Founders Future

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we meet Matt Brookfield, a seasoned entrepreneur who has discovered his true calling in business mentoring. Matt shares his incredible journey from a 17-year stint in the British Army to building and scaling multiple companies, including a large cleaning and maintenance firm and a successful fire and security business. He opens up about the highs and lows, including the liquidation of one business, and how these lived experiences—from sleepless nights over payroll to rapid scaling—have equipped him with the practical, no-nonsense wisdom he now brings to his clients.

Matt discusses his transition into mentoring, a field he found after years of informally helping others, realizing that his "forte" was guiding entrepreneurs through the exact challenges he had faced. He details his organic, problem-solving-focused coaching style and his ambition to build a mentoring practice that allows him to work from abroad. The conversation also touches on the current crossroads in his business: the critical decision of whether to niche down to the industries he knows intimately or to keep his services broad, highlighting a common scaling challenge for expert coaches.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we are joined by Dr. Aurora Dawn Benton, the founder and chief changemaker of Astrapto. Dr. Benton shares her journey from a software professional to a sustainability pioneer, driven by the belief that business can be a powerful force for good. She delves into how Astrapto makes sustainability practical and approachable for the hospitality, travel, and events industries, focusing on operational shifts in food waste reduction, material management, and strategic planning to align social and environmental impact with core business goals.

Dr. Benton opens up about the evolution of corporate sustainability over the past decade and the global forces driving change. She also discusses her personal entrepreneurial journey, including the "feast or famine" cycle of consulting, her philosophy on building a flexible team, and her exciting new chapter as a published author. Looking ahead, she shares her goal to expand her influence onto larger stages as a speaker on leadership and change management, moving beyond her industry niche to inspire a broader audience.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we dive into the entrepreneurial journey of David Snyder. David shares his origins in the telecommunications industry, starting with selling cell phones in the 1990s and discovering his passion for the startup culture by helping to launch a national brand. This experience laid the foundation for his mission to revolutionize professional training by moving away from academic, one-size-fits-all models towards more authentic and effective methods.

David details his current venture, a holistic partnership between his company and Bravad, designed as a one-stop shop for SMBs. He explains their unique 360-degree approach to diagnosing business challenges, ensuring that marketing and sales efforts are perfectly aligned. Emphasizing that "complexity is the enemy of execution," David outlines their customizable service packages and his ambitious goal to establish his group as the gold standard for business services across Canada.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we sit down with Kate Hanson, a wellness and success coach on a mission to help ambitious individuals break free from burnout and autopilot living. Kate shares her incredible journey from studying corporate culture to a pivotal moment of ethical conflict that pushed her into entrepreneurship. She opens up about her initial steps, including a year-long social media challenge that unexpectedly revealed her path forward, and how she built a business dedicated to helping high-achievers reclaim their mental well-being and find joy in their success.

Kate delves into the core of her current business, explaining how she works with entrepreneurs, business owners, and sales professionals through one-on-one intensives, keynote speaking, and her book, "You're Strong Enough for This." She discusses her unique approach to client acquisition, which heavily relies on authentic connection and word-of-mouth, and her exciting future plans to launch a community, digital products, and retreats. Throughout the conversation, Kate’s energizing philosophy and the powerful advice to always ask "What if it was easy?" shine through, offering invaluable insights for any founder feeling the weight of their ambitions.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we sit down with Hari Luker, the founder of fit_father_40. Hari shares his journey from an endurance athlete to a specialized coach for fathers over 40, detailing his unique approach that prioritizes sustainable energy, mental endurance, and small, actionable habits over drastic, unsustainable diets and workouts. He explains how his program is designed for the busy dad, focusing on foundational elements like proper hydration, sleep, and short walks to build momentum and create lasting change that impacts not just their health, but their family life and career.

Hari dives into the business side of his coaching, discussing his strategies for standing out in a crowded market through authentic personal branding and a focus on delivering tangible results within days. He outlines his lead generation process, which includes a mix of paid advertising and organic social media growth on TikTok and Instagram, and his plans for a new app to help clients stay on track. The conversation also covers his goals for scaling the business, the importance of accountability in coaching, and his long-term vision for creating a self-sustaining operation that provides both freedom and purpose.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we sit down with MJ Jennings, the founder of Today's Coach. MJ shares her fascinating journey from coaching elite athletes in ice hockey and rugby to becoming a "brain trainer" for high-performing entrepreneurs and executives. She delves into how the mindset strategies that drive early success—like perfectionism and people-pleasing—often become the very ceilings that hold leaders back. MJ explains her science-based approach to helping clients build mental fitness with the same discipline as physical training, emphasizing sustainable confidence and resilience to break through to the next level.

The conversation explores MJ's transition into entrepreneurship, her ideal client profile, and her philosophy on building trust through deep, one-on-one coaching engagements. She also opens up about her organic, relationship-driven approach to marketing and her exciting plans for the future, including developing a "mental fitness boot camp" to make mindset work more accessible and habitual. This episode is a masterclass in understanding how to outgrow your own limitations to achieve lasting, high-level performance.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Ammar Elm, we sit down with Jeremy Thom, the founder of Committed 2 Fitness. With over two decades in the industry, Jeremy shares his incredible journey from conducting old-fashioned surveys to understand client hesitations to building a global, one-on-one online coaching business that serves clients across Australia, Europe, and Japan. He delves into his unique, holistic approach that masterfully blends personal training, nutrition, movement, and life coaching to deliver profound health transformations for his primary clientele—professionals over 40.

Jeremy opens up about the strategic pivots that fueled his growth, including the crucial development of a custom fitness app to enhance client retention and his successful foray into the international market. He provides invaluable advice for new fitness entrepreneurs on finding a unique selling point and the importance of passion, while also sharing his own scaling challenges and future vision, which includes building a team of coaches to expand his impact without sacrificing the personalized connection that defines his brand.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we sit down with Danny Gavin, the founder and CEO of Optidge. Danny shares his fascinating journey from an ordained rabbi and MBA graduate to launching a full-service digital marketing agency. He delves into his immigrant family's influence, his early fascination with technology in the 90s, and the pivotal moment on the couch with his wife where the name "Optidge"—a blend of "optimizing" and "bridging" the gap for businesses—was born. Danny opens up about the initial challenges of starting a consultancy in a post-recession economy and the importance of believing in yourself and diving in headfirst.

The conversation then shifts to the core of Optidge's unique value proposition. Danny explains how his agency specializes in lead generation by combining paid media with robust CRM systems to track leads from initial contact to qualified customer, a strategy he believes sets them apart. He details their client engagement model, the importance of a collaborative "marriage" with clients, and his future-focused goals for 2026, which center on leveraging automation and AI to free up his team for more strategic, creative work that delivers exceptional client outcomes.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we sit down with Damon Flowers, the co-founder of Modern Operators. Damon shares his 20+ year entrepreneurial journey, from starting, failing, and exiting various ventures to uncovering the critical link between internal alignment and external business success. He reveals why some actions are easy for founders while others are incredibly difficult, setting the stage for his mission to help other entrepreneurs.

Damon delves into the core of Modern Operators, an AI-driven operations consultancy. He explains their unique "Modern Operators OS" built on Notion, which packages his proven frameworks into a system that helps founder-led businesses stabilize, optimize, and scale. The conversation highlights the transition from being the bottleneck in your business to building a sustainable, "boring" company, and why creating a solid foundation of focus and alignment is now more crucial than ever in the age of AI.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we meet Joanne Platts, the founder of Jo Platts - Life Coach. Joanne shares her inspiring journey from being a beautician for 20 years to becoming an accredited mindset and life coach. She reveals that during the lockdown, a journey into personal development and meditation sparked a profound personal transformation, which she felt compelled to share. Despite initial limiting beliefs about her qualifications and imposter syndrome, her passion for helping others led her to make the bold career shift into coaching.

Joanne details her coaching philosophy, which focuses on helping women unlock unstoppable confidence and overcome anxiety and self-doubt by addressing the root causes of their limiting beliefs. She explains her structured 12-session program designed to provide clients with lasting tools for change. Joanne also opens up about the challenges of entrepreneurship, from stepping out of her comfort zone to standing out in a crowded market, and shares her goals for scaling her business while staying true to her passion for making a tangible difference in her clients' lives.