
Interviews with CEOs and Entrepreneurs about the frameworks they are using to build and scale their businesses.
Episodes

Mar 5, 2024
Mar 5, 2024
26 min
Darryl Lyons, the co-founder and CEO of San Antonio, Texas-based Pax Financial Group, a business that is passionate about helping others live the life of their dreams. We discuss about the C12 Strategic Planning Blueprint, how the Christian worldview can help businesses and the right way of thinking about succession planning.
(00:00) Darryl's entrepreneurial journey
(03:13) The hard beginnings taught Darryl valuable lessons that contributed to his success.
(05:34) The C12 Strategic Planning Blueprint
(08:07) How the Christian worldview can help businesses.
(17:09) The right way of thinking about succession planning
(21:43) The right frame of mind for a business owner to transition successfullly
(27:12) What does C12 do?
(29:03) Parting Thoughts
Links and Resources
- Steve and Greg Cleary's Book Pinnacle: Five Principles that Take Your Business to the Top of the Mountain
- Work with Steve - Stevepreda.com
- Connect with Steve on LinkedIn
- Darryl’s LinkedIn
- Pax Financial Group

Feb 27, 2024
Feb 27, 2024
29 min
Tim Calise, the managing member of Koko Fit Club, a fitness technology company and the founder of Acote Consulting that partners with and invests in the owners of sub $3 million recurring revenue service businesses. We discuss about the Product to Profit framework, why lead magnets don’t always work and the process for building an MVP for a service business.
(00:40) Tim's entrepreneurial journey
(06:10) The Product to Profit Framework
(09:19) Why lead magnets don’t always work?
(16:57) The process for building an MVP for a service business.
(31:30) Parting Thoughts
Links and Resources
- Steve and Greg Cleary's Book Pinnacle: Five Principles that Take Your Business to the Top of the Mountain
- Work with Steve - Stevepreda.com
- Connect with Steve on LinkedIn
- Tim’s LinkedIn
- Koko Fit Club

Feb 20, 2024
Feb 20, 2024
27 min
Vivek Nigam, the founder and CEO of BeRemote LLC, which promotes products that help break down cultural barriers, level the social playing field, support inclusion in a hybrid work setting, and provide a better platform for idea sharing. We discuss the five tactics you can employ to improve team participation, the role of AI in building a great remote business and BeRemote future plans.
(00:00) Vivek's entrepreneurial journey
(04:21) Tactics you can employ to improve team participation
(22:15) The role of AI in building a great remote business
(24:40) BeRemote future plans
(29:45) Parting Thoughts
Links and Resources
- Steve and Greg Cleary's Book Pinnacle: Five Principles that Take Your Business to the Top of the Mountain
- Work with Steve - Stevepreda.com
- Connect with Steve on LinkedIn
- Vivek’s LinkedIn
- BeRemote - ReTeam - Remote First, Hybrid Workplace

Feb 16, 2024
Feb 16, 2024
22 min
Dan Brownsher, founder and CEO of ChannelKey, a full-service channel management marketplace agency specialized in increasing sales for retail brands on Amazon and other digital marketplaces. We discuss about the Remote Recurring Service Business Framework, how Amazon build its original flywheel, and the good ways to reduce churn on a service business.
[00:00] Dan's entrepreneurial journey
[09:34] Remote Recurring Service Business Framework
[17:04] How Amazon built its original flywheel.
[19:01] How to engineer your flywheel in your remote service business.
[21:25] Good ways to reduce churn on a service business
[23:37] Dan’s brand of building great culture
[25:36] Parting Thoughts
Links and Resources
- Steve and Greg Cleary's Book Pinnacle: Five Principles that Take Your Business to the Top of the Mountain
- Work with Steve - Stevepreda.com
- Connect with Steve on LinkedIn
- Dan’s LinkedIn
- ChannelKey LinkedIn
Feb 13, 2024
Feb 13, 2024
22 min
John St. Pierre the co-founder and chairman of Brand Point Services and multi-site facility maintenance and remodeling contractor. He's also the author of the $100 Million Journey and the co-host of the Entrepreneurs United podcast. We discuss about how to align company core values with personal ones, the Build Your Ideal Business Framework and the seven principles for entrepreneurial success.
[00:00] John's entrepreneurial journey
[02:59] How to align company core values with personal ones.
[06:45] The Build Your Ideal Business Framework
[09:01] Seven Principles for Entrepreneurial Success.
[23:22] Parting Thoughts
Links and Resources
- Steve and Greg Cleary's Book Pinnacle: Five Principles that Take Your Business to the Top of the Mountain
- Work with Steve - Stevepreda.com
- Connect with Steve on LinkedIn
- John’s LinkedIn
- BrandPoint Services Website
- $100M Journey: Your Guide To Growing The Business Of Your Dreams Without Going Off The Cliff

Feb 9, 2024
Feb 9, 2024
21 min
Vitalii Romachenko, CEO and co-founder of Elai.io, a company that generates learning and development video content with real human narrators from just text. We discuss about Elai.io services, how to promote business using outbound messaging through LinkedIn and Email, the ideal content that can be amplified through AI-driven voices and Who are ideally suited to benefit from Elai.io’s services.
(0:00) Vitalii's entrepreneurial journey
(06:30) How does Elai.io work?
(8:42) How to promote your business using outbound messaging through LinkedIn and Email?
(15:16) The ideal content that can be amplified through AI-driven voices.
(18:02) Who are ideally suited to benefit from Elai.io’s services.
(24:56) Parting Thoughts
Links and Resources
- Steve and Greg Cleary's Book Pinnacle: Five Principles that Take Your Business to the Top of the Mountain
- Work with Steve - Stevepreda.com
- Connect with Steve on LinkedIn
- Vitalii’s LinkedIn
- Elai.io - your go-to automated AI video generation platform

Feb 6, 2024
Feb 6, 2024
20 min
Greg Alexander, the founder of Collective54, the mastermind community for boutique professional services firms. We discuss about the secrets of a good mastermind group, the Boutique Framework, steps to productizing a service and how to benchmark yourself as a professional service firm.
[00:00] Greg's entrepreneurial journey
[02:37] The secrets of a good mastermind group
[04:29] The Boutique Framework
[08:18] Steps to productizing a service
[12:51] The golden era for professional service firms
[16:12] How to benchmark yourself as a professional service firm
[21:13] The importance of staff utilization
[22:08] Parting Thoughts
Links and Resources
- Steve and Greg Cleary's Book Pinnacle: Five Principles that Take Your Business to the Top of the Mountain
- Work with Steve - Stevepreda.com
- Connect with Steve on LinkedIn
- Greg’s LinkedIn
- Collective54.com
- The Boutique: How To Start, Scale, And Sell A Professional Services Firm By Greg Alexander

Feb 4, 2024
Feb 4, 2024
26 min
Will Blake, the owner of Vesta Foundation Solutions, a foundation repair and crawl space waterproofing company in Oklahoma City and Northwest Arkansas. We discuss about the crucial how to cultivate a great culture, the 5 Summits Framework, characteristics of good leadership, Gen Z employees' pros and cons, and the future of the Foundation Repair industry.
[00:00] Will's entrepreneurial journey
[06:30] How to build a great culture
[08:42] The 5 Summits Framework
[15:16] What does good leadership look like?
[18:02] The way different generations communicate with each other
[20:00] The strengths and weaknesses of Gen Z employees
[24:25] Where is the Foundation Repair industry is going?
[27:41] Parting Thoughts
Links and Resources
- Steve and Greg Cleary's Book Pinnacle: Five Principles that Take Your Business to the Top of the Mountain
- Work with Steve - Stevepreda.com
- Connect with Steve on LinkedIn
- Will’s Website
- Vestafoundationsolutions.com

Feb 1, 2024
Feb 1, 2024
23 min
Sharehk Shaikh, the founder of CleverX, the audience discovery platform for market and product research teams, and the co-founder of Reflow AI, a company that provides AI agents to build and run your HR tasks and workflows. We discuss about the importance of understanding customer needs and building a complete solution, the Create Familiarity Framework, the MVP fallacy and the vision for Reflow AI
[00:00] Sharekh's entrepreneurial journey
[02:40] Importance of creating a product that solves a problem
[09:07] Sharekh’s Create Familiarity Framework
[12:04] How can startups effectively build awareness and familiarity for their products?
[19:15] Understanding Customer Pain: The Key to Startup Success
[20:54] Sharekh’s reservation about lean startup and MVP’s
[23:29] MUP versus MVP
[25:02] Vision of Reflow AI
[26:34] Parting Thoughts
Links and Resources
-
- Steve and Greg Cleary's Book Pinnacle: Five Principles that Take Your Business to the Top of the Mountain
- Work with Steve - Stevepreda.com
- Connect with Steve on LinkedIn
- Sharekh’s LinkedIn
- Cleverx.com
- Reflow.ai

Jan 2, 2024
Jan 2, 2024
37 min
Sean Campbell is the CEO of Cascade Insights, a competitive intelligence and market research firm for B2B technology companies. We discuss the benefits of niching down, what it takes to manage remote teams successfully, and the 3 things all your clients expect from your business.
Timestamps
[00:00] Sean's entrepreneurial journey
[06:35] The Default to Narrow Management Blueprint
[09:00] How to define the boundaries of everything you sell
[13:17] The benefits of niching down
[15:20] Ways to narrow your market and find your niche
[17:12] Why you need to go deeper and not wider in your business
[20:08] The 3 things all your clients expect from your business
[22:36] The pros and cons of building a remote business
[27:40] What it takes to manage remote teams effectively
[30:34] The one skill every remote employee must have
[32:10] How to build a culture where it's okay to say "I don't know"
[36:40] The importance of regular check-ins with your team
[40:20] Parting thoughts
Links and Resources
Steve and Greg Cleary's Book Pinnacle: Five Principles that Take Your Business to the Top of the Mountain
Work with Steve - Stevepreda.com
Connect with Steve on LinkedIn
Sean's email: Sean@Cascadeinsights.com
