Founders Future

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Karyn Vadnais, Kelly Price, SHRM-SCP and founding partner of ThriveHR, LLC, shares her journey from Marriott International to launching an HR consulting firm focused on small and medium-sized businesses. Kelly discusses how ThriveHR, LLC helps companies align people strategies with business goals through audits, strategic planning, and tailored solutions—from compliance to talent acquisition. She emphasizes the importance of building trust in HR consulting and why personalized, relationship-driven approaches outperform cold outreach in this industry.

Kelly also dives into ThriveHR’s expansion plans, including a new AI-powered onboarding division, and reflects on the best advice she’s received: "No ask, no get" and the importance of prioritizing family, health, and time when scaling a business. For aspiring HR consultants, she stresses the value of networking, knowing when to refer clients out, and never viewing competitors as threats—but as potential collaborators.

In this episode of Founders, Future, with host Jae Encarnacion, we sit down with Anthony Calleo, Founder and Chief Employment Experience Officer of Calleo EX. Anthony shares his 20+ years of HR expertise, including his time at Disney, and how he’s now helping startups and small businesses build thriving workplace cultures. He dives into the importance of aligning company values with employee experiences, the challenges of scaling people-first organizations, and his innovative Reset It program designed to foster authentic leadership and engagement.

Anthony also opens up about his journey as a solopreneur, the power of intentional networking, and why avoiding fear-driven decisions is key to sustainable growth. Listeners will walk away with actionable insights on creating exceptional workplaces, balancing creativity with business growth, and the mindset shifts needed to lead with purpose.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Jae Encarnacion, we dive into the revolutionary world of startup equity with Mike Moyer, founder of Slicing Pie. Mike shares his hard-won journey from losing equity in multiple failed ventures to developing a dynamic equity model that eliminates founder disputes by tracking contributions in real-time. His "fair market value" approach—where every unpaid contribution (from cash to sweat equity) is quantified—has helped thousands of startups worldwide avoid the pitfalls of fixed splits. Mike reveals why traditional 50/50 splits fail ("They assume equal work, which never happens") and how his free-to-use model adapts as startups evolve.

We explore how Mike balances mission-driven impact with sustainable growth, leveraging SEO, AI tools like ClickRank.ai, and global partnerships to educate founders. His counterintuitive advice? "Work the market first—build demand before product." From his early days as a blogger to now offering SaaS and consulting, Mike’s story proves that solving a universal pain point (equity conflicts) requires both relentless education and adaptability in an ever-changing startup landscape.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Ammar Elm, we dive into conversation with Ryan Edwards, Co-Founder and Head of Strategy at CAMINO5 Agency, a consultancy bridging Fortune 500s and startups through data-informed, human-centric growth strategies. With over 25 years of experience—including pioneering AI in dynamic creative optimization—Ryan unpacks how CAMINO5 diagnoses growth plateaus with surgical precision, acting as both rapid "emergency responders" and long-term strategic partners for brands navigating digital noise.

Ryan reveals why in-person networking is outperforming digital lead gen in today’s saturated market and how CAMINO5 balances deep specialization with agile adaptability—even serving as thought leadership partners for other agencies. He also shares hard-won lessons on AI’s role (and limitations) in marketing, the power of direct outreach in sales, and CAMINO5’s ambitious vision to scale insights into a productized offering—all while resisting spray-and-pray tactics to build a $3M revenue engine rooted in trust, not automation.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Jae Encarnacion, we sit down with Franco Caporale, founder and CEO of SaaSMQL, who reveals how he’s revolutionizing demand generation for B2B SaaS companies through an unconventional yet wildly effective strategy: direct mail. Drawing from his Silicon Valley experience scaling startups like Openprise and InsideView, Franco shares how his agency combines old-school offline tactics (like targeted gift boxes) with cutting-edge ABM and multi-channel campaigns to cut through the digital noise. His secret? While competitors drown prospects in LinkedIn ads and emails, Franco’s team delivers tangible, memorable experiences—resulting in 80+ clients, including Freshworks and Rapid7, and pipeline growth that bypasses vanity metrics for real revenue.

Franco opens up about the challenges of scaling a high-touch service business, from his meticulous 1%-of-resumes hiring process to leveraging AI tools like Clay and HubSpot to automate workflows (saving $3K/month per client). For founders in competitive spaces, his advice is gold: "Find your ‘wow moment’ service—a proprietary playbook that delivers repeatable results—before scaling." As SaaSMQL eyes enterprise expansion, Franco’s journey proves that sometimes the most disruptive solutions are hiding in plain sight—like a well-timed package on a prospect’s desk.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Ammar Elm, we sit down with Scott Willingham, Founder and CEO of WakeEffect, a people-centered business advisory firm specializing in leadership development and organizational growth. With 25 years of experience spanning EdTech, sales leadership, and culture transformation, Scott shares how he blends frameworks like Predictive Index and Aslan Training to help companies build thriving cultures and high-performing teams. From his unexpected career pivot (thanks to his wife!) to founding WakeEffect—named after the legacy leaders leave behind—Scott reveals why self-awareness and servant leadership are the bedrock of sustainable success.

Scott dives into WakeEffect’s unique approach, where he serves as a trusted partner (not just a consultant) to clients like Nissan and mid-market firms, helping them hire smarter, coach effectively, and retain top talent. He also tackles the challenges of balancing client fulfillment with lead generation, emphasizing the power of mentorship and strategic partnerships for entrepreneurs. Whether you’re scaling a team or refining your leadership wake, Scott’s insights on culture-first growth and science-backed talent strategies are gold.

In this episode of Founders Future, host Mishal Saeed sits down with Pam Dwyer, CEO and founder of TPKK Concepts and Marketing, to explore her remarkable journey from corporate marketing to becoming an author and speaker. Pam shares how her boutique agency evolved from helping her son's businesses to focusing on authentic storytelling, and how a pivotal moment led her to write "From the Piney Woods," an Amazon bestseller that transformed her career trajectory. She opens up about her challenging childhood, the therapeutic power of journaling, and how those raw experiences became the foundation for her powerful message that "your past doesn't define you, it prepares you."

The conversation delves into Pam's current transition from traditional marketing services to building her personal brand as a speaker and author around her "Plus One Theory" - the concept of doing your best plus one more in small, intentional steps. She discusses the challenges of cold outreach for speaking engagements, the reality of building an audience from scratch, and her strategic focus on growing her email list through book sales, market events, and her weekly newsletter featuring "Stories from the Piney Woods." Pam's authentic approach to overcoming failure and turning pain into purpose resonates throughout the episode, offering valuable insights for entrepreneurs navigating their own pivotal moments.

In this episode of Founders, Future, with host Jae Encarnacion, we sit down with Dr. Ernesto Custodio, CEO of Agile Genesis, to explore his 30-year journey in IT and agile transformation. Dr. Custodio shares how his passion for optimizing business processes led him to create Agile Genesis, a consultancy that bridges agile methodologies and AI-driven solutions to help organizations enhance productivity and adaptability. From his early days in New York’s financial district to pioneering AI-first strategies today, he reveals the frameworks and tools that empower businesses to scale intelligently.

The conversation dives into Agile Genesis’ core offerings, including AI training and agile consulting, and how Dr. Custodio leverages AI to multiply productivity. He shares actionable insights on automation, custom GPTs, and the mindset shift required to thrive in an AI-driven world. Listeners will walk away with practical tips on implementing AI, scaling efficiently, and redefining work to focus on living—not just working harder.

In this episode of Founders, Future, we sit down with Dr. Nina Nejmeh, founder of Nio Consulting Group Corp U, a firm dedicated to helping struggling medical clinics regain stability and profitability. Through a rigorous and personalized audit process, her team — comprised of legal advisors, financial consultants, retired physicians, and clinical experts — identifies deep-rooted operational issues that lead to high staff turnover, poor patient retention, and inefficient systems. By combining financial data analysis, HR evaluations, staff and patient interviews, and process mapping, they develop tailored strategies to get clinics back on track while empowering owners to lead with clarity and confidence.

Dr. Nejmeh also shares her approach to lead generation, emphasizing the power of reputation, inbound inquiries, and strategic partnerships with industry professionals. With a multi-tiered intake process that matches potential clients to the right internal experts, Nio Consulting ensures every engagement is intentional and impactful. We explore the challenges of scaling such a specialized service, the importance of aligning consultant personalities with client needs, and the mission behind transforming clinics into high-performing, patient-centered oper

In this episode of Founders Future, host Ammar Elm sits down with Kiley Romero, founder and CEO of Smooth Mortgage Company, a boutique lending company focused on making home financing seamless and personalized for modern borrowers. Kiley  shares her remarkable journey from corporate America across five different industries to building a mortgage company during the pandemic, despite having no prior experience in the field. She discusses how her background in overcoming adversity, including winning a mediation against a multi-billion dollar corporation to improve employee policies, prepared her for the entrepreneurial challenges of the mortgage industry.

Throughout the conversation, Kylie emphasizes the critical importance of mindset, patience, and persistence in building a successful mortgage business. She reveals how Smooth Mortgage Company differentiates itself by offering access to 78 lenders, closing loans in 10 days or less compared to traditional banks' 30-45 day timelines, and leveraging cutting-edge AI technology through their partnership with UWM (United Wholesale Mortgage). Kiley also discusses her expansion plans into Arizona, the challenges of recruiting entrepreneurial-minded loan officers, and her philosophy that success in the mortgage industry comes down to daily actions, attitude, and building genuine relationships with clients who trust you to help them create lasting memories in their new homes.