In this episode of The Bear Roars, Dan Caruso sits down with telecom legend John Warta to explore his extraordinary career and the transformative role he played in shaping the fiber optic networks that revolutionized the industry. From his early days as a Vietnam veteran to working with Ross Perot at EDS, John’s journey into telecommunications was anything but conventional.
Dan sits down with Natty Zola, Partner at Matchstick Ventures. Matchstick Ventures invests in early-stage technology companies in rapidly growing yet under-served startup ecosystems “between the coasts.” Before joining Matchstick, Natty co-founded Everlater, a travel startup backed by Techstars which eventually merged with Mapquest. Later he served as Managing Director of Techstars Boulder, guiding 63 companies through the accelerator, including transformative startups like Veho, Soona, and Tilt.
Dan sits down with Tamim Khalfa, Co-Founder and CEO of Toters. Toters is an on-demand delivery platform based in Lebanon that connects users with restaurants, grocery stores, and various retailers, providing fast and convenient delivery services. Tamim is also an Endeavor Entrepreneur and Board Member through Endeavor Lebanon. Prior to Toters, Tamim was a Management Consultant at Booz & Company and Oliver Wyman.
Dan sits down with Stephanie Copeland, Managing Partner at Four Points Funding. Dan and Stephanie relive the telecom era and their career journeys, including working together at Level 3 and Zayo group. This episode includes many great stories about the early bandwidth days and those influential in shaping the sector: from illegal stock swaps, accounting fraud, to larger than life characters that followed a strict ethical code.
Dan sits down with Brandon Spano, the CEO of ALLCITY Network. ALLCITY is a content-focused sports media company that provides in-depth coverage, podcasts, and videos focused on professional and collegiate sports teams in 5 cities across the US: Denver, Phoenix, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Dallas. They also have physical bar locations in each of these cities, which offer a hub for passionate local sports fans.
This is Part II of Dan’s sit down with Bob Yates, a prominent figure in the Boulder, Colorado community. In Part II, Dan and Bob discuss their shared history in the world of telecom in relation to Dan’s book, Bandwidth.
Dan sits down with Matthew Kinsella, CEO of Infleqtion, the world’s leading quantum-information company. Infleqtion is a trusted supplier of high-precision components for research labs and quantum machine development.
Dan sits down with Ian Dickinson, President and CEO of Longpath Technologies. Dan and Ian discuss the early days of Zayo, LongPath’s origin story, why it is important to be at the forefront of Quantum, and why LongPath is on a mission to flatten the emissions curve.
Dan sits down with Bobby Stuckey, Founder and Partner of the Frasca Hospitality Group. Frasca Hospitality Group owns and operates five restaurants in Denver and Boulder including Frasca Food and Wine, which was awarded a Michelin star in September 2023. The name “Frasca” originates from small neighborhood gathering places in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in northeast Italy. Bobby also owns Scarpetta Wine, which crafts wines inspired by the same region.
Dan sits down with Corban Tillemann- Dick, Founder and CEO of Maybell Quantum, building the tools needed to usher in the quantum future. This episode dives deep into the Quantum industry. Interested to learn more about topics such as why quantum is more important than AI, when quantum computers will be solving meaty critical problems, the scaling path of Quantum, and how Maybell’s innovations will support the industry with scaled infrastructure? Then this episode is a must watch and listen. Corban brings his extensive knowledge of Quantum computing and Quantum technology to the conversation, one you can’t miss!
