Brand, Sweat, & Tears

Shawn Nelson is the founder and CEO of LoveSac. What started out as a giant foam "beanbag" company and just a side hustle for Shawn in college turned out to be one of the top furniture companies in the U.S., and an innovative and design-forward consumer brand. Over the past 25 years of crazy ups and downs, including winning a reality TV show hosted by Richard Branson, Shawn has learned a lot of li...

Jon Pierre (JP) Francia is another long-time friend of mine, and has one of the most varied and interesting backgrounds of anyone I know. He's a pilot, a chef, a branding and marketing wizard, a video producer and artist, inventor, and multi-time founder and creator. He was a flight instructor, he created a TV series called Andy's Airplanes, he was the founder and chief creative mind behind the fa...

Bubba and I go way back. We met over 15 years ago when we were both doing our first startup ventures. We've been friends and have supported each other ever since, including working on one startup - Quotadeck / Outro together. Bubba has done almost everything in startup land! He had a chair company, a lead generation company, a sales software company, and built a budgeting + parenting + smart famil...

Rachel Nilsson is a rock star creator and the founder of Rags. A brand born out of necessity, Rachel started designing and sewing clothing for her kids when she couldn't afford to buy them expensive brands, and didn't like many of their offerings anyway. She wanted something functional and unique, fashionable but affordable. She started making them for her kids and then others wanted them so she s...

Karalynne Call, Certified Nutritionist, is the Founder and CEO of Just Ingredients, a health and wellness company dedicated to inspiring people to live healthier, happier lives. Recognized as one of Utah’s Top 10 Fastest-Growing companies, Just Ingredients offers 200+ nutrition and personal care products made with nourishing, real, and natural ingredients. Karalynne has a strong influence on socia...

You're never too young to take over the world! Abby and Sadie Bowler, two young sisters and co-founders of the up-and-coming brand, SadieB, are doing just that. They've created an amazing personal care product line focused on girls' physical and mental hygiene that offers stylist-grade personal care products with clean ingredients and a commitment to giving back through mentorships and support for...

Sharon Cryan is an impressive entrepreneur and inventor. Inspired by her mom's health challenges, Sharon was motivated at a young age to eat healthy and learn about the correct foods to fuel her body. In law school and as a lawyer she prepared healthy meals for co-workers, clients, and friends, who affectionalely gave her the nickname "Food Nerd". As her nutritional savvy and the popularity of her...

Dale Majors hails from a large Utah family. His dad was a state table tennis champion 27 times (what?! for reals though...) and he's one of 9 children who are all very talented. Dale is a multi-time entrepreneur whose latest venture is an outdoor gear company, Grand Trunk . Dale is smart, scrappy, and knows how to hustle. Tune in for some fun stories, amazing adventures (he and his wife have taken...

Charity Lee learned from her Grandma Ora May how to make potato-dough spudnuts when she was young. Her Grandma would make them for friends, neighbors, and sometimes even strangers - and everyone loved them. Charity started making them for family on special occassions and then for raffle events and fundraisers for her kids' sports teams. A friend, and now investor, Scott Warner, twisted her arm and...

Will Nitze has a growing suite of unique consumer products and is building an impressive food & beverage business. Starting with the IQBar , a food bar for your brain and your body, the company has expanded into hydration packets and coffee mixes. His focus on mental clarity and fuel for the brain has made IQBar a standout and rapidly growing hit among the many bar + beverage mix options on th...

Zach Olson is one of the cool kids. He's got a super chill skater-surfer vibe, but the innovative and creative mind of an engineer. He started a skate shop, then built a cloud-based accounting service to help small businesses, like his skate shop. After he sold Bookly to KPMG he decided to get back into vehicles with 4 wheels, but set his sights on something bigger than skateboards - automobiles....

This is a double-feature! I was finally able to get local marketing legend Alex McArthur, an early employee and head of all things marketing for two rocketship consumer brands - Purple Mattress and Kizik Shoes - to come into the studio and tell the growth stories behind both brands. I was recovering from a cold, but didn’t dare reschedule once I’d locked Alex down, so my voice sounds nasally but I...

Kurt Workman and the Owlet team have experienced almost all the highs and lows a consumer product startup can go through over the past 10 years, but they have survived and are poised to thrive with the support of their investors, the grit and perseverance of the core team, and the fanatical loyalty of their evangelical customers. Kurt is a great example of a consumer product creator who never gave...

Alex Lawrence is a talented tech entrepreneur, professor in the Professional Sales Dept at Weber State University, and now the owner and founder of EV Auto - a unique electric vehicle auto dealership that carries all makes and models of EV autos. His unique approach and commitment to an incredible buyer experience has enabled his dealership to experience early success and has put them on track to...

Nate and Vanessa Quigley are the dynamic duo behind Chatbooks - automatically printed photo books using favorite images from your phone, computer, and social media feeds. Success hasn't come overnight - they have spent a lot of sweat and tears over the years to get their business to where it is now, and somehow through it all have grown closer together as a couple. Listen to the story of how they...

Ben Perkins : collegiate soccer player, apparel entrepreneur, quarter-zip pullover supermodel. At the age of 13, Ben hatched the idea that would later become Blue and White Collar, then ultimately &Collar - a nearly indestructable but simultaneously comfortable dress shirt that was durable, stain repellant, soft, wrinkle-free, and machine-washable. Ben shares his journey to becoming a consumer...

Rob Poleki , the founder and creator of Washie , is getting crap done! Washie's first product is a commercial toilet seat that has a smart motion-activated sensor the dispenses anti-bacterial foam onto the seat, allowing the user to wipe and disinfect the seat with a piece of toilet paper before using. More sanitary than the paper seat shields, and easier to use! Rob talks about the crazy and crea...

Jenny Wecker is the founder of Fawn Design - a fashionable bag and leather goods brand for women. Over 10 years ago, Jenny sewed the very first bag for a friend - a fashionable diaper bag. More friends wanted one, word-of-mouth spread, and Jenny had a company. Jenny is too humble, extremely talented, and we had a blast talking about her entrepreneurial journey - the ups and downs and emotional rol...

Nicole Tanner is a humble, talented, driven, friendly, optimistic entrepreneur and creator. She created a movement with her drive-thru drink shop, Swig , and popularized a phrase with the "dirty" soda. Many competitors have attempted to replicate her model, but Swig continues to grow and thrive centered on Nicole's relentless focus on quality, customer service, and the sweetest combinations of dri...

Drew Manning started Fit2Fat2Fit over 10 years ago in order to help people who have struggled with their weight, nutrition, self-esteem, and mental health achieve a healthier, happier lifestyle. In order to gain more empathy for his clients he gained 75 lbs in 6 months, then lost that 75 lbs in the following 6 months. He documented his journey and shared it with the world. This unique and amazing...

AJ Brau is an amazing entrepreneur and creator who started taking apart electronics at the age of 8, started coding and creating in the digital world at the age of 12, and built her first app at the age of 14. This digital wunderkind is now the CEO and Founder of Wander (www.wandermaps.com) - an app that has detailed maps of popular tourist destinations and parks that help travelers navigate and a...

Allison Roberts is a driven, energetic, talented entrepreneur who is creating a fitness and exercise movement called Burst Fitness, targeted at extremely busy parents or individuals who want to get the benefits of intense exercise but are too busy to spend a lot of time at the gym, or who are not physically capable of performing typical weight-lifting or cardio exercises. Levering a methodology ca...

Alex Burge started SHYFT Global to help consumer brands design, source, manufacture, and ship their products efficiently, with the ultimate objective to be able to do that with their own products. Somewhere along the line, he recruited Levi "The White Mamba" Lindsay to the team (a marketing wizard who doesn't know the word failure) and they are off to the races - driven by Levi's intense 20-hr-per...

Hear the impressive story of how Scott Porter, founder of artisan churros brand San Diablo put together his business IN THREE DAYS to be ready for a local festival debut that would set him on the path to success. Find out how Porter has applied his core belief in exceptional customer experiences across various industries with great success. Scott's "wicked good, heaven sent" confection-filled arti...

CEO of Wildland Coffee Zach Frantz joins this episode of Brand, Sweat & Tears to talk creating business ideas the lazy way and getting creative with his business model. Join us as we discuss overcoming low product demand, sacrificing the brand for the good of the business, and knowing all of your options when it comes to marketing. #coffee #wildlands #entrepreneurship #branding #brandingsoluti...