Finding Founders

Erik grew up in a family that was quickly building its wealth, but his father still made sure Erik understood the importance of money and a good work ethic. From collecting change, to selling knives, to starting a storm drain businesses; Erik was a resourceful kid. As he moved into adulthood, he went into real estate. Things were looking up, except he graduated into one of history’s worst housing...

John Quirk didn’t start as a wellness coach. After graduating with a BA in Journalism, he plunged into the fast paced world of sports journalism, only to find himself trapped in his dream job. It was everything that he had ever wanted but the office politics and stress were eating away at him. Then, a miracle struck: he got fired. This blessing in disguise allowed him to discover yoga and find his...

Alisha Flecky felt aimless as a talent agent in Los Angeles. In 2010 she decided to drop everything and travel to gain a bit of perspective. The trip was initially six months through the south of India, the Andaman islands, and finally Rishikesh. But it was this final location that transformed a trip into a lifestyle. She spent the next decade training in tantric arts, yoga, and mystical dance. So...

Every weekend, Suze would go to New York City to wander the streets, while her father worked. She quickly fell in love with the city's fashion culture which would spark a successful 20-year career working for Giorgio Armani, Vogue, ELLE, Marie Claire, and Glamour. Suze had made it in the fashion world but was rarely present to enjoy it. Life moved so fast that she didn't realize all the tension sh...

Vince Ning co-founded Nabis, a company that is revolutionizing the cannabis industry and is quickly becoming the Amazon of Cannabis. But growing up in a conservative Asian household, Vince wasn't exactly raised in a weed friendly environment. His parents wanted him to do something safe and prestigious. After graduating from University of Virginia, Vince landed a great stable job at Microsoft, but...

What does it take to build a fitness business from the ground up? In today’s Founder Wisdom we talk with Jacob Saldana, the health and wellness expert behind Fit BAR Superfood Cafe and Space B.A.R. Wellness. Jacob grew up blue collar, and learned the value of a strong work ethic early on. This led him to buy into a gym franchise and eventually create his own gyms. He wouldn’t stop here and actuall...

Larry Fitzgibbon is the co-founder and CEO of Tastemade, a modern media company that creates award-winning video content and original programming in the categories of Food, Travel, and Home & Design. Since its launch in 2012, the company has garnered more than 300M+ Monthly Viewers. However, Larry's path towards building this incredible company wasn’t always so clear. Larry began his journey a...

In a world where Hydro Flask is now synonymous with water-bottle, how does one break into the insulated drink space? On today’s Founder Wisdom, we talk to Mike Beckham co-founder and CEO of Simple Modern, a drinkware company with the goal of designing water bottles as unique as you. Starting off in the non-profit space, Mike brainstormed a list of 100 products, decided on drinkware, and started on...

Born in Turkey, Ege's flair for design led him to found the clothing brand TUTUNJ. Initially he started with nothing but a few designs in his head and the encouragement of some friends. Since then, TUTUNJ has seen its products donned and praised by superstar models Meredith Mikelson and Alessandra Ambrósio. However, what makes Ege’s story truly inspiring are not only the victories he celebrated bu...

Alisha Flecky was delving into spirituality and came across a guru that would change her life. She followed him for years, abiding by his wisdom and feeling that her life was improving and slowly becoming the life she wanted. She saw this guru as perfect, as close to a deity. But everything changed when the veil was lifted and behind it was a flawed man that couldn't accept his humanity. This led...

Jason Lee grew up in Kansas raised by a family who idolized education. They even said school is “like Disneyland but better…”. School was important because it led to a “respectable job”, that job being a doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer. Initially that was ok with Jason, but there was something missing. He didn't feel quite whole.  Regardless, he moved forward on the "right" path and attended the...

How does a priest-in-training end up educating the world on anatomy? In today’s Founder Wisdom we speak with Dr. Gil Hedley, Creator and Producer of the Integral Anatomy Series . Beginning his adult life receiving a PhD in Theological Ethics, Gil felt a calling to the priesthood... but at the same time he didn't want to be a priest. Gil describes the winding path that led to discovering the beauty...

Jay Oliva is an LA-based storyboard artist, film producer, and animated film director. Inspired by comics and the animated cartoons of his childhood, he's climbed his way up to work with major production companies such as Marvel, Netflix, and Warner Bros. His first break was an opportunity at Marvel which came just in time and had him narrowly avoiding gang violence in Orange County. Nowadays, he...

How do you create radically inclusive clothing, while still maintaining a profitable business? What does it take to build a company off a kickstarter campaign? In today’s Founder Wisdom we speak with Hanna Baror-Padilla, founder and owner of the inclusive and diverse clothing brand Sotela. From her childhood years working in her dad’s clothing store to successfully launching several of her own inc...

Manuel “MannyJStyle” Jackson has led an incredible career in men’s fashion while also being an advocate for the next generation of stylists and designers. Manny started his fashion journey from his mom's garage hand painting clothes. This led to developing his first company Ekqualyte Abstract Abstract. Not long after he created The Gents Closet, a Hollywood based men Style Haus where Manuel design...

Today we're talking to Tom Alaimo about his entrepreneurial journey and why it might be better to be an introverted sales person. Tom got his start creating and selling his own sports magazine as a kid. After selling a few issues around his neighborhood, he realized he had a knack for sales but needed some training. Thats when he discovered Cutco, a company whose sales program honed his interperso...

The year: 2000. The turn of the century marked the beginning of a whole new world, one with anxiety inducing elections, trendy juicy tracksuits, and technological advances like never before. With a world of information available at the swipe of your thumb, it might take you a minute to remember the sound Web 1.0 made when you tried to load a page. In the early 2000s, the internet wasn't yet a plac...

This is an update to an episode we did a while back in April of 2020. And we’re doing an update because Jonathan Skogmo, founder of Jukin Media, has some pretty big news… recently he sold his company for a reported $140 million dollars. In this episode we take a behind the scenes look at that 9 figure deal, and try to understand emotionally what it’s like to sell a company you’ve built from your a...

If there's one thing that drives Laura Osuri, it’s serving her community. After college, she sprang into an expedition that would take her across the globe to Europe and Latin America in search of new perspectives. Coming back to the states she felt listless, but soon sunk her energy into Street Sense media, whose mission was to vocalize homeless issues and provide community support. Realizing tha...

Since Kevin Greene moved to the US from Jamaica at age 6 he's always been hustling. Entrepreneurship was his personality, but at times it wouldn't be fully expressed. In 2006 Kevin got a job at T-Mobile, and quickly realized that the corporate world didn't take kindly to conflict. The same voice that made him such a great entrepreneur, held him back in the corporate world. Although he was passed b...

Jeff and Judy Bowman are the acclaimed founders and owners of the Living Waters Spa, which was an internationally renowned clothing-optional spa in Desert Hot Springs, California. Before becoming key members of the clothing optional community, Jeff & Judy were church folk who started and grew congregations across America. Suddenly Judy was diagnosed with breast cancer which led Jeff to questio...

Originally from Seoul, Liah was studying architecture and feeling like she didn't really fit into the mold of South Korea. She decided to explore the idea of going into the beauty industry and released her first YouTube video. Not too long later, Liah Yoo is now a beauty guru and has amassed a following of over 1 million. But she wouldn't stop there. In 2017, Liah had a “lightbulb moment” and real...

What does it mean to fall in love with a place? In this episode, we explore this question by talking to Marnie Gustavson, the executive director of PARSA Afghanistan and leader of the Afghan Scouts revival movement. Though her journey actually began in Washington, Marnie was introduced to Afghanistan at 9 years old when her father relocated the family for his new job. Growing up in a foreign count...

So today's guest I specifically sought out after reading his book “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant.” I was floored by essentially every sentence and thought the book was so incredible that I had to talk to the person who wrote it. That person is Eric Jorgenson. After working at a startup for a decade and technically being unemployed, he decided to delve into a myriad of projects including podcasts,...

So when I talked to today's guests it was during the Halloween Haunt, an event took place in the same village as my LARPing adventure with John Basset (episode #96). But this interview would be extra special because I would be talking to the head honcho of the LARPs in that area... David Pulcifer. David Pulcifer is the President of the LARP City Project, an organization with the goal of creating t...