Episode 56: In this episode of The More Smarter Show, Jake and Dylan sit down with Sam Silverman β "The Bagel Ambassador" and founder of Bagel Up and Bagelfest. Sam left a career at Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates to build a business around his true passion: bagels.
From starting a bagel review Instagram with zero industry connections, to launching NYC's first-ever bagel festival (which drew 350 strangers instead of the 100 friends he expected), Sam shares how he turned a niche obsession into a thriving company spanning festivals, hands-on classes, industry consulting, and content creation β now expanding to Los Angeles and drawing bagel shop owners from around the world.
We dig into:
* How he built credibility and community from scratch over 2 years of "giving without asking"
* Scaling Bagelfest from a backyard-style event to 2,000+ attendees at Citi Field
* Why he turned down owning a bagel shop to stay the industry's neutral "kingmaker"
* His delegation and goal-setting systems borrowed from his hedge fund days
* Plans for a permanent Bagel Museum in NYC ($20β30M vision)
* The wildest schmear flavors served at Bagelfest
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a food industry nerd, or just someone who loves a good bagel debate β this episode has something for you.
π Learn more: bagelup.com | bagelfest.com
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#Bagelfest #BagelAmbassador #Entrepreneurship #NYCFood #SmallBusiness #FoodTourism