Founders Future

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we’re joined by Jason Stowe, founder of Let Me Fly Leadership & Coaching, a seasoned executive coach with over three decades of experience scaling franchise and multi-unit businesses. Jason shares his journey from the early days of franchise development to advising founders and executives across industries, highlighting how firsthand exposure to growth, pressure, and leadership challenges shaped his approach to coaching.

The conversation explores Jason’s philosophy of aligning personal purpose with business strategy, drawing inspiration from fly fishing to explain patience, clarity, and flow in leadership. He discusses why many founders hit invisible ceilings, how accountability and self-awareness unlock sustainable growth, and why the future of leadership requires deeper human connection as technology accelerates change. This episode offers a grounded perspective on scaling businesses without burnout—and building legacies that extend beyond profit.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we’re joined by Plamen Slavov, an online business strategist helping service-based entrepreneurs and online coaches build simple, repeatable client acquisition systems. Plamen shares his journey from personal training to online coaching, explaining how necessity during the COVID lockdowns pushed him into content creation—and ultimately into mentoring others on how to grow online without complicated funnels or heavy ad spend.

The conversation breaks down Plamen’s philosophy around simplicity, consistency, and sustainable growth. He explains how posting one focused piece of content per day can drive qualified leads, why blending value with virality matters, and how organic and paid strategies can work together without overwhelming founders. Plamen also opens up about simplifying his own business, prioritizing fulfillment over scale-at-all-costs, and why personal connection and in-person experiences are becoming more important in an increasingly automated digital world.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we’re joined by Kim Taynor, founder of Resume Wiz and Career Path Staffing, who brings a rare dual perspective from both sides of the hiring equation. Kim shares her journey from corporate recruiting to launching her own staffing agency and later expanding into high-touch, one-on-one career coaching, helping job seekers stand out through personal branding, resume optimization, LinkedIn positioning, and interview preparation.

Kim breaks down what’s actually working in today’s job market, from keyword strategy and impact-driven resumes to authentic LinkedIn content and relationship-first networking. She also discusses balancing two businesses, building a small but effective team, and why human connection matters more than ever in hiring. The conversation offers a grounded, real-time look at how candidates can gain traction faster—and how recruiters and employers are adapting to a constantly shifting talent landscape.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we’re joined by Ashley Jones, TEDx speaker, author, and founder of Memento Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to transforming grief into healing. Ashley shares her journey from graphic design and photography into founding a global organization that provides free professional portrait sessions and custom photo albums for families facing terminal illness—work inspired by the loss of her daughter and the profound role remembrance played in her own healing.

Ashley opens up about building and scaling a nonprofit, navigating the realities of fundraising, and challenging outdated perceptions around nonprofit marketing and sustainability. She also discusses Memento Foundation’s recent pivot toward hospital partnerships and mini-session models, her transition from executive director to creative and strategic roles, and what’s next as she steps into a new chapter focused on speaking, consulting, and her upcoming book on grief and healing. The conversation highlights the power of empathy, legacy, and creating space for grief—both in personal life and in the workplace.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we’re joined by Shreya Mehta, professional growth coach and co-founder of The Super Coach, who shares her journey from finance professional in India to recruiter in big tech and now career coach for job seekers across North America. Drawing on over a decade of experience in tech and recruiting, Shreya explains how her own struggles as an immigrant job seeker revealed a major gap in accessible, human-centered career guidance—and inspired her to build a coaching business rooted in empathy, accountability, and real-world insight.

Shreya breaks down how The Super Coach operates today, from its fully customized one-on-one coaching model to its quality-over-quantity philosophy and 100% organic growth strategy powered by personal branding. The conversation explores partnership dynamics, delegation, the return of in-person networking, and why human connection matters more than ever in the age of AI. Shreya also previews what’s next for the company, including more accessible programs designed to support job seekers at every stage of their career journey.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we sit down with Nahrahel Louis, CEO of Rebel Media Agency, to explore his unconventional path from door-to-door sales and nonprofit entrepreneurship to building a performance-driven growth agency. After being burned twice by traditional marketing agencies, Nahrahel set out to solve a problem many consultants and founders face: how to build predictable client acquisition without relying on referrals, churn-heavy agency models, or generic outreach.

Nahrahel breaks down Rebel Media’s “anti-agency” approach, including its deeply personalized outbound systems, revenue-share partnership model, and focus on high-ticket consultants and complex B2B offers. The conversation dives into niching down, building trust at scale, leveraging AI to operate lean teams, and creating an intrapreneur-led culture that drives long-term retention. It’s a candid look at what it takes to stand out in the crowded agency space—and why quality, ownership, and alignment matter more than volume.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we’re joined by Sara Fernandez, co-founder of Lead Rush Social, to unpack her journey from political campaigns and agency work to helping local businesses build scalable, sustainable lead systems. Drawing on more than a decade of experience across marketing, advertising, and strategy, Sara shares how seeing the gap between expensive agency retainers and real results inspired her to create an education-first, coaching-driven approach for business owners.

The conversation explores how local businesses can cut through marketing overwhelm, decide what actually moves the needle, and build lead systems that adapt to rapid shifts in AI, paid advertising, and consumer behavior. Sara also opens up about running a business with her husband, setting boundaries while working together, and why combining paid ads, organic strategy, and clear decision-making frameworks is key to long-term growth in 2026 and beyond.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we’re joined by Michele Burghardt, certified matchmaker and founder of L&M Matchmaking, to explore her journey from decades in self-help, hypnotherapy, and coaching to building a highly personalized matchmaking service for singles later in life. After navigating divorce and dating in her 60s herself, Michele recognized a major gap in the dating world for men over 60 and women over 50—one that dating apps and surface-level connections simply weren’t designed to serve.

Michele shares how her St. Louis–based matchmaking process blends deep values alignment, lifestyle compatibility, and intentional coaching to help clients build meaningful, lasting relationships. The conversation dives into why chemistry often grows from compatibility, how fear and vulnerability shape dating later in life, and why having a trusted guide removes much of the emotional risk from the process. It’s an honest, thoughtful look at love, connection, and why it’s never too late to build something beautiful.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we’re joined by Katrina Sawa, a longtime business and marketing coach, international speaker, and publisher, often known as the “Jumpstart Your Biz Coach.” Katrina shares her journey from a career rooted in sales and advertising to launching her coaching business in 2002, driven by a passion for helping small business owners who lacked clear sales and marketing direction.

The conversation explores Katrina’s evolution over more than two decades in business, including her continued focus on one-on-one coaching, speaking, and publishing as tools for confidence, visibility, and long-term growth. She reflects on navigating major life disruptions without shutting down her business, building lean and effective teams, and why in-person connection, confidence, and consistent visibility are becoming even more important for entrepreneurs moving into 2026.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we sit down with Elyse Collat, founder of Elyse Collat eCommerce, to explore her unique journey into the world of e-commerce. Elyse shares how she began her career interning at the White House, moved across the world to Australia, and ultimately discovered Shopify—sparking a decade-long career working across startups, in-house brand teams, and her own consulting practice.

Elyse breaks down her evolution from running an agency to coaching founders directly, focusing on customized strategies rather than one-size-fits-all frameworks. The conversation dives into organic versus paid marketing, the realities of scaling with ads, why platforms like Meta, Google, TikTok, and even Pinterest matter, and how founders can avoid burnout by building sustainable systems. She also shares her vision for the future, including expanding educational resources, collaborating with specialized experts, and eventually launching her own purpose-driven e-commerce brand.