In this first part of Matt Levenhagen’s conversation with Malcolm Reid Sr., we explore an extraordinary journey from the streets of Baltimore to prison, and ultimately to a life dedicated to helping others build better businesses. It’s the story of how adversity shaped the builder behind the business.

From dropping out of school and serving time in prison to discovering unexpected lessons in sales, leadership and human behavior, Malcolm shares how accountability, resilience and an unwavering desire to help others transformed the direction of his life. Every chapter, even the painful ones, became preparation for what came next.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your past limits your future, this conversation offers a different perspective. Malcolm’s story is a powerful reminder that while our experiences shape us, they don’t have to define us. Some of the strongest builders are the ones who first rebuilt themselves.

Key Takeaways

• Resilience is often forged long before success becomes visible.
• Your past explains you, but it doesn’t define where you can go.
• Every experience, even painful ones, can become part of your builder toolkit.
• Great businesses are built by solving one problem after another.
• Authentic relationships consistently outperform manipulation and sales tactics.
• Helping others succeed is one of the most meaningful ways to build a lasting legacy.

Tune in for a story of resilience, redemption and discovering the builder that was there all along.

For nearly three decades, Drew Griffin worked in healthcare as a hyperbaric wound care nurse, helping patients navigate some of life’s most difficult medical challenges. Along the way, he developed a deep appreciation for solving problems, improving outcomes, and helping people regain control of their lives.That mindset eventually led him somewhere unexpected. After recognizing how smartphones could help diabetic patients better manage their health, Drew taught himself software development and launched one of the early mobile apps focused on diabetic tracking. The app quickly gained traction, reaching tens of thousands of users and opening his eyes to the scale of impact technology could create.In this episode, Drew shares his journey from healthcare to entrepreneurship, the lessons learned from building software and marketing businesses, and how local newsletters became the foundation of a completely different approach to local marketing. He explains why owning an audience may be one of the most valuable assets a business can create and how newsletters are helping agencies build trust before they ever make a sales pitch. Along the way, he discusses building software, navigating industry shifts, embracing AI, and helping business owners create new opportunities through audience-first thinking.

Key Takeaways

• Why solving real problems is often the foundation of successful products and businesses.
• How a healthcare career unexpectedly prepared Drew for entrepreneurship.
• What he learned from building and selling an early mobile app.
• Why traditional agency sales became harder as local marketing became commoditized.
• How local newsletters create owned audiences that businesses can reach directly.
• Why building an audience first can completely change the sales conversation.

In this episode of The Builders Podcast, Matt Levenhagen sits down with Gary Gitelson, founder of Prohana, to explore a deceptively simple idea: some of the most important opportunities in life and business come from a surprisingly small number of relationships. Drawing on nearly three decades in engineering leadership, startups, and large technology companies, Gary shares how a carefully nurtured network became one of his greatest professional advantages.

From his early days at Cisco to leadership roles in startups, Google, and VMware, Gary's story reveals a consistent pattern. Every major transition, opportunity, and career breakthrough was made possible by trusted relationships built over years, sometimes decades. Along the way, he learned that meaningful connections are less about collecting contacts and more about investing in people, creating value, and staying genuinely engaged.

Matt and Gary dive into the practical side of relationship-building, discussing mentorship, curiosity, reciprocity, and how builders can intentionally develop the kinds of connections that create opportunities long into the future. Whether you're growing a business, building a career, or expanding your network, this conversation offers a thoughtful framework for turning relationships into a lasting advantage.

Key Takeaways

• Most career-changing opportunities come from a small circle of trusted relationships.
• Building relationships is about creating value, not keeping score.
• Curiosity, generosity, and follow-through are traits that strengthen long-term connections.
• Strong networks are built over years through consistent, meaningful interactions.
• Mentors, peers, and former team members can all become future collaborators and opportunity creators.
• Being top-of-mind often matters more than having the largest network.

In this solo episode of The Builders Podcast, Matt Levenhagen introduces the theme behind the upcoming fourth season: What Built the Builder? Rather than focusing only on tactics, strategies, and business frameworks, the next season will explore the experiences, failures, influences, and turning points that shape the people behind the businesses we build.

Using his own journey as an example, Matt traces a path through early sales jobs, insurance, contracting, internet marketing, web development, and agency ownership. While those chapters may appear disconnected on the surface, a closer look reveals something deeper: a pattern. Looking backward, he discovers recurring themes of creativity, building, systems, and people that have quietly guided his decisions for decades.

The conversation ultimately becomes an invitation for listeners to do the same. By examining your own story, identifying recurring patterns, and understanding the experiences that shaped you, you may discover strengths, opportunities, and insights that have been there all along.

Key Takeaways

• The chapters of your life may be more connected than they first appear.
• Skills learned in one season often become assets in the next.
• Looking for patterns can reveal strengths and motivations you may have overlooked.
• Reflection isn't about nostalgia. It's about understanding yourself more clearly.
• Every builder has a story, and those stories often explain what they're building today.
• Understanding what built you can help shape what you build next.

Tune in for a conversation about story, self-discovery, and the patterns that quietly shape every builder's journey.

In this episode of The Builders Podcast, Matt Levenhagen sits down with Shaun Modi, product designer, founder, and builder whose career has taken him from NASA and MIT to Google, Airbnb, startup studios, government projects, and ultimately the founding of Capitol AI.

From designing lunar habitats with astronauts to helping shape products at Google during the rise of social computing and contributing to Airbnb during its rapid growth, Shaun offers a firsthand look at some of the most influential technology movements of the past two decades. The conversation explores how great products emerge from understanding people, challenging assumptions, and relentlessly improving the customer experience.

The discussion eventually lands on Capitol AI, where Shaun and his team are building the intelligence layer behind high-stakes enterprise workflows. From financial services to government agencies, they’re helping organizations move beyond scattered AI tools toward governed, repeatable systems that deliver reliable outcomes. For builders, founders, and product leaders, this episode is packed with lessons on innovation, execution, and seeing where technology is headed before everyone else.

Key Takeaways

✔️ Great builders learn to recognize transformational technology shifts before they become obvious.

✔️ Customer experience is often the strongest competitive advantage a company can build.

✔️ Working alongside exceptional people accelerates growth and sharpens your thinking.

✔️ Successful companies stay close to customer problems and avoid building in isolation.

✔️ Enterprise AI adoption requires governance, workflows, and repeatability, not just powerful models.

✔️ The best opportunities often emerge at the intersection of technology, design, and real-world needs.

Tune in for a story of building through curiosity, craftsmanship, and a relentless focus on solving meaningful problems.

In this episode of The Builders Podcast, Matt Levenhagen sits down with leadership coach, consultant, speaker, and podcaster Kim Miller-Hershon for a conversation about building businesses and teams around human strengths instead of forcing sameness.

 Kim shares her journey from struggling to fit inside traditional corporate environments to discovering that her greatest strength was helping people better understand themselves, communicate more effectively, and thrive within organizations. Together, Matt and Kim explore leadership, coaching, workplace culture, communication, and the importance of recognizing that people are wired differently.

This conversation goes beyond traditional management advice. It’s about designing businesses, careers, and team environments that align with how people actually operate at their best. From entrepreneurship and leadership to creativity and personal growth, this episode uncovers what happens when organizations stop forcing conformity and start building around human potential instead.

Key Takeaways

• Strong teams are built by understanding differences, not eliminating them
• One-size-fits-all leadership often limits creativity and growth
• Healthy communication is foundational to strong business cultures
• Coaching helps individuals recognize and operate within their strengths
• Businesses perform better when people feel aligned with their work
• Great leaders create environments where people can genuinely thrive

In this episode of The Builders Podcast, Matt Levenhagen welcomes back William Holsten for a deeper conversation around the hidden behavioral patterns behind preventable business mistakes. After sharing his entrepreneurial journey and hard-earned lessons in Part I, William returns to explore how founders can reduce risk through simple systems, stronger habits, and better operational awareness.

The discussion digs into the psychology of decision-making under pressure, why many business mistakes repeat themselves, and how small issues often spiral when businesses move too quickly without safeguards in place. Drawing from his nationwide study of entrepreneurs, William explains how stress, distraction, unchecked assumptions, and reactive decision-making contribute to preventable failures across businesses of all sizes.

Matt and William also unpack practical solutions builders can apply immediately... from checklists and operational routines to lightweight testing, customer validation, and habits that improve focus and consistency over time. This episode is packed with grounded insights for founders, entrepreneurs, and business owners looking to build smarter, more resilient businesses.

Key Takeaways 

• Many costly business mistakes follow predictable behavioral patterns
• Simple systems and routines can dramatically reduce preventable errors
• Stress, distraction, and fatigue often lead to poor decision-making
• Lightweight testing helps uncover problems before scaling investments
• Operational discipline and focus create long-term business stability
• Small habits can prevent mistakes from escalating into larger problems

Bob Labbe has spent a lifetime building businesses, solving technical problems, and engineering practical solutions. From scaling air pollution control companies to developing a quantitative putting system for golfers, Bob approaches life with the mindset of a builder: observe the problem, test relentlessly, and keep refining until something works.

In this episode, Bob shares the journey behind building and selling multiple engineering companies, the importance of long-term partnerships, and the relationships that helped shape his career over more than five decades. He also reflects on retirement, rediscovering golf, and how frustration with his putting game eventually led him to develop and publish Putting by the Numbers, a system designed to help golfers think about putting in a completely different way.

What makes this conversation especially interesting is how Bob applies the same engineering mindset everywhere. A frustrating putting problem became years of experimentation and eventually a published book. A ruined silk tie at dinner became the inspiration for a patented coaster design. In both cases, the process was the same: notice the friction, stay curious, and build a better solution.

Key Takeaways

• Great businesses are often built through strong partnerships and complementary skill sets.
• Innovation frequently starts with frustration and curiosity.
• Builders train themselves to notice problems other people ignore.
• Testing, iteration, and patience are essential parts of building something meaningful.
• Relationships and trust are foundational to long-term business success.
• Builders never really stop building, even after retirement.

In this episode of The Builders Podcast, Matt Levenhagen sits down with William Holsten to explore the early journey behind his first product… and the business lessons that came from getting it wrong before getting it right.

What started as a simple, fun idea quickly turned into a real opportunity. Demand showed up. The product sold. Everything looked like it was working… until it wasn’t. Once the product hit real customers in real environments, the cracks started to show. Complaints rolled in, failures surfaced, and what felt like early success revealed deeper issues in execution and understanding the customer.

This episode is about those moments. The ones every builder faces at some point… where assumptions break, reality hits, and you’re forced to adapt. William shares what went wrong, what it cost, and what it taught him about building products that actually hold up in the real world.

If you’ve ever launched something, thought you had it figured out… and then learned otherwise… this one will feel familiar.

Key Takeaways

• Early success can hide deeper problems that only show up in real-world use
• The biggest lessons often come from what breaks, not what works
• You don’t truly understand your customer until you see how they operate day-to-day
• Assumptions in design and execution are where costly mistakes begin
• Listening to feedback is one thing… observing behavior is another
• Every builder goes through an “uh-oh” moment… what matters is how you respond