Let's Grab Coffee Podcast ☕

Hosted by George Khalife

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Episodes

177

Latest episode

Mar 2026

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About the show

Uncovering the entrepreneurial journey's of up and coming startup founders, over coffee

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60 recent

June 16, 202647 min

#178 – Christina Ackermann | Leading Beyond Legal: Strategy, Growth and Governance

Christina Ackermann is a global executive, board director, and former General Counsel with more than 25 years of leadership experience across pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer products. In this episode, we discuss leadership, career reinvention, moving from legal into business leadership, building high-performing teams, governance, and lessons learned from leading organizations around the world.

March 11, 2026Episode 17756 min

#177 – Wendell Dallas | Powering Illinois: Leadership, Strategy & the Future of Energy

Wendell Dallas serves as president and CEO of Nicor Gas, one of America’s leading natural gas distributors and the largest distribution company of Southern Company Gas. In this role, he is responsible for ensuring that natural gas reaches more than 2.3 million homes and businesses in over 650 northern Illinois communities.A champion for workforce development initiatives, Dallas serves on the boards of Intersect Illinois, Executive Club of Chicago, American Association of Blacks in Energy and World Business Chicago. He also believes in helping communities grow and prosper and is an active board member for the United Way and Chicago Field Museum. Dallas also serves as a member of the Southern Company Gas Management Council, The Chicago Club, Chicago United, Commercial Club of Chicago, Economic Club of Chicago and Business Leadership Chicago.A native of Opelika, Alabama, Dallas holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Auburn University and is a graduate of Leadership Georgia, Leadership Atlanta and Leadership Savannah.

February 16, 2026Episode 17645 min

#176 – Varvara Alva | What Great CFOs Actually Do: Leadership, Teams & the C-Suite

Varvara Alva is a finance, strategy, and operations executive with 25+ years of experience scaling high-growth technology companies and leading successful public and private exits. She is an active investor and advisor to Chicago-based startups, deeply involved in the local startup ecosystem through 1871 and Techstars, and a passionate advocate for advancing women in business and finance.Based in Chicago, Varvara currently serves as CFO & COO of Avidbots, a rapidly scaling autonomous robotics company expanding across the U.S. Previously, she was CFO of SpotHero and BenchPrep, and helped scale Gogo from $36M to over $700M in revenue, culminating in a successful IPO. She is known for her expertise in strategic finance, capital raising, and building high-performing, collaborative teams that turn vision into execution.

January 13, 2026Episode 17555 min

#175 – Tyrone Thomas | Inside the Mind of a General Counsel: Leadership, Risk & Decision-Making

Tyrone Thomas is the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Doral Renewables, a leading developer, owner, and operator of renewable energy assets across the United States, with a portfolio exceeding 13 GW and more than $2.5 billion in long-term power purchase agreements. Over his career, Tyrone has helped advance more than $7 billion in utility-scale clean energy projects, advising on legal, compliance, risk, and crisis management at the highest levels. Beyond his professional work, Tyrone is a devoted father and an anti-hunger advocate, serving as a founding member and board leader of Beyond Hunger, which supports over 70,000 individuals and families annually across the Chicago region.

December 21, 2025Episode 17443 min

#174 – Nick Moran | Why Outsider Founders Win and How New Stack Picks the Best Early-Stage Teams

Nick Moran is a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and the Founder & General Partner of New Stack Ventures, a Chicago-based fund backing early-stage, often first-time founders building in emerging markets and overlooked categories.He’s also the creator and host of The Full Ratchet, one of the industry’s longest-running and most respected venture capital podcasts, where he’s interviewed hundreds of top investors and operators.Before launching New Stack, Nick led product management for a Fortune 500 company and created The Firehose, a patented IoT product that was later acquired. His operator background heavily shapes his hands-on approach to supporting founders.Today, Nick is known for championing underrepresented geographies and unconventional entrepreneurs, blending sharp investment judgment with deep empathy for builders navigating the earliest stages.

December 6, 2025Episode 17345 min

#173 – Michael Roytman | How AI Is Changing Cyber Risk And What Most Companies Get Wrong

Michael Roytman is a cybersecurity data scientist and entrepreneur. Born in East Germany and raised between Ukraine and Russia, he immigrated to the U.S. and studied industrial engineering at UIUC and operations research at Georgia Tech.A lifelong builder, he founded TruckSpotting and Dharma Platform—a data tool used by WHO, MSF, and Save the Children—earning him a spot on Forbes 30 Under 30.He spent nearly a decade at Kenna Security, co-creating the Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), then became a Distinguished Engineer at Cisco.Today, Michael is Co-Founder & CTO of Empirical Security, developing enterprise-specific AI models for cybersecurity. He also co-founded Sputnik Coffee in Chicago and serves on the Forbes Technology Council.

November 18, 202547 min

#172 – Betsy Fore | From First Indigenous Founder to Raise a Series A to Becoming a VC Leader

Betsy Fore is the first Native American (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) woman to raise a Series A and is now the Founding Partner of Velveteen Ventures, investing in children and the planet for the next seven generations. A three-time founder, she built two multi-million dollar brands — including Tiny Organics, which she grew from $0 to $13M+ — and WonderWoof, featured on Oprah’s Favorite Things and sold globally.She’s an investor with XFactor Ventures and LongJump, serves on multiple boards, and co-founded Natives Rising, one of the largest Indigenous tech and founder communities. Betsy’s debut book, Built on Purpose, launches in 2025 with HarperCollins.

November 6, 202553 min

#171 – Rola Dagher | Rising from War to the Global Boardroom: Leadership with Purpose

Rola Dagher is one of the most influential leaders in global technology — having served as Global Channel Chief at Dell Technologies and President & CEO of Cisco Canada.Born in war-torn Lebanon, Rola’s journey from rebuilding her life in Canada to leading multibillion-dollar organizations is a masterclass in resilience, reinvention, and purpose-driven leadership.Today, she advises executives and founders on how to lead with courage and clarity in the AI era — helping them shift from survival to significance.Recognized among Canada’s Most Powerful Women, CRN’s 50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs, and appointed to the Order of Canada, Rola lives by her philosophy: “Learn it. Earn it. Return it.”

October 15, 2025Episode 17052 min

#170 – Terry Graunke | From Founder to Family Office: Lessons on Building Businesses That Last

In this episode of the Let’s Grab Coffee Podcast, George Khalife sits down with Terry Graunke, Founder and Chairman of Erie Street Growth Partners, to unpack lessons from more than 30 years of building, leading, and investing in high-growth companies.From founding and selling his first company to taking one public and later running a private equity firm, Terry has experienced every stage of the business-building journey. Terry has led more than $1.8 billion in investments, served as Chairman, CEO, or Director of over 36 companies, and now guides Erie Street’s mission to help founders grow in a rapidly changing world.

August 24, 202547 min

#169 – Brian Wolfe | Private Equity in Chicago: Lessons on Building and Backing Startups

Brian Wolfe is Managing Partner at Funded Ventures, a private investment firm, and is a retired partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. In addition to his teaching at Booth, Wolfe also teaches courses on private equity and entrepreneurship at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina, and previously co-led a SaaS “buy and build” with sale to private equity.Wolfe is on the board and audit committee of Chicago Public Media, the boards of Intersect Illinois, Breakthrough T1D (f/k/a JDRF) Illinois, the Greater Chicago Legal Clinic and the Skandalaris Center at Washington University in St. Louis, and is a member of the Illinois Courts Commission and the Economic Club of Chicago.