Startup Hustle

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1372

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Jun 2026

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About the show

Startup Hustle is a podcast for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. With the mission of telling the real story of startups and entrepreneurs, topics range from funding to failure and beyond. If you want to start, own, or build a business then you're in the right place.

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60 recent

June 11, 202631 min

Building Software Solo with Beth Epperson of Legacy Purposed

Matt Watson sits down with Beth Epperson, founder and CEO of Legacy Purposed, here in the Kansas City area. Beth came up through marketing and branding, including the brand launch for Hyvee Arena, before deciding to build something of her own.Her company is built around two products. Aligned Legacy measures how people think in real time and helps teams see how aware, connected, and aligned they actually are. HIKMET, or Wisdom Illuminated, keeps a company's knowledge governed and accurate so nothing walks out the door when an employee leaves.Beth and Matt get into the messy reality of being a founder. She self-funded the whole thing, learned to code her own prototype, and pitched for over a year through a pile of rejections. She also walked away from a paid pilot because the people on the other side were not aligned on ethics and accountability.Matt shares why he thinks Beth represents a new kind of founder. Sales first, build second, now that AI can help build the thing. They also dig into validating an idea, the pull you want to feel from customers, and why getting your first case studies is the hardest part.If you have ever tried to get a product to market on your own, this one is for you.⏱️ Episode Breakdown00:38 Introduction to Legacy Purposed and Beth Epperson03:37 Beth's Entrepreneurial Journey and Corporate Experiences06:37 The Birth of Legacy Purposed and Its Mission09:52 Understanding Emotions and Accountability in the Workplace12:35 The Development of Innovative Tools for Corporate Growth15:38 Challenges in Building and Marketing the Software18:28 The Importance of Case Studies and Market Validation21:37 Future Aspirations and Closing ThoughtsLinks & ResourcesConnect with Beth Epperson on LinkedInLegacy Purposed Website - https://legacypurposed.com/Email - mailto:Beth@legacypurposed.comWhat Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025Subscribe to the Global Talent SprintFull Scale – Build your dev team quickly and affordablyIf you’re trying to get your team out of the basement and into real product ownership, this episode is your playbook. Stop being a ticket factory. Build teams that think, create, and lead.Follow the show, rate it, and send this to someone who’s still trying to do “real Scrum.” They need it more than you do.

June 4, 202624 min

Geothermal Energy and the Future of Data Center Power

Data centers are multiplying fast, and the energy demands are staggering. Matt Watson sits down with Tim Tarver, founder and CEO of Exceed Geo Energy, to talk about one of the most underrated power sources in the conversation: geothermal. Tim breaks down how his company is adapting drilling technology from the oil and gas industry to generate clean, baseload energy almost anywhere in the country, why geothermal outlasts solar and wind by decades, and how it could be the right fit for the next wave of AI infrastructure.If you're watching energy costs climb and wondering where the power for all these data centers is actually going to come from, this one's worth your time.Listen now and learn why geothermal might be the energy answer nobody's talking about enough. And if you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review and subscribe so you never miss a conversation with the founders and operators building what's next.⏱️ Episode Breakdown00:44 Introduction to Data Centers and Energy Challenges03:40 Geothermal Energy: A Sustainable Solution06:33 The Role of Geothermal in Data Center Energy Needs09:41 Entrepreneurship in Geothermal Energy12:41 Water Usage and Cooling in Data Centers15:40 Cost Comparison: Geothermal vs. Other Energy Sources18:50 Technological Advances in Drilling and Geothermal Energy21:48 Future of Geothermal Energy and Closing ThoughtsLinks & ResourcesConnect with Tim Tarver on LinkedInExceed Geo Energy - http://www.exegeoenergy.comWhat Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025Subscribe to the Global Talent SprintFull Scale – Build your dev team quickly and affordablyIf you’re trying to get your team out of the basement and into real product ownership, this episode is your playbook. Stop being a ticket factory. Build teams that think, create, and lead.Follow the show, rate it, and send this to someone who’s still trying to do “real Scrum.” They need it more than you do.

May 28, 202628 min

From Excel Sheet to 13,000 Customers: How Sean Tepper Built Tykr

Most retail investors don't know what to do after they open a brokerage account. Sean Tepper was one of them until he built a traffic light rating system for stocks and turned it into a SaaS platform used by 13,000 customers across 50 countries.In this episode of Startup Hustle, Matt Watson sits down with Sean Tepper, founder and CEO of Tykr, to break down the real story behind building a B2C SaaS product in a crowded fintech space.They get into why Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger inspired a process engineer to build a stock screener, how Tykr cuts through 100+ data points to give investors one simple signal, the broker API nightmare that nearly broke their best feature, and why onboarding is harder than the product itself. Sean also gets honest about the hiring mistake he made for years—and what finally changed.If you're building a self-serve SaaS product or trying to find your footing as a solo founder, this one's worth your time. Tune in to Startup Hustle now.⏱️ Episode Breakdown00:41 Introduction to Ticker and Sean Tepper03:31 The Journey of Building Ticker07:04 Understanding the Stock Market and Investment Strategies11:09 Building Trust and Confidence in Investment Decisions21:31 Acquisition Strategies and Metrics for Success16:21 The Impact of AI on Investment Platforms19:41 Challenges in Building a High-Tech Investment Platform22:11 Key Lessons Learned in Entrepreneurship25:33 Final Thoughts and Team DynamicsLinks & ResourcesConnect with Sean Tepper on LinkedInWhat Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025Subscribe to the Global Talent SprintFull Scale – Build your dev team quickly and affordablyIf you’re trying to get your team out of the basement and into real product ownership, this episode is your playbook. Stop being a ticket factory. Build teams that think, create, and lead.Follow the show, rate it, and send this to someone who’s still trying to do “real Scrum.” They need it more than you do.

May 21, 202636 min

Eric Ries: Why Good Companies Go Bad

Eric Ries wrote The Lean Startup. Sold 2 million copies. Helped hundreds of people build companies from nothing. Now he's back with a harder question: why do so many of those companies eventually go bad?In this episode, Matt Watson sits down with Eric to talk about his new book Incorruptible—a deep dive into the invisible forces that corrupt organizations, why profit-maximization becomes pathological, and what it actually takes to build a company that stays great.They get into why the stage-gate development model keeps failing founders, the story of Saul Price and how Costco was born from a betrayal, and what a real fiduciary duty to your customer looks like in practice. Plus, how to structure your company so your values outlast you.Listen to the full episode on Startup Hustle. And if Incorruptible sounds like your next read, pre-order it at incorruptible.co before May 26th.⏱️ Episode Breakdown00:37 Introduction to Eric Ries and The Lean Startup06:57 The Journey to Incorruptible: A New Perspective12:38 The Challenge of Short-Term Thinking in Business16:14 Understanding Corruption in Business Practices22:51 Building Trustworthy Organizations31:03 Who Should Read Incorruptible?Links & ResourcesConnect with Eric Ries on LinkedInWhat Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025Subscribe to the Global Talent SprintFull Scale – Build your dev team quickly and affordablyIf you’re trying to get your team out of the basement and into real product ownership, this episode is your playbook. Stop being a ticket factory. Build teams that think, create, and lead.Follow the show, rate it, and send this to someone who’s still trying to do “real Scrum.” They need it more than you do.

May 7, 202635 min

The Non-Technical Founder Who Beat the Developers

Most founders get the order wrong. They build for two years, then ask a marketer how to sell it. Connie Lund flipped the script. She started Zaboom with no dev team, no code background, and no VC funding. What she had was 50+ years of combined marketing and product experience, a GoHighLevel account, and a willingness to break things at 2 a.m. on a Sunday. In this episode, Connie walks Matt through how she built a working voice AI product for insurance agencies—using N8N, GoHighLevel, and Claude as her "CTO." Then landed paying customers in under 90 days. She also gets honest about what AI can't do for you: use good judgment, know when to stop, and figure out if what you're building actually matters to anyone. They cover the difference between outputs and outcomes, why talking to customers beats building in isolation every time, and how the traditional "raise VC, hire devs, ship product" playbook is getting replaced by something scrappier and faster. If you're a founder who's been waiting until the product is perfect to talk to people, this episode will make you uncomfortable. Good. Listen to this Startup Hustle episode now.⏱️ Episode Breakdown00:49 Introduction to Connie Lunn and Zaboom02:33 The Journey of Building Zaboom05:41 Tech Stack and Tools Used11:58 Prototype vs. Final Product16:16 Marketing and Customer Engagement21:09 Coaching and Helping Others25:31 Democratizing Technology and Skills32:08 Final Thoughts and AdviceLinks & ResourcesConnect with Connie Lund on LinkedInWhat Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025Subscribe to the Global Talent SprintFull Scale – Build your dev team quickly and affordablyIf you’re trying to get your team out of the basement and into real product ownership, this episode is your playbook. Stop being a ticket factory. Build teams that think, create, and lead.Follow the show, rate it, and send this to someone who’s still trying to do “real Scrum.” They need it more than you do.

April 23, 202629 min

Stop Hiding Behind Process (You Should Own the Product Instead)

Most product managers are just project managers with a fancier title. They make zero real decisions, answer to everyone, and wonder why nothing ships on time. Willis Jackson has been building product teams for over a decade. He's blacklisted entire companies from his hiring pool. And he moved to the Bay Area to measure himself against the best—only to find out nobody there really knows how to do product either. In this episode, Willis and I get into why product thinking is now the most valuable skill in tech, why AI didn't solve the bottleneck problem (it exposed it), and what happens when engineers can build 10x faster but nobody knows what to build. We also get into his company Middle Mile—basically the Airbnb of e-commerce fulfillment—and why stay-at-home parents running micro-warehouses out of spare rooms might be the future of how your next Amazon package gets delivered. Fair warning: if you're a product manager who hasn't talked to a customer for two weeks, this episode is going to be uncomfortable. Hit follow so you never miss an episode of Startup Hustle.⏱️ Episode Breakdown00:35 Reconnecting and Early Influences03:27 The Challenges of Product Management06:34 The Role of AI in Product Development09:32 Understanding Risks in AI and Software Development12:34 Bottlenecks in Product Teams15:25 The Importance of People in Business18:17 Innovative Fulfillment Solutions21:39 The Journey of Building a BusinessLinks & ResourcesConnect with Willis Jackson III on LinkedInWhat Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025Subscribe to the Global Talent SprintFull Scale – Build your dev team quickly and affordablyIf you’re trying to get your team out of the basement and into real product ownership, this episode is your playbook. Stop being a ticket factory. Build teams that think, create, and lead.Follow the show, rate it, and send this to someone who’s still trying to do “real Scrum.” They need it more than you do.

April 16, 202634 min

The Secret to Winning Venture Capital: What 2,000 Startup Investments Taught Dave Lambert

Most founders think investors bet on ideas. They don't.Dave Lambert has funded over 2,000 companies through RightSide Capital, and he's seen this pattern play out thousands of times. Great product. No revenue traction. Wrong ask, wrong timing. Automatic no.In this episode of Startup Hustle, Matt sits down with Dave to break down how RightSide Capital evaluates startups differently than traditional VCs. No subjective analysis. No months of diligence. Just data, profiles, and a decision in about a week.They get into how AI is changing the startup game, not just for building products faster, but for every operational aspect of running an early-stage company. And why sales is still the one thing that isn't getting easier anytime soon.Plus, the real talk on founder-market fit, why being slightly delusional might actually help, and what it takes to walk away with a check from an investor who's seen everything.If you're a technical founder who knows how to build but has no idea how to sell, this episode is for you.⏱️ Episode Breakdown00:26 Introduction to Venture Capital and Startups03:36 The Importance of Sales and Marketing in Startups06:24 Data-Driven Investment Strategies09:23 The Impact of AI on Startup Opportunities12:23 Operational Efficiency and Cost Reduction through AI15:28 Sales and Marketing Challenges for Startups18:31 Support and Resources for Portfolio Companies21:25 Evaluating Founders and Market Fit24:28 The Role of Delusion in EntrepreneurshipLinks & ResourcesConnect with Dave Lambert on LinkedInWhat Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025Subscribe to the Global Talent SprintFull Scale – Build your dev team quickly and affordablyIf you’re trying to get your team out of the basement and into real product ownership, this episode is your playbook. Stop being a ticket factory. Build teams that think, create, and lead.Follow the show, rate it, and send this to someone who’s still trying to do “real Scrum.” They need it more than you do.Right Side Capital Management - https://www.rightsidecapital.com/

April 9, 202625 min

Are Software Engineers Really at Risk? Mohan Reddy Weighs In

Matt Watson sits down with Mohan Reddy, serial entrepreneur and Chief Scientist at Cornerstone AI Labs, to explore how AI is fundamentally reshaping the way we think about work, skills, and human potential. Mohan shares the origin story of Skyhive—a workforce intelligence platform built to reskill and upskill people at a global scale—and how its acquisition by Cornerstone brought that mission to a larger stage.The conversation digs into why AI doesn't eliminate skills but transforms them, the distinction between tasks that can be automated versus those that require human judgment, and why "vibe coding" is both a breakthrough and a danger. Mohan also makes the case for reverse engineering as the most critical skill in an AI-driven world, and why sandbox environments will be essential for building trust in AI-assisted workflows.Whether you're a founder, engineer, or business leader trying to navigate the AI transition, this episode offers a grounded, optimistic perspective from someone who has spent decades at the intersection of human potential and machine intelligence.If you enjoyed today's episode, subscribe to the Starter Hustle podcast and leave us a review!⏱️ Episode Breakdown00:30 The Journey of Mohan Reddy and Skyhive03:34 Transition to Cornerstone AI Labs06:22 AI's Impact on Skills and Workforce09:33 The Evolution of Software Engineering12:29 The Future of Coding and AI Collaboration15:33 Upskilling in the Age of AI18:30 Curiosity and Learning in Tech21:34 Final Thoughts and AdviceLinks & ResourcesConnect with Mohan Reddy on LinkedInWhat Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025Subscribe to the Global Talent SprintFull Scale – Build your dev team quickly and affordablyIf you’re trying to get your team out of the basement and into real product ownership, this episode is your playbook. Stop being a ticket factory. Build teams that think, create, and lead.Follow the show, rate it, and send this to someone who’s still trying to do “real Scrum.” They need it more than you do.

April 2, 202628 min

How AI Is Disrupting Education with Katie Boody Adorno of LeanLab Education

AI is changing how kids learn. But are schools ready?Katie Boody Adorno is the founder and CEO of LeanLab Education. She's spent 13 years trying to close the opportunity gap in public education. In this episode, she and Matt break down how COVID widened learning disparities, why high-dosage tutoring works but doesn't scale, and how AI is now lowering that cost. They also get into what it takes to prepare kids for a world where AI handles most of the knowledge work.Listen to the full episode now! Subscribe to Startup Hustle wherever you get your podcasts.⏱️ Episode Breakdown00:00 The Genesis of Lean Lab Education05:25 Innovative Approaches to Educational Challenges09:08 The Impact of the Pandemic on Education11:32 Funding and Sustainability in Education12:58 The Role of Technology in Learning18:12 The Importance of Human Connection in Education20:12 Rethinking the Purpose of Education25:30 The Future of Higher Education and AILinks & ResourcesConnect with Katie Boody Adorno on LinkedInWhat Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025Subscribe to the Global Talent SprintFull Scale – Build your dev team quickly and affordablyLean Lab Education - https://leanlabeducation.org

March 26, 202635 min

AI Isn't Killing Software Jobs: It's Changing Who Builds What

Zach Klempf is back! He joined Matt Watson on one of the early episodes of the show. Now, Zach is president of AutoManager, a private equity group with five automotive software companies under its umbrella.In this episode, Zach and Matt get into how AI is making senior engineers more productive. They talk about why offshore teams tend to adopt it more slowly, and where vibe coding breaks down when you're running production software with real integrations. They also get into why simple SaaS products are getting harder to defend. And why leads and sales have always been the harder problem anyway.Listen to the full episode now! Subscribe to Startup Hustle wherever you get your podcasts.⏱️ Episode Breakdown00:00 Introduction to Zach Klempf and AutoManager03:09 The Journey of Selle Automotive05:48 Outsourcing and Global Talent Strategy08:59 Experiences in Jamaica and the Philippines12:01 Transition to AutoManager and AI Integration15:13 AI Adoption and Team Dynamics18:02 The Future of Software Development and AI21:02 Challenges in AI Implementation24:10 Market Dynamics and Competitive Landscape26:53 Final Thoughts and ReflectionsLinks & ResourcesConnect with Zach Klempf on LinkedInhttps://www.automanager.com/What Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025Subscribe to the Global Talent SprintFull Scale – Build your dev team quickly and affordablyIf you’re trying to get your team out of the basement and into real product ownership, this episode is your playbook. Stop being a ticket factory. Build teams that think, create, and lead.Follow the show, rate it, and send this to someone who’s still trying to do “real Scrum.” They need it more than you do.

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