The Best Business Podcast

Sarah Dusek is CEO of Under Canvas. Sarah and her husband, Jacob Dusek, were inspired by the African safari experience and they set out to create an immersive outdoor escape that serves as a unique bridge between travel and the outdoors. Under Canvas began in 2009 with the opening of an all-inclusive glamping adventure package and has since grown to include eight luxury glamping resorts and a cust...

Nick Shaw is the Founder and CEO of Renaissance Periodization, a training and diet services company for world-class athletes. Nick is also a competitive powerlifter and bodybuilder and has had the opportunity to work with numerous national level physique athletes as well as world class strength athletes. Nick holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan in Sport Management. He currently resides in...

Scott Gates is President of Western Window Systems. Prior to beginning his role as president and CEO in August 2015, Scott served as the company’s president and chief operating officer following assignments as vice president and general manager and marketing director. He played a key role in growing sales over 800% over a five-year period, an increase that led to Inc. magazine naming Western Windo...

Shaan Patel is the Founder of Prep Expert. Shaan grew up in Las Vegas in his parents' budget motel, attended inner-city public schools in the worst school district in the nation with a 40% dropout rate, and was clueless about standardized tests. After spending hundreds of hours studying for the SAT, he was able to raise his score from average to perfect — a feat achieved by only 0.02% of all high...

Jill Nelson is CEO of Ruby Receptionists. She's grown the business into a four-time winner of FORTUNE magazine’s top five Best Small Companies to Work for, and a Portland Business Journal’s Fastest Growing Companies in Oregon recipient for the record breaking past twelve years. Today, Ruby's 600+ employees provide friendly, live, receptionist service integrated with a "front desk in your pocket" m...

Mike Ryan's company (RSP Inc.) is an end-to-end solution provider for engineering, prototyping, production, logistics, warehousing, and order fulfillment. RSP Inc.'s core product offering includes membrane switches, plastic injection molding, silicone rubber molding, printed circuit boards, electronics manufacturing, packaging and turnkey contract manufacturing. RSP has over 120,000 square feet of...

Raine Mahdi is the founder and CEO of Hawk Packaging . He has over 15 years of experience in Sales, Marketing, and Business Development. The industries he was involved throughout his career were in Food, Manufacturing, and Importing. This Episode is Sponsored By: Gusto is making Payroll, Benefits, and HR easier for small businesses. In fact, 9 out of 10 customers say Gusto is easier to use than ot...

Trever Varney is a driven American businessman, entrepreneur, speaker and the owner of Next Ride, a multiline full-service motorcycle dealership offering financing, sales, apparel, and service. With two locations in Tampa Bay, Trever’s brand has been a staple for the areas riding community since starting his business in 2010. This Episode is Sponsored By: Volusion is the easiest and fastest all-in...

Gail Davis is the Founder and President of GDA Speakers. Under her passionate leadership, GDA Speakers has vetted and curated a number of highly qualified speakers who they trust and deliver with confidence. In the first 17 years, they assembled a database of over 5,000 speakers. Then in order to add more value to their clients they cut the list in half. Only featuring and working with the top spe...

Fernando C. oversees operations, product development, and finance of MarketplaceOps. Prior to founding MarketplaceOps, Fernando came from tech, where as Head of Sales, he helped his company secure over $30M in venture funding and scale to over 80 employees. In 2014, Fernando jumped ship and cofounded MarketplaceOps with his best friend Nick from the University of Southern California. Together they...

Mike McDerment is the co-founder and CEO of FreshBooks, the world’s #1 cloud accounting software for self-employed professionals. Built-in 2003 after he accidentally saved over an invoice, Mike spent 3.5 years growing FreshBooks from his parents’ basement. Since then, over 24 million people have used FreshBooks to save time billing, and collect billions of dollars. This Episode is Sponsored By: Th...

Jason Szmurlo is the Owner and Founder of BBQ King Smokehouse. BBQ King Smokehouse has been feeding foodies flavor-packed BBQ food for over 8 years. His restaurant was built with two things in mind - to serve great BBQ just the way they like it, and to provide diners with a place to hang out. This Episode is Sponsored By: Keeps offers proven treatment that could combat the symptoms of hair loss. K...

Zachary B. Smith is the CEO of Anywhere, Inc. What started out as an after-college travel adventure in Central America has turned into a multi-million dollar travel and tourism business with over 200,000 adventurers served globally by Anywhere, Inc, a hybrid travel agency co-founded by Zachary Smith and Anthony Landis. This Episode is Sponsored By: The Wall Street Journal named the Meb Faber Show...

Megan Smith is the CEO at Symbia Logistics. Growing up on the floor of a warehouse, Megan has been getting her hands dirty since day one. She’s started and sold multiple businesses and found opportunities in the most challenging of situations. Megan is a pioneer among women in the rugged logistics industry, and she is now situated at the top of her game overseeing a workforce of 1,300 employees. T...

Saleem S. Khatri is CEO of Lavu Inc, a global mobile point of sale software and payments platform. Before joining Lavu, Mr. Khatri was Co-Founder and CEO of Instavest, Inc., a technology focused investment manager backed by Y Combinator... This Episode is Sponsored By: The Simple Habit app offers quick audio meditation so that busy people like you can squeeze a little tranquility into their day. T...

Jordan Kivelstadt founded Free Flow Wines with Dan Donahoe in 2009 and has been leading the growth of the business since the beginning. Jordan was trained as an engineer at Tufts University before moving on to management consulting for over two years. In 2006, Jordan began his career in the wine industry as a production manager for The Donum Estate. Since then... This Episode is Sponsored By: Rhon...

Jim Kalb is currently the President of OptiFuse, an innovative high-growth manufacturer of power protection components distributed by high-quality select wholesalers throughout the world. OptiFuse has been listed on the Inc. 5000 for the last 5 years, as well as being named as one of Forbe's magazines "25 Best Small Companies" in 2017. This Episode is Sponsored By: The Simple Habit app offers quic...

David Hauser is the Co-founder of Grasshopper & SuperFat. Grasshopper is a company that serves and empowers entrepreneurs via its powerful tools like Grasshopper and Chargify. Grasshopper Group was listed by Inc. Magazine among the 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America... This Episode is Sponsored By: Brandcrowd is an amazing online tool that can help you make an amazing logo design...

Nicole Snow is the Founder and CEO at Darn Good Yarn. Born in northern NJ, Nicole grew up in a log cabin & spent hours playing “craft corner” with an old fashioned cash register & her parents’ office supplies. Nicole later attended Clarkson University, starting a successful business during her freshman year and... This Episode is Sponsored By: Pantheon is the leading web ops provider, powe...

Josh Turner has been an entrepreneur since he was a teenager. He is the founder and CEO of LinkedSelling, a LinkedIn marketing agency recognized by many to be one of the leading companies in their space. His company also operates Linked University, an online training program for LinkedIn marketing and sales resources. This Episode is Sponsored By: Pantheon is the leading web ops provider, powering...

Ryan Moor is the CEO and Founder of Ryonet and AllMade. Ryan Moor was born to parents Jim and Lynae in Portland, Oregon on April 15th, 1981. His early business ventures included playing music, mowing lawns and fields, miscellaneous yard work and mole extermination. In high school, after a short gig as a “pooper scooper” at a local pet boarding house, Ryan expanded to washing windows and... This Ep...

Rick Skidmore is the Founder and CEO at Timberlane, Inc. Having been born an entrepreneur, it should have been clear early on that despite considerable success in the insurance and investment industry, Rick's future was outside the traditional career path. Rick founded his current company, Timberlane Inc., in 1995, based on a passion and a gaping need in the industry. This Episode is Sponsored By:...

Nicole Sahin is the CEO and Founder of Globalization Partners. Nicole Sahin’s mission is to eliminate barriers to doing business internationally and building global teams. As founder and CEO of Globalization Partners, she is recognized for having created their innovative Global Expansion Platform, which empowers companies to hire anyone, anywhere within a few business days – expanding their global...

Dan Simpson is the Chief Executive Officer at Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe. Dan was named CEO in February 2018 after serving as Taziki’s Chief Innovation Officer starting in May 2016. Previously, he was a Taziki's franchisee and managing partner at Fresh Hospitality from January 2015 until May 2016. This Episode is Sponsored By: Gusto is making Payroll, Benefits, and HR easier for small businesses....

Douglas Bouton is the President and COO at Halo Top Creamery. The ice cream brand was founded in 2011 by former attorney Justin Woolverton of Latham & Watkins LLP. Woolverton, who had hypoglycemic diet restrictions, began making ice cream in his own kitchen. Woolverton met Bouton, another former attorney, in a Los Angeles lawyers’ basketball league. This small business has currently grown to o...