The One Away Show

It was just before Christmas 2008. Eddy Arriola had spent the entire year building a community bank from scratch — the team, the investors, the strategy, everything. Then the phone rang. Florida regulators told him their priority wasn't opening new banks. It was shutting down the ones already failing. He wasn't their problem to solve. Eddy was devastated. And then his brother said four words that...

Rich Thompson learned everything he needed to know about business behind the counter of a frozen yogurt shop in Northern California. His parents ran it. All five kids worked it. And from the time he was four years old, Rich watched his parents show up every single day — opening, closing, fixing orders, building relationships with every customer who walked through the door. That foundation followed...

In 2005, Benny Czarny had a simple mission: build a cybersecurity language that helped products talk to each other. Twenty years later, that mission has evolved into something far bigger — protecting the world's critical infrastructure. But the real turning point? A discovery buried inside a product test. While running compatibility checks on hundreds of antivirus tools, Benny found something alar...

Mitch Slater wanted to be in broadcasting. He worked for Larry King. He worked for Howard Stern. He produced game shows in Los Angeles. And then his dad's manager looked at him across a desk and said: you've got communication skills, you can handle rejection — we'll teach you the rest. That was 35 years ago. Today Mitch is one of the most respected financial advisors at UBS — and the lessons he le...

Harold Jurado packed everything he owned into a small Subaru Crosstrek, left his family in Chicago, and drove west with almost no money and no plan. He didn't know where he'd land. He ended up in San Francisco — and a job at Google running their noodle cafe, Threads, changed everything. Serving 2,000 people a day, watching lines stretch out the door rain or shine, Harold saw something most chefs n...

Andy Hilger never planned on a corporate career. English and philosophy major. Master's in creative writing. Spent his 20s working in a group home and an environmental company — pretty sure the corporate world wasn't for him. Then he took a job at Allegiance Group just to pay the rent. And one chaotic meeting changed everything. A flip chart marker rolled in front of his chair. He reached down to...

At 11 years old, Dusty Holcomb's parents pulled him out of school. No classroom. No curriculum. Just a library card and a world of books waiting to be devoured. What felt like an oddity at the time turned out to be the greatest gift of his life. Dusty spent his formative years reading biographies of Eisenhower, Rommel, and Lincoln — not because anyone told him to, but because he was fascinated by...

Aaron Vaccaro was a senior in college, striking out on every internship, staring into the abyss. One spring afternoon, after an investment club presentation, he spotted a board member in the lunchroom and did something most people wouldn't — he asked if they could grab lunch. That board member knew a guy in Seattle. Didn't really know what he did. Just had a feeling they'd connect. That feeling tu...

Marc Shaw never planned to be in the title business. He wanted to prosecute insider trading at the SEC. Never got the callback. Instead, at the 2002 NFC Championship Game — a loss, by the way — he struck up a conversation with the guy sitting in front of him. That stranger was in the title space. And he offered Mark some closings on the side while he finished law school. That one conversation turn...

Naren was a lawyer at three different venture-funded tech companies when the dot com bubble burst and took all three of them with it. So he did what any reasonable attorney would do next. He started a children's book company. It started with a bedtime story for his three-year-old daughter, a Virginia Tech mascot named the Hokie Bird, and some truly terrible illustrations. That one book sold 5,000...

Stephanie spent 20 years helping her dad grow his natural ingredient business. She fell in love with the work, the industry, and the meaning behind it all. Then they sold it — and she was left staring at a blank page. What do you do when the thing that gave your work its soul is gone? You build something new. From scratch. On your own terms. And if you're lucky, you get to do it with the person yo...

Derek Coburn has made a lot of decisions in his life. Good ones. Bad ones. But ask him which one changed everything — and the answer comes without hesitation. Marrying Melanie. Not a business deal. Not a career pivot. Not a bold financial bet. The person he chose to build his life with. And 17 years, two kids, and a thriving wealth management practice later — he's more convinced than ever that who...

In February 2020, Willie Litvack had his biggest month ever. Squadup — the self-service ticketing platform he'd spent six years building brick by brick — had just crossed $400K in monthly revenue. The business was profitable. The momentum was real. Then the phone rang. Within nine days, revenue went from $400K to zero. Willie had to furlough 17 people on a call with a lawyer billing $700 an hour —...

Shiv Gettu didn't find his big idea in a boardroom. He found it in a basement, 45 minutes deep in meditation. That moment of stillness sparked a decision that would define the next decade of his life — convincing his co-founder Kendrick to quit his job, become a leasing agent for free, and spend nine months learning the real estate industry from the ground up. The hustle earned them their first $5...

Justin Gelinas hated school. Not because he wasn't smart, because the box was too small. Then a teacher named Laurie took him on a field trip to a design studio in Burlington, Vermont. Tribe Called Quest was playing. There was a half pipe in the basement. Twenty-somethings were designing brand strategy for Burton Snowboards on an open floor plan. And Justin walked out knowing exactly what he wante...

Rajat Suri was supposed to be a doctor. That was the plan. The Indian dream, as he puts it. And he was on track. Then he walked into a three-hour lecture by a professor named Larry Smith at the University of Waterloo — and everything changed. One idea cracked him open: that a single individual could change the sweep of history. Not just help one person at a time, but reshape how millions of people...

What happens when the world sees a version of you that you haven't fully become yet? In 2016, Jason Feifer became Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine. He thought it was just another media job. Then the podcast invitations started coming in — and with them, a realization that would change everything. People expected him to be an authority. And he didn't feel like one. Instead of shrinking from...

What do a small village in Donegal and a train car in the middle of Siberia have in common? According to Ciara, Executive Producer at Web Summit — everything. In this episode, Ciara shares her One Away moment: the realization that her love for global community was just a bigger version of what she learned growing up in rural Ireland. From summers crossing Europe in a campervan with her mom, to stu...

On this episode of The One Away Show, we sit down with Andrew Sherman — attorney, educator, and author of 26 books — who has spent nearly four decades advising entrepreneurs with rare empathy, strategic clarity, and calm. Andrew shares the early hardships that shaped him, the first venture that taught him what founders carry, and the inflection point that changed his path: choosing to support entr...

Sometimes a knock on the door isn't literal – it's the moment you realize the life you've built needs to be rethought. In this episode, Andy Klump shares how nearly two decades in China – from selling Dell computers under intense pressure to helping scale one of the world's largest solar manufacturers – shaped his career, identity, and leadership. He reflects on the moments that tested his resolve...

Some patterns shape us. Others ask to be broken. In this episode, Angela Wimmer shares the defining moments that helped her understand the difference. Growing up in a home marked by instability, she learned early on how to think for herself – even when it meant standing alone. With the steady influence of her grandparents, she found curiosity, confidence, and the belief that her voice mattered, lo...

When Ryan Lewis moved across the country for graduate school, he arrived with curiosity – but no roadmap. Then one quiet introduction changed everything. That meeting pulled him into the world of national security, defense acquisition, and high-stakes problem-solving – an arena where details save lives and focus under pressure isn't optional. From studying MRAP deployments during the Iraq and Afgh...

When COVID shut the world down, Carlo Cisco didn't freeze – he rebuilt. In this episode, the founder of Select breaks down how a global crisis became the spark that reshaped his company's product, growth model, and long-term vision. From boosting renewal rates during a standstill to launching an AI travel planner that generates custom itineraries in under 30 seconds, Carlo shows what reinvention r...

Innovation isn't just about ideas – it's about the systems that shape them. In this episode, Caroline Kendal shares why venture studios may be the future of company building. After two previous startups and years working alongside investors, she realized the current VC model rewards luck more than discipline. Her latest chapter? Investing in the "startup factories" that build companies with scient...

When his dream of playing in the NBA ended, Darrell Teat thought the buzzer had signaled the end of his story. Instead, it opened the door to a bigger calling. In this episode, Darrell shares how mentorship, exposure, and a pivotal leadership program helped him reimagine his path – from aspiring athlete to purpose-driven CEO. His journey highlights the power of people, culture, and the systems lea...