabis, while helping power the positive societal change that cannabis is bringing to the world. Ross Lipson, Co-Founder and CEO of Dutchie, walks us through his entrepreneurial journey from GrubCanada to Dutchie, what it takes to build and scale a disruptive company in a highly regulated space, and what he sees for the future of the cannabis industry.

https://dutchie.com/

Revolutionizing Fertility & Family Building Benefits ft. David Schlanger, Executive Chairman at Progyny

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 22:04:23 +0000

With 25+ years of healthcare and executive management experience, David Schlanger, Executive Chairman at Progyny, has transformed the highly complex fertility benefits space. He sits down with us to discuss how Progyny, a $3B+ market cap company, has become one of the leading fertility and family building benefit management companies focused on helping individuals such as first time parents, single parents by choice, and same sex couples achieve their dream of parenthood.

https://progyny.com/

The Business of Building, the Power of People, and Investing in the Future ft. Shahin Farshchi, Partner at Lux Capital

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 19:23:24 +0000

Shahin Farshchi, Partner at Lux Capital, is on a mission to accelerate humanity towards a brighter future through feats of engineering that sit on the outermost edges of what is possible. From AI, robots, space, cars, and engines - he sits down with us to discuss what it takes to build a company and how Lux invests in inventors that challenge the status quo and the law of nature to bring futuristic ideas to life.

https://luxcapital.com/

The Future of HealthTech & Functional Medicine ft. Dr Robert Zembroski

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Thu, 2 Jun 2022 16:00:00 +0000

We’re joined by the renowned Dr. Robert Zembroski - a functional medicine expert, chiropractic neurologist, clinical nutritionist, and best-selling author of Rebuild. A self-proclaimed “freak for mechanisms, research, and piecing together the clues that create poor health and disease”, Dr. Z is on a mission to redefine what preventive care and long term health looks like in this modern world by merging tech & functional medicine. Website: https://www.drzembroski.com/ Rebuild: https://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Robert-Zembroski/e/B00NTNX0BG%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Dreamscape: Industry Wide Equity & Building Inclusive Boards ft. Sharah Marwah, Head of Talent @ Venrock

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 02:00:00 +0000

Modern technology is one of the greatest opportunities for wealth creation and societal impact —however, Black executives have largely not been afforded the same opportunities in tech startups and venture capital. In 2020, Paul Daversa and the rest of the Daversa team considered ways the firm could uniquely and effectively make an impact on this urgent issue. The result was Dreamscape, which connects well-established members of startups and venture capital firms that are looking for executives or board directors with accomplished, proven, board-ready Black talent. Today we are joined by one of our early, mission-driven partners, Venrock, and the Dreamscape team to discuss how to build inclusive Boards & processes.

Innovation, Empathy & The Current State of the European Market ft. Maëlle Gavet, CEO of Techstars

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 02:00:00 +0000

Dubbed the ‘Jeff Bezos of Russia’ early in her career, Maëlle, without a doubt, is one of the most captivating and successful executives in Technology today. She is a global entrepreneur, investor, and the best-selling author of ‘Trampled by Unicorns: Big Tech’s Empathy Problem and How to Fix It’. Maëlle is the CEO of Techstars, the global platform for investment & innovation that has graduated nearly 2800 companies, which in turn have raised $19B and have reached a combined market cap of over $54B.

Big Data & The Future of Open Source ft. Ion Stoica, Co-Founder of Databricks

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 02:00:00 +0000

We sit down with one of Silicon Valley’s finest serial entrepreneurs, Ion Stoica. He is the co-founder of Databricks, and is also a tenured professor at UC Berkeley where he currently leads the RISE Lab which is focused on developing tech for real time intelligence and secure executions. Check out our full list of show notes through this link: https://www.daversapartners.com/big-data-the-future-of-open-source-ft-ion-stoica-co-founder-of-databricks/

Sales Leadership & Customer Identity ft. Susan St. Ledger - OKTA’s President of Worldwide Field Operations

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 01:00:00 +0000

We're joined by special guest Susan St. Leger, the President of Worldwide Field Operations at Okta, and the prior CRO at both Salesforce and Splunk.

In this episode, Daversa’s Jack Dunn guides the conversation around sales leadership, customer identity and diversity across executive teams.

Contact:

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Show Notes:

00:00 - Start

01:15 - Why did you join Okta? How did you navigate that decision?

04:51 - How do you think about go-to-market company transitions as a leader?

07:42 - What did you learn at Splunk? How did your original mandate match up to what you actually spent your time on? What
did you take away from that time?

09:55 - Journey from CRO to President at Splunk

10:26 - Did you find that that was a substantive transition about how you spend your time and what you focused on? How would you coach people who are looking to make that type of transition?

12:00 - I’ve heard you describe yourself as a “pacer” before - Did you find you had to balance that as you assumed a leadership role over other functions?

14:36 - When you are meeting someone as a candidate, what are you focusing on?

17:56 - Tell me about if you’re talking to a senior sales leader, what are the hallmarks that you’re looking for?

20:22 - How do you like to see people talk about stories that weren’t successful? What do you look for people to take away from struggle or failure?

22:20 - Are there any pieces of difficult feedback you’ve received that have really stuck with you?

26:25 - Do you have personal heuristics that you push your team on specifically that expand on Okta’s standards?

28:07 - Why did you choose the board at HashiCorp? What do you try to bring to the table as a board member?

30:25 - How do you think about what you can bring from that slightly higher level perspective to your board role?

31:57 - Have you been approached many times from companies that are making that exact transition from promising early
growth to scale, in terms of pitfalls you’re helping Hashi avoid? What do you think founders, CEOs misunderstand about the shift in that journey?

34:55 - What advice would you give to someone in the early stages of building a career in software in the go-to-market side of the world today?

38:07 - End

From Goldman Sachs to Cyber Security ft. Heather Bellini, CFO of Deep Instinct

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 13:00:00 +0000

Our guest for this episode is Deep Instinct's CFO & prior Partner and top tech analyst at Goldman Sachs, Heather Bellini. Heather brings us into the world of cyber security, policy, deep learning, and the state of this crazy IPO bubble we're living in.
Time Spots:

Contact:

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Episode Notes:

0:00 - Start

1:20 - Who is Heather Bellini, former Partner at Goldman Sachs

3:28 - How Heather landed at Deep Instinct, closing a $100M round, and what do you make of 2021’s crazy IPO bubble?

9:42 - In terms of companies finding alternatives areas to enter public markets, what’s your opinion on SPACs vs direct listings?

12:45 - What do you make of all the activity in the crypto market? What currencies do you own and support. Is it here to stay?

13:54 - New Appointment of Lina Khan - what does regulation across big tech mean for this industry?

17:04 - Is antitrust really protecting consumers or protecting small emerging players? Can we re-define what antitrust really is?

19:35 - The oligopoly in cloud computing

22:10 – Putting the focus on mistakes of the past could stunt innovation for the future. What could this mean for us as consumers?

23:00 – Why cyber and why Deep Instinct?

30:15 – Is a cyber war what the next war looks like? Is deep learning the answer?

32:10 – Was COVID a catalyst? What’s the cause of this boom that we’re seeing? What are the opportunities of these hackers?

34:48 – What’s the correlation between zero trust and what Deep Instinct is doing in the deep learning space?

37:55 – What has this transition been like from Goldman Sachs to cyber?

42:50 – End

The Art of Storytelling ft. Stephanie Buscemi, CMO of Confluent

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Thu, 1 Jul 2021 01:00:00 +0000

We’re joined by Stephanie Buscemi prior CMO of Salesforce, the current CMO of Confluent, and one of Forbes ‘Most Influential CMO’s’. Today we dive into the art of story telling. In this episode we’re talking all things marketing, data, and the digital frontier.

Contact:

Plus, don’t forget to check out our site: daversapartners.com

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You can find all of our episodes here

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Episode Notes:

0:00 - Start

2:56 - Stephanie’s story: Did you always want to be in marketing? Was your plan to always end up in Technology?

Salesforce:

5:35 - Can you talk about your run at Salesforce?

10:31 - Key takeaways

13:53 - What has it been like working for Mark (CEO @ Salesforce)?

Confluent:

15:13 - What inspired you to join this company? I’d love to understand what made you make this move?

21:15 - We talk to executives all the time who are preparing for IPO - What is that like on the inside? What is the focus when getting ready to become a public company - both from a business and marketing perspective?

23:55 - What do you think the future of marketing looks like?

28:08 - You’ve been such a champion for diversity in the workplace. What’s driven you to be such an advocate and what changes have you seen around diverse representation these past few years?

32:10 - What has helped you become a successful leader in business?

35:00 - What’s the one thing you wish you had known when you began your career?

36:15 - After an interesting past 15 months, it seems like things are finally starting to go back to normal. What are you most looking forward to for the second half of the year?

37:20 - Let’s talk about inflection points in your life that have helped define who you are as an executive. Would love to understand how you’ve been able to be successful.

39:31 - What did you learn about yourself during these last 15 months?

The Ultimate Operator w/ Robinhood’s COO, Gretchen Howard

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Thu, 6 May 2021 22:00:00 +0000

Robinhood’s COO Gretchen Howard joins Daversa Partners’ CEO Paul Daversa, and longtime partner Bill Beer to talk all things leadership, operations, and talent. Nothing is off limits in this conversation; including -- female leadership from the top down, diversity, the battle for top talent, expectations vs. reality, and the evolution of Robinhood… ALL while navigating a media blitz (oh and a global pandemic).

Contact:

Plus, don’t forget to check out our site: daversapartners.com

Stay up-to-date: News & Insights

Sign-up for our newsletter

You can find all of our episodes here

Check out our social media sites:

Instagram

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Time Spots:
0:00 – Start

2:05 – Gretchen’s journey from Fidelity to Google to Robinhood. How did you get here?

4:48 – Are you good or are you just lucky?

9:14 – Robinhood – how much remains true to what you thought when were signing up for this vs reality. What’s different and unexpected?

12:15 – Time at CapitalG as a Partner & investor / did you know that fintech would be the place for you?

17:45 – Pressures & responsibilities you hold in industry right now, specifically around gender & diversity gender and diversity

23:20 – Navigating Robinhood without a roadmap during a media blitz re: GameStop, Reddit’s Wall Street Bets, congress – all while in the middle of a high-profile executive search

28:50 – Founder vs. Female Founder

32:15 - Robinhood just bought an 80-person recruiting firm BINC, will other companies follow suit?

34:20 – Robinhood’s IPO & the idea of opening this up to their customers, will this become the norm?

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Post-Production by: Wayfare Recording Co.

Dare To Be Legendary

nicole@daversapartners.com (Daversa Partners) — Wed, 5 May 2021 17:50:48 +0000

Welcome to the Dare to Be Legendary podcast hosted by Daversa Partners. Who are we, you ask? Well... we’re a different breed of headhunters. We’re the headhunters that are building the companies of tomorrow, the growth and venture backed companies that are entirely changing the world we live in. In this series we sit down with the brightest minds, founders, investors, and executives that all have this in common - they are the leaders of today who are entirely transforming the technology ecosystem as we know it. Each episode they share their journey, vision, and market expertise with us. They are the ones who DARE TO BE LEGENDARY.