Founders Future

In this inspiring episode of Founders Future, host Elliott Boll sits down with Kelly Poquiz Burke, founder of Career Slate, to explore her incredible journey of resilience, reinvention, and leadership. Kelly shares how her life was transformed in 2020 when she faced a trifecta of challenges: a dream role as Doritos’ brand manager, a cancer diagnosis, and the global pandemic. These events led her to reevaluate her priorities, ultimately inspiring her to leave the corporate world and launch Career Slate—a coaching platform dedicated to helping professionals align their careers with their values and become fearless leaders.

Kelly discusses the importance of work-life harmony, emphasizing the need to define personal values and build a career that supports them. She also reveals her ambitious goal of empowering 10,000 people to find meaningful work, highlighting her human-centered approach to business development and leadership.

Throughout the conversation, Kelly shares valuable insights on resilience, building relationships, and finding confidence from within. Whether you're a founder, leader, or someone looking for inspiration, this episode offers a powerful reminder that the stability we seek starts from within.

In this episode of the Founders Future podcast, Paul Hassel, co-founder of Red Tiger Talent, takes us through the journey of building and growing the recruitment consultancy. Alongside his brother Steve, Paul started the business in 2016, identifying a gap in the market for roles that leverage insights and research to influence business decisions, especially within the property sector. Paul shares their vision for scaling Red Tiger Talent, the company’s niche market strategy, and the importance of coaching and development for the talent they place.

Throughout the conversation, Paul and host Laura discuss the challenges they’ve faced, including adapting during the COVID-19 pandemic and evolving their go-to-market strategy to navigate shifting circumstances. They also delve into the intricacies of account management, the necessity of creating a predictable lead flow system, and the role automation plays in reducing manual work. To wrap up, Paul emphasizes the importance of working smart, investing in the right tools, and focusing on developing core skills to drive business success.

In this episode of Founders Future, host Elliott Boll sits down with Vince de Benedetto, the founder and CEO of Automated Dreams. Vince takes listeners through his entrepreneurial journey, starting from his early days growing up in a family of entrepreneurs to his pivot from corporate life at Intel to striking out on his own. Reflecting on the challenges he faced, Vince shares how his experiences as a freelancer led him to discover his leadership strengths and the importance of hiring the right team to help scale his business.

Vince also delves into the biggest misconceptions about entrepreneurship, debunking the myth that success comes quickly and easily. He highlights the emotional rollercoaster of entrepreneurship, emphasizing the need to embrace failure and adjust your approach when plans don’t go as expected.

Looking toward the future, Vince outlines his goals for 2025, focusing on AI’s potential in business process automation and operational efficiency. He discusses how his company is transitioning into AI solutions and shares his vision of becoming a thought leader in AI within his industry. Vince wraps up by sharing crucial advice for other founders, particularly around hiring based on cultural fit and prioritizing attitude and soft skills over technical abilities.

In this episode of Founders Future, host Joseph Fitzgerald sits down with Melanie Borden, founder of The Borden Group, to discuss her evolution from a corporate VP of Marketing to a successful entrepreneur leading a thriving branding agency.

Key insights from the conversation:

1. From Ground Zero to Growth: Melanie shares how she built her LinkedIn network from scratch during the pandemic, leveraging it as the foundation for her personal brand and eventual business.
2. Starting Without a Plan: With no formal business plan, Melanie began as an independent marketing consultant before scaling her efforts into a full-fledged agency with a team of contractors.
3. Overcoming Early Challenges: She reflects on the difficulty of translating a large online following into revenue and the persistence required to secure her first clients.
4. Balancing Organic and Paid Strategies: Melanie highlights how combining organic community-building efforts with targeted paid initiatives has been pivotal for scaling her brand visibility and business reach.
5. Adapting Leadership for Entrepreneurship: Transitioning from leading corporate teams to managing her own agency taught Melanie valuable lessons about delegation, trust, and optimizing workflows.

Looking ahead, Melanie envisions expanding her agency into new markets, emphasizing collaboration with other creators, and continuing to empower entrepreneurs with tools and templates through The Borden Group’s newly launched Creator Store 2.0.

In this episode of Founders Future, host Elliott Boll sits down with Liz Marion, the founder and owner of Liby Works, to discuss her entrepreneurial journey and her mission to transform organizations through effective communication. Liz shares how her diverse experiences—from the film industry to live event production—shaped her understanding of communication as the linchpin for success.

Liz dives into the challenges of identifying her target market, leveraging her network, and transitioning her business to focus on team-wide impact within organizations. She highlights startling statistics on the cost of ineffective communication and offers actionable strategies, including the implementation of communication channel matrices, to improve team alignment and reduce inefficiencies.

With a passion for leadership development, Liz emphasizes the importance of creating more leaders in the workplace and offers invaluable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: stay curious, embrace evolution, and never underestimate the time it takes to build lasting success.

In this episode of Founders, Future, host Elliott Boll sits down with Carol Kaemmerer, the best-selling author of LinkedIn for the Savvy Executive and renowned executive branding coach. Carol shares her personal journey from corporate downsizing to becoming a leading expert in LinkedIn branding for executives.

She reveals how the economic downturn of 2008 inspired her to help senior-level professionals build their online presence and overcome the challenges that come with job loss and career transitions. Carol discusses how she transitioned from being a technician crafting LinkedIn profiles to an executive advisor, guiding clients on how to express their personal brand powerfully on the platform.

Looking ahead, Carol emphasizes the importance of proactive career resilience, particularly in times of economic uncertainty. She stresses the need for executives to take control of their LinkedIn profiles before crisis strikes, helping them stay prepared for any job changes that may come their way.

Carol also offers valuable advice for entrepreneurs, urging them to be authentic on LinkedIn, sharing not only their services and products but also their passion and personality to build trust and drive business success.

In this heartfelt episode of Founders Future, host Elliott Boll sits down with Jason Tifford, the founder of A Mindful Company, to discuss his transformative journey from personal tragedy to building a business centered on supporting employees through grief and loss.

Jason shares how the loss of his father during his college years reshaped his perspective on life and inspired him to create a purpose-driven business. He recounts his time volunteering with hospice patients and becoming a certified end-of-life doula, experiences that formed the foundation for his company. Today, A Mindful Company provides personalized bereavement support as an employee benefit, offering services like grief counseling, advanced care planning, and legacy project development.

Jason reflects on the challenges of founding a business in an uncharted space, his journey to identify the right problem to solve, and the pivotal moments of mentorship that helped shape his company’s mission. He also offers thoughtful advice to aspiring entrepreneurs about finding their "why" and staying committed to a purpose beyond profit.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, a business leader, or someone navigating personal loss, this episode is an inspiring testament to the power of purpose and the importance of supporting each other through life’s most challenging moments.

In this episode, Laura Skinner sits down with Michel Koopman, founder and CEO of CXO Coaching, to discuss her transition from corporate America to entrepreneurship. Michel shares the story behind her decision to leave the corporate world and pursue a coaching business focused on empowering salespeople. Together, they explore the growth strategies behind CXO Coaching and dive into the coaching process that has helped her clients achieve greater success.

Michel also takes us through her sales process and how her desire to scale her business beyond her current network has shaped her approach. As an entrepreneur passionate about helping others reach their full potential, Michelle emphasizes the importance of aligning personal purpose with company mission and shares how this mindset has driven her personal and professional success.

In this episode of Founders Future, host Laura Skinner interviews Ravi Kumar, the CEO of Neto AI, a cutting-edge startup specializing in generative AI solutions for the telecommunications industry. Ravi shares his journey from working in large corporations to founding Neto AI, bringing over 25 years of experience in emerging technologies to this innovative venture.

Ravi explains how Neto AI is transforming the telecommunications space through its proprietary large and small language models, which enable human-centric, contextual conversations. Within just two months of launching, Neto AI’s models have garnered over 1,000 downloads on platforms like Hugging Face, reflecting the immense interest in their solutions. Additionally, Neto AI has developed AI agents designed to sit on top of these models, providing enterprises with scalable, efficient tools for customer interactions.

The discussion delves into Neto AI’s unique three-pronged strategy for customer acquisition: leveraging Ravi’s extensive network of C-level connections, building partnerships with major system integrators, and collaborating with influential industry advisors. While the company primarily uses paid media for branding and awareness, Ravi emphasizes the importance of education in a crowded AI market. To that end, Neto AI has released white papers, research, and educational videos to help clients understand and trust their solutions.

Looking to the future, Ravi outlines ambitious plans, including signing their first 10 customers on a freemium model to prove the platform's value, then scaling with a paid enterprise approach. With key markets in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East, Neto AI is poised for rapid growth, supported by an outbound sales strategy and inside sales team launching in the coming months.

This episode is a must-listen for tech enthusiasts and entrepreneurs interested in the transformative potential of AI in industry-specific applications.

In this episode of Founders, Future, host Joe Fitzgerald sits down with Kate Lewis, founder of Fractional Talent, to explore her entrepreneurial journey and the innovative business model driving her success. Kate shares how she transitioned from corporate life to entrepreneurship during the pandemic, launching two businesses—Connections Consulting Partners and Fractional Talent.

Fractional Talent was born from a growing demand among senior executives seeking flexible consulting opportunities but struggling with sales, marketing, and pricing strategies. Kate discusses the challenges of educating the market on the fractional employment model, which offers companies cost-effective, expert-level talent on a flexible basis while providing professionals the freedom to diversify their income streams.

Throughout the conversation, Kate delves into the strategies that have worked for her, including the power of referrals, networking, and expanding her market reach nationally. She also opens up about the struggles of maintaining work-life balance and the importance of building boundaries. Looking ahead, Kate emphasizes scaling her business, leveraging AI to streamline operations, and creating content to raise awareness about the fractional workforce model.

Finally, Kate shares valuable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: identify your superpower, seek feedback, and surround yourself with a supportive network. This episode is packed with insights for anyone navigating the entrepreneurial landscape or considering the shift to a fractional business model.