Founders Future

this episode of Founders Future, with host Ammar Elm, we sit down with Dennis Suttles, the founder and CEO of Cool AI Guy. Dennis shares his incredible journey from a 30-year career in restaurant hospitality management, which was upended by a near-fatal health scare, to becoming a solopreneur fully immersed in the world of AI. He discusses the pivotal moment that made him decide to bet on himself, his initial steps into affiliate marketing, and how he ultimately pivoted to building practical AI solutions for service-based businesses.

Dennis delves into the core of his business, detailing his flagship products, Listify AI and AnswerPro AI—voice agents designed to capture and qualify leads for professionals who can't afford to miss a call. He outlines his grassroots marketing strategy, which relies on organic content, community building, and TikTok Live sessions to demonstrate his expertise and generate qualified leads. Dennis also opens up about his goals, the challenges of finding committed clients, and his philosophy on taking consistent action to build a lasting, million-dollar brand.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Ammar Elm, we dive into the transformative journey of Joey Ragona, founder of Strategic Business Academy. Joey shares his powerful shift from a money-driven, high-pressure sales model to a mission-driven approach centered on authenticity and service. He reveals how aligning his business with his core values—by curating a tribe of like-minded individuals, serving without an immediate expectation of selling, and respecting each person's unique timeline—not only brought him personal peace but also catalyzed significant business growth.

Joey breaks down the three pillars of his "heart-centered marketing system" and explains why mission-driven entrepreneurs actually need a healthy, profitable business more than anyone to fund their greater impact on the world. This conversation is a masterclass in building a fulfilling business by energetically aligning with your desired reality, focusing on transformation over transaction, and trusting that the right clients are always watching from the sidelines.

In this episode of Founders Future, host Ammar Elm sits down with Ivanna Price, founder and CEO of The Social Bar LCC, a dynamic media agency helping businesses craft authentic digital stories. Ivanna shares her inspiring journey from being an immigrant and aspiring teacher to pioneering a thriving creative agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She delves into the challenges of entrepreneurship, the importance of authenticity, and how she built her agency from the ground up—starting with a $600 client to now managing high-profile projects and winning pitch competitions.

Ivanna also discusses her vision for scaling The Social Bar LCC, her unique approach to client relationships, and why organic connection trumps traditional lead generation in her business. From navigating imposter syndrome to setting ambitious revenue goals, this episode is packed with insights for aspiring entrepreneurs and creatives looking to elevate their brands.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Ammar Elm, we are joined by Abir Syed, CPA and co-founder of UpCounting. Abir shares his unique journey from being a VP of Finance at a well-funded startup to unexpectedly taking over an e-commerce brand, where he fell in love with the industry. This experience revealed a significant gap in the market: e-commerce brands require sophisticated, rapid financial data, but most accountants lack the specific e-commerce savvy to provide it. This discovery motivated him to launch UpCounting, a premier accounting firm that merges deep financial expertise with a genuine understanding of the e-commerce landscape.

Abir delves into the core offering of UpCounting, which provides a complete fractional finance function—from bookkeeping to CFO services—tailored for e-commerce brands on platforms like Shopify. He discusses the challenges and strategies of scaling a service-based business, highlighting that the current bottleneck is lead generation. The conversation covers his experiments with various marketing channels, from Google Ads and SEO to content creation and Meta funnels. Abir also shares invaluable advice for new entrepreneurs, emphasizing the critical importance of focus in strategy, time management, and founder skill distribution to build a scalable company.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Ammar Elm, we are joined by Dr. Lisa Hale, Ph.D., MCC, the founder and CEO of Focused Leadership Consulting. Dr. Hale shares her profound journey from an academic and policy role at Los Alamos National Lab to becoming a global leadership coach. She reveals the pivotal moment she realized that the very skills she was passionate about—emotional intelligence, authenticity, and turning vision into reality—were the exact traits that defined the world's most respected leaders. This insight, combined with a personal need for flexibility as a single parent, led her to found her company dedicated to developing visionary leaders.

Dr. Hale delves into the core of her business, explaining her ideal clients are smart, driven founders and executives in mid-seven-figure companies who have hit a growth ceiling and need help scaling beyond their personal capacity. She breaks down her service model, from intensive one-on-one coaching and senior team retreats to masterclasses, and shares invaluable advice on client acquisition. She emphasizes leading with service through public speaking and partnerships over paid ads, and warns new coaches of the common pitfalls of not treating their practice like a real business and undervaluing their transformative work.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Ammar Elm, we sit down with Anna Mongiello, the founder of A+ Socials. Anna shares her incredible journey from being a full-time teacher and jewelry entrepreneur to becoming a leading UGC expert and mentor. She delves into the accidental discovery of User-Generated Content (UGC) while on maternity leave, her decision to leave her stable teaching career to pursue UGC full-time, and how she built a dual-faceted business that balances brand collaborations with coaching everyday women to launch their own lucrative content creation careers.

Anna provides a transparent look at the realities of building a content business, debunking the "get rich quick" myths often seen online. She explains the structure of her offers, from her signature "2-Hour Creator" course designed for time-strapped individuals to her supportive community and upcoming high-touch mentorship program. Anna also shares her powerful organic marketing strategies, emphasizing the importance of authenticity, leveraging TikTok, and going live to build trust and authority, ultimately encouraging listeners that any action, no matter how small, is better than no action at all.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Ammar Elm, we sit down with Kristin Bryce, the innovative founder and CEO of Managed Chaos Innovations. Kristin shares her unique journey from a traditional operations and lean Six Sigma consultant to pioneering a consultancy that blends these analytical disciplines with emotional intelligence, trauma-informed techniques, and creative gamification.

She delves into her powerful personal mission, explaining how her advocacy work for survivors of trauma inspired her groundbreaking method of "creating monsters" to help organizations personify and conquer their internal challenges, such as poor communication, silos, and disengagement. Kristin outlines her vision for a more human-centric future of work, where creativity is validated and systems are designed to allow people to thrive, not just function as cogs in a machine.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we sit down with Faith Dani Nawara, the visionary founder behind Bella's Booths. What began as a casual poolside conversation fueled by frustration with a lackluster photo booth rental has blossomed into a premier event experience company. Faith shares the inspiring story of how a simple "we could do this better" moment with her business partner evolved into a multi-service business known for its high-quality, immersive 360 booths and exceptional customer care, all while bootstrapping and maintaining a lean, cash-positive operation from the start.

Faith delves into the strategic pivot from focusing primarily on weddings to capturing the lucrative corporate and brand activation market, revealing how their sophisticated software provides clients with valuable demographic data and social media analytics. She emphasizes the importance of not undervaluing your service, the power of community and word-of-mouth marketing, and the philosophy of "scaling small" to maintain quality and financial health. This is a story of passion, family, and building a brand that goes far beyond just a photo booth.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Ammar Elm, we sit down with Michael J. Fox, the founder and CEO of Corberry Digital Marketing. Michael shares his journey from a 17-year career in e-commerce and enterprise-level plumbing distribution to identifying a critical gap in the market: home service companies, particularly in HVAC and plumbing, were severely underserved in the digital landscape. He discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for digital transformation, leading him to pioneer an agency that acts not just as a marketing vendor, but as a fractional CMO and growth partner. Michael explains that true success in scaling these businesses isn't just about generating leads, but about optimizing the entire customer journey and operations to meet the demanding algorithms of platforms like Google and Facebook.

Michael delves into the specifics of his agency's approach, focusing on why they niche down to HVAC and plumbing—trades with high average ticket values and year-round demand. He outlines their client acquisition strategy, which relies heavily on inbound marketing through targeted Facebook ads and authority-building content rather than cold outreach. Looking ahead, Michael shares his vision for scaling Corberry to a $5 million agency by enhancing visibility through podcasting and video content, and he offers invaluable advice for new agency owners: reverse the traditional model by building your brand authority and audience first, then perfect your operational systems afterward.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Ammar Elm, we sit down with Bimal Shah, the founder of Biz Action Coach and creator of the One Year Breakthrough. Bimal shares his incredible journey from arriving in the US with empty pockets to building a successful business coaching program. He delves into his unique "Four-Leap System," a structured methodology designed to help entrepreneurs condense their three-year goals into a single, actionable year. This system focuses on building foundational strength, achieving a flow state, creating a self-managing company, and establishing a repeatable process for perpetual growth.

Bimal explains his mission of "making pioneers out of entrepreneurs" and discusses the ideal client for his high-impact, one-on-one coaching: established businesses with 10-100 employees. He also reveals a key differentiator for his practice: his ability to often procure grants to cover the cost of his services for clients, minimizing their out-of-pocket expense. For aspiring coaches, Bimal offers crucial advice, emphasizing that the real value lies not in giving advice but in providing integrated systems and processes that guarantee transformation and get results for the client.