21st Century Entrepreneurship

#541 Luke Girgis: How Do You Turn $400K a Month Into Breakeven? 19.08.2026 11min

Luke Girgis is a founder, operator and author, and we spoke about why he believes companies should be designed around workflows rather than org charts. The idea grew out of businesses where revenue increased but efficiency did not: while running Rolling Stone and Variety Australia, margins never exceeded 4% because new revenue continually required more people. Looking back, Luke says, “we were just buying revenue with labor.” That lesson became urgent when Luke stepped into an interim C...

#540 Marissa Alfe & Lauren Fitzgerald: Why Isn't Talent Enough? 17.08.2026 24min

Marissa Alfe & Lauren Fitzgerald is the partnership behind a boutique talent agency PRTNRS MGMT, and we spoke about what it takes to turn creative talent into a durable business. After years in artist representation, they launched their own agency as COVID upended the industry; Marissa remembers, “I had $800 in my checking account,” while still needing to protect clients she had spent years building. Their response was to help artists become more visible, commercially valuable and entrepr...

#539 Scott Oldford: Was $100M Worth Losing $14M? 11.08.2026 25min

Scott Oldford is a lifelong entrepreneur who built his first seven-figure business at 16, and we spoke about what happened when decades of entrepreneurial instinct collided with an identity he was trying to force. By 2022, he was making roughly $7 million a year at a 70% profit margin while working 15–20 hours a week. Then he chased a bigger identity and a $100 million outcome, losing $14 million across 2023 and 2024. Looking back, Scott says the difference between entrepreneurship as a “beau...

#538 Denis O'Shea: How Do You Turn Technology Into Advantage? 08.08.2026 26min

Denis O'Shea is the founder and CEO of a technology services company, and we spoke about how a painful sales failure became the foundation for 22 years of helping organizations extract more value from technology. Early in his career at Nokia, a customer challenged him on why they should buy more technology when employees barely used what they already had. Denis says that conversation “burnt a piece of my brain.” He later built a 250-person mentoring operation that worked one-on-one with a mil...

#537 Jonny Price: Can Customers Be Your Best Investors? 05.08.2026 25min

Jonny Price is President of WeFunder, and we spoke about why startup investing should no longer be reserved for millionaires—and why founders may be overlooking one of their strongest sources of capital: their own customers. He explains how changes in U.S. regulation opened private investing to everyday people and why that shift creates opportunities not only for investors, but also for entrepreneurs who struggle to access traditional venture capital. Rather than positioning community investi...

#536 Kim Butler: Should You Invest Before Saving $100K? 03.08.2026 18min

Kim Butler, Prosperity Thinkers founder, is a financial educator with more than 30 years of experience in banking, investing, and insurance, and we spoke about why strong earners often build wealth in the wrong order. Her starting question is direct: “You’re awesome at making money. How much of it are you keeping?” Rather than beginning with investment products, she helps entrepreneurial thinkers establish principles for making their own financial decisions. After a decade in the financial in...

#535 Mike Ryan: Can AI Save Investors 80% of Their Time? 31.07.2026 24min

Mike Ryan, BPN CEO, is a former Goldman Sachs analyst who later ran its global equity business and managed Harvard’s $18 billion endowment, and we spoke about why powerful AI still fails investors when its answers cannot be trusted. After repeatedly receiving polished but incorrect information from generic tools, he decided to develop a more reliable approach. As he puts it, “AI wouldn’t pass a first-round job interview at most firms because it’s not trustworthy.” Ryan explains that AI has a ...

#534 Chris Majer: Why does coordination fail as companies grow? 29.07.2026 32min

Chris Majer is a former University of Washington rugby captain, performance psychologist, and organizational consultant, and we spoke about how practice, mood, and coordination determine whether growing companies can actually transform. An airport-bookstore encounter with George Leonard’s The Ultimate Athlete led him from rugby into Aikido, sports psychology, and work with elite athletes, Olympic teams, and Special Forces. That path eventually took his methods into business, where a 48-month ...

#533 Simon Mach: How do you build a crypto firm for every cycle? 28.07.2026 14min

Simon Mach is a crypto trader and founder of MyCryptoParadise, and we spoke about how a lean operation that began with four traders survived repeated market cycles after launching in 2016. When meme-coin bets that worked during bull markets vanished in a downturn, Simon stopped chasing potential 1,000% gains and developed a professional approach guided by one hierarchy: “Capital protection first, consistency second, and growth third.” He explains why professionals calculate potential losses b...

#532 Xavier Rivera: How Did a $300K Trade Erase $60K Debt? 24.07.2026 27min

Xavier Rivera is a former U.S. Marine, trader, and financial education mentor, and we spoke about turning a $200 teenage investment into $20,000—then borrowing $60,000, losing most of it, and spending four years trapped in debt. At 17, he entered the military believing his basic needs would be covered while he learned the markets, but the failed pharmaceutical trade pushed him so far into pressure that, as he says, “I was so deep in survival mode.” During a nine-month deployment aboard the US...

#531 Timothy Dougherty: How do meals become measurable wins? 22.07.2026 31min

Timothy Dougherty is a fitness entrepreneur and franchisor, founder and CEO of Project LeanNation, and we spoke about rebuilding identity after poverty, financial success, federal prison, and the collapse of everything he had tied his value to. The gym was the first place “where pain had purpose,” and keeping a small promise—to arrive at 6:00 each morning—gave him evidence that he could become disciplined. Years later, despite the house, Porsche, boat, and growing family, he says, “I never fe...

#530 Mike Stone: Can 10 People Scale $5M to $10M? 20.07.2026 15min

Mike Stone is President & CEO of CertaPro Painters®, and we spoke about building scalable businesses through trust, proven systems, technology, and values. After more than 26 years with the organization, Mike believes sustainable growth comes from moving beyond individual projects toward long-term relationships because “projects end,” while strong customer relationships endure. Mike explained how franchising lets entrepreneurs be “in business for yourself, not by yourself,” combining inde...

#529 Andy Harris: How Did One Exit Sell for Twice Its Value? 17.07.2026 25min

Andy Harris is a former three-time CEO and current President of North American Strategies and Managing Director with STS Capital, and we spoke about how founders can prepare their companies for an exit that delivers more than standard market value. After completing more than 20 acquisitions and six exits, Andy learned M&A by “being in the shoes” of business owners—building companies, managing daily operations, and preparing them for strategic buyers. His central advice is to remove “found...

#528 Sam Rosenberg: How Do You Spot Danger Before It Strikes? 15.07.2026 32min

Sam Rosenberg is a former Marine officer and close-protection specialist, and we spoke about how ordinary people can recognize danger, avoid freezing under pressure, and protect those they love. After safeguarding prominent public figures, he concluded that “it’s good to have a lifeguard, but ultimately you should know how to swim”—meaning people should learn the same foundational thinking skills used by professional protectors. His turning point came before the Marines, when a man pointed a ...

#527 Yana Carstens: Is Overwork Really Causing Burnout? 13.07.2026 15min

Yana Carstens is the founder and executive coach of Realign and Thrive, and we spoke about why she believes burnout is not caused simply by working too much. After experiencing severe stress herself—including a visit to the emergency room—she began examining the deeper patterns that keep founders and leaders operating under constant internal pressure. She defines burnout as a “lack of vibrancy”: losing the ability to feel present, grounded, and engaged in work that once mattered. Yana’s frame...

#526 Dr Peter Kevorkian: Can spine care raise vitality? 09.07.2026 26min

Dr Peter Kevorkian is a chiropractor, educator, international speaker, and President of Life Chiropractic College West. We spoke about why he believes chiropractic care belongs in proactive health, not only crisis care. He argues that more people are moving away from waiting for pain, illness, or breakdown before caring for the body, and toward asking how they can become healthier, stronger, and more adaptive. He explains chiropractic through the spine and nervous system, but not as an isolat...

#525 Peter Murphy: How did two 299s become 40 employees? 06.07.2026 27min

Peter Murphy is the CEO and co-founder of Pocket Prep, and we spoke about how failing the same certification exam twice by one point became the starting point for a 15-year software business. A former aerospace employee, Peter was trying to advance his career through a difficult supply-chain credential when he scored 299 twice on a test that required 300 to pass. That moment changed his view of preparation: “I was never taught how to study.” The method that finally worked was not reading more...

#524 Reza Rahman: Can 100 credit points beat a raise? 01.07.2026 22min

Reza Rahman is the co-founder of AVA Finance, and we spoke about why so many American households are drowning in debt, financial stress, and credit confusion. He started the company six years ago with two co-founders after seeing two problems: consumer debt growing toward $18 trillion, and a financial system that “was not built for humans.” The turning point was recognizing that most people are expected to manage credit, interest, cash flow, fees, and debt without the tools that businesses ta...

#523 David Liddle: What Keeps Managers Up at 11:59pm? 26.06.2026 24min

David Liddle is a conflict resolution expert, culture adviser, author, and founder who has spent 25 years helping organizations move from toxic teams and formal grievances toward healthier, higher-performing workplaces—and we spoke about why culture is not “words on a wall,” but the operating system behind scale, growth, and performance. David explains that many workplace problems leaders lose sleep over are not really strategy or finance problems, but behavior problems: people not listening,...

#522 Frederick Fisher: Can One Missed Filing Cost $12M? 23.06.2026 33min

Frederick Fisher is a 51-year insurance professional, author, educator, and expert witness, and we spoke about why insurance often fails at the exact moment people expect it to work. He explains why claims-made policies can be “very, very, very dangerous,” and why the real insurance product is not the policy document but the way a claim is handled when something goes wrong. The turning point in this conversation is Frederick’s argument that the claims department should not be treated as a cos...

21st Century Entrepreneurship

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