Explore every episode of the podcast Tacos and Tech Podcast
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Title
Pub. Date
Duration
Rewiring the Arsenal of Democracy
11 Nov 2025
01:01:38
This week on the Tacos & Tech Podcast, Neal sits down with Mike Sims, Marine Raider turned venture builder, to talk about how his experience across the military, VC, and global battlefields shaped his mission with Imperium, a trusted marketplace for critical goods and the industrial base.
They explore how modern warfare is redefining innovation cycles, why our national supply chain needs a rethink, and how San Diego is quietly becoming the epicenter of U.S. defense tech.
Key Topics Covered:
* Mike’s journey from blue-collar trade school to Marine Corps Special Operations
* What most people misunderstand about military tech adoption and procurement
* How frontline innovation - like in Ukraine - reveals deeper supply chain insights
* Why the defense supply base is aging, fragmented, and missing credit infrastructure
* The role of marketplaces and automation in rebuilding America’s industrial edge
* How Imperium is working to reduce friction and increase trust between buyers and suppliers
* Why we need more engineers at the front lines, not just HQ
* San Diego’s unique strengths: hard tech talent, military end-users, and lifestyle advantage
* The difference between building tech for persistent problems vs. fleeting missions
* Thoughts on labor, robots, AI, and the human cost of “re-industrialization”
* What’s next for the defense tech ecosystem and how founders, veterans, and investors can plug in
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 we dive in, we wanted to thank and ask our listeners to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community!
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, fintech moats, and what founders often overlook when raising capital. Plus, Rose unpacks her growing role as an investor, how she’s empowering other lawyers through her Angels in the Law network, and what she looks for in the next generation of legal innovation.
Key Topics
* Rose’s career path from Berkeley to in-house counsel to founding her own law firm
* Legal insights for fintech, Web3, and capital markets
* How regulation shapes - and lags - innovation in financial services
* Trends in legal tech adoption and where traditional firms are falling behind
* Her philosophy of “give first” investing and building a founder-friendly syndicate
* The origin story of Angels in the Law and the rise of lawyer-investors
* Why clarity is everything when supporting (or funding) founders
* Rose’s controversial taco take: Islands, North County edition
Neal: Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Fred Grier from Fresh Brewed Tech. Every Friday at 12:30pm Pacific on Clubhouse and now we record them for you to enjoy as well. Find these episodes on Freshbrewedtech.com and favorite podcast player for Tacos and Tech Podcast.
I’m Neal Bloom, entrepreneur, investor, and community builder.
Fred: I’m Fred Grier, journalist and author of SD Founders substack. I wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years. I covered the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A.
Neal: Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Fred Grier from Fresh Brewed Tech. Every Friday at 12:30pm Pacific on Clubhouse and now we record them for you to enjoy as well. Find these episodes on Freshbrewedtech.com and favorite podcast player for Tacos and Tech Podcast
I’m Neal Bloom, entrepreneur, investor, and community builder.
Fred: I’m Fred Grier, journalist and author of SD Founders substack. I wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years. I covered the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A.
Neal: Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Fred Grier from Fresh Brewed Tech. Every Friday at 12:30pm Pacific on Clubhouse and now we record them for you to enjoy as well. Find these episodes on Freshbrewedtech.com and favorite podcast player for Tacos and Tech Podcast
I’m Neal Bloom, entrepreneur, investor, and community builder.
Fred: I’m Fred Grier, journalist and author of SD Founders substack. I wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years. I covered the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A.
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 early failed Kickstarter into a business with over $1M+ in revenue (with zero ad spend!), the importance of discovering product-market fit through real customer feedback, and the emotional rollercoaster of running and eventually selling a hardware startup during a downturn. From bootstrapping to navigating COVID, tariffs, and copycats - Eric shares what it really takes to get to the finish line (and how the finish line is just another beginning).
Key Topics Covered:
* From basement builds to business: Eric’s early love for inventing and entrepreneurship
* The SDSU ZIP Launchpad, finding community, and the startup that wasn't a fit
* Why the wrong customers helped him discover the right market
* Pivoting from skate culture to the growing micro-mobility movement
* Scaling from 3D printers to overseas supply chains - and the lessons from doing it the hard way
* How Kyle and Eric’s founder relationship helped them navigate burnout, illness, and transition
* Building trust with manufacturers and how one trip to China changed everything
* Financial forecasting, staying lean, and prepping for an acquisition
* The gritty, real story behind selling a business - and what Eric’s learned about what comes next
David gives an overview of what SuperSight is [02:06]
David shares his background and IoT has iterated over time [04:11]
David talks about the direct relevance of consumers wanting to understand their data [06:03]
What is calm computing? [07:00]
David talks about technology-embedded services and why some companies haven’t offered them yet [08:40]
David shares the advantages of having the AR tools we have today for companies [09:46]
How do you bring more people into the AR or metaverse environment? [12:02]
David explains what Google navigation AR experience is [13:51]
Where is David guiding and advising people to focus on when it comes to investing for their own company [17:53]
David shares how AR is going to play a part in travel interactions and why he’s excited about companies focusing on how to specialize in critiquing a product. [19:28]
What are digital twins and their special features? [21:47]
Where is the conversation of the human aspect of the AR meta piece right now? [24:26]
David shares the kind of people he enjoys working with and why [28:34]
David shares his favorite taco spot, Boloco [29:48]
Paige gives an overview of what Behind Genius Ventures is [03:08]
Paige talks about what her life was like at SDSU, and how she figured out what she really wants to do career-wise [05:08]
Paige shares her work experience and the things she learned, getting rejected by firms, and dealing with the pandemic [07:13]
When did Paige actually write your first check as an investor? [10:47]
How did Paige get started with her own investment firm? What was it like raising money for a venture fund? [13:26]
Paige talks about the posts she wrote to help people who are going down a similar path as she is, including an FAQ doc and an essential guide to cold outreach [16:53]
Paige shares what it was like to write a book and self-publishing it [18:50]
Paige talks about growing up with an artist mom and a mechanical engineer dad, how she likes to blend engineering and art, and how she applies that in her work today [21:59]
Paige talks about her love for investing and growing BGV [26:25]
Paige shares her favorite taco spot, Oscars [27:04]
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 Oceanside.
In this episode, Drew shares his journey from early design days and Flash websites to building Plasso, navigating acquisition, and diving headfirst into GenAI-powered product development. He also gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what’s coming with Opacity, why he’s bullish on version control for designers, and how tools like Midjourney and Claude are shaping his build stack.
Key Points
* Building Plasso as a solo founder and selling to GoDaddy
* Going through YC while still working at GoDaddy
* Launching (and shutting down) a modern digital bank
* The origins of ValioCon and why it’s back after 9 years
* The inspiration behind Opacity and the future of visual coding
* Building products in the GenAI era — what’s actually different
* His go-to North County burrito and tales from Cave Week
Links & ResourcesLearn more about OpacityGrab your ticket to ValioCon
Connect with Drew & NealFollow Drew on Linkedin & XFollow Neal: LinkedIn & X
A.J. gives an overview of what Calsense is [02:42]
A.J. shares his background, where he came from originally, and how he got into Calsense [04:11]
A.J. talks about how technology has advanced since he started working, and how it helped Calsense in protecting water [11:08]
Have cities been able to change up landscaping to change up their water needs today? [15:25]
With the hybrid aspect of work changing corporate campuses, A.J. shares his observations in terms of landscape as well as the mentality around where people work and play [19:34]
What’s Calsense’s work model and experience like since the pandemic happened? [21:26]
A.J. shares the things that he makes sure he’s paying attention to as Calsense’s CEO [23:42]
Does A.J. think there’s a clean tech or agtech density of companies in San Diego? [28:13]
A.J. shares his favorite taco spots, Fidel's Little Mexico and Aga Su Taco [30:19]
Madison gives an overview of what Privatyze is [02:38]
Haydar shares his background and how he got into the tech industry [03:50]
Madison shares her entrepreneurial background and how she got started [04:39]
Haydar shares how got hired to work for the U.S. military [05:25]
How did Madison and Haydar decide on the company they were going to co-found together and what was it like? [06:48]
Haydar shares the changes they’ve seen when it comes to technology and their business from when they started to today [08:51]
Madison talks about her connection to Launch Factory and how she got to know them [11:44]
Haydar talks about Privatyze being a customer-focused startup, their mission, and how customer feedback helped them plan strategically over the next few years [13:24]
Madison shares where the Privatyze platform is today[15:36]
Haydar talks about Web3 and its functions and what they're currently creating to address today's needs in data ownership [16:44]
Where is Privatyzed headed a year from now? [19:19]
Haydar shares what excites him about cybersecurity [20:10]
Madison talks about NFT in terms of its technical aspects to community and permissions and where that breakthrough is going to come through with Privatyze [24:16]
Madison and Haydar’s favorite taco spot, Serrano's Street Tacos [26:22]
Tony gives an overview of what Cox Communications is [02:28]
How did Tony end up in the telecom industry? [03:15]
Tony shares what made him want to get into engineering [06:16]
Tony shares whether he knew it was going to be a long-term communication strategy for him when he was working on satellites while he was in the military [08:02]
Tony talks about the early days of Cox Mobile and how telecom decides when it comes to infrastructure investment [12:30]
When did Cox realize they should be looking at things from a product perspective? [16:39]
Tony shares the internal development that turned into Cox Mobile and what had to go into it from a product development standpoint [19:35]
What was it like for Tony’s team to reenter Cox into the mobile space product development-wise? How did they turn that into a consumer product? [21:20]
Tony talks about the Cox Mobile launch and its timeframe now [25:48]
Tony shares what’s happening behind the scenes now that they’re in launch mode, and where they’re iterating product and the development team right now [28:53]
Tony’s favorite burrito and taco spots, Fajitas and Watersound Beach Club [30:43]
How did Sanjay end up in the pharma and biotech industry? [04:11]
What brought Sanjay to San Diego? [06:26]
Sanjay talks about what aTry is currently working on right now, including trials [08:02]
Sanjay shares the technologies that have changed over the years and why they couldn’t have been done 20-plus years ago [10:16]
Sanjay talks about running a biotech company today, if you should also run it like a software tech company, and whether it’s unique in San Diego [13:54]
Sanjay talks about the flip side of data, including building good cloud trial classes with data in mind [16:52]
Sanjay shares the difference between running a public versus private company, and the importance of being honest with patients instead of overselling things [19:44]
Sanjay shares his favorite taco spot, El Viejon [24:16]
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 we dive in, we wanted to thank and ask our listeners to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community!
Aug 22
Defense Tech Founders Event Recap of autonomous tech and military end-users
Anthony gives an overview of what Reactive Training is [02:25]
Anthony shares how he got into the fitness industry and why he started a company [03:01]
What’s the focus of Anthony’s studio and do they cater to a specific clientele? [04:38]
Anthony talks about the things he learned from having a studio, using his studio to test his ideas, and how it helped in turning his idea into reality [05:19]
Anthony explains the science and the biomechanics behind Core-Tex [06:10]
How is Anthony seeing people use their product and what are some of the success stories he's seen from clients? [07:56]
What were some of Anthony’s observations on how the pandemic affected home fitness and at-home treatment [08:59]
What's unique about San Diego in terms of being connected to a specific user base? What are the other things Anthony learned in testing and building their product towards where it is now? [10:14]
How did Anthony manage his employees and deal with supply chains when the pandemic happened? [12:05]
What can the customers expect from Reactive Training’s latest and future products? [14:44]
Anthony shares some tips for people who now have become more sitting-focused in their day job [17:35]
Anthony shares his favorite taco spots, Rubio’s and City Tacos [19:55]
Julia gives an overview of what Trash Panda is [02:21]
Julia shares her background and how the idea for Trash Panda started [03:37]
How and when did the product idea for Trash Panda originate? [07:15]
What was the pitching process like for Julia and her colleagues? [10:12]
Julia shares some of the things they did to improve the user experience on Trash Panda [12:27]
Julia talks about generating revenue for Trash Panda and how they make sure it doesn't bias the information they're giving to the audience, and the community of people she's found within the wellness and tech space [15:09]
Are wellness brands something unique to San Diego? [20:03]
Will Trash Panda always be an internalized product within the bigger company? [22:50]
Julia shares her favorite taco spot, Haggo's Organic Taco [24:03]
Investing in the Freedom Stack with Larsen Jensen of Harpoon Ventures
19 Aug 2025
00:30:01
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, cybersecurity, and advanced manufacturing that shape not just industry, but national security and global stability.
They explore how Harpoon was early to the intersection of tech and geopolitics, why San Diego is uniquely positioned to lead in hardtech and defense innovation, and how founders can better navigate the path to working with the U.S. government through Harpoon’s new initiative: Black Flag Incubator.
Key Topics Covered:
* Larsen’s Olympic and Navy SEAL background, and how it shaped his service-driven mission in venture
* The original thesis behind Harpoon Ventures - and how the market caught up
* Defining the "Freedom Stack": AI, cyber, energy, compute, defense, and more
* The rise of government demand for critical technologies
* Black Flag Incubator: helping founders navigate government engagement
* Why San Diego is poised for hardtech and national security innovation
* Advice for early-stage founders working in dual-use or deep tech
* The importance of founder communities, ecosystem building, and paying it forward
Fresh Brewed Tech Live: April 30th Marketing Night
16 Sep 2022
00:52:06
Following the success with our very first Marketing Night, we recently held our second in-person Marketing Night event on August 30th, featuring impressive panelists who shared helpful career wisdom. Check out more details from our blog post here!