Shows / NC Tweener Talks
NC Tweener Talks
A podcast for builders by builders in North Carolina. We explore the startup journey and stories with NC founders, from the idea to the exit and everything in between. NC Tweener Talks is hosted by Scot Wingo, presented and produced by NC Tweener Fund, with creative assets and design support from Walk West.
Episodes
NC Tweener TalksRobin Cowie, CEO & Founder of Skillmaker: From Haunted Woods to the Repair Bay
Robin Cowie, CEO and founder of Skillmaker, went from co-creating The Blair Witch Project to building AI and extended reality tools for auto repair…
NC Tweener TalksJosh Miller, CEO & Co-Founder of Gradient Health: 40 People, $40 Million, and the Data Behind Medical AI
Josh Miller, CEO and co-founder of Gradient Health, joins me to share how a Durham-area startup became the go-to source of medical data for AI developers…
NC Tweener Talks[REDACTED] Episode 13: How Do You Trust an Agent You Didn’t Watch?
Craig Brown, a field engineer at Quantexa and the solo builder behind Blind Oracle, joins us as Redacted's first inbound guest. Blind Oracle is a trust and…
NC Tweener TalksMichael Boyarsky, CEO & Co-Founder of Extellis: Building a SpaceTech Company in NC and Meta Materials 101
Michael Boyarsky, CEO and co-founder of Extellis, joins me to talk about turning more than a decade of Duke metamaterials research into a satellite imaging…
NC Tweener Talks[REDACTED] Episode 12: Prototype, Survey, Repeat, and Building the Product Loop With AI
On this episode of Redacted, we skip the guests and get back to the heart of the show: what it really looks like to build and run Offline with AI in 2026…
NC Tweener Talks[REDACTED] Episode 11: Getting Humans to Stop Doing the Robot Work
This week on Redacted, we bring on our fourth guest: Ben Eckerson, founder of Agentcy, an AI-enabled consultancy helping small-to-mid-market companies close…
NC Tweener TalksWill Duckett, Co-Founder & COO of Equity Shift: Opening Up How Private Company Ownership and Markets Operate.
Will Duckett, co-founder and COO of Equity Shift, joins me to talk about building the infrastructure behind secondary liquidity in private markets. The…
NC Tweener Talks[REDACTED] Episode 10: A Non-Technical Founder Doesn't Need a Technical Co-Founder Anymore
Parker Mayes, founder of Signify, joins us on Redacted for a guest episode built around a live demo of his actual sales pipeline. Parker built Signify after…
NC Tweener TalksSteven King, Founder of Blue Sky Robotics: How a Metaverse Project Pivoted to Hospital Robotics
Steven King, CEO and co-founder of Blue Sky Robotics, joins me to talk about building a computer vision company that has pivoted twice in three years, from…
NC Tweener TalksBen Scruggs, CEO of Altis Biosystems: Building the Gut Model That Predicts Which Drugs Actually Work
Ben Scruggs, CEO of Altis Biosystems, joins me to talk about building human gut models that help pharma, biotech, and nutrition companies predict how a drug or…
NC Tweener Talks[REDACTED] Episode 9: He Gave His AI Assistant 64 Tools and Zero Permission to Delete Anything
Josh Guter, founder of Elephants, joins us for a live product teardown of the AI operations assistant he built for small teams. The conversation covers the…
NC Tweener TalksAdam Steege, Founder & CEO of Trio Labs: The Startup Failure That Became a Med-Tech Manufacturer
Adam Steege, founder and CEO of Trio Labs, joins me to talk about building a company that 3D prints tiny, complex metal parts for medical devices out of…
NC Tweener TalksNick Genty, Co-Founder & CEO of AgEye: From a Storefront Full of Robots to a Deal in Qatar
Nick Genty, co-founder and CEO of AgEye Technologies, joins me to talk about building robotics and AI software for indoor farms right here in North Carolina…
NC Tweener Talks[REDACTED] Episode 8: We Hired an AI Sales Rep and Became Its Manager
Today, on Episode 8 of Redacted, we use this episode to show exactly what running a company with AI looks like day-to-day. Taylor walks through the agent…
NC Tweener TalksAndrew Ashur, Co-Founder & CEO of Lucid Bots: "Hardware Done Right Is Where the Moat Still Exists"
Andrew Ashur, co-founder and CEO of Lucid Bots, joins Scot Wingo for the third episode in our series on North Carolina startups solving hard physical-world…
NC Tweener TalksPlantd Co-founder, Huade Tan: Innovating Carbon Capture With Building Materials
Huade Tan, co-founder and CTO of Plantd, joins me to explain how two former SpaceX engineers ended up building carbon-capturing structural panels out of a…
NC Tweener Talks[REDACTED] Episode 7: How a Marketer with One Broken Assembly Class Built a Lead-Gen Tool Solo
Ben Pope, who leads the new AI Solutions business unit at Levitate, joins Redacted as its very first guest. Ben spent five years on Levitate's marketing team…
NC Tweener TalksNatrx: The Company Growing Coral Reefs Out of Concrete
Tad Schwendler, COO of Natrx, joins Scot Wingo to talk about manufacturing concrete structures that work with nature instead of against it. Natrx, a North…
NC Tweener Talks[REDACTED] Episode 6: The 8-Stage "AI-ification Engine" Behind Every Automation Shipped
David Shaner and Taylor Cotner spend this episode of Redacted screen-sharing everything they've built since the last one, and it centers on a framework David…
NC Tweener TalksThe Unlocked Door: Ryan Eade on What OpenClaw Users Need to Secure Right Now
Ryan Eade, Chief Product and Technology Officer at PtEverywhere, gave this talk at the June 10th TweenerClaw meetup, and it covers something most practitioners…
NC Tweener TalksRobbie Allen @ Tweener Claw: "3 to 5 of My Agents Fail Every Day: Here's What I've Learned"
In this episode of Tweener Claw, Robbie Allen, the Founder and Managing Director of Automated Consulting Group and General Partner at NC Tweener Fund, shares a…
NC Tweener Talks[REDACTED] Episode 5: The Rage Log: AI-Powered Lead Gen, a Living Landing Page, and the Trick That Stops Claude From Making the Same Mistake Twice
Redacted Episode 5 goes inside Offline, and what it actually looks like to wire AI into sales, marketing, and project management without a big engineering team…
NC Tweener TalksThe Open Claw Wave 2: 300K Stars, 1,400 Malicious Skills, and a Fork from Every Tech Giant
A live recording of my talk at the June 10th NC Tweener Fund Open Claw meetup in Research Triangle Park. The second gathering of our local AI agent community…
NC Tweener TalksJesse Lipson, CEO & Founder of Levitate: Building AI Features Won't Save You but Here's What Will
Jess Lipson, founder and CEO of Levitate, joins host Scot Wingo for a focused, framework-driven conversation on how SaaS founders should think about their…
NC Tweener TalksFLASH: Validic (NC Tweener!) acquired by ChartSpan - Live Interview with Drew Schiller, CEO, Validic
Details->https://www.tweenertimes.com/p/breaking-validic-acquired-by-chartspan We couldn’t share posts like this without our amazing sponsors: Platinum: NC…
NC Tweener TalksRob Walter, Founder & CEO of RevBo: "Nobody Has It Right; The GTM Playbook Is Still Being Written"
Rob Walter breaks down the AI-native GTM playbook: intent data, ABM-only outreach, the first sales hire trapdoor, and why "a human always writes the message."…
NC Tweener Talks[REDACTED] Episode 4: We Stopped Using Claude Code Mid-Build. Here's What We Built Instead
Redacted is the show that doesn't clean things up before hitting record. Episode 4 is a double build session: Taylor Cotner walks through the multi-agent…
NC Tweener TalksMark Rosenberg, CEO & Founder of Hip eCommerce: "It's Like Sims, But With Real Money"
This episode is a rare look at a founder who’s further down the AI path than almost anyone, sharing both the practical playbook and the wilder edges of what’s…
NC Tweener TalksMoneyball for Main Street: The Fund That Bets on Singles, Not Home Runs
Most of us know Asheville as beer city, foodtopia, a playground for retirees and 14 million visitors a year. Jeffrey opens by updating that picture. Eighteen…
NC Tweener Talks[REDACTED]: Episode 3: A Sentient HubSpot for $2 a Brand
In episode 3 of [REDACTED], we (David and Taylor) run a live demo of an agentic CRM-cleanup pipeline (and finds out, on air, what it costs). We also walk…
NC Tweener TalksAkash Ganapathi and Austin Kelleher, co-founders of Opine: Pivot the Plan, Not the Mission
This is a slightly different Tweener Talks. Akash and Austin are reflective founders. They think in frameworks, they read widely, and they’ve clearly spent a…
NC Tweener Talks[Redacted] an NC Tweener Times Podcast: The AI Workflow Graveyard: CRMs, Agents, and... Tamagotchis?
In episode 2 of Redacted, David and Taylor get into the messy middle of building with AI inside a real business. After compressing Offline from a 34-person…
NC Tweener TalksMarc Minor, Higharc: Built an AI Company for Homebuilding BEFORE the AI Boom
After Tweener Madness, we’re back to regular programming with a special conversation featuring Marc Minor, CEO & Co-Founder of Higharc. In this episode, Marc…
NC Tweener Talks🦞 OpenClaw Talk Round 3: The 22-Agent Army: How Robbie Allen Runs a Company Like a System 🦞
On April 9th we hosted the Triangle’s first OpenClaw meetup (more info here). This week we’re featuring our final talk with Robbie Allen! Robbie 20+ years…
NC Tweener TalksMichael Tavani, CEO of Switchyards, Atlanta, GA, With a Big Announcement For the Triangle 🚨PLUS🚨 a Tweener Times Subscriber Exclusive Offer!
We don’t break the NC-only rule often but when we do, there’s a good reason. Switchyards isn’t just an Atlanta story anymore. It is expanding into Raleigh and…
NC Tweener Talks[Redacted] an NC Tweener Times Podcast: What Happens When You Rebuild a Business With AI
Today, we’re launching something new under the NC Tweener Talks network. It’s called [Redacted]. Most AI content today is polished with clean demos, perfect…
NC Tweener Talks🦞 OpenClaw Talk Round 2: Ryan Eade Shares The Missing Pieces that will make your Using OpenClaw Easier
In this episode of NC Tweener Talks, we share a talk from the first OpenClaw meetup in the Triangle, featuring Ryan Eade Ryan’s talk walks through how he runs…
NC Tweener TalksThe 12 Moats That Matter Now: Scot Wingo (NC Tweener Fund, ReFiBuy) Breaks Down Defensibility in the AI Era
Scot Wingo is a serial founder, General Partner at the NC Tweener Fund, and CEO of ReFiBuy. With decades of experience building and scaling companies in…
NC Tweener TalksBuilding Autonomous Startups: Can AI Agents Launch Profitable Businesses?
In this episode of NC Tweener Talks, Scot Wingo shares a talk from the first OpenClaw meetup in the Triangle, featuring Corey Nida’s experiment in autonomous…
NC Tweener Talks🏆 Tweener Madness Championship: HAM vs Druid AgTech: AITech vs. AgTech for the Ultimate $25K Prize...Who Will Win!?
We’ve made it to the final. After dozens of applicants, weeks of competition, and some tough calls along the way, it all comes down to this: Two startups. One…
NC Tweener TalksTweener Madness: The Fabulous 4 Round 2 is here! Druid Agriculture VS Marla Amplification
The second matchup of the Fabulous 4 is here This is where things shift. The ideas are sharper. The stakes are higher. And every decision starts to look a lot…
NC Tweener TalksTweener Madness: The Fabulous 4 Begins with Utilyst VS HAM. Two Different Paths to Scale
We’re down to the Fabulous 4. Four startups. Two matchups. One step closer to the $25K investment from the NC Tweener Fund. This is where things shift. The…
NC Tweener TalksTweener Madness: The Exceptional 8 Round 4 is here! Marla Amplification VS Build-A-Bookie
Round 4 of Tweener Madness is here and it’s the final matchup of the Exceptional 8. Marla Amplification vs. Build-A-Bookie One is building American-made…
NC Tweener TalksTweener Madness: The Exceptional 8 Round 3 is here! Druid Agriculture VS HuVia Technologies
Round 3 of Tweener Madness is here. With a spot in the next round on the line, Druid Agriculture and HuVia Technologies go head-to-head in a high-stakes pitch…
NC Tweener TalksTweener Madness: The Exceptional 8 Round 2 is here! Iguana Cyber VS HAM
Round 2 of Tweener Madness is here. With a spot in the next round on the line, Iguana Cyber and HAM (Hierarchical Agent Memory) go head-to-head in a…
NC Tweener TalksTweener Madness: The Exceptional 8 Begins! Round 1: Utilyst VS BeneDoc
8 founders. One bracket. $25,000 on the line. Welcome to Tweener Madness 2026, the high-stakes startup competition where North Carolina’s most promising…
NC Tweener TalksTweener Madness 2026: Meet the Exceptional 8
This episode kicks off Season 2 of Tweener Madness and sets the stage for what’s ahead. You’ll get: The evolution of Tweener (from list → fund → statewide…
NC Tweener TalksHow Pendo’s Evan Inscoe Is Building the Future of Go-To-Market Engineering
What does a go-to-market engineer actually do, and why is this role suddenly showing up everywhere? In this episode, we unpack one of the fastest-evolving…
NC Tweener TalksA New Chapter for North Carolina Startups: Scot Wingo and Robbie Allen on NC IDEA's #Ecosysteming Podcast
This episode is a special one. We’re replaying NC IDEA’s Ecosysteming Podcast episode featuring Scot and Robbie following the announcement of the new North…
NC Tweener TalksFrom Duke Football to 3D-Printed Medical Devices: How PROTECT3D Scaled Mass Customization with Kevin Gehsmann
In this episode, we unpack how a college capstone project turned into a scalable system for custom-fit 3D-printed bracing, moving from “hours in CAD” to…
NC Tweener TalksWill AI Kill SaaS? Triangle Founders Want to Know! We Deep Dive Into the SaaSageddon with Joe Mancini, GP at Front Porch Ventures
This episode is a big one. There’s a lot of noise right now around AI, venture, and whether SaaS is fundamentally broken. Public markets are re-rating software…
NC Tweener TalksAnnouncing: NC IDEA and Tweener Fund Partnership
We started the Tweener List in 2015 with the idea of local founders paying it forward to help amplify and support our local startup ecosystem. Based on the…
NC Tweener TalksDr. Helen Gu on Building InsightFinder, AIOps, and the “Last Mile” of Enterprise AI
In this episode of Triangle Tweener Talks, we unpack what it really takes to go from professor to CEO, how InsightFinder built trust in a skeptical enterprise…
NC Tweener TalksFrom Founder to Chief of Staff: How Offline Runs on AI with David Shaner
In Part 1 of this conversation on Triangle Tweener Talks, we walked through how David built Offline over 13 years, three companies, multiple pivots, and a…
NC Tweener TalksThree Companies, One Brand: Building Offline Over 13 Years with David Shaner
This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. In this episode, we focus on Offline’s origin story and business evolution, not AI (yet). Highlights from Part 1…
NC Tweener TalksTony Atti: Phononic Founder: Scaling Phononic from 2008-2026 and Beyond | PART 2 of 2
Part 2 picks up where the origin story ends, and where the real work begins. Tony breaks down the three phases of Phononic: proving the science, surviving…
NC Tweener TalksTony Atti and How Phononic Was Founded During the 2008 Financial Crisis| PART 1 of 2
In this episode (Part 1), we cover the origin story. Tony walks through the decisions, failures, and inflection points that led to Phononic’s founding: leaving…
NC Tweener TalksBrice Englert on How TradePending Scaled: Pricing, Sales, and Growing the TAM | PART 2 of 2
In Part 2 of the conversation with Brice Englert, we move from origin story to execution and scale. We cover: Pricing without overthinking: how TradePending…
NC Tweener TalksBrice Englert on Building TradePending: From “No”s to Product-Market Fit in Auto Tech | PART 1 of 2
In this episode (Part 1), Brice shares the early story: how the idea formed, how he got the first version built, what the market told him at the beginning, and…
NC Tweener TalksTriangle Startup Venture Funding, Valuations & Deal Terms
In this special solo episode of Triangle Tweener Talks, Scot goes beyond the two-part Tweener Times report to walk founders through what the data actually…