HabitStack Podcast

On this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward talks with Rich Rudzinski, fractional product and engineering leader at Apollo Fractional and founder of event-networking startup Veery. Rich explains why AI has made product validation more important than ever, even as tools like Claude make founders feel overconfident enough to skip fundamental research. He introduces the idea of "c...

In this episode of HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward sits down with Lars Lofgren, a growth marketing veteran who has spent 15 years scaling SaaS companies including Dropbox, Evernote, Typeform, and Perplexity and who built an affiliate SEO business that generated $20 million in revenue before the industry shifted beneath his feet. Lars explains why flooding your site with AI-generated content is...

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward sits down with Josh Leyenhorst, fractional CFO and founder of BasePoint, to break down the financial frameworks that help founders run smarter businesses. Josh breaks down the difference between bookkeeping, controller work, and CFO-level thinking, framing them as hindsight, insight, and foresight, and explains why even founders who think...

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Laura Pitsch, a fractional COO who works with founder-led businesses navigating the messy middle between startup chaos and scalable operations. Laura explains why the $3 to $4M revenue range is where businesses most commonly stall and why founders who avoid investing in operational leadership rarely make it to the next level. Sh...

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Keegan Sard, a fractional chief of staff based in Monaco who has been doing fractional work for 10 years. The conversation explores the critical difference between a chief of staff and a COO, and why chiefs of staff focus on the founder's priorities without P&L responsibility. They discuss why founders should hire fast...

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Alisa Manjarrez, managing director of Stories Bureau, a creative agency focused on B2B marketing and internal corporate storytelling through presentations, videos, and podcasts. Alisa shares what she's learning from Multipliers by Liz Wiseman about scaling herself as a leader. The conversation explores how Stories Bureau ev...

Scott Ward interviews Belinda DiGiambattista, CEO of Good2bSocial and founder of Choose Your Metric. Belinda shares her entrepreneurial journey from Fortune 500 financial services to building Butter Beans, a school lunch company she grew from zero to 5,000 lunches a day before selling in 2017, and how those lessons shaped her consulting work and eventual acquisition of Good2bSocial, a digital mark...

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Rami Kalla, president and founder of Point In Time Studios, an VR/AR production company. Rami shares how Point In Time creates VR training experiences for first responders and TSA agents in life-or-death situations where officers can practice handling bomb threats and other dangerous scenarios. They discuss Rami's transitio...

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Brent Peterson, CEO of Content Cucumber, president of Content Basis, and host of the Talk Commerce podcast. Brent shares his contrarian bet that human writing will make a comeback after AI decimated the content industry, explaining how he bought Content Cucumber because professionals increasingly value human-created content over...

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Wendy Covey, CEO and co-founder of TREW Marketing, author of Content Marketing Engineered, and podcast host. Wendy shares how TREW Marketing pivoted during the 2008 financial crisis from serving diverse clients to specializing exclusively in marketing to engineers, leveraging her 15 years at National Instruments to create an adv...

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Bernadette Burke, President of Brella Productions, an event optimization agency that helps organizations maximize return on event (ROE) through strategic audience experiences. Bernadette shares what she's learning from rereading Brain Rules by John Medina about neuroscience and communication, and why the research on learnin...

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Andrew Morgans, CEO of Marknology and founder of EcomPulse. Ai, who also hosts the Business Therapy podcast. Andrew opens up about navigating a difficult 2025 for his 11-year-old agency, dealing with rising costs, client churn, and macro challenges like tariffs and inflation. The conversation explores why Andrew brought in a fra...

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Chris Purcell, founder of Nexus Brand Group, who brings experience as a business analyst at Target, vendor manager at Amazon, and global director of e-commerce at Renfro before starting his own full-service e-commerce agency 10 years ago. Chris shares insider perspectives on how Amazon actually works. The conversation explores h...

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Bobbie Carlton, founder of Innovation Women, Innovation Nights, and Carlton PR & Marketing. Bobbie runs a unique business structure where her entire team works for Carlton PR & Marketing and treats her other ventures as clients, with Innovation Women being her largest and "dream job" client. The conversation ex...

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Brad Solomon, co-founder of SC Digital. Brad shares what he's learning from rereading Perry Marshall's "80/20 Sales and Marketing" and "Cashvertising," plus his unexpected fascination with Howard Stern's interview techniques, specifically how preparation, storytelling, and compliments help brea...

Scott Ward, host of the HabitStack Podcast, interviews Bill Stathopoulos, author of Cold Email Secrets and CEO of SalesCaptain. Bill shares what he's learning from Measure What Matters about implementing OKRs to align his growing team, and The Greatest Salesman in the World, which teaches him about confidence and approaching business with a sense of faith that all will be well. The conversati...

Scott Ward, host of the HabitStack Podcast, interviews Brian Swan, co-founder with his wife Rhonda of the Unstoppable Branding Agency. Brian shares his unconventional journey from robotics engineer selling actuators to SpaceX to becoming a branding and PR expert. After his wife Rhonda left pharmaceutical sales to pursue affiliate marketing and generate significant income, Brian left his engineerin...

Scott Ward, host of the HabitStack Podcast, interviews Brett Farmiloe, founder of Featured.com , a platform connecting journalists with vetted experts. Brett also recently acquired and revived HARO, an email newsletter serving the same purpose. They discuss the best practices for expert contributions: be helpful, authentic, relevant, and on time. Timing often matters more than perfect credentials...

Scott Ward, host of the HabitStack Podcast, interviews Randy Herbertson, president of The Visual Brand (TVB), a branding studio based in Westport, Connecticut. Randy shares his journey from building his first agency to 40 people in New York City, selling it to a media company (which he warns against), and leaving after six miserable months when the promised synergies turned into constant trouble....

Scott Ward, host of the HabitStack Podcast, interviews Chris Rodriguez, CEO of iExcel, a digital marketing agency based in the greater DC/Virginia area. Chris shares his unconventional journey from earning a music degree at the University of Virginia and spending 10 years in the music industry to becoming a "30-year-old rookie in tech." They discuss why Chris intentionally avoids niching...

Scott Ward, host of the HabitStack Podcast, interviews Dr. Sheila Brooks, founder, president, and CEO of SRB Communications, celebrating 35 years in business. Dr. Brooks shares her journey from being the first in her family to attend college to becoming a television journalist and eventually building a full-service marketing and PR firm two blocks from the White House. They discuss the critical pi...

Scott Ward, host of the HabitStack Podcast, interviews Dr. Renee Fraser, CEO of Fraser Communications and host of the Dr. Renee Fraser Show. With a PhD in social psychology and over 25 years running a full-service advertising agency, Renee shares how understanding human behavior creates more potent marketing communications. They discuss the Toyota hybrid campaign that reframed product features thr...

Scott Ward, host of the HabitStack Podcast, interviews Karley Cunningham, founder of Big Bold Brand and creator of the Surefire Method. They explore how Karley's approach goes far beyond traditional branding to create business-wide alignment that drives accelerated growth. Karley shares how clients using the Surefire Method have doubled revenue year over year and achieved five-year goals in h...

Scott Ward, host of the HabitStack Podcast, interviews Himanshi Raj, founder of Growth Gurus, an e-commerce agency specializing in Amazon, Walmart, and TikTok Shop. They discuss the realities of selling on Amazon versus common misconceptions, why manufacturing will likely stay overseas, and the hidden costs that shock new sellers. Himanshi shares her philosophy of prioritizing client retention ove...

Scott Ward, host of the HabitStack Podcast, interviews Jason Hunt, co-founder of Merged Media, a digital marketing agency combining SEO and social media expertise. They discuss how Gary Keller's "The One Thing" shaped Jason's approach to prioritization, the 80/20 principle of noise versus signal in daily tasks, and the discipline required to build sustainable routines. Jason sh...