In this captivating episode of *Founders Future*, host Joseph Fitzgerald speaks with Paul Austin, founder and CEO of Third Wave, an educational platform dedicated to advancing the responsible and intentional use of psychedelics. Paul shares his journey from living as a digital nomad to becoming a leading voice in the psychedelic space, providing resources, training, and community support for individuals interested in psychedelics for personal growth and mental health. 

Paul explains the origins of Third Wave, a platform named after the historical progression of psychedelic use—from ancient traditions and 1960s counterculture to today's scientific and cultural renaissance. Starting as a passion project in 2015, Third Wave has grown into a comprehensive resource hub that includes expert-led content, microdosing courses, and a podcast with over 300 episodes. 

The discussion delves into the challenges of building a business in the highly stigmatized and legally complex psychedelic industry. Paul shares insights into his "audience-first" approach, growing an engaged community before monetizing through educational offerings and coaching services. He also highlights his broader entrepreneurial ventures, including a legal psilocybin retreat center and a training program for wellness coaches. 

Looking ahead, Paul envisions a future where psychedelics are integrated into leadership and entrepreneurial ecosystems to foster conscious decision-making and systemic change. He offers practical advice for newcomers, emphasizing the importance of education, guidance, and starting with microdosing as an accessible entry point. 

This episode is a must-listen for innovators, leaders, and anyone curious about the transformative potential of psychedelics in modern society.

In this episode of the Founders Future podcast, host Joseph Fitzgerald interviews Suprava Sabat, co-founder of Acquisition X, a lead generation company that helps service-based and software-based businesses improve their go-to-market strategies. Suprava shares her entrepreneurial journey, which began as a freelancer in social media marketing and lead generation. Recognizing a common pain point among her clients—the need for more leads—she and her co-founder Divyanshi launched Acquisition X about a year and a half ago.

The conversation delves into the challenges of building a business, with Suprava highlighting the difficulties of hiring and building a competent team. She emphasizes the importance of empathy in leadership, both when managing team members and working with clients. As the company evolves, Suprava reveals plans to explore creating a software-based business that complements their current lead generation services.

Discussing B2B marketing trends, Suprava notes a shift towards more creative and human-centered approaches, moving away from traditional corporate communication styles. She shares her unique lead generation strategy of reaching out to companies actively hiring, demonstrating the value of her agency over in-house solutions. Throughout the interview, Suprava offers advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, cautioning against hastily launching an agency without first gaining experience as a freelancer and building a solid client base.

The episode concludes with Suprava inviting listeners to explore Acquisition X's resources through their website acquisition.x.pro and their community called "Client Magnets," which provides lead generation strategies for young entrepreneurs.

In this episode of Founders Future, host Joseph Fitzgerald interviews Emil Story, co-founder of the Success Mentor, a recently launched mentorship organization. Emil shares the serendipitous origin of his business, which began when he helped a friend's business contact improve his sales performance. Impressed by the success, Emil and his two long-time accountability partners, Austin and Dave, decided to transform their natural mentoring abilities into a formal business focused on holistic human development.

The podcast delves into the challenges of launching a startup, with Emil candidly discussing the difficulties of balancing their existing careers while building the Success Mentor. Time management, pricing their services, and finding effective marketing channels emerged as significant hurdles. Despite these challenges, the team has grown to six people and established a proof of concept within their first year, launching in January 2024.

Emil explains their organic growth strategy, leveraging social media platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram, and using tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator to connect with potential clients. Looking ahead, the Success Mentor is developing a mentorship access portal (MAP) that will provide a comprehensive platform for peer and mentor interactions, course content, and quarterly events. Emil's key advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is simple yet powerful: always be prospecting and consistently return phone calls, emphasizing the importance of responsiveness and relationship-building in business success.

In this episode of Founders Future, host Joseph Fitzgerald sits down with Cate Stillman, founder of Wellness Pro Academy, to explore how she is transforming the wellness industry by helping professionals shift from transactional to transformational business models. Cate explains how Wellness Pro Academy empowers doctors, holistic healers, and other wellness practitioners to adopt annual membership models that focus on clear, life-changing outcomes for their clients. Through structured programs that incorporate community, curriculum, and consultations, the academy enables wellness professionals to lead with their lifestyles while achieving scalability and sustainable growth.

Cate shares her journey from owning a yoga studio to building a global wellness community and her father’s pivotal advice on creating leverage in her business model. Drawing on lessons learned from her personal experiences and high-ticket coaching investments, she highlights the challenges of maintaining processes, documenting systems, and balancing her creative energy with operational needs.

Looking ahead, Cate emphasizes the rising importance of social wellness, where leveraging community and collective habits can drive greater health outcomes and professional success. She offers valuable insights for aspiring entrepreneurs, underscoring the importance of investing in business education and aligning with mentors who can accelerate growth. Cate’s story is a testament to the power of adaptability, innovation, and community in reshaping an industry.

In this episode of *Founders Future*, host Laura Skinner speaks with Sami Abou Saab, the founder and CEO of Zigzag, a groundbreaking venture dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs at the earliest stages of their journey. With a background as an entrepreneur and investor, Sami has worked with over 42 early-stage startups and renowned accelerators like Techstars. 

Zigzag addresses a critical gap in the entrepreneurial ecosystem: supporting idea-stage founders. Sami discusses how Zigzag leverages a combination of human mentorship, a robust network of industry experts, and an AI-driven platform to empower aspiring entrepreneurs. The platform can generate detailed business model hypotheses, marketing strategies, and even landing pages in just 90 seconds, helping founders validate ideas and accelerate their paths to market. 

The conversation explores Zigzag’s dual approach to engagement: a free five-week mentorship program that helps de-risk both the startup and Zigzag’s potential investment, followed by milestone-driven funding or program commitments. Sami emphasizes the importance of cultivating the right startup culture and creating value through long-term, impactful solutions rather than chasing trends. 

Sami shares candid insights into navigating challenges, from managing market noise to avoiding the pitfalls of co-founder conflicts. He also offers advice for solo founders, encouraging them to build teams strategically rather than feeling pressured to partner prematurely. 

Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or a seasoned founder, this episode provides a fresh perspective on what it takes to thrive in the high-stakes world of startups.

In this episode of Founders Future, host Joseph Fitzgerald interviews Pete Martin, a serial entrepreneur, author, and seasoned leader with over 20 years of experience in founding, scaling, and exiting businesses. Pete shares his entrepreneurial journey, which began with a car leasing company at the age of 18 and spans a diverse career, including stints at IBM and SAP before returning to his true passion—entrepreneurship.

Pete reflects on his experience founding seven companies, highlighting the lessons learned from both his successes and failures. He delves into the challenges of transitioning from corporate life to entrepreneurship, especially later in life, and the importance of resilience, adaptability, and transparency in leadership.

The conversation explores the findings of Pete’s extensive three-year research on the fastest-growing bootstrapped companies, where he reveals that the most successful entrepreneurs are often “extraordinarily ordinary” individuals who excel through grit and customer-focused strategies. Pete emphasizes the value of building trust, understanding customer needs deeply, and being "different, not better" when competing in saturated markets.

Pete also shares actionable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, including the significance of talking to potential customers, testing ideas early, and navigating the emotional highs and lows of running a business. He recommends key books for entrepreneurs, including The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz and The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank.

This episode is packed with practical wisdom and inspiration for anyone considering starting or scaling a business, making it a must-listen for founders and leaders at every stage of their journey.

This episode of Founders Future features Manjo, the founder of Life Index Limited. Manjo shares his deeply personal story of losing his mother and how that led to his innovative idea: Life Index, a platform dedicated to preserving family legacies. The platform allows users to create a digital record of their lives, including their stories, photos, and memories, ensuring that future generations can connect with their ancestors.

Manjo's journey to creating Life Index is a testament to the power of personal experience and innovation. He's already achieved significant success, securing 15,000 users worldwide and winning several awards for his company. In the episode, Manjo discusses his growth plans, including expanding into new markets like Dubai, South Africa, and the United States, and his strategies for scaling his business through marketing and brand ambassadorship.

The episode concludes with Manjo sharing his key takeaway: the importance of preserving family history and understanding the past to shape a better future. He urges listeners to consider the value of documenting their own stories and ensuring that their legacies live on for future generations.

In this engaging episode of *Founders Future*, host Laura Skinner interviews Mark Stouse, CEO of Proof Analytics, to uncover the entrepreneurial journey behind his innovative company. Mark shares the genesis of Proof Analytics, a platform born from his extensive experience as a CMO in major corporations and the success of applying causal AI to unlock actionable insights into market effectiveness and efficiency.

Throughout the conversation, Mark emphasizes the challenges of establishing credibility and trust in go-to-market investments, highlighting the frustration of C-suite leaders struggling with a lack of actionable data and integrated strategies. He dives into his research for an upcoming book, revealing surprising insights into organizational dysfunction and the urgent need for alignment between business strategies and operational functions.

Mark also reflects on the challenges of market timing, the cultural shifts in corporate spending, and the lessons learned from a saturated, venture-capital-driven era of rapid but unsustainable growth. As the discussion progresses, he explains the potential of advanced AI—analytical, causal, and autonomous—to revolutionize corporate transparency, governance, and decision-making.

The episode concludes with Mark outlining Proof Analytics’ vision for scaling its impact while staying true to its mission of empowering businesses with transformative tools to drive sustainable success.

Listeners will come away inspired by Mark's insights into leadership, technology, and the future of AI in business.

In this high-energy episode of *Founders Future*, host Joseph Fitzgerald sits down with Larry Long Jr., the self-proclaimed Chief Energy Officer of LLJR Enterprises, a company dedicated to empowering sales professionals, entrepreneurs, and leaders to rediscover their greatness and level up their lives. 

Larry shares his inspiring journey from his early days as a natural-born motivator (who often landed in detention for talking too much) to becoming a corporate sales leader and eventually launching his own business. Fueled by his passion for motivating others, Larry turned a side hobby into a thriving enterprise, offering speaking engagements, coaching, and his book, *JOLT! Get Zapped Into Intentionality*. 

The conversation dives into the challenges and rewards of transitioning from corporate life to entrepreneurship. Larry candidly reflects on the fear, uncertainty, and doubt he overcame with the support of family, mentors, and coaches. He emphasizes the importance of intentionality, time management, and building strong relationships to sustain growth and impact in business. 

Looking ahead, Larry shares his ambitious plans for global expansion, aiming to inspire audiences worldwide with his high-octane message of action, resilience, and human connection in an increasingly AI-driven world. 

Packed with humor, energy, and practical advice, this episode is perfect for anyone looking to unleash their potential, conquer self-doubt, and take bold steps toward their dreams.

In this episode of "Founders Feature," host Laura Skinner engages in a compelling conversation with Patrick Hanlon, the CEO of Primal Branding. Patrick shares his unique perspective on branding, emphasizing the concept of brands as belief systems and communities, a notion he pioneered in 2002. He discusses the importance of storytelling in marketing, explaining how brands can grow through authentic connections and word-of-mouth referrals. As they delve into the challenges of scaling a business, Patrick reflects on the evolution of marketing strategies, contrasting traditional methods with the modern landscape shaped by social media. He highlights the significance of building relationships with customers and the necessity of being present across multiple platforms to foster brand awareness. Throughout the discussion, Patrick shares insights from his extensive experience working with notable clients like Google, Pepsi, and the United Nations, illustrating how his approach has led to sustained success without relying heavily on paid advertising. The episode concludes with Patrick's thoughts on the future of branding and the ongoing relevance of his "primal code" framework in navigating the complexities of today's market.