Triumph Over Tragedy: How a Cedar Rapids Startup is Revolutionizing Mental Wellness
Release Date: 08/26/2025
Uniting Iowa’s Private Colleges: Dr. Paula Kueter on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and AI in Northwest Iowa
Iowa Tech Podcast
On this episode of the Iowa Tech Podcast, host Kaylee sits down with Dr. Paula Kueter, professor at Morningside University and director of the Joan and Larry Arnold Entrepreneurship Center. Paula shares her journey across Iowa’s private colleges and her mission to elevate entrepreneurship beyond the state’s flagship institutions, spotlighting smart, creative students who often fly under the radar. She details how Morningside is scaling its MBA, integrating AI across the business curriculum, and partnering closely with Sioux City, SIMPCO, and neighboring schools like Dordt, Buena Vista,...
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Krista Martin from Novy on Building a Healthcare Venture Studio (and Fixing ER Scheduling)
Iowa Tech Podcast
On this episode of the Iowa Tech Podcast, host Kaylee sits down with Krista Martin, Partner at Novy, a healthcare-focused venture studio building software companies from the ground up. Krista shares her path from Iowa-born product leader to venture studio operator, influenced by her time in Indianapolis and exposure to High Alpha’s model. She breaks down Novy’s six-stage approach—ideation, validation, creation, and growth at its core—and how the team co-founds with physicians and industry experts to move ideas from back-of-napkin to market. Novy runs a highly selective funnel (their...
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Pivoting in Biotech with Dr. Tony Vanden Bush of Syntherna
Iowa Tech Podcast
On this episode of the Iowa Tech Podcast, host Kaylee Williams welcomes back Dr. Tony Vanden Bush, CEO of Syntherna, for a candid look at how the biotech startup has navigated a shifting market. Since their last chat in August 2024, attitudes toward RNA vaccines have cooled and animal-health regulatory timelines have lengthened - two forces outside the company’s control. Tony explains Syntherna’s dual pivot: opening their in-house RNA manufacturing capabilities as a CRO-style “pick-and-shovel” service to generate non-dilutive revenue, and elevating their slow-release vaccine implant...
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Welcoming the 12th GIA Cohort with Dan Israel
Iowa Tech Podcast
In this New Year’s kickoff episode of the Iowa Tech Podcast, host Kaylee welcomes back Dan Israel, Managing Director of the Global Insurance Accelerator (GIA), to preview their most international cohort yet. Six startups selected from roughly 75 applicants have descended on Des Moines for “day 2 of 100,” with founders hailing from Sweden, the UK, Germany, Wales, Canada, and across the U.S. Dan explains how AI has shifted from flashy differentiator to expected infrastructure—what matters now is using it thoughtfully to solve real industry problems in approachable ways. He outlines the...
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Poking Holes in Tradition: ReEnvision Ag’s Seed Spike and the Future of Precision Planting
Iowa Tech Podcast
Jayson Ryner, founder and CEO of ReEnvision Ag and entrepreneurship professor at NIACC, explains the Seed Spike planter—the first ultra–low soil disturbance planter built for the soil-health era. 🗞️ Be first to get new interviews: 🐖 Get a free $30 gift card from Jethro's BBQ: 💡 Find this show on your favorite player: Chapters: 01:42 - Reenvision Ag: Revolutionizing Planting 08:50 - Challenges and Innovations in Agriculture 20:26 - Challenges and Opportunities in Market Gardening 23:46 - Innovations in Agricultural Technology 28:55 - Future Vision and Business Strategy...
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Building an Entrepreneurial Culture at Drake University with Chase Spencer
Iowa Tech Podcast
Host Kaylee welcomes Drake University’s Chase Spencer to the Iowa Tech Podcast from the Jethro’s Barbecue Studio for a lively conversation about cultivating entrepreneurs in Iowa. Chase shares his path from Monroe, Iowa to Drake—pivoting during 2020 from a dream of theme park design to politics, and ultimately to entrepreneurship after a formative class sparked his venture “Chasing Cars,” a QR-code storytelling tool for classic car owners now used by hundreds across the country. He explains his evolution at Drake from contractor to program manager overseeing entrepreneurship...
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Mental Health, AI and Turning Tragedy into Purpose with Jeff Johnston of Brightn
Iowa Tech Podcast
In this episode of the Iowa Tech Podcast, host Kaylee welcomes back Jeff Johnston, founder and CEO of Brighton, for a candid conversation about loss, purpose, and building a mental wellness company. Jeff shares the deeply personal journey that led him from a successful 32-year wealth management career to advocacy after losing his son to fentanyl and, later, his wife—ultimately inspiring Brighton, named in honor of his granddaughter. He explains Brighton’s unique approach to “mental wellness planning,” translating principles from financial planning into a human portfolio of health,...
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Angels in the Krause (House) with Diana Wright
Iowa Tech Podcast
Host Kaylee welcomes back guest Diana Wright, Startup Community Builder at the Greater Des Moines Partnership, to recap the Iowa Angel Investor Summit. They cover what angel investing is, when founders should seek it (typically very early), and why Iowa’s investor base is broader than many realize—even if many stay humble and private. Diana shares how this year’s Summit expanded to a full-day program with a fundamentals workshop the night before, drawing about 50 attendees. The event balanced investor education with founder energy: a keynote from Billy Asmus of Repaint Tray (fresh off...
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Inside the Digital Transformation of Community Banking with Tara Seible
Iowa Tech Podcast
Tara Seible, founder of In the Green Marketing, joins the Iowa Tech Podcast to share how she transitioned from the traditional media world to launching a fast-growing digital agency serving community banks. She reveals how burnout from corporate life became the catalyst for entrepreneurship, and why community banking—despite its conservative roots—is ripe for digital transformation. In this episode, Tara outlines the power of combining sales expertise with strategic problem-solving, offers insight into her agency's hybrid team model, and teases her next big move: a software platform...
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The Midwest Startup Taking on Billion-Dollar FMCs with Donuts and AI
Iowa Tech Podcast
On this episode of the Iowa Tech podcast, host Kaylee Williams welcomes Proaction CEO and co-founder Drake Bauer to unpack the startup’s rebrand (formerly Flete) and its mission to modernize fleet management. Drake shares how Proaction streamlines asset operations - inspections, maintenance, compliance, and reporting - into a single pane of glass, replacing a tangle of spreadsheets, sticky notes, and legacy tools. He credits early traction to obsessive customer service and “doing things that don’t scale,” from overnight fixes to mapping clients’ workflows on-site. The team’s...
info_outlineThe latest episode of the Iowa Tech podcast, hosted by Micah Walker, features a heartfelt and inspirational conversation with Jeffrey Johnson, the founder of Brightn—a mental wellness startup. The episode delves into Jeffrey's personal journey, which led to the creation of Brightn. It all began with a tragic turn of events when Jeffrey lost his son to an overdose and subsequently, his wife to grief and substance abuse. These painful experiences propelled him to start a nonprofit, Living Undeterred Project, and eventually Brightn, an app aimed at shifting the focus from crisis intervention to mental wellness prevention and planning. Jeffrey emphasizes that while Brighton is not anti-medication, it seeks to explore alternatives before medication becomes the first line of treatment.
Brightn aims to revolutionize mental wellness by focusing on the pre-treatment and prevention realm. The app offers a unique approach by using a nine-question Brightn Zone assessment to identify user strengths and deficiencies in health, wealth, and purpose. This information, along with AI-driven personalized content, helps users engage in self-improvement. The episode also highlights Brightn's impressive growth, both in B2B and B2C markets, with partnerships like Med-One and Choice Charter Schools. Jeffrey shares the app's successful engagement strategies, which have resulted in higher retention and lower churn rates compared to industry averages. With strategic partnerships and a focus on prevention, Brightn is poised to make a significant impact in the mental wellness space, all while honoring the legacy of Jeffrey's late son and granddaughter, after whom the app is named.
Find this show on your favorite app: https://iowapodcast.com/brightn