Top Business Leaders Show

Hosted by Rise25 Media

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182

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Nov 2026

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About the show

This is the Top Business Leaders Show powered by Rise25 Media. We feature top founders, executives, and leaders from all over the world.

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November 4, 202631 min

Turning Employee Benefits Into a Competitive Advantage With Michael Notte of MJN Insurance Services

Michael Notte is President and Founder of MJN Insurance Services, an employee benefits firm serving small and midsize businesses nationwide. With more than 17 years of insurance industry experience, he focuses on customized benefits strategies designed to help employers manage costs while attracting and retaining employees. Before pursuing a career in insurance, Michael spent 16 years as a heavy metal singer and guitarist, an unconventional career path that helped shape his approach to entrepreneurship and relationship building. He currently champions employee education, personalized service, and benefit design intended to make healthcare easier to understand and more valuable to employers and their teams. In this episode… Employee benefits can be far more than an unavoidable business expense — they can become a strategic tool for controlling costs and competing for talented employees. For small and midsize employers, the challenge is creating a package employees genuinely value without taking on unsustainable healthcare costs. How can businesses design benefits that support both their employees and their bottom line? According to Michael Notte, who designs customized employee benefits strategies for MJN Insurance Services, the answer begins with moving beyond simply requesting insurance quotes and instead understanding how employees actually use their benefits. Employers can examine plan design, employee education, supplemental coverage, tax-saving strategies, wellness programs, and virtual care to create a more effective package. Michael emphasizes educating employees about their coverage so they can make informed decisions and better appreciate the benefits their employers provide. On this episode of Top Business Leaders Show , Chad Franzen welcomes Michael Notte, Owner and President of MJN Insurance Services Inc., for a conversation about turning employee benefits into a business advantage. Michael discusses his journey from heavy metal musician to insurance entrepreneur, then explores smarter benefit design, employee education, controlling healthcare costs, recruiting and retention, personalized service, and the mindset behind entrepreneurship.

October 21, 202640 min

Why Natural Gas Could Be Critical to the AI Data Center Boom With Peter Snell of Petrovybe

Peter Snell is Founder and CEO of PetroVybe, a natural gas development company focused on energy production, investor opportunities, and the growing power demands associated with AI and data centers. Before founding PetroVybe, he built a career across management consulting, healthcare, technology, and energy, including founding a consulting company and co-founding a healthcare technology company that achieved a 4x exit. He has also closed more than $339 million in revenue during his career and led significant growth and turnaround initiatives in oil and gas. At PetroVybe, Peter emphasizes biblical stewardship, independent accountability, disciplined development, and the role natural gas can play in meeting expanding electricity demand. In this episode… Artificial intelligence is creating a new layer of pressure on an energy system already tasked with supporting businesses, communities, and a rapidly electrifying economy. As data centers expand, reliable fuel sources and the infrastructure required to turn those resources into electricity are becoming increasingly important. How can natural gas developers help meet AI-driven power demand while managing the financial, operational, and stewardship risks involved? According to Peter Snell, who leads natural gas development for PetroVybe, meeting that demand requires more than simply producing additional fuel. Developers must understand where resources are located, the infrastructure required to move or use them, complex mineral and land rights, and opportunities to connect energy production more directly with large power consumers. Peter also emphasizes planning for failure, using third-party accountability, and treating investor capital as a resource that must be managed with extraordinary care. On this episode of Top Business Leaders Show , Chad Franzen welcomes Peter Snell, Founder and CEO at PetroVybe, for a conversation about natural gas and the energy demands of AI. Peter explains PetroVybe's strategy, stranded gas and infrastructure constraints, mineral rights, investor stewardship, planning for failure, third-party accountability, and the leadership lessons he learned through Navy SEAL-led training.

October 14, 202632 min

What Founders Should Look for in a Cap Table Provider With Tomas Milar

Tomas Milar is the Founder and CEO of Eqvista, an equity management and valuation platform for private companies. He heads the leadership team in steering the company as it provides services for cap table management, digital share issuance, transaction tracking, fundraising modeling, and real-time 409A valuations. Founded in 2018, Eqvista has served over 25,000 companies, covering approximately $4 trillion in company value, and is recognized as one of the fastest-growing fintech solutions for startup equity and valuation. Beyond Eqvista, Tomas has launched multiple successful ventures including the neobank Cheqly and Startupr, and is known for his expertise in building financial infrastructure that simplifies equity and compliance for startups. In this episode… A cap table used to be a simple record of who owns what, but today, it can shape how founders understand their company's value, plan future rounds, and prepare for growth. As equity management becomes more complex, what should founders really expect from a cap table provider beyond basic ownership tracking? According to Tomas Milar, a founder and equity management expert, choosing a cap table provider starts with finding the right support, flexibility, and valuation expertise for the company's stage. He explains that early-stage founders should look for accessible tools, responsive help when issuing stock, and a provider that can grow with them through funding rounds and employee equity plans. Tomas' perspective highlights that the future of cap table platforms is not just administration, but helping founders understand and communicate the true value of their businesses. In this interview, Dr. Jeremy Weisz talks to Tomas Milar, Founder and CEO of Eqvista, about what founders should look for in a cap table provider. They discuss why valuations are becoming a key differentiator, how real-time company valuation changes equity management, and the role of private market liquidity. Tomas also shares insight on choosing providers that offer strong support as companies grow.

October 7, 202627 min

How Leaders Build Trust and Accountability With Jen Brown of Journey of Grace Leadership Coaching

Jen Brown is the Founder and Executive Leadership Coach at Journey of Grace Leadership Coaching, where she helps leaders strengthen communication, develop others, and lead with greater intention and impact. Before launching her coaching practice, she spent more than 23 years in the US Department of State Foreign Service, leading diverse teams in high-pressure environments across the United States, Latin America, and beyond. She is an ICF Associate Certified Coach, a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, and a Maxwell Leadership DISC Consultant. Drawing on diplomacy, coaching, and real-world crisis leadership, Jen helps leaders build trust, transfer ownership, develop stronger teams, and create sustainable results. In this episode… Growing businesses often hit a leadership ceiling when founders and executives remain the default source for answers, decisions, and problem-solving. Sustainable growth requires leaders to build trust, clarify expectations, and develop team members who can take genuine ownership without constant oversight. How can leaders transfer decision-making responsibility without losing accountability or slipping into micromanagement? According to Jen Brown, who helps business owners and leaders move from autopilot to intentional leadership with Journey of Grace Leadership Coaching, the answer is to treat delegation as a deliberate transfer of decisions rather than a simple handoff of tasks. Leaders should first build connection and trust, then define what success looks like, explain the why, establish authority boundaries, set milestones and escalation paths, and use feedback loops to confirm understanding. When employees bring problems, leaders can coach them to explain what they have tried and propose a solution, developing judgment instead of dependency. The result is greater ownership, stronger accountability, and more leadership capacity across the team. On this episode of Top Business Leaders Show , Chad Franzen welcomes Jen Brown, Founder and Executive Leadership Coach at Journey of Grace Leadership Coaching, for a conversation about moving from autopilot to intentional leadership. Jen shares lessons from 23 years in the US Foreign Service, her decision-transfer framework, ways to build trust and accountability, how to develop a leadership bench, why culture must be diagnosed before training, and the role of grace in sustainable leadership.

September 23, 202634 min

Why Insider Ownership Can Beat Market-Cap Investing With Haren Bhakta of Insider Ownership Index

Haren Bhakta is the Founder and CEO of Inside Ownership Index, the company behind the Inside Ownership 100 (IO 100). He has more than two decades of experience in financial markets and portfolio construction and developed the index around the idea that executive ownership can better align leadership with shareholders. Earlier in his career, he worked at Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley before serving as Managing Member and Investment Adviser Representative at HSB Capital Advisors. A CFA charterholder, Haren focuses on ownership-aligned investing, accountability, and the role of "skin in the game" in long-term value creation. In this episode… Equity investing often emphasizes company size, earnings, and valuation while paying less attention to the personal ownership stakes of corporate leaders. Significant insider ownership can reshape incentives by tying executives' financial outcomes more closely to long-term shareholder value. Could weighting companies by leadership ownership help investors capture more of the market's biggest long-term winners? According to Haren Bhakta, who founded the Inside Ownership100 Index, ownership provides a practical way to measure alignment between corporate leaders and shareholders. His Inside Ownership 100 methodology begins with S&P 500 companies, ranks them according to the dollar value of insider-held shares, and gives greater weight to businesses where leaders have meaningful financial stakes. Haren argues that owner-operators are more likely to think long term, protect company culture, accept short-term tradeoffs, and pursue unconventional ideas because their own wealth rises or falls alongside shareholders. On this episode of Top Business Leaders Show , Chad Franzen welcomes Haren Bhakta, Founder and CEO of Inside Ownership Index, for a conversation about insider ownership, founder-led companies, and the "skin in the game" philosophy behind the Inside Ownership 100. Haren explains how the index differs from the S&P 500, why ownership can shape incentives and culture, how leadership changes affect rebalancing, and why he sees ownership concentration as a governance risk.

September 9, 202639 min

Building the World's First Professional Sport in Space With Philip Hover-Smoot of Atlas Cup

Philip Hover-Smoot is the Founder and CEO of Atlas Cup, a professional sports media company building the world's first orbital racing league. Before launching Atlas Cup in late 2025, he served as the CEO of Scout Space and previously held senior executive roles at Spaceflight and Momentus. A seasoned aerospace and defense executive and California-licensed attorney, Philip has worked across military and commercial space, space law and regulation, satellite technology, and executive leadership. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and now focuses on developing a global sports property at the intersection of space, technology, and entertainment. In this episode… Commercial space is entering a phase where entertainment, media, and competition can become viable applications alongside government and industrial missions. As spacecraft capabilities mature and sports consumption shifts toward social, mobile, and streaming platforms, orbital racing could turn advanced satellite performance into a fan-facing spectacle. How can a professional racing league in low Earth orbit become both compelling entertainment and a catalyst for space innovation? According to Philip Hover-Smoot, who leads Atlas Cup as its founder and CEO, the opportunity comes from combining technologies that already exist with a proven racing format and a media model designed for how audiences consume sports today. Instead of building its own spacecraft, Atlas Cup plans to bring together existing maneuverable satellites, imagery providers, telemetry systems, and race teams while creating short-form storytelling around their performance. Competition can reward speed, maneuver accuracy, efficiency, communication, and other measurable capabilities, creating incentives for technology development while opening opportunities for sponsorships, prediction markets, and fan engagement. In this episode of the Top Business Leaders Show , Chad Franzen welcomes Philip Hover-Smoot, Founder and CEO Atlas Cup, for a conversation about building professional sports in space. Philip explains Atlas Cup's 2028 orbital racing plans, short-form media strategy, regulatory model, technology incentives, and the evolution from uncrewed satellite races toward his long-term vision of humans competing in space.

August 26, 202635 min

Why Traditional Sales Metrics Fail and How AI Can Help With Jack Siney, Co-founder of FrontRace

Jack Siney is Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of FrontRace, an AI-powered decision intelligence company focused on uncovering the activities and behaviors that drive business performance. As a seven-time entrepreneur with five successful exits and 25 years in B2B SaaS and technology, Jack has led teams of more than 100 sales reps and closed more than $500 million in sales. His practical approach to AI is grounded in experience spanning US Navy contract negotiations and building companies such as Advanced Public Safety and GovSpend, which became a leading provider of government purchasing data before its acquisition. In this episode… Sales organizations have invested heavily in technology, yet many still struggle to forecast accurately and understand why their best performers consistently outperform everyone else. The real drivers of success may be hidden in small behaviors, timing decisions, relationship-building habits, and process variations that traditional dashboards fail to capture. How can leaders use AI and their existing business data to uncover those invisible patterns and turn them into repeatable performance? According to Jack Siney, AI thought leader and the Co-founder of FrontRace, companies should begin by understanding and organizing the data they already have rather than rushing to purchase another AI platform. FrontRace connects and normalizes data from tools such as CRMs, email, messaging, and video systems, normalizes that data, and analyzes the small activities associated with wins and losses. Jack argues that the differences between elite and average performers are often found not in headline metrics such as call volume but in dozens of subtle behaviors. By identifying those patterns, organizations can improve coaching, forecasting, and decision-making while applying AI to measurable business problems. On this episode of the Top Business Leaders Show, Chad Franzen welcomes Jack Siney, Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer of FrontRace, for a conversation about scaling businesses, uncovering the hidden drivers of sales success, and adopting AI strategically. Jack explains why traditional sales metrics fall short, how FrontRace analyzes high performers, why clean data matters, and how resilience and strong teams fuel entrepreneurial success.

August 12, 202643 min

Escape 'Tax Jail': A Roadmap to Lasting Wealth With Michael Uadiale of SMEED CPA

Michael Uadiale is the Managing Partner at SMEED CPA, where he helps entrepreneurs reduce taxes and pursue financial freedom through proactive planning. A seasoned CPA and master tax advisor with more than 20 years of experience, Michael specializes in serving home health and social service providers, healthcare professionals, real estate investors, and technology service businesses. He is known for translating complex tax rules into actionable strategies for wealth building, asset protection, and generational planning. In this episode… Tax planning can be one of the most powerful yet underutilized tools for helping entrepreneurs convert business income into long-term wealth. Rather than treating taxes as a once-a-year compliance task, business owners can align entity structure, deductions, credits, investments, and documentation with a clear financial vision. How can proactive tax strategy help entrepreneurs reach financial freedom sooner? According to Michael Uadiale, a tax and wealth-building strategist, entrepreneurs can accelerate financial freedom by defining a specific end goal, measuring the gap from their current position, and reinvesting legally created tax savings. He frames the tax code as a set of incentives rather than a punishment and encourages owners to ask, "How can I deduct this?" instead of, "Can I deduct this?" His DECIDE and BOND frameworks help clients evaluate deductions, entity structures, credits, income shifting, deferral, documentation, and legacy planning. The process requires year-round education, disciplined implementation, and collaboration among tax, legal, insurance, and financial professionals. On this episode of the Top Business Leaders Show , Chad Franzen welcomes Michael Uadiale, Managing Partner at SMEED CPA, for a conversation about using proactive tax strategy to build financial freedom. Michael explains "tax jail," the difference between preparation and planning, the DECIDE and BOND frameworks, credits and deferral, year-round advisory meetings, client fit, virtual service, and the value of mentorship.

July 30, 202630 min

How To Turn SEO Traffic Into Leads and Sales With Brandon Leibowitz of SEO Optimizers

Brandon Leibowitz is Founder and Operator of SEO Optimizers, a Los Angeles-based digital marketing agency specializing in SEO and AI search optimization. Since founding the company in 2007, Brandon has helped businesses increase their online visibility, attract qualified traffic, and generate leads without relying exclusively on paid advertising. He is known for his hands-on approach, blending technical SEO, content, backlinks, and AI to deliver sustainable business growth in some of the most competitive industries. Drawing on more than 300 podcast appearances and his book, The Power of Guest Podcasting , Brandon teaches businesses to build authority through podcasting and expand their visibility across AI search platforms. In this episode… Online visibility is no longer about generating the largest possible volume of website traffic. Businesses must attract high-intent organic traffic and deliver a clear, persuasive user experience that turns search visitors into customers. How can companies combine SEO, conversion optimization, and emerging AI search platforms to drive sustainable revenue growth? According to Brandon Leibowitz, a search engine optimization and digital marketing strategies expert, businesses should begin by targeting relevant, high-intent keywords rather than focusing solely on broad traffic numbers. Once visitors arrive, companies must clearly communicate their value proposition, display calls to action and social proof above the fold, and continually test their pages to improve conversions. Brandon also recommends diversifying traffic across search, email, social media, remarketing, and AI platforms while using third-party mentions and backlinks to strengthen authority. On this episode of the Top Business Leaders Show , Chad Franzen welcomes Brandon Leibowitz, Founder and Operator of SEO Optimizers, for sustainable SEO growth, buyer-intent keywords, conversion optimization, AI-powered search, backlinks, podcast guesting, marketing analytics, and deciding which business activities to delegate or outsource.

July 3, 202622 min

What Is a 409A Valuation? Startup Founder Guide With Tomas Milar, Founder and CEO of Eqvista

Tomas Milar is the Founder and CEO of Eqvista, an equity management and valuation platform for private companies. He heads the leadership team in steering the company as it provides services for cap table management, digital share issuance, transaction tracking, fundraising modeling, and real-time 409A valuations. Founded in 2018, Eqvista has served over 25,000 companies, covering approximately $4 trillion in company value, and is recognized as one of the fastest-growing fintech solutions for startup equity and valuation. Beyond Eqvista, Tomas has launched multiple successful ventures including the neobank Cheqly and Startupr, and is known for his expertise in building financial infrastructure that simplifies equity and compliance for startups. In this episode… Startup equity can be one of the most powerful tools for attracting talent, rewarding early contributors, and building long-term company value. Yet many founders underestimate the compliance requirements behind issuing stock options, especially when common stock must be priced in a way that can withstand IRS scrutiny. How can founders use 409A valuations to protect their companies, employees, and future exits? According to Tomas Milar, who leads equity management and valuation services for Eqvista, a 409A valuation gives private companies a defensible fair market value for common stock. He explains that founders need this valuation when issuing stock to founders or employees, creating employee stock option plans, raising new funding, or experiencing major liquidity or business events. Tomas also emphasizes that the goal is not to invent the lowest possible number, but to establish the lowest defensible price supported by a professional valuation report, ongoing documentation, and audit-ready reasoning. On this episode of the Top Business Leaders Show , Dr. Jeremy Weisz welcomes Tomas Milar, Founder and CEO of Eqvista, to discuss 409A valuations and startup equity compliance. Tomas demystifies 409A valuation, why it differs from fundraising valuations, and how it impacts stock option issuance. He also discusses common founder misconceptions, the regulatory importance of accurate pricing, and how founders can protect their companies while building long-term equity value.