Problem Solvers

Marcus Lemonis built his reputation as the guy who could fix anything. It’s even in the name of his TV show The Fixer on FOX his new show following the success of The Profit on CNBC. But now, as he enters a new phase of leadership, he’s rethinking what it really means to lead. Lemonis has evolved. He’s leading from behind, pushing people harder than they’d push themselves, and even playing the villain if that’s what the business needs. 

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 Michael Jacobson joined his uncle’s flower shop to help close it down.  Instead, he uncovered industry-wide problems like outdated tech, inefficient supply chains, and reliance on costly middlemen. By solving them one by one, he grew the French Florist into a thriving franchise that’s redefining the floral business.

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The myth of the genius jerk founder has shaped startup culture for decades, but it’s wrong. Dr. Richard Hagberg and Tien Tzuo, co-authors of Founders Keepers, have the data to prove it. In this episode, they unpack the real traits that define high-performing founders, why bad behavior gets glorified, and how emotional intelligence and adaptability, not arrogance, drive lasting success.

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Julia Hartz is the co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite, the platform built to help anyone host and sell tickets to an event. But after years in the business, Julia and her team realized something surprising. Their biggest growth opportunity wasn’t with the people creating events, it was with the people searching for them. On this episode, Julia shares how Eventbrite rethought its product, reimagined discovery, and why, in an AI-saturated world, real human connection might just be the ultimate value proposition.

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 Ania Smith, CEO of TaskRabbit, has spent her career building marketplace businesses. She shares the operational challenges of matching people who need tasks done with people who can do them and how TaskRabbit solves for the millions of unpredictable human variables that come with it. Balancing supply and demand at scale means identifying the patterns and solving the problems.

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Eynat Guez, co-founder and CEO of Papaya Global, shares how a single contract clause nearly bankrupted her first company and why confronting that worst-case scenario changed everything. Instead of panicking, she mapped out the fallout, turned it into leverage, and negotiated a way out. That mindset became a repeatable leadership strategy, helping her build a $3 billion global payroll platform while navigating both personal and professional risk.

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How does an old video game get reborn as a modern entertainment behemoth? Just ask the producers behind Sonic the Hedgehog, Tomb Raider, and more. Their names are Dmitri M. Johnson and Mike Goldberg, co-founders of Story Kitchen, a media company that specializes in adapting classic video games and other unconventional IP for TV and film. Upcoming projects include adaptations for Toys R' Us, Teddy Ruxpin, Toe Jam & Earl, and more. On this episode, they share what makes a character worth reviving — and how to do it right.

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Remember the Sonic “Two Guys” commercials? That simple marketing campaign transformed the brand — but creating it wasn’t simple at all. In this episode, Cliff Hudson (former Sonic CEO) and Craig Miller (former Sonic CIO) share how the “Two Guys” campaign emerged through testing, refinement, and real-time feedback. This  low-budget idea turned into a powerful brand asset. Hungry for more? Check out their book, Bricks and Clicks: How We Drove Sonic into the Digital Age.

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Do you want to learn to predict what your competitors will do next and prepare for it? Arjan Singh, author of Competitive Success: Building Winning Strategies with Corporate War Games, joins the show to explain how companies of any size can use war game simulations to uncover blind spots, anticipate moves, and build stronger contingency plans. Singh has worked with 68 of the top 100 companies on the Fortune Global 500 list, and teaches marketing at SMU’s Cox School of Business. In this episode, he breaks down how to run a corporate war game and how it can help you build a more resilient, forward-looking strategy.

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In a space evolving as fast as AI, how do you build something that stays relevant? According to Misbah and Farah Uraizee, co-founders of Nectar Social, the answer starts with founder-market fit. Solve the problem that you are uniquely suited to solve. In this episode, they share how that clarity helped them land early clients, raise a full seed round without even using a pitch deck, and introduce a bold new solution to the marketplace.

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