John O'Donnell, Founder, Johnnie-O – Up to Par: An iconic golf clothing brand blends 'east coast prep' with 'west coast cool' (Re-broadcast)

As we continue working on some new episodes for you, enjoy this look back at our episode from September with John O'Donnell, the visionary founder behind the clothing brand, Johnnie-O. Summary: When John O'Donnell founded Johnnie-O in 2005, his goal was to create a brand that combined East Coast prep with West Coast surf culture. 20 years later, you'll find their surfer logo in golf pro-shops and menswear stores across the country.Today, John joins us to share his incredible journey from being a walk-on on the UCLA golf team to founding one of America's most iconic golf brands.We get into the origins of Johnnie-O, discuss the source of their customer loyalty, and talk about their impressive growth over the last two decades.Highlights:The opportunity John saw in 2005 (2:05)John's midwest roots (4:46)UCLA Golf team (5:50)Johnnie-O's differentiation (6:45)The origins of Johnnie-O (8:17)Distribution (9:28)Inflection point for the brand (10:28)Marketing evolution (11:37)Scale of growth (13:57)Breaking into women's wear (16:30)Avenues for growth (17:35)Tariffs (18:30)Outlook for Johnnie-O (20:27)Competitive Landscape (22:15)Lessons learned (23:13) Links:Johnnie-O LinkedInJohnnie-O WebsiteICR LinkedInICR TwitterICR Website Feedback:If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, [email protected].

As we take a brief hiatus from releasing new episodes, we wanted to revisit Tom's conversation with WellWithAll CEO and Co-Founder, Demond Martin, from back in December. Demond has an incredible story, and he's built a powerhouse of a company while going to great lengths to lift up his community. Enjoy!    Show Notes: In this country, health outcomes are too often dictated by your ZIP code, but one company is working very hard to fix those inequities.Demond Martin, is the CEO and co-founder of WellWithAll, a health and wellness company dedicated to advancing health equity for underserved communities. Operating under ‘inclusive capitalism’, WellWithAll reinvests 20% of its profits into health initiatives tailored to specific community needs, tackling health disparities, and ensuring a targeted approach to wellness.Before WellWithAll, Demond was a senior partner at Adage Capital Management, where he invested in the consumer sector for 21 years. Earlier in his career, he served in the Clinton administration, and he has served on numerous nonprofit boards, including the Berkeley College of Music, The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the Obama Foundation. Today, we get into what WellWithAll does, how they're giving back to the community, and Demond's journey from a trailer in North Carolina to CEO of this incredible company.Highlights:Demond's background (2:21)Stories from the White House (3:50)Working at a hedge fund (5:58)Lessons about investing (8:32)The origins of WellWithAll (11:42)Health inequities (13:54)How WellWithAll has evolved (15:08)Getting in with large retailers (17:08)Sources of funding (18:57)The Obama Foundation (20:19)A career in politics? (21:00)Demond's mentors (22:14)27th ICR Conference (24:04))Links:Demond Martin LinkedInWellWithAll LinkedInWellWithAll WebsiteICR LinkedInICR TwitterICR WebsiteFeedback:If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, [email protected].

AI coverage tends to skew pretty negative, with things like energy consumption and job losses dominating the headlines. Today, we're re-running an episode that spotlights the hopeful side of AI, and how one company is using it to help the millions of people around the world who lack access to adequate medical care. Enjoy! Summary:In today's medical system, getting a proper diagnosis and course of treatment can take ages, with potentially disastrous consequences for your health. Today, we're spotlighting a company that's trying to change that paradigm, using the power of AI.  George Tomeski is the CEO of Helfie.ai, a company whose platform will allow you to assess a whole host of health conditions using only your smartphone. And they hope to bring that ability to billions of people around the world who have historically lacked access to proper medical care.   In this episode, we get into the fascinating origins of Helfie.ai, the company's groundbreaking tech, and George's thoughts on AI's evolving role in the healthcare sector.Highlights:George's professional journey (2:18)Origin of Helfie.ai (3:32)The people healthcare is leaving behind (5:45)How Helfie.ai works (7:28)Working with healthcare orgs (9:53)Next steps after disease identification (10:58)Choosing which diseases to tackle (13:15)Building the algorithm (14:19)Partnerships (17:35)Helfia.ai funding (18:33)The leadership team (19:41)Thoughts on the future of AI in healthcare (20:49)What's on the horizon for Helfie.ai (24:10)Links:George's LinkedInHelfie.ai LinkedInHelfie.ai WebsiteICR LinkedInICR TwitterICR WebsiteFeedback:If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, [email protected].

When it comes to defense tech, it's not enough to design the best weapons systems, you need to be able to actually build them. Today's company is investing in the infrastructure that will restore American arms manufacturing capabilities, and preserve our advantage in a world that's becoming more dangerous. Our guest today is Joe Musselman, Founder and Managing Partner of Bravo Victor Venture Capital, a US-based early seed and series-A venture capital fund. Joe is accountable for the firm's strategic vision and day-to-day mission, and leads all teams at the firm, including capital, investment, portfolio, and fund operations. Since 2019, Joe's invested in companies like Firestorm, Epsilon3, Havoc AI, and notable early breakouts like Anduril, and Figure AI. And importantly for our conversation today, he recently led investments into Union, a new energetics prime where he is Co-Founder and Chairman.Today, Joe discusses his fascinating journey as a founder, how BVVC is enabling national security start-ups to scale effectively, and why winning the AI race will be crucial for the future of our country. Highlights:Joe's journey (2:17)Why defense tech? (6:01)Fund in the field (8:26)Scaling national security startups (13:18)Union and the manufacturing advantage (19:01)The importance of AI (23:25)Why defense tech investments are crucial (27:29)Links:Joe Musselman LinkedInJoe Musselman LinkedInBVVC WebsiteICR LinkedInICR TwitterICR Website Feedback:If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, [email protected]

Running a hotel can mean processing all sorts of guest transactions, from check-in, to spa treatments, to a martini in the lobby bar. One company promises to consolidate all of those transactions — and all of that customer data — onto one single platform. Taylor Lauber is the CEO of Shift4 payments, which trades under the symbol FOUR. Taylor's been with the company since 2018 with prior roles including President and Chief Strategy Officer, he was also one of the company's first interns 25 years ago. Taylor joins us to discuss Shift4's incredible growth over the last few years, how they differentiate themselves in the crowded payments industry, and their strategy for generating new revenue streams organically or through M&A.Highlights:What is Shift4? (2:02)Shift4's Market Share (5:38)Brands within the brand (8:55)Taking over as CEO (10:26)Strategy for Organic Growth (11:49)M & A Strategy (13:58)Global Blue Acquisition (17:22)Stable Coin payment processing (20:18)Building cross-regional consistency (22:18)AI's evolving role in the business (23:47)Balancing growth and profitability (25:47)Exciting things ahead (27:41)Links:Taylor Lauber LinkedInShift4 LinkedInShift4 WebsiteICR LinkedInICR TwitterICR WebsiteFeedback:If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, [email protected]

 Heavy hitters like Larry Fink and Paul Atkins have said that tokenization is the future, but acquiring and managing tokenized assets can be a tall order for the average retail investor. Today's company is working to change that, with a unique strategy that provides value far beyond market exposure. Marco Santori is the Chief Executive Officer of Solmate, which trades under the symbol SLMT. Solmate is an institutional infrastructure company accelerating Solana’s growth, and giving investors exposure to Solana's native token, SOL. Marco is a treasury company pioneer, launching the very first Altcoin treasury on Nasdaq, and he was a partner at Pantera Capital where he helped to structure some of the industry's best performing treasuries. Marco was also the Chief Legal Officer at Kraken, one of the world's largest digital asset exchanges, served as the President of Blockchain.com, and he was a partner at the law firm Cooley, where he led the firm's global fintech team. Today, Marco joins us to explain how Solmate's infrastructure flywheel creates value, what makes Solana unique among blockchains, and how the emergence of digitized capital markets will impact the world of finance.Highlights:Blockchain basics (2:22)What is Solana? (4:27)What sets Solmate apart (7:28)Infrastructure flywheel (11:08)Digital capital markets (13:31)Why the UAE? (15:42)Institutional readiness and blockchains (19:30)How will blockchains change finance? (21:17)Innovations in the works (24:53)Solmate's investment thesis (27:19) Links: Marco LinkedInSolmate LinkedInSolmate WebsiteICR LinkedInICR TwitterICR Website Feedback:If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, [email protected]

The African American community has long been an under-appreciated and underserved segment in retail. One clothing retailer is tailoring their offerings to meet their specific needs, which has led to incredible brand loyalty, and huge profits.Ken Seipel has served as Citi Trends CEO since November of 2024, and became the chairman of the Board of directors in April of 2025. Ken has extensive retail leadership experience, including serving as the CEO of West Marine from 2019 to 2021, and CEO of Gabriel Brothers from 2013 to 2017.Ken joins us to talk about his storied career in retail, how Citi Trends is leveraging AI to make smarter decisions, and why he feels so confident in their future growth.Highlights:Ken's retail journey (2:05)Turnaround experience (3:53)The Scale of Citi Trends (5:03)Off-price retail (6:35)Serving the African American community (7:21)Three-Tiered Product Strategy (10:08)The Citi Trends Turnaround (12:38)Leveraging AI (14:29)What's driving their recent success? (16:21)Gross Margin Expansion (19:35)Expansion Strategy (21:44)Focus for 2026 (24:46) Links:Ken Seipel LinkedInCiti Trends LinkedInCiti Trends WebsiteICR LinkedInICR TwitterICR Website Feedback:If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, [email protected]

For most companies in the oil industry, drilling new wells is a major part of their business strategy. Today, we're highlighting a firm that's taking a very different tack. Will Ulrich has served as co-CEO of Presidio Petroleum alongside his partner Chris Hammack, since founding the company in 2017. Presidio's mission is to generate the oil industry's best return on capital by delivering the industry's lowest operating expenses, highest profitability and best emissions profile — all without doing any drilling. Today, Will shares Presidio's unique approach to value creation, their upcoming plan to go public via business combination, and the reasons why they're optimistic for the future. Highlights:Founding Presidio (1:57)Going Public (4:45)The end of the 'Capital Intensive Shale Era' (7:06)Institutional Backing (8:58)Dividend (10:46)Private Equity (13:58)Reducing Operating Costs (17:21)Field Incentive Plan (20:55)Stable Well Production (22:30)Hedging (23:42)CapEx (25:43)Acquisition Strategy (27:23)5-year Outlook (29:17)Links: Will Ulrich LinkedInPresidio LinkedInPresidio WebsiteICR LinkedInICR TwitterICR Website Feedback:If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, [email protected].

For thousands of years, people in Eastern Europe have been drinking Kefir, a fermented dairy drink. Now, people around the world are waking up to its incredible health benefits, and for one US company, that presents a tremendous opportunity.Julie Smolyansky is the CEO of Lifeway Foods. When she took over Lifeway in 2002 at just 27 years old, she became the youngest female CEO of a publicly traded company. Since then, Julie has propelled the business forward with innovative product development and marketing, bringing Kefir into the US mainstream.Today, Julie joins us to recount the history of the company since it was founded by her father, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, back in 1986, and discusses the different market forces working in tandem to drive their recent success.Highlights:History of Kefir (2:19)History of Lifeway (6:52)Behind Lifeway's recent success (9:44)Approach to Social Media and Marketing (13:43)GLP-1s (15:23)International Distribution (16:41)Goals for 2026 (20:19)The Lifeway Team (21:35)Brand Authenticity (23:02)What investors miss about Lifeway (24:37)Links:Julie Smolyansky LinkedInLifeway LinkedInLifeway WebsiteICR LinkedInICR TwitterICR Website Feedback:If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, [email protected].

When a once-successful business falls on hard times, it can sometimes be hard for them to diagnose and fix the problem from within. Today's guest has built a career out of helping these businesses turn things around, and he's doing it again with one of America's premiere fitness brands.Mark Goldston is the Executive Chairman of The Beachbody Company, which trades under the symbol BODI. Mark is one of the world's most respected turnaround executives, and has spent his career reviving some of the best known brands in the world, including Revlon, Reebok, and LA Gear to name a few. He is also a prolific inventor with 135 US and foreign patents to his name. Today, Mark walks us through the history of The Beachbody Company, the issues he identified within the business, and how he and his team are working to right the ship.  Highlights:Mark's Career (1:40)Symptoms of a struggling business (6:34)The Beachbody Company turnaround (10:12)Navigating a difficult retail environment (17:16)Brand Awareness (21:58)How GLP-1's are impacting the business (26:46)What are investors missing about Beachbody? (29:50) Links:Mark Goldston LinkedInThe Beachbody Company LinkedInThe Beachbody Company WebsiteICR LinkedInICR TwitterICR Website Feedback:If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, [email protected].