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Ben Faw reposted thisThis was a fun video but I need to get real media training like Luciano. Wonderful to have support from our bankers at JPMorganChase and Chase for Business.Ben Faw reposted thisGraffeo Coffee Roasting Company, Inc is San Francisco’s oldest coffee roastery. Serving the city since 1935, co-owners Walter Haas and Luciano Repetto gave us a look inside how they’ve stood the test of time—while still roasting what they call “simply the world’s finest coffee.” ☕
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Ben Faw reposted thisCome join the team!Ben Faw reposted thisWe're hiring an AV Operations Manager at Flexdrive in Nashville! 🚗 Flexdrive is building the operational backbone for autonomous vehicle fleets — and we need a hands-on leader to run our Nashville market. If you're ready to help shape the future of mobility, we'd love to hear from you. Apply via the link below! 👇 https://lnkd.in/eGCEsfkw
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Ben Faw shared thisIncredible event in the bay area thanks to the hard work of Matt Bowman. Matt put the heavy lift in for a picnic for #westpoint graduates and their families. Thanks for the additional efforts from Nina Leslie, Mark Jennings, Malcolm Thompson, Charles Correll, Eddie Kang and so many others for making this idea become reality. Grateful for special guests like Max Felter and Nick Dockery for their huge contributions to the long gray line and the world. CC: Joe Felter
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Ben Faw reposted thisBen Faw reposted thisWhen a product carries the same reviews and the same price as its closest competitor, and still converts worse, reviews and price aren't your answer. You already ruled those out. Here's the lens I use: cross off every variable that's already matched. Whatever's left uncrossed is where the gap is hiding. Most of the time what's left is the product page. Not whether the required fields are filled in. How they're worded. Take EV chargers. Every listing has to state volts, amps, plug type. That satisfies the retailer. It does nothing for a shopper wondering how simple the install actually is or how fast the thing charges. The listing that converts tells a non-electrician the plug is the common one. The listing that doesn't just gives the model number and the spec sheet, and assumes they already know the rest. So before you touch ad spend or price, run this: pull a few competitor listings matched on reviews and price. Read only the copy. Just the words describing how the product gets used. If theirs reads like it was written for a customer and yours reads like a compliance checklist, that's the gap. It was never about rank.
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Ben Faw reposted thisBen Faw reposted thisToday we officially announced Mark Sieglock as Apollo's new Chief Product Officer: http://prn.to/4gwhHDA I'm super excited about this move b/c of all the CPO's I've worked with, Mark is the most customer obsessed I've seen. This is an area where the rhetoric often runs ahead of the actuals -- Who doesn't want to be customer-first?!?! Yet that's not what happens in practice. In my experience, actually making the time to go get direct customer feedback is more rare on the Product side than it should be. What I've observed with Mark the last few months: He's been in the trenches with us on the customer-facing side of the biz. Actively. Passionately. Humbly. His goal has been to listen (good, bad, ugly) to the experiences of the people that pay our salaries and enable our growth. And we're now starting to see the other side of the feedback loop in motion: How the nonstop "listening tour" actually breaks back into product. We've got some killer product announcements coming at #ApolloNEXT on 9/30 and also some really necessary solves that have already started dropping. I expect the regular drumbeat of little fixes to the core Apollo platform that make all the difference in daily usage to continue for the foreseeable future. Welcome Mark! Really happy to be working with you here at Apollo!Apollo Appoints Mark Sieglock as Chief Product OfficerApollo Appoints Mark Sieglock as Chief Product Officer
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Ben Faw reposted thisBen Faw reposted thisSome crazy ideas deserve to be doubled down on. So we've decided to give away the original Ferrari Café. After partnering with car superstar Supercar Blondie at Monterey Car Week, we wanted a fittingly extravagant way to thank everyone who took the idea seriously. The Ferrari Café played a big part in building Graffeo's social presence. Giving it to one of our fans feels like the perfect send-off. I wish everyone could get a Ferrari. But one customer will soon be pulling espresso shots from the back of one in their own garage, along with a lifetime supply of Graffeo (of course). It doesn't run on anything else :) Many thanks to the teams at Graffeo Coffee Roasting Company, Inc, Supercarblondie, , and our Official Italian Car Wrangler Eric Thompson, for making this dream come true. https://lnkd.in/gq3UNUSpGraffeo Coffee Launches Giveaway of its 1984 Ferrari 308 Custom Fitted with La Pavoni and a Lifetime's Supply of CoffeeGraffeo Coffee Launches Giveaway of its 1984 Ferrari 308 Custom Fitted with La Pavoni and a Lifetime's Supply of Coffee
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Ben Faw reposted thisBen Faw reposted thisMeet Mark Sieglock, Apollo's new Chief Product Officer. He helped build eero from a whiteboard to an Amazon acquisition, then pushed it from hardware into recurring revenue with eero Plus and its ISP SaaS channel. Now he's leading product, design, research, and engineering at Apollo, in a market he calls an order of magnitude bigger. He also played two truths and a lie for us. He was in Kindergarten Cop. He bought Disney stock at eight years old. His favorite coach is Coach K, and he watched Duke beat Butler in the 2010 championship. Two are true. Guess the lie in the comments, we'll confirm Monday 👀 Full story in the press release, link below.
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Ben Faw shared thisHighly recommend the sweepstakes from Graffeo Coffee Roasting Company, Inc for their custom Ferrari. If you are looking for coffee or an incredible car this is it: CC: Walter Haas, Julio Seañez, Andrew Boston, Momchil Filev, Derrick Lance, Daniel Sheyner, Eric Donahue. https://lnkd.in/ezvc3FUrGraffeo Coffee Launches Giveaway of its 1984 Ferrari 308 Custom Fitted with La Pavoni and a Lifetime's Supply of CoffeeGraffeo Coffee Launches Giveaway of its 1984 Ferrari 308 Custom Fitted with La Pavoni and a Lifetime's Supply of Coffee
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Ben Faw reposted thisBen Faw reposted thisDoorBot walked out of a Shark Tank in 2013 with no deal. They relaunched as Ring in 2014. 4 years later, they sold to Amazon for $1 billion. If your Amazon listing is stuck, look at the category you're competing in before you touch the product. In 2013, Jamie Siminoff pitched DoorBot: a camera that let you see who was at your door from your phone. No shark invested. Daymond John said it outright: "I'm wrestling over where this goes in the market." They couldn't place it. A year later, the same camera relaunched as Ring, marketed not as a gadget but as a home security system, a category buyers already searched and budgeted for. Revenue went from $30M to $480M over the next 3 years. In 2018, Amazon bought the company for $1 billion. The camera hardly changed. The category did. And that's something that still stalls Amazon listings today: a product filed under what it literally is instead of the category the buyer is actually shopping for. If you're not clear on that, you miss out on what shapes both organic rank and which off-site guides even consider you. Before you raise ad spend again, check your category. It's usually cheaper to fix than your PPC bill.
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Ben Faw liked thisThis was a fun video but I need to get real media training like Luciano. Wonderful to have support from our bankers at JPMorganChase and Chase for Business.Ben Faw liked thisGraffeo Coffee Roasting Company, Inc is San Francisco’s oldest coffee roastery. Serving the city since 1935, co-owners Walter Haas and Luciano Repetto gave us a look inside how they’ve stood the test of time—while still roasting what they call “simply the world’s finest coffee.” ☕
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Ben Faw liked thisCome join the team!Ben Faw liked thisWe're hiring an AV Operations Manager at Flexdrive in Nashville! 🚗 Flexdrive is building the operational backbone for autonomous vehicle fleets — and we need a hands-on leader to run our Nashville market. If you're ready to help shape the future of mobility, we'd love to hear from you. Apply via the link below! 👇 https://lnkd.in/eGCEsfkw
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Ben Faw liked thisBen Faw liked thisIn 2014, I joined Volition Capital as an analyst right out of undergrad. Three years ago at the start of our fifth fund, I was promoted to partner. Over the last 12 years, we've followed a hiring approach that looks different from the rest of the industry. The typical career trajectory into private equity is to start in investment banking, spend a couple of years learning the fundamentals there, and then try to get a shot at private equity. But we hire highly motivated, smart people straight out of undergrad and train them ourselves. The advantage is that we're not retraining someone who already learned to think about deals in a completely different way somewhere else. They come in ready to learn it our way from day one. I joined on our second fund, which was $250 million at the time. We're on our fifth fund now, at $675 million, and that growth has created opportunities for people to grow within the firm, myself included.
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Ben Faw liked thisBen Faw liked thisCongratulations to LTG Steve G. as he changes command as the outgoing Superintendent of West Point! For four years, I had the privilege of working next to him, watching him make hard calls under pressure while standing behind the people who reported to him. What other three-star general runs the IOCT in his cadet robe, approves academic board motions with a giant “Beat Navy” mallet, shoots spirit videos with the Dean, and welcomes cadets to their first day of class with a megaphone?! He can make you laugh and lead you through the hardest calls in the same afternoon, and his willingness to underwrite risk, including mine, was a PhD in leadership, taught by watching him practice it day after day. Every day at West Point was fun and inspirational because of him. Well done, Supe 61! Kimberly and I count Steve and his family among our closest friends. Kimberly, most importantly, gained a friend for life through Betsy! (I took this last photo by the Rugby Complex last winter. Resolute, watching over the Hudson, the same way Steve has watched over West Point.) Duty, Honor, Country.
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Ben Faw liked thisBen Faw liked thisImmensely grateful to NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration for the opportunity to serve and contribute. While I’ll miss the tech, the hardware, and the missions, it’s the people I’ll miss most. Our greatest asset will always be each other, led with empathy and care. I’m spending my final year in the Navy with Training Air Wing 2, giving back by teaching and mentoring the next generation of naval aviators before taking on the next chapter, bringing all my energy to solving hard problems, building with hardcore teams, and driving positive impact. https://lnkd.in/ecitnH7A
Experience & Education
Volunteer Experience
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Advisor
Harvard Business School
- Present 11 years
Education
-HBS Fund Council (Vice Chair) from 2022 to present
-HBS Alumni Board Member from 2022 to 2025, 2025 to present emeritus board member
-HBS Entrepreneurship Council advisor from 2022 to present
-Career Advisor from 2015 to Present, and volunteer in several other capacities -
Regional board member
West Point Association of Graduates
- Present 16 years 4 months
Education
Secretary of the board, Elected member, prior Vice President. Lead efforts to serve the local military and veteran community, with a particular emphasis on West Point graduates.
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Lifetime member
Florida State Parks
- Present 12 years 9 months
Environment
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Ambassador
Service 2 School
- Present 12 years 5 months
Education
We are here to help veterans transitioning from the military to student life. Becoming a civilian is an adventure, nothing like the adventure that Iraq or Afghanistan could be, but thrilling in its own way.
http://service2school.org/ -
Advisory Council Member
USO
- 1 year
Social Services
San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, focusing on: Media, branding, and strategy
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Volunteer
Various charities and non-profit orginizations
- Present 36 years 9 months
Poverty Alleviation
Working as a volunteer to solve problems related to: Poverty, education, recidivism, and civil rights through a number of groups and causes (mainly non-profits).
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Advisor to Veteran's looking for jobs post-military service.
Various
- Present 10 years 11 months
Economic Empowerment
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Member
DOLPHIN SWIMMING AND BOATING CLUB
- Present 11 years
Environment
Cold water swimming
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Heart of Gold Member
San Francisco SPCA
- 1 year
Animal Welfare
The San Francisco SPCA is dedicated to saving, protecting, caring, and advocating for animals.
Publications
Honors & Awards
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Top 40 Under 40 Military Class of 2013
civilianjobs.com
The Top 40 Under 40 Military program recognizes the top performing service members who are serving or have served in the U.S. armed forces.
http://www.civilianjobs.com/Top40Under40_2013.htm
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Matthew Burris
A Venture Studio ignored venture and won. They built for Cashflow, not Venture. Here is how they did it: 20 years ago, an Atlanta-based venture studio operated with a unique approach. Instead of targeting VC or Private Equity, they focused solely on cash-flow businesses like professional service firms. Here are 2 powerful lessons every studio can learn from their model: ------ 1. Funding Mechanism: A Line of Credit - Companies were funded via a line of credit, not equity capital. - Portcos had to become cash flow neutral within 18 months. - Reduced funding needs = Faster scalability. This setup created discipline. Each month, portfolio founders had to justify every dollar spent. Want to hire McKinsey? Nope—do it internally. Result? Founders learned to obsess over cash flow, an essential entrepreneurial muscle. ------ 2. Picking Founders Wisely Successful founders were not running from bad employers. Instead, they were executives who always dreamed of building something but lacked the timing or resources earlier in life. These proven leaders had: - Strong networks - Deep domain expertise - Relentless drive to finally fulfill their vision They thrived almost every time. P.S. Which of these lessons resonates with you? 👇 Best, Matthew Burris
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Earnest Sweat
Two weeks ago on Swimming with Allocators, we sat down with David Clark, CIO at VenCap, to talk about what decades of venture data can teach allocators. One takeaway that stood out: discounts don’t matter as much as people think in venture secondaries. Because venture is such a power-law asset class, outcomes are driven by exposure to a few massive winners. Whether a stake is bought at a small discount, or even a premium, often matters far less than the quality of the underlying company and its upside. Great conversation on venture returns, manager selection, and the nuances of how allocators should think about secondary investments. 👇 Link in the comments.
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