Dent:Live is a monthly(ish) podcast that is live-broadcast in front of a studio audience at The Collective, a new Seattle urban clubhouse in South Lake Union.
As an author, mentor, trailblazer, stargazer, international speaker, and entrepreneur who has launched 20 businesses in 30 years, Melody Biringer is The Pivot Queen. Her journey has taught her that circuitous paths lead to astonishing outcomes.
Rather than shying away from difficult periods of transition, she has learned to lean in, to sit with the unknown and to love the game. With a “launch it broken, fix it live” approach, she employs the vulnerability and uncertainty of transition to innovate, iterate and galvanize communities into action. Melody pushes the boundaries of what is possible and trusts serendipity.
Melody has trotted down several entrepreneurial trails. The CRAVE Company and Biringer’s, give her a powerful perspective. Over the last 19 years, her work has focused on generating authentic connections and conversation among women in business. She is also the author of CRAVING Success: a startup junkie’s path from passion to profits, which includes 132 tips for ambitious entrepreneurs.
As a connection engineer, Melody is a master of designing alliances. She believes that relationships are most important in our lives and that unlikely mashups create new perspectives and opportunities. She has built an international ecosystem of sisterhood.
Melody is the founder and producer of the WiT Regatta: a week-long conference in Seattle, Vancouver and Amsterdam bringing people together to advance women in STEM and Tech. Her current entrepreneurial love-child is CO-STORMING, a group think designed to be your personal board of directors for life and work.
Melody is a nav system for heart and soul – a modern day business Sherpa. She guides not by asking us to replicate her journey- but by inviting us to own our own style, to create what we crave, and to know our non-negotiables.
She is committed to designing new platforms that challenge women to advance themselves and each other.
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Tratt began his career as a Product Manager for Microsoft Office. His crowning achievement was teaching Bill Gates to create a web page using Microsoft Word. Gates thought the demo sounded “salesy,” which Tratt took as a compliment. After marketing stints at a few dotcoms in the eCommerce sector, Tratt became the first marketing hire at board game startup, Cranium. Cranium published more than 100 different board games, books, and toys, selling millions of units worldwide and winning multiple Toy of the Year awards. Tratt went on to serve as SVP of Business Development for marketing agency, MRY before being accepted to Seattle Techstars, which led to his current role.
The state of Washington spends approximately $2B a year in technology spend. In his role, Michael is challenging state government to think differently by bringing in practices like Lean Startup to build new services, Agile to produce value early and often, and Value-based hiring to bring in the right talent. Perhaps, the most novel and provocative challenge is his work bringing in Holacracy to empower the workforce and respond to change faster. WaTech was the first government in the world to use Holacracy in a big way. In addition to leading change, Michael is also a SCUBA instructor, pilot, beekeeper, welder, stained glass artist and still has time to be a father of daughters.
Our second guest for the Dent:Live podcast is entrepreneur and investor Martina Welkhoff. Martina is a driving force behind the Women in XR fund, which is designed to elevate female founders and advance equality in the immersive tech industry and beyond. Martina’s journey through entrepreneurship and what she’s doing to change the equation today will make for a wonderful conversation.