Built for This

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Ron Robinson, founder, president and CEO of Expanded Learning Academy, to explore how his experiences with martial arts, education and character development led him to rethink how children experience learning. Ron shares how volunteering at his children's school became the unexpected beginning of his journey into education. After taking...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Patrick Brown, founder of Unity Communications, to explore the reality of bootstrapping a business from a small team into a global organization with around 500 employees. Patrick shares how his experience in the Navy and an early need for technical talent unexpectedly led him into outsourcing. What began with a small team in the Philipp...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Michael Walliser, real estate entrepreneur and technology founder, to explore what happens when someone with more than two decades of industry experience decides to build the technology he wishes he'd had all along. Michael shares the evolution of EasyDigz, from spreadsheets and pieced-together systems to a connected platform designed f...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Annie Lu, co-founder and CEO of Laminar, to explore how she and her brother David are bringing AI into one of the world's most critical industries: manufacturing. As third-generation manufacturers, Annie and David grew up around factory floors and saw both the expertise required to keep them running and the opportunity to make those pro...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Anthony Badalian, President and COO of STRIDE Fitness, to explore what it takes to reinvent a fitness brand while building a franchise model designed for sustainable growth. Anthony shares how STRIDE has evolved from a primarily treadmill-based concept into a broader HIIT and recovery experience, and why staying relevant means paying at...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Jenn Harrold, Senior Vice President of Human Resources at NewDay USA, and Franco Greco, Chief Revenue Officer, to explore how NewDay is intentionally developing the leaders it will need for its next stage of growth. Jenn and Franco share why the company recruits recent college graduates and invests heavily in training, mentoring, and cl...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Damian Pelliccione, CEO and co-founder of Revry, to explore how an idea that started in a living room grew into a global LGBTQ streaming network reaching around five million monthly active viewers. Damian shares how Revry initially launched as a subscription service before an unexpected advertising inquiry from Lexus opened the door to...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Inga Rose, founder of Reference Medicine, to explore how a recurring problem she encountered throughout her career in cancer diagnostics became the foundation for a new business. Inga explains how Reference Medicine connects consenting cancer patients with researchers who need high-quality specimens to develop and validate new diagnosti...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Eric Neuron, owner of ForgeLine Fieldwear, to explore his journey from more than 15 years at Patagonia to taking ownership of the military-focused business he'd helped build. Eric shares how the work evolved from modifying Patagonia products for U.S. military units into developing purpose-built, mission-critical gear, and how the opport...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Shawn Kumar, CEO and original architect of Rhythm Science, to explore how better use of cardiac data could help healthcare move from reacting to emergencies to identifying problems before they become critical. Shawn's mission was shaped by witnessing a patient die after a defibrillator failed to resuscitate him. The experience left him...

What happens when engineering, creativity, and human connection come together to reinvent something as traditional as the greeting card? In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Wombi Rose, co-founder and CEO of Lovepop, to explore how an idea discovered during a trip to Vietnam became a nationally recognized brand on a mission to create one billion magical moments. Wombi shar...

What do you do when the business you've built is already successful, but you can see that the technology transforming your industry is going to demand something completely different? In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Shahrzad Rafati, founder and CEO of RHEI, to explore what it really looks like to disrupt your own company, embrace the agentic AI era, and rethink the rel...

What happens when two lawyers who barely know each other sit down for a beer, discover they share the same frustration with an industry, and decide they can build something better? In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Jonathan Carson and Eric Kurtzman, co-CEOs of Stretto, to explore a business partnership that has lasted more than 25 years and helped reshape the bankruptcy...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Matthew Celia, co-founder and Chief Creative Director of LightSail VR, to explore what it takes to build a sustainable creative business around technology that never stops changing. Matthew's journey into immersive storytelling began the first time he experienced virtual reality. He could immediately see its potential, but he could also...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Bryan Clayton, co-founder and CEO of GreenPal, to explore how the lessons learned building a landscaping business became the foundation for creating a $30 million technology platform. Bryan's entrepreneurial journey started as a teenager mowing lawns with a push mower. Over the next 15 years, he grew that hustle into one of Tennessee's...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Jessica Yarmey, President of Squeeze Massage, to explore what it really takes to prepare a franchise for sustainable, long-term growth. With more than 25 years of experience across brands including Burger King, Gold's Gym, Club Pilates, and KickHouse, Jessica has seen franchise growth from almost every angle. Now, following Squeeze's ac...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Jordan Levine, President and Chief Operating Officer of Stretch Zone, to explore what it really takes to build a franchise brand that scales without losing the personal touch that makes it successful. Drawing on more than 25 years of franchise leadership across brands including Cold Stone Creamery, Massage Envy, Amazing Lash Studio, Sol...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Chad Bauer, President and Owner of SR&B Advertising, to explore why the greatest barrier to business growth is often the leader behind it. After acquiring the family business from his father, Chad faced the challenge of preserving a 60-year legacy while transforming SR&B into a modern, performance-driven marketing agency. What h...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Thomas Gaffney, Chief Operating Officer of OFA Group, to explore why great businesses aren't built on ideas alone, but on the systems, discipline, and execution that turn vision into reality. With a background as an attorney, startup advisor, and technology strategist, Thomas has helped lead OFA Group's evolution from a traditional arch...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Kaitlyn Albertoli, co-founder and CEO of Buzz Solutions, to explore how artificial intelligence is helping modernize one of the world's most essential but often overlooked industries: electric utility infrastructure. Inspired by growing up in Southern California, where wildfires and power outages were a constant reality, Kaitlyn set out...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Mike Kron, a seasoned real estate executive whose career spans more than three decades of disciplined growth, strategic investing, and people-first leadership. From helping grow a family-owned portfolio from 2,500 multifamily units to more than 14,000 apartments, Mike has built a reputation for making thoughtful decisions that stand the...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with John Sampogna, co-founder and CEO of Wondersauce, to explore what it takes to build a high-growth creative agency without sacrificing the culture that made it successful in the first place. Over the past 15 years, John has helped grow Wondersauce from a two-person startup into an award-winning business acceleration agency with more than...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Chia-Lin Simmons, CEO of LogicMark, to explore what it really takes to lead a company through crisis and transform it into a business built for long-term growth. When Chia-Lin stepped into the CEO role, LogicMark was facing significant challenges, including the risk of Nasdaq delisting, financial instability, aging products, supply chai...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Channing Ferrer, CEO of the Americas and Head of Revenue at Brevo, to explore what it really takes to sustain growth once a business moves beyond its startup phase. Drawing on leadership experience at HubSpot during its rise from hundreds of millions to more than a billion dollars in annual revenue, along with executive roles at several...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Shlomi Beer, co-founder and CEO of ImpersonAlly, to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping cybersecurity and why protecting your brand has never been more important. With decades of experience in AI, data science, and startup leadership, Shlomi explains how generative AI has transformed the world of online fraud. From fake web...