Founder In Progress

In Episode 115, Taylor Ekrebe shares her powerful journey from working at Wells Fargo in Philadelphia to becoming a business owner and entrepreneur in Edmonton, Alberta. Taylor opens up about the health scare that changed the way she viewed work, life, and purpose. After moving to Canada and struggling to find traditional employment, she created her own opportunity by building a business focused o...

In episode 113, we sit down with Matt Aubin, who has been running Keen Creative for over two decades, to talk about his journey as a creative entrepreneur, business owner, advisor, and community builder. Matt shares how his early days as a photographer shaped the way he sees business, creativity, leadership, and problem-solving. He also opens up about building culture, learning from failure, knowi...

Episode 113 features Kristyn Carriere, founder of Seven Summit Snacks, a chocolate brand built for adventure, endurance, and everyday fuel. In this episode, Kristyn shares her journey from professional figure skating with Disney on Ice, to working in chocolate science at Cadbury, to launching her own CPG brand after a life-changing moment. She opens up about building Seven Summit Snacks from the g...

In Episode 112, we sit down with Charles Wong, a Harvard graduate and founder of CarePros, to unpack how a side hustle built around culturally competent home care grew into a purpose-led care organization serving vulnerable children, youth, adults, and families across Alberta. Charles shares the personal experience that sparked the business, the challenges of scaling in the care industry, and why...

In episode 111, we sit down with Garvin, a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience building, buying, growing, and exiting businesses. Garvin shares the real side of entrepreneurship — starting with almost nothing, living lean in the early days, surviving “sky is falling” moments, losing a customer that represented 90% of revenue, and learning when it’s time to keep pushing versus when...

April Hickey, founder of Toast, joins us for Episode 110 to talk about burnout, leadership, and the pressure of building a company while trying to stay grounded. As seen on TEDx, April shares her idea of “the box” — the labels we place on ourselves and others that can quietly limit what we believe is possible. She explains how those boxes show up in leadership, entrepreneurship, mental health, and...

In Episode 109, filmed in Monterrey, Mexico, Jorge shares the story of building Aldea, an education platform helping kindergartens focus more on children and less on administration. He breaks down the early days of the company, from launching an MVP and losing customers, to taking the risk of continuing when the project was almost shut down. Through that journey, Jorge discovered that conviction,...

In Episode 108, filmed in Monterey, Mexico, Raul shares a personal conversation about entrepreneurship, perspective, and redefining success. This episode goes beyond startups. Raul reflects on grief, divorce, failure, and the mindset shift that helped him move from constant pressure to building with more meaning. He also shares his journey through multiple companies, his work in digital transforma...

In Episode 107, filmed in Monterrey, Mexico, we sit down with Paola, the first Entrepreneur Agent of PR in Latin America and the United States, to explore the real meaning of visibility, trust, and connection in the entrepreneurial world. Paola shares how she built her business during the pandemic, why PR is about more than social media, and how founders can use media, podcasts, events, and storyt...

In Episode 106, filmed in Monterrey, Mexico, Stella Jimenez shares her journey as an innovation strategist, entrepreneur, designer, and builder who has spent her career creating at the edge of the unknown. Stella talks about how intuition has guided her through business, leadership, motherhood, creativity, technology, and personal transformation. From falling in love with tech through design to bu...

In Episode 105 of Founder In Progress, filmed in Monterrey, Mexico, we sit down with Dagoberto Cedillos, founder of Punto, a mobility platform built for gig economy drivers. Dagoberto shares how he went from working in energy and electric mobility in London to returning to Mexico to build a company focused on solving real-world transportation challenges. After COVID shut down his first startup, Da...

In episode 104, we sit down with Hugo — a lifelong creator who has built, lost, and rebuilt across construction, real estate, entrepreneurship, music, and global leadership. Filmed in Monterrey, Mexico, this conversation explores the deeper thread behind all of it: Hugo’s love of creating from zero. He opens up about failure, losing confidence, rebuilding his identity, and the personal breakthroug...

In Episode 103, filmed in Monterrey, Mexico, we sit down with Walter and his co-founders at Wasco to unpack how they’re turning industrial waste into certified construction materials. The conversation explores the origin of the company, the pollution challenges that inspired Walter to act, and how the team built a business at the intersection of mining, cement, and construction to create solutions...

In Episode 102 of Founder In Progress, filmed in Monterrey, Mexico, we sit down with Ivan Garza—an entrepreneur building across marketing, music, and venture-backed startups—to unpack what it really looks like to build companies with purpose in today’s world. Ivan shares his journey from growing up in an entrepreneurial family to launching a live events company that worked with 150+ emerging artis...

In Episode 101, filmed in Monterrey, Mexico, we sit down with Luisa, the founder of Pico Norte, to explore how she built more than a climbing gym — she built a people-centered community rooted in vulnerability, purpose, and personal growth. From accidentally discovering climbing to leading Pico Norte with a vision of inclusion, conscious leadership, and authentic connection, Luisa shares how the s...

Logistics is a $1 trillion industry — and much of it still runs on email, WhatsApp, and phone calls. In this episode, we sit down with Diego Rhon, a founder building an AI-driven logistics brokerage designed to automate freight coordination without breaking trust or existing workflows. Diego explains why logistics has resisted innovation for decades, why brokers still exist, and why most automatio...

In Episode 99, filmed in Monterrey, Mexico, we sit down with Juan, founder of Kali Coffee, to explore how his journey takes coffee from the farms of Chiapas to supermarkets, cafés, and beyond. We unpack the reality of Mexico’s coffee market — where 80–85% of consumption is still instant — and the shift happening as independent cafés surge across cities like Monterrey. Juan breaks down Kali Coffee’...

In episode 98, filmed in Monterrey, Mexico, we sit down with Daniel — a five-time founder and exited entrepreneur — to break down one of the biggest hidden problems in LATAM’s business ecosystem: the exit gap. Why do only ~2% of businesses in Mexico successfully exit, compared to 10–20% in the U.S. and other developed markets? Is it culture? Liquidity? Lack of access to buyers? Or simply that foun...

In Episode 97, Lucia shares how Harbor has spent over 30 years helping companies make faster, smarter, and more informed decisions. From macroeconomic forecasting to real-time inflation analysis, she breaks down why reliable, timely data is only half the equation — and why the human factor still matters more than ever in the age of AI. We dive into the reality of forecasting in uncertain environme...

In Episode 96, filmed in Monterrey, Mexico, we sit down with Ricardo — architect turned founder of Monte Coyote, one of the city’s leading specialty coffee brands. He shares how his background in architecture and hospitality design prepared him to build a café rooted in flow, storytelling, and customer experience. We talk about scaling from an expected 30–40 cups a day to 500–700, why “opening day...

In Episode 95, filmed in Monterrey, Mexico, we sit down with Rodrigo, a builder who followed a small opportunity that turned into real momentum. What started as a simple eSIM experiment for family and friends quickly became a fast-scaling business serving 10,000+ customers, built on a rare balance of deep automation and high-touch customer support. In this conversation, Rodrigo breaks down why cus...

In episode 94, we sit down with Hans — co-founder & CEO of Nufi — to unpack how trust infrastructure actually gets built in Mexico and across Latin America. Hans breaks down what KYC and KYB really mean in practice, why compliance is the real “moat,” and how Nufi went from manual verification workflows that took weeks to a system that can return answers in minutes. We also go deep on why KYB i...

Episode 93 features Andrés from Tierra Prieta, recorded in Monterrey, Mexico. Andrés breaks down biochar carbon credits, the realities of carbon removal, and why this approach works best when treated as a focused tool rather than a silver bullet. In this conversation, we trace Andrés’ path from an engineering project turning spent coffee grounds into biodiesel… to discovering biochar through acade...

In this episode of Founders in Progress, we sit down with Jill Dewes, founder of Nice One, to talk about what happens when success no longer feels like success. After more than 25 years in the agency world, Jill made a fast, intentional decision to step away from leadership and rebuild her career on her own terms. We unpack identity, burnout, decision-making, and the quiet pressure founders put on...

Rich Waller has built companies, exited, and now helps operators scale with intention. In this episode, we go deep on what leadership actually requires when you step into ownership—vision, accountability, hiring, onboarding, and the discipline of working on the business instead of getting trapped in it. Rich shares how joining Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) shaped his leadership journey, why goa...