Inside Startup Investing with Chris Lustrino

Nathalya Mamane is the co-founder and CEO of Anywhere DX, and she's building the thing every parent has wished for at 9 p.m. on a Friday: an at-home strep test. Not a throat swab — the FDA won't allow one at home — but a saliva-based, single-use device that runs a lab-grade molecular test and shows a result in about 20 minutes, for under $25 with telehealth and a prescription built in.

Nathalya joins Chris Lustrino to tell the story behind it: a mother of four, mid-MBA at Babson during COVID, watching a nurse in a hazmat suit swab her d...

Amar Goel founded PubMatic in 2006, grew it to about $300 million in revenue and took it public on the Nasdaq in 2020. Now he and his PubMatic co-founder are building Bito: a context layer for AI coding agents that maps how a company's code actually works, so the agent writes production-ready code on the first pass and burns far fewer tokens doing it.

Amar joins Chris Lustrino to explain why coding agents that shine on a brand-new tic-tac-toe game struggle with 20-year-old enterprise codebases — "a toy house versus a skyscraper" — and why the real pain for big compa...

Sascha Deri, founder and CEO of bluShift Aerospace, builds hybrid rocket engines that aren't explosive, can throttle, and can sit on a shelf ready to go. He joins Chris Lustrino from his test cell at a former Naval Air Station in Brunswick, Maine.

Before bluShift, Sascha spent 25 years building a solar e-commerce company to nearly $40 million in revenue. He explains what a hybrid rocket actually is, and why both the solid-rocket and liquid-rocket camps ignore it. He also explains how safety turns into a business advantage: lower R&D cost, no explosive safety radius around t...

Mark Wattles opened the first Hollywood Video in 1988 and grew it to 2,000 company-owned stores. Now he's running the same playbook with drive-thru coffee. He joins Chris Lustrino to talk about 151 Coffee, the chain he founded in 2017, and his plan to take it from 15 stores to 1,000.

151 Coffee's stores in Dallas-Fort Worth and Kansas City average about $1.5 million a year, with around $350,000 in store-level profit. Mark explains why drive-thru coffee has exploded without hurting Starbucks. He also covers why sweet, customised drinks are what customers actually buy, and why a coffee shop doesn't need you every day o...

AutoCamp founder and CEO Neil Dipaola joins Chris Lustrino to explain how a design-forward glamping brand became the "Marriott of outdoor hospitality" — nine locations, a Hilton partnership, and a plan to reach 100 properties without owning the real estate.

AutoCamp started in 2011 as a Santa Barbara mobile home park where Neil wanted to house teachers and nurses in Airstreams. Guests kept asking to stay overnight instead, and the pivot that followed produced a hotel room with St. Regis-level comfort inside an Airstream, a cabin or a tent, a short bike ride from Yosemite, Zion, Sequoia, Joshua Tre...

Jackson Jones spent his career in manufacturing and supply chain — Berkshire Hathaway's Marmon Group, then acquiring Duracell from Procter & Gamble. Then COVID gave him time at home, and he started making dehydrated chicken treats for his dog Rooney in the basement.

Five years later, Farm to Pet does over $5 million a year in single-ingredient treats for dogs and cats, ships from its fourth and largest facility, and just hit profitability for the first time.

In this conversation, Chris Lustrino and Jackson get into the operational reality behind that number. Demand was never the problem — since last...

Jeremy McCool is back on Inside Startup Investing, and a lot has changed since his last appearance.

HEVO builds wireless charging for electric vehicles — hardware and software — and it's chasing that market from an unusual angle. Rather than selling a charging pad direct to consumers, HEVO is working to become a tier one supplier to the automakers themselves, so the receiving technology comes built into the vehicle straight off the production line. Get that right, and the automaker becomes the distribution channel.

In this conversation, Chris Lustrino and Jeremy dig into what the last year actu...

Rejuvenate Bio CEO Dan Oliver joins Chris Lustrino to discuss the company’s gene therapy platform for aging-related disease. A spinout from George Church’s lab at Harvard Medical School, Rejuvenate Bio is developing therapies designed to change gene expression profiles associated with aging rather than edit or replace a patient’s underlying genome. Dan explains how the company uses viral delivery to help the body produce beneficial proteins over time.

The conversation explores Rejuvenate Bio’s dual strategy across animal health and human health. Dan explains why dogs offer both a meaningful commercial market and a scientif...

Avadain CEO Brad Larschan joins Chris Lustrino to discuss the company’s effort to commercialize one of the most promising materials in advanced manufacturing: graphene. Brad explains what makes graphene so powerful, why it has been difficult to manufacture at scale, and how Avadain is working to create a technical pathway for large, thin, defect-free graphene production.

The conversation explores the potential applications of graphene across aerospace, drones, critical minerals, building materials, energy storage, and other industrial use cases. Brad also outlines Avadain’s capital-light strategy of licensing its production technology to established chemical and advanced materials comp...

Influence Mobile founder and CEO Daniel Todd joins Chris Lustrino to discuss how the company built Rewarded Play into a major rewards platform for mobile gaming. Influence Mobile helps game developers acquire and retain high-value players by offering rewards to users who discover, play, and spend inside mobile games.

Daniel explains how his decades of experience in internet advertising and rewards programs led to the company’s current model, why older women are among the most valuable mobile gaming audiences, and why mobile gaming’s scale is often underestimated. The conversation also covers Influence Mobile’s $28 million revenu...

Hill Road Pictures’ Frank Peluso and Bob Vanech join Chris Lustrino to discuss So I’m the Crazy One, an upcoming R-rated comedy built around a creator-driven film finance model. Frank shares his Hollywood background, including work with Nick Cassavetes, while Bob explains how his experience in digital media, YouTube networks, and equity crowdfunding shaped the film’s financing strategy.

The conversation explores how Hill Road is combining independent film production, content creator casting, audience ownership, Reg D and Reg CF fundraising, and direct-to-consumer monetization. Frank and Bob argue that creator audiences can help both fund and market...

Lumida Wealth founder and CEO Ram Ahluwalia joins Chris Lustrino to discuss how the company is building an AI-powered wealth management platform for sophisticated investors. Ram frames Lumida as a next-generation investing platform designed to combine the best parts of brokerage accounts, financial advisors, market intelligence, and AI-powered portfolio tools into one experience.

The conversation explores why traditional 60/40 portfolios may not fit the next generation of investors, how Lumida uses AI agents and factor models to surface investment ideas, and why Ram believes investors increasingly want more control, better insights, access to pre-IPO opportunities, and a stronger...

TerraCycle founder and CEO Tom Szaky joins Chris Lustrino to discuss how the company built a global waste management business around recycling the products most local systems reject. Tom explains why many materials are technically recyclable but economically unattractive for traditional recyclers, and how TerraCycle solves that gap through brand-funded programs, paid zero-waste boxes, and commercial recycling services.

The episode digs into the business mechanics behind TerraCycle’s model, including partnerships with major CPG brands, consumer adoption, processing facilities, and the economics of hard-to-recycle items like coffee capsules, razors, and cigarette butts. Tom also discusses TerraCycle’s prof...

Doroni Aerospace founder and CEO Doron Merdinger joins Chris Lustrino to discuss the realities of building a flying car company and why he believes electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles will become a major new category of transportation. Doron shares how a lifelong fascination with aviation and emerging drone technology inspired him to launch Doroni nearly a decade ago and pursue the vision of making personal flight accessible to everyday consumers.

The conversation explores Doroni's progress toward commercialization, including FAA-certified prototype flights, evolving regulatory frameworks, production plans, and the company's growing preorder base. Doron explains how...

Chris Lustrino sits down with Chris Graebe, founder of IPO Deal Hunter and one of the longest-tenured private market investors in the equity crowdfunding ecosystem. Together they discuss the state of startup exits, liquidity events, IPOs, and what investors should be looking for when evaluating private companies. Drawing from years of experience and several successful outcomes, Graebe shares how he identifies founders, evaluates opportunities, and balances short-term liquidity plays with long-term moonshot investments.

The conversation explores BeatBox Beverages' acquisition by Anheuser-Busch, one of the largest crowdfunding-backed exits to date, and the lessons investors can learn from backing...

This week on Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino sits down with Rebecca Kacaba, co-founder and CEO of DealMaker, one of the leading platforms powering retail capital raises for private companies.

Rebecca discusses the growing influence of retail investors across private markets and IPOs, why companies like SpaceX, Reddit, Gemini, and others are increasingly allocating shares to retail participants, and how community ownership is becoming a strategic advantage for modern brands.

The conversation explores DealMaker's unique approach to capital formation, helping companies build and own their own investor communities rather than relying solely on marketplace traffic...

On this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino speaks with Dr. Michael Wyand, CEO of Oxeia Biopharma, a clinical-stage biotech company developing a potential breakthrough treatment for concussions and persistent concussion symptoms.

Oxeia is leveraging ghrelin, a naturally occurring hormone involved in brain energy regulation and neural repair, to help heal the inflammation and cellular damage caused by traumatic brain injuries. With promising Phase 2a data showing an 85% responder rate among treated patients, the company is pursuing what could become the first FDA-approved pharmaceutical treatment specifically targeting concussion recovery.

Chris and Michael discuss the...

Pytheas Energy CEO Josh Zuker joins Inside Startup Investing to discuss how the company is using AI and data analytics to revive overlooked oil wells abandoned by major operators. Drawing on his unconventional journey from finance and real estate into oil and gas, Josh explains how Pytheas identifies underperforming “stripper wells,” optimizes production through monitoring technology, and builds long-term value from assets others leave behind.

The conversation dives into the economics of oil production, how Pytheas approaches acquisitions and operational efficiency, and why the company ultimately views itself as both an energy operator and a technology company. Josh...

In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Renji Bijoy joins Chris Lustrino to discuss why he believes spatial computing glasses will become the next major computing platform after smartphones.

Immersed began as a VR productivity platform designed to make remote work feel more collaborative and immersive. Today, the company has over 1.5 million users who use its virtual workspace software to create multiple virtual monitors, collaborate with remote teams, and work from anywhere using VR headsets.

But Renji believes the existing hardware from major tech companies still falls short. That led Immersed to develop Visor, its...

In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Madeline Fraser joins Chris Lustrino to discuss how Gemist is bringing AI, automation, and modern ecommerce infrastructure to the jewelry industry.

Inspired by her own frustrating experience buying an engagement ring, Madeline built Gemist to help jewelry brands, retailers, and manufacturers modernize the highly manual process of custom jewelry sales. The company’s platform enables customers to design and visualize jewelry online while automating pricing, rendering, quoting, and product configuration workflows behind the scenes.

Chris and Madeline explore why jewelry has historically lagged behind technologically, how COVID accelerated om...

In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino speaks with George Moringer about building a platform that teaches kids emotional intelligence through engaging, gamified group sessions. [00:00]

Tapouts focuses on helping children ages 4–16 understand and regulate their emotions by turning behavioral science into interactive, easy-to-use tools. [01:00]

George shares how the idea originated from his interest in resilience and stress psychology—and the realization that these skills are rarely taught early in life. [02:30]

Early product challenges revealed a key issue: parents valued the product, but kids didn’t want to participate—forcing the team to rethi...

In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino sits down with Carter Fowler, founder and CEO of Totem, a company building decentralized, offline communication technology.

Totem’s flagship product—a wearable compass-like device—lets users locate friends and family without relying on cell service or Wi-Fi. Originally built for music festivals, the product has quickly expanded into families, travel, outdoor recreation, and even accessibility use cases.

With over 50,000 users, $3.5M+ in revenue, and profitability achieved in under two years, Totem is proving both strong product-market fit and viral distribution.

Carter shares how the co...

In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino speaks with Olowo-n’djo Tchala about building Alaffia, a mission-driven consumer brand rooted in ethical sourcing. (00:00–01:30)

Olowo-n’djo shares his upbringing in Togo and how it shaped his vision for a new economic model. (01:30–04:30)

He explains how Alaffia organizes women-led cooperatives to produce shea butter and connect them to global markets. (04:30–08:30)

The discussion covers fair trade economics, including paying above-market wages while maintaining strong margins. (08:30–13:00)

They explore how Alaffia scaled into a national brand through persistence, retail distribution, and product-market fit. (13:00–17:00)

Finally, Olo...

In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino speaks with Adrian Solgaard about building a sustainable travel brand rooted in ocean plastic innovation. (00:00–01:30)

Solgaard began as a Kickstarter campaign and quickly gained traction with consumers seeking functional, eco-friendly products. (01:30–03:15)

Adrian explains how the company turns ocean-bound plastic into premium luggage and accessories. (03:15–05:40)

They discuss product design, including modular systems that differentiate Solgaard in a crowded travel market. (05:40–08:10)

The conversation dives into scaling challenges, including manufacturing, supply chains, and maintaining quality. (08:10–11:20)

Finally, they explore brand storytelling, mission alignment, and how sustai...

In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino speaks with Nicholas White, CEO of Fragment Media, about building a subscription-first digital media company. (00:00–01:31)

Fragment has generated over $40M in revenue and built a growing base of 20,000+ paying subscribers by focusing on high-quality, niche journalism. (01:31–02:13)

Nicholas explains the company’s flagship publication, Nautilus, and how it delivers deep, contextual science storytelling beyond headline-driven news. (02:43–04:48)

They discuss Fragment’s target audience—highly educated, high-income readers increasingly willing to pay for quality content. (04:58–06:37)

The conversation dives into growth strategy, including content quality, social distribution...

In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino speaks with Harmen van Kamp, CEO of GACW, about reinventing the wheel with an airless suspension system. (00:00–01:45)

GACW’s technology integrates suspension directly into the wheel, eliminating traditional tires, shocks, and complex components. (02:10–04:20)

Originally built for military and extreme terrain use cases, the product is now expanding into broader commercial applications. (05:30–07:10)

Harmen explains the engineering challenges behind the system and how it improves durability, maintenance, and performance. (08:40–11:15)

They discuss early traction, partnerships, and how the company is approaching manufacturing and scaling production. (12:30–15:45)

Finall...

In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino speaks with Jim Iversen, CEO of Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical, about building a platform of therapeutics targeting inflammation across multiple diseases. (00:00–01:28)

The company is advancing a pipeline of drugs addressing conditions like COVID, alcohol-related inflammation, and arthritis, with multiple Phase 2 trials completed. (01:28–02:27)

Jim explains how drug development works—from preclinical research to Phase 1 (safety), Phase 2 (efficacy), and Phase 3 (confirmatory trials). (04:14–06:05)

They explore how Sen-Jam uses AI and over one million data points to validate its platform and identify new drug opportunities. (08:32–09:30)

The discussion also covers how...

In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino speaks with Jordan Taylor, managing member of Atari Hotels, about the development of a $124 million Atari-themed destination hotel planned for downtown Phoenix. (00:00–02:14)

The project combines real estate development with immersive gaming culture, featuring a 91-room hotel, gaming-inspired experiences, and a venue for esports events, concerts, and creator gatherings. (03:21–13:14)

Jordan explains how the team secured licensing rights from Atari, why Phoenix’s population growth and urban revitalization make it an ideal location, and how the hotel is designed to serve both travelers and the local community. (06:34–10:01)

The co...

In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino sits down with Jason Fishman, founder of Digital Niche Agency (DNA), one of the earliest and most active “capital raising agencies” in equity crowdfunding. (00:00–02:45)

|Jason breaks down what actually drives successful Reg CF and Reg A+ campaigns in 2026: setting traffic goals, understanding conversion math (average investment size vs. how many investors you need), and building a multi-channel funnel across Meta, Google, newsletters, retargeting, webinars, events, and organic content. (04:25–10:06)

They also unpack the “crowd effect” that causes many campaigns to look flat mid-raise before spiking near the deadline. (1...

Pirouette Pharma CEO Conor Cullinane returns to Inside Startup Investing to share the company’s progress since its last Wefunder raise—spanning FDA engagement, IND planning, and major steps toward scalable manufacturing.

Pirouette is building a disc-shaped, push-button delivery system for injectable medications—aiming to turn the “violent, error-prone” experience of legacy auto-injectors into something closer to the Staples Easy Button: push once, and the device handles the rest.

Chris and Conor discuss why intimidation and usability are major barriers in today’s injection landscape, how Pirouette is approaching OTC naloxone via a combination-product regulatory pathway, wha...

Sunstone Health CEO Joshua Resnikoff joins Chris Lustrino to explain how Sunstone uses AI on healthcare claims data to proactively identify children with developmental delay—starting with epilepsy and autism—and help families reach the right specialists and diagnostics faster.

They break down what claims data is, why the healthcare system is reactive by default, and how Sunstone’s approach can compress what often takes years into roughly weeks by flagging high-need cases, coordinating advanced diagnostics, and delivering actionable next steps. Joshua also shares Sunstone’s go-to-market strategy (positioned as an employer-paid benefit), why the pricing model is desig...

Atombeam CEO Charles Yeomans joins Chris Lustrino to break down a deceptively simple idea with massive implications: make data smaller while it’s streaming so you can move and process more of it—without upgrading networks.

Charles explains Atombeam’s commercial product NeurPack, how it can often quadruple effective bandwidth, and why this matters across IoT, smart meters, satellites, defense, oil & gas wells, fintech, and eventually data centers and GPU utilization. They also dig into the realities of commercialization—choosing near-term deals that close fast while still pursuing multi-year “industry standard” opportunities—and why execution (not invention) is the real di...

Founder Clint Brauer explains how Greenfield Robotics builds compact, row-running robots that mow weeds and lay mulch while enabling nighttime foliar feeding—helping farms reduce herbicides and improve soil biology. He shares the personal catalyst (his father’s Parkinson’s), why tillage damages soil ecosystems, and how small, autonomous swarms can cover large acreages more cheaply than traditional machinery. We dig into go-to-market (from RaaS to equipment sales with software/telemetry fees), manufacturing with partners, and adoption curves from organic innovators to conventional growers. Brauer outlines the roadmap (attachments, reliability, self-charging), unit counts across 17 states, and potential exit paths with a...

Today, Chris sits down with Joe Schaeppi, co-founder & CEO of Solsten—a deep-tech company mapping human psychology and turning it into actionable AI for creative, targeting, and product personalization. After 8 years of R&D, Solsten's “human context layer” helps enterprises and SMBs understand why people act the way they do—then adapt ads, products, and AI agents to match. Clients like LEGO and Peloton report creative wins and 3× conversion lifts, while a new self-serve product opens the stack to smaller teams.

Highlights include...
• Building a cognitive-behavioral AI model from clinical-grade psychometrics and authentic behavior data
• Why “creative...

Cleveland Whiskey was my first-ever equity crowdfunding investment (May 16, 2016), and founder/CEO Tom Lix has sent detailed quarterly updates ever since. In this episode, we cover 00:00–03:03 why Tom built a technology company in spirits—not just another craft label; 03:03–06:09 how pressure-aging in stainless tanks unlocks flavors from non-oak woods (black cherry, hickory, apple) and produces great whiskey in hours not years; 06:09–09:27 the pivot to concentrates and why India’s “Indian-Made Foreign Liquor” niche is a game-changer for price and margin; 09:27–12:47 the new 45,000 sq. ft. Cleveland facilities, 12× capacity today with room to double again, plus how shorter cycle times unlock multi-shift throu...

Read our Macrovey deal analysis (closed) on Kingscrowd

Robotics hype is everywhere—but who actually makes robots work on real warehouse floors? In this episode, Chris sits down with Macrovey Director of Business Development Matt Labinski to unpack how Macrovey designs fully autonomous, material-handling systems that act like a warehouse “Robotics OS.” We start with what Macrovey is and isn’t (00:03)—the company doesn’t manufacture robots, it integrates best-in-class OEMs through proprietary orchestration software. Matt explains the model (00:32): up-front design + install and recurring software/maintenance—plus a Robots-as-a-Service option that lowers CapEx. We dive into who buys (06:28...

Read our deal analysis on Paladin

Paladin Power CEO Ted Thomas—a U.S. Navy veteran with 20+ years in energy storage and the named inventor on multiple U.S. patents for stackable batteries and integrated power systems—joins Inside Startup Investing to explain how he helped pioneer integrated storage and why Paladin’s patented, fire-safe, all-in-one system can make true home energy independence practical. We cover why the inverter is the real bottleneck, how Paladin’s stackable 10 kW architecture fast-charges EVs and extends battery life, and how the single-device design replaces a tangle of inverters, batteries, and chargers...

Victory Hemp turns hemp seeds into clean protein, healthy oils, and even xylitol with a solvent-free, patented process built for every aisle. At 00:00 we define what “hemp food” really is; by 01:20 we outline Victory Hemp’s B2B product stack; at 03:00 we unpack the solvent-free patent and why taste/clean label matter. Around 05:00 we hit functionality (emulsifying, gelling, egg replacement). At 06:30 we cover North American supply and USMCA sourcing, then 08:00 the next facility plan (~$21M, equity + USDA B&I/NMTC). By 10:00 we map capacity (> $30M revenue) and path to self-fund growth. At 11:30 we dive into zero-waste (hulls → xylitol), and by 13:00...

Most flour today is milled for shelf life, not flavor or nutrition. Cairnspring Mills set out to flip that script. Co-founder & CEO Kevin Morse explains how the company created a premium craft flour category by contracting regeneratively grown, higher-margin grains directly from farmers and stone-milling to retain flavor and nutrients, winning over top chefs and bakeries nationwide. We cover the growth story ($5.1M → $6.4M → pacing $7.9M), why demand is pulling them to expand capacity, and the plan to build a dramatically larger mill in Pendleton, OR (with the Umatilla Tribe) as part of a future network of regional mills. Kevi...

Founded in 2013, Crowd Street helped popularize online access to commercial real estate. Now CEO John Imbriglia is steering a 2.0 strategy: an institutional-grade private markets platform spanning private equity, private credit, venture capital, and CRE—with lower minimums, improved IRA flows, and heavy investment in education, diligence, and UX. John details Crowd Street’s scale to date (~300K members, ~30K investors, ~$4.5B raised in CRE), the “supply–demand–loyalty” framework driving the rebuild, a new omnichannel acquisition push, and partnering with Callan (advisor to >$4T AUM institutions) to help source and select managers. We cover feeder/registered fund structures (1099s, no capital c...