Fervent Four

"Are you in a position where what you've built is protected?" That's the question Al MacIsaac asks business owners, and most of them answer, "I think so." Then he and his partner review the plan and start looking for the gaps. Al spent 21 years in professional hockey front offices, from running the Norfolk Admirals to the Chicago Blackhawks, where the team won three Stanley Cups in six years, and...

They cashed in everything they had to start a business. No investors. No borrowed money. Then one of the world's largest investment banks came calling. Justin Askew and Stephanie McLane took a gamble on themselves and built AREMCO, a Virginia Beach-based company that now manages real estate assets nationwide and ranks No. 313 on the Inc. 5000. Now they're chasing an even bigger goal, a $250 millio...

At 60, Marsha Hudgins thought she was headed toward retirement. Instead, she was about to take over a construction company in an industry where few people expected her to lead. Her husband, the founder of Hudgins Contracting, was battling pancreatic cancer. Before he died, he made her promise not to shut down the business. She kept that promise. But taking over was anything but easy. Longtime empl...

With $50,000 in the bank, Alexis Perkins bet on herself and invested it in a new website and app for Chair One Fitness. The app went on to become her company's largest revenue source. In episode 330 of Fervent Four, Alexis joins Zack Miller and Tim Ryan to share how she turned canceled bookings into international growth, got in front of hard to reach buyers, and expanded her seated fitness busines...

Mike Van Sickel offered two trucking brokers a share of $25 million in work. Both turned him down. They were already spending their weekends collecting paper tickets, tracking changes on legal pads and trying to produce invoices that matched the contractor's records. More work would only make that problem bigger. Mike had spent decades in construction watching dispatchers, drivers and brokers mana...

Paula Short didn't set out to build a global beauty brand. She and her business partner created a glitter lip product to get more customers through the door of their salon. Then people started buying it. They took the product to London. Landed Topshop. Expanded internationally. Supplied major retailers and airlines. Paula appeared on BBC Dragons' Den. And somewhere along the way, the small idea be...

Greg Tomchick has been through enough over the last few years to completely change how he thinks about business, success and himself. The founder of Valor Cybersecurity returns to Fervent Four more than three years after his first appearance. Since then, he found Valor's market serving defense contractors, endured an investor falling out, a divorce and a painful split with a business partner, and...

Joe Benedetto spent his career in an industry most people rarely think about: recycling. His family has been in the business for more than 100 years. Joe started working in recycling at 13, eventually launched Recycling & Disposal Solutions (RDS) in 2004, and grew the company to five locations and roughly 80 employees. But this conversation goes well beyond recycling. Joe joins Zack Miller and Tim...

Building something meaningful and building something massive don't have to be opposing goals. Adam Alphin, founder and CEO of KleerCard, joins The Fervent Four to talk about building a company on his own terms while still thinking big about where it can go. KleerCard has grown to more than 1,250 customers while taking a deliberately disciplined approach to outside capital. Adam shares why the comp...

In Episode 324 of Fervent Four, Canaan opens up about moving to Nashville knowing no one, working as a custodian while writing songs, landing a publishing deal, competing on The Amazing Race, and eventually earning a No. 1 country hit. He also talks candidly about the pressure that followed that success, why chasing the next No. 1 started to take more than it gave, and how fatherhood, faith, famil...

What happens after you've built companies, made investments, helped shape a business community — and supposedly reached the point where you can retire? In Part 2 of our conversation with Paul Hirschbiel, we go beyond business and into what decades of success have taught him about confidence, relationships, purpose and what comes next. Paul opens up about the insecurity that existed behind a confid...

Paul Hirschbiel has spent decades investing in companies and evaluating the people behind them. Long before becoming the founding chairman of Innovate 757, Hirschbiel built a career in venture capital, backed Michael Dell in the company's early years and spent 13 years on Dell's board. On Fervent Four, Paul shares what he saw in Michael Dell, why ego can destroy great companies, what separates exc...

Everyone says people no longer want blue-collar jobs. But what if workers are not the real problem? This episode explores why leadership matters in recruiting the next generation, how AI is transforming industrial work, and why American shipbuilding and manufacturing may be entering a new era. We discuss: Why uninspiring leadership contributes to hiring challenges How Google AI turned up to 160 ho...

What happens when decades of business experience collide with a world being rapidly reshaped by AI and automation? Marc Marling, Chief Business Officer at Cargomatic, joins The Fervent Four to talk about the lessons he's learned across his career—from working seven days a week for a boss who promised him ownership, to why he believes people give up too quickly, why picking up the phone has become...

Most canned cocktails don't taste like cocktails made at a bar. They rely on artificial flavors, excessive sweetness, carbonation and low-quality ingredients—but why is it so difficult to make a good cocktail in a can? After years working in restaurants, craft beer, alcohol distribution and beverage production, Will Boze explains what separates a legitimate ready-to-drink cocktail from flavored al...

Most people see junk hauling and dumpster rentals as simple, dirty work. Johnny Bobby sees systems, turnaround time, customer acquisition, automation, and opportunity. In this episode of The Fervent Four Show, he explains how he built a junk removal and roll-off dumpster company by entering an overlooked industry and operating it differently. He shares how he used Uber to meet potential customers,...

Most bills are built for the person paying them. Medical bills often are not. That was one of the clearest points Michael Woodhead made on The Fervent Four. A normal bill usually tells you what happened, what it cost, and why. A medical bill can feel like it was built for hospitals, insurance companies, and billing departments before it was ever built for the patient. Codes. Adjustments. Denials....

A coffee shop magazine wall was supposed to be the idea. Then COVID shut down the world, shared magazines became a non-starter, and Lauren and Scott Janney started asking a different question: what if people could still access magazines without touching the same physical copies as everyone else? That question eventually became CXperks, a platform built to improve the customer experience in places...

What happens when the business you built is not the business your customers actually want? PlayYourCourt started as a way to make tennis lessons easier to find and book. But as the company grew, the data told a different story. Customers were using the platform, getting what they needed, and leaving. That churn forced the company to look closer at what people were really paying attention to. In th...

Big ideas. Real stories. Unfiltered conversations with the people building what's next. Fervent Four goes beyond the highlight reel with founders, leaders, operators and builders to talk about the work, the risks, the lessons and the moments that actually shape the journey.

NASA is known for rockets, astronauts and moonshots. But at NASA Langley, the work is also about what happens before and after the launch: the testing, partnerships, aeronautics, technology transfer and long-term thinking that turn impossible ideas into repeatable progress. Joseph Gasbarre, Director of the Strategic Partnerships Office at NASA Langley, talks through the next era of exploration — f...

Nonprofits are being asked to do more than ever with teams that are already stretched thin. But what happens when AI gives mission-driven organizations the capacity to move faster, understand donors better, and spend more time on the relationships that actually drive impact? Jim Funari, CEO of StratusLIVE, joins The Fervent Four to talk about how AI, software, and digital engagement are reshaping...

What does it really take to build a business that lasts for decades? Building an agency or service-based business is not just about landing the first client. It is about hiring the right people, delivering consistently, earning trust, surviving hard seasons, and making decisions that protect the company long after the excitement of launch wears off. In this episode of the Fervent Four Show, Tony C...

Something in the Water was never just about music. In this conversation, Robby Wells breaks down the bigger strategy behind cultural moments, regional storytelling, and building events that make people feel ownership in where they live. Wells is a branding and cultural strategy leader who has worked behind the scenes on major Virginia moments like Something in the Water and Mighty Dream. His work...

Former Navy SEAL and Neptune Shield CEO Nicholas Rocha joins The Fervent Four Show to talk about military service, entrepreneurship, veteran transition, mental health, and why building a company can be harder than elite military training. After 26 years in the Navy, nine combat deployments, and a career inside one of the most demanding communities in the world, Rocha found himself facing a differe...