The Builders

Stephanie Sylvestre’s path to becoming CEO and co-founder of Avatar Buddy is anything but linear. Born and raised in Belize, Stephanie expected to return home after college and step into a defined future. When political change erased that path overnight, she was forced to adapt, relocate, and reimagine what building a life and career really meant.That adaptability led her into diplomacy as the youngest Honorary Consul of Belize in Miami, where she spent years navigating relationships, influence, and advocacy at a deeply human level. In parallel, an unexpected internship at Hewlett-Packard introduced her to technology through systems thinking, mentorship, and early software development. Rather than chasing hype, Stephanie learned how complex systems actually work, and where they fail the people relying on them.Those lessons carried forward into consulting, corporate IT, and eventually the founding of Avatar Buddy, a managed AI services company built around trust, safety, and human amplification. In this episode, Stephanie shares how a background rooted in diplomacy and quality-first thinking now shapes her approach to building AI systems that help humans do better at the work they already do.Key TakeawaysBuilder paths are rarely linear, and detours often create the strongest foundationsTrust and relationships drive real outcomes more than process aloneEarly mentorship shapes how builders think about systems for lifeQuality matters because real people live with the resultsAI works best when it amplifies humans instead of replacing themExperience outside of tech often produces better technology leaders

In this solo end-of-year episode of The Builders Podcast, Matt Levenhagen pulls back the curtain on what he’s been building behind the scenes and why it matters far beyond AI hype.After briefly reflecting on a challenging couple of years in his agency, Matt dives into the real work: designing and building a deeply personal, enterprise-level system that unifies personal insight, business data, and AI into a single command center. This isn’t about tools or dashboards. It’s about creating structure that reduces friction, preserves context, and enables better decisions.The episode explores how understanding your past, protecting your data, and eliminating constant context switching can become a powerful competitive advantage. From layered personal and business hubs to a daily command center and outreach workflows, Matt shares how building systems for yourself can quietly change how you think, work, and rebuild for what comes next.Key TakeawaysThe real “killer app” isn’t software you sell, it’s the system you build for yourselfFragmentation, not effort, is what drains momentum in modern businessesPersonal clarity and business clarity are deeply connectedSecurity and ownership are essential for honest thinking and reflectionA single command center can eliminate decision fatigue and context switchingBuilding custom systems creates leverage that off-the-shelf tools can’t match

In this episode of The Builders Podcast, Matt welcomes back Damon Darnall to explore what happens when technology reaches a tipping point. While their first conversation focused on Damon’s background and the early days of drones, this discussion goes deeper into the drone revolution itself and how it dramatically lowered barriers to entry, unlocking hundreds of new business opportunities.Damon breaks down how drones evolved from complex, expert-only machines into accessible tools powered by sensors, automation, and onboard computing. That shift didn’t just make drones easier to fly. It changed who could participate, which business models became viable, and how real-world problems like inspections, safety, and data collection could be solved more efficiently.The conversation expands beyond drones into a broader lesson for builders. When technology removes friction, opportunity scales. Entire markets open up, new operators enter, and smart builders focus less on the novelty of the tool and more on creating repeatable, practical businesses around it. This episode offers a clear blueprint for recognizing those moments and building with intention when barriers fall. Key TakeawaysThe drone revolution lowered skill, cost, and complexity barriers, unlocking hundreds of new businesses“Easier to use” technology often leads to higher-value outcomes, not lower onesAutomation and AI enhance human judgment instead of replacing itSafer, faster workflows create stronger and more scalable business modelsSuccessful builders design systems that reduce friction for newcomersThe biggest opportunity is rarely the tool itself, but what it enables others to do

In this episode of The Builders, Matt sits down with Rob Broadhead, founder of RB Consulting, to explore the experiences that shaped his business-first approach to technology. What begins as a story about curiosity and problem-solving quickly becomes a reflection on early failures, missed assumptions, and hard lessons learned inside consulting firms and startups alike.Rob shares how watching software projects struggle, not because of bad code but because of unclear business problems, fundamentally changed how he thinks about building systems. From enterprise consulting to scrappy startups, each setback became a data point, teaching him that technology only works when it serves clearly understood processes and constraints.The conversation turns pivotal as Rob recounts the accidental founding of RB Consulting, including launching his company just one day before September 11, 2001. Navigating uncertainty, stalled projects, and shifting markets forced Rob to refine his thinking. Those early failures didn’t slow him down. They shaped the philosophy he still operates by today: business clarity first, technology second.Key TakeawaysEarly failures often reveal what theory and training cannotMost software problems begin as business problemsSetbacks in startups provide a practical education in operationsIncremental progress beats over-engineeringA business-first mindset creates more durable systems

Dan Daly’s story is a blueprint for builders who didn’t start with a roadmap but found clarity through experience, self-awareness, and a willingness to study what works. In this episode, Matt sits down with Dan to trace how three core principles — personal brand, clear vision, and unwavering commitment — shaped each chapter of his growth. From his early days in a blue-collar “lifer” job to scaling nine automotive dealerships into hundreds of millions in revenue, Dan shows how intentional identity and consistent behavior created trust everywhere he went.The conversation dives into the pivotal moments that forced Dan to rethink who he wanted to be and how he wanted to build. He shares how he learned to differentiate himself in crowded markets by studying people, modeling successful patterns, and avoiding the habits that hinder growth. That instinct to refine and personalize his approach became the foundation of his personal brand — one that inspired teams, attracted customers, and opened doors across industries.As the episode unfolds, Dan shares how defining a vision others can trust — and then committing to it long enough for compounding effects to kick in — made all the difference. Whether launching a private equity hospitality fund or teaching sales teams to lead with intention rather than pressure, the throughline is unmistakable: brand, vision, and commitment aren’t abstract ideals. They’re operating systems for building something real, and they repeat themselves across every business he touches.Key TakeawaysBrand begins with behavior. Who you are in the room shapes opportunities more than any product.Vision recruits people. When others can see where you’re going, they help you get there.Commitment compounds. Growth accelerates when you stop pivoting away from the work too early.Intention drives trust. Educating, not pressuring, is Dan’s core sales advantage.Principles scale across industries. Automotive, real estate, private equity — the pillars stay the same.

When UI/UX designer and longtime developer Oksana Kovalchuk returns to The Builders, we shift from her personal journey into the foundation of her design philosophy: research. Not the academic kind… the practical, roll-up-your-sleeves understanding of markets, users, and constraints that separates products that work from those that fall apart under real-world pressure. Oksana walks us through how her roots in development shaped the way she thinks about design. Writing code at age five, building early iPhone apps with tiny screens and strict guidelines, she learned quickly that great design is never guesswork. Back then, if you missed a detail, you didn’t just ship a flawed app—you lost six weeks waiting for a new App Store review. Those constraints taught her the same lesson today’s teams still need: research saves time, money, and whole cycles of revision. That focus surfaces again in one of her most striking stories—a weather app project derailed because the designer delivered twelve icons when the U.S. market required more than fifty. A perfect example of why design fails when the domain isn’t understood. Research isn’t extra. It’s the job. And in crowded red-ocean markets, where thousands of products look identical, understanding the space deeper than your competitors becomes your real advantage. We explore why ideas are cheap, why competitors are “free data,” and why differentiation rarely comes from reinvention. It comes from clarity, context, and the willingness to understand how people actually use the things you’re building. This conversation pulls design back to first principles—grounded, real, and focused on what actually moves a product forward.Key TakeawaysResearch is the foundation of good design. Without understanding users and markets, design becomes guesswork.Competitors are a research resource, not a template. Study what works… don’t clone it.Constraints drive clarity. Early mobile dev shaped how Oksana strips design to what matters.Ideas are cheap—execution is market-tested reality. Research turns ideas into viable products.Differentiation doesn’t require novelty. It requires doing one thing better than the weakest competitor.Reality matters. Even big visions must align with physics, budgets, timelines, and user behavior.

In this episode of The Builders, Matt sits down with Oksana Kovalchuk, founder and CEO of a long-running UI/UX agency with a story that feels like a masterclass in survival, rebuilding, and sheer entrepreneurial grit. Oksana founded her company at twenty, grew it to seventy people, and enjoyed years of booming demand… until a perfect storm hit. COVID wiped out more than half of their clients, and the partner supplying 80 percent of their revenue suddenly stopped paying, leaving her with over $100,000 in unpaid invoices and a team she could no longer support. What followed was a crash many founders quietly fear: blocked messages, disappearing partners, and the realization that her agency had to shrink from seventy people to only five just to survive. Oksana talks candidly about the emotional fallout, the denial and grief that follow a blow like this, and the moment she accepted that she had to fire people she cared about in order to keep the company alive. Through it all, she frames business as an instrument — something that should ultimately make your life better, not hollow you out.But the rebuild is where the real builder’s mindset emerges. With a tiny team, she clawed the agency back by taking any project she could find, relearning sales discipline, and reestablishing the fundamentals she’d been able to ignore during the boom years. Her honesty about mistakes, trust, cash discipline, and leadership under pressure offers a blueprint for founders navigating their own storms. This conversation is equal parts cautionary tale and reminder that you can rebuild from almost anything if you stay clear-eyed, humble, and willing to do the work.Key Takeaways (4–6 bullets)Growing fast is exciting, but relying on one revenue source is a structural risk that compounds silently.Crises force clarity — from financial discipline to team alignment to true client loyalty.Cash flow rules everything; a profitable business can collapse if payments stop.Leadership during collapse requires emotional resilience and decisive action, even when it hurts.A smaller, tighter, more intentional team can often rebuild stronger than a bloated one.You can come back from almost anything if you stay humble, rebuild your systems, and start again. Tune in for a raw, honest story of collapse, resilience, and the real work of rebuilding — a reminder that builders aren’t defined by what breaks, but by what they choose to rebuild next.

In this episode of The Builders, Matt talks with Damon Darnall, a lifelong flyer and the founder of Sky Eye Network. Damon has been building and flying drones since the 1970s, long before the industry existed. What began as a childhood obsession turned into a career shaped by persistence, skill, and a fascination with what flight can unlock.Damon shares how the long path of building shaped his entrepreneurial mindset. From spending 13 months assembling his first drone kit, to destroying it in seven seconds and rebuilding it over and over, to competing at high levels and setting world records, every chapter pushed him toward new possibilities. His first commercial break came with a 32-foot advertising blimp that led him into arenas, promotions, and eventually a career as the go-to drone guy for a wide mix of industries.Today the civilian drone industry has crossed $30B in annual revenue, and projections show it could reach $1.5 trillion within eight years. Damon explains why this moment is a rare window for builders. The tech is easier to adopt, the demand is rising fast, and many industries still have major gaps that drones can fill.Key TakeawaysHow Damon turned a lifelong passion into a career built on experimentation and resilienceWhat the 32-foot blimp project taught him about pitching, rejection, and finding the right marketHow drones transformed inspections, safety, cinematography, advertising, and search and rescueThe shift in drone technology that lowered the barrier from thousands of flight hours to fast adoptionWhy the drone industry is moving from $30B toward $1.5T and where builders can create opportunityA preview of Part 2 that dives into Sky Eye Network, dronepreneur training, and real-world businesses

In this milestone solo episode, Matt Levenhagen pulls back the curtain on how he now builds — with AI employees as part of his core team. After scaling down his agency and returning to hands-on development, Matt discovered a new rhythm: collaborating daily with Claude, Composer, Codex, ChatGPT (Atlas), and Grok. These digital teammates help plan, code, debug, research, and even design. Through real examples, Matt shows how each one contributes to his workflow and how this collaboration has reignited his passion for creating and problem-solving.Far from replacing people, these AI employees extend what’s possible for both Unified Web Design and ⁠UnifiedLabs.ai⁠. Matt reflects on the practical lessons, the creative breakthroughs, and how this shift will influence future hiring — where developers are expected to partner with AI rather than avoid it. It’s an inside look at how one builder is redefining what it means to have a team in 2025. 🔑 Key TakeawaysAI employees are part of Matt’s real core team — daily collaborators, not replacements.Real-world examples show how each model adds value to the creative process.Future hires will be empowered by AI fluency and collaboration skills.Efficiency meets creativity: faster builds, deeper experimentation.UnifiedLabs.ai stands as the proving ground for this new hybrid model.The Builders’ spirit endures: revealing how things are truly built — by people, process, and now, AI.

In this episode, Matt sits down with Nikita Vakhrushev, founder and CEO of Aspekt, an eCommerce retention agency helping brands grow smarter through email and SMS marketing. Nikita’s journey from high school side hustles to leading a specialized agency is a story of experimentation, focus, and persistence. What started as a love for design and selling custom t-shirts evolved into a deep understanding of how to engage and retain customers in a crowded digital landscape.Nikita shares how his early experiences tinkering with Shopify stores, print-on-demand, and Facebook ads gave him the foundation for building his own business. But the real turning point came when he realized the power of focus—niching down to retention marketing and cutting out distractions from running multiple services. That clarity allowed Aspekt to scale, grow a team, and refine a process that delivers real value to over 100 eCommerce brands.From hiring and leadership lessons to tactical insights on email flows, segmentation, and customer lifetime value, this conversation highlights the first principles of building a modern digital agency. It’s not about doing everything—it’s about doing the right things really well.Key Takeaways🎯 Focus Wins: Scaling came when Nikita narrowed services to email and SMS, cutting noise and complexity.🧩 Start by Building Something: His first business—selling custom merch—was the foundation for every skill he uses today.💬 Retention - Acquisition: Sustainable eCommerce growth depends on nurturing relationships, not just chasing new customers.👥 Hiring by Instinct: After hundreds of interviews, Nikita learned how to spot genuine talent versus rehearsed answers.⚙️ Systems Over Chaos: Documented processes, automation, and client clarity drive better results and happier teams.🧠 Keep Learning by Doing: Every stage of his journey—from solo freelancer to agency leader—came through hands-on experimentation.