Growth Mavericks

What happens when you achieve one of the biggest goals of your career?

In this episode of the Growth Mavericks Podcast, Adam Callinan sits down with Ron Schneidermann, former CEO of AllTrails and current CEO of ACELY, to discuss scaling one of the most successful outdoor technology companies in the world.

Ron shares how he joined AllTrails when it was a six-person company generating just $500K in ARR, repositioned the brand for mainstream consumers, leveraged SEO and community-driven growth, and helped transform the business into a category-defining platform. He also opens up about winning Apple's App of the Year award, realizing success no longer brought fulfillment, and making the difficult decision to leave the company he loved.

The conversation dives deep into entrepreneurship, product-channel fit, founder identity, burnout, sabbaticals, community as a competitive moat, AI in education, and why spending time in nature may be one of the most underrated business advantages available to founders.

Whether you're building a startup, scaling an e-commerce brand, leading a team, or navigating your own entrepreneurial journey, this episode offers practical lessons and hard-earned wisdom from someone who has done it at the highest level. 

Key Takeaways

•  How AllTrails grew from roughly $500K ARR into a category-leading platform. 
•  Why product-channel fit matters as much as product-market fit. 
•  The SEO and community strategies that fueled AllTrails' growth. 
•  Building defensibility through user-generated content. 
•  The risks of becoming dependent on Meta, Google, or any single platform. 
•  Why founders should periodically step away to gain clarity. 
•  Lessons learned after winning Apple's App of the Year. 
•  How entrepreneurship is a journey rather than a destination. 
•  The value of nature, reflection, and deliberate stillness. 
•  How AI is transforming education through ACELY. 

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
 01:15 Ron's journey from startup founder to AllTrails CEO
 04:00 Repositioning AllTrails for the mainstream market
 07:00 Product-market fit vs. product-channel fit
 10:00 Building growth through SEO and organic acquisition
 12:00 The dangers of platform dependency
 17:00 Creating a community moat with user-generated content
 22:00 Winning App Store App of the Year
 24:00 Founder fulfillment and knowing when it's time to leave
 30:00 The power of sabbaticals and reflection
 34:00 Entrepreneurship, identity, and staying in the arena
 45:00 Discovering ACELY and AI-powered education
 52:00 AI, learning, and the future of test preparation
 56:00 Final thoughts and lessons for founders

Explore More

Growth Mavericks Podcast

https://www.growthmaverickspodcast.com

Pentane

https://www.pentane.com

ACELY

https://www.acely.com

AllTrails

https://www.alltrails.com

Connect with Ron Schneidermann

LinkedIn Profile

What would you do if your life changed in an instant?

In this episode of Growth Mavericks, Adam Callinan sits down with longtime friend, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Janne Kouri to discuss the diving accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down—and how that life-altering moment ultimately led him to build one of the most impactful paralysis recovery organizations in the world.

Before his injury, Janne was building technology startups, scaling mobile gaming companies, and living the Southern California dream. Then one dive into the ocean changed everything.

Rather than accepting the limitations of traditional rehabilitation, Janne discovered cutting-edge recovery therapies and eventually founded NextStep Fitness, a nonprofit dedicated to helping people living with paralysis, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and other neurological conditions continue their recovery long after insurance coverage ends.

Adam and Janne discuss entrepreneurship, resilience, recovery, fundraising, leadership, purpose, and why life's biggest setbacks often become its greatest opportunities.

Most importantly, Adam asks Janne a powerful question at the end of the episode:

"If you could go back and choose not to dive into the ocean that day, would you?"

His answer says everything.

🚀 What You'll Learn

•  How Janne built and scaled technology startups before his injury 
•  The accident that changed his life forever 
•  What paralysis recovery actually looks like 
•  Why the rehabilitation system is broken for many patients 
•  How locomotor therapy helps create recovery opportunities 
•  The founding story behind NextStep Fitness 
•  The importance of community during recovery 
•  Entrepreneurship after adversity 
•  Fundraising lessons from building a mission-driven organization 
•  Why great leaders know what they don't know 
•  The power of simplifying and focusing on what matters most 

🧠 Key Takeaways

✅ Adversity often reveals purpose

✅ Recovery doesn't stop when insurance coverage ends

✅ Building the right team is more important than having all the answers

✅ Great entrepreneurs stay adaptable

✅ Community changes lives

✅ Focus creates progress

✅ The hardest experiences can lead to the greatest impact

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:22 Meeting Janne Kouri

03:56 Growing Up Between Finland and America

05:42 Building a Mobile Gaming Company

08:07 The Accident That Changed Everything

13:10 Life Inside ICU and Rehabilitation

17:29 What Is Locomotor Therapy?

20:57 Recovery and Regaining Function

24:57 Building NextStep Fitness

26:43 Launching Loncaro Long Drink

30:04 Entrepreneurship and Adaptability

33:26 AI, Authenticity, and Building Brands

40:36 Lessons From Adversity

44:24 Entrepreneurship After Paralysis

48:19 The Question That Changes Everything

🔗 Explore More

👉 NextStep Fitness: https://www.nextstepfitness.org

👉 Loncaro Long Drink: https://www.loncaro.com

👉 Growth Mavericks Podcast: https://www.growthmaverickspodcast.com

👉 Pentane: https://www.pentane.com

👉 Janne Kouri: https://www.instagram.com/califinn/

👉 NextStep Fitness Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nextstepla/

👉 Loncaro Long Drink Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loncarolongdrink/

In this episode of Growth Mavericks, Adam Callinan sits down with Chrisi Hammer, co-founder of Sunshine Buns, to discuss the realities of building a high-growth consumer packaged goods brand. What started as a beloved family cinnamon roll recipe evolved into one of the fastest-growing frozen bakery brands in retail.

Chrisi shares how Sunshine Buns pivoted from a local bakery concept into a national CPG brand, the challenges of retail distribution, working with brokers, managing co-manufacturing relationships, securing major retailer partnerships, and navigating the constant uncertainty that comes with entrepreneurship.

The conversation also dives deep into founder psychology, imposter syndrome, problem-solving under pressure, and why successful entrepreneurs learn to become comfortable with uncertainty.

If you're building a consumer brand, scaling a business, launching a product, or simply trying to survive the entrepreneurial rollercoaster, this episode is packed with practical insights and hard-earned lessons.

In This Episode

•  Building Sunshine Buns from a family recipe 
•  Transitioning from brick-and-mortar to retail distribution 
•  Scaling from local sales to thousands of retail locations 
•  The realities of frozen food logistics 
•  Finding the right brokers and retail partners 
•  Managing rapid growth and operational challenges 
•  Imposter syndrome and entrepreneurship 
•  Becoming comfortable with uncertainty 
•  Problem-solving during business crises 
•  Lessons from scaling a consumer packaged goods company 

Key Takeaways

✅ Growth creates new problems—not fewer problems

✅ Entrepreneurship is often saying yes before you know how

✅ Retail success depends on relationships and execution

✅ Imposter syndrome doesn't disappear with success

✅ The best founders become elite problem solvers

✅ Confidence comes from surviving challenges, not avoiding them

Explore More

Growth Mavericks Podcast: https://www.growthmaverickspodcast.com

Pentane: https://www.pentane.com

Sunshine Buns: https://www.sunshinebuns.co

In this episode, Adam Callinan sits down with Bree Van Leeuwen, founder of Daily Shade, to break down how a personal moment turned into a four-year product development journey in one of the most regulated industries in the world.

After her daughter had a severe allergic reaction to a “safe” sunscreen, Bree uncovered major gaps in the industry—misleading marketing, hidden ingredients, and a lack of truly clean, effective mineral options. What followed was years of formulation, failed iterations, manufacturing challenges, and ultimately launching a DTC brand from zero.

This conversation goes beyond product—it’s about resilience, questioning systems, building while flying, and the reality of balancing entrepreneurship with motherhood.

🚀 What You’ll Learn

•  How a personal problem turned into a startup opportunity 
•  Why most “mineral sunscreens” aren’t actually clean 
•  The 4-year journey to develop a compliant, effective product 
•  Navigating FDA, contract manufacturing, and product failures 
•  How to launch DTC with no experience or marketing budget 
•  Why “building the plane while flying it” is real 
•  The truth about startup life, motherhood, and systems 
•  How to manage chaos, uncertainty, and founder pressure 

🧠 Key Takeaways

•  The best businesses often start with real pain points 
•  Industry norms should be questioned—not accepted blindly 
•  Execution beats overplanning every time 
•  Contracts matter most when things go wrong 
•  You can’t do everything—systems and support are critical 
•  Balance is built, not found 

🔗 Explore More

👉 Pentane: https://www.pentane.com
👉 Growth Mavericks Podcast: https://www.growthmaverickspodcast.com
👉 Daily Shade: https://dailyshade.com

In this episode, Adam Callinan sits down with Brynn MacLennan, founder of Slate Flosser, to break down how she built a fast-growing oral care brand from scratch. From early product validation with dentists to raising $200K on Kickstarter, Brynn shares how she scaled to $1M in revenue and made the jump from DTC into retail.

This is a real look at what it takes to build, test, and grow a physical product brand in today’s market.

🚀 What You’ll Learn

•  How Brynn validated her product before going all in 
•  The path from Kickstarter to $1M in revenue 
•  What it takes to land retail deals with Target 
•  Why DTC success matters before scaling retail 
•  The biggest mistakes founders make with pricing and margins 
•  How to build brand awareness in a crowded category 
•  The mental side of entrepreneurship and staying resilient 

🧠 Key Takeaways

•  Validate first—don’t build blindly 
•  DTC creates leverage for retail expansion 
•  Pricing and margins will make or break your growth 
•  Influencers can outperform paid ads when done right 
•  Focus and consistency beat chasing every new channel 

🔗 Explore More

👉 Pentane: https://www.pentane.com
👉 Growth Mavericks Podcast: https://www.growthmaverickspodcast.com
👉 Slate Flosser: https://slateflosser.com

In this episode, Adam Callinan sits down with Taylor Artman, founder of Surf & Turf Club, to unpack how he scaled a golf lifestyle brand into 650+ retail locations across 42 states and multiple countries—all while generating just ~2% of revenue from e-commerce. 

Taylor’s journey is anything but conventional. After a career-ending injury, he pivoted from professional golf into entrepreneurship, building Surf & Turf Club from grassroots community roots into a wholesale powerhouse inside elite country clubs and pro shops.

🚀 What You’ll Learn:

•  How Surf & Turf Club landed in 100+ retail accounts early—before even launching a website 
•  The $4K sponsorship strategy that generated $43K in wholesale orders overnight 
•  Why wholesale can outperform DTC in today’s high CAC environment 
•  The real reason most brands struggle with paid ads (and what actually works now) 
•  How athlete mindset—resilience, discipline, and discomfort—translates into business success 
•  Why focusing on a single product category (headwear) accelerated growth 
•  The dangers of “shiny object syndrome” in both product and marketing 

🧩 Key Takeaways:

•  You don’t need viral ads to build a scalable brand—distribution can be your moat 
•  CAC pressure is forcing a rethink of DTC-first strategies 
•  Deep focus beats broad expansion in early-stage growth 
•  Small wins compound—both in sports and in business 

This episode is a masterclass in playing your own game, building with discipline, and scaling a brand through unconventional channels.

🔗 Explore More:

👉 Pentane (Financial Command Center): https://www.pentane.com
👉 Growth Mavericks Podcast: https://www.growthmaverickspodcast.com
👉 Surf & Turf Club: https://www.surfandturf.golf

In this episode of Growth Mavericks, Adam Callinan sits down with Maria Boustead, founder of Po Campo, to unpack one of the most honest startup journeys you’ll hear.

Maria didn’t raise venture capital. She didn’t scale overnight. And for years, it didn’t look like it was “working.”

But she kept going.

From building prototypes with stapled fabric and Home Depot parts to landing major retail accounts like REI, Maria shares the real story behind building a consumer brand the hard way.

This is a masterclass in patience, resilience, and staying in the game long enough to win.

If you’re building something and wondering if it’s worth it — this episode is for you.

🔑 KEY TAKEAWAYS

•  Why “overnight success” can take over a decade 
•  The truth about product-market fit (and how long it really takes) 
•  How to start a company without quitting your job 
•  Why bootstrapping builds stronger businesses 
•  The pros and cons of raising venture capital 
•  How Maria scaled Po Campo into major retailers like REI 
•  Why timing matters just as much as execution 
•  The importance of staying in the game long enough to win 

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Intro
 01:00 – The Po Campo origin story
 05:30 – Building the first prototype
 10:00 – Finding manufacturers (the unconventional way)
 15:00 – Early struggles and slow growth
 22:00 – Why wholesale didn’t work at first
 30:00 – The pricing problem
 38:00 – When to quit your job (and when not to)
 45:00 – The turning point after 10+ years
 52:00 – COVID, e-bikes, and market timing
 58:00 – Why VC funding isn’t always the answer
 01:05:00 – Lessons on resilience and longevity

🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES

•  Growth Mavericks Podcast: https://www.growthmaverickspodcast.com
•  Pentane: https://www.pentane.com
•  Po Campo: https://www.pocampo.com
•  Po Campo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pocampobags
•  Maria Boustead LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com

In this episode of Growth Mavericks, Adam Callinan sits down with Tina Thompson, founder of SENIQ, to break down the unconventional journey behind one of the fastest-rising women’s outdoor brands. What started during recovery from an ACL injury turned into a breakout brand now landing in REI and reshaping how women think about outdoor apparel.

Tina didn’t follow traditional startup advice. No deep customer research. No venture capital. No perfectly mapped strategy. Just instinct, grit, and relentless execution.

This conversation dives into what it actually takes to build something from nothing, scale into major retail, and create a brand designed to last 100 years.

If you’re a founder, operator, or building a consumer brand, this episode is a masterclass in trusting your gut and doing the hard things.

🔑 KEY TAKEAWAYS

•  Why Tina ignored traditional customer research—and why it worked 
•  The real story behind breaking into REI 
•  How SENIQ scaled without venture capital 
•  The difference between DTC hype and wholesale reality 
•  Why building a “100-year brand” changes your decisions 
•  How injury and adversity can become your biggest advantage 
•  The role of instinct vs data in early-stage companies 

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Intro
 01:15 – Tina’s background and SENIQ origin story
 05:40 – The ACL injury that changed everything
 10:20 – Why she didn’t rely on customer research
 15:05 – Building the first products
 20:30 – Breaking into REI
 27:10 – Wholesale vs DTC strategy
 34:45 – Scaling without VC
 42:00 – Lessons on resilience and doing hard things
 48:30 – Building a 100-year brand

Growth Mavericks Podcast: https://www.growthmaverickspodcast.com

Pentane (Financial Command Center for Consumer Brands): https://www.pentane.com

 SENIQ: https://seniqbrand.com/

What happens when a product doesn’t exist… but clearly should?

In this episode of Growth Mavericks, Adam Callinan sits down with Sara DeLuca, co-founder of Dovetail Workwear—a brand built to solve a problem most companies ignored: real workwear for women.

What started as a simple idea—making better pants for landscapers—turned into a fast-growing brand with deep product complexity, massive SKU challenges, and a mission-driven community.

This is a masterclass in building a durable brand the right way: slow, intentional, and grounded in real customer needs.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

•  How to validate a product before scaling 
•  Why solving a real problem beats chasing trends 
•  The hidden complexity behind apparel SKUs 
•  How to manage inventory without killing cash flow 
•  Why “taking the stairs” beats hypergrowth 
•  How COVID unexpectedly helped their business 
•  Building a mission-driven brand that lasts 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

•  Build for a need, not a trend 
•  Talk to your customers constantly 
•  SKU creep can quietly destroy your margins 
•  Wholesale + DTC balance matters 
•  Durability > speed when building a brand 

CHAPTERS

00:00 The problem: workwear for women didn’t exist
 02:00 Leaving NYC for a better life
 04:00 Founding Dovetail in a backyard
 07:00 Prototyping with 50 real users
 10:00 Garage launch and trunk shows
 13:00 First wholesale breakthrough
 17:00 Scaling distribution channels
 20:00 COVID impact on retail
 23:00 Managing SKU complexity
 30:00 Inventory strategy and margins
 33:00 Building a brand that lasts
 36:00 Founder mindset and durability

LINKS

Dovetail Workwear
 https://dovetailworkwear.com

Pentane (Ecommerce Command Center)
 https://www.pentane.com

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Growth Mavericks breaks down how founders actually build—from idea to scale—covering strategy, execution, and the real challenges behind growth.

Hosted by Adam Callinan.

What happens when a product designer who’s built 100+ products a year decides to bet on himself?

You get Elevated Craft—a brand born from engineering precision, relentless iteration, and a wildly successful Kickstarter that broke $2M in pre-sales before manufacturing even scaled.

In this episode of Growth Mavericks, Adam Callinan sits down with Adam Craft to unpack a startup story that flips the traditional playbook.

Instead of solving a personal problem, Adam engineered a category.

Instead of guessing demand, he modeled it mathematically.

And instead of playing it safe, he launched during COVID with newborn twins at home.

💡 What You’ll Learn

•  How Adam designed a “category creation” strategy (not just a product) 
•  Why he started with brand first, product second
•  The exact thinking behind a $500K Kickstarter → $2M+ total raise
•  How to use “brute force math” to validate startup risk 
•  Why perceived value > cost of goods in pricing strategy 
•  The reality of launching hardware during COVID supply chain chaos 
•  How communication builds trust (and saves failing launches) 
•  Why constraints and reps matter more than shortcuts in entrepreneurship 

🧠 Key Takeaways

• You don’t need a problem—just a better system.
• Category creation = pricing power.
• Kickstarter is validation + distribution + capital (if done right).
• Your first 1,000 customers determine your trajectory.
• Execution under pressure builds real founders.

🔗 Resources & Links

•  Elevated Craft → https://elevatedcraft.com
•  Learn more about Pentane → https://www.pentane.com
•  Follow Growth Mavericks for more founder stories 

🎧 Episode Breakdown

• 00:00 – From industrial design to entrepreneurship 
• 06:00 – Why Adam restarted college for the right path 
• 14:00 – Building a product pipeline (100 products/year) 
• 20:00 – The “category creation” strategy 
• 26:00 – Kickstarter launch playbook 
• 30:00 – COVID chaos + supply chain survival 
• 40:00 – Patents, competition, and brand moat 
• 45:00 – Founder mindset, balance, and resilience