This episode features a candid conversation between the host and Alexa Palermo. If you are a fan of the show or interested in the journey behind this specific podcast, this episode provides direct insight into the themes being explored.

Throughout the interview, Alexa Palermo shares her experiences while the host guides the dialogue to ensure a comprehensive overview. Whether you are catching up on previous episodes or just finding the 10000 Miles podcast for the first time, this session highlights key moments that define the current season. This is a must-watch for those who appreciate a focused podcast interview that gets straight to the point.

Subscribe for weekly 10000 Miles podcast updates and leave a comment sharing your favorite moment from this interview.

Alexa Palermo, Channel Manager at Vonage, joins Ten Thousand Miles to share how she broke into channel sales in her 20s, built confidence through imposter syndrome, and uses AI (ChatGPT, Claude) to boost productivity in tech sales. A must-watch for anyone starting a career in IT channel sales.

Chapters:

00:00 – Cold open

00:58 – 117 episodes in: the mission behind Ten Thousand Miles

03:26 – Alexa introduces herself

04:13 – Why the channel builds stronger relationships

05:16 – Alexa's first channel job at Procure IT

09:44 – What really attracted her to channel sales

12:03 – The "unfair advantage" of growing up in the industry

14:13 – Biggest misconceptions about tech sales

17:09 – The dinner in Texas that changed everything

20:20 – Overcoming imposter syndrome

24:54 – Mentors who shaped her career (Chris Fury, Kristy Thomas, Marina Kay)

29:23 – Mistakes, rejection, and learning to wait your turn

37:00 – How AI (ChatGPT, Claude) is changing careers for young professionals

42:00 – Rapid fire: success, leadership & advice for young pros

44:06 – Why the channel needs more women

46:39 – Final takeaway & closing

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Learn entrepreneur mentorship strategies from Dave Gutman. Discover practical business advice and founder lessons for your next venture.

This episode sits down with Dave Gutman, a seasoned founder, speaker, and startup investor. We discuss his approach to building businesses and the core principles that guide his professional journey. Whether you are scaling a company or just starting out, his insights on entrepreneurship tips provide a clear roadmap for navigating common industry challenges.

Throughout our conversation, Dave breaks down the realities of being a founder in today's market. He shares honest perspectives on mentorship and investment that helped shape his career. This discussion is designed for anyone looking to refine their business strategy and understand the mindset required for long-term growth.

Chapters:

00:00 – Welcome to Ten Thousand Miles with Dave Guttman

01:20 – Early Life, Wrestling, Entrepreneurship, and Lessons from Failure

07:39 – Learning Business Through Search Funds, Mentors, and Acquisitions

20:29 – Defining Moments, Dyslexia, Brown, Wharton, and Life’s Turning Points

28:17 – The Cancer Misdiagnosis That Changed Everything

39:32 – Fundraising, Building Sellable Companies, and the Anti-MBA Philosophy

59:20 – AI, Lifelong Learning, Success, Leadership, and Final Lessons

Subscribe for stories and business breakdowns, and comment below with which specific entrepreneurship topic you want us to cover next.

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What does it take to close a $2.9 million loan with a doctor you've never met — in a state you're not even licensed in yet — all because of a letterboard and a LinkedIn post? Denise Panza has done it. Repeatedly.

Denise is a 30-year mortgage veteran, licensed in 20 states, and one of the most authentic personal brand builders in the financial services industry. In this return appearance on Ten Thousand Miles, Denise and host Vic Pepe pull back the curtain on how she went from Facebook mom to LinkedIn powerhouse — and how her social media presence has fundamentally transformed her loan production, her reach, and the lives of the families she serves.

This isn't a fluffy "post more content" conversation. Denise gets real about what actually works, what mortgage professionals are doing wrong on social media, how she handles compliance in a heavily regulated industry, and why she answers her phone at 11 PM — not because she has to, but because she genuinely loves what she does.

Whether you're in mortgages, real estate, sales, or just trying to build a personal brand that actually converts — this episode is loaded with practical wisdom and a few laughs along the way.

Subscribe to Ten Thousand Miles for new episodes every Monday.

Hosted by Vic Pepe | Author of "The RFP Is Dead" and "The Lucky 13"

CONNECT WITH DENISE PANZA:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisepanza/ — follow her letterboard game in real time

• Apply Online: askmortgagegal.com

CONNECT WITH VIC PEPE & TEN THOUSAND MILES:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/vicpepe

• D&M Enterprise Group: dmenterprise.net

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CHAPTERS

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

00:00 – Welcome Back: Denise Panza Returns to Ten Thousand Miles

01:18 – Why LinkedIn Changed Everything for Denise's Mortgage Business

03:35 – From Facebook to LinkedIn: How She Found Her Platform

06:25 – The Letterboard Signature and Building an Authentic Brand

09:06 – What Skeptics Said — and Why She Did It Anyway

09:44 – The 99-Year-Old WWII Veteran She Met on a Plane (and What It Taught Her About LinkedIn)

16:00 – Consistency Over Virality: The Long Game of Social Media

25:55 – Why Most Mortgage Pros Are Posting the Wrong Content

32:14 – How a LinkedIn Post Turned a Stranger Into a $2.9M Loan Client

34:40 – Every Loan Type, Every Client: Why Denise Doesn't Pick a Niche

36:23 – No Boundaries, No Problem: Answering Calls at 11 PM

38:43 – Retirement Is Not in Her Vocabulary (and Why She's Right)

47:41 – The Algorithm Nobody Can Predict — Including Vic

51:14 – Rapid Fire: Best Post Ever, Worst Habits on Social, and the Compliance Question

54:29 – The Closing Story That Still Gives Her Chills

57:46 – Celebrate Yourself: Open That Bottle of Camus

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KEYWORDS & TOPICS COVERED

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mortgage loan officer LinkedIn strategy | personal branding for mortgage professionals | social media for real estate and lending | how to get mortgage clients on LinkedIn | mortgage sales tips 2025 | authentic content creation | loan officer marketing | jumbo loans | reverse mortgages | first-time home buyers | mortgage compliance and social media | building a brand in a regulated industry | LinkedIn growth strategy | mortgage industry podcast | sales mindset | work-life balance in sales | storytelling in sales | female entrepreneurs in finance | Ten Thousand Miles podcast | Vic Pepe podcast

Please Comment, Like, Share, and Subscribe!

#shorts #shortsfeed #podcast #leaders #stories #podcast #courage #business #Success #Leadership #Motivation #Inspiration #SelfImprovement #PersonalDevelopment #GoalSetting #Mindset #Entrepreneurship

#BusinessSuccess #LifeGoals #PositiveThinking #AchieveYourGoals #SuccessMindset #LeadershipSkills #MotivationalQuotes #SuccessTips #LeadershipDevelopment #InspirationalVideos #SuccessStories #money #life #rockandroll #music #CEO #COO #CFO #CAO #nextjob #goodtimes #success

We're back with another episode of Ten Thousand Miles, and today I'm incredibly lucky to sit down with Anna Stallmann, founder of Ascent Strategic Communications.

Whether you're a CEO trying to build influence, a founder considering a rebrand, or a professional wondering if you should start a podcast — this episode is for you.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Anna Stallmann

05:00 From the U.S. Senate to the Department of Defense

16:00 Launching Ascent Strategic Communications

19:00 The First 90 Days of Entrepreneurship

26:00 Strategy Over Noise

33:00 Should You Start a Podcast?

40:00 The Rebrand

44:00 People First Leadership

51:00 Personal Brand vs. Company Brand

58:00 Rapid Fire

KEY TAKEAWAYS

* The most underrated communication move: know your white space — the message only YOU can deliver

* Visibility is not influence. Influence is built through trust, discipline, and messengers

* "Plans are worthless, but planning is everything." — General Eisenhower

* Be famous internally first — with your family, your team, your community

* Hard work ethic still builds the best leaders. Fame that is earned lasts

* It doesn't matter what you say. It matters what people hear

GUEST RESOURCES

Ascent Strategic Communications:

https://ascentcomms.com/

Book Recommendation: Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

#StrategicCommunications #PersonalBranding #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #TenThousandMilesPodcast #PublicRelations #CEOBranding #WhiteSpace #CommunicationsStrategy #PodcastInterview

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Guest: Anna Stallmann

What does it actually look like when a CIO walks into a 20-year-old technology organization and turns it AI-first in under 12 months — without shutting anything down?

In Part 3 of the Sage Tech series on Ten Thousand Miles, Vic Pepe sits down with Corey Kirspel, a transformational CIO in the healthcare technology space. This is not theory. This is a boots-on-the-ground account of one of the most compelling enterprise modernization stories in the AI era.

Corey walked into a private equity portfolio company three years into a five-year hold — facing a 12-million-line legacy code base, a $2M cost reduction mandate, tribal knowledge locked inside a handful of people, and a board demanding an AI-first strategy. Here is what happened next.

What you'll learn:

* Why Claude, Copilot, and Cursor weren't enough alone — and what Corey layered on top

* How Sage Tech mapped 12 million lines of legacy code in 48 hours — architecture, vulnerabilities, and evergreen documentation included

* The one-engineer experiment that turned skeptics into believers — a five-month project done in six weeks

* How $1.2M in annual infrastructure savings was unlocked in three months without a ground-up rewrite

* The SDLC operating model shift that took a team from 100 lines of code per day to 10,000

* What the first 90 days of AI transformation actually looks like — and how to justify the ROI fast

Whether you are a CIO, CTO, PE operating partner, or business leader trying to move from talking about AI to executing it — this episode is required listening.

Chapters:

00:00 — Welcome and guest introduction

02:00 — The CIO's real job in the AI era

03:53 — Walking into a PE portco with a 20-year-old code base

05:25 — Why Claude, Cursor, and Copilot weren't enough alone

08:15 — Discovering Sage Tech and the virtual architect model

12:04 — Breaking free from tribal knowledge and key-man dependency

19:34 — The product leader who thought she knew her own system

22:04 — The one-engineer experiment that changed everything

33:49 — From one engineer to eight Scrum teams — the rollout strategy

42:01 — First 90 days and a message for anyone still waiting

Connect:

* Sage Tech AI: https://www.sage-tech.ai

* Subscribe for new episodes every week

Keywords: enterprise AI transformation, CIO strategy, legacy code modernization, AI-first enterprise, Sage Tech AI, software modernization, technical debt, private equity portco, healthcare technology, SDLC AI integration, CIO podcast, technology leadership, AI tools for developers, code base analysis, digital transformation ROI

Join us as we sit down with Bruce Henderson, CTO of Sage-Tech.ai, to get an in-depth look at their platform and the #technology driving it. This conversation provides valuable insights into the technical operations and #leadership involved in their enterprise #aistrategy. Stay updated with the latest AI news and gain a deeper understanding of how AI is explained in practical applications.

Bruce built his career maintaining, upgrading, and retiring the massive legacy systems that sit at the heart of the global economy. In this conversation, he pulls back the curtain on how Sage Tech actually works — from the queryable context graph and cognitive model to the AI inference layer, ephemeral environments, and why vector RAG failed them before they built something better.

This is one of the most technically honest conversations about enterprise AI you will hear anywhere. No hype. No sales pitch. Just a veteran engineer telling you exactly what works, what does not, and what every CTO needs to understand before 2030.

Learn more about Sage Tech: https://sage-tech.ai

Miss Part 1? Watch the business track with Deepak Sharma here: [link]

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction — Why Bruce Built Sage Tech

04:01 From Code to Knowledge — The Pivot That Changed Everything

08:07 The Queryable Context Graph Explained

10:15 Why Vector RAG Failed and What Replaced It

14:03 How the Graph Gets Built From a Real Code Base

17:14 Outputs, Documentation, and Self-Service Intelligence

24:04 Scaling From 500K to 15 Million Lines of Code

28:44 Ephemeral Environments and the Future of AI Coding

LIGHTNING ROUND

38:33 Most Overrated Thing in Enterprise AI

39:16 The Underrated Risk Nobody Is Talking About (De-skilling)

40:09 Bruce's Favorite Tool Most People Have Never Heard Of

41:12 What He Would Do Differently Building Sage From Scratch

42:42 The One Thing Most CTOs Still Do Not Believe About AI in 2026

Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

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We sit down with Bruce Henderson, CTO of Sage-Tech.ai, for an in-depth discussion on their platform and its core technology . This episode offers key insights into technical operations and the enterprise ai strategy driving their work. Discover how their innovation is shaping the future of AI.

In this insightful podcast discussion, we dive deep into artificial intelligence technologies, exploring how ai works and its significant impact. Vic and Depak offer a comprehensive AI explanation for beginners, highlighting the future of AI. This episode provides valuable perspectives on the evolving landscape of technology.

What happens when enterprises try to modernize decades of legacy code — and fail? In Part 1 of this conversation, Vic Pepe sits down with Deepak Sharma, a veteran transformation advisor who has guided some of the world's largest financial institutions and insurance organizations through their most complex technology challenges. Together they explore why legacy modernization almost always goes over budget, over schedule, and under-delivers — and how a new AI-powered tool called Sage Tech (sage-tech.ai) is changing the equation entirely.

Deepak walks through how Sage ingests entire code bases in hours (not years), builds a living data model of how systems actually work, and gives business leaders, engineers, and compliance teams a visual map of technical debt, security risks, and organizational dependencies — across every application in the enterprise.

Whether you're a CIO navigating a legacy estate, a CTO trying to separate commodity code from differentiated IP, or a transformation leader tired of projects that never finish — this episode will reshape how you think about what's possible.

Learn more about Sage Tech: https://sage-tech.ai

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction — Why Legacy Modernization Fails

03:02 Meet Deepak Sharma — Transformation at Scale

04:17 What Is Sage Tech and How Was It Discovered

07:30 How Sage Ingests and Maps a Code Base

09:28 Hours vs. Years — The Speed Advantage of AI

11:13 Connecting All Your Systems — The Enterprise View

15:04 The New Engineer — System Thinkers Over Coders

17:14 CFOs, COOs, and the Business Case for Modernization

Ten Thousand Miles is hosted by Vic Pepe — Managing Partner of D&M Enterprise Group, co-author of The RFP Is Dead, and a veteran technology executive with stops at Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and JPMorgan Chase. Every episode goes deep with founders, executives, operators, and innovators who are building, leading, and transforming at the highest levels.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

#LegacyModernization #AITransformation #EnterpriseTechnology #TechLeadership #SoftwareModernization #CIO #CTO #DigitalTransformation #ArtificialIntelligence #TechnicalDebt #LargeLanguageModels #AIStrategy #EnterpriseAI #TenThousandMiles #VicPepe #DeepakSharma #SageTech #FinancialServices #CloudMigration #ApplicationModernization

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In this insightful clip, the speaker discusses his book "The RFP is Dead" and explains what truly led to the demise of the traditional request for proposal process. He sheds light on the new landscape of business proposal and procurement, emphasizing what has replaced the old methods. This discussion offers a valuable perspective for anyone interested in business education and the evolution of contract management.

Procurement is broken. The Request for Proposal — a process that dates back to the 1800s — is costing buyers and sellers millions of dollars in wasted time, bloated documents, and theater. In this episode, Vic Pepe breaks down exactly why the RFP died, what's replacing it, and what you should do right now, whether you're buying or selling enterprise technology.If you work in procurement, sales, or enterprise technology leadership, this one will hit close to home.

Get the book: The RFP Is Dead — available on Amazon for under $7

D&M Enterprise Group: www.dmenterprise.net

Contact Vic: [email protected]

This Episode:

• Why the RFP became a compliance exercise and a cover-your-ass tool

• The 4 forces that killed the RFP

• How AI is now writing — and scoring — RFPs on both sides of the table

• Why "if you didn't shape it, you've already lost" is the new rule

• What trusted advisors do that RFPs never could

• The history of the RFP (yes, it started in the 1800s)

• What buyers and sellers should actually be doing right now

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction — Vic's book and why he's passionate about this

01:45 Procurement Is Broken — the 4 reasons the RFP died0

3:30 The RFP as a CYA exercise — real stories from the C-suite

04:45 What replaced the RFP — trusted advisors, POCs, peer networks

06:30 The "already won" model — why cold RFPs are a waste of time

08:00 AI vs. AI — how automation is killing the RFP even faster

10:15 The new currency: authority, trust, and relationships

12:00 D&M's authority gap event and the AI leadership divide

13:00 If you're selling — stop chasing RFPs you didn't shape

15:00 Be the advisor, not the vendor

15:45 If you're buying — the RFP protects procurement, not the business

17:00 History of the RFP — from 1800s newspapers to today

19:30 Public sector, the veil of equality, and backdoor channeling

21:00 Failure, fear, and corporate paralysis

22:30 Internal sabotage — what happens when people don't want change

24:00 The 3 things you actually need to know before selecting technology

26:30 What trusted advisors expose that RFPs never can

27:30 Closing — get the book, get a trusted advisor, go execute

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Ever felt that rush? I remember that first time, the pure dopamine hit of climbing, a powerful form of motivation that felt like a true addiction. This experience wasn't about drugs, but about the sheer happiness found in pushing limits. It's a great life lesson in self improvement.

Everyone wants to climb the ladder. But do you know why you're climbing and what it's going to cost you?

In this raw, honest solo episode, Vic breaks down one of the most important questions in leadership, business, and life: What is the ladder of success, and is it worth the climb? Drawing on a career that spans the music business (Alice Cooper), Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, JP Morgan Chase, five CIO roles, and executive advisory work, Vic shares the neuroscience behind status-seeking, the psychology of ambition, and the very real sacrifices high achievers make on the way to the top.

This isn't motivational fluff. This is the truth about what success actually demands.

In this episode:

* Why your brain is hardwired to chase status (dopamine, serotonin, and survival hierarchies)

* The difference between ambition as identity vs. ambition as expression

* How to know if you're climbing the wrong wall

* The trades every high achiever makes: relationships, health, faith, and presence

* Why climbing fast and climbing right are two very different things

* The identity collapse that happens when the badge is gone

* How to raise yourself by raising others

* Why are the most successful leaders the ones who bring people with them

Key Concepts Discussed: Victor Frankl on purpose | Maslow's hierarchy of needs | Jordan Peterson on competence hierarchies | Leon Festinger's social comparison theory | Eudaimonic well-being (Aristotle) | The EKG climb: why success is never a straight line

Chapters:

00:00 The First Hit of the Ladder

03:45 Why Your Brain Is Wired for Status

07:20 The Ladder as Meaning Making Structure

10:10 The Trap Baked Into the Structure

13:30 The Boardroom Moment That Changed Everything

18:00 The Climb Is Not a Straight Line

22:15 Your Reputation Leads Before You Do

26:40 The Trades You Make on the Way Up

33:10 Identity Collapse at the Top

37:00 How to Climb and Stay Whole

40:20 Self Examination: Was It Worth It?

Tags / Keywords: success mindset leadership lessons climbing the corporate ladder executive leadership career advice ambition and success work life balance CIO career what does success cost purpose driven leadership Vic Pepe Ten Thousand Miles podcast leadership podcast business podcast career growth dopamine and success status hierarchy Jordan Peterson hierarchy Maslow hierarchy of needs Victor Frankl purpose

#LeadershipPodcast #SuccessMindset #CareerGrowth #TenThousandMiles #ExecutiveLeadership #Ambition #CIOLeadership #BusinessPodcast #VicPepe #climbingtheladder

Join us as we dive into the creative process of a musician who believes every performance is unique. He shares his approach to live music, emphasizing following intuition rather than a rigid song list. Discover how this artist crafts his music live, making each night a fresh experience.

Guitar legend  ⁨@EricGalesBand⁩  - Gales joins Vic on Ten Thousand Miles for a conversation 35+ years in the making.

From picking up his first #guitar at four in a music-filled #memphis household, to signing his first record deal at 16, to his recent Oscars performance and induction into the Blues Hall of Fame — Eric shares the highs, the heartbreaks, and the inspiration that have fueled nearly five decades in music.

Eric opens up about the emotional making of "Stand Up" from Crown, the gut-punch of having an early record rejected by his label, the brothers who guarded him through the industry, and the gift he believes was given to him from above.

https://youtu.be/DJHLkLOFEVA?si=CcKyarH3VfZzdvCM

He also gets candid about gear — Magneto, Kiesel, PRS, Dunlop, Seymour Duncan, and his Mark Bass Raw Dog signature amp — and shares hard-won wisdom about letting life be life and using music as the most powerful outlet there is.

Learn more about Eric: ericgales.com

Chapters

* 0:00 Intro

* 1:18 The Gift

* 3:19 Interview Begins

* 5:47 Picking Up the Guitar at Four

* 18:06 The First Big Disappointment

* 24:15 Crown, "Stand Up," and a Vocal for the Ages

* 33:00 Life Be Life: Controlling What You Can

* 51:36 Advice to His 16-Year-Old Self

Keywords: Eric Gales, Eric Gales interview, Eric Gales guitar, Crown album, Stand Up Eric Gales, Blues Hall of Fame, blues guitar, rock guitar, Memphis blues, guitar legends, Ten Thousand Miles podcast, Vic Pepe, Rick Beato, Joe Bonamassa, Magneto guitars, Kiesel guitars, PRS guitars, Raw Dog amp, guitar players podcast, music industry stories.

Hashtags: #EricGales #TenThousandMiles #BluesGuitar #GuitarLegends #CrownAlbum #BluesHallOfFame #RockGuitar #GuitarPodcast #MemphisBlues #StandUp #GuitarPlayers #MusicPodcast #VicPepe #GuitarInterview #BluesRock

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#shorts #shortsfeed #podcast #leaders #stories #podcast #courage #business #Success #Leadership #Motivation #Inspiration #SelfImprovement #PersonalDevelopment #GoalSetting #Mindset #Entrepreneurship

#BusinessSuccess #LifeGoals #PositiveThinking #AchieveYourGoals #SuccessMindset #LeadershipSkills #MotivationalQuotes #SuccessTips #LeadershipDevelopment #InspirationalVideos #SuccessStories #money #life #rockandroll #music #CEO #COO #CFO #CAO #nextjob #goodtimes #success