Episodes

In a world buzzing with AI advancements, Masumi Nakamura is focused on the one thing technology often overlooks: the people. After 25 years as a top engineering leader at giants like Cisco and PayPal, Masumi realized the biggest challenges weren't in the code, but in the complex human dynamics of a team. In this episode, he introduces askMyu, his private AI assistant designed to navigate the "people side" of work. This isn't about replacing jobs; it's about enhancing our most human skills. For a...

Mark McSweeney, a 30-year veteran of the association and nonprofit world, shares powerful insights on governance, strategy, and leadership that apply to any business. He reveals the universal patterns of success he's observed across countless organizations and breaks down why even the most unique businesses face similar challenges. This episode is a masterclass in strategic thinking, teaching you how to get out of the "weeds," facilitate better conversations, and ask the kind of questions that l...

Every entrepreneur loves the superhero story: the founder who swoops in at midnight to fix the crashed server, write the perfect sales copy, and hold the whole business together. But what if that superhero is actually trapped in a cage built from their own competence? In this special Solo Sunday, Brian is unplugged and spending time with his family, so two AI hosts take over the feed. Nobody on Brian’s team prompted or directed them. They chose to turn the microphone around and dissect Brian’s o...

In this special Collab Week episode of Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur, 8 founders come together to answer one deceptively powerful question: Think back to a flop or failure you’ve had in your business. How did it end up feeding something that worked? This episode covers ad campaigns that flopped, teams scaled too fast, AI projects that got ahead of the technology, a contractor who never delivered, an expo full of the wrong audience, a deal lost on the two-yard line, and a lot more. Together, th...

Nils Olsen, a former Airborne Infantry Officer, is rewriting the rules of defense technology with his AI-powered startup, Six Tango. In this episode, Nils shares his incredible journey from the front lines to founder, revealing how he took a problem he experienced firsthand in the military and turned it into a groundbreaking business. He unpacks the "Moneyball for the military" strategy, showing how data can uncover hidden opportunities in any industry. This episode is a must-listen for any entr...

Overwhelmed by a daily flood of 100+ emails, Curtis Boortz decided to solve his own problem by building a custom AI tool. That tool evolved into ForthWrite, an AI platform that drafts emails in your authentic voice, directly within your inbox. In this episode, Curtis shares his incredible journey from finance professional to solo tech founder, revealing how he transformed a personal pain point into a scalable SaaS business. This episode is a masterclass for any entrepreneur looking to leverage A...

Are you tired of feeling like your team is constantly distracted, solving the same problems over and over? In this powerful episode, former C-suite executive Rachel Honoway reveals how to break the cycle of "creative avoidance" and rewire your organization for true alignment and explosive growth. She shares why most leadership teams aren't nearly as aligned as they think and provides a simple exercise to expose the gaps immediately. For any wantrepreneur or entrepreneur who wants their team to m...

Feeling stuck, burned out, or hitting the same revenue wall year after year? This episode is your permission slip to stop searching for the next "perfect" strategy. We sit down with Shervon Laurice, a licensed psychotherapist and transformational coach who reveals why your biggest business breakthroughs have nothing to do with your marketing plan or sales funnel. She explains that real, sustainable growth comes from developing your inner world—regulating your nervous system, consciously shaping ...

As Q4 kicks into high gear, the pressure is on to launch new products, create flashy promos, and find new customers to finish the year strong. But what if your biggest opportunities aren't in what’s new, but in what’s old? In this Solo Sunday episode, Brian shares his all-time favorite, most effective, and deceptively simple strategy for generating massive momentum: the reactivation campaign. Forget overcomplicating things. Brian breaks down why reaching out to past prospects—even the ones who g...

In this special Collab Week episode of Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur, eight founders come together to answer one deeply honest question: Take us back to a lean season in your business. How did you get through it, and how do you prepare differently now? Some are in a lean season right now. Some are still learning from their first one. Others have watched their busy seasons and slow seasons flip on them. It’s a wide-ranging episode about relationships, pipelines, cash, self-care, and why the best...

Ever frantically searched for your keys, wallet, or even your luggage at the airport? Daniel Daoura, the founder and CEO of Pebblebee, transformed that universal feeling of anxiety into a global tech company. Drawing on over a decade of experience developing tracking systems for military assets at Boeing, Daniel applied his deep expertise to solve an everyday problem. This episode is a masterclass in turning specialized knowledge into a consumer-focused brand, navigating the complexities of hard...

In this episode, Brian sits down with Micah Alexander, the 22-year-old co-founder of Junior Innovators, a company revolutionizing entrepreneurship education in K-12 schools. Micah shares his powerful journey from launching teenage businesses like snow shoveling and t-shirt companies to building a national education venture that teaches students to do business, not just study it. This episode is a masterclass in the "ready, fire, aim" philosophy, emphasizing that the best way to learn entrepreneu...

In this episode, Brian sits down with Matt Justice, a career finance expert turned AI founder who is revolutionizing how SaaS companies interact with their own numbers. Matt shares his journey from feeling the intense frustration of data wrangling in corporate finance to founding SMPL.ai, a platform that gives teams their time back and empowers them with true financial intelligence. This isn't just a talk about spreadsheets and compliance; it's a masterclass in shifting your mindset to see finan...

What if you could condense weeks of expert-level analysis into just a few minutes? Former McKinsey Partner Raman Julka is doing exactly that. In this episode, he breaks down his journey from advising global corporations to building two AI-native companies, ValueChaser.ai and Chance-Me.ai, with a radically lean team. This conversation is a masterclass in how AI is shattering the traditional barriers to entry in business. You’ll learn why your human judgment, not coding skills, is your most valuab...

Ever have one of those days where the motivation just isn't there? You know you should work on your business, but you're tired, uninspired, or just don't feel like it. In this raw and personal Solo Sunday episode, Brian pulls back the curtain on the single most important trait for entrepreneurial success: just keep doing it. Recorded at 11:30 PM on his birthday, this episode isn't about theory; it's a real-time example of what it takes to show up when everything in you wants to quit. If you’ve e...

In this special Collab Week episode of Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur, six founders come together to answer one deeply personal question: What's one thing you faked… until you made it? You'll hear from Sheri Roder of Get UnStuck HQ, Bill McCumber of Rowan Elder, Wendy Votroubek of Integrity Legal Nurse Consulting, Sara Reece of Workmind, Patricia Ballivian of Altura Strategies, and Jane Alexander of Emma Advisor. Each of them talks about a moment when they had to show up before they felt ready. ...

Are you so focused on growth that you're accidentally breaking the very things that made your business special? In this episode, we sit down with Jeri Larsen, a former C-suite executive turned founder of Manage for Good. Jeri reveals why the traditional, siloed approach to people, operations, and growth is a recipe for disaster during scale. She provides a masterclass on how to navigate the painful but necessary "inflection points" of growth by building a solid foundation first. This episode is ...

Ever felt like your corporate experience puts you in a box? Think again. This episode features Ali Benslimane, a tech veteran from Google and Stripe who channeled his experience into solving a deeply human problem: the bureaucratic nightmare of moving to another country. Ali shares how he and his co-founder built Aelos, a company that combines high-tech efficiency with a high-touch concierge service to help Americans relocate to France. This episode is a masterclass in leveraging your background...

Are you making marketing decisions based on gut feelings and chasing "good ideas" that never seem to move the needle? In this episode, growth strategist Izzy Sapien breaks down why this intuition-driven approach is the very thing keeping so many businesses stuck in the $2-5 million "no man's land." She reveals the critical shift from relying on grit to implementing disciplined, data-informed frameworks that create real momentum. This episode is a masterclass for any founder feeling the pressure ...

In this episode, Brian sits down with Drew Alexander Forde, the world-renowned musician known as "That Viola Kid" who has masterfully blended artistic excellence with sharp entrepreneurial instincts. Drew shares his incredible journey from playing viola in NYC subways to performing with legends like Adele and Kanye West, and how those experiences forged his business mindset. This isn't just a story about music; it's a masterclass in turning a passion into a multi-faceted career, building a perso...

We spend countless hours perfecting our "welcome mat" — our onboarding sequences, sales calls, and initial client experience. But what happens when a client is on their way out? In this Solo Sunday episode, Brian pulls back the curtain on a strategy he’s never heard anyone else discuss in nearly 20 years of entrepreneurship: the offboarding plan. He argues that the way you handle the end of a client relationship is the ultimate test of your integrity and the most powerful, overlooked opportunity...

In this special Collab Week episode of Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur, eight founders come together to answer one deeply personal question: Have you ever been afraid to give something up, only for it to turn out to be a great decision? You'll hear from Sheri Roder, Nicholas Cook, Brandon Pankey, David Beltran, John Lunsford, Raamon Newman, Drew Mehta, and Zeyno Dodd, as they each open up about the identity, title, plan, or old way of doing things they were scared to release — and what it gave t...

In this powerhouse episode, we sit down with Jaime Pesquera, the CEO and co-founder of the Madrid-based startup accelerator, Jupiter Base. Jaime breaks down the new rules for building a successful business in the age of AI, revealing how founders can create a protective "moat" around their ideas to thrive against fast-moving competition. This conversation is a masterclass for any entrepreneur feeling overwhelmed by the pace of technology. You'll learn how to leverage AI as a growth accelerator, ...

Tired of feeling like success has to be a constant, grinding hustle? This episode is your antidote to entrepreneurial burnout. Kelly Csiszar, a former top-performing enterprise sales rep turned executive mindset coach, reveals why more strategies and tactics often fail to produce the results we want. She explains that the real breakthroughs happen when we look inward to understand and rewire the subconscious patterns that drive our behavior. For entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs, this conversatio...