Get Back 2 Work

A life-threatening diagnosis at 16 taught Jothy Rosenberg how to face seemingly impossible challenges and later helped him navigate the highs and lows of nine startups. He shares why customer conversations, focused execution, and strong company culture can make the difference between a promising idea and a sustainable business.

In this episode, Bob Campana and Jothy Rosenberg discuss:

• Overcoming cancer, amputation, and isolation
• Building resilience through hard challenges
• Customer discovery and product-market fit
• Startup mistakes, financing, and unit economics
• Company culture, hiring, and founder challenges

Key Takeaways:

• Resilience grows when you focus on the next step and keep working toward what matters.
• Start by identifying a genuine customer problem that needs solving, rather than developing technology first and then searching for a market that might find it useful, ensuring that every innovation is grounded in real needs and delivers meaningful value to the people it aims to serve.
• Talk to prospective customers and test whether they will pay before scaling development.
• A minimum viable product should include only what customers need to pay for.
• Company culture requires active leadership: hire carefully, address harmful behavior quickly, and keep values visible.

“People need to talk to 40 prospective customers before they can say, ‘Yes, I really understand.’” - Jothy Rosenberg

About the guest, Jothy Rosenberg:

Jothy Rosenberg has a PhD in Computer Science from Duke University, where he remained as a CS professor for five years. He left academia and went on to found nine startups in areas ranging from supercomputers to internet security, to a TV show production company, to Hollywood special effects equipment, and a non-profit. Two of his startups had exits over $100M. Jothy’s most recent startup began as a DARPA program to develop a processor virtually immune to cyberattacks. It is called Dover Microsystems, which he founded and ran.

Jothy has authored several technical books, a children’s book called Adventures on the Can Do Trail, and an entrepreneurship book called Tech Startup Toolkit. It’s a very honest recounting of the many mistakes a multi-time founder/CEO can make, which he hopes will help other founders be better prepared.

Connect with Jothy Rosenberg:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jothy  

YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@DesigningSuccessfulStartups  

Tech Startup book: https://www.amazon.com/Tech-Startup-Toolkit-launch-strong/dp/1633438422/  

Jothy’s non-profit: https://whosaysicant.org  

Jothy’s TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNtOawXAx5A  

Jothy’s website: https://jothyrosenberg.com  

Connect With Bob Campana:

Website: https://www.bobcampana.com/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getback2workk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-campana-entrepreneur/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobcampana_/ 

Show notes by Podcastologist: Hanz Jimuel Alvarez

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

A search for a genuinely delicious trail snack became the start of a global food brand. Betty Lu shares how she turned overlooked produce into Confetti Snacks and built a business where bold flavors and fighting food waste go hand in hand.

In this episode, Bob Campana and Betty Lu discuss:

• Travel as inspiration for Confetti Snacks
• Upcycling surplus and cosmetically imperfect produce
• Recipe development, flavor, and production
• Brand identity, retail growth, and customer appeal
• Entrepreneurial risk, mentorship, and future ambitions

Key Takeaways:

• A sustainability mission may attract first-time customers, but exceptional taste is what keeps them coming back.
• Transforming surplus produce into shelf-stable products gives overlooked ingredients a second life.
• As a business grows, maintaining consistent quality requires thoughtful experimentation, continuous recipe refinement, and careful adjustments to production processes.
• Great packaging captures attention and creates an emotional connection.
• Sometimes, the biggest opportunities emerge when you step beyond your comfort zone, take a chance on an untested idea, and find the courage to share your vision with people who might help bring it to life.

“People vote with their taste buds. They don't care if you're trying to save the world.” - Betty Lu

Check out Confetti Snacks’ shop on TikTok! https://vt.tiktok.com/ZTA5jU42c/?page=TikTokShop

About the guest, Betty Lu:

Betty Lu is the founder and CEO of venture-backed Confetti Snacks, based in San Francisco, NYC, and Singapore. Confetti crafts award-winning, perfectly crunchy, gourmet snacks made from nutrient-dense fruits & vegetables in internationally inspired flavors that celebrate diversity. The scrumptious plant-based snacks are colorful and made from real sliced veggies and fruit. The snacks are high in protein and fiber, an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, and gently upcycled from imperfect produce or crop surplus to alleviate food waste.

Connect with Betty Lu:

Website: www.confettisnacks.com 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/confettisnacks/?hl=en 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/confetti-fine-foods 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@confettisnacksinc?_r=1&_t=ZT-98S0m2aWzTK 

Connect With Bob Campana:

Website: https://www.bobcampana.com/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getback2workk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-campana-entrepreneur/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobcampana_/ 

Show notes by Podcastologist: Hanz Jimuel Alvarez

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

Imagine this: the habits that made you successful are now holding your team back. How do you escape this hero trap? Bill Flynn explores how leaders can move beyond being the “hero,” build systems for better decisions, and create a workplace where people feel both capable and connected.

In this episode, Bob Campana and Bill Flynn discuss:

• The Hero Trap and leadership bottlenecks
• Strategic destination, purpose, and systems thinking
• Decision-making frameworks and reversible decisions
• Controller, Builder, and Architect leadership styles
• Human connection, culture, and employee engagement

Key Takeaways:

• As a company grows, leaders need to shift from making every decision themselves to building a capable, confident team that can make sound decisions independently without relying on the leader to manage every detail.
• Clear purpose and a well-defined strategic destination give people a shared guide for action.
• Good decision-making starts by understanding the real problem, not just choosing between two proposed options.
• Match the decision-making process to the stakes involved: this means making reversible decisions promptly, learning from the results, and adjusting as needed, while giving high-impact decisions more time for careful analysis.
• People are more likely to thrive when they can feel both unique and part of something larger.

“Making a great decision is very different than having a great outcome.” - Bill Flynn

About the guest, Bill Flynn:

Bill Flynn is a leadership strategist, executive coach, and speaker, and the founder of Catalyst Growth Advisors. He is the author of Further, Faster and the forthcoming The Hero Trap (Berrett-Koehler, October 2026), with a foreword by Marshall Goldsmith. Drawing on roughly 30 years inside scaling companies, including 10 startups, 2 IPOs, and 7 acquisitions, Bill has coached hundreds of CEOs and executives across high-growth startups, operationally intensive businesses, and mission-driven organizations. He is a contributor to Harvard Business Review and a member of Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches community. His work is endorsed by Alan Mulally, Amy Edmondson, and Marshall Goldsmith.

Connect with Bill Flynn:

Website: www.catalystgrowthadvisors.com    

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billflynnpublic  

Connect With Bob Campana:

Website: https://www.bobcampana.com/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getback2workk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-campana-entrepreneur/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobcampana_/ 

Show notes by Podcastologist: Hanz Jimuel Alvarez

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

A business can be an owner’s greatest asset or a job they can’t sell. Learn how getting your finances, operations, and exit plan in order can improve a company’s value and make it a better business to own.

In this episode, Bob Campana and Marty M. Fahncke discuss:

• Three-year preparation for a business sale
• Clean financials, profit, and tax strategy
• Owner succession and staged exits
• Strategic acquisitions as a growth strategy
• Recurring revenue and business valuation

Key Takeaways:

• Start preparing well before a sale; financial records and operations take time to strengthen.
• Buyers look for clear, verifiable evidence of a business’s profitability and not simply a high revenue figure or the owner’s estimate of how much money the company makes.
• Delegating frontline tasks and management responsibilities helps the business operate without the owner’s constant involvement, making it more attractive and easier to transition to a new owner.
• Acquisitions can offer a path to growth by adding established customers, teams, and revenue streams.
• By strengthening financial systems, improving operations, and reducing dependency on the owner/s, businesses become easier to sell or even keep, depending on the owner’s final decision.

“You don't know if a divorce (business sale) is on your horizon. You don't know. You know if one of those happens, then guess what? You're prepared to maximize that exit from that business.” - Marty M. Fahncke

About the guest, Marty M. Fahncke:

Marty M. Fahncke is a Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Advisor and seasoned world-class Marketer with over 30 years of experience in growing & scaling businesses, and over 25 years of experience in Mergers and Acquisitions.

In that time, Marty has helped hundreds of small businesses scale to over $1 billion in total revenue, and executed nearly $500 million in Mergers and Acquisitions transactions.

Marty is also the author of the Amazon best-selling book “Boomer Sells the Business: A Step-by-Step Guide to Cashing Out & Living Large”. Don't let the name fool you; this book is a gold mine of information for business owners of ANY age or generation!

Connect with Marty M. Fahncke:

Website: https://www.westboundroad.com/available-for-acquisition.html  

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/martyfahncke  

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@westboundroad/videos  

Connect With Bob Campana:

Website: https://www.bobcampana.com/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getback2workk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-campana-entrepreneur/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobcampana_/ 

Show notes by Podcastologist: Hanz Jimuel Alvarez

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

A founder’s vision can get buried beneath the day-to-day work of running a business. This episode explores how a fractional COO can turn that vision into practical systems and help owners reclaim time for growth and the life they want.

In this episode, Bob Campana and Derek Fredrickson discuss:

• The COO as the bridge between vision and execution
• The founder’s shift from operator to owner
• Fractional leadership and business growth stages
• Building systems and empowering teams
• Remote operations and lifestyle design

Key Takeaways:

• Delegating outcomes, not just tasks, helps a founder step out of the daily bottleneck.
• A fractional COO can bring operations, sales, marketing, and finance into alignment, helping each function support the company’s broader strategy and growth goals instead of working in silos.
• Start by reviewing how the founder’s time is actually spent, then identify which responsibilities contribute most to the business so they can prioritize high-return work and reduce or delegate lower-value activities.
• Systems work best when they’re built with the team, documented, and improved through feedback.
• Define the personal goal behind the business; it can help guide decisions about how the company should operate.

“I always say, listen, part of what our job is is to actually create the structure, the systems, the processes, not to take control of your business, but actually to give you control back.” - Derek Fredrickson

About the guest, Derek Fredrickson:

Derek Fredrickson is the CEO and founder of The COO Solution, a fractional COO firm that works hands-on with 7- and 8-figure founders and CEOs to build the operational foundation their businesses need to scale. With over 16 years as a Chief Operating Officer and second-in-command, he now leads a team of fractional COOs embedded inside growing businesses across industries and hosts The COO Solution Podcast.

Connect with Derek Fredrickson:

Website: https://thecoosolution.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derekfredrickson/

Connect With Bob Campana:

Website: https://www.bobcampana.com/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getback2workk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-campana-entrepreneur/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobcampana_/ 

Show notes by Podcastologist: Hanz Jimuel Alvarez

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

Chris Sund uncovers the wonders of having a leader who stops building fences to keep people in and starts building launchpads to help their people grow. In this episode, you’ll hear how an executive recruiter and author uses culture, honest feedback, and personal transformation to unlock the potential people don’t see in themselves.

In this episode, Bob Campana and Chris Sund discuss:

• Healthcare recruiting and AI-powered headhunting (Nebula)
• Human connection in rural healthcare and community impact
• Personal mission, leadership development, and culture building
• Stretching people, growth mindset, and “launchpads vs. fences”
• Self-doubt, hidden potential, and becoming “capable of more”

Key Takeaways:

• Culture is not about perks and ping-pong tables; it’s about creating a winning environment where people are proud of the work they do and who they do it with.
• The most powerful retention strategy is developing people, recognizing them often, and helping them grow both inside and outside the organization.
• Clear expectations filter in people who genuinely want to grow.
• Most people quietly believe they are capable of more but are held back by self-doubt, fear of failure, comfort, and busyness.
• Simple, human gestures, like secondhand compliments and handwritten notes to an employee’s parents, can create lasting memories and deepen loyalty far more than expensive perks.

“We are going to stretch you, but we're not going to break you.” - Chris Sund

Do you want to be the version of yourself? Learn how through Chris Sund’s book; grab a copy here: https://YouAreCapableofMore.com  

About Chris Sund:

Chris Sund is the author of You Are Capable of More: A No-Excuses Guide to Becoming Your Best Self. As President and COO of Uniti Med, GQR Healthcare, and Nebula, he helped grow the business 12x in revenue in two years, earning the #3 ranking on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in the Midwest, and today leads one of the largest healthcare staffing organizations in the country. The cultures he has built have earned Best Places to Work recognition from Fortune and others.

Chris keynotes at events all over the country and hosts the Amplify Speakers Podcast, featuring nationally recognized keynote speakers, bestselling authors, Olympic athletes, and business executives. He serves as Vice President of the NATHO Board of Directors and is a Certified Maxwell Leadership speaker, trainer, and coach.

Connect with Chris Sund:

Book Website: https://YouAreCapableofMore.com  

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christophersund  

Instagram: instagram.com/chrissund  

Facebook: facebook.com/christopher.sund.9  

X: https://x.com/ChrisSund7  

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@christophersund  

Connect With Bob Campana:

Website: https://www.bobcampana.com/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getback2workk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-campana-entrepreneur/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobcampana_/ 

Show notes by Podcastologist: Hanz Jimuel Alvarez

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

What if happiness in retirement isn’t about hitting a magic number, but mastering five simple steps? In this episode, Wes Moss reveals the Retire Sooner Method: money green zones, core pursuits, real community, and a written plan that delivers a 21% happiness jump. Ditch fear, find “enough,” and build a life worth retiring to.

In this episode, Bob Campana and Wes Moss discuss:

• Defining “money green zones” and financial foundations
• Friendship recession and building real social connections
• Core pursuits can drive purpose beyond full-time work
• Fear of outliving savings and written planning
• Diminishing returns of wealth on happiness

Key Takeaways:

• A happy retirement depends less on amassing limitless wealth and more on hitting “money green zones,” cultivating five or more core pursuits, maintaining at least four close friendships, and committing to a written plan that reduces anxiety and clarifies what “enough” looks like for your life. 
• The growing “friendship recession” significantly erodes retirees’ happiness, health, and long-term well-being.
• Even high-net-worth individuals fear outliving their hard-earned assets, but a clear, written plan paired with education can lower anxiety and support sustainable withdrawals. 
• Start building core pursuits and social connections in your 40s–50s to avoid a late-life “point of no return” where habits, health, and networks are harder to create from scratch. 
• Wealth boosts happiness only up to a plateau; beyond roughly $1–3M in liquid assets, incremental dollars add little, so shift focus to purpose, relationships, and planned adventures that create anticipation and meaning. 

“If you do all five of these… you’ve got a 96% chance that you end up in the happy retiree camp.” - Wes Moss

Want To Retire Sooner? Find out how by learning from Wes Moss’ Retire Sooner Method! Grab a copy here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1969190027?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback

About Wes Moss:

Wes Moss, CFP®, is Managing Partner and Chief Investment Strategist at Capital Investment Advisors, a fee-only SEC-registered investment adviser with over $8 billion in assets under management. A dedicated financial educator, Moss has spent his career helping Americans retire sooner and happier through his research-driven Retire Sooner Method. Moss is the author of several books, including What the Happiest Retirees Know, and host of the long-running Money Matters radio show and the Retire Sooner podcast. A regular Forbes contributor and frequently quoted media source, Moss lives in Atlanta, where he leads a team committed to helping families find purpose and financial security in retirement.

Connect with Wes Moss:

Website: https://www.wesmoss.com/  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesmoss/  

Connect With Bob Campana:

Website: https://www.bobcampana.com/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getback2workk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-campana-entrepreneur/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobcampana_/ 

Show notes by Podcastologist: Hanz Jimuel Alvarez

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

Chasing scale or eyeing the exit? Dave Parker reveals the signals founders miss, the metrics that matter, and a simple framework to decide: grow, pivot, or go. Avoid earnout traps, raise your multiple, and time your move with confidence.

In this episode, Bob Campana and Dave Parker discuss:

• Knowing when to grow versus exit
• Revenue models driving enterprise value
• Strategic vs. private equity exits
• Reducing founder dependency and risk
• Avoiding earnout traps and customer concentration

Key Takeaways:

• Teams prosper when they pivot around problems.
• Predictable revenue plus a crisp two-year growth story often signals higher enterprise value and buyer confidence than trailing performance alone.
• Strategic exits skew heuristic; private equity favors calculable models.
• Lower founder dependency commonly strengthens valuation resilience.
• Diversified customers and revenue typically reduce risky earnouts.

“How many weeks could the business run without you paying attention to it? … if you haven't operationalized things, that will drag down the value of the enterprise because of its dependence on you.” - Dave Parker

About Dave Parker:

Dave is a five-time founder and has been part of >15 transactions, as founder, operator, board member, and advisor. He splits his time between funding early-stage companies and helping them exit. He’s a Senior Partner at Fearless.fund. The fund is focused on investing in Women of Color Founders across the US in Consumer and Tech companies. At the other end of the spectrum, he helps founders exit their companies through his work at NextPath Advisors.

His “20%” time (that can sometimes be 80% time) is as a community builder and speaker; he works with accelerators and startup programs worldwide.

Connect with Dave Parker:

Website: https://www.dkparker.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveparker/ 

Email: [email protected] 

Connect With Bob Campana:

Website: https://www.bobcampana.com/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getback2workk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-campana-entrepreneur/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobcampana_/ 

Show notes by Podcastologist: Hanz Jimuel Alvarez

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

What does it really take to turn a soft-serve side hustle into a four-location staple with lines out the door? Meet Larry and Soshie Young, founders of The Yogurt Mill, and their daughter Carly, the next-gen co-CEO. Stick around for hard-won lessons on scaling, culture, and creating “memory moments” that keep customers coming back.

In this episode, Bob Campana, Larry Young, and Soshie Young discuss:

• From refrigeration to founding The Yogurt Mill
• Flavor sourcing, rotation, and quality partnerships
• Scaling through systems, manuals, and training
• Community outreach, fundraisers, and mobile trucks
• Next-gen leadership, innovation, and menu focus

 Key Takeaways:

• Building durable systems like manuals, checklists, training, and standards turns craft into a scalable operation. 
• Community-first outreach tends to compound both goodwill and revenue. 
• Hiring for attitude, teaching problem-solving, and prioritizing cleanliness may elevate the customer experience consistently. 
• Data-led iteration, such as A/B testing promos, tracking loyalty behavior, and letting winners run, often pays off across seasons.
• Operational focus helps; trend items seem to work best when they truly fit.

“I never had that vision that we would be able to impact so many people's lives. I think what you see from Yogurt Mill is just the sincerity from our hearts.” - Larry Young

About Larry and Soshie Young:

Larry and Soshie Young are the husband-and-wife founders of Yogurt Mill, a Modesto staple they launched in the mid-1980s after Larry’s early career in commercial refrigeration and soft-serve equipment. Blending Larry’s mechanical mastery and product obsession with Soshie’s organizational rigor and community-minded marketing, they scaled from a single shop to multiple locations, trucks, and a catering arm. Their playbook- quality sourcing, relentless cleanliness, systems and training, and deep local engagement- built a beloved brand and a durable operation now transitioning to the next generation under their daughter, Carly.

Connect with Larry and Soshie Young:

Yogurt Mill Website: https://yogurtmill.com/   

Yogurt Mill Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yogurtmillfroyo  

Yogurt Mill Phone: (209) 523-2057   

Yogurt Mill Facebook:https://web.facebook.com/yogurtmillfroyo 

Yogurt Mill Email: [email protected]  

Larry’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larry-young-a9a865aa/  

Connect With Bob Campana:

Website: https://www.bobcampana.com/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getback2workk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-campana-entrepreneur/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobcampana_/ 

Show notes by Podcastologist: Hanz Jimuel Alvarez

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

Meet Widgetteer CEO Bill McHenry, who turned a failed vacuum-seal idea into a masterclass on product design, sourcing with soul, and selling to the toughest buyers. From viral oil-and-vinegar platters to Disney-level vendor status, this conversation is a blueprint for building hits in the “social kitchen” era, where relationships, relentless follow-up, and packaging you can actually touch make all the difference. 

In this episode, Bob Campana and Bill McHenry discuss:

• Widgetteer’s “social kitchen” focus and products
• Lessons from early product failure 
• Corporate experience shaping entrepreneurial agility
• Sourcing family-owned factories and retail access
• Pricing, logistics, packaging, and trade show strategy

 Key Takeaways:

• Design for the “social kitchen”; this means making products people want to display, not store, then partner with family-owned factories to move faster than big brands. 
• Early failure taught hard lessons in manufacturing, logistics, and perseverance. 
• Start with the retail price, then work backward on costs, packaging, and shipping to protect margin without hurting customer experience.
• Trade shows are for contacts, not closes.
• A respectful, cross-generational team improves picks and reduces risk. 

“We have that focus on the social kitchen… I'd be willing to bet when you have a party at your house, everyone congregates in the kitchen, and that's what we focus on.” - Bill McHenry

About Bill McHenry:

Bill McHenry is an innovative leader in the world of sales and marketing with over 25 years of extensive corporate and entrepreneurial experience.  As a creative and energetic problem solver, Bill has helped launch a number of exciting new products and companies, building them from the ground up, including Widgeteer.  As the founder and President of Widgeteer,  Bill uses his comprehensive industry experience to bring innovative European housewares brands to North America.  As the company has grown, he has been able to grow the logistics part of the business, creating a bridge between international factories and retailers in North America. 

Throughout his noteworthy career, Bill has served in key capacities for a number of varied and high-profile companies, including Carnation, a division of Nestle Corporation, 3M, and North American Philips in upper executive positions in sales, marketing, and business development sectors. 

Connect with Bill McHenry:

Website: www.widgeteerinc.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billmchenry/ 

Connect With Bob Campana:

Website: https://www.bobcampana.com/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getback2workk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-campana-entrepreneur/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobcampana_/ 

Show notes by Podcastologist: Hanz Jimuel Alvarez

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.