

Wild Business Growth
Max Branstetter
Wild ideas. Wild growth. Every Wednesday morning a new entrepreneur shares the wildly creative and unusual ways they grew their business - and teaches you how to do it, too. Hear the minds behind WordPress, Stacy's Pita Chips, Drybar, NFL RedZone, Big Mouth Billy Bass, the voice of Bart Simpson, and more Wild stories. Hosted by Max Branstetter, Founder and Podcast Producer at MaxPodcasting
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 14, 2025 • 41min
#328: Ken Gavranovic – Growing Your Business, Product Genius
Ken Gavranovic, the Serial Entrepreneur and Board Member of Product Genius, joins the show to share his journey from growing up poor to leading several exits. Hear the 80's movie that rocked his world, how to lead your company toward IPO, how to best spend your time as an entrepreneur, how to start a business in the AI space, and how improv helps you as a business owner. Connect with Ken at KenGavranovic.com, ProductGenius.Guru, and on LinkedIn

May 7, 2025 • 39min
#327: Dori Yona – Closing Your Business, SimpleClosure Co-Founder
Dori Yona, the Co-Founder & CEO of SimpleClosure, joins the show to share his journey from captaining battleships to making it easy to shut down your business. Hear how to start a unique business, when it makes sense to close your business, how to shut down your business, how to keep going when you're ready to quit, and The Mexico Whiteboard Story. Connect with Dori at SimpleClosure.com, on LinkedIn, and on X @DoriYona

Apr 30, 2025 • 40min
#326: Sidney Collin – NexStride for Parkinson's, De Oro Devices Co-Founder
Sidney Collin, the Co-Founder & President of De Oro Devices, joins the show to share her journey from studying the brain to creating NexStride to help people with Parkinson's and other mobility disorders walk safely. Hear how the brain works, how Parkinson's disease affects the brain & mobility, what you can learn from a failed pitch, how to pivot from B2C to B2B, and the best tacos in Austin. Connect with Sidney at GetNexStride.com and on LinkedIn

Apr 23, 2025 • 42min
#325: Scott Marshall – Semester at Sea, Institute for Shipboard Education
Scott Marshall, the President & CEO of Semester at Sea and the Institute for Shipboard Education (ISE), joins the show to share his journey from studying abroad in Japan to leading study abroad on a giant ship around the world. Hear the behind-the-scenes of Semester at Sea, how they manage the cost of a cruise ship, the favorite ports, the best Semester at Sea traditions, and the most beautiful sights on and off the water. Connect with Scott at SemesterAtSea.org and on LinkedIn

Apr 16, 2025 • 30min
#324: Nikki Seaman – Olive Reimaginer, Freestyle Snacks Founder
Nikki Seaman, the Founder & CEO of Freestyle Snacks, joins the show to share her journey from avoiding olives to reimagining olives in delicious snack form. Hear why olives are so polarizing, how to get customer feedback early on, how to differentiate your food brand, The Brineusual of fun facts about olives, and olive the puns. Connect with Nikki at FreestyleSnacking.com and on LinkedIn

Apr 9, 2025 • 31min
#323: Emily Cho – Prison Teacher, Juvie for STEM Founder
Emily Cho, the Founder of Juvie for STEM aka JSTEM, joins the show to share her journey from volunteering in prisons to creating the largest youth-led education technology nonprofit. Hear what makes prison so fascinating, what you can learn from teaching in prison, how to structure your business, how to run a business with limited time, and Emily's work with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Connect with Emily at JuvieForSTEM.org

Apr 2, 2025 • 32min
#322: Len Kretchman – Uncrustables Creator, Bread Kneads Co-Founder
Len Kretchman, the Creator of Uncrustables and Co-Founder of Bread Kneads, joins the show to share his journey from college football star to creating the crustless PB&J sandwich that became a billion-dollar brand. Hear how his wife Emily came up with the idea for Uncrustables, the insights that made them possible to produce, the moment they knew it would be a success, how they sold Uncrustables to Smucker's, and Len's favorite route to run as a wide receiver. Connect with Len at BreadKneadsLLC.com and Orders@BreadKneads.net

Jan 29, 2025 • 1h 7min
#321: Anne Candido & April Martini – ForthRight People, Strategic Counsel by ForthRight Business
Anne Candido & April Martini, the Co-Founders of ForthRight People and Co-Hosts of Strategic Counsel by ForthRight Business, join the show to share their journey from P&G and the agency world to helping businesses grow through strategy & brand building. Hear how to find your business partner, how to know when it's time to pivot your business, how to use your podcast as your primary marketing strategy, how to batch your podcast recordings, and the song Anne can't stand. Connect with Anne & April on LinkedIn, ForthRight-People.com, and check out Strategic Counsel by ForthRight Business. Stay tuned at the end of this episode for a special announcement about the Wild Business Growth podcast

Jan 22, 2025 • 44min
#320: Greg Fisher – Kelley Entrepreneurship Professor, The Principles of Entrepreneurial Progress
Greg Fisher, the Kelley Professor of Entrepreneurship and Author of The Principles of Entrepreneurial Progress, joins the show to share his journey from accountant in South Africa to teaching the next generation of entrepreneurs at Indiana University (IU). Hear how to become a college professor, the mistakes many new entrepreneurs make, how to keep things simple as an entrepreneur, how to maintain a sense of urgency, and the moment Greg felt truly at home in Bloomington. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn and check out his book on Amazon

Jan 15, 2025 • 44min
#319: Alan Kraft & Jim Kabakow – Media Horizons, Bin 113, Wine Across America
Alan Kraft & Jim Kabakow, the Co-Founders & Managing Partners of Bin 113, join the show to share their journey from starting, growing, and selling Media Horizons to building the wine marketing company for wineries in all 50 states. Hear how to start a marketing agency, how to add more services to your business, how to sell your business, the marketing opportunity for wineries in the US, and Alan & Jim's favorite wine regions outside the US. Connect with Alan & Jim on LinkedIn, Bin113.com, and check out Wine Across America


