Professional Networking

Founders: These Are the Mistakes You Don't Know You're Going to Make | Steve Walsh, Ep 52

Steve Walsh, an angel investor and startup advisor, shares lessons from 25 years building multi-billion dollar B2B divisions at Cox and Comcast before transitioning to helping early-stage founders. He discusses common founder mistakes, when to raise capital, the importance of customer validation before building product, and how he filters 6,000 conversations down to 69 investments through rigorous vetting and founder education.

If You're Not Making Money, You're Not Worth Money: 1,000 Valuations | Gregg Ficery, Ep 51

Gregg Ficery, founder of Integgra Advisory Services, discusses his 15-year career in business valuation, explaining when companies need valuations (fundraising, 409A compliance, M&A, litigation), how to maximize company value, and current trends in venture capital and AI investment. He shares his journey from dot-com survivor to Silicon Valley Bank to independent consultant, plus his side project: a book documenting pre-NFL professional football history.

The CEO Is the Salesperson: Why Founders Can't Hand Off the Pitch | Jen Bonnett, Ep 49

Jennifer Bonnett, a longtime tech entrepreneur and former ecosystem builder at ATDC and Invest Atlanta, discusses her transition back into technology through AI experimentation. She shares lessons from building a search engine in 1997, her current work vibe coding consumer apps with Claude, and her philosophy that CEOs must personally sell for at least the first year before delegating. The conversation explores how AI is lowering barriers to entrepreneurship while emphasizing that founders still need strong networks, customer discovery skills, and the discipline to market early.

What Builders Get Wrong About Capital, From Someone Who Knows Both Sides | Kumar Ampapathini, Ep 48

Kumar Ampapathini, a fractional CFO and former Wall Street banker, discusses his transition from software engineering at Cisco to investment banking and eventually fractional CFO work. He explains how AI is transforming startup economics, why institutional investors prioritize path-to-profitability over pure growth, and what founders misunderstand about capital. Kumar shares M&A negotiation insights and emphasizes that strong founders matter more than perfect products.

Bet on the Jockey, Not the Horse: A 35-Year CFO's Guide to Backing Winners | Chris Thomajan, Ep 42

Chris Thomajan, a CFO with 35 years of experience across 100+ startups, discusses his career path from English major to finance leader in Boston's biotech ecosystem. He shares frameworks for evaluating founding teams, navigating venture capital cycles, and preparing companies for IPO, emphasizing that betting on the right 'jockey' matters more than the business idea itself.

2025 Travel Stories: What Happens When You Get Out There to Make Things Happen!

Decades of Financial Strategy Across 70 Companies and Still Going | Neal Miller, Ep 39

Neil Miller, a partner emeritus at Tech CXO with nearly 20 years of fractional CFO experience across 70+ companies, shares his career journey from public accounting through multiple CFO roles at public companies to pioneering fractional executive work. He discusses value creation stories including Cloud Sherpas (acquired by Accenture) and Boomtown (90M+ revenue exit), the current venture capital environment, and how AI tools are compressing startup development cycles while raising the bar for execution speed.

Innovation, Timing, and Leadership for Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs | Louis Gump, Ep 38

Louis Gump, fractional CEO/COO and author of Inside Innovator, discusses his career building mobile businesses at CNN and The Weather Channel, the critical differences between entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, and how founders can successfully transition into larger organizations post-acquisition. He emphasizes that innovation requires leadership commitment, cross-functional collaboration, and understanding when to adapt entrepreneurial instincts to corporate environments.

Decades of Financial Strategy, Still in the Game and Giving Back | Ted Stone, Ep 36

Ted Stone, a 72-year-old fractional CFO, discusses his decades-long career in financial leadership, including multiple private equity-backed M&A transactions, integration strategies, and current work helping companies navigate recapitalizations and ESOP transitions. He shares lessons from rolling up businesses, managing post-acquisition culture clashes, and why he continues working seven years past traditional retirement age.

Why Connecting People and Process Is Your Secret Weapon | Brantley Fry, Ep 34

Brantley Fry, partner at Tech CXO, shares her unconventional career path from environmental litigation to political operations to human capital management. She discusses her work on major environmental disasters (TVA coal ash spill, BP oil spill), serving as state director for a U.S. senator, and helping a health tech startup through acquisition. The conversation explores employment agreements, non-traditional hiring, and building culture through M&A transitions.

SpeedRun Ep 10 audio engineer local bizdev p -Tales from the Sky Lounge

A father uses Claude AI to help his college-age son, an aspiring audio engineer, develop a comprehensive business plan for launching a recording studio service in Atlanta's hip-hop scene with a $350 budget. The AI generates detailed market analysis, pricing strategies, venue partnerships, social media tactics, and a 90-day action plan that validates the son's instincts while expanding his strategic thinking about client acquisition and business development.

Road Warrior to Business Architect: 40 Years of Transforming Companies | Bob Brogan, Ep 30

Bob Brogan shares four decades of operational and strategic consulting experience, from early data warehousing work at IBM subsidiaries to leading turnarounds and exits. He discusses his approach to business transformation through modular design, cash cycle management, and the importance of mentorship—both as an angel investor evaluating founders and through his Legacy Guild charity providing scholarships to students who've lost parents.

Beyond Resumes: The Case for Talent-First, Human-Centered Hiring | Teja Yenamandra, Ep 29

Teja Yenamandra, founder of Gun.io, discusses building a talent-first freelance marketplace that connects senior software engineers with companies based on merit rather than price. He shares insights on remote work culture, AI's impact on software development, the importance of relationship-focused venture capital partnerships, and how the developer job market is shifting toward backend and AI implementation work.

Tariffs and Economic Uncertainty: How We Got Here and What's Next | Michael Weinstein, Ep 28

Michael Weinstein, a fractional CFO with decades of Wall Street and corporate finance experience, analyzes the current economic uncertainty driven by tariff policy, Federal Reserve decisions, and structural market challenges. He explains how tariffs function as a massive tax increase, why venture capital liquidity has frozen, and how uncertainty prevents corporate investment—while arguing that entrepreneurship and new business formation will ultimately lead the economy out of stagnation.

Coaching Elite Leaders, AI Productivity and the Need for Tech Diplomacy | Matt Oess, Ep 26

Matt Oess, a sales and marketing consultant and executive coach at TechCXO, discusses his coaching practice for C-suite leaders, his deep dive into AI productivity tools over the past 14 months, and his advisory role with Purdue's Croc Institute for Tech Diplomacy. He demonstrates practical AI automation workflows he's built using platforms like Make.com, explains the maturity progression from zero-shot generative AI to multi-agent systems, and shares insights on how AI is transforming business operations and the SaaS industry.

Travel Stories Compilation: Perspectives, Peeves, Perks, Profound Lessons and Priceless Stories

A Born Entrepreneur on Startups, Product Blueprints, and Global Scaling | Ghazenfer Mansoor, Ep 18

Ghazenfer Mansoor, founder of Technology Divers, discusses his journey from Pakistan to building a global software development company. He explains his 'blueprint methodology' for converting napkin sketches into production-ready applications, the challenges of managing distributed teams across continents, and how AI tools are transforming both software development and client operations. Mansoor emphasizes the importance of entrepreneur peer groups and shares insights on mobile app development trends.

Leadership, Resilience, and Sales Mastery | Rich Makover, Ep 16

Rich Makover, a fractional Chief Revenue Officer and executive coach at TechCXO, discusses his journey from Penn State lacrosse player to CPA to sales leadership at Avon and beyond. He shares insights on hiring athletes for sales roles, the importance of resilience over winning, situational coaching methodologies, and his transition to fractional leadership and executive coaching, including his decade-long mentoring program for Penn State lacrosse.

Mastering UK-US Market Entry from Either Side of the Pond | Marc McCarthy, Ep 13

Marc McCarthy, founder of Pro Consult IQ, discusses the complexities of B2B software expansion between UK and US markets. He covers cultural sales differences, regulatory considerations across US states, the importance of hiring locally, and strategic decisions around partnerships versus direct market entry. McCarthy emphasizes that shared language creates false assumptions about ease of expansion, and successful cross-Atlantic growth requires understanding time zones, legal frameworks, pricing strategies, and customer expectations that differ significantly between markets.

The Modern Marketing Landscape, from a Seasoned Expert | Katherine Hunter-Blyden, Ep 12

Katherine Hunter-Blyden, a fractional CMO, discusses her career journey from Fortune 500 companies like Ford and Progressive to serving small businesses. She covers the evolution of marketing measurement, the importance of email marketing and content strategy, brand versus direct response tactics, and how AI tools are transforming marketing efficiency while many professionals remain hesitant to adopt them.

Grit Becomes Growth: The Path from Pain to Transformation | Bart Foster, Ep 09

Bart Foster shares his journey from corporate executive to founder of SoloHealth, a health screening kiosk company that scaled to 4,000 Walmart locations before he was forced out by his board. He discusses the emotional trauma of losing his company, his intentional relocation to Boulder, and founding Business Outside—a consulting practice that uses nature-based experiences to help leaders build authentic connections and live more intentionally.

A Journey Through Valuations, Ventures, Visions and Vodka | Mike Blake, Ep 06

Mike Blake, founder of High Score Strategies, discusses business valuation methodology, the changing landscape of patent protection, and his journey from venture capital to running a valuation consultancy from Portugal. He shares insights on helping founders navigate term sheets, the limitations of valuation in early-stage negotiations, and the story of launching Atlanta's Startup Lounge networking events that helped build the city's entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Winning Strategies from Gridiron Grit to Healthcare Innovation | Jay Kleinman, Ep 05

Jay Kleinman, a 30-year healthcare sales and business development veteran, discusses how lessons from playing D1 football at Auburn under Pat Dye shaped his approach to building commercial teams for early-stage healthcare companies. He covers segmentation strategy, discovery-based selling, and the transformation of elder care through digital health and telemedicine adoption accelerated by COVID-19.

From Rowing to Venture Capital: Lessons in Teamwork and Growth | Mark Flickinger, Ep 04

Mark Flickinger, partner at BIP Ventures, discusses his journey from mechanical engineering and competitive rowing to venture capital. He explains BIP's platform-heavy approach to supporting portfolio companies, the firm's focus on high-net-worth investors, and strategies for navigating the current venture market. Flickinger emphasizes the importance of board governance, team-based competitive experience, and building sustainable businesses during economic downturns.

Building Authentic Leadership and Culture in Startups | Maria Goldsholl, Ep 01

Maria Goldsholl, fractional Chief People Officer at TXO, discusses authentic leadership, building trust-based cultures in startups, and the value of fractional executive services. She emphasizes psychological safety, transparent communication, and learning from career setbacks as foundations for effective leadership and organizational growth.