Momentum Mode w/ Corey Ferengul & Mike Shannon

In this episode of Momentum Mode, Corey Ferengul sits down with co-host Mike Shannon to go deep on what it really looks like to be a second-time founder in the AI era, from how you think about strategy differently, to how you protect your time, build your team, and find customers in a market where the core models keep changing the rules. They cover: Why the best founders discover their business in...

In this episode, Mike Shannon and Corey Ferengul go one-on-one to unpack a provocative article claiming your CEO is suffering from AI psychosis and whether the diagnosis holds up against what they're actually seeing in the market. They cover: Why major layoffs at Meta, Oracle, and Square may have less to do with AI and more to do with overhiring The "management by magazine" problem and why it's mo...

Most executives are asking the wrong question about AI. It's not "how do I cut headcount?" It's "how do I grow without adding it proportionally?" Alex Kelleher, Founder & CEO of Quantum Rise, has spent his career answering exactly that. In this episode of Momentum Mode, Corey Ferengul and Mike Shannon sit down with Alex, a multi-time founder, former CMO of Deloitte Digital, and now CEO of a 11...

Should you raise millions and blitz-scale, or build slow, stay lean, and keep control? Mike and Corey dig into one of the most consequential decisions a founder makes: how much money to raise, and when. Mike is two and a half years into his second startup (Impruve), and this time he's doing it differently. No $4M raised before product-market fit. No chasing the next round before discovering what t...

What should you actually DO about AI as a leader right now? Not the hype, the real strategic decisions. In this episode, Mike and Corey break down the most pressing question executives are facing: how do you build a genuine AI strategy when the technology is changing faster than your planning cycle, investors are breathing down your neck, and employees are already using AI tools you don't even kno...

In this episode of Momentum Mode, Corey Ferengul and Mike Shannon draw on their own experience on both sides of the table, as founders, executives, and investors, to break down what M&A readiness really means and why most companies aren't as prepared as they think. From the midnight due diligence call to the data gaps that quietly kill deals, they get into the details founders rarely hear unti...

In this episode of Momentum Mode, Corey Ferengul and Mike Shannon sit down with Ann Perry, M&A consultant and former corporate development leader at companies including VMware, Intel, and McAfee, to unpack what really determines whether an acquisition succeeds or fails. From how startups actually get on the radar of strategic buyers to why integration should start before a deal is even signed,...

In this episode of Momentum Mode, Corey Ferengul and Mike Shannon sit down with Marty Pletkin, Managing Director of Corporate Development at Deloitte, to unpack what really determines whether M&A deals succeed or fail. With decades of experience across global transactions, Marty shares a behind-the-scenes look at how acquisitions actually happen — and why leadership alignment, timing, and oper...

Most companies don’t fail because of a lack of ambition. They stall because they outgrow their structure. In this episode of Momentum Mode , Corey Ferengul and Mike Shannon sit down with Anthony Knierim to unpack what actually drives durable growth inside scaling organizations. From operational discipline and accountability to leadership evolution and system design, Anthony shares what separates c...

Most companies say “people are our most important asset,” but few can prove it. Tom Alexander is trying to change that. As co-founder and CEO of Holistic, Tom is building tools to help companies actually understand and improve the employee experience. Not with vague platitudes, but with measurable, actionable data. In this episode, we dig into what’s really changed since the early days of Holistic...

John Moakley has spent decades building, running, and investing in data-driven companies—long before “data science” had a name. In this conversation, John joins Mike and Corey to pull back the curtain on what private equity really looks for, how companies often miss the value sitting right in front of them, and why the current hype around AI mirrors the early days of data monetization. From turnin...

What does a board member really look for in a CEO? What signals competence, and what quietly erodes confidence? In this episode, Mike and Corey sit down with returning guest Ira Weiss—educator, investor, and longtime board member—to decode the often-misunderstood relationship between boards and founding teams. Drawing from over 60 investments and hundreds of founder interactions, Ira shares how he...

Anar Isman didn’t start Ageless RX to build a business—he started it to challenge one of humanity’s most accepted limitations: aging. What began as personal curiosity turned into a mission-driven company now generating over $70 million in annual revenue. In this conversation, Anar joins Mike and Corey to unpack how he built Ageless RX from a late-night side project into a fast-growing, telemedicin...

From a farm town in Ohio to penthouse events with billionaires in Chicago—Andrew Gunderman’s journey is anything but ordinary. By his early twenties, he had already founded and sold a startup, built founder communities from scratch, and begun curating some of the city’s most exclusive circles of entrepreneurs, investors, and influencers. In this conversation, Andrew joins Mike Shannon and Corey Fe...

Uncertainty isn’t just a buzzword -- it’s basically the operating environment for every leader in 2025. From economic volatility to the unknowns of AI’s impact, executives are navigating conditions where the variables outside their control keep multiplying. In this episode, Mike and Corey break down how to lead through the fog—identifying what’s controllable, building flexible plans for the uncont...

Arnav Dalmia didn’t set out to build a fitness brand for older adults—but listening to customers led him there. In this conversation, Arnav joins us to unpack the unlikely evolution of Cubii, the company he co-founded that sold for north of $100 million after a decade-long grind that began with Kickstarter and a desk pedal idea. They dig into why early investors passed, what everyone got wrong abo...

In this episode, Corey and Mike dive deep into one of the defining trends shaping AI’s next chapter: verticalization. They explore why general-purpose AI isn’t enough—and how the most compelling solutions are now being purpose-built for specific industries, starting with Mike’s own experience building an AI operating system for independent financial advisors. The conversation traces the journey fr...

In this episode, Mike and Corey sit down with Divey Gulati, co-founder of ShipBob, to explore a challenge few founders navigate successfully: staying in the seat as your company scales from basement hustle to global operation. They unpack what it takes to evolve from a single-product startup to a multi-product logistics platform, and why ShipBob’s culture—rooted in transparency, customer obsession...

In this episode, Mike and Corey dive into one of the most urgent divides forming in the business world: AI-native startups vs. legacy companies scrambling to retrofit their operations. They explore what it really means to build with AI at the core—not just as a tool, but as a fundamental shift in how problems are defined and solved. From legal bottlenecks to misaligned incentives, the conversation...

Guest Howard Tullman shares hard-won lessons from decades in tech—on grit, leadership, and why most startups are built on shaky ground. From AI’s limits to the collapse of workplace culture, this is a candid take on what founders, CEOs, and Gen Z need to hear right now.

What really changes when you build your second company? In this episode, Corey and Mike discuss the mindset shift that happens when you’ve done it before—from forcing a business plan onto the world to discovering what’s actually needed. They dive into why iteration beats vision, how to turn low-fidelity ideas into learning engines, and the underestimated power of staying lean. Whether you're scali...

What happens when a private equity executive and a PhD scientist team up to fix the way we consume news? In this episode, Mike Shannon and Corey Ferengul sit down with Tim Huelskamp, co-founder and CEO of 1440, the fast-growing media startup with over 4.5 million subscribers and some of the most enviable unit economics in digital publishing. Tim breaks down the strategic bets, early missteps, and...