Episode 409 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ilia Papas, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Band and Blue Apron.
Do you know what the enchilada factor is? Probably not… unless you were part of the Blue Apron team that created a national brand and one of the pillar companies in the meal-kit food delivery category that ultimately went public.
In this interview, Ilia shares the inside look at those hypergrowth years, including the company’s use of machine learning for planning labor and food ordering, so they could fulfill those enchilada orders (also known internally as the enchilada factor) which always caused a spike when it was offered on the menu.
Ilia’s latest company is Band—and no, it’s not the musical kind. Instead, the company is focused on a massive, underserved sector where trillions of dollars flow between businesses, yet technical innovation has been severely lacking. Band has built the smart operating system for B2B trade agreements, providing AI-powered rebate and incentive tracking for distributors, manufacturers, and purchasing groups.
In this episode of our podcast, we cover:
* Ilia’s background story, plus the details on his siblings and their collective success in the tech industry.
* Interning at his brother Art’s company, Bullhorn, and then building the foundation of his career at web consulting firms like Molecular and Optaros, where he worked on the original version of Rue La La.
* How he met his co-founder, Matt Salzburg, and why they pivoted from a “Kickstarter for science” idea to food delivery in 2012.
* Bringing on a third co-founder, Matt Wadiak, who brought the culinary expertise and why they names the company Blue Apron.
* Their approach to growth marketing to compete against HelloFresh & Plated and scaling to millions of meals a week.
* The story of the IPO in 2017 and the unique challenges of running a publicly traded company
* All the details about Band and why Ilia chose this underserved industry, plus how his approach to building a company is different this time around.
* And so much more!
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Episode 409 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ilia Papas, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Band and Blue Apron.
Do you know what the enchilada factor is? Probably not… unless you were part of the Blue Apron team that created a national brand and one of the pillar companies in the meal-kit food delivery category that ultimately went public.
In this interview, Ilia shares the inside look at those hypergrowth years, including the company’s use of machine learning for planning labor and food ordering, so they could fulfill those enchilada orders (also known internally as the enchilada factor) which always caused a spike when it was offered on the menu.
Ilia’s latest company is Band—and no, it’s not the musical kind. Instead, the company is focused on a massive, underserved sector where trillions of dollars flow between businesses, yet technical innovation has been severely lacking. Band has built the smart operating system for B2B trade agreements, providing AI-powered rebate and incentive tracking for distributors, manufacturers, and purchasing groups.
In this episode of our podcast, we cover:
* Ilia’s background story, plus the details on his siblings and their collective success in the tech industry.
* Interning at his brother Art’s company, Bullhorn, and then building the foundation of his career at web consulting firms like Molecular and Optaros, where he worked on the original version of Rue La La.
* How he met his co-founder, Matt Salzburg, and why they pivoted from a “Kickstarter for science” idea to food delivery in 2012.
* Bringing on a third co-founder, Matt Wadiak, who brought the culinary expertise and why they names the company Blue Apron.
* Their approach to growth marketing to compete against HelloFresh & Plated and scaling to millions of meals a week.
* The story of the IPO in 2017 and the unique challenges of running a publicly traded company
* All the details about Band and why Ilia chose this underserved industry, plus how his approach to building a company is different this time around.
* And so much more!
Episode 391: Joseph Krause - Co-Founder & CEO, Radical AI
The VentureFizz Podcast
1 hour 1 minute 26 seconds
4 months ago
Episode 391: Joseph Krause - Co-Founder & CEO, Radical AI
Episode 391 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Joseph Krause, Co-Founder & CEO of Radical AI.
There are many benefits with the platform shift to AI, but one of the clear benefits that I’m seeing is how some of the most brilliant minds are working on incredibly meaningful and challenging problems. While yes, there is a need for lots of applications, even another photo sharing app, I’ve always strongly believed that the best entrepreneurs should leverage their intellect to work on something that could actually change the world.
Meet Joseph, an entrepreneur who has built his career for this moment. He has a bias for action and a go-big or go home approach with a startup that is looking to completely reconstruct the scientific process and if successful, it will replace multi-national corporations like Dow Chemical.
Radical AI is building a self-driving lab which will accelerate materials R&D to tackle the world’s most pressing problems. Through the integration of artificial intelligence, engineering, materials science, and applied research, Radical AI is changing the way materials are designed, developed, and discovered.
The company announced a $55M Series Seed+ led by RTX Ventures, joined by NVentures (NVIDIA’s VC arm), noa, Infinite Capital, Eni Next (Eni’s VC arm), AlleyCorp and many others.
In this episode of our podcast, we cover:
* The details of Radical AI recommendations with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) for the 2025 National AI Research and Development Strategy Plan.
* Joseph’s background story and experience in academia, DEVCOM Army research lab, & the National Guard.
* How a cold email landed him a position in venture capital and his time at AlleyCorp.
* The full story of Radical AI and how they are addressing material science challenges with an innovative approach.
* The Self-Driving Lab concept and why Radical AI is a generation-defining opportunity.
* Building a culture of action and hiring plans.
* And so much more.
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The VentureFizz Podcast
Episode 409 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ilia Papas, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Band and Blue Apron.
Do you know what the enchilada factor is? Probably not… unless you were part of the Blue Apron team that created a national brand and one of the pillar companies in the meal-kit food delivery category that ultimately went public.
In this interview, Ilia shares the inside look at those hypergrowth years, including the company’s use of machine learning for planning labor and food ordering, so they could fulfill those enchilada orders (also known internally as the enchilada factor) which always caused a spike when it was offered on the menu.
Ilia’s latest company is Band—and no, it’s not the musical kind. Instead, the company is focused on a massive, underserved sector where trillions of dollars flow between businesses, yet technical innovation has been severely lacking. Band has built the smart operating system for B2B trade agreements, providing AI-powered rebate and incentive tracking for distributors, manufacturers, and purchasing groups.
In this episode of our podcast, we cover:
* Ilia’s background story, plus the details on his siblings and their collective success in the tech industry.
* Interning at his brother Art’s company, Bullhorn, and then building the foundation of his career at web consulting firms like Molecular and Optaros, where he worked on the original version of Rue La La.
* How he met his co-founder, Matt Salzburg, and why they pivoted from a “Kickstarter for science” idea to food delivery in 2012.
* Bringing on a third co-founder, Matt Wadiak, who brought the culinary expertise and why they names the company Blue Apron.
* Their approach to growth marketing to compete against HelloFresh & Plated and scaling to millions of meals a week.
* The story of the IPO in 2017 and the unique challenges of running a publicly traded company
* All the details about Band and why Ilia chose this underserved industry, plus how his approach to building a company is different this time around.
* And so much more!
