What if the only thing standing between your current reality and your ultimate potential is a gap you created yourself?
In this episode of the Built to Finish podcast, host Steven Pivnik sits down with globally recognized leadership coach and author Margie Warrell to explore the intersection of courage, leadership, and personal growth. Warrell shares her journey from growing up on a small dairy farm in rural Australia to advising leaders at Fortune 500 boardrooms and NASA. She defines the "courage gap" as the space created by a fearful mind between what we are capable of doing and what we actually do, emphasizing that courage is not the absence of fear, but the decision to move forward despite it.
The conversation dives deep into the psychology of "insecure overachievers"—high-performing individuals driven by a deep-seated need to compensate for a fear of being inadequate. Warrell provides actionable advice on re-scripting self-limiting stories and "embracing the suck" of discomfort to achieve significant goals, such as her personal experience training for the New York City Marathon. They conclude with a look at modern challenges, where Warrell encourages leaders to combat the "fog of uncertainty" by taking small, deliberate actions rather than waiting for perfect clarity.
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In this special holiday episode of the Built to Finish podcast, host Steven Pivnik reflects on the past year, expressing immense gratitude to the audience for their support during his first full year of podcasting, which included over 52 released episodes. He shares the personal success he has achieved through a newly implemented morning gratitude routine, noting that listing things you are grateful for helps minimize the impact of bad news when it inevitably occurs. He also previews the episode, mentioning it will include free giveaways, an offer, and a request for listeners.
The core of the recap focuses on the three "Big Hairy Audacious Goals" (BHAGs) he set for 2025: delivering a full keynote at a legitimate conference, climbing Mount Everest, and delivering a TEDx talk. He achieved the keynote goal at an international franchisee conference for GJ Gardner Homes in Houston, which he found incredibly rewarding. While he didn't summit Mount Everest after getting sick near the end of the trip, he has "no regrets whatsoever" and considers the journey itself and the lessons learned to be incredibly valuable. Finally, after submitting 69 applications, he accomplished his third BHAG by being accepted to and delivering a TEDx talk, with the video set to be released soon. Looking ahead, his BHAG for 2026 is to begin work on a new book.
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In this solo episode, Steven tackles a fundamental question for every entrepreneur: "How much should I sell my company for?" He argues that the answer shouldn't start with market valuation, but with a deeply personal assessment of the lifestyle the founder wishes to maintain post-exit. Assuming a worst-case scenario where the founder is unemployed after the sale, the first step is consulting with a wealth manager to determine the principal needed for conservative or aggressive investments to generate the required ongoing cash flow, thus maintaining the founder's current lifestyle.
Once this necessary takeaway number is established, Steven introduces a crucial planning tool: the "Proceeds Waterfall." This detailed breakdown tracks every expense that reduces the final proceeds, starting with the enterprise value paid by the acquirer and accounting for everything from legal and accounting fees to payouts for minority shareholders, advisors, and, critically, tax liabilities (including federal and state taxes). By working backward from the desired bottom-line number, entrepreneurs can determine the necessary enterprise value and create a strategic game plan to bridge the gap between their current valuation and the required sale price. Doing this homework minimizes surprises and stress when the transaction finally closes.
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Nick Evans, a world-renowned executive advisor, thought leader, and Founder of Thinkers360, shares insights from his time advising influential organizations like Amazon, NASA, and Intel, highlighting the fun and challenge of diving into different industries as a consultant. He recounts his work with NASA, which involved running hands-on, design thinking-style innovation workshops. The conversation pivots to the fragility of the internet, triggered by a recent massive outage, where Nick stresses the need for businesses to be highly agile and adaptive, like the military’s DEFCON system, to handle constant disruption from new technology and global events.
Nick offers his expert perspective on the current state of AI, discussing the market hype versus the tremendous long-term value, drawing parallels to the internet bubble of 2000. He details how Thinkers360 uses AI for internal operations, including a chatbot and an agent trained on their influencer community, and the development of "AI personas" for thought leaders. Nick also shares a fascinating, albeit painful, story about being one of the original pioneers of the "buy now" concept on the web in the late nineties, but losing out on an estimated $50 million due to bad legal advice not to patent "just a button". He wraps up by discussing his amateur triathlon accomplishments, including two championship finishes, and his preparation for the challenging Ironman 70.3 in Cartagena.
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In this inspiring and candid episode, Steven welcomes his first in-person guest, Matt LeBris, host of the globally top 1% ranked Decoding Success Podcast and a Brand Strategist with Brand Builders Group. Matt shares his incredible career journey, beginning with a cold pitch to Shark Tank's Damon John that turned a five-minute conversation into a multi-year internship and job. This experience taught him that proximity is power and the value of surrounding yourself with high achievers.
The conversation dives deep into the philosophy of personal branding, which Matt defines as the art of differentiation and owning who you truly are. He breaks down how Brand Builders Group helps clients in four key tracks: lead generation, new revenue development, author track, and public speaking. Matt and Steven also tackle the common struggles of discipline, balancing their love for fitness with a love for junk food (especially pizza), and the necessary role of AI in brand strategy. Ultimately, Matt emphasizes that social media is merely a vehicle to deliver a brand, not what builds it, and that focusing on impact for one person is more fulfilling than chasing virality.
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Paul Pacun, CEO & Founder of Meiotic and its flagship sales enablement platform Vablet, joins the show to discuss his 26-year journey in tech, starting with taking a company public during the 2000 dot-com bubble. He shares the origin story of Meiotic and its eventual pivot from marketing to individual dentists to targeting the highly compliant Life Sciences and Medical Device industry. Paul details how the platform, Vablet (short for 'video tablet'), was purpose-built to solve the "hard stuff"—guaranteeing seamless content synchronization and presentation offline, a critical requirement for sales reps in places like hospital operating rooms or remote villages.
A major theme of the discussion is the trade-off between raising capital for velocity and choosing to "sell your way through." Paul shares that while the latter approach ensured financial discipline and ownership, he realized in hindsight that external capital would have allowed them to scale faster against competitors. He also delves into the secrets of Meiotic's long-term employee retention, which centers on fostering a culture of trust, flexible hours, direct programmer-to-client interaction, and actively hiring "makers" and "lifetime learners." Finally, Paul offers crucial advice for modern entrepreneurs, stressing the importance of pivoting when necessary, quickly addressing team performance issues, and ensuring robust financial expertise (the "blood to the company") on even the smallest teams.
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Dr. Cindy Gordon, CEO and founder of SalesChoice, joins host Steven Pivnik to discuss her "evolutionary" journey from executive roles at giants like Accenture and Xerox to launching her own tech company. She details how she first joined a venture capital firm to learn corporate finance before co-founding one of the early companies to use AI for predicting sales forecasts.
Cindy provides a refreshingly pragmatic perspective on artificial intelligence, cautioning that not all problems need an AI solution and that true success hinges on a clear use case, good data, and a focus on the "human in the loop". A teacher of AI ethics and law, she also breaks down the critical importance of model transparency, accountability, and navigating the complex global regulatory landscape. For fellow founders, Cindy offers invaluable advice on understanding VC contracts, defining "clawback clauses", and the long-term strategic planning required for a successful exit.
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David Chase, an avid ultra-marathoner and the President at WorkBoard, joins Steven Pivnik to discuss the powerful intersection between endurance sports and business leadership. David shares how his professional rise to CMO coincided with his running journey, which has included multiple 100+ mile races and even a 200-mile event. He explains that for him, a startup isn't a sprint or a marathon—it's a 200-mile race, with extreme highs and lows that demand resilience and a relentless focus on moving forward. The daily habit of running, he finds, provides essential clarity for processing work challenges and making clearer decisions.
Beyond the mindset, David dives into his work at Workboard, a platform that helps large enterprises align strategy with execution using AI. He details how Workboard's AI agents help managers and teams stay aligned, eliminating the lag and dilution of manual status reporting. He also provides tactical advice for scaling marketing teams, emphasizing the importance of in-person events and treating business goals with the same daily discipline as a marathon training plan. Finally, David shares a practical framework for effective, ongoing sales enablement, including an internal "checkout" process to let reps fail safely before engaging customers
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John Ulsh, resilience coach, speaker, and author of “The Upside of Down,” discusses the catastrophic car accident that changed his life forever. John shares the harrowing details of the 2007 collision that involved his wife and two young children, leaving him with a less than 3% chance of survival. He takes us through his grueling recovery, which included over 45 surgeries, an 18-day coma, and learning to live with permanent injuries.
Beyond the physical trauma, John delves into the profound mental and emotional journey of rebuilding his life. He discusses how a heartfelt plea from his daughter became the catalyst for him to stop rehab and push his own limits, finding a new purpose in controlled, positive pain through fitness. John explains the key pillars from his book, "The Upside of Down," offering a framework for anyone facing adversity. This is a deeply moving conversation about turning immense struggle into a source of strength, the importance of commitment, and finding profound meaning in the process of recovery rather than just the finish line.
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Dr. Anna Pleet discusses a comprehensive and compassionate approach to tackling obesity and improving overall health. Anna emphasizes that weight loss is far more complex than the simple "calories in, calories out" mantra. She explains her patient-centered method, which begins with listening and understanding an individual's mindset, motivations, and the emotional barriers, like shame, that can prevent progress. She argues that without addressing the underlying mental and emotional components, any dietary changes are unlikely to be sustainable, pointing to the common yo-yo effect seen in many popular weight-loss journeys.
Anna introduces her "Perfect Meal Formula," a sustainable eating strategy inspired by traditional diets like the Mediterranean. The formula focuses on building balanced meals with three key nutrients, protein, fiber, and healthy fats, to optimize metabolism, regulate appetite, and prevent overeating. The conversation also covers practical advice on calculating protein needs based on goal weight rather than current weight and offers compassionate strategies for discussing health concerns with aging family members. Anna leaves listeners with a powerful reminder to proactively commit to physical activities they love, especially as technology makes our lives increasingly sedentary.
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Hugh Massie, the Founder and Executive Chairman of DNA Behavior, a globally recognized behavioral AI solutions architect, shares his guiding principle for entrepreneurs: "dream big, start small, and finish big." He encourages founders to think beyond financial metrics and focus on the human impact their business can have, even setting goals as audacious as impacting a billion people. He emphasizes the importance of identifying and dominating a niche market channel to become a "category king."
The conversation also delves into the critical, yet often overlooked, topic of wealth management for entrepreneurs, especially pre-exit. Hugh offers practical advice on selecting the right wealth manager, stressing the importance of aligning values and ensuring a personalized approach over chasing the highest returns. He and Steven discuss the common pitfalls entrepreneurs face after a liquidity event, advising a "decision-free zone" for at least six to twelve months to avoid hasty investment mistakes. Finally, Hugh provides a clear framework for founders looking to integrate AI into their current business models, suggesting they focus on both immediate task automation and a complete reimagining of their business for the future.
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Miles Spencer is no stranger to risk, resilience, and reinvention. A multi-exit entrepreneur, investor, and adventurer, Miles has spent decades building companies in digital media, mentoring founders, and even chasing adrenaline in places like Pamplona and the deserts of the Middle East. Now, he’s channeling that same spirit into his most personal venture yet: Reflekta, a platform that allows families to preserve and interact with the voices, likenesses, and stories of loved ones.
In this episode, Miles shares hard-earned wisdom on raising capital, managing leadership transitions, and creating optionality in business deals. He also opens up about the emotional journey of digitally reconnecting with his late father, how storytelling drives meaning, and why entrepreneurship is as much about courage and preparation as it is about innovation.
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Adam Vernon, the Founder and Managing Director of Colorado Ski Furniture, shares his incredible story of how he turned a pile of old skis into a thriving and easily recognized business. With nearly two decades of experience, Adam discusses the evolution of his company, from a weekend stress reliever to a full-time venture that exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic. He details his hands-on leadership style and his philosophy of treating employees like family to foster a culture of low turnover and high motivation.
The conversation explores Adam's practical strategies for longevity and growth, including his aggressive approach to product development, where he knows many ideas will fail but the winners will stick. Adam also dives into his marketing tactics, emphasizing the importance of meeting customers on various social media platforms—from Facebook to LinkedIn—and not being afraid to test new channels. He shares how exceptional customer service, especially turning a problem into a positive experience, is key to creating lifelong, loyal customers
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In this special bonus episode for National Podcast Day episode, our very own, Steven Pivnik, gets interviewed about his experiences so far hosting the Built to Finish podcast. Steven describes his show as informational, motivational, and entertaining, aimed at audacious goal setters, including founders looking to grow, scale, and exit their businesses. He discusses how the podcast extends his brand and allows him to share motivational stories from others. Steven shares that his biggest initial challenge was simply starting, followed by overcoming a "robotic" interview style. He reveals that preparing fewer questions and encouraging a conversational back-and-forth has led to his best episodes. Offering advice to new B2B podcasters, Steven stresses the importance of starting without waiting for perfection and making the listener feel like a "fly on the wall" to a great conversation.
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Ismael Larrosa, Founder and CEO of the UX-led development company Capicua, joins the show to discuss his entrepreneurial journey, from defying his father's wishes to attend design school to leading one of the fastest-growing companies in the Americas. Ismael shares his philosophy on the significant role luck plays in success, the importance of choosing the harder, more sustainable path, and how founders can manage the emotional highs and lows of the startup world. The conversation also explores practical strategies for stabilizing revenue, the transformative power of generative AI as a tool for both developers and designers, and why the future of the office depends on fostering creativity, not just offering perks.
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Dr. Stephen Timme, Founder of FinListics and Author of “Insights Led Selling”, shares his unique journey from academia to entrepreneurship and details the critical shift modern sales organizations must make: moving from outdated feature-and-function pitching to sophisticated, insight-led conversations. He explains why today's executives are under immense pressure to deliver business results and how salespeople can become trusted partners by demonstrating clear financial and operational value. This conversation is packed with actionable advice on how to understand your customer's goals, tailor your message to different stakeholders, and ultimately transform your sales approach to increase deal size, shorten sales cycles, and boost closure rates.
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Stan Sher, a respected writer, speaker, and president of Dealer eTraining, shares his personal journey from starting as a car salesman at 20 years old to founding his own company, overcoming going broke three times along the way. The conversation dives into why the car-buying process is often unpleasant, which Stan attributes to undertrained, transaction-focused salespeople and a lack of genuine communication.
He champions a "guest experience" mindset, urging a shift towards treating customers like people rather than dollar figures. The discussion also covers the importance of a consultative communication style, the power of personal discipline through challenges like 75 Hard, and the need for self-awareness, inspired by Mel Robbins' book.
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Brant McNaughton, the Founder and Managing Director of the web development consultancy Ecce. Brant shares his journey of transitioning from a 15-year career in global finance to becoming a tech entrepreneur in the late '90s. For over 26 years, he has built his agency on a foundation of strong relationships and reputation, growing organically through word-of-mouth referrals. Brant discusses the evolution of his business, the temptation to turn bespoke projects into products, and how his team uses "5% Fridays" to innovate with AI. He also provides invaluable insight into building a resilient, non-hierarchical company culture and navigating entrepreneurial challenges like the "feast or famine" cycle and the departure of a key employee. Brant connects the grit required in business to his passion for endurance sports, including his incredible story of swimming from Alcatraz.
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Mike Hogan, CEO of Insights7, is a seasoned business leader with over 25 years of global experience. Hogan shares his journey from providing advisory services to developing a software-as-a-service platform designed to help organizations align their execution with strategic goals through his "work to value management system." He discusses the common challenge of ensuring entire teams are "rowing in the right direction" and introduces the concept of overlaying a value chain structure on top of the traditional organizational chart to create a single value creation system. Hogan explains how this approach empowers employees, fosters a culture of accountability, and provides leaders with the objective data needed to make difficult decisions. The conversation also touches on the parallels between entrepreneurship and endurance sports, the role of AI in their platform, and the ideal company profile for implementing their system.
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Evan Dash, the co-founder and CEO of the billion-dollar kitchenware brand, Dash, shares his remarkable journey from being a firefighter to a corporate executive at Macy's, and ultimately, an acclaimed entrepreneur. He details the initial struggles of launching a business, the relentless challenges of managing cash flow in a rapidly growing company, and the unique experience of navigating a partial exit to a strategic partner, Groupe SEB. Evan provides a masterclass on building a brand from the ground up by focusing on being a "content company" first, fostering a positive team culture, and leading with values. He also discusses his partnership with his wife, Rachel, and offers invaluable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs on the importance of gaining corporate experience before launching their own ventures.
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