OnlyFounders

What happens when you stop performing the version of yourself that makes everyone else comfortable? In this deeply personal solo episode of OnlyFounders, Anne Gillaspie opens up about a part of her identity she has been afraid to share publicly: her experience as an online dominatrix and the unexpected lessons it taught her about boundaries, consent, power, shame, communication, and human connecti...

What do you do when everything goes wrong and everyone is looking to you for answers? In this episode of OnlyFounders, Anne Gillaspie sits down with Alyssa Burns, CEO of Alyssa Burns Communications and a communications strategist specializing in crisis management and resolution, for an honest conversation about what happens when leaders, businesses, and organizations are under pressure. Alyssa sha...

What if the dreams you had as a child were never random—and some of them are finally showing up in your life today? In this solo episode of OnlyFounders, Anne Gillaspie goes back to the little girl she used to be: the dancer, actress, performer, and deeply curious kid who wanted to be seen, heard, and felt. She reflects on how those childhood desires were once treated as flaws—and how, at 42, she...

What happens when the business you built no longer feels like the business you’re meant to lead? In this episode of OnlyFounders, Anne Gillaspie sits down with Abby Bradetich Nash, a visibility strategist, embodiment mentor, business coach, web designer, and former professional dancer, for an honest conversation about founder identity, business evolution, visibility, and what it means to become th...

What if the things you think you should do aren’t actually aligned with what you want? In this solo episode of OnlyFounders, Anne Gillaspie gets honest about the expectations that can quietly shape our businesses, careers, families, and identities. Anne shares the personal realization that made her step back from aggressively pursuing a TEDx talk. After being told that successful speakers should h...

Can the person closest to you make or break your founder journey? Jenn Moyer-Smith and Craig Smith are entrepreneurs, storytellers, and partners in both business and life. Together, they've spent decades building businesses, helping brands connect with people, and learning what it really means to grow alongside someone you love. Jenn is the co-founder of Alice & Albert, a creative agency...

What happens when you wake up one morning and suddenly question everything you thought you knew about yourself? In this raw and deeply personal solo episode of OnlyFounders, Anne Gillaspie opens up about a morning when she felt completely overwhelmed — as a mother, entrepreneur, brand strategist, movement maker, and founder trying to build the next chapter of her life. After getting pulled into so...

What if your body isn’t broken — and you’ve just never been given the right information? In this episode of OnlyFounders, Anne Gillaspie sits down with Kimberly Cunningham, founder of Cunningham Clinic, nurse practitioner, entrepreneur, and author of Great Sex Never Gets Old. Kimberly shares the personal and professional journey that took her from a devastating injury and years of limited mobility...

You’re your own boss—but who holds you accountable when nobody is watching? For founders, CEOs, and entrepreneurs, freedom can be both the best part of building a business and one of its biggest challenges. Without a boss, structure, or someone telling you what to do, it’s easy to lose your boundaries, overbook your calendar, and eventually feel like you’re drowning. In this solo episode of OnlyFo...

What if the place where you feel pain isn't actually where the problem is? Laura Mahe is a manual osteopath and body worker based in Calgary, Alberta, with more than 25 years of experience in the health and wellness industry. After starting her career in massage therapy, Laura found her way to manual osteopathy—and discovered a completely different way of looking at the body, pain, and healin...

What if work-life balance isn’t actually the goal when you’re building a business and raising a family? In this solo episode of OnlyFounders, Anne Gillaspie gets honest about the reality of being a founder, a mother, and a partner—and what happens when the carefully planned systems of work and family simply stop working. After a summer filled with changing schedules, childcare challenges, unexpect...

What happens when nearly 30 years of supporting executives leads you to realize that your biggest career chapter might still be ahead of you? Bonnie Schutz is the founder and CEO of Tandem Resource Solutions, a US-based remote support and administrative recruiting firm helping founders stop being the bottleneck in their own business. After nearly three decades as a corporate Executive Assistant, B...

What if AI isn't here to replace the human part of your work—but to finally give you more time to actually be human? In this solo episode of OnlyFounders, Anne Gillaspie takes on one of the biggest fears surrounding AI: “Is AI going to replace my job?” Her answer is blunt: fuck no. Anne explores what human-centered leadership looks like in the age of AI, and why the qualities that make people...

What happens when a classically trained illustrator and electrical engineer decides the answer to AI's biggest problems isn't more data, it's less? Sayre Blake is the CEO and technical founder of SkillSaige, a soft-skills training platform that reimagines corporate learning as an actual video game, built by someone who's directed shipped titles, built enterprise VR training, an...

What happens when the guy who built a podcast marketing agency also builds the AI tool designed to make that agency obsolete? John Taylor isn't afraid of the answer. He's already got a number in mind, and the day someone hits it, he's gone. John is the CEO of Act3 Agency, a San Francisco based podcast marketing agency, and the founder of PodAgain.ai, an AI powered podcast promotion...

She built a mentoring program before she knew it was her business. What happens when the thing people keep pulling you aside to do quietly becomes the thing you can't stop building? Elissa Zylbershlag, M.Ed., is the Founder of Work Wise Labs, helping new leaders build the confidence to lead, manage, and hold a room. She's spent 20+ years in professional development, with leadership roles...

 "I don't believe in failure. You either learn something, or you're successful. There's no third option." That's the mindset that took Paige Arnof-Fenn from Wall Street burnout to Coca-Cola boardrooms to founding her own branding empire.  Paige Arnof-Fenn is the founder & CEO of Mavens & Moguls, a global branding and digital marketing firm based in Cambridge,...

What happens when the "soft skill" everyone tells you to hide turns out to be the thing that built your business? Rob Volpe spent nearly two decades running Ignite 360, a consumer insights and strategy firm he bootstrapped, self-funded, and grew without ever missing payroll — before exiting through acquisition. Along the way he became known as the Empathy Activist, author of the award-wi...

What if the version of you that built your first business had to die for the next one to exist? Anne Gillaspie doesn't think that's a metaphor; she thinks it's happened to her three times . In this first-ever solo episode of OnlyFounders, host Anne Gillaspie steps out from behind the mic and into the story herself. She's the founder and CEO of Fix & Form, a Denver branding...

In this episode, Anne and Matt sit down with Orly Zeewy, brand strategist and author of the upcoming book Why NOT Me? The Female Guide for Entrepreneurship , to unpack the unique challenges women face when building a business. Orly shares the story of her book's title—born from the universal imposter syndrome of "Why me?"—and explains why female founders need to embrace failure as f...

In this episode, Matt and Anne dive deep into the rapidly shifting landscape of software development and how AI is empowering non-technical founders to build their own bespoke solutions. They discuss the current headwinds facing the SaaS market , the addictive nature of the "builder bug" , and why relying on common sense and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) can bridge the coding expe...

In this episode, Matt and Anne debate the looming impact of the "silver tsunami" and what it actually means for the future of business and the workforce. While Anne argues that older generations provide irreplaceable human mentorship, culture, and relationship-building skills that AI cannot replicate, Matt contends that task-based AI tools and video tutorials are already replacing the ne...

In this inspiring episode, Anne and Matt are joined live from Los Angeles by Mojo, the founder and executive producer of Rainbow Creative. Mojo opens up about his incredible founder's journey, tracing his roots from customer service at Apple and marketing at Disney to launching coworking spaces for WeWork during their hyper-growth phase. He shares the raw truth about the physical and mental t...

In this episode, Anne and Matt sit down with PR veteran and brand strategist Adrienne Arieff to discuss her journey from running a successful firm for a decade to launching a brand-new, mission-driven venture. Adrienne gets real about the harsh realities of industry shifts and job loss, sharing why she firmly believes that age and experience are actually professional superpowers rather than liabil...

In this episode, Matt and Anne dive into how AI is drastically accelerating the founder's journey, cutting the traditional six-month software go-to-market cycle down to just two months. Matt shares his insights on using AI tools to build a fully functional MVP in mere weeks, shifting a founder's focus from heavy development to rapid distribution. They also explore the changing landscape...