What happens when a city stops waiting for permission and starts acting like the technology hub it already is?
You get Nashville’s tech moment, and leaders willing to build it together.

Mark Blaze is the kind of leader communities grow around. As President & CEO of the Greater Nashville Technology Council, he’s less interested in headlines and more focused on connection, collaboration, and long-term impact.

In this Innovation Series episode, recorded live at the Greater Nashville Technology Council Innovation Summit, Mark joins hosts Mark Cleveland and Johnny Anderson for a grounded, honest conversation about what makes Nashville different, and what it will take to turn momentum into global prominence.

If you care about ecosystems, talent, leadership, and building something bigger than any one company, this conversation is for you.

In this episode:

• Why Nashville already has “all the pieces of the puzzle”
• How public–private partnership accelerates real innovation
• What servant leadership looks like at a city-wide scale
• The importance of finding, developing, and retaining tech talent
• Why collaboration — not competition — is the region’s real advantage
• How reverse mentorship strengthens modern leadership
• What it will take for Nashville to earn worldwide tech prominence

Chapters:

00:00:00 Welcome to the Innovation Series from the Nashville Innovation Summit
00:01:20 Introducing Mark Blaze & the Greater Nashville Technology Council
00:02:35 Why Nashville Is the Best Place to Start and Grow a Business
00:03:55 Geographic Advantage, Tax Policy & Momentum
00:05:10 “We Have the Height” — Nashville’s Natural Gifts
00:06:30 Collaboration as a Competitive Advantage
00:07:45 Servant Leadership and Mark’s Influences
00:09:10 Learning from Reverse Mentorship
00:10:40 Government as a Partner in Innovation
00:12:20 Public & Private Investment Working Together
00:13:55 What’s Still Missing — And Why Nothing Is Broken
00:15:30 Connecting Talent, Capital & Opportunity
00:17:10 The Vision for Nashville’s Tech Ecosystem in 3 Years
00:18:45 Finding, Developing & Retaining Talent
00:20:30 The Region’s “Special Sauce”: Its People
00:22:10 Final Thoughts on Community, Leadership & What’s Next

Show Notes:

• Share and engage with this interview on LinkedIn: Click here

Connect with Mark Blaze
• LinkedIn – Mark Blaze
• Greater Nashville Technology Council – technologycouncil.com

About Our Hosts
• Mark Cleveland — Managing Director at Kensington Park Capital, founder, M&A strategist, and host of The Parallel Entrepreneur
• Johnny Anderson — Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, advisor, and tech community leader

👉 Join the Parallel Entrepreneur Network: https://www.parallelentrepreneur.com/#about-me
👉 Subscribe for more stories from entrepreneurs who thrive across multiple ventures—and live aligned lives.
👍 Like this episode? Leave a comment or share it with someone who leads across lanes.

In this episode of The Parallel Entrepreneur, Mark Cleveland welcomes Carla Bailo—an industry visionary who’s helped shape the future of mobility, from General Motors and Nissan to leading the Center for Automotive Research and winning the USDOT Smart City Challenge for Columbus, Ohio. Carla shares stories of innovation, mentorship, boardroom leadership, and the importance of building systems that serve every citizen.

Carla's bold curiosity and relentless learning has had great impact on transportation, public policy, and corporate governance. From deploying bus rapid transit in underserved neighborhoods to baking the perfect baguette, this episode celebrates the human side of engineering and entrepreneurship.

Chapters List:

00:00:00 – Introduction to Carla Bailo
00:01:00 – Carla's Impact on Cities and Roads
00:03:19 – Columbus Wins the Smart Cities Challenge
00:06:50 – Rethinking Mobility for Underserved Communities
00:10:13 – Logistics Innovation: Rickenbacker Middle-Mile Project
00:12:45 – A Flyer on the Door: Communication Gaps in Tech Projects
00:15:23 – Paralleling Transportation, Economic Access, and Planning
00:18:36 – Start Small, Learn Fast: Scaling Smart City Systems
00:21:24 – Asking Better Questions: Carla’s Mentoring Style
00:23:33 – Think in Seven Generations: Long-Term Urban Planning
00:25:58 – Carla on Joining Corporate Boards and Boardroom Roles
00:28:00 – Lessons from Her Father on Responsibility and Preparation
00:32:29 – Learning Upstream Oil & Gas Through Hands-On Curiosity
00:34:20 – CEO Oversight and Navigating Shifting Political Climates
00:37:22 – What Makes a Great Board and a Good CEO
00:40:55 – Mentoring Done Right: Listening and Mutual Learning
00:46:50 – Grandparent Wisdom and Generational Teaching
00:49:49 – The Joy of Embracing the Unknown
00:53:07 – Baking Baguettes & Balancing Curiosity with Relaxation
00:54:40 – Surviving as a Woman Engineer in the ‘70s and ‘80s
00:57:54 – Final Reflections: Making a Difference at Scale

Show Notes:

• Share and engage with this interview on LinkedIn: Click here
• Carla Bailo, NACD.DC on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/carla-bailo-nacd-dc-604ba19/
• Smart Columbus - https://smartcolumbus.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
• US Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge - https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-department-transportation-announces-columbus-winner-unprecedented-40-million-smart
• Society of Automotive Engineers – https://www.sae.org/
• Automotive Women’s Alliance Foundation - https://awafoundation.org/
• The Road to the Top is Not on the Map: Conversations with Top Women of the Automotive Industry by Carla Bailo – https://www.amazon.com/Road-Top-Not-Map-Conversations/dp/0768000920
• The Road Forward: More Conversations with Top Women in the Automotive Industry by Carla Bailo – https://www.sae.org/publications/books/content/r-513/
• Women in Mobility Bundle by Carla Bailo - https://www.amazon.com/Women-Mobility-Bundle-Carla-author/dp/1468603574/

Enjoy this episode? Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share with fellow entrepreneurs! For more insights and to join our community, visit parallelentrepreneur.com.

Welcome back to The Parallel Entrepreneur for part 2 with British-American polymath Matthew Joynes.

In this fast-paced sequel we dive into:

• How Matthew rescued a bankrupt currency-trading firm and scaled it to $1 B+ in volume.
• Why he calls Bitcoin “a collectible—like Beanie Babies” and predicts its slide back to reality.
• Dollar dominance, tariffs as modern-day tribute, and the hidden mechanics of fiat liquidity.
• AI-driven disruption—from accountants to animation studios—and the rise of “one-person unicorns.”
• Freedom as America’s true currency, and how Gen-Z parallel entrepreneurs can seize the moment.

Stick around to the end for Matthew’s no-BS advice on patents, cap tables, and turning unused assets into new revenue with AI.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Matthew Joynes Show Teasers
00:00:32 Part 2 Kick-Off With Matthew Joynes
00:01:19 From Law to Saving a Bankrupt FX Firm
00:04:28 Market Manipulation: Gold, Silver, Currencies
00:06:12 Bitcoin Debate: Commodity or Currency?
00:09:39 Crypto Regulation & Generational Wealth Gaps
00:11:20 Money Creation: Share Price as Printing Press
00:13:00 “Bitcoin Is a Beanie Baby”
00:13:54 Why the Dollar’s Purchasing Power Rose
00:14:44 Tariffs, China’s Trap & Deflation Forces
00:17:11 Digital Dollar, CBDCs & Surveillance Risks
00:18:28 Freedom as America’s Ultimate Currency
00:22:21 Rethinking Value in an AI-Robot Economy
00:23:59 Tariffs Through a Business Lens
00:25:15 Tribute Economy & the Stock-Market Train
00:31:01 Adapt, Adopt, Change: Redefining Failure
00:33:54 Patent Wars Versus Creative Marketing
00:35:37 Why Patents Usually Waste Money
00:38:50 Gen-Z’s Parallel Entrepreneurship Boom
00:41:54 Pinpoint Apps & the Free-Service Model
00:45:40 Renting Idle Assets With AI Matching
00:47:27 Knowledge Is Cheap, Everything as a Rental
00:49:12 Phones, Cubes & Voice-First Futures
00:51:38 “Spend the $20 and Learn AI”
00:53:37 Animation Disrupted: IP vs. Algorithms
00:56:00 Final Takeaways & Thanks to Matthew

Show Notes:

Matthew Joynes – LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjoynes
Gamevice - https://gamevice.com
LifeMed AI - https://lifemed.ai/
Pulley - https://pulley.com/
CompaniesHouse.gov (free UK company filings)

👉 Subscribe for more conversations that unleash potential everywhere.
🎧 Listen to the audio pod & get extras: https://theparallelentrepreneur.transistor.fm/
🚀 Join the Parallel Entrepreneur Network: https://www.parallelentrepreneur.com/

What happens when super-AI makes lawyers, accountants—and even capitalism—obsolete?
British-American “apex” parallel entrepreneur Matthew Joynes (PGA producer, GameVice inventor, LifeMed AI founder) joins host Mark Cleveland to smash the china shop of old-school business.

In this high-voltage conversation you’ll learn:

▸ Why Joynes says the real product of your company is its share price
▸ How LifeMed AI replaces 90,000 manual billing jobs with 120 staff and a neural network
▸ The fatal cap-table mistakes that make a start-up “un-investable”
▸ Post-capitalist realities: one-person, billion-dollar AI companies, robot labor, 7-day weeks disappearing
▸ Practical first steps for founders—tokenization, options, warrants, “buying your own time,” and more

Chapters:

00:00:00 Matthew Joynes Show Teasers
00:00:26 Meet Matthew Joynes, “Apex” Parallel Entrepreneur
00:02:31 Why AI Will Rewrite History
00:09:29 The Fear (And Opportunity) in AI
00:12:27 From Blind to Seeing: AI As New Vision
00:13:30 Work, Creativity, and Post-Capitalism
00:15:54 Parallel Entrepreneurs as Creators
00:17:24 What Matthew’s Reading Now
00:18:50 Why Every Tech Founder Is Parallel
00:22:00 “Your Product Is Your Share Price”
00:25:32 Biggest Mistakes in Forming a Company
00:29:10 Turning Shares Into Currency
00:30:27 Building an Investable Cap Table
00:37:52 Competing With (And Eating) Yourself
00:38:45 AI As Your Personal Teacher
00:44:10 Follow Your Curiosity, Not Just Passion
00:49:30 Selling a Film With Just Script & Poster
00:52:20 AI Accelerates Every Creative Idea
00:56:55 Letting Go, Buying Your Own Time
00:57:30 Stop Spending on Others—Invest in Yourself
00:59:17 Teaser for Part Two

Show Notes:

• Share and engage with this interview on LinkedIn: Click here
• Matthew Joynes – LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjoynes
• Gamevice - https://gamevice.com
• Stolen (2012) - http://www.stolen-movie.com/
• Bullet (2014) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdF9Vcv4cCo
• I Am Soldier (2014) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LIqnkUl0zA
• Marmadue (2022) - https://scfilmsinternational.com/current-films-animation-titles/marmaduke-3d/
• Dragonkeeper (2024) - https://dragonkeepermovie.com/
• LifeMed AI - https://lifemed.ai/
• Pulley - https://pulley.com/
• Brendan Iribe - https://brendaniribe.com/
• Backbone One - https://playbackbone.com/

Join the Parallel Entrepreneur Network: https://www.parallelentrepreneur.com/

Stop juggling. Start PARALLELING.

Entrepreneur, community‑builder and podcast host Mark Cleveland takes the Creative Mornings stage to share why the future belongs to parallel thinkers—people who let multiple passions run side‑by‑side so each fuels the next.

Whether you’re a founder with five side projects, an artist‑parent, or a multipotentialite who refuses to “pick a lane,” this 15‑minute talk will give you:

• A new definition of success (alignment, not hustle)
• Real‑life examples from the Parallel Entrepreneur Network
• A 60‑second guided reflection you can do right now
• Practical prompts to weave business, art, family and growth into one powerful tapestry

Chapters:

00:00:00 Intro — What “parallel” really means
00:01:55 The origin of The Parallel Entrepreneur project
00:04:17 Case study: Caitlin MacGregor’s aligned life
00:07:08 Insight: The power of slowing down
00:09:40 When stillness feeds creativity
00:11:32 Paralleling vs. Pivoting
00:13:05 Guided reflection exercise
00:14:40 Final invitation + takeaways

Join the community:
https://ParallelEntrepreneur.com/

Subscribe for more talks & founder stories:
https://www.youtube.com/@ParallelEntrepreneur?sub_confirmation=1

Key Quotes
“Success isn’t in speeding up; it’s in letting every lane of your life feed the others.”
“When who you are shows up in everything you do, stress becomes spaciousness.”

Connect with Mark
• Twitter – https://twitter.com/MarkCleveland
• LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark‑cleveland/
• Podcast – https://parallelentrepreneur.com/podcast

Connect with Creative Mornings
https://creativemornings.com/

Show Notes:

• Share and engage with this video on LinkedIn: Click here

Looking for inspiration on juggling multiple business passions? Tim Ozgener might just be your blueprint. He helped take CAO Cigars from a basement startup to a global best-seller and then founded OZ Arts, a cutting-edge contemporary arts hub in Nashville. Now launching Oz Family Cigars, Tim blends art, science, and storytelling into every venture.

In this episode, he and Mark Cleveland explore:

• Following Your Heart: Why Tim chose cigars and contemporary art
• Improv & Entrepreneurship: Leveraging “Yes, And” to handle surprises & spark creativity
• Exiting at the Top: Inside the CAO sale, key lessons in valuation & deal structure
• Nonprofit vs. For-Profit: Contrasts in building teams, mission, and sustainability
• Staying Centered: Yoga, mindful scheduling, and choosing environments that fuel innovation

Parallel Entrepreneurs, subscribe now and tell us in the comments which Oz insight struck your fancy—was it engineering meets art, or harnessing improv in daily business?

Chapters List:

00:00:00 Meet Tim Ozgener: Nashville’s Multi-Passionate Unicorn
00:01:14 Why Follow Your Passions?
00:02:23 The Art & Science of Cigars
00:05:09 Improv Skills in Business
00:07:14 Launching OZ Arts: A Different Kind of Startup
00:09:22 The Power of Authentic Connection
00:12:13 Lessons from Dad: Engineering Meets Entrepreneurship
00:15:18 Time Management & Team Trust
00:19:00 Nonprofit vs. For-Profit: Contrasting Cultures
00:22:00 Building Global Distribution
00:29:08 The CAO Exit Story
00:37:14 Yoga, Flow & Mindful Entrepreneurship
00:42:00 Embracing Failure & Authenticity

Show Notes:

• Share and engage with this interview on LinkedIn: Click here
• CAO Cigars - https://www.caocigars.com/
• OZ Arts - https://www.ozartsnashville.org/
• Crowned Heads Cigars - https://www.crownedheads.com/
• Oz Family Cigars - https://ozfamilycigars.com/
• The Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering by Malcolm Gladwell - https://www.amazon.com/Revenge-Tipping-Point-Overstories-Superspreaders/dp/0316575801/
• Headway app - https://headwayapp.co/
• Art Basel - https://www.artbasel.com/
• Ken Cope Consulting, LLC - https://kencopeconsultingllc.com/

AI and security compliance could make or break your next venture. In this episode of The Parallel Entrepreneur, Mark Cleveland sits down with Justin Beals, co-founder of Strike Graph, to dive into frameworks, data risk, and that special systems-thinking spark that turns small wins into scalable success. Leveraging his EdTech expertise to tackle security compliance for billion-dollar enterprises, Justin’s story is a masterclass in spotting trends and executing effectively.

Key Highlights:

• Opportunity Filtering – The three questions Justin always asks before launching a new product.
• AI as Internal Auditor – How Strike Graph deploys large language models to verify compliance automagically.
• Co-Founder vs. Solo Act – Winning arguments for teamwork, board partnerships, and the joys of not going it alone.
• Music & Mental Health – Surprising ways that daily creative outlets (and old-school Ashtanga yoga) keep Justin’s energy fresh.

Ready to sharpen your parallel potential? Subscribe now and share which insight resonated most—AI? Mentoring? Or making that “hundredth monkey” leap?

Chapters List:

00:00:00 Introduction to Justin Beals and StrikeGraph
00:02:02 Spotting Opportunities: Three Key Questions
00:04:10 Building Strike Graph: Why Framework Matters
00:06:06 Understanding Risk in Entrepreneurship
00:08:19 Systems Thinking & Data Models
00:12:09 Trends in Cybersecurity and Business Impact
00:14:31 Surviving a Downturn: B2B SaaS Realities
00:16:18 Co-Founders & Good Investors
00:19:43 Leveraging AI in Cybersecurity
00:22:35 Mentoring & Measured Learning
00:27:25 Creativity and Leadership in Entrepreneurship
00:33:13 Lessons Learned in Business and Co-Founding
00:40:36 Navigating Change with Venture Backers
00:43:19 The Emotional Landscape of Collaboration
00:45:18 The Art of Flexibility in Leadership
00:46:20 Shifting Focus: From Sales to Strategic Partnerships
00:48:00 Scaling with Core Values
00:51:38 Identifying Aha Moments in Customer Experience
00:53:57 The Impact of AI on Business and Society
00:57:52 Empowerment through Creative Technology
00:01:05:47 The Future of AI Companions
00:01:08:21 Lessons from the Past: Advice for the Future
00:01:18:58 The Essence of AI and Poetry

Show Notes:

• Share and engage with this interview on LinkedIn: Click here
• Secure Talk podcast - https://www.strikegraph.com/secure-talk-podcast
• StrikeGraph – https://www.strikegraph.com/
• Roundbox Global - https://roundbox.com/
• Koru - https://www.koru.global/
• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash
• Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan - https://www.amazon.com/ZEALOT-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X
• Europe Between the Oceans: 9000 BC – AD 1000 by Barry Cunliffe - https://www.amazon.com/Europe-Between-Oceans-9000-BC-AD/dp/0300170866
• The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three-Body_Problem_(novel)
• Hundredth Monkey Effect - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundredth_monkey_effect