Founders Future

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we sit down with Lissa Daub, founder of The Strong Impact Academy. Lissa shares her powerful journey from a challenging exit from her first business at age 22 to becoming a Certified Business Freedom Strategist. She explains how her personal experiences and professional certifications drive her mission to help entrepreneurs build scalable, sellable companies that grant them freedom today and a valuable asset for tomorrow.

Lissa delves into the critical difference between a profitable business and a sellable one, revealing that 80% of a company's value isn't on its financial statements. She breaks down the key value drivers, like reducing owner dependence and strengthening leadership, that allow business owners to work on their business instead of in it. Listeners will learn practical strategies to increase their company's value, create more personal freedom, and ultimately secure a return on their years of hard work.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we dive into the journey of Natalie Thompson, Director of Pangaea Global Associates. Natalie shares her unconventional path from a university drama dropout to a pioneer in IT sales and eventually the founder of a specialist executive search firm. She opens up about the powerful "why" behind starting her own business—the need for flexibility as a mother—and the grueling first nine months that nearly broke her, highlighting the resilience needed to build something from the ground up.

The conversation explores the evolution of Pangaea, from its challenging beginnings placing talent in Dubai to its current focus on senior-level roles within enterprise software and technology startups. Natalie provides a masterclass in authentic, value-driven recruitment and reveals how she is now leveraging AI to revolutionize her process, creating a new "AI Talent Partner" model to serve clients faster and more efficiently than ever before. She also delves into her passion for heart-centered leadership coaching, discussing how dismantling ego-driven patterns can prevent toxic cultures and create more fulfilling, successful environments for founders and their teams.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we sit down with Vincent Dominik, a health and fitness coach on a mission to help busy high-performing men. Vincent shares his personal journey from struggling with his own health and fitness to discovering the powerful connection between optimized nutrition, training, and lifestyle. He explains how this transformation led him to create a business focused on helping others avoid the pitfalls of a demanding work life and reclaim their vitality.

Vincent details his comprehensive 16-week coaching program, which is built on three core pillars: diet, training, and lifestyle. He emphasizes a highly personalized approach, crafting meal plans and workout routines based on a client's specific environment, schedule, and goals, with a special focus on boosting male vitality hormones. He also opens up about his marketing strategy, which focuses on generating qualified leads through authentic, organic content on platforms like YouTube and X (Twitter), as he builds the foundation for his business while navigating his university studies.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we meet Lisa Sheerin PCC, an executive coach and vocal leadership expert. Lisa shares her unique journey from a professional actor and group exercise coach to founding her company, Speak Proud. She reveals how her own struggles with self-promotion as an actor, combined with her innate ability to empower others, led her to become an ICF-accredited coach. Lisa’s mission is to help brilliant high-performers in business and corporate roles bridge the gap between their capability and visibility, enabling them to speak with confidence and assertiveness in high-stakes situations.

Lisa delves into the structure of her signature "Command and Connect" program, which blends coaching psychology with performance techniques to help clients silence their inner critic and own the room. She discusses her current marketing strategies, which heavily rely on in-person networking and LinkedIn, and her ambitions for the future. Looking ahead, Lisa’s goals include becoming a renowned keynote speaker, developing group coaching programs and online courses, and building a scalable business model that moves beyond one-on-one client sessions to create a wider impact.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we meet Claire O’Connor, a personal executive and leadership coach who never intended to become an entrepreneur. Claire shares her humbling journey from being a well-known media personality and educator in Ireland to moving to the US and starting from scratch as a "nobody." She opens up about the intense challenges of her first two years in business, from overcoming the addiction to a steady paycheck to battling the overwhelm of marketing and lead generation, holding onto the crucial advice that the only true failure is to stop trying.

Claire delves into the core of her work, specializing in helping high-performing women and corporate leaders overcome burnout and improve communication to build stronger teams. She explains the distinct ways male and female leaders typically approach coaching and the impact that has on their growth. Combining leadership science, emotional intelligence, and psychometrics like the MBTI, Claire's programs are designed to foster self-awareness and future-proof her clients' success, whether through one-on-one executive coaching, intimate group programs, or corporate workshops.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we sit down with Jake Setterlun, the founder of Setterlun University. Jake shares his incredible journey from a 19-year-old engineering student who dropped out to start a prototyping business to a seasoned entrepreneur who has built multiple seven-figure agencies. He delves into the lessons learned from a decade in the trenches, explaining the pivotal moment he realized marketing was the key to attracting clients and how that discovery shaped his entire career path.

Jake provides a transparent look at his current venture, Setterlun University, a platform dedicated to helping agency owners, coaches, and online experts scale. He breaks down his unique, anti-guru approach of offering immense value through a low-cost community to build trust, before upselling high-ticket, one-on-one coaching for accountability and implementation. Jake also discusses his scaling strategies, the biggest bottlenecks to growth, and his ultimate goal of transitioning from direct coaching to equity-based partnerships.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we are joined by Brooke Summer Adams, an internationally accredited mindset coach and business mentor known as "The Coaches Coach." Brooke takes us on a journey from her humble beginnings on a UK council estate to building a multi-faceted coaching business dedicated to helping new and aspiring coaches achieve financial, location, and time freedom. She shares the powerful mindset shifts and strategic business models that have fueled her success, emphasizing the importance of staying in the "entrepreneurial Goldilocks zone"—that perfect state of discomfort that drives true growth.

Brooke delves into the operational side of her business, detailing her well-rounded marketing strategy that combines organic social media mastery with paid advertising funnels. She explains her diverse offer suite, from accessible low-ticket courses to high-ticket one-to-one coaching, and how she has built a team to support her vision. Looking ahead, Brooke discusses her goals of streamlining her current operations for maximum impact and expanding into the offline world with in-person events and retreats, all while maintaining her core mission of creating lasting change for her clients.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we sit down with Kristin Berard, the dynamic CEO and Integrator behind multiple multidisciplinary healthcare businesses. Kristin shares her unexpected journey from a criminal justice degree to leading two sports rehab clinics and an international consulting company, Seven Figure Chiro Podcast. She delves into the powerful "chiropractic-PT" integration model that provides superior patient care and how community involvement, not traditional marketing, has been the cornerstone of their brick-and-mortar success. Kristin also opens up about the challenges of navigating health insurance and the exciting launch of their Stretch Center certification and licensing program, which helps other wellness providers add new revenue streams.

Kristin offers invaluable advice on the realities of entrepreneurship, emphasizing the importance of trusting the process and building a self-sufficient team to scale effectively. She reveals how she balances her husband's visionary ideas with her pragmatic, operational expertise to drive their companies forward. The conversation is a masterclass in building a referral-based business by genuinely listening to patients and clients, creating a lasting impact in the community, and adapting to the ever-changing landscape of healthcare and business ownership.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we are joined by Danielle Shelton-Walczak, the founder of Citrine Consulting LLC. Danielle shares her powerful journey from being a CEO of a large law firm and a city deputy to launching her own venture. The catalyst for her business was a personal health crisis—a heart attack attributed to career-related stress—which reshaped her mission to now empower women to climb the corporate ladder to executive leadership while prioritizing their well-being and avoiding burnout.

Danielle delves into the current state of her business, detailing her high-touch, one-on-one coaching packages designed to equip women with the six essential skills and traits needed for executive roles. She also outlines her vision for the future, which involves creating more accessible on-demand courses and a potential membership model to scale her impact and help a broader audience of ambitious women achieve career success without sacrificing their health.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we are joined by Susan Power, the founder and CEO of PowerUp Leadership. Susan shares her journey from a 20-year corporate career in human resources to launching her boutique leadership coaching firm. Driven by the observation of a widespread lack of exceptional leadership in the corporate world, she was motivated to create a company that helps leaders transition from technical roles into inspiring, high-performing people managers. Her mission is to crack the code on leadership development, moving beyond trial and error to provide authentic, value-based coaching that unlocks team potential.

Today, PowerUp Leadership specializes in helping hyper-growth, private equity-backed companies scale effectively by focusing on their talent strategy. Susan delves into how her firm helps these organizations retain top talent, attract the best people, and develop strong leaders through coaching and skill-building. She also outlines her ambitious plans for the future, which include aggressive growth through acquisition and the strategic integration of AI to augment human coaching, all while sharing the valuable lesson she'd give her younger self about flexibility and redefining success.