From the Ground Up

Jay Avigdor built Velocity Capital Group around a simple frustration: small businesses often need capital faster than traditional financing channels can move. He joins John Boitnott to explain how revenue-based...

Dr. Burl Randolph Jr. spent nearly 32 years in the U.S. Army, including three combat tours in Iraq, before turning his leadership experience toward helping organizations build healthier management cultures. He joins...

Robert Saltz spent decades in hospitality and higher education before realizing that many artists face the same career questions as business professionals, often with far less structure around them. He joins John...

Aaron Pott has spent decades making wine in Napa Valley and France, but some of his most important lessons came from learning when not to impose his own preferences on the vineyard. He joins John Boitnott to discuss how...

Todd Katcher has spent nearly two decades moving between industries by paying attention to problems other people have learned to tolerate. He joins John Boitnott to explain how a Nashville bar led to an early digital...

Randy Dominguez spent decades in finance before taking an unexpected turn into documentary filmmaking and helping bring The Jersey Sound to life. He joins John Boitnott to explain why New Jersey’s musical history...

Joan Dao started Ilesovi after watching her mother lose more than a handbag in a violent robbery and struggle for months to feel comfortable going out alone. She joins John Boitnott to explain how that experience became...

Small trucking companies face many of the same safety and compliance demands as major fleets, but without the staff, software budgets, or margin for error. ClaimShield Co-CEO Gavin Robley joins John Boitnott to explain...

Author and longtime entrepreneur Cliff Branch joins John Boitnott on From the Ground Up to discuss the unconventional career that took him from selling stereo equipment to college students to building nationwide...

Noor Shikari spent nearly 15 years in the restaurant business before reinventing her career in financial services. On this episode of From the Ground Up, she joins John Boitnott to discuss what entrepreneurship taught...

Leadership coach, consultant, author, and professor Dr. Leigh Byers explains why leadership development begins before someone manages a team or earns an executive title. Drawing on her research, coaching work, and...

LawSHIFT CEO and founder Nick Kringas explains why businesses adapting to AI should focus less on the technology itself and more on the customer problems it can remove. Drawing on his experience in restaurants, SEO, and...

Career Navy SEAL, Naval Postgraduate School lecturer, author, and caregiver Paul Shemella shares what he learned after his wife, Lena, developed Alzheimer’s disease. He explains why caregiving required him to abandon...

Precision Medicine CEO Christian Stella explains how a fourth-generation pharmacy business evolved into a nationwide compounding and fulfillment platform for telehealth brands. He also shares why the company chose to...

Vital Ventures chairman Sydney Thackray is building civic technology designed to make government spending, legislation, and public decision-making easier for ordinary people to understand. She explains why transparency...