Builders & Doers

At 22, Sarah Mae Selnick was cold calling billionaire real estate developers from a boutique brokerage in Manhattan with zero experience and no idea what she was doing. By 24, she had put together the largest single transaction in Brooklyn's history: a deal worth over a billion dollars. Now she's the founder of Source Forward, a company using AI and building data to help commercial real es...

Chris Brisson talks about accidental entrepreneurship, human-first messaging, and where AI is taking sales. He shares how he went from selling rims and tires on eBay to building software, what he learned from a stagnant business he had to reinvent, why most companies get SMS wrong, what “texting is the sacred place” really means, how AI agents are changing lead qualification and booking, what scal...

Most managers were promoted because they were good at the work, not because they were trained to lead people. In this conversation, Laura Ashley-Timms explains why so many “manager as coach” programs fail, why accidental managers are quietly draining productivity, and why the best leaders stop trying to be the fixer, solver, and solution giver. We talk about operational coaching, purposeful inquir...

Mike Wu’s résumé looks like the classic prestige path: USC, investment banking, Sony, Harvard Business School, BCG, and then entrepreneurship. But in this conversation, he explains why that neat story looked much cleaner on LinkedIn than it felt in real life. We talk about career searching versus status chasing, what his failed search fund taught him about risk and timing, how HireFrame emerged fr...

At 18, Alex found himself homeless in Japan for a week during finals. Years later, that same ability to stay calm in chaos shaped how he approaches startup life: uncertainty, pressure, constant fires, and the discipline to keep moving anyway. In this episode, we talk about the real lessons behind startup growth: what law school taught him about contracts and business, how he helped revive a SaaS t...

Howard Pearl explains how CARS returned over $600 million to nonprofits, why donor trust and operational transparency matter so much, how respect became his core leadership principle, what drove extremely low turnover, why mission-driven work broadened his worldview, and what first-time CEOs need to hear about confidence, discipline, and doing the work. This is a strong episode for founders, opera...

In this episode, speaker-coach and former educator, Danny Brassell, breaks down why great communication is rarely about “more information” and almost always about better stories, better structure, and one clear next step. Danny walks through his 5C process for high-converting talks and pitches: start with clarity on who you serve (because “if your audience is everybody, your audience is nobody”),...

In this episode, I sit down with Lou DePaoli, President at General Sports Worldwide, for a masterclass in sports business, fan growth, and revenue strategy. Lou shares lessons from decades across professional sports, including how he helped teams improve business performance, why ticket demand drives everything else, and how smart operators use supply, pricing, timing, and storytelling to build lo...

Elijah (Legacy Way Holdings) joins us for a candid conversation on what happens after building and selling a business, why exits are more emotional than most founders expect, and how he transitioned into multifamily real estate investing and syndications. We talk about founder identity, faith and decision-making, the practical realities of raising capital, how syndications work, why operator integ...

Alexander Harmsen joins me to break down how AI can improve financial outcomes without fully replacing humans, why personalization is where the real value is, and how he’s building in one of the hardest regulated categories. We also talk about founder resilience, product iteration, growth strategy, compliance as a moat, and why great businesses are bought, not sold. In this conversation, we cover:...

In this conversation, Greg Styan breaks down why burnout is often disguised as hustle and how social comparison quietly drains your agency. We unpack the “insta fantasy” loop, how to step off the treadmill, and the practical systems Greg uses to build clarity and consistency without burning out. Discover 🟣 Burnout disguised as hustle, and the trap of social comparison 🟣 The “insta fantasy” loop...

In this conversation, Lloyd James Ross (author of Money Buys Happiness and host of the Money Grows on Trees podcast) breaks down what money is actually for, and why being “time rich” is the real win. We talk about inner vs outer scorecards, the Focus Funnel, and the practical steps that create options, leverage, and breathing room. Discover 🟢 Why money amplifies what’s already there, and why more...

In this conversation, Adam Coughlin (Co-founder of York IE) breaks down why the “soft” stuff (storytelling, empathy, presence, and clear communication) is quickly becoming the hard advantage in company-building. We unpack how a journalism mindset helps founders translate complexity, why being present is the emerging superpower in the AI era, and York IE’s pragmatic model that pairs investing with...

In this conversation, Derrick Chevalier (author of “Evolve or Be Slaughtered”) breaks down what “evolved negotiation” really means and why most popular rules break the moment reality gets messy. We unpack when splitting the difference is smart, why negotiating “issues” is a trap, and how to reframe price, cost, and value so you stop haggling numbers and start shaping outcomes. Along the way, Derri...

In this conversation, Nunzio Presta (Founder of BuyAndSellABusiness.com , Rothwell Capital , and Pallet Connect ) breaks down the micro-M&A world and the truth behind “entrepreneurship through acquisition”. We unpack why the sub-$5M enterprise value market is heating up, how to choose the right business using his “personal niche” framework, and the three pillars that make a small business genu...

In this conversation, Salvatore Tirabassi (Managing Director of CFO Pro+Analytics) breaks down the modern CFO role as something far bigger than accounting. He explains why great finance leaders act as the “chief data officer” for the business, how to build a true single source of truth, and what happens when teams walk into meetings with dueling numbers. We also dig into real-world examples like i...

In this engaging conversation, Fredrik Haren, a creativity explorer, shares his insights from traveling to over 70 countries, including his experiences in Bhutan and the unique perspectives on creativity he encountered. He discusses the importance of curiosity, the common threads that unite humanity, and the role of technology and AI in shaping our future. Haren emphasizes the need for balance bet...

From cultivating tobacco in rural Greece to becoming an award-winning data & AI executive and global keynote speaker, Dora Boussias has spent 30 years proving that you can be the captain of your own ship. In this conversation, she shares how she navigated immigration at 17, built a business-minded tech career at companies like GE and Stryker, and now helps data & AI leaders (especially wom...

They had the perfect resumes. The elite MBAs from Columbia Business School. The foolproof plan to skip the startup grind and buy an existing, successful company. They thought it would be easier. They were wrong. This is the untold story of what happens after you launch a search fund. It’s a journey through brutal ups and downs, deals that can die in a thousand different ways, and the realization t...

What do Spotify, Google, and AI venture studios have in common? Kal Amin has been at the center of all three, shaping global operations and building companies that balance growth with integrity. From Spotify’s shift to mobile-first, to Google’s early “focus on the user” mantra, to leading Sounder.ai and now 1848 Ventures, Kal shares candid lessons on scaling, fundraising, and staying true to missi...

What if the financial system judged your future by your past—even if you had none? Millions of smart, capable people are denied credit not because they’re irresponsible, but because they’re “invisible” to traditional banks. Andrew Endicott co-founded Petal, a fintech that reimagined credit access for people with limited histories. From raising hundreds of millions in equity and debt, to creating c...

When was the last corporate event that truly changed how you think or work? Most are forgettable — bland keynotes, lukewarm coffee, awkward networking. But Daniel Curtis, former chef turned global events leader for brands like Google and LinkedIn, knows how to make them unforgettable. His secret starts with one question: Why are we here? In this episode, Daniel shares his framework for creating ev...

They say leadership costs. Your health, your relationships, your peace of mind. You’re told the hustle is the only way to the top, even if it leaves you burned out, empty, and wondering, "Is this it?".You've been lied to. Steve Baue was a high-flying VP who paid that price. He had the first-class tickets, the international meetings, and the title most people dream of. He also had a breakdown at 30...

They’re coming for your idea. Before you’ve even built a prototype, before you’ve written a single line of code, corporate giants and patent trolls are laying landmines designed to seize your life’s work. That NDA you think is protecting you? It could be worthless. In this episode, we interview Austin Bonderer — a patent attorney listed on nearly 700 patents who has never lost an appeal to the pat...

Is your website stuck at a 1-2% conversion rate? You’ve changed the button colors, tweaked the headlines, and followed all the standard advice, but nothing moves the needle. The fix might not be where you think it is. Matthew Stafford discovered that most business websites aren't broken; they're just asking the wrong questions and ignoring the simple psychological triggers that make people...