Founding DC

Think of Gov. Wes Moore as Maryland’s chief entrepreneurial officer. He didn't take a traditional path to the top. He served in a combat zone in Afghanistan, built an edtech company, wrote multiple bestselling books and became Maryland's first Black governor by running as an anti-establishment Democrat, initially polling at less than 1%.

In this episode, the governor leaves the politics at the door and talks with host Dan Simons as a founder, leader and entrepreneur. They discuss what military service teaches you about startup culture, how to lead a 60,000-person organization while still moving like a startup, what it takes to rebrand an entire state, how mission-driven leaders measure success and why the best entrepreneurs are the ones who climb without a rope.

If you're a founder, entrepreneur or business leader looking for lessons on leadership, resilience, scaling and building something that matters, this is the conversation for you. Subscribe and listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and watch the full episode on YouTube.

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When Tom Deierlein was shot by a sniper in Baghdad, doctors weren’t sure he’d survive. Twenty years later, he’s built one of the Washington region’s most respected veteran-owned federal technology companies and helped hundreds of military families through a foundation he started from his hospital bed.

In this episode of Founding DC, Deierlein shares the leadership lessons he learned from combat, recovery and entrepreneurship. He talks about rebuilding after adversity, growing ThunderCat Technology into a trusted government IT partner and making sure service remains at the center of everything he does.

A WTOP Founding DC podcast.

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What happens when you step back from nearly two years of conversations with some of the region's most accomplished founders and entrepreneurs?

You discover that the lessons learned in their varied industries, backgrounds and ventures may be different, but they boil down to a simple truth: The Way Out Is Through.

In this special Founding DC episode, Dan Simons weaves together insights from founders, business leaders and changemakers, including David Trone, Dominique Dawes, Seth Goldman, Susan Tynan, Sarah Chen-Spellings, Mark Ein, KJ Hughes and Wes Moore. Their stories reveal how perseverance, adaptability and a willingness to face challenges head on are often the true drivers of success.

From failed ideas and unexpected setbacks to breakthrough moments and lasting impact, this episode is a powerful reminder that entrepreneurship isn't a sprint. It's an endurance sport. And the people who win are the ones who keep moving forward.

Subscribe and listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and watch the full episode on YouTube.

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Shark Tank success doesn't happen by accident — it takes 50 failed ideas first. Justin Baer built a $75 million men's lifestyle brand after his 7-year-old daughter told him to post a TikTok video. What followed: a deal with Mark Cuban and Peter Jones, a refusal to sell on Amazon and a habit of cold calling his own customers. Don’t miss him break down his direct-to-consumer playbook for Collars & Co. Listen here or watch on YouTube. A WTOP Founding DC podcast.

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Sarah Chen-Spellings knows venture capital — and she’s helped redefine where it flows. As the driving force behind the former Beyond the Billion, the world’s first and largest consortium of VC funds committed to investing in women-founded companies, she played a pivotal role in closing one of the industry’s biggest gaps. In under nine months: $1B pledged, $1B+ deployed, 1,300+ companies funded, and 16 unicorns created, including Canva, Oura Ring and Poppi.

But Sarah’s not stopping there. In this episode, she breaks down why investing in women isn’t philanthropy — it’s performance — and how diverse teams consistently outperform. It’s a must-listen.

Subscribe and listen here or watch the full episode on YouTube.

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Apothékary sells one tincture every 90 seconds on TikTok. That's not luck — it's nine months of disciplined investment before a single dollar came back.

Shizu Okusa is the founder of Apothékary, a nature-based wellness brand she built from zero to $40 million in revenue and into 1,800 retail doors in six years. But her origin story is not what you'd expect. She walked away from a Wall Street trading desk to work on a banana farm in Mozambique for $30 a day.

Dan and Shizu dig into why, how Shizu stays immune to praise and criticism, the cost of blind spots and what second-time founders still get wrong.

This is a conversation about believing in yourself before anyone else does — and what it looks like to build a company rooted in both numbers and humanity.

If you're a founder, entrepreneur or business leader looking for lessons on leadership, resilience, scaling and building something that matters, this is the conversation for you. Subscribe and listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts 

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Reinvention isn’t a setback. It’s a strategy. Award-winning chef and beloved TV personality, Carla Hall, shares the mindset that helped her pivot careers, build an authentic brand and keep growing. For her, success isn’t linear. It’s built through intentional choices, learning from failure and trusting your voice. This episode is packed with practical insights, including why failure is just experience in disguise, how knowing yourself fuels better decisions, why joy is a competitive advantage and when to walk away and start fresh. This is an episode entrepreneurs won’t want to miss. Hall reminds us that we don’t win by avoiding change. We win by leaning into it.

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Raised in Washington, D.C., amid hustle and ambition, KJ Hughes turned life lessons into what the world was missing: Manifest is a cultural connector that blends barbershop, speakeasy, restaurant and high-end fashion into a new model for belonging.

As founder and CEO, KJ reveals how his early life shaped his entrepreneurial mindset and why relationships have become his greatest business asset. We learn how solving real human problems led him from promoting parties and managing elite athletes to building one of D.C.’s most innovative destinations.

It’s a must-listen for entrepreneurs ready to build businesses with purpose, resilience and lasting impact.

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Forget overnight success. David Trone built Total Wine & More into a $6 billion, category-defining retailer spanning 30 states — without outside investment. In this episode, he breaks down the deliberate strategies behind pricing innovation, regulatory navigation, operational rigor and people-first systems in one of America’s most complex retail industries. It’s a masterclass for entrepreneurs focused on durable advantage, margin discipline and long-term value creation.

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Michael O’Neil, Founder, Get Well

Business opportunities sometimes hide in plain sight. This founder had a vision, from his hospital bed, and capitalized on it — big time. This episode is about transforming fear into purpose and how one life-altering moment became the reason to build something that would help millions and make millions.

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