We Live to Build

What happens during a 5-day dark retreat? My guest, Matthew Stafford, a Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) expert, spent 121 hours in total darkness. He explains how the experience rewired his brain, teaching him that our limitations are just "consensual hallucinations." Matthew masterfully connects these deep psychological lessons to the world of e-commerce and CRO, explaining why simplicity and...

Imagine building a successful tech company, only to have your own uncle sue you, claiming he owns everything you built. My guest Derrick Girard, the Owner of DGirard Consulting and the Author of Put to the Test, reveals the one sentence our lawyers forgot that almost cost me my company, a tiny oversight that opened the door to a multi-million dollar, multi-year legal war. This single mistake snowb...

In a world of biohacking and performance optimization, a growing number of entrepreneurs are turning to an unconventional tool: psilocybin mushrooms. In this deep-dive conversation with Adam Schell, founder of the 7-figure supplement brand Brain Supreme, we ask: Does Microdosing Mushrooms Make You a Better Leader? Adam shares his complete microdosing protocol, while I share my own personal journey...

Arpan Nanavati is the Co-Founder & CEO of Cimphony, a Silicon Valley backed startup that recently raised over $5M USD, and the company has an AI that helps startups get access to smarter legal advice for less money. How do you build an AI that can handle the complexities of legal work without hallucinating? You don't build one AI; you build a team of them. I spoke with Arpan Nanavati, CEO of C...

Want to know how to succeed in AI when new tools are released every day? The answer is simpler than you think. My guest, serial entrepreneur and AI venture studio founder Sze Wong, shares his secret: you just have to be less lazy than everyone else. In this deep dive, Sze also tells the story of why he turned down a $50 million acquisition offer and the psychological fear that held him back. This...

Building a seven-figure, fully remote business is the dream for many entrepreneurs. My guest, Matthew Yahes, CEO of Extend Your Team, has actually done it. In this interview, he shares how I built a 7-figure agency with a team in the philippines, leveraging highly skilled, mid-career talent to scale his operations. Before finding this success, Matthew shares the hard lessons he learned from two ma...

David Miller is the Founder and CEO of Alchemy of Scale, a coaching practice that helps entrepreneurs systematize their operations and unlock true business growth. Imagine hiring a trader with a perfect resume, only to have them go rogue and lose millions of dollars in seconds. In this episode, David shares the full story of How a Rogue Trader Cost My Company $10 Million, including the six-year ba...

What happens when a lawyer helps build an AI that could one day make his own job obsolete? I sat down with Ryaan Ibtisam, a practicing lawyer and the Co-Founder of Symphony AI, to get his candid take. He gives a lawyer's honest opinion on AI replacing him, discussing his initial fear of the technology and his prediction that law firms may hire 80% fewer junior associates in the future. We also cov...

Tired of spending weeks sifting through candidates and conducting repetitive first-round interviews? My guest, Vol Goloshuk, CEO of AI Champ, is building the solution. We discuss his company, which has created an AI that conducts 100 interviews so you don't have to, providing a shortlist of the best candidates in minutes, not weeks. We also explore why a human is still essential for making the fin...

Joshua Hale is the owner of JH Media and Consulting, which leverages cutting-edge AI technology and strategic business insights to help entrepreneurs realize their full potential. Could an AI know you better than you know yourself? In this interview with AI consultant Joshua Hale, we explore the shocking personal and professional uses of artificial intelligence. In a deeply vulnerable moment, Josh...

Your obsession with high ROI might be secretly harming your company's long term growth. In this interview with Brook Shepard, CEO of Mason Interactive, we discuss the core reason why You're Killing Your Business By Only Focusing on Existing Customers. Brook explains how an over reliance on existing customers leads to a death spiral. He also reveals the number one sign of a sophisticated founder an...

Salim Rennewi is the Founder and CEO of SellAbroad, which helps brands expand into the MENA market (Middle East). You've Chosen the Hardest Business Model on Earth. In this interview, Sell Abroad co-founder Salim Rennewi validates the immense difficulty of e-commerce and explains that the natural progression for an operator often involves learning painful lessons by burning money, losing employees...

Russell Brand is the Founder & Managing Director of Resonsible, which consults companies on their IT and general strategy, and he says your startup will fail because you don't listen. In this interview, startup advisor Russell Brand gives a brutally honest assessment of why most founders fail. He argues that as many as 19 out of 20 companies fail because their founders don't listen, primarily...

Matt Strippelhoff is the Partner and CEO/CRO of Red Hawk Technologies, which develops game-changing custom software and platform integration solutions for private equity and mid-market clients. AI Can Write Code, But It Can't Do Architecture. In this interview, Matt gives his expert take on the current state of AI in software development. He explains that while AI tools are great for expediting co...

You Don't Know Why Your Customers Are Really Buying From You. In this interview, RevHeat founder and CEO Ken Lundin argues that most founders, even those at $200 million companies, are clueless about why their customers truly buy from them . He explains that founders often think customers are buying features (like a report with four colors), but for any high-ticket item, the real reason is much de...

Is Your Business Just a High-Paying Job You Can't Sell? In this interview, M&A expert Cameron Bishop explains the critical difference between a valuable, transferable company and a "lifestyle business" that is almost solely dependent on the owner for its success and has no real exit value. Cameron also shares the craziest story he's ever seen in an acquisition: a former owner who came back and...

Stop Selling to the Masses, Sell to Rich People Instead. In this interview, Startups.com Chief Strategy Officer Ed Kang shares his #1 lesson for e-commerce success: stop trying to sell to the "mediocre middle" and instead focus on getting your product into the hands of "rich early adopters". He argues that wealthy people are the best evangelists, and getting one influential person to talk about yo...

Saahil Mehta is the Co-Founder of Resnet World, which helps businesses increase profitability. Your Pitch Deck Is Garbage if You Don't Have a 'Why'. In this interview, angel investor Saahil Mehta shares the story of tearing apart a friend's pitch deck because it was all "what" and "how" but completely missed the founder's "why" . He explains that investors want to see the founder's personal story...

Jeff Sauer is the Co-Founder of MeasureU.com, which helps brands better understand the data which runs their business. The 3-Year Process of Prepping an Agency For a Private Equity Sale. In this interview, agency founder and angel investor Jeff Sauer details the three-year journey of preparing his $7.5M/year marketing agency for an exit . He explains the critical shift from a high-growth, low-prof...

You Need a CFO Before You've Made a Mess. In this interview, fractional CFO for SaaS Brands, Anthony Nitsos explains why startups should bring in financial expertise early. He warns that waiting until you're bigger means a new CFO will have to "clean up a mess" that has been created, which is always more expensive than setting up your accounting and finance correctly from the beginning. Anthony al...

How We Raised $4.2 Million With No Product. In this interview, Thesys co-founder Rabi Guha explains how he and his co-founder successfully raised a $4.2 million seed round in just three months with only an idea. He reveals the two critical factors for their success: a strong founder-market fit from years of industry experience, and a powerful network that provided the "warm intros" that VCs priori...

Your Company's Data Is Garbage (And It Will Kill Your AI). In this interview, Pipeliner CRM's Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer, John Golden, gives a stark warning to founders: the biggest challenge for companies implementing AI is data integrity. He argues that "most companies' data is not clean. It's garbage," and that even the best AI will fail if it's fed bad data ("garbage in, garbage ou...

Your 30-Page Pitch Deck Is Getting Deleted Immediately. In this interview, investor Almaz Edilbaev, Founder of chAngels, a Chicago based Angel Syndicate, gives a brutally honest look at how he evaluates startups. He explains why a 30-page deck or a long email is an instant red flag, and reveals that an experienced investor can decide if your company is worth a deeper look in 30 seconds or less by...

You're Building Your Advisory Board All Wrong. In this interview, Breen Sullivan, founder of The Fourth Effect, explains that most early-stage founders don't understand the difference between a governing board and an advisory board, how to compensate advisors, or what they should even be getting from them . She argues that the primary purpose of an advisory board for a pre-seed or seed-stage start...

Letting Go of My Failed Startup, My Failed Marriage, and This Podcast. In this final episode, I've decided to end the We Live to Build podcast after four years and 215 other episodes. I feel the show is holding me back, forcing me to stay connected to my past, my failed marriage, and my failed software company. To move on from the anxiety and panic attacks, I have to let it go. I'm also letting go...