School for Startups Radio

August 27, 2025 – Internal Guidance System Zen Cryar DeBrucke and GreatCynthia Fisher

Zen Cryar Debrucke – Founder of Fear Free Human
Anytime you’re feeling worry, fear, anxiety, overwhelm, doubt, guilt,frustration, irritation – procrastination is actually not a character flaw. It’s guidance.
Zen Cryar DeBrucke went from high school dropout to getting my Bachelors degree in Foreign Policy, from UC Davis, to founding one of the first Internet usability firms in San Francisco in 1996. All the way, she followed this innate tool she discovered that she call the Internal Guidance System® (IGS). When she followed it success came easily and naturally. She is proud that she get to share this information with others and see them have the same success and true joy in their lives. She considers her second biggest achievement in life is the discovery and development of the IGS. (Her kids and amazing relationship with her husband is my first.) It’s a tool she uses daily to help her navigate her thoughts, emotions, and actions – not only does it work but it has transformed every aspect of my life. By using her IGS, she was able to identify and shift my thinking away from false, disempowering beliefs/stories that were holding me back, and from childhood programs that kept her from even seeing what was possible. She understood how to choose the new thoughts needed to create an incredible life filled with success and joy. What was more amazing is the mindsets that held me back begin to dissolve, to the point where she forgot how she used to think. Zen completely recreated her mental thought patterns to fresh new thinking that was powerful.Cynthia Fisher – Founder of ViaCord and PatientRightsAdvocate.org
Americans are held hostage to this opaque system… the good news is there’s a big opportunity ahead because of entrepreneurship and innovators. Physicians and surgical centers are standing behind one price, posted online, and it’s about 40% lower. That’s the future.
Cynthia A. Fisher is a life sciences entrepreneur, best known for her pioneering work as Founder and CEO of ViaCord, Inc., a leading umbilical cord blood stem cell banking service that she started in 1993. In 2000, she co-founded ViaCell, a cellular medicines company that became the parent of ViaCord and the subject of an HBS case study. She took ViaCell public in 2005 and sold it to PerkinElmer in 2007 for $300 million. In 2011, she founded WaterRev, LLC to invest in novel technologies that enable sustainable practices in water use. She serves on the public company boards of The Boston Beer Company (SAM) and Easterly Government Properties, Inc. (DEA). Apart from that, Cynthia is also the Founder of FitMoney, providing schools and teachers curriculum for K-12 financial literacy, and PatientRightsAdvocate.org, a non-profit 501(c)(3) advocacy organization for the American public seeking to greatly reduce the cost of healthcare and coverage through systemwide price transparency and creation of a functional and competitive marketplace in healthcare. The wry encapsulation Cynthia uses to describe her professional activities is “If I look back at my career, I’ve focused on liquid assets: blood, water, and beer.”

August 26, 2025 – Odoo & Systems Nick Foy and Rahul Aggarwal

Nick Foy – Founder of Silverdale Technology
Now, 75% of all ERP implementations fail to meet their original objective.If you’ve only got a one in four chance of being successful at something,why would you even bother?
Nick Foy is the Founder, CEO, and Chief Evangelist of Silverdale Technology, which provides access to world-class processes, systems, and change management methods regardless of their size or budget. Going against the grain of the ERP industry, Nick and his team are ‘democratizing ERP’ with their unique perspectives, such as their standard business process library, fixed price implementation and money-back guarantees. Nick is well placed to do so, with over 30-years of experience in business and technology consulting and leadership positions, particularly in logistics and supply chain, at Amazon, Capgemini Consulting, ModusLink Corporation, 3663 First for Foodservice, and The Glenmorangie Distillery Company. Born in Scotland and currently living in rural Washington, USA, Nick is a frequent traveler, having made it all around the US, Europe, and Asia for work. Still, he also spares time for his interests, such as being an aspiring guitar player, whisky sampling as a hobby, and being an early adopter and owner of a large tech graveyard of discarded first editions.Rahul Aggarwal – Co-founder of Designhill 
Every day comes new challenges, and they’re all problems, small or big, always keep lining up, and you’re always scared. But if we tackle the most difficult ones first, it makes our life much easier, and we become much more efficient.
Born and raised in New Delhi, India, Rahul Aggarwal demonstrated an early aptitude for identifying problems and creating solutions. At 17, he moved to Manchester to pursue a degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Manchester, followed by a Master’s in Business Administration from Cass Business School, London. After completing his studies, he joined his family business with a vision to transform it from a traditionally run operation into a recognizable brand. During this period, he encountered numerous challenges in obtaining creative branding solutions quickly and affordably, which highlighted a gap in the market. Together with his brother, Varun Aggarwal, Rahul founded Designhill, a dedicated graphic design marketplace connecting freelance designers with businesses and individuals seeking cost-effective creative solutions. Within just 14 months, Designhill reached $1M in annual recurring revenue (ARR) and was recognized as the Creative Startup of the Year 2019 by Entrepreneur Magazine. Under his leadership, the company continues to grow at 21% month-over-month and is projected to grow tenfold within the next year. To date, Designhill has helped over 1.1 million business owners source high-quality creatives and has supported a global creative community of 175,000 artists and designers across more than 180 countries. Rahul’s dedication to providing innovative solutions has earned him recognition as the Rising Entrepreneur of the Year 2019 and inclusion in Entrepreneur’s 35 Under 35 list in 2020. A serial entrepreneur, passionate marketer, investor, and advisor, he is a strong advocate of continuous learning and growth. Additionally, he frequently shares his entrepreneurial journey, insights, and growth strategies on podcasts to inspire aspiring entrepreneurs worldwide.

August 25, 2025 – AI Podcast Co-Host Ashraf Amin, Financial Guru Jean Chatzku and Sam Adams Founder Jim Koch

Ashraf Amin – Founder of Conquest Distributors, Founder of Volo Technologies Group, Founder of Toronto Talks
What if an AI could be more than just a tool? What if it could be aco-creator in helping make sense of the world?
Ashraf Amin is a Canadian entrepreneur, fintech founder, and creator of Toronto Talks—a bold new podcast co-hosted by an AI named Sophie. With a background that spans the music industry, tech startups, and media innovation, Ash explores the intersection of human insight and machine intelligence. His work challenges conventional ideas about leadership, connection, and what it means to collaborate with algorithms in business and beyond. Event Type Description. Ashraf built Toronto Talks entirely on his own. No funding, no staff, no media background. Just entrepreneurial grit, a background in distribution, and a past life as a recording artist. What he created is a show that’s part startup, part thought experiment: a human-AI collaboration exploring the forces shaping the future of business, tech, and money. Now, with growing global reach and a launch campaign powered by a Bitcoin giveaway and QR scavenger hunt, Ashraf is turning bold ideas into community-driven conversation.
Jean Chatzky – Co-Founder and CEO of HerMoney
I think you have to have money in order to give abundantly, and so I think desiring to have enough money so that you can not just live the life that you want, but give back to all the people around you is a wonderful thing.
Jean Chatzky, Co-Founder and CEO of the multimedia company HerMoney Media, is an award-winning personal finance journalist, financial editor of NBC’s TODAY show, and AARP’s personal finance ambassador. She believes knowing how to manage our money is one of the most important life skills for people at every age and has made it her mission to help simplify money matters, increasing financial literacy both now and for the future. She knows that a full, successful financial life is within every woman’s grasp, and with the HerMoney team, she’s on a mission to help women get it. Jean is also the best-selling author of 11 books including her most recent one, Women with Money.
Jim Koch – Brewer and Founder of Samuel Adams and The Boston Beer Company
I guess the only advice I can give them is, you know, keep the faith. We allneed bars and restaurants, you play such an important part in all our livesthat we’re all now realizing because we can’t go to that favorite restaurantor that favorite bar. So just keep the faith. Realize how important you are toall of your guests.
Looking to follow his family’s passion for brewing, Jim Koch brewed the recipe in his kitchen with the hopes of challenging the status quo in the American beer industry. He is the founder of The Boston Beer Company and the brewer of Samuel Adams beers. He founded the company in 1984 using his great-grandfather’s recipe and revolutionizes the American beer industry. Drawing upon his own struggles to start a business, Jim launched the Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream program in 2008. To date, Brewing the American Dream has mentored 11,000+ small business owners, provided $32M in capital to food and beverage businesses, while also creating/retaining more than 8,000 jobs.  The program has received recognition by the Clinton Global Initiative and the White House Summit on the Future of Corporate Service. During these unprecedented times when many establishments are forced to close their doors for the greater good of our community, Samuel Adams and The Greg Hill Foundation are bringing the successful Restaurant Strong Fund to 20 total states to aid the restaurant workers impacted by the Covid-19 closures.

August 22, 2025 – Emotional Intelligence Amy Jacobson and Millions Sold Scott Turrow

Amy Jacobson – EI and Human Behaviour Specialist and Author of The Emotional Intelligence Advantage: Mastering change and difficult conversations
Your IQ will get your foot in the door, but your emotional intelligence…this is what gets you promoted.
Amy Jacobson is an EI and human behaviour specialist based in Perth, offering emotional intelligence training & workshops across Australia and the international markets. The Wiley published Author of ‘Emotional Intelligence: A simple and actionable guide to increasing performance, engagement and ownership’, Amy’s mission is to break down misconceptions around E.I. and help as many people as possible to increase their emotional intelligence. With over 19 years experience of more than doubling engagement and market brand scores. Whether the focus is on corporate workshops, keynote speaking or 1:1 coaching, both her passion and her determination to help people to grow and Find their ‘y’ is unparalleled.  Combining her balance of tough love and infectious energy, using custom- developed tools and systems, Amy creates purpose-driven teams who get results! Not only will Amy take people out of their comfort zone and challenge their mindset with her 5 part methodology, but she will also help them bring ownership and purpose to every work day.Scott Turrow – Writer & Former Practicing Lawyer, Author of thirteen bestselling work of fiction books
Aristotle once said that the purpose of art is to enlighten and to entertain… my number one goal is to tell a good story that people will find gripping and that will make them eager to turn to the next page.
Scott Turow, a writer and former practicing lawyer, is the author of thirteen bestselling works of fiction, including Presumed Innocent and most recently, Suspect. Mr. Turow has also published two nonfiction books, including One L, about his experience as a law student. His books have been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, and have been adapted into movies and television projects. He has frequently contributed essays and op-ed pieces to publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic.

August 21, 2025 – “SmallBizLady” Melinda Emerson and Choose to Win Tom Ziglar

Melinda Emerson – Small Business Expert, Digital Marketing Strategist, Keynote Speaker, and Bestselling Author of Fix Your Business: A 90-Day Plan to Get Back Your Life and Remove Chaos From Your Business
The reason I do what I do is because my mission is to end smallbusiness failure. That is my mission. That is what drives me.
Melinda F. Emerson, “SmallBizLady” is America’s #1 Small Business Expert. She is an internationally renowned keynote speaker on small business development, social selling, and online marketing strategy. As CEO of Quintessence Entertainment, Inc., her Philadelphia-based marketing consulting firm serves Fortune 500 brands that target the small business market. Clients include Amazon, Adobe, Verizon, VISA, Google, FedEx, Chase, American Express, The Hartford, and Pitney Bowes. She also has an online school, www.smallbizladyuniversity.com, that teaches people online marketing and how to start and grow a successful small business and publishes a blog SucceedAsYourOwnBoss.com. Her advice is widely read, reaching more than 3 million entrepreneurs each week online. She hosts The Smallbizchat Podcast and is the bestselling author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months, Revised and Expanded, and Fix Your Business, a 90 Day Plan to Get Back Your Life and Reduce Chaos in Your Business.Tom Ziglar – Speaker and Author of Choose to Win: Transform Your Life, One Simple Choice at a Time
The number one reason that people don’t reach their goals is theytrade what they want most for what they want now.
Tom Ziglar is the proud son of Zig Ziglar and the CEO of Ziglar, Inc. He joined the Zig Ziglar corporation in 1987 and climbed from working in the warehouse to sales, to management, and then on to leadership. Today, he speaks around the world; hosts The Ziglar Show, one of the top-ranked business podcsts; and carries on the Ziglar philosophy, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”Choose to Win shows you how to achieve massive change without massive upset. It all starts with identifying your why, which reveals the how that opens multiple doors of what. His revolutionary plan guides you through making one small choice at a time through a sequence of easy-to-follow steps in seven key areas: mental, spiritual, physical, family, finance, personal, and career.

August 20, 2025 – Mosquito Nix Mike O’Neal, Financial Freedom Justin Buonomo and SuperSpeaker Brian Tracy

Mike O’Neal – President of MosquitoNix 
The whole thing about franchising is to mitigate business risk. You haveprocesses, and at the end of the day, we just want to make sure ownersare on the right track.
Mike O’Neal has worked across various departments at MosquitoNix for over a decade. He brings a contagious level of motivation to his role and is known for his results-driven leadership style. Mike’s leadership has been instrumental in driving the company’s growth and ensuring future success. The MosquitoNix® solution is a fully-automated misting system that kills and repels mosquitos, flies, spiders, gnats, fleas, ticks, roaches, wasps and other outdoor insects. The system is professionally installed around homes and businesses, and mists a natural botanical insecticide two to four times per day, at 20- to 45-second intervals before dawn and after dusk.Justin Buonomo – Founder, Owner & CEO of Journey To Financial Freedom
Your external wealth is just a reflection of your internal wealth, andthe behaviors that show up on paper in your bank account are justdirect results of the beliefs that you carry.
Justin Buonomo is the visionary CEO & Founder of Journey to Financial Freedom, dedicated to empowering faith based individuals to achieve their dream lifestyle through financial mastery. Justin believes in the transformative power of taking control of your financial destiny. Driven by this conviction, Justin and his team at Journey to Financial Freedom provide unparalleled financial coaching and consulting services, equipping individuals with proven systems and strategies to optimize finances and live life on their own terms through their 4 Step Process for Financial Freedom. Through intention, strategy, and hard work, Justin helps people unlock new levels of success in both their personal and professional lives.
Brian Tracy – Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International
85% of millionaires attribute their success to hard work, not luck…The reason I’m rich is because I just worked harder than they do.
Brian Tracy is the Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations. Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 70 other countries worldwide. As a Keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year. He has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. He is the top selling author of over 70 books that have been translated into dozens of languages. He has written and produced more than 300 audio and video learning programs, including the worldwide, best-selling Psychology of Achievement, which has been translated into more than 28 languages. He speaks to corporate and public audiences on the subjects of Personal and Professional Development, including the executives and staff of many of America’s largest corporations. His exciting talks and seminars on Leadership, Selling, Self-Esteem, Goals, Strategy, Creativity and Success Psychology bring about immediate changes and long-term results. Prior to founding his company, Brian Tracy International, Brian was the Chief Operating Officer of a $265 million dollar development company. He has had successful careers in sales and marketing, investments, real estate development and syndication, importation, distribution and management consulting. He has conducted high level consulting assignments with several billion-dollar plus corporations in strategic planning and organizational development. He has traveled and worked in over 107 countries on six continents, and speaks four languages. Brian is happily married and has four children. He is active in community and national affairs, and is the President of three companies headquartered in Solana Beach, California.

August 19, 2025 – ER Boss & CRISPR Concerns Dr. Neal Baer and Top 0.1% Bryant McGill

Dr. Neal Baer, MD, MA, MEd –  Author of The Promise and Peril of CRISPR
Tell the story as best you can, emotionally, not the science behind it, butthe emotion behind it, like if you’re doing something that saved someone’slife, tell me who died and why you’re doing this now.
Dr. Baer most recently was Executive Producer and Showrunner for the third season of Designated Survivor, starring Kiefer Sutherland. Previously, he was Executive Producer and Showrunner for the hit CBS television series Under The Dome, the CBS medical drama A Gifted Man, as well as the Executive Producer of the hit NBC television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit from 2000-2011, where he oversaw all aspects of producing and writing the show, with a budget of $100 million. During his tenure on SVU, among the awards the series won include the Shine Award, People’s Choice Award, the Prism Award, Edgar Award, Sentinel for Health Award, and the Media Access Award. Actors on the show won six Emmys and the Golden Globe. The series regularly appeared among the top ten television dramas in national ratings and is now the longest-running prime time US tv drama in history. Prior to his work on SVU, Dr. Baer was Executive Producer of the NBC series ER. A member of the show’s original staff and a writer and producer on the series for seven seasons, he was nominated for five Emmys as a producer. He also received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Writing in A Drama Series for the episodes Hell and High Water and Whose Appy Now? For the latter, he also received a Writers’ Guild of America nomination. Among the multiple awards the series garnered include the People’s Choice Award, the Peabody Award, and an Emmy for best drama series. Dr. Baer’s other television work includes “Warriors,” an episode of China Beach, nominated for a Writers’ Guild Award for best episodic drama, and the ABC Afterschool Special Private Affairs, which he wrote and directed. The Association of Women in Film and Television selected the program, dealing with sexually transmitted diseases, as the Best Children’s Drama of the Year. He wrote The Doctor Corps, a feature film for Twentieth Century Fox; Outreach, a pilot for the WB Network, which he also produced; The Edge, a medical series pilot for CBS; and The Beast, a medical series pilot for NBC, which was redeveloped in 2017 by Twentieth Century Fox Television. Dr. Baer’s first novel, Kill Switch, co-written with Jonathan Greene, was published in January 2012, and his second novel, Kill Again, also with Jonathan Greene, was published in 2015. In January 2020, Dr. Baer attended the Sundance Film Festival, where the film he executive produced, Welcome to Chechnya, won a Special Jury Award. The film was screened at the Berlin Film Festival and won the Teddy Award for outstanding film on LGBTQ issues. The documentary premiered on HBO in June 2020 and won the Peabody Award. Dr. Baer graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed his internship in Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles. He received the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Scholarship from the American Medical Association as the most outstanding medical student who has contributed to promoting a better understanding of medicine in the media. The American Association for the Advancement of Science selected him as a Mass Media Fellow in 1982. Dr. Baer’s primary medical interests are in adolescent medicine and global health. He has written extensively for teens on health issues for Scholastic Magazine, covering such topics as teen pregnancy, AIDS, drug and alcohol abuse, and nutrition. Dr. Baer taught elementary school in Denver, Colorado and also worked as a research associate at USC Medical School, where he focused on drug and alcohol abuse prevention. Dr. Baer co-established the Institute for Photographic Empowerment at USC’s Annenberg School of Communications, which links photographic story-telling projects around the world and makes that work available to NGOs and policymakers. He has worked in South Africa and Mozambique, teaching photography to mothers with HIV and AIDS and orphans whose parents died of AIDS so that they can tell the world their own stories. Dr. Baer also produced the documentary short, Home Is Where You Find It, directed by Alcides Soares, a seventeen-year-old Mozambican orphan, which chronicles one young man’s search to find a family after his parents have died of AIDS. The film has screened internationally at sixty festivals and has won four awards for best documentary. Dr. Baer previously was an Adjunct Professor of Community Health at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, where he led a Freshman Seminar on Soda Politics. He was a Clinical Professor of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and established The Global Media Center for Social Impact at ULCA’s Fielding School of Public Health, where he worked on projects using new media to promote global health. Since 2017, Dr. Baer has been a Lecturer in Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he created and co-directs the MS degree program in media, medicine, and health, the first graduate degree program of its kind. He also created and co-directs the Certificate Program in Media and Medicine, an online program running since 2019, for health care advocates and practitioners to tell stories to improve health and wellness. Dr. Baer graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science from Colorado College. He holds masters’ degrees from Harvard Graduate School of Education and from Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in Sociology. Before working in television, he spent a year at the American Film Institute as a directing fellow. In 2000, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colorado College. In May 2018, he gave the Harvard Medical School commencement speech entitled “What Matters?” Dr. Baer has served on the boards of many organizations related to health care, including the Venice Family Clinic (the largest free clinic in the U.S.; 2000-2010) and RAND Health (2000-2011). He was a trustee of the Writers Guild of America Health and Pension Fund (2000-2012), was a trustee of the American Film Institute, and served as a trustee of Colorado College from 2006-2016. He also served as an elected member to Harvard University’s alumni board (2006-2011) and was Co-Chair of the CDC and Gates Foundation-supported, Hollywood, Health and Society. Dr. Baer serves on the Board of Fellows at Harvard Medical School. He also served on the board of the One Archives and is a member of the editorial board of Perspectives in Biology Medicine, for which he recently edited a special issue on CRISPR, that won the MLA Award for best special issue aimed at a generalist audience. This past July, Johns Hopkins University Press published The Promise and Peril of CRISPR, which Dr. Baer edited. He also wrote the commentary for the book, which has been a best-seller on Amazon.Bryant McGill –  Founder of Peace Prize Foundation & a Best-Selling Author, Speaker, Activist and Social Entrepreneur
If you’re really humble, you’re going to be great. Okay, if you’re trulyhumble, you’ll be great. You know why? Because it is supremely arrogantto throw away the gift of life. There’s nothing humble about throwingaway the gift of life and all you could be.
Bryant McGill is a human potential thought leader, international bestselling author, activist, and social entrepreneur. He is one of the world’s top social media influencers reaching a billion people a year (2016). His prolific writings have been published in thousands of books and publications, including a New York Times bestselling series, and his Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller, read by over 60 million people. He was the subject of a front-page cover story in the Wall Street Journal, has appeared in Forbes as a featured cultural thought leader, Nasdaq’s leadership series, Entrepreneur Magazine, and was listed in Inc. Magazine as an “Icon of Entrepreneurship” and one of, “the greatest leaders, writers and thinkers of all time.” He is the creator and founder of McGill Media, the McGill Peace Prize Foundation and Charitable Trust, The Royal Society (2015), and Simple Reminders. He is living his dream daily, serving those seeking inspiration, health, freedom, and truth around the world. McGill is a United Nations appointed Global Champion and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, who received a Congressional commendation applauding his, “highly commendable life’s work,” as an Ambassador of Goodwill. His thoughts on human rights have been featured by President Clinton’s Foundation, in humanities programs with the Dalai Lama, and at the Whitehouse. He has appeared in media with Tony Robbins and Oprah, in a Desmond Tutu endorsed PBS Special with Jack Canfield, and has delivered speeches at the United Nations’ General Assembly Hall on Human Rights Day, with the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office, and with Dr. Gandhi, Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. McGill’s work has been endorsed by the president of the American Psychological Association, and has appeared in Psychology Today, and in meditation programs by Deepak Chopra. His writings have been published by Oprah’s Lifeclass, Simon & Schuster, Random House, HarperCollins, Wiley, McGraw Hill, and Writer’s Digest. His writings are regularly used in the curriculum at the university level, have been reviewed and published by the dean of NYU, and at Dartmouth, Stanford, and Yale, and were implemented into a campus installation at Bangkok University. McGill is on a quest to prove that life is still beautiful, and that all people have the power to have a better life and world – NOW.

August 18, 2025 – Sold 12 Businesses Gregory Shepard, Melinda Emerson Quick 10, and Former Pixar CFO Lawrence Levy

Gregory Shepard – Former CTO of eBay, Founder and CEO of StartupScience.io and Author of The Startup Lifecycle: The Definitive Guide to Building a Startup from Idea to Exit
Every year, I choose one thing that I think is impossible, and I go after it.
From a challenging background as a “bullied, scrawny, autistic kid” growing up paycheck to paycheck, Gregory’s turning point came from recognizing opportunities others missed, fueling his mission to empower founders to achieve significant and sustainable startup success. He even met President Barack Obama and became a Fulbright Scholar. Gregory has built and sold 12 businesses in BioTech, TransitTech, AdTech, and MarTech. Over his career, he has done startups, turnarounds, cleanups, and roll-ups. He is the Author of The Startup Lifecycle, “The definitive guide to building a startup from Idea to Exit.” He is a contributor and has been featured or quoted in leading publications. A recipient of four private equity awards for transactions between 250M to 1B, Greg has appeared on TV, Radio, and popular Podcasts. Gregory Shepard is the Founder & CEO of StartupScience.IO, helping tech startups (Seed–Series A) scale and exit successfully. A 12X founder with over 35 years of experience and multiple exits, he’s the author of The Startup Lifecycle, a ForbesBooks podcast host, TEDx speaker, and 4-time Private Equity award winner. His BOSS system is trusted by TechStars alumni and Pitch Global EIRs for delivering rapid, high-impact results.Lawrence Levy – Former CFO of Pixar and Author of To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History
What we did at Pixar essentially was put enough administration,bureaucracy and strategy around the creative spirit without killingthat spirit. And in many ways, it’s the same… How do we keepenough momentum in our lives, but really nurture our spirit, ourcreativity, our hearts and in a nutshell, that’s what the Middle Waydoes for us.
In 1994, Lawrence Levy received an unexpected phone call from Steve Jobs to see if he had any interest in running Pixar’s business. Over the next twelve years, Lawrence served as Pixar’s CFO, a member of its Office of the President and later as a member of its Board. During this period, Lawrence developed and put in place the strategy that would transform the company from a money-losing graphics company into a multibillion dollar entertainment studio. He took the company public and was there during the launch of Pixar’s iconic films. He resigned, with Steve’s blessing, to pursue his passion for eastern philosophy and meditation. He came to see these ideas as a way to realize our potential as individuals and for creating human-centered organizations that foster creativity and excellence. His first book, “To Pixar and Beyond” was an Amazon Best Book of 2016 in the Business and Leadership category and a Fortune Magazine Best Book of 2016. The NYT described it as “enchanting…Mr. Levy has quite a story to tell.” He also recently published an article in the Harvard Business Review entitled “Finding the Healthy Tension Between Being Confident and Collaborative.” Lawrence speaks regularly on topics including talks at Harvard Law School, Harvard Business School, Pixar and Google. In 2003, together with four co-founders, he created a non-profit called the Juniper Foundation that focuses on bringing Indo-Tibetan meditation practices to contemporary life and he teaches meditation weekly.

August 15, 2025 – Don’t Be A Little Pitch Bryce North and The 7 Habits Sean Covey

Bryce North – Founder of Don’t Be A Little Pitch and PR Pro
If you can’t promote yourself, then why do I think you can promote me?If you can’t help yourself get exposure and seem influential, why do I thinkyou can help my business?
Bryce North is a serial entrepreneur with years of experience building, scaling, and running startups. He has built a reputable track record for his successes and has won many awards for his achievements in entrepreneurship. As a master storyteller, Bryce takes a unique approach when it comes to attention and has built strong relationships with the media and capital world. With a background in venture and angel capital, he has been offered numerous advisory roles and speaking opportunities all around the world. From being featured on Canada’s Dragons’ Den, owning the media with his personal and business brands, to building companies that have scaled to over 40 countries, he is sought after to help others create a name through online media and speaking opportunities.Sean Covey – Author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens and President of FranklinCovey Education – Read interview highlights here
Life’s not a competition. And if you get more, doesn’t mean I get less.We can both have an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Sean Covey, President of FranklinCovey Education, is a business executive, best-selling author, speaker, and innovator. Sean is devoted to transforming education throughout the world through a principle-centered leadership approach. Sean directs FranklinCovey’s whole school transformation process, called Leader in Me®, which is now in more than 5,000 schools and 50 countries throughout the world. Sean is New York Times bestselling author and has authored or co-authored several books, including The Wall Street Journal’s #1 Business Bestseller with more than 500,000 copies sold, The 4 Disciplines of Execution, The 6 Most Important Decisions You’ll Ever Make, The 7 Habits of Happy Kids, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, which has been translated into 30 languages and sold more than eight million copies worldwide. He is a versatile keynoter who regularly speaks to students and adults within schools and organizations and has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows and in print media. Franklin Covey Co today announced the release of a new special 30th anniversary edition of Stephen Covey’s (1932-2012) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which commemorates the timeless wisdom of The 7 Habits for a new generation with the book’s original content along with personal insights at the end of each chapter by Covey’s son, Sean Covey.

August 14, 2025 – Tree Ring Digital Marketing Paige Wiese and TED SuperStar Simon Sinek

Paige Wiese – Founder and CEO of Tree Ring Digital
The moment I stopped chasing every client and started focusing onserving the right clients, my business didn’t just grow – it transformed.
Paige Wiese is the founder and CEO of Tree Ring Digital, a top-ranked Denver-based marketing agency that develops high performance websites and digital marketing strategies for businesses nationwide. With 16 years of industry experience, Paige has seen companies and CEOs struggle to manage and maintain their assets through growth or transition. She has recently developed a proprietary digital asset management service to track and protect companies’ over 200 data points. Your brand is one of your most valuable assets—and your website and online presence are essential extensions of that value. My passion lies in helping businesses realize the full potential of their digital assets, transforming them into tools that not only support operations but also increase the overall worth of the company. Paige is a dedicated speaker and mentor on the topics of brand protection and business growth.Simon Sinek – SinekPartners and Management Consulting Consultant
You can take a good person and put them in a bad environment, they’recapable of doing bad things. Likewise, you can take a bad person and putthem in a strong and positive environment, and they’re capable of doing good things.
Simon is an unshakeable optimist. He believes in a bright future and our ability to build it together. Described as “a visionary thinker with a rare intellect,” Simon has devoted his professional life to help advance a vision of the world that does not yet exist; a world in which the vast majority of people wake up every single morning inspired, feel safe wherever they are, and end the day fulfilled by the work they do. A trained ethnographer, Simon is fascinated by the people and organizations that make the greatest and longest-lasting impact. Over the years, he has discovered some remarkable patterns about how they think, act, and communicate, and also the environments in which people operate at their natural best. Simon may be best known for his TED Talk on the concept of WHY, which has been viewed over 60 million times, and his video on millennials in the workplace—which reached 80 million views in its first week and has gone on to be seen hundreds of millions of times. He continues to share inspiration through his bestselling books, including global bestseller Start with WHY and New York Times bestsellers Leaders Eat Last and The Infinite Game, as well as his podcast, A Bit of Optimism. In addition, Simon is the founder of The Optimism Company, a leadership learning and development company, and he publishes other inspiring thinkers and doers through his publishing partnership with Penguin Random House called Optimism Press. His unconventional and innovative views on business and leadership have attracted international attention, and he has met with a broad array of leaders and organizations in nearly every industry. He frequently works with different branches of the US Armed Forces and agencies of the US government, and is an adjunct staff member with the RAND Corporation—one of the most highly regarded think tanks in the world. Simon is also active in the arts and with not-for-profit work, or what he likes to call the for-impact sector. In 2021, he founded The Curve: a diverse group of forward-thinking chiefs and sheriffs committed to reform modern policing from the inside-out. Their purpose is to build a profession dedicated to protecting the vulnerable from harm while advancing a vision of a world in which all people feel justice is administered with dignity, equity, and fairness.