Driven & Co.

David Bauer, COO at LeadMD, talks with host Justin Gray about his experiences as an entrepreneur, the challenges he faced as a CIO working at a startup versus a billion dollar company, and his goals for the LeadMD team -all on this episode of the Driven & Co. podcast.

On this episode, host Justin Gray welcomes David Johnson, Co-founder and CEO of Genexa to the show. They chat about David's fascinating career pivots before becoming an entrepreneur and what health trend sparked the idea for Genexa. Plus, David shares the advice that's made the biggest impact on him as a CEO - all on the latest episode of Driven & Co.

Anand Iyer, Founder and CEO of Trusted, talks with host Justin Gray about pausing his career to spend time as a stay-at-home dad, finding the perfect co-founder to launch a startup and bringing trusted childcare into new markets across America - all on this episode of Driven & Co.

Raphael Crawford-Marks, Co-founder and CEO of Bonus.ly, talks with host Justin Gray about dropping out of high school to work in tech, his experience bootstrapping a company, and his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs –– all on the the latest episode of Driven & Co.

Joshua Dorkin is the founder and CEO of BiggerPockets. This week host Justin Gray welcomes Josh on to talk about the biggest real estate mistake he ever made, how it inspired him to start a company to educate and empower real estate investors, and what it was like to be a solopreneur for eight years before scaling his team.

Andrew Chaifetz, co-founder and CEO of Notebowl, talks with host Justin Gray about what inspired the idea for Notebowl, obstacles he's faced since launching and his thoughts on whether higher education is doing all it can to prepare the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Steve Benson, Founder and CEO of Badger Maps, talks with host Justin Gray about his 12+ years in sales, how mobility sparked the idea for his company and whether he thinks he's made it –– all on the the latest episode of Driven & Co.

Tim Haitaian, Co-founder and CFO of RedShelf, talks with host Justin Gray about co-founding a company with his college roommate, turning a side hustle into a successful business, and the highs and lows he's experienced along the way –– all on the the latest episode of Driven & Co.

Host Justin Gray welcomes Chad Corzine, Founder and CEO of Urban Agriculture. They chat about Chad's side hustle that sprouted into a successful startup and what it's like to get the thumbs up from Oprah – all on the latest episode of Driven & Co.

On the latest episode of Driven: How Did I Get Here?, host Justin Gray welcomes Inder Singh, Founder and CEO of Kinsa. Justin gets the scoop on Inder's quest to become an astronaut, his work at the Clinton Health Access Initiative and his mission as an entrepreneur to help track and stop the spread of illness. Can you give us a background on Kinsa? I started the organization five years ago with a mission to create a real-time map of human health to help track and thereby curb the spread of disease. I'm a big believer that the biggest problem in health care globally, that we have a shot at addressing in our lifetime, is curbing the spread of infectious illness, whether that is the Flu or Ebola or Zika or AIDS, TB, Malaria, or food-borne illness, or pneumonia. At its core, Kinsa is an information gathering system. We try to understand where and when illness is spreading. To do that, we re-imagine the very first product that a person turns to when they fall ill - the thermometer. Our product doesn't just give yo

Danielle Tate, Founder and CEO of MissNowMrs, talks with host Justin Gray about missing medical school by three spots, leaving behind her successful career in sales and what it's like being a pioneer in the wedding tech space –– all on the the latest episode of Driven: How Did I Get Here? What do you do in your current role? MissNowMrs is an online name change service for brides. We condense the tedious 13-hour process of collecting all of your forms of identification, going to all the government offices, and filing for your new name into 30 minutes for $30. We're many years in and just crossed the 370,000 customer mark. Nothing's the same day-to-day which is something I very much enjoy as an entrepreneur. I'm forever making new partnerships, building new brand platforms and extensions to continue to grow and scale in a way that keeps me busy and happy. What did you want to be when you grew up? I spent the first 20 years of my life doing everything possible to become a cardiologist. I spent a summer at an int

Marc Chesley, President of OfferPad, talks with host Justin Gray about practicing law, flipping homes and helping grow Infusionsoft into a $100M company –– all on the the latest episode of Driven: How Did I Get Here?  What are you working on these days? At OfferPad, our purpose is to revolutionize the way homes are sold. We have the technology platform where you can go to OfferPad.com, put in the address of your home and within 24 hours you will get a very strong, very fair, purchase offer, where OfferPad is the buyer. We're solving the pain, uncertainty and worry that usually comes with the traditional model of selling and buying residential real estate. What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be an entrepreneur. My grandparents were great entrepreneurs. My grandpa Tilby started up JT Aviation and built one of the largest private hangars in the Northwest. My other grandpa, Earl Chesley, owned Chesley Well Drilling. It inspired me, as a young boy, to watch my family, so I think that's where

Nate Martin, Co-founder and CEO of PuzzleBreak, talks with host Justin Gray about his childhood dream to make video games, lessons learned from his first startup and advice for people considering entrepreneurship –– all on the the latest episode of Driven: How Did I Get Here?   Can you explain the escape-the-room concept? At a high level, these are rooms where groups of players - friends, family, strangers or co-workers - are trapped. They have a set amount of time, usually an hour, to work together to find hidden clues and solve puzzles to unravel a mystery and escape that room before time runs out.   When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? The only thing I ever wanted to do was make video games. There's a huge market for that. Did that come to the light of day? I actually went to the DigiPen Institute of Technology, which had a focus on making video games. After that, I went to work for Microsoft. Over my seven years I got promoted a number of times, but was still eight leve

Tell us about what a day-to-day looks like for you? I typically get 400 emails a day, so I usually try to get through the important ones first thing in the morning. I have a daughter, so once I get her off to school I try to keep meetings more toward the middle of the day. I like to have enough time to start on action items. It drives me crazy to have too many balls up in the air. I'm happier if I can finish some things and give closure to issues. You own 56 Subway restaurants. How do you manage that volume of stores? You have to find good people and delegate the proper accountabilities to them. I have 600 employees that rely upon me to make sure their paychecks are good every two weeks, so there really isn't such a thing as a day off. Day in and day out there's always work to do.   What did you want to be when you grew up? My father was a patent attorney for a major manufacturing firm. I never really thought about it much, and just assumed I would also be an attorney. Then I woke up at 18 and decided to

Jenny Poon, founder of CO+HOOTS, CO+HOOTS Foundation and eeko studio, talks with host Justin Gray about her dream of becoming an inventor, her foray into the corporate world and how she ended up a serial entrepreneur. What does a normal day look like in the life of Jenny Poon? My days are crazy because I run CO+HOOTS, CO+HOOTS Foundation and eeko studio! And I have a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. So normally I get up early for breakfast and then I'm on email and getting on track for the day. I schedule my days around when I'm most productive. Meetings are for the mornings and afternoons are for when I'm working by myself. As much as I love a coworking space, when you're the owner of one, you can't get much done when there. What did you want to be when you grew up? I dreamed of being an inventor. It started in third or fourth grade when we had to create these little machines with various items (like a spoon) to accomplish certain goals. I loved creating solutions for everyday problems. When I was younger I

Greg Head, strategic growth advisor, speaker and writer, talks with host Justin Gray about how he got his start in the software business, qualities he looks for when connecting with early stage founders and what every entrepreneur should know as they prepare for growth –– all on the the latest episode of Driven: How Did I Get Here? What are you involved with right now? After 30 years in the software business, I'm now advising CEOs of growing companies and consulting when they get stuck in their growth phases. These are typically CEOs of companies in the $1M - $10M range. Let's go back to the beginning. What did you want to be when you grew up? I wasn't sure, and I think in high school I didn't want to grow up at all. I was an undeclared major at the University of Iowa for a couple years until I fell in love with business and economics. I wasn't sure about software or being in sales and marketing or even what it meant to help grow companies. In some ways, 30 years ago it was only the misfits who got in the sof

What is your current job? I'm a serial entrepreneur and venture investor. I came up through the tech space and a number of different startups, and have gone through several acquisitions. I leverage the money I was blessed with from there to now invest in early stage ideas. I'm always looking for the next great idea that is at the seed or angel phase where I can help through my own investment or coordinating investments. Let's rewind - what did you want to be when you grew up? I went to my guidance counselor's office back in high school and they asked me the same question! I said I wasn't sure, but I know I don't want to wear a suit every single day. Little did we know at that time the technology explosion was just around the corner. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. I was inspired by the space shuttle program and it really spoke to my imagination that anything could be possible. I got into discovering computers in the 1980s. My first computer was an Atari 2700, and it hooked me into all that was

Marcus Sheridan, president at The Sales Lion and partner at River Pools and Spas joins host Justin Gray in this episode of Driven: How Did I Get Here?". What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a football coach. When I got to college I wanted to be a gym teacher.  I realized if I was going to support my family, that salary probably wouldn't cut it. So I ended up majoring in Spanish and minoring in physical education. After college, I went home where I grew up and where two of my buddies had opened a pool company. To make a long story short, I became a third partner in the company and it became River Pools. No one ever says they want to be a pool guy, but that's exactly what I ended up becoming.  What's the background of River Pools? We started the company in 2001. Things were going okay until the market collapsed in 2008. There was a period in early 2009 where we were all overdrawn on our accounts. We had 16 employees that were just sitting around. We met with business consultants wh

What does BrightWave do? And what do you do for the company? BrightWave is a very focused digital agency concentrating on email and CRM for leading enterprise brands like Chick-fil-A, Equifax, Mattress Firm, Panera Bread and other leading brands. We manage and advise on email and CRM programs to drive stronger relationships and greater revenue. I'm very excited to have I hired Raj Choudhury as President about six months ago. It has dramatically changed my focus as opposed to how I've been spending the previous 12 months. Before, I was spread very thin and not able to really go deep on a lot of things that were important. Now I'm much more focused on external planning, corporate development, business development, marketing, partnerships – a lot of things that have probably been underserved over the last 24 months or so. I've turned over a lot of the internal operations to Raj. My day to day still varies greatly, but I'm really much more focused on the external things and letting him handle the majority of the

Two powerhouse content marketers –– Joe Pulizzi and Jason Miller ––join host Justin Gray in this episode of "Driven: How Did I Get Here?" podcast. Joe Pulizzi is the founder of Content Marketing Institute, author of Content Inc, and a speaker and entrepreneur. Jason Miller is the global content marketing leader for Linkedin, best selling author, and rock and roll photographer. What did you want to be when you grew up and how did that lead you here today? Joe: I wanted to be a farmer actually. I loved growing things, and I actually tried my hand at farming, and nothing grew, so I said "I'm not very good at this farming thing." I better try something else. I grew up around entrepreneurs. Regardless of what I was doing, I knew that I wanted to be my own boss, and it took me a while to figure out what my tilt would be. Jason: I wanted to be a rock n' roll bass player. At no point did I say I wanted to be a good marketer, I can tell you that for sure. What about being an entrepreneur was attractive to you? Joe: H