The Catching Fire Podcast

When referrals dry up and your calendar's still full, it’s time for a new kind of growth. 

In this episode of Catching Fire, fractional CMO and two-time CEO Maria Trysla shares her playbook for moving from founder-led to founder-inspired sales. 

With stories from her time at Sprint, SaaS startups, and private equity-backed companies, Maria breaks down how to scale revenue without scaling stress. You’ll learn how to identify when your network is no longer enough, why retention and expansion often beat acquisition, and how aligning product, marketing, and customer success can spark explosive growth. 

Whether you’re an early-stage founder or growing a lean team, this episode is packed with practical insights, honest reflection, and a framework to help you scale smarter.

Connect with Maria: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariatrysla/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

Have you ever wondered how global brands like NASDAQ build massive followings online or what makes certain startups unforgettable? Join us for an insightful conversation on this week’s Catching Fire podcast, where we welcome Josh Matchiz, Partner at Redpoint Ventures and former Chief Digital Officer at NASDAQ.

Josh dives deep into his journey of transforming NASDAQ’s digital presence, explaining how he successfully captured millions of online followers through innovative and timely storytelling. 

You'll learn how to manage fresh talent, tap into cultural trends, and why high-quality creative content often outperforms huge marketing budgets.

Also, we explore the concept of "performance branding," understand the growing role of AI in marketing, and discover practical, real-world strategies for enhancing your own brand's storytelling capabilities. 

If you're a founder, marketer, or entrepreneur looking for authentic ways to elevate your brand, this episode is packed with valuable insights you won't want to miss.

Connect with Josh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshmachiz/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

Is your marketing still stuck in the Mad Men era?

In this episode of Catching Fire, we sit down with Gary Stein, founding partner & Chief Strategy Officer at 61Hawk, to talk about how startup founders and growth marketers can stop gambling with million-dollar launches—and start building smart, iterative campaigns that actually work.

Gary spent decades inside traditional ad agencies before launching his own consultancy, and now he’s helping ambitious brands move fast, test faster, and scale with confidence. 

From using AI for synthetic ad testing to building MVPs for marketing campaigns, Gary breaks down a modern go-to-market strategy rooted in real-world feedback—not guesswork.

We cover:

🔥The Composer vs. DJ mindset in marketing

🔥Why over-investing in direct response is killing your brand

🔥How AI helps de-risk creative testing

🔥The psychology of performance branding that actually builds trust

Whether you're a scrappy founder or a seasoned marketer, this episode is packed with insights you can apply today to grow smarter—and stand out.

Connect with Gary: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-s-stein/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

#MarketingStrategy #GoToMarket #MVP #PerformanceMarketing #StartupGrowth #BrandBuilding

Why do some startups win, while others stall? 

For Michael Rangel, Founder of Novo–the answer is clear: stay close to your customer and focus on real problems. In this episode of Catching Fire, Michael shares how he built Novo, a business banking platform now trusted by over 200,000 small businesses.

What you’ll take away:

🔥Why hiring full-time leaders too early will slow you down

🔥How part-time experts helped Novo move faster

🔥What Chime did to scale—and how Novo found a better approach

🔥The real reason customer focus beats watching your competitors

You’ll also hear why small businesses were being ignored by traditional banks—and how Novo took a different path by focusing on simple tools that save owners time and money.

This is an honest conversation about what it really takes to build something that lasts. If you’re building a company—or thinking about it—you’ll want to hear this.

Connect with Michael : https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rangel/

Connect with Bryan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

How do you take a small, mission-driven food brand and land deals with giants like Ben & Jerry’s, JetBlue, and DoubleTree?

In this episode of Catching Fire, we sit down with Marlo Giudice, a powerhouse entrepreneur and VP, Sales at Partake Foods from a startup idea to a national brand. Marlo shares the realities of launching a consumer product through her own personal experience, navigating the cutthroat world of retail, and using data-driven storytelling to win shelf space against industry giants like Oreo.

She also reveals:
🔥The cold call that landed a game-changing partnership with Ben & Jerry’s
🔥Why getting on retail shelves is easy—but getting off them is hard
🔥How Partake’s mission-driven brand (Black-owned, women-led, and B Corp certified) opened new doors
🔥Why numbers, not hype, are the secret weapon in sales conversations

Whether you're a founder, marketer, or aspiring entrepreneur, this episode is packed with insider strategies you won’t want to miss!

Connect with Marlo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marlo-giudice/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

On this episode of Catching Fire, we sit down with Jess Kamada - Managing Partner of Swizzle Ventures, who recently closed a $6.6 million fund focused on advancing women's health and wealth. With 15+ years in growth marketing and experience working with 12 unicorn companies, Jess shares her journey from agency founder to VC, revealing the "Efficient Growth Framework" that guides her investment strategy. 

In this episode discover:

• Why sustainable growth must be built on loyal customers, 
• How to find your "growth moat" in today's challenging landscape, 
• Why only 2% of VC funding goes to women-led companies—and how she’s changing that. 

Whether you're a founder, marketer, or investor, this episode delivers practical insights on building authentic communities, achieving the right unit economics, and finding product-market fit in women-focused sectors.

Connect with Jesse: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesskamada/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

#VentureCapital #WomenInVC #GrowthMarketing #StartupFunding #FemTech

In this raw and revealing conversation, discover how dark comedy became a powerful tool for a veteran's mental health, why authenticity trumps production value, and what it takes to build a community-driven business from scratch. Whether you're an entrepreneur, creator, or someone fascinated by the power of niche storytelling, this episode offers invaluable insights on turning pain into purpose and building a business that truly serves its community.

Featured highlights:

• Why Hollywood gets military stories wrong

• How to build a Netflix-like platform with zero entertainment background

• The unexpected power of dark humor in healing trauma

• Building a business through community authenticity

Connect with Danny:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannydiazmaher/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

In this week’s episode, former Meta executive Sakshi Chadha pulls back the curtain on Silicon Valley's most controversial moments.

From managing Facebook's 2020 election integrity team to witnessing the platform's dramatic shift under recent political pressures, Sakshi shares unprecedented insights into how social media giants really operate.

Join host Bryan and Sakshi as they dive deep into Meta's evolution from its "Wild West" days to its current AI-driven future. 

Highlights include:

• Behind-the-scenes look at Facebook's election integrity efforts

• The real story behind "data selling" controversies

• How AI is disrupting traditional business models

• Practical advice for startups in a post-pandemic world

Connect with Sakshi:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sakshi-chadha-7360727/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal.https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media.https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

What happens when you treat talent as partners, focus on creative agility, and refuse to cut corners in production? You get Blitz Creative.

After transitioning from entertainment to branding, founder Jared Blitz built his sports-focused content studio around these principles, crafting high-impact branded content while keeping production lean, talent-first, and storytelling-driven.

In this episode, Jared shares:

• Why brands need to invest in creativity, not just media buys

• The secret to making brand content feel fresh, fun, and authentic

• The intimate connection between branding and entertainment

• How he pulled off a wildly creative ‘90s sitcom-inspired campaign

Connect with Jared:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredblitz/

https://www.blitzcreative.la/

Latest work with Cristian Mcaffrey: 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C__Zg8Iybdy/?hl=en

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jaredblitz_can-you-create-a-90s-sitcom-with-christian-activity-7274453222843387904-kEu7/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/ 

Peter Jonas has had a fascinating journey through the tech world. A former executive at Facebook, Uber, and Compass, he went from launching Facebook’s mobile app install product to co-founding his own company, Thirdwave, which gives developers and businesses deep insight into user behavior with blockchain data. 

In this episode, you'll discover:

Why Web3 wallet IDs have the potential to revolutionize ad targeting

Parallels between the early days of mobile app installs and the current blockchain market

The power of small teams for avoiding bureaucracy and providing quality service

The importance of simplicity and elegance in branding

Connect with Peter:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pbjonas/

https://thirdwavelabs.com/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/ 

https://bryankaras.com/ 

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/ 

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/