Founders Future

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we meet Jill Kaufman, a therapist and the founder of Divorce Coach Jill. Jill shares her powerful journey from a career in finance to becoming a guiding light for individuals navigating the tumultuous process of divorce. Her own difficult experience with divorce became the catalyst for her business, driving her to create a support system she felt was missing. She explains the crucial distinction between her therapeutic work and her goal-oriented coaching practice, which is designed to help clients manage their emotions, make clear-headed decisions about their future, and ultimately build a new, fulfilling post-divorce life.

Jill delves into the core of her business model, which includes individual coaching, group programs, and digital resources. She emphasizes the immense value of the group setting, where clients find camaraderie and realize they are not alone in their struggles. Looking ahead, Jill discusses her strategy for growth, which centers on scaling by bringing other divorce coaches onto her team to expand her group program offerings. She also shares key lessons on the importance of delegation and automation, revealing how tools like an AI assistant have been game-changers in freeing up her time to focus on the parts of the business she is most passionate about.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we meet Narinder Sheena, a chronic pain and mindset coach who turned her own debilitating health crisis into a powerful mission to help others. Narinder shares her journey from a high-powered corporate lawyer to the founder of Map Coach, revealing how a sudden, unexplainable chronic pain condition became her "gift"—a catalyst that forced her to stop and unravel the deep-seated connection between her mind and body. Inspired by books like "The Secret" and "Healing Back Pain," she dedicated herself to understanding the neuroscience of pain, ultimately healing herself and vowing to guide others from a place of suffering to one of power and purpose.

Narinder delves into the heart of her work, explaining that her coaching goes beyond physical symptoms to address the mental and emotional roots of pain, including anxiety, fear, and past conditioning. She discusses her unique "Map Coach" framework—focusing on Mind, Action, and Progress—and her compassionate approach to working with clients, which involves building belief, setting micro-goals, and fostering accountability. Looking ahead, Narinder shares her vision for a dual-impact business model, combining her for-profit coaching with a Community Interest Company to create a wider social impact, aiming to embed her transformative methodologies into workplaces and upskill other coaches to create a global rippl

n this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we meet Mimi Bland, an executive mindset strategist. Mimi shares her profound journey from overcoming personal challenges and a career in Montessori teaching to becoming a guide for high-achieving founders and CEOs. She reveals how her own path of self-discovery, through various healing modalities and a deep spiritual journey, led her to develop her signature "Return to Self" program, which helps clients achieve emotional mastery and true fulfillment beyond external success.

Mimi delves into the core of her work, explaining that true transformation involves stripping away conditioned beliefs and limitations to return to one's authentic self. She discusses the intuitive process of selecting clients based on energetic alignment and readiness for change, rather than their qualifications or net worth. The conversation also explores the future of her business, including the launch of her AI-powered mindfulness app and her mission to enlighten a broader audience that the solution to their challenges lies within themselves.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we meet Shehzaad Shams, the founder of Rononiti and the visionary behind the Eclectic Leadership Movement. Shehzaad shares his journey from a 20-year corporate career in project management and operations across various global industries to becoming an entrepreneur. He describes the transition as both "liberating" and "scary," driven by a desire to move beyond working for what he terms "confidently incompetent" leadership and to address a gap he observed in how leadership is taught and perceived in the modern world.

Shehzaad delves into the core of his venture, explaining that Rononiti is not a traditional coaching or consulting firm, but a "leadership design lab and advisory." He introduces the Eclectic Leadership Movement, a D2C2B (Dining Room to Classroom to Boardroom) initiative that draws on a diverse range of sources—including linguistics, psychology, political science, and non-Western, indigenous, and religious wisdom—to create a more holistic and inclusive model of leadership. He discusses his strategy of offering free workshops to schools and business schools to build the movement, while seeking fee-paying clients and investors to scale the commercial side of his vision, all while focusing on the challenge of simplifying his powerful but complex message for a broader audience.

n this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we meet Alicia Teltz, a former Global Client Executive at LinkedIn and the founder of The Hype Department. Alicia shares her journey from being a "hypocrite" advisor—teaching massive corporations how to leverage LinkedIn while never posting herself—to becoming a top LinkedIn creator. Her decision to publicly commit to growing her own audience to 10,000 followers in 90 days was a pivotal experiment that worked so well it gave her the confidence to leave her corporate job and launch her own business, dedicated to demystifying the platform for professionals and companies alike.

Alicia delves into the core strategies of her business, which operates on both a B2C and B2B model. She explains her "value-first" philosophy for LinkedIn success, breaking down how to structure content across a marketing funnel, why AI-generated posts damage credibility, and the nuanced realities of using video on the platform. She also provides an insider's guide to effective "social selling," detailing a consultative approach to sliding into DMs that focuses on building relationships over time rather than making immediate, off-putting sales pitches, all aimed at helping clients build authentic influence and generate real business opportunities.

In this episode of Founders, Future with host Milan Kohut, we are joined by Benjamin Friedman, the founder of Build, Scale, Grow. Benjamin shares his journey from a career in nonprofits to becoming "addicted to startups" after his first role at a rapidly scaling e-commerce company led to a successful acquisition. He explains how this experience revealed the cyclical nature of startup work, which inspired him to launch his own fractional and interim COO/CFO practice. This model allows him to provide multiple startups with the operational leadership they need precisely when they need it, helping them overcome growth bottlenecks after achieving product-market fit.

Benjamin delves into his unique approach of working holistically with founders in the ed tech, health tech, and social impact spaces to identify and prioritize 3-5 key bottlenecks at a time, "putting out fires while installing fireproofing" with long-term systems. He also opens up about his identity as an introverted founder and his upcoming book, Silent Strength, which aims to empower the estimated 40-50% of founders who are introverts to build successful companies authentically. The conversation covers his marketing strategy of "going deep versus wide," his ambitious plans for 2026—including hosting 10 events and reaching 1,000 founders—and the challenge of maintaining energy across these diverse fronts while determining which initiatives will truly resonate and scale.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we meet Isobel Lepist, the founder of At the Millpond. Isobel shares her journey from a 25-year corporate career in HR and talent management to becoming an ADHD coach and neuro-inclusive workplace consultant. Driven by her own late diagnosis, she explains her passion for creating environments where neurodivergent individuals can move from struggling and masking to thriving as their authentic selves.

Isobel delves into the core of her work, detailing her 12-week, one-to-one coaching program that focuses on building self-awareness, managing emotional dysregulation, and developing practical strategies to improve executive function. She also discusses the challenges and rewards of being a solopreneur with ADHD, the importance of building a solid business foundation, and how her services are evolving based on client feedback to include ongoing peer support and accountability.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we sit down with Emilia Lujan, the founder of MindfulBody Productions. Emilia shares her journey from working in traditional PR, where she felt a misalignment with her values, to discovering her purpose in the holistic health space. She discusses how her passion for meaningful impact led her to become an entrepreneur, creating a global platform that helps mission-driven brands reconnect with their audience through mindful marketing, transformational storytelling, and deep brand positioning.

Emilia delves into the core of her business, explaining her "mindful marketing" approach which focuses on building authority and trust for her clients over time, rather than seeking quick wins. She outlines her flagship process that begins with a deep dive into brand positioning to ensure a founder's story and communication strategy are in perfect alignment with market needs. Looking ahead, Emilia also shares her vision for scaling her new "Roots to Rise" program, designed to help solopreneurs lay a solid marketing foundation, and her plans for offering fractional CMO services to larger organizations.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we are joined by Susana Ritto, the founder of Rise of Women. Susana shares her powerful journey from a high-achieving executive in the Luxembourg financial sector, where she outwardly projected confidence while internally grappling with self-doubt. She reveals how her quest for a solution led to a groundbreaking discovery: women are wired differently, and traditional mindset coaching often fails because it doesn't account for biological and emotional design. This insight was the catalyst for Rise of Women, a movement dedicated to helping women heal their inner voice and lead with authenticity by using methods specifically tailored to how women process emotions and inherit generational patterns.

Susana delves into the core of her work, explaining that many high-achieving women carry inherited stress and emotional patterns that are not their own. Her approach focuses on emotional regulation and nervous system healing to help women reconnect with their self-worth and build unshakable confidence from within. She discusses her vision for scaling her mission through education and organic outreach, emphasizing the importance of growing in a way that maintains the deep, personal, and transformative impact of her programs. This conversation is a must-listen for any woman ready to stop fighting her design and step into her true power.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we meet Holly Mandel, the innovative founder of iiMERGENCE CORPORATE IMPROV. Holly shares her unique journey from performing and teaching improv at famed institutions like The Groundlings to translating those skills into a powerful tool for corporate and personal development. She reveals how the principles of improvisation—such as presence, adaptability, and agreement—are directly applicable to building confidence, fostering creativity, and enhancing team cohesion in the business world.

Holly delves into the current state of her business, detailing how iMERGENCE CORPORATE IMPROV designs customized programs for a diverse range of clients, from large pharmaceutical companies to hospitals, with sessions that can scale to include hundreds of participants. She discusses her marketing successes on LinkedIn, the challenges of valuing her unique offering, and her future goals. These include implementing the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) framework and her vision to hire an integrator, allowing her to focus on her visionary strengths and scale the business effectively.