Founder Breakthroughs

Hosted by Jeff Durso

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May 2025

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About the show

Every week, Inc 500 Serial Entrepreneur Jeff Durso interviews brave founders, uncovers their epic stories, and elicits profound insights about what has helped them achieve breakthroughs in their business.

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44 recent

May 30, 2025Episode 4358 min

The Tech that’s Transforming Marketing – with Jeff Greenfield of Provalytics

It’s been a crazy couple of decades for marketing – especially with all the changes to the internet environment.We went from the wild west of the late 90’s – to performance based direct response in the first decade of the century – to social media, and then to peak data with cookies connecting every piece of data together.Then a single iPhone update brought it all crashing down.Today’s guest, Jeff Greenfield, has been working in the space throughout it all – and now he’s helping companies make the most of a post-cookie world.And – given everything we discussed – the future looks brighter than ever.Jeff explained how companies connect the dots today – the reason you need to take a much wider lens than what we learned in the performance era – and how advanced technology is able to help companies take control of their brand spend like never before.It was an exciting conversation. I learned a ton – and hope you do as well.Links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffgreenfield/Provalytics: https://provalytics.com/

September 27, 2024Episode 4249 min

Go To Market - with Alex Kottoor of Dena Startup Lab

Over the years, as I’ve met hundreds of founders and talked about their challenges, I’ve often had this illusion that there are a million different problems holding startups back.But recently – as I really dug into it – I’ve realized that there is really 1 problem that defines whether or not a startup is going to go to the moon – or fizzle out and die.Today’s guest, Alex Kottoor has made a similar observation. The distinction is around whether or not you achieve product market fit or PMF.And the path to get there – Go To Market or GTM – requires an amazing amount of vision, action, and most importantly persistence. Alex and I had a fascinating discussion where we boiled down what separates founders who are able to make it through this journey – and those who give up.How to know when you need to buckle down and push harder – vs when you need to step back and get new options.And why startups need to keep their energy focused on GTM and not get sidetracked by all of the other temptations along the way.It was a fascinating discussion – and I hope you get some gems out of it.Links:Alex: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexkottoor/Dena Startup Lab: https://www.denastartuplab.com/

September 13, 2024Episode 4145 min

Founder Market Fit - with Shawn Miller of Inboundr.ai

We’ve talked quite a bit on the pod about Product Market Fit – and hammered home how critical that milestone is to the success or failure of any startup.But there’s an even more important factor that needs to be considered – and that’s founder market fit.Before starting his current venture, today’s guest, Shawn Miller, developed a deep understanding of the problem he wanted to solve through his own direct experiences. Not only does founder market fit make it easier to persevere when the going gets tough – it also makes sure you have the right lens to catch opportunities as they arise, and to separate the signal from the noise.I had a ton of fun talking about Shawn’s background – how it informed his idea for inbound – and how it has drastically increased the odds of the company achieving product market fit.I gained so many great insights talking with Shawn – and I hope you do as well.Links:Shawn Miller: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawndavidmiller/Inboundr: https://www.inboundr.ai/

September 6, 2024Episode 4052 min

The Forrest Gump path through the startup world – with Lee Lorenzen of Altura Ventures

Today’s episode features a conversation with Lee Lorenzen, a seasoned entrepreneur - and self proclaimed Forrest Gump of founders - who’s been building startups for over five decades. From mowing lawns as a kid to working at Xerox during its golden years of innovation, Lee has seen the tech industry evolve in some fascinating ways. In this conversation, we dive into: • How seeing the future at Xerox helped shape his entrepreneurial journey• Navigating major technology trends over the years• The tension between seeing the future and living in the present• Building startups with a mission-driven mindset• How founders can take advantage of a non-traditional funding approach outside of VC circlesIt’s an engaging discussion filled with valuable insights and stories from Lee’s incredible career.Links:Altura Ventures: https://www.altura.net

August 30, 2024Episode 3954 min

Getting to Critical Mass in a 2 Sided Marketplace - with Derreck Stratton of HUDU

The gig economy is booming, but there's still a gap when it comes to odd jobs and local services. Derreck Stratton, the founder of HUDU – who we first interviewed back in episode #2 – is looking to bridge that gap with an innovative platform. During our conversation, we talked about:· How Hudu is revolutionizing the way people find help for odd jobs and tasks· The challenges of building and scaling a two-sided marketplace· The importance of focusing on your core markets before rapid expansion· How AI is being integrated to make the user experience seamless· The potential for Hudu to enable a new kind of "physical nomad" lifestyle· And the journey from launch to achieving product-market fitYou can learn more about Derreck and HUDU at:HeyHUDU.com

July 26, 2024Episode 3844 min

From Founder to Funder: Lessons in Pivoting, Perseverance, and Empowering Entrepreneurs – with Jessica Lynch of Raiz Capital

The entrepreneurial journey is full of ups and downs, pivots and persistence. Our guest today has lived that roller coaster and is now helping other founders navigate it.Jessica Lynch is a tech founder turned investor, and during our conversation, we talked about:- How early entrepreneurial experiences, even failures, can plant the seeds for future success- The importance of customer discovery and market research before building a product- How to pivot a business model when faced with major external challenges- Navigating the emotional and practical challenges of the M&A process- How founders can set themselves up for success by learning from those who've gone before themJess shares some incredibly valuable insights from her own founder journey and her current work investing in and accelerating promising startups.Links:Jessica Lynch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicallynch/Raiz Capital: https://raiz.vc/

February 23, 2024Episode 3757 min

Turning Adversity into Inspiration – with Priya Tronsgard of Edify

Like all of us, today’s guest had to face the hardships brought on by the global pandemic in 2020 – one of which was having her children learn at home instead of in school.But for her and her kids, something peculiar happened – and they actually thrived in the online experience.She later learned that other parents and their kids did not, unfortunately, thrive to the same degree – and this led her to try to figure out what worked for her – and how she could share that. This inspired the creation of Edify – a tutor matchmaking service which is on a mission to help neurodivergent kids everywhere thrive in an optimal learning experience.We had a fascinating conversation where we talked about how she was able to bottle the inspiration – and figure out what actually made the experience work. How putting extra effort into matchmaking up front pays dividends later on, and how she is working to scale the business without losing the magic at its core.I learned a lot from the interview – and hope you do as well.Links:Priya: https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-tron/Edify: https://www.edifylearningspaces.com/

February 9, 2024Episode 3642 min

From Marketplace to Community - with Katelyn Alberts of VERVERY

The startup journey is full of twists and turns – but it can also present new opportunities as you go down the path.Today’s guest, Katelyn Alberts started her journey with the idea of building a marketplace – and quickly transformed it into something even greater than that.During our talk, we covered some really timely topics for any founder:- How Katelyn, as a nontechnical founder, was able to navigate the tough question of whether to hire a tech team or recruit a tech founder – and how she discovered an even better approach.- How to go from seeing a problem that needs to be solved – to deciding to take action on it yourself.- What to do when you get started – and how to define your MVP- The challenges of building a 2 sided marketplace – and knowing how to recruit participants on both sides.- How adding a community mastermind to the mix can add huge value to the core members of the audience – and generate more revenue to help grow the business- The importance of getting the formula right in one location – to achieve “density” – before scalingLinks for Katelyn:VERVERY: https://www.ververy.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katelynalberts/

January 12, 2024Episode 3540 min

Lessons from a 6 Exit Founder – with Mac Lackey of Exit DNA

Starting and building companies is an amazing rollercoaster of ups and downs – and for many founders, achieving a successful exit at the end of the process is the ultimate goal.I’ve been fortunate enough to experience 2 major exits in my founder career – and I learned a ton from both of them. Today’s guest, Mac Lackey – has gone through a total of 6 major exits in his startup career.Starting out in the midst of the first web explosion of the mid-90’s, Mac quickly built and sold his first company – and has then learned how to capitalize on opportunity after opportunity since.I had a fascinating conversation with Mac about the ups and down, the huge takeaways – how he improved his craft with each exit. And – how we all can learn from his experiences to drive something he called optionality into our own startup experience.I hope you get as many gems out of our conversation as I did!Links:Exit DNA: https://exitdna.com/Book: https://exitdna.com/book/

December 15, 2023Episode 3451 min

How products go viral and scale to millions of users – with Vincent McPhillip from Knomad

We’ve all seen products over the years that fizzle out or go sideways – and other products in the same category that achieve explosive growth and quickly scale to millionsLikewise, we’ve seen companies enter red oceans with tons of competitors – only to quickly go viral there and dominate. Google did this in the crowded search space of 1998. Facebook did this to Myspace.But – how do they pull this off?I’m so excited to bring you today’s guest – Vince McPhillip. A trained social scientist and entrepreneur, he’s spent his career thinking about how to design for massive virality.And he’s already done it once, launching the Pi network to over 3 million users during his tenure – and over 45 million users at its peak.Now he’s at it again with Knomad – tackling one of humanity’s longest standing challenges – trust.LinkedIn provided a huge breakthrough to the space back in 2003 – but has been about as innovative as a snail since then, and may have set itself up for a Myspace moment of its own.Vince and I had a fascinating discussion about what goes into the DNA of products to make them go viral – and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did as you hear his plans for launching Knomad.Links:Knomad: https://knomad.io/