Knoodle Founders Hour

In this episode of the Knoodle Founders Hour, host Rosaria Cain sits down with Gabe Hagen, the co-founder of Brick Road Coffee in Tempe, Arizona, to discuss his journey from corporate banking compliance to creating a thriving, queer-owned community gathering space.

After a 15-year career in the banking industry, complete with a Master's degree in law and compliance, Gabe realized he was unfulfilled by the rigid, soul-sucking constraints of corporate America. Faced with the isolation of the 2020 pandemic and a profound personal reckoning regarding his mental health and true allyship, he decided to leave the corporate world behind. He launched Brick Road Coffee not just to sell coffee, but to build a "brave space" where everyone could find authentic belonging, human connection, and safety.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The Power of a "Third Space": Why the ultimate goal of his business isn't just serving beverages, but facilitating human connection and hosting community-led events—from queer trivia and history nights to open crochet meetups.
• Navigating Pushback and Advocacy: The terrifying reality of receiving a bomb threat, protests from the Proud Boys, and being doxxed over a drag story time event—and how it propelled Gabe into national advocacy for small businesses.
• Redefining Corporate Success: Gabe's vision for a new kind of capitalism based on "radical hospitality" and values alignment, prioritizing living wages, mental health, and community impact over endless profit margins.
• Embracing the Ecosystem: Why he views other local coffee shops as part of a collaborative ecosystem rather than competitors, and why he freely shares his playbook with anyone looking to build a purposeful business.
• Prioritizing Mental Health: A candid look at the dark spaces that pushed Gabe to make a life-changing pivot, the importance of consistent therapy, and how protecting your personal time (even at a gym you hate) makes for a better leader.

For anyone feeling stuck in the corporate grind, business owners looking to align their operations with their values, or leaders navigating community backlash, this episode offers a profound look at building an impactful brand from the ground up.

In this episode of the Knoodle Founders Hour, host Rosaria Cain sits down with Dennis Webb, a home building maverick who spent decades in high-end retail before bringing a customer-first mindset to Fulton Homes.

After rising to store president during a 23-year career at Silver Woods and spending five years with Eaglesons in Los Angeles, Dennis was recruited by Ira and Doug Fulton to modernize their Phoenix-based home building operations. Over the last 30 years, he has revolutionized the way the company does business by introducing retail concepts to an industry historically resistant to change.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The Retail Mindset: The fundamental difference between retail and home building, and why prioritizing customer satisfaction over stock prices or product features is the ultimate key to success.
• A Legacy of Firsts: How Dennis spearheaded major industry innovations, including launching the first home builder website in Arizona in 1997, creating the country's first digital design center, and leading the charge on Energy Star 3.0 and Indoor Air Plus compliance years ahead of government requirements.
• Radical Transparency: Why Fulton Homes treats its massive $40 million design center like a high-end Nordstrom store, offering complete pricing transparency before a contract is even signed to build deep customer trust.
• Thriving Through Chapter 11: The bold strategies that allowed Fulton Homes to survive the 2009 housing crash, doubling their market share from 3% to 7% and emerging from bankruptcy stronger by doing the exact opposite of their competitors.
• The Future of Home Building: Dennis’s candid thoughts on the current housing affordability crisis, the lack of research and development among public builders, and why the industry must eventually abandon 200-year-old "stick-built" construction methods.

Business leaders looking to disrupt a traditional industry, survive economic downturns, or apply customer-centric retail strategies to an entirely different field will all benefit from this masterclass in innovation.

In this episode of the Knoodle Founders Hour, host Rosaria Cain sits down with Dr. Gabrielle Ficchi, the co-founder of the nonprofit Care 4 the Caregivers, to discuss her mission to support and empower families raising children with disabilities.

Growing up with a disability, Dr. Ficchi noticed a stark contrast: while she received abundant resources and therapy, her parents were left in the waiting room with little guidance or support. This observation fueled her academic journey, culminating in a Ph.D. dissertation that designed a "pie in the sky" support program for caregivers. After a serendipitous meeting with her co-founder, who read her entire 160-page dissertation, that vision became a reality. Today, her organization provides mental health counseling, parent education, and community connection to thousands of families, proving that when caregivers are supported, the entire family thrives.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The Isolation of Caregiving: Why parents of children with disabilities often face severe burnout and isolation as they are forced to become overnight medical experts, and how Care 4 the Caregivers combats this with over 400 community events a year.
• Disability-Led Leadership: Why it is critical for disability organizations to actually have disabled individuals in leadership roles, and how their team’s personal experiences shape their highly effective, empathetic programs.
• The Power of Interdependence: Dr. Ficchi’s insights on why disability is a natural part of life (representing the world's largest minority group) and why society needs to shift from trying to "fix" individuals to creating accessible, accommodating communities.
• Evidence-Based Impact: The remarkable results of their "Thriving Together" study, where 100% of participating caregivers saw improvements across every single quality-of-life metric after just six months of structured support.
• Advocacy Through Collaboration: How Dr. Ficchi is moving the needle on disability rights by helping form the Disability Advocacy and Policy Alliance (DAPA) to unite various organizations under a collective, powerful voice.

For anyone navigating the complexities of caregiving, advocating for systemic change, or running a mission-driven nonprofit, this episode offers a profound look at the power of community and resilience.

In this episode of the Knoodle Founders Hour, host Rosaria Cain sits down with Lea Benson, the founder of CeCe's Hope Center.

After recognizing a critical gap in services for young women aging out of the foster care system, Lea co-founded the organization in 2017 to provide a lifeline for highly vulnerable women and survivors of human trafficking and sexual trauma. Today, CeCe’s Hope Center operates as a nationally accredited transitional housing facility that rejects "cookie-cutter" programs. Instead, they meet each woman exactly where she is, offering highly customized care, job readiness training, transportation, and vital medical and mental health support to help these survivors rebuild their lives.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Shattering Trafficking Myths: The heartbreaking reality that human trafficking is rarely the "abduction by strangers" you see on television. Traffickers are often trusted family members, friends, or neighbors who methodically groom vulnerable victims, sometimes starting as early as two years old.
• Filling the Gap in Care: How CeCe's Hope operates in the crucial space between initial rescue centers and intensive behavioral health facilities. Lea discusses focusing on women who are ready to reintegrate into society but need help learning fundamental life skills—including basics like budgeting or even how to clean a house.
• Removing the "Masks" of Survival: The deep, non-linear psychological journey survivors face to overcome deceit, shame, and anger. Lea explains the process of shedding the different "masks" these women had to wear just to survive their trauma.
• Navigating Nonprofit Challenges: The unique struggle of raising funds for an issue so dark that it often paralyzes potential donors. Lea also shares her crucial advice for new nonprofit founders: collaborate and support existing organizations rather than duplicating services.
• Turning Pain into Purpose: Lea’s inspiring background of immigrating from the Philippines due to violence, and how surviving profound personal tragedies—including the loss of a child and her husband—fueled her passion to serve others and recently inspired her to begin writing a book.

Nonprofit leaders, advocates for vulnerable populations, and anyone seeking inspiration on turning profound personal tragedy into a beacon of hope will be deeply moved by this powerful conversation.

In this episode of the Knoodle Founders Hour, host Rosaria Cain sits down with Megan Greenwood, founder of Greenwood Brewing, to discuss her journey from a corporate design engineer to the sole owner of a thriving, women-powered brewery.

After receiving a home brew kit as a birthday gift in 2014, Megan spent years perfecting her craft while working full-time designing utility-scale solar projects. Feeling stifled by the slow-moving nature of corporate America, she decided to take control of her destiny. By 2017, she launched Greenwood Brewing, initially brewing at 3 a.m. and hustling to sell her beer to nearly 100 restaurants before taking a massive leap to open a downtown Phoenix brick-and-mortar location in the summer of 2020.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Defying Industry Norms: What it is like being a female founder in an industry where fewer than 3% of brewing companies are women-owned, and why 85% of her job applicants are women drawn to her mission.
• Navigating New Drinking Trends: How the craft beer market is being heavily disrupted by Gen Z's fear of negative social media virality and the widespread use of appetite-suppressing GLP-1 medications.
• The Pivot to Premium: Why Megan abandoned her original goal of nationwide volume distribution, realizing that shifting to a boutique, hyper-local model using real, high-quality seasonal ingredients—like actual blueberry puree and prickly pear—was the true path to profitability.
• Surviving a 2020 Launch: The intense reality of opening a brick-and-mortar brewery in July 2020 with a massive loan on the line, navigating pandemic restrictions, and successfully fulfilling a community’s deep need to gather safely.
• Authentic Leadership: How she balances entrepreneurship with raising two young kids using strict 12-week goals, and why true leadership means being comfortably imperfect and showing genuine emotion to your team.

Entrepreneurs navigating sudden industry shifts, women breaking into male-dominated fields, and local business owners looking to scale will all benefit from this deep dive into agile and authentic leadership.

Turning Food Waste into a Fermented Empire (with Niccolo Fraschetti of Alive Ferments)

In this episode of the Knoodle Founders Hour, host Rosaria Cain sits down with Niccolo Fraschetti, the founder of Alive Ferments, to discuss his journey of bringing accessible, flavorful fermented foods to the masses.

After dropping out of high school at 15 with just the equivalent of $5 in his pocket, Niccolo traveled the world as a scuba instructor, eventually visiting six continents and learning six languages. He eventually landed in California, where a job at Whole Foods opened his eyes to massive amounts of pristine produce being thrown away. To save the food, he started fermenting these discarded vegetables in vats under his porch, sparking a neighborhood movement that eventually became Alive Ferments.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The Power of Living Foods: Why fermented foods are the ultimate gut-health hack, and how Alive Ferments focuses on accessible everyday pantry staples—rather than funky health foods—to easily integrate into daily diets.
• Solving the Food Waste Crisis: How a shocking amount of discarded produce at a major grocery chain inspired a sustainable community effort and business model.
• Escaping the Retail Trap: The hard truth about why rapidly expanding into 60 grocery stores became an uphill battle that drained profits, and why shifting to a Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) website model gave the company back its revenue and control.
• Navigating Founder Fallout: The clarity and resilience required to keep a business moving forward as a solo leader after a co-founder—who was also his brother—left the company overnight.
• The Unconventional Path: How teaching scuba diving globally and skipping traditional education built the resourcefulness and adaptability needed to hit the ground running in the startup world.

Food and beverage entrepreneurs, leaders looking to pivot their sales strategies, and anyone forging an unconventional path to success will all benefit from this deep dive into building a resilient brand.

In this episode of the Knoodle Founders Hour, host Rosaria Cain sits down with Skip Ast III of Shasta Pools to explore the history, challenges, and innovations of one of Arizona's oldest family-run businesses.

Founded in the late 1960s by Skip's great uncle Bob and grandfather Skip Sr., Shasta Pools capitalized on the booming Phoenix housing market by bringing water to the desert. Growing up in the industry, Skip III learned the business from the ground up—literally—by taking on character-building summer jobs tying steel in 135-degree pool pits. Today, he leads the company's sales team and works alongside his father (Skip Jr.) and grandfather, continuing a 60-year mission focused on enhancing family life.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The Reality of a Family Business: What it’s truly like to work in a multi-generational company, and why they consistently reject lucrative private equity buyouts to protect their brand and their customers.
• Pioneering Pool Innovation: How Shasta Pools is challenging the industry's traditional reliance on chlorine by partnering with Arizona State University to introduce healthy, nano-bubble oxygenated pool systems.
• Surviving the COVID-19 Tsunami: The unprecedented surge in demand for backyard resorts during the pandemic, the struggle of major supply chain shortages, and how the crisis forced the company to modernize by ditching manila folders for cloud technology.
• The Backyard as a Necessity: Why swimming pools in the Phoenix market have shifted from a luxury status symbol to a vital, year-round extension of the home's living space.
• Future-Proofing a Legacy: How the 60-year-old company relies on a culture of continuous improvement and is exploring AI integration to better serve the next generation of families.

Entrepreneurs in family-run enterprises, leaders navigating rapid industry shifts, and innovators in traditional markets will all benefit from this deep dive into building a business that lasts.

In this special 27th-anniversary episode of the Knoodle Founders Hour, host Rosaria Cain reunites with her original co-founder, Caleb Miller, to reminisce about the early days of the agency and unpack his wild ride as a serial entrepreneur.

Back in 1999, Caleb and Rosaria teamed up to launch Knoodle (then known as Image Quest) with zero prior agency experience, relying on their hustle and Fulton Homes as their very first client. After successfully navigating the chaotic startup years, the aftermath of 9/11, and the fallout of a deceitful business partner, Caleb eventually transitioned to other ventures. His career path since leaving the agency nearly two decades ago has been anything but predictable—leading him into healthcare tech, international fundraising, and eventually the legal cannabis industry.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The Chaotic Early Days: What it was like starting an ad agency from scratch in 1999, scrambling to find money to eat and pick up the kids, and the grueling hustle required to survive the startup phase.
• The Reality of Bad Partnerships: The hard lessons learned from an early business merger that ended in a massive embezzlement scandal—and why a company is only as good as the honest people running it.
• Pioneering the Cannabis Industry: How Caleb ignored skeptics who warned him he'd go to prison to co-found True Harvest, transforming an empty Revlon factory into what was then one of the largest legal indoor medical marijuana grows on the planet.
• Leadership and Layoffs: The stark difference between firing an underperformer and laying off good people—why the latter is the worst part of the job, and the leadership traits required to protect your business at all costs.
• AI, Tesla Bots, and the Future: Caleb’s mind-bending predictions about artificial intelligence, why he already has deposits down for Tesla robots to replace HR and manufacturing workers, and his thoughts on colonizing Mars.

Whether you're a startup founder, an agency veteran, or a forward-thinking entrepreneur looking for the next big market wave, this episode is a fascinating look at the highs, lows, and unpredictable pivots of a lifelong builder.

What happens when a rescued dog becomes a veteran’s battle buddy?

In this powerful episode of The Founders Hour, Rosaria Cain sits down with Mik Milem of Soldier’s Best Friend, an Arizona nonprofit changing lives by pairing U.S. military veterans living with PTSD or traumatic brain injury with trained service dogs—many of them rescued from local shelters.

Mik shares how the program works, why the veteran-dog bond is so transformative, and what it takes for a dog to become a true service animal through months of structured training, public access testing, and deep partnership with its veteran handler. He also opens up about the nonprofit’s mission-driven growth, including expanded services in Tucson, Kingman, and beyond.

From helping veterans re-enter public life to giving shelter dogs a renewed purpose, this conversation is a moving look at healing, discipline, leadership, and the life-changing power of a loyal companion.

Listen now to hear how Soldier’s Best Friend is serving those who served—and helping both veterans and dogs find a new path forward.

Read more and get a full transcript:

https://knoodle.com/podcast/soldiers-best-friend-founder-mik-milem/

Why Ad Agencies Hate Going After New Business (And How to Fix It)

In this episode of the Knoodle Founder's Hour, host Rosaria Cain sits down with Mark Sneider, founder of RSW, to unpack the often-dreaded task of agency new business development.

After a decade in corporate marketing and a stint running domestic operations for a global marketing research firm, Mark recognized a universal truth: marketing agencies do a great job managing their clients' businesses, but they usually struggle to manage their own. Agency principals are often the ones left trying to make time for cold calls—a task they generally despise. That is exactly where RSW steps in, helping agencies find qualified leads, set meetings, and nurture prospects until they are ready to close.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The Myth of the Dead Cold Call: Why picking up the phone is still one of the most reliable ways to break through the noise, and why a consistent, multi-channel approach—including physical mail—is essential for standing out.
• The Impact of AI on Prospecting: How artificial intelligence is increasing productivity for list-building and meeting preparation, but also creating a cluttered market filled with over-promising competitors.
• The Reality of a New Business Director: Why the role requires a blend of strong sales experience, resilience, and a supportive, non-cutthroat culture to survive constant rejection.
• Navigating Market Uncertainty: How to handle unpredictable economic times and "marketer over-reactivity" through strategic program development and consistent outreach.
• The Power of Bringing Value: Inspired by advertising legend Leo Burnett, why giving away your best thinking and providing continuous strategic counsel is the ultimate differentiator in a crowded industry.

Whether you're an agency founder, a sales professional, or an entrepreneur navigating market shifts, this episode is a masterclass in resilience, smart prospecting, and building meaningful business connections.