Founder Closers

In this episode, we sit down with serial founder Jack Marshall to unpack what it really takes to build companies that scale, raise venture capital, and successfully exit. From launching one of the internet’s first photo-sharing communities to taking a company public — and later selling to Canon — Jack shares raw lessons from decades in Silicon Valley. We cover the evolution of venture capital, why...

In this episode of FounderClosers, Matt Uber sits down with Ryan Musselman to unpack what it really takes to build a successful knowledge-based business, lead with conviction, and grow without losing yourself in the process. From entrepreneurship and sales psychology to content strategy, mentorship, and the dangers of perfectionism, this conversation dives deep into the mistakes, mindset shifts, a...

In this episode of Founder Closers, Matt Uber sits down with Katie Naughton—entrepreneur, investor, former dealership owner, and Founder of Drive Her Forward. Katie shares her journey from growing up in a multi-generational automotive family to becoming one of fewer than 1% of women dealership owners, navigating mergers and acquisitions, selling family legacy businesses, and ultimately building a...

What happens when you talk to 220 founders across 31 countries? In this episode of Founder Closers, Matt Uber sits down with Dave Rubinstein, former Salesforce and Outreach go-to-market leader, to unpack what founders consistently get wrong about sales, go-to-market, TAM, and scaling. Dave shares how a personal challenge to meet 30 founders turned into a global flywheel — and the patterns he’s unc...

In this episode of the Founder Closers Podcast, we sit down with Alex Lloro, founder of All Marketing Services, to break down what actually matters in marketing: revenue and profit. We go deep into the real relationship between marketing and sales, why most agencies obsess over the wrong metrics, how Google, Microsoft, and Meta ads really work, and what AI will (and won’t) replace in the next five...

Artificial Intelligence is exploding — but 83% of AI projects fail. In this episode of Founder Closures, Matt sits down with Michele Thomas, former federal executive and co-founder of Trusted Tech, to break down why so many startups, founders, and even enterprise companies get AI completely wrong. From investor pitch failures to $15M AI implementation disasters, Michele shares what she learned adv...

AI isn’t just ChatGPT — and that misunderstanding is holding a lot of businesses back. In this episode, we break down what AI actually looks like inside real companies. We talk about why most AI projects fail, why distribution now matters more than features, and why many AI startups won’t survive the next wave. We also cover the challenge of educating the market, the pressure to niche down in AI,...

In this episode of Founder Closers, Matt sits down with sales strategist and fractional revenue leader Kim Cram to break down what it really takes to scale beyond founder-led sales. From being a 5’2” college athlete to surviving 7+ years as a financial advisor (where she hated prospecting)… to mastering outbound in tech sales and helping PE-backed companies hit aggressive growth targets — Kim shar...

In this episode, we break down a simple but powerful sales framework that most people completely skip. From selling the appointment…To running a proper discovery…To getting prospects to clearly state their own problems…This conversation dives into what actually drives conversions — and why most sales calls fail before they even start. If you’re in B2B, real estate, recruiting, or building any serv...

In this episode, we sit down with Jeffrey Hou, a Wharton MBA and Search Fund operator on a mission to acquire and run a small business as CEO.But here’s what most people don’t understand about buying a business…Founders don’t sell to the highest bidder — they sell to the person they trust with their life’s work. Jeffrey breaks down what it’s really like to approach legacy business owners, earn the...