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Brandon is the CEO of Cotton Patch Cafe, a Texas-based American restaurant chain. We discuss how growing up in the dual worlds of creative marketing thinking and restaurants helped lay the groundwork for his leadership approach and success. We discuss his journey through a range of experiences and the common thread of his desire to immerse in, contribute to and uplift the people and organizations he leads.
Leave something for BTO community: The ability to control one's mindset, and turn adversity into learning through radical accountability can be a paradigm shifting capability. The Oz Principle (book) and a course called Landmark have been particularly helpful.
Ask something of BTO community: Stop by Cotton Patch Cafe and make sure to try some of the desserts!
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Jonathan is the Founder of Arch Fellow LLC and the youngest first-generation Asian American owner / operator of McDonald’s in the US. We discuss how growing up in a household that valued certainty and the traditional path ran counter to his entrepreneurial drive, and how this friction manifested in a powerful lifelong motivator. We trace his journey from cell phones, to children’s toys, to tea franchises, to McDonald's franchises, and how his early lessons on initiative, relationships, and grit have been impactful throughout this journey.
Leave something for BTO community: Always be willing to challenge the status quo.
Ask something of BTO community: I am eager to continuously learn from new and smart people in different industries.
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Matt is the Co-Founder and President of Apex Dental Partners, a dental support organization he and his partner David built from 0 to 45+ locations. We discuss how growing up in a household that provided him a front row seat to entrepreneurship and good partnership, coupled with a range of experiences and exposures, set the foundation for him to build the same in his life. Matt shares some of the insights and experiences that were helpful for him in making the leap to build, and encourages others to consider doing the same.
Leave something for BTO community: Work is gaseous, meaning it will expand to fill whatever space you give it. Be thoughtful about deciding on and setting a container for it.
Ask something of BTO community: If you are a dentist or a considering selling your practice but looking for a home you can trust, or a dental professional looking for a place to build a strong foundation and partnership, reach out to Matt and the team at [email protected] or [email protected] , respectively.
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John is the co-founder of The Marsh Collective, which stewards over $1.5B of real estate in 12 small American towns. John shares the ups and downs of his journey as an entrepreneur from a young age, and discusses many beautiful learnings he has distilled along the way. We trace the widely ranging professional and personal endeavors through peaks and valleys, and hope as the bridge between them.
Leave something for BTO community: Measure, manage and multiply. Your daily routine is extremely powerful in determine your journey, the path you are on, and where you are headed.
Ask something of BTO community: If what John is building resonates with you or someone you know, they always need capable people to build with them! Reach out at https://www.marshcollective.com .
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Sumit is the Founder and CEO of Cancer Check Labs, a biotechnology company using patented filtration technology to revolutionize cancer screening and outcomes. After 14 years of development, Cancer Check Labs recently launched a novel and potentially revolutionary early detection service. We discussed Sumit’s childhood and early business endeavors, the breadth and depth of his early professional experiences, and the loss of his younger sister to cancer, which ultimately has led to a lifelong mission.
Leave something for BTO community: Focus on the “why” and always remember your purpose in doing something. This will help you endure the inevitable ups and downs along the way.
Ask something of BTO community: Spread the word about www.cancerchecklabs.com and get tested.
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Matt is a co-founder of SportRecruits, a technology platform focused on empowering student-athletes to pursue their dreams. Matt shares his journey from lemonade stand organizer to dedicated caddy to college athlete to technology founder. We discuss how hard work, a willingness to take a path less traveled, and an ability to perceive setbacks as positives can lead to building a wonderful business and life.
Leave something for BTO community: Don’t feel compelled to raise capital if it isn’t the right fit for you or your business. Small Giants traces the stories of a number of businesses which had wonderful outcomes but did not require a ton of capital to become a large success.
Ask something of BTO community: If you know a student-athlete or club team who could benefit from a tool to support their college recruiting efforts, please don’t hesitate to reach out at https://sportsrecruits.com/
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Carl is a co-founder of the well-known private equity firm Berkshire Partners, which currently has over $16B in assets under management. Additionally, Carl is a co-founder of the High Meadows Foundation with his wife Judy, and was the Chairman of the Environmental Defense Fund. Carl shares his journey from watching his father work in the family textiles business, which made parachutes during WWII, to building two organizations from infancy into powerhouses, all with an eye towards collaboration and a commitment to core values.
Leave something for BTO community: Collaboration, and the humility to enable it, has been a key to his success and something that is powerful in aligning teams to achieve success.
Ask something of BTO community: Climate is a significant issue, but will take collaboration and collective action. To make meaningful continued progress, we need to be empathetic to alternatives views and work together towards a solution.
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Tom is the CEO of Surplus City, a leading supplier of HVAC equipment and replacement parts at great prices. Tom shares his journey growing up with young parents in a hardworking household, and how the sacrifice and courage he witnessed from them has served as a foundation for his life. We discuss the peaks, valleys and learnings from his wide ranging set of experiences from caddy to microbiologist to brewmaster to R&D chemist to CEO.
Leave something for BTO community: Reading Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Zeus as an adult can provide a wonderful reminder that life will have inevitable ups and downs, but the one thing you can control is your approach and response.
Ask something of BTO community: We are always looking for good people. If you have technical experience in the HVAC space and are looking for an opportunity, please reach out to us through BTO or directly at [email protected]!
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Matt is the Founder of Endless, a technology business focused on using technology to build a more empowered generation of children throughout the world. Matt shares his journey growing up immersed in a wide range of communities, cultures and settings and how that has impacted his thirst for endless exploration and impact on the lives of people around him. We spend time discussing a year he spent living with a Chinese family, and how that and a few other key dominoes have led him to building Endless.
Leave something for BTO community: (i) “Love what you do” because when things are inevitably challenging, you need something to fuel your grit, and (ii) journaling can be a very powerful tool for leading an intentional day and life (book recommendation: The Artist’s Way)
Ask something of BTO community: (i) if you have kids, join Endless’ game-making community, and (ii) spread the word about what Endless is building!
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Mada is the co-founder of Branch, a leading deep-linking and mobile attribution company most recently valued at $4B in their Series F financing. Mada shares her journey from growing up in communist Romania to cofounding and building a technology unicorn. We spend time discussing the stepping stones and pivotal people and (not always easy) decisions along the way, and her deep-seated belief that if you have the grit and keep building, anything is possible.
Leave something for BTO community: (i) “Keep on building. If you have the grit, you can make it happen” and (ii) be meticulous and intentional about culture (2 book recommendations: What You Do Is Who You Are and Culture Code)
Ask something of BTO community: (i) Mada is considering adopting, if you have experience with this she’d love to hear about it, and (ii) if you have start-up leadership experience and would like to be included in her upcoming book, please reach out to us at [email protected] and we can connect you to Mada.
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Dan is the Founder and President of DPO & Co, a consulting and investing firm focused on small to mid-sized private companies in the US. Dan shares his journey from a large, tight-knit family in Chicago to the tight-knit familial team he has built at DPO and the wide range of jobs and geographies in between. We discuss how he learned from an early age as a caddy that a willingness to say yes and put in the effort can open up an exciting and vast world of opportunities.
Leave something for the BTO community: “Life is too short, don’t work with jerks.”
Ask something of the BTO community: If you know of good people (e.g. not jerks) who might be a fit for DPO & Co, please reach out to Dan at [email protected]
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Matt is the CEO of OT Growth Partners, a franchisee of over 60 Orange Theory locations throughout the US. Prior to this he was the CEO of Quality Restaurant Group which he grew from 0 to 350+ quick service restaurant units under brands such as Pizza Hut, Arby’s, Sonic and Moe’s Southwest Grill. We trace Matt’s upbringing in a suburb of New York City, where he learned early on to appreciate hard work as a means to honor and capitalize on the opportunities he had to step “in the arena” and get mud on his face.
Leave something for BTO community: “It is never as good as you hope or as bad as you fear.” And recommends reading Uncommon Life by Tony Dungy.
Ask something of BTO community: Matt recently lost his close friend and college roommate, Dax Tejera, producer of ABC News, to a heart attack. He left behind 2 young daughters and they have established a 529 plan for them linked to in the obituary. If people feel inclined, he asks that they consider contributing something for Dax’s children.
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Wyatt is the founder and CEO of UpSmith, a technology company on a mission to combat America’s skilled worker crisis. Wyatt grew up on a farm in Alabama, where he learned to value and celebrate hard work. We trace Wyatt’s own hard work, and his appreciation of the trait in others, through the arc of his career leading up to his founding and leadership of UpSmith.
Leave something for BTO community: Teaching as Leadership framework is a powerful approach to leading any organization: Set Big Goals; Invest Students and Their Families; Plan Purposefully; Execute Effectively; Continuously Increase Effectiveness; Work Relentlessly.
Ask something of BTO community: If you or a company you know is struggling to find and hire skilled workers, please reach out to Wyatt and the UpSmith at [email protected] .
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Irina is the former CEO of CareerBuilder, a leading global, end-to-end human capital solutions company. Irina’s family came to this country as refugees from Ukraine with $270 in the 1980s, and she (and they) have built not only a wonderful life but an impressive career. We discuss her childhood as a latchkey kid, and how her independence, ownership, and willingness to fail have played integral roles in each ecosystem she has been an essential part of.
Leave something for BTO community: The combination of ignorance (or willingness to be/appear that way) and persistence is a potent combination.
Ask something of BTO community: As you are making hiring decisions, push your thinking on who has and what are the right traits for which to hire. Don’t judge a book by its cover, magic can happen with diverse teams (in the myriad of ways diversity can be interpreted).
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David is the co-founder and co-host of the popular podcast Acquired. We discuss growing up as an only child with entrepreneurial parents, and how this influenced his transition from a traditional career path to podcasting, which started as a passion but has grown into not only a robust business but also a significant community and ecosystem.
Leave something for BTO community: Everyone has something that they love, find what that is for you and pursue it in whatever form makes sense to you and without expectations.
Ask something of BTO community: If you are interested in learning more about the Acquired podcast, please visit them at Acquired.
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Jay is the cofounder and recent CEO of AllRec Awards, a leading wholesale manufacturer of letterman jackets and patches largely to high schools in the Southeastern US. Jay’s family has been in the business for 3 generations and Jay has done a remarkable job building on the foundation from the first 2 generations. We discuss the business, his faith and family, and how the latter two lay the foundation for everything that he does and is.
Leave something for BTO community: Business is second to your faith and your family. “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” (1 Corinthians 16:13).
Ask something of BTO community: If you are interested in joining a dynamic team delivering a meaningful product to high school students in the Southeast, please reach out to us at [email protected] with "Interested in Joining Jay at AllRec" in the subject.
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Gabriel and Nelly are cofounders of Rent-2-Own Trailers, one of the leading manufacturers of customized food trailers in the US. Gabriel and Nelly share their entrepreneurial journeys from Nicaragua and Mexico to the US, where they have built candy businesses, insurance agencies, financial advisories, restaurants, and ultimately their trailer manufacturing business, which produces way more than just food trailers.
Leave something for BTO community: Don’t sell the product, sell the benefit and the future.
Ask something of BTO community: If you or a friend may be interested in starting a food trailer business with a partner that will support you in the journey, please reach out to us at [email protected] with "Interested in A Food Trailer from Rent-2-Own” in the subject.
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Craig is the CEO of Buff City Soap and the former COO of TopGolf. Through his experiences both personally and professionally, we explore what inspirational leadership looks like, how that is enabled by very purposeful culture building, and how that translates into companies, cultures, and relationships that outlast.
Leave something for BTO community: "People first. Always go over the top on and for your team and your people. Win the hearts of your team, not just their minds."
Ask something of BTO community: If anyone has advice on raising kids in a digital age and striking the right balance between "always busy" and "being bored," Craig (and I) are eager to hear it!
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Luke is the founder and CEO of Training Mate, a line of gyms in the US and Australia with a unique approach to fitness and the experience they provide their customers. Luke is also a well known celebrity trainer and you can catch him on "Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian." We discuss Luke’s career as one of the top professional rugby players in the world and how he translated lessons from this experience into building the Training Mate business when he walked off the pitch.
Leave something for BTO community: Fall in love with the journey. Find purpose in the journey, because the destination will evolve. Ask something of BTO community: Spread the word about Training Mate, and follow them on social media! -
Karen is the founder and CEO of Rebel Athletic, a force in the apparel and competitive cheerleading universe which has become well known through the popular Netflix series Cheer. Karen is a first-generation Chinese American who has built a movement through hard work, grit and making lemonade out of lemons.
Leave something for BTO community: Practice the Law of Attraction, read the book The Secret. Approach life with a "can if" not a "can't" approach... it's never "I can't do something..." instead say "I can if....". Ask something of BTO community: Karen is always looking to hire good people. If you want to join her band of rebels please send us a note at [email protected] with "Interested in Joining Karen at Rebel" in the subject.
