This podcast is about Penn State alumni who are innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders, and the stories behind their success.
Sean Black is the Co-founder & CEO of Knock.com, and he was part of the founding team for the online real estate marketplace site Trulia. He graduated from Penn State in 1996 with a degree in international business management.
This is a special crossover episode of Dare to Disrupt and Following the Gong, a show that features conversations with Penn State Schreyer Scholar Alumni sharing advice on how to make new connections with a strong network of Scholar Alumni that blazed the trail before you. Following The Gong host Sean Goheen interviews Goldman Sachs Managing Director and Dare to Disrupt host Ryan Newman, ’01 and Associate Vice President for Research and Director of the Office of Entrepreneurship & Commercialization James Delattre, ’97, both Scholar Alumni, about the entrepreneurial scene at Penn State. This episode commemorates Dare to Disrupt passing 50,000 total downloads.
Ryan and James briefly share their background and time at Penn State. The conversation then covers the origin of Invent Penn State and the incredible resources available for not only students but alumni and community members looking to start, build, or scale a business. Ryan and Katie DeFiore, producer of Dare to Disrupt, share how the Dare to Disrupt podcast came to be, favorite stories, and lessons learned from both the guests and the production process. Ryan and James’ bios and a full breakdown of topics discussed are available below.
Guest Bios:
Dr. James L. Delattre serves as Associate Vice President for Research and Director of the Office for Entrepreneurship and Commercialization where he leads entrepreneurship program development for the Invent Penn State initiative and leads commercialization strategy, resources and support for Penn State’s startup pipeline and LaunchBox & Innovation Network. He is an alumnus of the Professional Fellows Program of the American Councils for International Education. James is the principal investigator for Penn State’s National Science Foundation I-Corps Program, a member of the advisory board of the Center for Medical Innovation at the Penn State Hershey College of Medicine and serves as secretary of the Penn State Research Foundation. Prior to joining Penn State, Dr. Delattre worked in nanomaterials and semiconductor startups in central Pennsylvania and Silicon Valley. Dr. Delattre earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed postdoctoral work at the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche at the University of Bari, Italy. Dr. Delattre received his BS with honors in Chemistry from Penn State, where he studied inorganic chemistry and the Russian language.
Ryan Newman is a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where he co-founded and co-leads a private wealth management team, managing in excess of $13 billion on behalf of Fortune 500 executives, Forbes 400 families, entrepreneurs, family offices and foundations and endowments. Ryan is a member of the PWM Top Advisors and PWM Advisors Council, representing the top 10% of advisors globally at Goldman Sachs. He joined Goldman Sachs as a financial analyst in 2001 and was named a Managing Director in 2019. Ryan earned his Bachelor of Science in Economics with Honors 2001, and served as Student Marshal for Economics during graduation. Ryan is the host of the Invent Penn State podcast, Dare to Disrupt, which he helped launch, and has achieved over 50,000 downloads (as of September 2023). He also serves on the External Advisory Board of the Schreyer Honors College and the Principal Gifts Committee in Development at Penn State. Ryan is also a volunteer with the Smeal College of Business. He was awarded the Alumni Achievement Award in 2011 and the Alumni Fellow Award in 2023.
Episode Topics:
Sisters Cory Varona-Corniel and Nicol Varona Cancelmo are the cofounders of OCOA, providing clean, natural, curly haircare products.
In this episode, Nicol and Cory share their inspiring journey from the Dominican Republic to the United States. They detail how they were able to overcome language barriers, build a community at Penn State Berks, and launch into each of their professional careers. They discuss their close bond as sisters, the influence of their mother, and how their family roots in the Dominican Republic inspired not only the name but also the ingredients and mission behind OCOA.
At the end of the episode, current Penn State student Keia Jones joins the conversation. Keia is a PhD Candidate in Rural Sociology and International Agriculture and Development. She is the founder of BluOrb.co, a platform dedicated to simplifying sustainable fashion. Keia, Cory, and Nicol discuss the challenges the sisters faced in starting their business, the importance of community and sustainability, and their future aspirations for growth and accessibility in the beauty industry.
Episode Chapters
About Cory Varona-Corniel
Cory graduated from Penn State Berks in 2011 with a B.S. in business with a finance and accounting concentration. She went on to earn an MBA with a concentration in finance at Penn State Great Valley. She is the co-founder and COO of OCOA.
About Nicol Varona Cancelmo
Nicol graduated from Penn State Berks in 2013 with a B.S. in business with a marketing concentration. She went on to earn her social media certification from Georgetown University. She is the co-founder and CMO of OCOA.
In 2013, Swatee launched Litesprite, a health tech startup developing award-winning digital therapeutic purpose-driven games for chronic conditions. Litesprite has the mission of destigmatizing mental health issues and removing barriers to the tools people need.
She received her MSME in Control Systems and Biomechanics from Penn State.
Norm Potter is the co-founder and co-owner of Allegiance Transportation, as well as the owner and Executive Director of the Winston Salem branch of Griswold Home Care. Allegiance Transportation is a non-emergency medical transportation provider, specializing in wheelchair and ambulatory transport services. Griswold Home Care provides non-medical home care to elderly adults by referring professional caregivers for personal care, homemaking, and companionship services.
In this episode, Norm talks about why he decided to make a career switch from banking to higher education to now running two businesses in the non-medical home care and transportation industries. He also shares his journey battling cancer and how it has changed his outlook on life.
At the end of the episode, biomedical engineering doctoral candidate Josh Reynolds joins the conversation. His startup, Atlas Biotech, is striving to overcome drug resistance and accelerate drug discovery efforts in the fight against cancer. He recently participated in the Penn State NSF I-Corps short course program and the Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank FastTrack Accelerator.
Norm graduated from Penn State with a degree in finance and economics.
Birgitt Boschitsch is the co-founder and CEO of spotLESS Materials, an advanced materials company and Penn State spinoff commercializing highly repellent anti-fouling coatings.
In this episode, Birgitt shares how her passion for helping others through research led to her co-founding spotLESS Materials. She discusses her formative experiences, academic challenges, and the pivotal moments that shaped her career path, including her time at Princeton and her decision to pursue graduate studies at Penn State.
She discusses the original inspiration behind the idea for a toilet coating that repels sticky waste, as well as the challenges of transitioning from lab work to startup life. She shares the importance of community support and the impact of media exposure on sales.
Towards the end of the episode, Viswanathan Ganesh, a current Ph.D. candidate in the department of architectural engineering at Penn State, joins the conversation. He is the entrepreneurial lead for NexDCCool, a Penn State research-based startup that aims to revolutionize data center efficiency with AI-driven solutions that optimize IT expansion, enhance thermal management, and reduce energy consumption. The startup team recently participated in both the Invent Penn State regional NSF I-Corps short course and the NSF I-Corps National Teams program. Viswanathan and Birgitt reflect on the customer discovery process, and Birgitt offers advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Episode Chapters
00:00 – 6:07 An early interest in science, math, and making a difference
6:07 – 8:46 Being challenged at Princeton
8:46 – 11:38 Choosing Penn State because of now co-founder’s pitch
11:38 – 14:55 Creating a material to repel sticky substances like poop
14:55 – 19:22 Navigating the pathway from lab to startup
19:22 – 23:00 The right timing to launch a consumer product
23:00 – 26:04 Keeping up with demand after NYT Wirecutter feature
26:04 -27:41 Future applications of the spotLESS Materials technology
27:41 – 29:37 Benefits of being based out of State College
29:37 – 36:27 Student section
30:12 – 33:37 Overcoming challenges presented by NSF I-Corps program
33:37 – 36:27 Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs
About Birgitt Boschitsch
Birgitt is the CEO and co-founder of spotLESS Materials. She graduated from Princeton University with a BSE mechanical and aerospace engineering. She received her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Penn State.
Robert is a serial technology and media entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in digital media and marketing. He has founded, grown and exited four digital media technology companies with teams and locations around the world. Robert’s current company, Infolinks Media, is an exclusive ad marketplace helping emerging publishers grow and succeed.
Robert received his bachelor’s degree in communications and business from Penn State.
We are taking a break this December, but we’ll be back in late January with an episode featuring B.J. Werzyn, the founder and CEO of West Shore Home, one of the largest direct-to-consumer home remodelers in the nation. Listen to this episode for a quick preview of the interview. Happy holidays!
David Rosenberg is the former Executive Vice President and Principal at Environmental Compliance Services (ECS). David and his two partners grew ECS from a small 12 person, $5 million in annual written premium agency to a 500 person, $200 million in annual written premium agency and a leader in the environmental insurance business. ECS was sold to XL Capital Inc., a publicly held company in 1999.
David received his bachelor’s degree in individual and family studies from Penn State.
