Self Funded

In this episode of Self Funded, Chrissie sits down with Eryn Schultz, founder of Her Personal Finance, to talk about building a trust-first business in an industry where trust is often hard to earn. Eryn shares how she went from working in grocery retail and asking hard questions about 401(k) fees to creating an advice-only financial planning firm that serves women and couples navigating major lif...

Michelle Penczak didn’t set out to build a multi-million dollar company. She just needed a job that could survive military life. After being turned down again and again because she might “move someday,” Michelle built her own path — starting as a virtual assistant, launching an LLC during her husband’s deployment, and eventually co-founding Squared Away. Today, her fully bootstrapped company has e...

In this episode of Self Funded, Dana Hork, Founder & CEO of Beers With Friends, shares how she transformed her frustration with the traditional agency model into a five-day sprint business designed for modern marketers. Drawing on her experience at Wonder, Walmart, and Jet.com, Dana explains how she and her co-founder built a creative microagency rooted in trust, speed, and focus—offering “cre...

In this solo episode of Self Funded, Chrissie shares an aha moment that’s been forming over the past few years: the rise of the experience entrepreneur. She walks through how this idea emerged from watching talented professionals leave traditional roles and start building businesses around their own experience — not by starting over, but by changing how that experience is delivered. Chrissie defin...

In this episode of Self Funded, Chrissie sits down with Peyton Vitter, Founder and Managing Partner of SMG Capital, to unpack what institutional-grade finance actually looks like for growing, multi-unit businesses. Peyton shares his path from private equity and private banking to building a CFO advisory firm that supports restaurants, franchisees, and real estate operators navigating complexity, g...

In this solo episode of Self Funded, Chrissie Francona walks through how she’s intentionally setting herself up for success in 2026. She breaks down the two pillars she uses to guide her strategy, clear direction and the right enablers, and gets specific about the systems she’s putting in place this year. Chrissie shares why she’s managing energy instead of time, how she’s using metrics to stay ob...

In this episode of Self Funded, Chrissie Francona talks with Phil Levine, founder of Golden Gate Recruits, about how he turned his own jump from Bain to startup life into a specialized recruiting firm that helps ex consultants and finance talent land roles in tech and venture backed companies. Phil shares what it took to build credibility in a still-nascent career path, how he convinced both found...

In this solo episode of  Self Funded , Chrissie Francona reflects on her first full year building The Long Game and shares three mistakes she made starting a self funded business. From launching with the end vision instead of revenue, to mismanaging her calendar, to getting emotionally attached to early opportunities, Chrissie breaks down what didn’t work and what she would do differently today. S...

In this solo episode of  Self Funded , Chrissie Francona explores a simple but powerful idea: you already have the foundation of a business inside you. Drawing inspiration from The Wizard of Oz, she breaks down how to identify your “spark” using lived experience, professional expertise, and real feedback from others. Chrissie shares practical exercises for uncovering what you are uniquely qualifie...

In this episode of Self Funded, Chrissie Francona sits down with Taylor Crane, founder of Fractional Jobs, to unpack how fractional work became both his career path and his business. Taylor shares how burnout from a venture-backed startup led him to fractional product work, why he deliberately used that income to bootstrap his next company, and how Fractional Jobs grew from a simple newsletter int...

In this episode, Chrissie sits down with Tamara Muñoz-Whilden, founder of Behind the Screens, to unpack how she transformed a decade of Disney and Starbucks operations experience into a fast-growing agency that helps founders finally step out of the weeds. Tamara shares her path from burnout to entrepreneurship, why scalable systems are the “secret sauce” to consistent delivery, and how she evolve...

In this episode of Self Funded, Chrissie Francona sits down with Tim Williamson and Gagan Singh, the leaders behind Acquire2Win, to unpack their journey from colleagues at Salesforce to making their own decisions to leave and a collective decision to launch Acquire2Win. Drawing from years of experience inside serial acquirers like Salesforce, Comcast, and Nielsen, Tim and Gagan share the expertise...

In this solo episode of Self Funded, Chrissie Francona breaks down one of the most underrated skills in building a business around yourself: learning how to say no. She shares how to protect your time when your calendar is blank, how to handle pick-your-brain requests and general catch ups, how to decide which business opportunities are worth pursuing, and how to evaluate full time offers without...

In this episode, Chrissie Francona talks with Joy Taylor about a career shaped by grit, reinvention, and the willingness to bet on herself more than once. Joy shares how growing up in a tiny Missouri town running a family ferry business taught her to do the work, how George Steinbrenner “firing” her changed her career trajectory, and how she went from GE’s M and A team to building and selling mult...

Packy McCormick has built a one-of-a-kind career around curiosity. As the writer behind Not Boring and GP of Not Boring Capital, he’s turned a side project newsletter into a thriving ecosystem that bridges media and venture. In this episode, Packy and Chrissie talk about burning the boats to bet on yourself, how deep research and writing became his superpower, and why the Internet still rewards pe...

In this episode of Self Funded , Chrissie Francona talks with Pat Petitti, CEO and Co-Founder of Catalant, about how a class project at Harvard Business School grew into one of the most disruptive forces in consulting. Pat shares the story behind Catalant’s beginnings as “Hourly Nerd,” its evolution into a platform now powering thousands of independent consultants, and what he calls “Consulting 2....

In this episode of Self Funded, Chrissie Francona talks with Leslie Zaikis, marketing strategist, fractional CMO, and co-founder of The New HQ, about building a self-funded career long before it was trendy. Leslie shares how leaving big consulting for an early-stage startup and its eventual crash led her to carve out a 13-year path as an independent consultant. She and Chrissie explore what it rea...

In the premiere episode of Self Funded, host Chrissie Francona lays the foundation for what it truly means to build a business around yourself, without waiting for permission. Drawing from her own journey and years of observing a growing movement of professionals creating profitable, purpose-driven ventures, Chrissie breaks down the core ideas behind being “self funded”: leveraging your experience...

We’re living in a new era of work, one where ambitious professionals are building businesses around their own experience and expertise. Self Funded is a podcast about this movement: creating a career on your own terms, without waiting for permission. Hosted by Chrissie Francona, it’s for anyone ready to rethink the rules of success and build something profitable, durable, and fully their own. This...