The Ben & Tony Podcast

Brennan Agranoff is the 21 year-old founder & owner of e-commerce companies HoopSwagg , PetParty, and Litmitts.

Brennan has been quoted and published in several national and international media outlets including CNN, The New York Times, and US News for his entrepreneurial advocacy. Brennan was named the 2017 Baylor Teen Entrepreneur of the year for his work on his first company HoopSwagg.

Agranoff has been founding companies since the age of seven but officially launched his first business, HoopSwagg, in 2013. He has since grown the business into seven figure sales in only four years.

John Kao has been called ‘Mr. Creativity’ by The Economist. As a self-styled 'innovation activist,' John’s greatest pleasure is working with people who are on the hot seat to deliver a meaningful innovation agenda, especially in these disrupted times.

He brings a diverse portfolio of experience to the table, having been: an HBS professor, a trusted advisor, a startup entrepreneur, a Tony-nominated feature film and Broadway producer, a master facilitator, a mentor and more. John also continues to explore the connections between jazz and innovation as a board member of SF Jazz, Yamaha's first "Artist in Innovation," and the author of "Jamming."

He also runs two innovation hubs - in SF and Tucson - where he conducts deep dives on innovation strategy and execution with a wide variety of teams and leaders.

Brandon is founding partner and publisher of BroBible.com, an independent men's entertainment and lifestyle brand with over 6 million unique Comscore visitors a month.

Brandon crafts BroBible's editorial vision and social media strategy. He also plays point person on BroBible's video strategy, resulting in over two million views to owned, monetizable video content a month. Since joining in 2010, he’s helped implement an ambitious publishing strategy to grow BroBible's traffic from 400,000 unique visitors a month to over 15 million unique visitors a month (GA), increasing page views 10-fold and ambitiously scaling BroBible's social media channels.

James Lamdin is the Founder of Analog/Shift and Director of Vintage & Pre-Owned for the Watches Of Switzerland Group USA. He is also a Founding Partner of the Red Bar Group LLC, the world’s largest vintage watch collector community.

Steph Smith is the Head of Trends at the Hustle, which was recently acquired by Hubspot. Trends helps 10k+ entrepreneurs stay ahead of the curve, by providing thousands of vetted business ideas and a community that helps make your next venture a reality.

Steph is originally from Canada and is a data-driven writer and growth marketer, with a passion for progressive, early-medium stage technology companies. Steph spent three and a half years at Toptal scaling their hypergrowth design function and then leading their Publications team.

In mid-2019, Steph founded Integral Labs to be able to service more companies, while working independently on my own projects. Steph loves making products, coding, and hopping across the globe. She reaches hundreds of thousands of readers on her personal blog, where she actively writes about remote work, productivity, and women in tech: https://blog.stephsmith.io

Jon Hillis’ goal is to increase the GDP of the creator economy. He is the founder of Creator Cabins, a community of remote cabins for remote workers in the Texas Hill Country near Austin.

Previously, he was the director of product for shoppers at Instacart where he helped millions of people earn money independently online for the first time. Recently, he left Instacart after working there for over 5 years to pursue projects focused on independent online creators full time. He has established capital.community, which provides early stage funding and resources for creators & platforms that help them succeed.

Lyle McKeany is a writer, husband, and father. He writes a weekly newsletter called Just Enough to Get Me in Trouble where he speaks to real life struggles, and being a father to a daughter with cerebral palsy. His writing is raw, personal, and vulnerable.

Lyle has had an eclectic career with stints as a major-label musician, professional poker player, early-stage startup founder and employee, and now a writer.

You can learn more about him and subscribe to his newsletter at lyle.blog.

Jamie Russo is a writer based in Brooklyn, NY, and author of the breakthrough book, The Underdog Paradox.

The Underdog Paradox which documents the journey of five remarkable entrepreneurs overcoming adversity en route to building a brighter future, and he’s really interested in exploring writing as a career path.

Prior to becoming a bestselling author, Jamie was hire #1 at WeWork Labs in Washington, DC, where he launched a startup accelerator for social ventures.

Tom White is a writing partner at On Deck, a content strategist, chief copywriter, investor, and startup advisor. He’s writes at the Observer Effect, and also his own publication: tomwhitenoise.com, and is equally comfortable at the whiteboard or on the podium.

He previously delivered a TED Talk about his life with Tourette syndrome, and graduated with a double major in Liberal Studies and Italian.

Some words that summarize Tom: integrity, hustle, resilience, and humour.