Built from Scratch

When we started The To-Do Dudes, people didn’t buy into us, they bought into the idea: students showing up, working hard, and helping their community. We charged just $18 an hour and still got plenty of “no’s.” But every stage of growth came with a lesson. From pricing struggles and pushback to finally earning the trust and loyalty of our customers.

In this episode, we break down the full journey that taught us about value, elasticity, and reputation. You’ll hear about the growing pains, the tough lessons in credibility, and the moment we realized that people will pay a premium for reliability, speed, and quality.

In this episode, I share how one of my biggest mistake ended up becoming one of my greatest advantages years later.

This episode is all about trusting the process, learning from what feels like failure, and understanding that sometimes the dots only make sense when you look back.

One year after Olivia’s first appearance on Built From Scratch, we sat down again to reflect on how much can change in twelve months. We revisited her original quotes, talked about the growth of OG’s Bakery (including the story of how she got into her first grocery store), and explored why she’s so passionate about encouraging the next generation of entrepreneurs.

And just when it seemed like the conversation was wrapping up, the episode took a turn I’ll never forget, I proposed to Olivia live on the podcast.

This is our story.

Ever get to the end of the month and wonder, “Where did all the money go?”

In this episode of Built From Scratch, Erik Libby (Founder & CEO of To-Do Dudes) breaks down the 7 financial metrics that completely changed the way he runs his business. From cost per lead and customer acquisition cost, to lifetime gross profit, retention, and margins, these are the numbers that turned confusion into clarity.

Whether you’re a founder, small business owner, or aspiring entrepreneur, this episode will give you a simple framework to measure what really drives growth and profitability.

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Originally from Egypt, Youssef moved to Dubai at age 3 and later came to the US in 2021 to study Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Future Technology on a full ride scholarship at Boston University.

A serial founder: his first startup failed dramatically—but his second venture was a successful exit, which led him to join a VC firm as a partner.

He was a TEDx speaker, who spoke about the importance of health care over military during the pandemic.

And now, invests in early-stage companies through The Genesis Fund, helping tomorrow’s innovators in the Boston area scale and thrive.

Youssef is only 22 years old.

Contact Info: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/youssefrezkalla/ 

Website: https://genesisfund.co/

Email: [email protected]

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This episode is part lesson, part documentary to take a real look into where I’m spending my time as a CEO and the adjustments I’m actively making. There are constant challenges around setting the right priorities, and in this episode, I share what’s working, what isn’t, and where my head is at right now.

Here’s what I cover:

• Deciding whether to prioritize sales or product first
• Why business feels like a game of Settlers of Catan
• The value of having meeting-free days
• How I decide what to cut to stay focused

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Originally from Dubai and raised in Phoenix, Shaun studied Economics & History at Vanderbilt University.

While at Vanderbilt, and after leading United Nations linked projects like Imagine Land 2040, he co-founded Atlog, an AI voice agent for physical retail (starting with furniture) that handles customer service and collections calls.

In 2025, Atlog was accepted into Y Combinator’s first spring (“X25”) cohort; the team graduated right as Shaun was completing his degree at Vanderbilt.

Shaun is on a mission to bring helpful AI into real-world commerce and make technology serve outdated industries.

Shaun is only 22 years old.

Contact info:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karakkattu/

Website: https://www.atlog.ai/

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Originally from New Jersey, Jake earned a B.A. in Economics (with a minor in Computer Science) from Vanderbilt University.

As COVID-19 shut the world down and his work environment changed, he saved up a six-month nest egg to go all-in on his startup, Pepper—a social-cooking app he co-founded with childhood friend in September 2021.

What began as a group-chat experiment sharing homemade meals has grown into a community of over 1 million home cooks worldwide, with Pepper featured on Fox’s Food Stars and At 27 years old, Jake was named to Forbes 30 Under 30.

He’s on a mission to improve cooking experiences by bringing social media–style engagement to real-world food sharing.

Jake is only 28 years old.

Contact info:

Website: https://www.peppertheapp.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakearonskind/

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Do you ever finish an interview and still wonder, “Should I hire them?”

I’ve been confident one moment, second-guessing the next.

In this episode, I walk through the 5-step process we now follow at To-Do Dudes to confidently choose the right team members. Starting from application and going all the way through their first week on the job.

You’ll learn:

• How to evaluate candidates before the interview starts
• Our exact 4-part interview structure
• Red flags to catch early
• What we watch for between interview and day one
• How training performance reveals everything

This process has helped us avoid costly mistakes and build a team that fits and stays.

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In this episode, I walk through the real-world framework I use to build and launch internal systems from scratch.

We’re covering:

• Defining the actual goal (and not doing too much at once)
• Creating without scope creep
• Testing before delegating
• How to document clearly
• Why delegation ≠ abdication

If you're building anything that involves people, process, or automation, this will save you time, energy, and a lot of rework.

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