What if the idea you love most is quietly draining the business you are trying to build?Chris Franks, Anthony Franco, and Stephanie Hays dig into idea triage: the uncomfortable founder work of...

What if most of what your marketing agency does could be done in an afternoon with AI?Chris Franks, Stephanie Hays, and Anthony Franco pull apart the agency model in 2026. They debate whether the...

Your toughest competitor may not be another company. It may be a spreadsheet, a lawyer, an old internal tool, or the customer doing nothing.In episode 202, Chris Franks, Anthony Franco, and Stephanie...

The moment you start selling your invention, the clock to losing your patent rights starts ticking.Anthony Franco, Chris Franks, and Stephanie Hayes break down intellectual property for early-stage...

What if most of your roadmap is work that should not exist at all?Chris Franks, Anthony Franco, and Stephanie Hays take apart Elon Musk’s five-step algorithm — make the requirements less dumb,...

Starting a company that works might be the loneliest thing you ever do. Not because nobody’s around—because everybody is, and none of them can carry what you’re carrying.In this episode,...

What if hiring your first sales rep is the move that quietly kills your best deals?Joel Miller has run The Sky Floor for seventeen years without a VC, retains clients for years, and refuses to hand...

What if the thing you're proudest of is the thing buyers pay you less for?Founder-led businesses sell every day at multiples that quietly account for one number: how much of the company runs through...

The dishonesty you keep finding is usually the system you designed working perfectly.Most founders treat employee dishonesty as a hiring problem or a character flaw. The founders who've watched this...

What if the launch checklist you're following is the reason you haven't launched?Stephanie Hayes and Chris Franks tear apart the conventional first-hundred-days playbook, the one that says...

The fastest path to AI adoption in your company isn't hiring an expert. It's becoming one yourself.In this episode, we sit down with John Kaplar, who left an 18-year software career to teach founders...

Your company's impact initiative has better odds of becoming a press release than a legacy.In this episode, we sit down with Jim Tracy, who spent thirty years building companies across manufacturing,...

What if the smartest people in your corner are the reason you're stuck?Founders build advisory boards by collecting impressive resumes: former CEOs, industry veterans, people who've been exactly...

Your profit report says things are great. Your bank account disagrees. What's actually happening?In this episode, e-commerce CFO Abir Syed breaks down the profitability paradox that quietly kills...

In this episode, we break down what user experience actually means — and it's not what most founders think. UX isn't your app's color scheme or button placement. It's the entire chain from first...

You signed the papers. The wire hit your account. So why does it feel like grief?In this episode, we dig into the emotional reality of selling your business, the part nobody prepares you for....

Every option you keep open is silently billing you.Most founders call it flexibility. Investors call it hedging. The founders who've been through it call it what it actually is: fear dressed up in...

Your company already has a culture. You just didn't design it.Every founder talks about building culture intentionally. But culture isn't built during the retreat or the values workshop - it...

Your team tripled. Revenue doubled. And somehow, you're slower, messier, and more dependent on the founder than you were at ten people.In this episode, Chris Franks and Stephanie Hays dig into the...

The habits that made you a top performer at a big company can quietly wreck your startup.In this episode, New York Times bestselling author and entrepreneur Randy Gage joins the conversation to...