Founders Future

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we meet Rina Winston, a life and leadership coach who specializes in deep, transformative work with purpose-driven leaders and entrepreneurs. Rina shares her journey from a background in project management and business operations to coaching, driven by the realization that her clients' core struggles weren't a lack of strategy, but issues rooted in energy, emotional patterns, and nervous system dysregulation. She explains that her unique approach goes beyond traditional mindset coaching to incorporate "energy leadership," focusing on the levels of conscious awareness and the power of choice in every decision.

Rina delves into her practice, detailing how she works one-on-one with clients—often "over-functioning founders" and service-based entrepreneurs—for 3 to 6 months to help them break cycles and achieve sustainable success. She reveals that the work often uncovers deep, unexpected root causes, from limiting internal dialogues to the impact of personal relationships on professional growth. Looking ahead, Rina's vision is to scale her impact by moving more into the corporate B2B space, aiming to bring her message of authentic leadership and internal alignment directly into organizations to transform teams and workplace dynamics.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we meet Coach G (Genet) , the founder of GFIT Performance Training. She shares her journey from a collegiate track athlete whose career was cut short by injury to discovering her passion for coaching while working at her campus gym. This path led her to internships working with NFL athletes and eventually to founding GFIT in 2017. Based in Anaheim, California, she has built a business that combines in-person sports performance training for high school and college volleyball and basketball teams with private and small group sessions at her facility.

Coach G delves into the evolution of her business, highlighting a crucial expansion into mental performance training. Inspired by the heightened stress and anxiety she observed in young athletes, especially during COVID, she became certified to help them handle pressure, overcome negative self-talk, and build confidence. She discusses her hands-on, in-person approach, her partnerships with local schools and a premier sports facility, and her future goals to focus 80% on mental performance while hiring additional trainers to scale the physical training side of her business, aiming to build a wider network to impact more athletes.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we are joined by Dan Collins, the founder of Franchisee First Advisors. Dan shares his 40-year journey in the franchising world, which began with managing franchised restaurants in college and led him to work with industry legends and major brands like Arby's. His extensive background spans every facet of the industry, from training and operations to business development, giving him a unique, behind-the-scenes understanding of what makes a franchise successful—and what pitfalls to avoid. This wealth of experience is the foundation of his consultancy, where he now guides high-performing professionals toward franchise ownership with a personalized, transparent approach.

Dan delves into the core of his business, explaining how he acts as a free, expert advisor to his clients, using his deep industry knowledge to vet opportunities and align them with his clients' financial, family, and lifestyle goals. He emphasizes steering clients away from common but challenging franchises like restaurants and towards more recession-resistant and manageable concepts, particularly in the home services sector. With a mission to prevent people from making bad investments, Dan outlines his meticulous process for matching candidates with the right brands from his curated list, sharing his goal to expand his team to help even more aspiring franchisees build successful, multi-location businesses.

In this episode of Founders, Future with host Milan Kohut, we are joined by Nishu Lathwal, the founder and CEO of SocialNix. Nishu shares her unique and inspiring journey from a medical doctor to a marketing agency owner, revealing how her medical background provided an unexpected advantage. She explains that the disciplines of diagnosis, understanding human behavior, and systematic thinking from medicine directly translate to how she approaches business growth—first diagnosing a client's core issues before prescribing a tailored marketing strategy, a method she feels many agencies skip. This analytical foundation allows her to build data-driven systems and campaigns for sustainable brand impact.

Nishu details how SocialNix serves female founders and e-commerce businesses with a comprehensive suite of services including social media management, paid marketing, and website/funnel creation to create predictable client acquisition. She discusses the agency's intentional growth, prioritizing clients with a proven product-market fit and clear intentions over those seeking overnight success. The conversation also delves into the current challenges of scaling, as Nishu focuses on strengthening her internal operations, hiring skilled social media managers and paid marketers, and building systems to reduce her direct involvement in daily fulfillment, all while planning for future expansion into AI and educational verticals.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we are joined by Dena De Piazza, the Program Director and owner of Pain Coach Academy. Dena shares her deeply personal journey into the world of pain coaching, which began over two decades ago when her husband, a police officer, was injured in the line of duty and medically retired in their early 20s. Navigating the limitations of traditional medical care for his chronic pain, they embarked on a long, self-directed path to discover a more holistic, person-centered approach to managing his condition. This lived experience became the foundation for her passion and expertise, ultimately leading her to co-found an academy dedicated to training coaches in this vital and often overlooked field.

Dena delves into the core mission of Pain Coach Academy, which offers a nationally accredited, 17-week health and wellness coaching program designed to train and certify individuals to support others living with chronic pain. She explains their relational, non-directive coaching philosophy rooted in motivational interviewing and positive psychology, which empowers clients to discover their own motivations and sustainable lifestyle changes. As the program director, Dena outlines her goals to increase awareness of pain coaching as a powerful modality, expand their cohort offerings, and refine their marketing and operational systems to scale their impact and help more people "escape the grip of chronic pain."

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we sit down with Daniel Raz, a certified personal trainer and online fitness coach specializing in helping men over 40 sustainably lose weight. Daniel shares his journey from studying exercise and nutrition at the University of British Columbia to launching his online coaching business in 2020. He discusses the importance of finding a meaningful niche, the realities of a saturated online coaching industry, and why a long-term perspective and genuine passion are essential for success.

Daniel delves into his client-centric approach, which focuses on sustainable weight loss through customized at-home workouts and tailored nutrition plans without strict restrictions. He opens up about his multi-platform marketing strategies, including his current focus on X (Twitter), and his philosophy on using mentorships as a tool for continuous learning. Looking ahead, Daniel discusses his goals for the future, emphasizing the growing importance of human connection and word-of-mouth referrals in an increasingly digital world, and even shares his thoughts on a potential pivot to in-person events and retreats.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we are joined by Andy Ranson, the Managing Director of K1 Channel Consulting. Andy shares his unexpected journey into the world of partnerships, which began over 20 years ago in New Zealand when he "fell into" a role building a partner program for a big data software company. His early success in forging a top-tier strategic partnership with Microsoft set the stage for a career dedicated to helping tech and SaaS companies build, scale, and monetize their partner ecosystems. With experience at major players like Cognos, IBM, and Microsoft, Andy has honed his expertise in designing partnership programs from the ground up and driving them to generate tens of millions in revenue.

Andy delves into the core of K1 Channel Consulting, explaining their "do-it-with, do-it-for" model that helps companies from startup to $100M+ scale-ups systematically launch or re-architect their partner programs. He outlines their comprehensive approach, which includes strategy design, partner recruitment, and hands-on execution, with typical engagements lasting 6 to 12 months. Looking ahead, Andy is focused on the company's ambitious international expansion strategy, leveraging a global team of senior fractional consultants across the UK, North America, APAC, and the Middle East to help clients enter new markets with the cultural insight and local partner networks needed to accelerate global growth.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we are joined by Mike Fata, a visionary entrepreneur best known for co-founding and scaling Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods from a startup to a $419 million powerhouse before its strategic sale. Mike shares his unconventional journey, which began at 21 as a high-school dropout with a personal health transformation that fueled his passion. He started the business with just $10,000, emphasizing a 20-year "sweat equity" path that involved learning every facet of the vertically integrated business, from farming to manufacturing to retail, and highlighted the crucial role of perseverance, as the company didn't become profitable until its tenth year.

Today, Mike channels his vast experience into his role as an investor, advisor, and coach through Fata & Associates. He discusses his current focus on investing in and actively advising a portfolio of eight "Better For You" food and beverage brands, helping founders navigate the critical path from $5 million to $100 million in revenue. Mike also opens up about his philosophy of building a purpose-driven life post-exit, prioritizing freedom and impact over further scaling, his strategic use of AI as a "solopreneur," and the importance of community and mentorship in achieving long-term, sustainable success

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we are joined by Depesh Mandalia, the founder of SM Commerce and the creator of the BP Method. Depesh shares his entrepreneurial journey, which began after losing his corporate job during the 2009 financial crisis, leading him to build a successful affiliate marketing business from his bedroom. After a period of returning to the corporate world, a pivotal conversation with Facebook encouraged him to launch his own agency, which eventually scaled to over $200,000 per month. A key turning point came when he launched a course as an experiment, making $100,000 in six weeks and realizing the profound impact and scalability of educational products, which reshaped his entire business model.

Depesh delves into the evolution of his current business, which has shifted from a large, service-based agency to a lean, lifestyle-focused operation centered on coaching, consulting, and a $97/month AI-powered community for Meta advertisers. He explains his strategic focus on creating a stable, predictable revenue stream through his membership model, which covers all business costs, allowing his higher-ticket coaching and consulting offers to be pure profit. Depesh also opens up about his philosophy of leveraging AI and automation over large teams to reduce stress and increase personal freedom, and his ultimate goal of building a valuable, sellable asset for the future.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we sit down with Kelvin Wiggins, the founder of AI Connections for Business. Kelvin, with over 25 years of experience in automation and IT, discusses the monumental shift AI represents for the business world, describing it as the largest technological transition we will ever see. He explains how his company helps a diverse range of clients—from real estate and fintech to mental health and security—by auditing their workflows and implementing "digital assistants." These AI agents act as superhuman team members, taking over repetitive tasks to free up human employees for more impactful, client-facing work. Kelvin emphasizes that AI is widely misunderstood; its primary role is not to replace people, but to augment human potential and create unprecedented efficiency.

Kelvin delves into the critical need for education and cultural change within organizations to successfully adopt AI. He warns that businesses clinging to legacy systems and resisting this shift risk becoming obsolete, much like those that couldn't adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking ahead, he shares his vision for an AI-integrated future where digital workforces are equipped with an emotional layer, making them nearly indistinguishable from human colleagues. For Kelvin, the mission is clear: to bridge the gap between cutting-edge AI innovation and practical, impactful business implementation, ensuring his clients not only survive but thrive in the new technological era.