Entrepreneurs Exposed

Cody Wittick is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Kynship, a performance marketing agency that has visibility into $400M in ad spend, and has sourced 350k+ influencers for its brands. Prior to co-founding Kynship, Cody began his journey at QALO, the brand that created the silicone wedding ring. Throughout his time there, he built out a robust influencer program contracting thousands of micro-influencers in a variety of industries while also working with household names such as Lebron James, Jason Aldean, Mike Trout, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. In this episode, we get into all things influencer marketing, tactics such as seeding influencers with product, scaling ad spend and more; we also dive into what makes an influencer worthy of being paid for posts; how to assess the quality of “an influencer”, in terms of follower counts; Cody’s journey as a founder, his struggles, and his very personally story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Caleb Avery is revolutionizing the payments landscape landscape. In 2019, he founded Tilled after spending nearly a decade advising merchants and enterprise software businesses on how to optimize their payment processing solutions. Prior to founding Tilled, Caleb also co-founded a credit card processing ISO while in college, which has expanded nationwide to offer processing services for merchants and software businesses. In this episode, we get into the nuts and bolts of Payfac-as-a-service and how Tilled has carved out this unique niche; the importance of determining what you are “uniquely good at” as a founder; the challenges related to being a solopreneur at the helm of a hyper-growth company and more. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cole Shephard is the Founding Partner of Legacy Group, a leading alternative investment firm. his company focuses on profitable investment opportunities with high social and environmental impact in the US and Latin America. The flagship portfolio company, Green Coffee Company (GCC), is Colombia’s #1 largest coffee producer, with 10M+ coffee trees planted across 7000 acres. Before forming Legacy Group, Cole spent close to a decade at PWC working in accounting, advisory, M&A, and consulting across the United States, Bermuda, Hong Kong, and Beijing. He is an expert in emerging markets and is currently based in Medellin, Colombia. In this episode, we dive into Cole’s move to Columbia, and the cultural adjustments along the way; why he is bullish on Latin America as a market worthy of startup investment; the origin story of Green Coffee Company, and the threats that macro risks such as climate change and labour play into the future of coffee as an industry, and more. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today is my chat with Jacob Sappington, which first aired just a few weeks ago on Shopify Masters. He is the director of email strategy at Homestead, a growth agency based in Wisconsin. He has worked alongside of some giant D2C brands including: Hexclad, Caseify, Brightland, and more. And with Black Friday, Cyber Monday on our doorstep, Jacob is the "go to" for amplifying customer excitement, for your eCommerce business. In this EP, we talk about opting into marketing communication; what strategies he’s recommending to his clients for the holidays and beyond; how to leverage email, SMS for boosting conversion metrics; what systems and tools his best in class eComm merchants are using, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's EP is Chad Price. He is the co-founder of Kettlebell Kings, and a former college football scholarship athlete from Rice university. Roughly ten years after starting the business back in 2012, he was able to orchestrate a multi-million dollar exit in 2021. Today, Kettlebell Kings still remains a thriving international company. In this one, we dive into Chad's background as an athlete, and the connective tissue between sports and entrepreneurship; how Kettlebell Kings grew from an online business, to a massive community of fitness enthusiasts; what characteristics make for a good leader; his new book, Preparing for Battle and more. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's EP is Leslie Venetz - a corporate sales training and sales-led Go to market expert. Leslie has made over 100,000 cold calls, has co-authored a book called Heels to Deals, and is now running Sales Team Builder which continues to grow and build on her expertise. In this one, we dive into the best strategies for cold outbound; how to set up your communication sequences for optimal success; tools and systems for gathering amazing data on the cheap..... and in our rapid-fire round, why Soul Cycle is in Leslie's opinion, so much better than Peloton. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today is my chat with Michael Serbinis, which first aired just a few weeks ago on Shopify Masters. Michael is the founder and CEO of League, a technology-focused health company. With more than $1B of exits, he's known as a visionary entrepreneur who's built transformative technology platforms across several industries. Serbinis founded and built Kobo, probably the most notable competitor to Amazon's Kindle; he also founded and help build, DocSpace, Critical Path, and going way back, worked alongside Elon and Kimble Musk at Zip2. To listen to more episodes like this one, search 'Shopify Masters' wherever you get your podcasts. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fred Cary is an internationally known entrepreneur and business thought leader with over three decades of leadership experience that have resulted in billions of dollars in corporate value. His success stories cross boundaries – he has built high-growth businesses in finance, software, mobile technologies, data, retail, consumer products, strategic services and e-commerce. As CEO of IdeaPros, Fred Cary, has helped hundreds of brilliant entrepreneurs find their purpose and create their legacy. In this EP, we discuss Fred's early days in law and music; how he transitioned into entrepreneurship; the shortcomings of the venture capital model; what character traits are important in any founder, and more. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Judith Gordon is a high-performance coach and facilitator and is the founder and CEO of LeaderEsQ, LLC, a coaching and training consultancy. She is also on the faculty of UCLA School of Law where she teaches emotional intelligence, stress management, and high-performance skills training. In this EP, we discussthe elements of thriving, especially for high achievers who experience overwhelm and burnout; managing energy, mindset, and beliefs; the essential role that core values and intrinsic motivation play in success and thriving; and more. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Niles Lichtenstein is the cofounder and CEO of Nestment, a platform that aims to democratize home buying through enabling co-ownership models. After stints on the corporate side, Niles went on to founding teams at several startups in the mobile technology space. During this time, he grew passionate about helping friends purchase multi-family and vacation rentals. As he saw the changing demographic and economic trends for his Millennial peers, he realized there was a new path for home ownership.In this EP, we discuss co-ownership as it relates to real estate; the current market headwinds, and how they are actually tailwinds for disruption; the connection between one's childhood and launching a start up; and more. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices