Colorado Innovators: Mario Ciabarra Part 2, CEO and Founder at Quantum Metric

Colorado Innovators: Mario Ciabarra Part 2, CEO and Founder at Quantum Metric

In this episode of The Bear Roars, Mario Ciabarra returns — a year later — to join Dan Caruso for a wide-ranging conversation on building and scaling a company in the age of AI. Mario reflects on the journey that took him from serial entrepreneur to CEO of one of Colorado's most successful software scaleups — and how a well-timed nudge from John Chambers changed the trajectory of the entire company. He breaks down how Quantum Metric evolved from a digital analytics tool into a full agentic platform, why showing your work is the secret to earning trust from the world's largest retailers, airlines, and banks, and what it actually took to hit three consecutive record-breaking quarters.The conversation expands into the bigger forces reshaping enterprise software: how AI agents are replacing five-hour Sunday war rooms with answers delivered in seconds, and why the next generation of leaders must be fluent in both technology and business.Listen now to see what separates the companies moving fast enough to survive from the ones still living inside dashboards.Learn more about Quantum Metric: https://www.quantummetric.com/our-storyOrder Dan's Book – Bandwidth: The Untold Story of Ambition, Deception, and Innovation that Shaped the Internet Age and Dot-Com Boom: dan-caruso.com/bookListen to Dan's Song Stretch: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/dancaruso/stretchCheck out music by Jason Mendelson (Jace Allen): /@jaceallenTo nominate a founder or yourself as a future guest speaker, email: contact@loudbearproductions.com

Colorado Innovators: Tony Fagan, CEO of VideoAMP

In this episode of The Bear Roars, Dan Caruso sits down with Tony Fagan—CEO of VideoAMP and one of the sharpest technical operators rebuilding a software company through the AI platform shift—for a wide-ranging conversation about building YouTube's ad business at Google, leading an established company through full-stack AI transformation, and the personal moment Claude started to out-reason him on a topic he thought he knew well. Tony breaks down the 15-year chapter at Google that taught him how to build software at scale. He led the data science and machine learning teams behind YouTube's advertising business, where the central sales problem was getting brand advertisers used to TV ads—predictable pricing, bulk discounts, unskippable spots—to buy auction-based, skippable digital ads. The breakthrough came from measurement: across 100,000+ campaigns, moving even 1% of a TV budget to YouTube could lift overall reach by 5–15% at the same spend. "Better together" became the pitch that finally unlocked brand budgets and helped quietly build YouTube into one of the largest ad businesses on the internet. Dan and Tony dig into the full scope of what VideoAMP has become: a streaming-data and measurement platform that unifies what households watch, what ads they're exposed to, and what actions they take—across YouTube, Amazon, Netflix, Disney, Paramount+, Meta, and on—around a single mission: helping advertisers actually measure and guarantee outcomes at scale. In four years the company has flipped from 95% services to 95% software, and is now one of the most technical operators in ad-tech, with roughly 360 employees and a tech stack being rebuilt in real time. The conversation takes a sharp turn into AI—and this is where it gets fascinating. Tony shares how he's rebuilding the hardest parts of the tech stack from scratch with six people and AI agents writing all the code, cutting compute costs to roughly 20%, and standing up custom LoRA-adapted models on their own hardware for specialized tasks like writing Rust and SQL. He talks about the "cowboy-coders" moment that taught him changing engineering culture isn't easy, how multi-agent workflows are quietly absorbing the institutional-knowledge work of middle management, and the personal turning point when Claude actually out-reasoned him on something he thought he knew. As Tony puts it: that's the moment you stop iterating and say, "wait, I'm not thinking big enough. I'm going to change everything." Learn more about VideoAMP: ⁠https://videoamp.com/⁠ [https://videoamp.com/] Order Dan's Book – Bandwidth: The Untold Story of Ambition, Deception, and Innovation that Shaped the Internet Age and Dot-Com Boom: dan-caruso.com/book Listen to Dan's Song Stretch: ⁠https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/dancaruso/stretch⁠ [https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/dancaruso/stretch] Check out music by Jason Mendelson (Jace Allen): /@jaceallen To nominate a founder or yourself as a future guest speaker, email: ⁠contact@loudbearproductions.com [contact@loudbearproductions.com]

Colorado Innovators: Robin Thurston, CEO and Founder at Outside Interactive Inc.

In this episode of The Bear Roars, Dan Caruso sits down with Robin Thurston—CEO of Outside and one of the most creative builders in the outdoor and media space—for a wide-ranging conversation about festivals, the future of AI, and why getting people outside has never mattered more.Robin breaks down Outside Days, the flagship consumer festival he built from scratch in downtown Denver that sold 18,000 tickets in year one, grew to 35,000 in year two, and is on track to top 50,000 this year. He explains the formula: music, film, experiential activations, a Shark Tank-style startup pitch competition, a B2B industry summit, and a travel conference—all converging in one place, over one long weekend. It's South by Southwest for the outdoors, and it's becoming one of the biggest festivals in downtown Denver.Dan and Robin dig into the full scope of what Outside has become; 30+ brands including Outside magazine, Warren Miller Films, Backpacker, Velo, and Pinkbike, unified around a single mission: reduce the friction between inspiration and activation, and get more people outside more often. With over a million paying subscribers across its mapping and media platforms, Outside is quietly one of the most ambitious media and technology companies in the country.The conversation takes a sharp turn into AI—and this is where it gets fascinating. Robin shares how he's using AI to convert decades of evergreen content into audio and new languages, how multi-agent frameworks are replacing what used to require rooms full of collaborators, and why he believes AI won't go on the hike for you—but it will make sure you show up prepared, equipped, and ready to have the time of your life. He and Dan also get candid about the people who haven't yet unlocked AI's potential, the ones who have, and what separates them.Learn more about Outside: outsideonline.comOrder Dan’s Book – Bandwidth: The Untold Story of Ambition, Deception, and Innovation that Shaped the Internet Age and Dot-Com Boom: dan-caruso.com/bookListen to Dan's Song Stretch: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/dan...Check out music by Jason Mendelson (Jace Allen): / @jaceallen To nominate a founder or yourself as a future guest speaker, email: contact@loudbearproductions.com\

Zeb King, Managing Director at Endeavor Colorado

In this episode of The Bear Roars, Dan Caruso sits down with Zeb King—Managing Director of Endeavor Colorado and one of the most quietly influential figures in Colorado's tech ecosystem—for a conversation about the impact of founders across the state and around the world. Zeb explains what Endeavor Global is: a 27-year-old nonprofit built on the belief that world-class entrepreneurship can flourish anywhere, not just Silicon Valley or New York. He walks through the peer-to-peer model that powers it, the multiplier effect first proven in Chile and Argentina, and why Colorado's portfolio of quantum, space, biotech, and digital infrastructure companies has everyone paying close attention. Dan and Zeb dig into the companies that make Colorado's tech scene so compelling right now and why Colorado may be on track to become an official Endeavor Global Hub for deep tech, joining London, Singapore, Dubai, and New York. And yes—they talk cycling. Because in Boulder, cycling isn't just a hobby. It's how the most important business relationships get built. Learn more about Endeavor Colorado: endeavor.org [https://endeavor.org/] Order Dan's Book – Bandwidth: The Untold Story of Ambition, Deception, and Innovation that Shaped the Internet Age and Dot-Com Boom: dan-caruso.com/book Listen to Dan's Song Stretch: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/dancaruso/stretch [https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/dancaruso/stretch] Check out music by Jason Mendelson (Jace Allen): https://www.youtube.com/@jaceallen [https://www.youtube.com/@jaceallen] To nominate a founder or yourself as a future guest speaker, email: contact@loudbearproductions.com [contact@loudbearproductions.com]

Seth Levine, Co-Founder and Partner at Foundry Part 3

In this episode of The Bear Roars, Dan Caruso sits down with Seth Levine—Co-Founder and Partner at Foundry and longtime Colorado venture leader—for a candid and wide-ranging conversation on the future of Colorado’s business and tech ecosystem.Following the release of Dan's Open Letter on Colorado’s economic trajectory, Dan and Seth dig into the growing concern that the state may be losing its edge as a destination for capital, innovation, and company building. They reflect on Colorado’s history as a thriving tech hub, recent wins that showcase its potential, and the warning signs that investors and entrepreneurs are starting to look elsewhere. They unpack the impact of policy decisions like the state’s AI regulation efforts, the broader regulatory environment, and how perception alone can influence where capital flows. Dan and Seth dive into the role of political leadership, emphasizing the need for more balanced rhetoric, stronger pro-business signaling, and a renewed focus on long-term economic growth. At its core, this episode is a call to action: a push for thoughtful dialogue, decisive leadership, and a shared commitment to ensuring Colorado remains a place where businesses can start, scale, and succeed.Read the open letter: https://ensuringcolorado.com/#letterLearn more about Foundry: https://foundry.vc/Order Dan’s Book – Bandwidth: The Untold Story of Ambition, Deception, and Innovation that Shaped the Internet Age and Dot-Com Boom: dan-caruso.com/bookListen to Dan's Song Stretch: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/dancaruso/stretchCheck out music by Jason Mendelson (Jace Allen): https://www.youtube.com/@jaceallen To nominate a founder or yourself as a future guest speaker, email: contact@loudbearproductions.com\