School For Startups Radio

Steve Berry – NY Times Best Selling Author of The Atlas Maneuver (Cotton Malone Book 18) You take tremendous risk with Bitcoin. There is something fundamentally flawed about Bitcoin itself! Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of sixteen Cotton Malone adventures, five stand-alone thrillers, and several works of short fiction. His books have been translated into 41 languages with 25,000,000 copies in 52 countries. They consistently appear in the top echelon of The New York Times, USA Today, and Indie bestseller lists. Somewhere in the world, every thirty seconds, a Steve Berry book is sold. History lies at the heart of every Steve Berry novel. It’s his passion, one he shares with his wife, Elizabeth, which led them to create History Matters, a foundation dedicated to historic preservation. Since 2009 Steve and Elizabeth have crossed the country to save endangered historic treasures, raising money via lectures, receptions, galas, luncheons, dinners, and their popular wri

Jason White – Federal Contracts Expert and Author of The Unconventional Path to Success: How to Build a Multi-Million Dollar Empire with Self-Education Most people get into a business and they want to make $1,000,000 in their first month or their first year. That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my life! The goal should be bringing in consistent money over a long period of time. Jason White uses passion, charisma, and people skills to succeed in business and in his personal life. He is someone who struggled through his youth and turned it around with little more than motivation. Keeping his persona intact, he found being real in the world to be the key to success. Most importantly, he knows how to help others achieve their highest goals. Today, Jason shares that knowledge with anyone looking to learn. From humble roots with nothing more than a public high school diploma (his Ph.D.), Jason’s initial direction was lacking. He made his way into the Coast Guard, serving for a decade, only leaving to find

Art Powell – Founder and CEO of Trinsic Technologies      Foosball is not going to give you a great culture. What gives you a great culture is when everybody is focused and knows the vision. Everyone has bought into the vision and values. We are all about listening to people, our customers and our employees. Art Powell is an entrepreneur who has enjoyed working in the tech industry for over 25 years – still bragging of being one the first of his friends to buy a 28 kbps Modem. He is the founder and CEO of Trinsic Technologies, and the strategic AI visionary with AHvos, an enterprise-level, highly scalable AI solution tailorable for data-heavy businesses. Married for 31 years and teach theology at my non-denominational Church. I love playing video and role-playing games. I have two grown adult children. I love drinking coffee while discussing science, business, technology, and theology. Doug Lennick & Chuck Wachendorfer – Founder and President of think2perform and Authors of Don’t Wait for Someone Els

Wayne Elliott – Ship Recycling and Strauss Naturals Advocate Banks don’t care if you had a bad month. They want your money. They are not much difference from the mafia! Banks are tough. Banks will give you an umbrella when the sun is shining and when it starts to rain they want to take the umbrella back. Wayne Elliott is a former football and baseball player. He has been in the ship recycling business for 40 years. His company can take a 1000-foot-long ship and reduce it to a pile to reusable materials. He has grown into other areas such as battery recycling. He recounts his life-changing experience with SHD, a health supplement he stumbled upon after battling angina and its debilitating symptoms. Struggling with leg cramps, shortness of breath, night sweats, and chest pains, Wayne also grappled with anxiety and a lack of energy, resigning himself to the fate of heart-related issues that plagued his family. However, upon learning about SHD through a friend in Vancouver and being inspired by studies from ren

Jason Gesing – Metaverse at Work Expert and Author of The Metaverse Workplace Revolution: A Path to Greater Profitability, a Stronger Culture, and Industry Disruption Virbela is the premier metaverse platform for business. I have been using it since 2016. Jason Gesing is the author of ‘The Metaverse Workplace Revolution’, and is a pioneer in Metaverse-based work environments. He is an attorney and the co-founder and CEO of OMNUS Technologies, Inc. and OMNUS Law, companies that use technology to unlock competitive advantages in positive and strategic ways. In addition, he currently serves on the board of directors of the Nasdaq-listed company eXp World Holdings, Inc. Prior, he was CEO of eXp Realty, the Metaverse-based real estate brokerage with approximately 86,000 agents and brokers across twenty-four countries. Jason helped lead and drive the growth of eXp Realty from fewer than 50 agents in early 2010 to more than 86,000 agents and brokers across 24 countries at the end of 2022. Jason continues to serve

Vishal Shah – CEO of Screencastify Having the grit and the thick skin to not take many knows as the answer or to take a no and figure out how to continue is the key to all of entrepreneurship. I truly believe that there is no problem that is unsolvable. I disagree with the ‘fail fast’ catch phrase. Vishal Shah is CEO of Screencastify, the leading company helping teachers and students be more effective through Video. He is a software entrepreneur, builder and investor. Previously, I have Co-Founded LearnCore, which was acquired by Showpad and co-founded non-profit tech co-working space, Catapult Chicago, which joined with 1871. Established in 2016, Screencastify is the leading end-to-end video creation platform that makes recording, editing, sharing, assessing, and viewing video more simple for everyone. Tens of millions of people in more than 190 countries use Screencastify to record and edit on-demand video. Used in education, business, and for personal creation, Screencastify provides an accessible way fo

Thomas Ryan – CEO and Founder of Bigly Sales – Using AI in Sales Not taking outside money if you don’t need to is the way to go. As soon as you take the outside money, you are on a clock and they can kill you if you’re not careful. Thomas Ryan is CEO and founder of Bigly Sales, is a visionary leader reshaping the sales landscape through innovative AI solutions. With a background in staffing and executive experience at Workbeast LLC, Thomas identified the need for streamlined sales processes in the evolving market. His journey from the staffing industry to the forefront of AI-driven sales reflects his dedication to leveraging technology, evident in Bigly Sales’ cutting-edge tools for Lead Generation and customizable landing pages. Thomas’s commitment to efficiency and client appreciation positions Bigly Sales as a trailblazer in the tech industry, showcasing his ongoing dedication to enhancing the sales experience through the power of artificial intelligence. Wendy Brookhouse – Founder of Black Star Wea

Wayne Elliott – Ship Recycling and Strauss Naturals Advocate I owe my life to Strauss Naturals products. Jim Strauss had such an understanding of nature and how everything connects. There has never been one word that he said that did not turn out to be true. Wayne Elliott is a former football and baseball player. He has been in the ship recycling business for 40 years. His company can take a 1000-foot-long ship and reduce it to a pile of reusable materials. He has grown into other areas such as battery recycling. He recounts his life-changing experience with SHD, a health supplement he stumbled upon after battling angina and its debilitating symptoms. Struggling with leg cramps, shortness of breath, night sweats, and chest pains, Wayne also grappled with anxiety and a lack of energy, resigning himself to the fate of heart-related issues that plagued his family. However, upon learning about SHD through a friend in Vancouver and being inspired by studies from renowned institutions like Harvard, Wayne decided

Pat Dwyer – Professional Speaker and Comedian at PatDwyerWasTaken.com – How to be Funny  As an outside speaker, what we know from HR is that I can say the exact same thing as the company has been saying, but people hear me because I am different, because I am not something they hear every day. Pat Dwyer has captivated and motivated audiences worldwide. Pulling from his background in Improv and Sketch Comedy with legendary institutions The Second City, iO Theater, and ComedySportz, among others, Pat has merged these talents in training and performance with the strategic mindset he cultivated during the early days working at notable Chicago startups like Groupon and Ignite. As you could guess, Pat’s journey has since lent him an opportunity to help organizations all around the globe find their own unique blend of leadership and team enhancing effectiveness. Now, as a sought-after speaker at conferences, events, and association meetings, Pat brings his energetic, hilarious and wildly engaging approach to both

Sugey Piedra – Co-founder of Prominence Business & Wealth Management – Tax Strategic Planning  When you are self-employed and write off the kitchen sink and everything under the sun, you are ripping yourself off. When you report zero or close to zero income, the overall picture of that tax return is you have no purchasing power. Across the street at the bank, when you want to purchase a house or get a loan, when they look at your return, they don’t care if you made $1,000,000, you ended up reporting zero income. For more than 20 years, Sugey Piedra has been working in the tax preparation and wealth management industry. She and her two sisters co-founded Prominence Business & Wealth Management, and together they have helped hundreds of high-earning service-based business owners to grow and scale their businesses with holistic financial planning. Her signature program Business Elite is a 12-month Tax Prep, Planning, and Strategy Program for Service-Based Business Owners. She also is the host of the Ta

Wayne Elliott – Ship Recycling and Strauss Naturals Advocate I owe my life to Strauss Naturals products. Jim Strauss had such an understanding of nature and how everything connects. There has never been one word that he said that did not turn out to be true. Wayne Elliott is a former football and baseball player. He has been in the ship recycling business for 40 years. His company can take a 1000-foot-long ship and reduce it to a pile to reusable materials. He has grown into other areas such as battery recycling. He recounts his life-changing experience with SHD, a health supplement he stumbled upon after battling angina and its debilitating symptoms. Struggling with leg cramps, shortness of breath, night sweats, and chest pains, Wayne also grappled with anxiety and a lack of energy, resigning himself to the fate of heart-related issues that plagued his family. However, upon learning about SHD through a friend in Vancouver and being inspired by studies from renowned institutions like Harvard, Wayne decided

Dr. Tamim Hamid – From NASA Scientist to Hair Restoration Expert, Founder & CEO Theradome and Author of Grow It Back: How Laser Phototherapy Stops Hair Loss and Regrows Your Hair  Light is the only thing in the world that keeps us alive. Without light we would not be alive. We take light energy and convert it into chemical energy every day in the form of vitamin D. We found a specific light wavelength that stimulates the hair follicle. Sayyid Tamim Hamid, Ph.D., received undergraduate and graduate degrees in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and biomedical engineering. Tamim designed and implemented innovative tools at NASA to improve astronaut safety and efficiency in space shuttle operations. His professional history includes growing the revenue of multimillion dollar international corporations and serving as a senior executive in companies that were sold to GE Medical and Johnson & Johnson. Tamim used his laser knowledge, fine-tuned at NASA, and combined it with his driving passion fo

Vince Chan – Founder and Chief Change Officer at The Vince Chan Company | Executive Producer and Host@Chief Change Officer | Behavioural and Financial Economist | Amazon Best-Selling Author | Global Speaker on the Future of Work In a world of AI, one of the skills to thrive is to be more human in writing, analyzing, speaking and listening, all of the social skills that are supposed to be part of humanity. This is what we need to embrace and practice. This is how we can stay ahead of the game and be an active worker the AI world. Raised in Hong Kong and Canada, Vince pursued economics, followed by MBA degrees from Yale University and Chicago Booth School of Business. Her professional acumen is further solidified by U.S. CPA and CFA® credentials. Vince’s vibrant 15-plus-year corporate career has spanned global financial markets, with significant roles at S&P Global Ratings, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and TCW Asset Management. Among her standout achievements are rai

Diane Pisani – Founder of Home Watch Academy For folks considering starting a business, Home Watch is really something to consider, because it is not only an excellent business opportunity, but it is for anyone with great customer service skill and a servant’s heart. Diane Pisani runs Home Watch Academy, a business that helps people start “home watch” businesses. What is that? I didn’t know what it was either, but it’s a fast-growing service-based business model that oversees the second homes of people. There are nearly 10 million second homes in the U.S. and many of those homes sit unoccupied for months on end. Home watch concierge services provide support to oversee the property so homeowners know it is protected. Diane has a great personality. She has self-deprecating humor (I love that because I do too) but she seriously has some entrepreneurial chops. Before being a homewatching business pioneer, she was a travel agency business owner specializing in cruises. Let me know and I can get something on the

Drew Jones – Culture & Workplace Consultant and Author of The Open Culture Handbook: Five questions to drive engagement and innovation Companies often get culture right in the early days, when it is informal, with a clear goal, people sharing information and moving in the same direction. As companies grow, they follow a trajectory toward formalization and control that shuts down innovation. Drew Jones, PhD, is an anthropologist, former business school professor, and practicing management consultant. He is a founding partner of Experient, a workplace culture and strategy consultancy. Over the past 20 years, he has worked on culture, leadership, and workplace design projects with clients throughout the US, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. He is published widely in academic management journals and magazines and has published three previous books on design thinking and innovation, coworking, and activity-based working (ABW). His new book is Open Culture Handbook: Five Questions to D

Nicholas Svensson – CEO of SMART Technologies Smart Technologies has been around since 1987 and we are the inventors of the interactive white board category. We are in the majority of classrooms around the world. We are the inventors of the category  and are the Kleenex of our category. Nicholas’ vision has been indispensable in SMART’s growth and innovation as a brand. He deftly navigated the COVID-19 pandemic and the supply chain crisis that resulted, positioning SMART as a much-needed solution for educators and businesses everywhere. He has overseen SMART’s re-entry into the business sector with cutting-edge collaborative technology, all while maintaining an unwavering commitment to SMART’s priorities in the world of education. Nicholas keeps the SMART brand focused on the things that really matter, like prioritizing student wellness, remaining easy to use for teachers, and best-in-class privacy and security for all customers. As a workplace leader, Nicholas places a high emphasis on authenticity and rem

Andrew Hayes – Founder and Head of Lifestyle at Alta Coaching If you never feel like you have time to exercise and eat healthy, how are you also going to have time for a coach on top of it? We take care of that for you with our process. You do your exercise on your own time, you log the data on your own time and then we look at it and provide feedback every day. Andrew Hayes is the Founder and Head of Lifestyle at Alta Coaching, a distinguished authority in holistic habit coaching. With a certified background in personal training, Andrew’s journey into the realm of fitness was a transformative experience that reshaped his approach to health and well-being. Over the course of his 15-year career, Andrew has worked with industry giants such as Apple, Peloton, and Headspace. His journey has led him to establish Alta Coaching, a lifestyle and nutrition program that reflects his dedication to personal growth and well-being. Since its launch earlier this year, Alta Coaching has experienced remarkable success, with

Daniel Todd – CEO and Founder of Influence Mobile – Paying Gamers to Play There is an incredible amount of money spent in games. More money is spent in mobile games than in all movies, all concerts and all live sports combined. It’s about $100 billion a year. Daniel Todd is the CEO and Founder of Influence Mobile. He is a highly accomplished entrepreneur with a wealth of experience in mobile advertising, digital marketing, and business strategy. As the CEO of Influence Mobile, Daniel has a track record of creating positive work environments that have earned his company numerous “Best Places to Work” awards. Influence Mobile, is a company that builds products that reward people for everyday activities, so everyone can live a Rewarded Life™. With two companies that have been placed on the Inc. 5000 list and recognition from publications such as Puget Sound Business Journal, Daniel has proven his ability to lead companies to success. As a monthly contributor to Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com, Daniel is a recogni

Ken Goldstein – CEO of Thrift Books – Largest Used Book Store Online and Author of Endless Encores: Repeating Success through People, Products, and Profits What bothers me are unfinished products. I don’t like the idea of a minimum viable product that you’re going to just dump on your customers and let them suffer with. I know that it has worked for an awful lot of entrepreneurs, I know that it is a buzzword that people care about, but going back to my Disney experience and Broderbund games when we were building Carmen San Diego and Mist, it’s all about the details. It’s about getting it right. Not being at 90% or 95% but being at 100%. Ken Goldstein has enjoyed an extensive career in senior management roles driving innovation in technology, media, entertainment, and e-commerce. He is currently chairman and chief executive officer of ThriftBooks Global, the largest online seller of used books in the world. He is also board chair of The Good Men Project, an expansive content site offering perspectives on soc

Rose Fass – Founder and Chairwoman of fassforward and Author of THE LEADERSHIP CONVERSATION – Make bold change, one conversation at a time  Our job today is to consider the conversations we are having. With ourselves and with others. Leadership happens in the conversation. It doesn’t happen in spreadsheets or over a PowerPoint review. It happens in the conversation around that review. Rose Fass, the former Chief Transformation Officer of Xerox, is a trailblazer who reshaped the leadership landscape. She masterminded a groundbreaking shift at Xerox, steering it from merely a “Copier Company” to an innovative “Document Solutions Company.” Her transformative leadership not only revolutionized Xerox but also set new standards for global business management. Today, as the founder and CEO of fassforward Consulting Group, an esteemed Inc. 500/5000 awardee, Fass channels her expertise to mentor leaders in Fortune 500 companies. Her unique approach redefines leadership, inspiring leaders to adapt, connect, and thriv