Founders and Empanadas

In the latest episode of Founders and Empanadas, Jessica Bell van der Wal, founder of Frame, shares her journey from healthcare executive to entrepreneur and family-building advocate. Over empanadas, Jessica reveals the deeply personal and professional moments that inspired her to create a company focused on making fertility and family planning more accessible and less stigmatized. Jessica's path...

Building a startup is often likened to a marathon, not a sprint. For Monji Dolon, founder of Measured, the journey has been deeply intertwined with personal health—physical, mental, and emotional. His experiences as a first-generation immigrant, a startup founder, and someone who transformed his health paint a compelling picture of resilience and innovation.

Success stories in tech and business often sound the same. Hustle harder, sleep less, squeeze more into every minute. Alison Campbell lived that story for twenty years, climbing through the ranks at Workhuman, Wayfair, and Morgan Stanley. But she noticed something most people don't talk about: the same playbook that launches careers often ends up breaking the people running them. As the founder of...

In this episode of Founders & Empanadas, Joshua Eidelman was joined by Brett Doyle, Founder & CEO of Mosaic Solutions. Brett's been leading Mosaic in the Philippines, helping businesses in the food, beverage, and retail sectors get smarter with data to boost their profits. From optimizing inventory to managing entire restaurant operations, Mosaic’s platform has become a key player in South...

Dante DiCicco ’s family has been running Italian spots in Central California since 1956. So when he saw how outdated processes were making life harder for small restaurant owners like his family, he knew there had to be a better way. Enter Zitti : a platform leveling the playing field for smaller restaurants, enabling them to operate with big-chain efficiency. In this Founders & Empanadas epis...

On this episode of Founders & Empanadas, I sat down with my cousin, Steven Eidelman . We both grew up with entrepreneurial fathers who emigrated from the former Soviet Union, and their journeys had a huge impact on how we approach our own work as second-generation founders. Steven is the co-founder of Modern Animal and previously started Whistle. Together, we reflect on what we’ve learned from...

Samantha Rose joined me this week on Founders and Empanadas to talk about the role failure has played in shaping her businesses including GIR , Mvnifest , and Endless Commerce. Whether it was product recalls (faulty tongs), software pivots, or figuring out how to build a remote team in Colombia, her career has been defined by learning from missteps, and finding ways to laugh even when things are t...

Mike Rama is the Founder of Brands Meet Creators , he joined Founders and Empanadas to share his tips for pivoting a business successfully. In this episode, Mike explores this theme more in depth and gets into: - His experience with hiring and managing a remote team in the Philipines - The challenges and benefits of running in-person creator events - His approach to building a community-driven bus...

In this episode, I’m exploring the very exciting world of… Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) I took some time to get granular with some of the common challenges I see. Here’s what we'll cover: - Motivating remote teams - Cultural nuances when working with teams from the Philippines and Colombia - Surprising benefits of outsourcing through BPO - What to look for in BPO contracts - Important qu...

Before Santi Jaramillo was an executive coach, he was an entrepreneur that started, or was a key player in several companies now worth almost $100M. Drawing on years of doing the work himself, he now helps founders navigate the complexities of growing their businesses. He's also the co-author of "Agile Engagement" and was recognized as Indiana's Latino Businessman of the Year in...

Meet Ryan Vaughn - coach, CEO at Inside-Out Leadership . Over 15 years, he founded and led three companies. His last venture, VNN, became the largest and fastest-growing high school sports marketing platform in the US. He raised $20M from leading VCs, building a team of over 100 employees and scaling VNN to capture nearly 20% of the US market. From pitching to scaling and managing hyper-growth, Ry...

This episode is a bit different from our usual format. Instead of hosting a guest, Joshua Eidelman , CEO at NeoWork , is taking the hot seat to address the questions that have been hitting my DMs. From the strategic advantages of outsourcing to the challenges of managing remote teams across different cultures, he delves into the nitty-gritty of building and scaling a business, and also touch on so...

Starting as a writer, Rob Hoffman ’s career took a turn when he jumped into sales at a startup, closing $500,000 in his first year and doubling that the next. This was the foundation for co-founding Contact Studios , where Rob serves as CEO and leverages his blend of content expertise and sales acumen to help marketers scale their content production without increasing headcount. In this episode, R...

This week's episode features Tyler Denk , the brilliant mind behind beehiiv . If you aren’t familiar, Tyler's journey is one that's sure to inspire - from teaching himself how to code and founding his first company, VentureStorm, to playing an instrumental role in Morning Brew's incredible growth and $75 million exit. Now, as the CEO and Co-Founder of beehiiv, Tyler is empowering c...

In this very special first episode of Founders & Empanadas, I had the pleasure of chatting with Mark Pecota, the CEO and Co-Founder of LaunchBoom. Mark's journey in crowdfunding started back in 2013 with the EcoQube campaign on Kickstarter and he has since helped clients raise over $100 million across 40+ countries. He also wrote the best-selling book Crowdfunded (seriously, just search &q...