CEO Bros - After Hours

Looking for mentorship but keep finding people who don't actually help? Brian never joined a formal program. He asked questions at lunch. David Robin had just sold Chicago's biggest real estate firm and was stuck in a non-compete. He couldn't work but could advise. Brian kept asking. Robin kept answering. Decades later, they still meet. Brad built his company by admitting "I don't know" while othe...

Two CEO brothers. One podcast. Zero filters. 45+ episodes of business stories, lessons, disasters and triumphs you need to hear. Mark Cuban email wars at 2am. Climbing forklifts to reach your girlfriend's window. National hotel chains spending $80K on pool diarrhea warning signs. See some of the more memorable moments when the guys discuss and debate the ups, downs and just plain craziness of busi...

Brad's finance team noticed something weird in the 2026 budget and called the payroll company. The payroll company had no idea what they were talking about. Turns out 2026 has 27 pay periods instead of 26 if you're running bi-weekly payroll, and this hasn't happened in over a decade. It won't reverse itself in 2027 either. If you're not budgeting for that extra paycheck right now, you're heading f...

Brian's Monday ritual for years: write 100 letters by hand, stuff 100 envelopes, stick on 100 stamps, drop them at the post office. Every single week. Not emails. Not LinkedIn messages. Physical letters that landed on decision-makers' desks when everything else got filtered by assistants or spam folders. Most founders won't do this. It's tedious. It's analog. It feels outdated. But Brian's pipelin...

Brad refuses to outsource billing even when people ask. When healthcare got hacked, competitors with outsourced teams went bankrupt. Brad walked down the hallway, his team solved it. Brian built VHT by outsourcing everything that wasn't core. He could shut down when season ended. Variable costs kept him alive. Then he got acquired by engineers who refused to outsource anything. Speed died. This is...

You're One Decision Away From Becoming a Better Leader Every entrepreneur eventually faces one question that defines their entire company: 👉 Do you surround yourself with highly experienced leaders… or do you develop raw talent into the leaders you want? In this episode of CEO Bros After Hours, two seasoned CEOs break down their completely opposite approaches — and the lessons may surprise you. B...

Social worker turns 26 million stranded shipping containers into housing. Rory's husband offered a solution to her midlife crisis: "Just buy a sports car." She started a manufacturing company instead. Seven years later, she's built a two-story structure on Lake Michigan. This is episode 41. When the easier path isn't the right one. *YOU'LL DISCOVER* • Why 26 million shipping containers sit in US g...

Sales vs. Legal. Operations vs. Compliance. You vs. your Co-founder at 2am. Brad encourages friction. Brian lets it run longer than most CEOs. They both know something most entrepreneurs miss: the uncomfortable tension between departments isn't killing your business. Avoiding it is. Sales wants to close the deal. Legal wants to protect the company. Operations needs flexibility. Compliance needs ru...

Remote work introduced problems offices never had. Dogs barking. Contractors arriving. Kids at the door. Cameras off or multitasking? Working in PJs or logging extra hours? Brad thinks remote work kills his 550-employee culture. Brian cleaned out VHT's fridge in March 2020 and never came back for two years. COVID forced the experiment. Some companies stayed remote. Others are dragging people back....

Making decisions fast? Making them careful? Or just frozen between the two? Brian spent three months analyzing a new product line nobody in the industry had ever done. Endless scenarios that led nowhere. He finally said screw it and pulled the trigger anyway. Now people ask him how he decided to do something nobody else can replicate. Brad runs the opposite problem. His team moves so fast they don...

Budget Battle Royale: The Smackdown Between Growth vs. Profit (+ The $250K Contest Catastrophe)* Two CEOs reveal the brutal truth about budgeting, why "set it and forget it" destroys businesses, and how to turn budget fights into innovation. Think you know how to budget? Think again. In this raw, unfiltered conversation, Brian and Brad (two CEOs who've built, scaled, and sold companies) destroy th...

What got us here, won't get us where we are going next.   The guys discuss the business philosophy that "What got us here won't necessarily get us there." The conversation focuses on the evolution of a growing business, emphasizing the need for change in leadership, systems, processes, and people to reach the next level of success. Both CEOs share personal examples. Ultimately, they conclude that...

A spirited discussion about the critical importance of attention to detail in business. The guys share anecdotes, including a story about an easily forgotten rental car in Las Vegas and an example of poorly implemented office doors, to illustrate the consequences of overlooking small details. A central theme is the contrasting perspectives on leadership, with Brad emphasizing the need to "inspect...

Public Speaking for Business Leadership   This episode of 'CEO Bros - after hours' synthesizes key insights on public speaking as an essential leadership skill, derived from a discussion among business leaders and a communications expert. The central argument is that while public speaking is a common and significant fear, it is a non-negotiable and masterable competency for anyone in a leadership...

5 Surprising Ways Raising the Minimum Wage Can Backfire, According to Two CEOs The Well-Intentioned Policy with Hidden Costs Raising the minimum wage is often seen as a direct and compassionate solution to help low-income workers. The logic seems simple: pay people more, and their quality of life will improve. However, for business leaders on the front lines of managing payrolls and profit margins...

Many businesses focus on a single question: How do we get new clients? However, a more critical question is how you keep them once you have them. This episode opens with a comical but eye-opening story about a truly terrible first-time experience at a dentist's office. Despite spending a lot on advertising to attract new patients, this practice had a disorganized, impersonal process that left the...

Marketing Simplified: Strategies for Business Growth In this Episode, they guys and guest Matt Tompkins, CEO of Two Brothers Creative, discuss effective marketing strategies for businesses. The conversation starts with the common pitfalls of expensive, complex marketing automation platforms that businesses often fail to utilize properly due to a lack of understanding or setup. A central theme is t...

The Enduring Power of Brand and Branding   This Episode of 'CEO Bros - after hours' centers on the critical importance of branding and brand identity for businesses, ranging from startups to established corporations. The hosts explore how a company's core essence (brand) differs from its outward communication (branding), using examples like Seven Up's logo change and Cracker Barrel's controversial...

Entrepreneurial Misconceptions: Money, Time, and External Forces The guys emphasize the critical importance of financial preparedness in starting a new business, discussing the challenges of managing cash flow, especially with fluctuating pay periods and seasonal business models.  They highlight the necessity of having personal savings to sustain oneself during the initial, revenue-scarce phases o...

The Art of the Client Experience This episode of 'CEO Bros - after hours 'captures an unplanned debate among three hosts, initially sparked by a minor disagreement about culinary terms like "gravy" versus "sauce." The discussion quickly shifts to a critical examination of customer experience, primarily using Chipotle as a case study. The hosts explore issues such as inconsistent food portions for...

From Struggles to Skincare Empire: The Sarah Fraggis Story   Episode 27 of the CEO Bros - after hours podcast features an interview with Sarah Fraggis, the CEO of Filterless Era, a skincare company specializing in natural products like a gua sha tool. Fraggis shares her entrepreneurial journey, including her struggles with conventional education and corporate jobs, her initial venture into network...

26 Acquisitions - featuring the hosts Brian Balduf, Brad Balduf, and Matt Croak. The discussion primarily centers on business growth strategies, specifically contrasting organic growth (internal expansion) with inorganic growth (acquisitions). The hosts share their diverse experiences and perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, including financial implications, market dy...

Leadership; Trust, Decision making, Principals, Transparency, Management, and Accountability   I. Executive Summary This episode features an interview with Russ Cofano, a multi-time president and CEO, on the "CEO Bros After Hours" podcast. The discussion primarily revolves around leadership, management, and the nuances of the CEO role, with a strong emphasis on the foundational importance of trust...

CEO Insights: Navigating Business Scandals and Public Trust This 'CEO Bros - after hours' episode presents a discussion featuring two CEOs and a host who address the recent scandal involving a company's CEO and CPO at a Coldplay concert. The hosts use this incident as a springboard to examine broader issues related to corporate leadership, employee trust, and the impact of social media on personal...