Tacos and Tech Podcast
The Tacos and Tech Podcast highlights the builders of companies, technologies, and the ecosystem of San Diego with a local flair for our lifestyle as well.
Episodes
Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.
Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News!
I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast.
My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A through his newsletter.
Before w...
In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, we sit down with Matt Ober, Managing Partner at Social Leverage, to unpack the future of fintech, the evolving landscape of wealth tech, and what it means to build and invest with long-term conviction.
Matt shares his journey from hedge funds and quant trading to early-stage venture capital, with stops at Bloomberg, WorldQuant, and Third Point before joining Soc...
In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, host Neal Bloom sits down with Aleksey Matyushev, co-founder and CEO of Natilus, the San Diego-based aerospace company reinventing air freight and passenger travel with next-gen aircraft. With over $39 billion in orders and a growing footprint in South County, Natilus is bringing cutting-edge manufacturing back to San Diego.
Aleksey shares his journey from growing up near a Soviet airfie...
Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.
Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News!
I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast.
My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A throug...
This week on Tacos & Tech, Neal sits down with Rose Bowlus - lawyer, founder, and angel investor - whose journey from trading floors to startup boardrooms brings a rare blend of Wall Street experience and founder empathy.
Rose shares how her legal career evolved from the capital markets and energy sectors to launching her own firm, Rose Bowlus Law, where she now advises early-stage startups and funds. They talk legal tech, Web3, fi...
In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, host Neal Bloom sits down with Eric Birkemeier, founder of ShredLights and now part of Meepo Electric Skateboards. Eric’s story is a wild ride - from 3D-printing in the SDSU ZIP Launchpad and selling Jordans out of thrift stores, to building a niche hardware company and ultimately exiting to a global electric skateboard brand.
They unpack how Eric turned an earl...
This week on Tacos & Tech, Neal sits down with Drew Wilson, longtime North County founder, designer, engineer, and community builder. From launching products solo to landing a GoDaddy acquisition, Drew’s track record speaks for itself. Now he’s back with a new company, Opacity, and relaunching his beloved creative conference, ValioCon, right in the heart of Oceans...
Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.
Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News!
I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners, building and investing in community.
My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A ...
In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, Neal Bloom sits down with Larsen Jensen, former Olympian, Navy SEAL, and now Managing Partner of Harpoon Ventures, an early-stage venture firm backing founders building in the national interest.
Larsen shares the journey from serving Team USA to launching a venture fund focused on what he calls the Freedom Stack - critical technologies like AI, autonomy, cyberse...
Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.
Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News!
I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast.
My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A throug...
In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, Neal Bloom sits down with Madeline Fraser, the dynamic founder and CEO of Gemist, a B2B SaaS and AI company revolutionizing the jewelry industry.
Madeline shares how a frustrating search for a custom engagement ring sparked the idea for Gemist, which now powers customization, stone sourcing, and hyper-realistic rendering for jewelry brands and retailers. With de...
Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.
Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News!
I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast.
My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A throug...
In this special episode of the podcast, host Neal Bloom takes us inside the Burbank Startup Pitch Fest - an exciting evening of innovation, capital, and community hosted in partnership with the City of Burbank and Rising Tide Partners.
We kick things off with a welcome from Burbank’s Economic Development team, highlighting why the city is fast becoming a tech and media hub. Neal then moderates a candid con...
In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, host Neal Bloom sits down with Alex Adler, co-founder of Puesto, to talk about how a family with no restaurant background built one of the most beloved modern taco brands in the country. From its La Jolla beginnings to an expanding restaurant group that includes Marisi and Romana Norte, Puesto has grown through a mix of culinary authenticity, operational innovat...
Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.
Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News!
I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast.
My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A through his newsletter.
Before...
In this special recorded event episode, Neal Bloom sits down with Trust & Will co-founder and CEO Cody Barbo in front of a live audience at SDSU’s Angel Academy. It’s an honest, behind-the-scenes conversation on what it really takes to back founders at the earliest of stages especially when they are bouncing back from tragedy.
Cody and Neal reflect on startup missteps, co-founder breakups, raising from friends and angels, and how r...
In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, host Neal Bloom sits down with Arman and Andrew, of Podhaus, a full-service podcast production studio based in Burbank, CA. From launching just before COVID to building one of LA’s most sought-after recording spaces, the duo shares how they went from music engineering and tech backgrounds to building a creative business in the heart of the media capital, Burbank...
Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.
Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News!
I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast.
My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A throug...
In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, host Neal Bloom chats with Jeremy Yamaguchi, Founder and CEO of Cabana. A longtime builder in the home services space, Jeremy is now focused on modernizing the pool care industry, one of the largest yet most overlooked service sectors in the U.S.
Jeremy shares how his product and marketing background led him to build Cabana with a blend of operational efficiency...
Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.
Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News!
I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast.
My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A throug...
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