PROCO360 | Best Podcast for Entrepreneurs and Business Owners

“Give someone who wants to work hard a chance and they will give you everything they’ve got.” Jamie Repenning, CEO, R&R Head Labs

“The default for most manufacturers and retailers before we came along was to destroy returns.” Kristin Langenfeld, Co-founder and CEO, GoodBuy Gear My expectations were completely wrong entering this episode with Kristin Langenfeld.  I’d expected she would tell me the story of a woman who started selling her own used baby gear, then slowly expanded the activity into a basement enterprise, and so on until it was a real company.  Nope.  And she’s out to dominate a market sector with those whom I’d have expected were unlikely partners. 

“I sent them an article, Vangst raises $2.5M from a Tier 1 VC in New York, and people started to not laugh at me as much.”   Karson Humiston, Founder and CEO, Vangst   

“If you love a band that’s coming to Red Rocks and you’re 21 years old, I'll find a way to give you that time off.”   Tom Luersen, President, CoralTree Hospitality    This episode came together because a longtime friend, Dani Stern, now an executive at CoralTree told me over beers recently that he quit his last job to come to CoralTree.  In fact, that he’d told his prior employer, before taking that job, that if Tom Luersen called, he (Dani) would quit to go work for Tom.  Dani was EMPHATIC that the culture at CoralTree is THAT different, that special.  Of course, I wanted to do this episode!  And during it, I told Tom, “YOU CAN’T SAY IT’S YOUR PEOPLE.”  I thought he’d argue – he didn’t.  Have a listen! 

“We’re building homes in about 9 days at 20 stations, so every house stays at a station about 4 hours.” Charlie Chupp, Founder and CEO, Fading West This is the second recent episode about a Colorado company building alternatives to traditional single-family homes (see also Studio Shed – Still Leading the ADU Industry).  It’s because the lack of attainable housing is such an important issue and Colorado companies are addressing it with innovation and value.  This episode with Charlie Chupp of Fading West describes the problems and challenges, and how applying Charlie’s LEAN manufacturing background is effectively driving a fast-evolving industry.  I was fascinated by some surprises about workforce in this episode!

“I EXPLAIN TO CUSTOMERS HOW I WORK, AND THEY TRUST ME.” Fernando Ledezma, Ledezma Concrete This episode is out of my comfort zone – and refreshingly so.  Generally, I’m with high-flying entrepreneurs leading business that have raised tens of millions of dollars and are pursuing hockey stick growth.  Tia and Fernando Ledezma charmed me when they replaced a sidewalk at my house.  They reminded me of my great grandparents who came to the United States with a trade (tailors) and having to learn the language, assimilate, and make their own way.  Ledezma Concrete is a wonderful story of initiative, risk taking and hard work.

“Community engagement is really looking to the future… what do I want my city and community to be and how can I help that happen?” Rob Cohen, Chairman and CEO, IMA Financial

“It’s fun to be in a business where you have to decide where to pursue the opportunity.”   Jeremy Nova, co-Founder, Studio Shed    Jeremy was my guest via Zoom during the pandemic.  Sometimes it’s fun to circle back with a prior guest to see how they’ve evolved – either the leader (see this focus in the episode “Starting from Skratch, Maturing as CEO” with Ian MacGregor of Skratch Labs), or the business and market as is the case this time.  I was eager to explore this because after Studio Shed was an early innovator in its space, it was followed by large and notable companies like Tuff Shed and Home Depot that evolved their product lines to compete with Studio Shed.    

“When we started out we weren’t thinking big picture – we were just excited to offer something we were passionate about.” Jane Barden, co-Founder, Farm to Summit

“We deploy data and technology to find pockets of opportunity we call Superfans.” Greg Sobiech, Founder & CEO, DELVE