Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur | Start and Grow Your Own Business

Dr. Saralyn and Gabe Grass, the husband-and-wife co-founders behind Verdant Synergies, join the show to share their incredible journey from running a craft brewery to launching a high-impact consulting firm. They pull back the curtain on how they leveraged their second-time founder experience and why their nonprofit background became a secret weapon in the for-profit world. This episode is a masterclass in building a business that’s both profitable and mission-driven, packed with actionable advice for any entrepreneur. Tune in to discover how to shift your focus from chasing funds to earning trust, how to articulate your value in a way that resonates, and why humanizing your brand is the ultimate growth hack.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
🚀 How to apply a nonprofit mindset (community, mission, trust) to a for-profit venture for a massive competitive advantage.
💰 The secret to successful fundraising: why making your primary goal earning trust will make the money follow.
🗣️ How to articulate your business's true value by focusing on the outcomes and impact you create, not just the service you provide.
🤝 The power of storytelling and humanizing your brand to attract a loyal community, not just one-time customers.
✨ How to turn different co-founder skill sets into a business superpower through effective communication and a shared vision.
📈 Why modern consumers give through an organization, not just to it, and how to position your business to meet this new demand for impact.
🧠 How to find value in every situation—even a bad boss or a “crap job”—and turn it into fuel for your entrepreneurial journey.
📝 About Dr. Saralyn Grass & Gabe Grass
Dr. Saralyn Grass and Gabe Grass are the dynamic husband-and-wife co-founding team behind Verdant Synergies, their second entrepreneurial venture together after successfully launching and running GrassLands Brewing Company. Saralyn brings over two decades of experience in nonprofit and government leadership, specializing in funding strategy and policy from the funder's side of the table. Gabe complements this with his extensive background in development and fundraising, having helped raise over $10 million for major universities. Their unique power comes from this 360-degree view of the funding world, allowing them to help mission-driven organizations turn ambitious ideas into actionable, sustainable plans.
🎯 Dr. Saralyns BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
Focus on value in three key ways: do something you personally value, find the value in every situation you’re in (even the bad ones), and make sure the people you work with value you in return.
🎯 Gabe’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
Be true to yourself. The modern consumer is smart and can see through the BS, so humanize your company, show your passion, and lead with integrity and humility.
📢 Memorable Quotes
“If you make your primary goal earning someone's trust, then the money will come.” – Dr. Saralyn Grass
“You should value it, and they should value you, because we all have something to offer that has value.” – Dr. Saralyn Grass
“Having a product that solves a problem… that's not enough. It'll never be enough. You have to be able to let people know and communicate your passion through it.” – Gabe Grass
“My message to the wantrepreneurs out there is just be true to yourselves, because if you're not, then what are you doing?” – Gabe Grass
💡 Actionable Takeaways
✅ Re-evaluate your sales pitch or fundraising deck. Shift your focus from simply asking for money to demonstrating your value and earning trust first.
✅ Practice telling your origin story. What is the "why" behind your business? Start weaving that narrative into your marketing to humanize your brand.
✅ If you have a co-founder, schedule time to discuss how your different skills can be better leveraged as a collective superpower for the business.
✅ Look at your business through a nonprofit lens. What is your "mission" beyond profit? Brainstorm one way you can build a stronger community around that mission this month.
🔗 Links & Resources
Website: https://www.verdantsynergies.com/
Connect with Saralyn on LinkedIn
Connect with Gabe on LinkedIn
Follow Verdant Synergies on LinkedIn

Is your business leaving money on the table? According to data science expert Robert Tan, the answer is almost certainly yes. In this episode, Robert pulls back the curtain on how B2B SaaS companies are uncovering millions of dollars in hidden revenue opportunities simply by looking at the customer data they already have. He shares a powerful story of how a payroll company discovered a brand new, multi-million dollar product line by realizing their "one-size-fits-all" approach was failing a huge segment of their users. This episode is a masterclass for any founder who wants to stop making assumptions and start making data-driven decisions that directly impact the bottom line. Robert breaks down his proven framework for turning customer uncertainty into clear, evidence-based growth strategies.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
The Multi-Million Dollar Product Idea Hiding in Your Data: Learn how a SaaS company’s slipping North Star metric led to the discovery of two completely unserved customer segments and a brand new product opportunity.
Beyond Email Tags—What Real Segmentation Looks Like: Understand the difference between basic marketing segmentation (like tagging users in Mailchimp) and deep, foundational analysis that can reshape your entire business strategy.
The Art of Asking the Right Questions: Discover why asking customers hypothetical questions leads to useless data and learn the "detective" style questions that uncover what users actually do and need.
How to Wrangle Qualitative & Quantitative Data: Get Robert’s insights on how to use rich, qualitative interview data to guide your quantitative analysis, and how AI tools like Claude are supercharging this process.
Why Your ICP Might Be Obsolete: Hear why relying on an outdated Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is one of the biggest risks to your growth and how to identify the distinct use cases your product really serves.
The 90-Day Path to Actionable Insights: Learn about Robert's 7-step, 90-day process for finding the "goldmine" in your customer data without bogging down your internal team.
📝 About Robert Tan
Robert Tan is the founder of High Point Insight, a growth consulting firm dedicated to helping B2B SaaS companies uncover hidden revenue. With over eight years of experience as a data scientist and product manager, Robert saw a recurring problem: companies were sitting on mountains of valuable data but had no idea how to turn it into actionable growth strategies. Frustrated by seeing so many businesses leave potential untapped, he launched High Point Insight to provide a clear, evidence-based framework for customer segmentation and strategic decision-making. His work has helped software companies identify millions in new revenue by finding the growth levers hidden within their existing customer base.
🎯 Robert’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
"In business, money can save you years."
📢 Memorable Quotes
"In personal life, money can save you hours. In business, money can save you years." – Robert Tan
"Avoid hypotheticals. Try to almost be like a detective or investigator that tries to see what happened in the past." – Robert Tan
"If a founder doesn't get this question [of the target customer] right, then things don't really quite go according to plan." – Robert Tan
💡 Actionable Takeaways
Audit Your Customer Questions: Stop asking customers "would you use this?" Instead, ask "tell me about the last time you solved [problem]." Ground your interviews in past behavior, not future speculation.
Challenge Your Core Assumptions: When was the last time you revisited your Ideal Customer Profile? If it's been more than a year, it might be stale. Dig into your data to see if new use cases have emerged.
Look for Your "Contractor-Only" Segment: Analyze the story of the payroll company. Are there segments of your user base who are paying for your full product but only need 20% of its features? This could be your next big product opportunity.
Embrace "Proximity is Power": Intentionally seek out and build relationships with entrepreneurs who are playing a bigger game than you are. Joining a mastermind or networking group can 5x or 10x your growth just by raising your average.
🔗 Links & Resources
Website: http://highpointinsight.com/
Connect with Robert on LinkedIn
Follow High Point Insight on LinkedIn

Ever wonder how to take a personal passion and turn it into a high-tech, scalable business? Sebastian De Castro, founder of AI-powered personal stylist AskTailr, did just that, taking the entrepreneurial leap to solve a problem he was obsessed with. This episode is a masterclass in making the entrepreneurial leap, bootstrapping a startup with intention, and building a product that solves a real, recurring customer problem. Sebastian shares his methodical, evidence-based approach to product development, proving that you don’t need VC funding to build something impactful. This conversation is packed with invaluable lessons for any wantrepreneur or entrepreneur on how to pace yourself, validate your idea, and build a business that truly serves its users.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
🚀 How to strategically make the leap into a bootstrapped startup by betting on yourself and your passion.
🧠 Why starting with a real, repeating problem is the key to building a product your users will love and use daily.
💰 The bootstrapped founder’s guide to prioritizing features and managing resources without outside investment.
📈 How to use a small beta launch to generate powerful evidence, gather honest feedback, and validate your business idea.
🤝 The power of consistency: Why weekly, non-negotiable meetings and small, measurable steps are crucial for unstoppable progress.
🤖 How to leverage AI to make an exclusive, expensive service accessible to the masses and build a scalable tech company.
🎯 Why you must solve the core user problem before focusing on downstream monetization and e-commerce.
📝 About Sebastian De Castro
Sebastian De Castro is the founder and CEO of AskTailr, an AI personal stylist and style intelligence platform. A licensed professional engineer with a background in growing a $50 million aviation infrastructure practice, Sebastian combines a sharp, analytical mind with a deep-seated passion for fashion. He turned his personal obsession into a successful men's fashion YouTube channel before taking the leap into entrepreneurship. Sebastian is a bootstrapped founder on a mission to transform personal styling from an expensive luxury into an intelligent, everyday tool that helps everyone look and feel their best.
🎯 Sebastian’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
"Start with a problem that repeats and build the smallest loop to generate honest evidence that that problem is real and that you can solve that problem. Then let that evidence earn the next layer of your vision... pace yourself and master each problem as it comes."
📢 Memorable Quotes
“There's no good idea out there to begin with. It's just having a love for something, having a passion and wanting to help others... you enter the slipstream and you will find your fit.” – Sebastian De Castro
“Life is so short... what really pushed me was having my first daughter. She was born and I realized, well, I'm on borrowed time. It's now or never.” – Sebastian De Castro
“Fashion technology has solved for access, but it created decision problems... talking to users, they didn't want to find a better way to shop... they just want to feel better.” – Sebastian De Castro
💡 Actionable Takeaways
✅ Find Your "Smallest Loop": Identify the core problem your business solves and brainstorm the absolute simplest way to test it. This could be a basic landing page, a manual service, or even just a spreadsheet.
✅ Schedule Your Consistency: Like Sebastian and his co-founder, block off one non-negotiable meeting each week to review progress and set goals. This builds unstoppable momentum.
✅ Validate Through Content: If you have a passion you’re obsessed with, start sharing your knowledge on a platform like YouTube or a blog. This is a low-risk way to build an audience and validate if people care about the problem you want to solve.
✅ Listen for the Underlying Problem: When talking to potential customers, listen beyond the features they ask for. Dig deeper to understand the core feeling or problem they truly want to solve.
✅ Embrace the Pivot: Acknowledge that your initial business idea will evolve. Stay flexible and let customer evidence guide your direction rather than sticking rigidly to your first plan.
🔗 Links & Resources
Website: https://asktailr.com/
Connect with Sebastian on LinkedIn
Connect with Faye on LinkedIn
Follow AskTailr on LinkedIn
Subscribe to Sebastian De Castro on YouTube

Digna Deleon-Morris shares her incredible journey from arriving in the U.S. from the Dominican Republic and earning $5.25 an hour, to climbing the corporate ladder and managing an $82 million territory, only to realize she was a "slave to corporate America." This episode is a masterclass in radical transformation, as Digna opens up about the 6-year internal battle to shift from an employee mindset to an entrepreneurial one, the devastating financial loss that forced her to learn how money really works, and how she rebuilt a purpose-driven empire from scratch. For any wantrepreneur feeling stuck or any entrepreneur facing a setback, Digna’s story is raw, inspiring, and packed with the actionable wisdom you need to build a life and business on your own terms.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
How to navigate the 6-year mental transformation from a security-seeking employee to a risk-taking entrepreneur.
Why financial literacy is the most critical, yet overlooked, skill for building a sustainable and resilient business.
The powerful "7 Whys" exercise to uncover your deepest motivation and use it as unstoppable fuel during tough times.
How to reframe catastrophic failure not as starting from zero, but as starting over with priceless experience.
The blueprint for creating a scalable business model that empowers others to succeed alongside you.
Why your business can never outgrow your personal development and how to "work harder on you than you do on your job."
📝 About Digna Deleon-Morris
Digna Deleon-Morris is a nationally recognized entrepreneur, financial educator, and the co-founder of Nationwide Financial Firm. Originally from the Dominican Republic, she built a highly successful corporate career before a major financial setback became the catalyst for her entrepreneurial journey. Alongside her husband, she built a scalable virtual business that has empowered hundreds of agents to launch their own agencies. Today, Digna is on a mission to provide Hispanic families with the financial education needed to build wealth, gain confidence, and create a lasting legacy.
🎯 Digna’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
"Give yourself the gift of the first hour of your day to consciously design the life you want in the next 90 days."
📢 Memorable Quotes
"You never start from zero. We start with experience, we start with whatever didn't work before and all the other things that I did." – Digna Deleon-Morris
"Your business will never outgrow who you are and who you think you are, the image of yourself that you have." – Digna Deleon-Morris
"Work harder on you than you do on your job. And I was like, that's so profound and it's so simple, but then it's simple not to do. And I decided to do it." – Digna Deleon-Morris
💡 Actionable Takeaways
✅ Implement the 90-day planning system. Sit down today and map out your goals for the next 90 days across the 7 life areas Digna outlined.
✅ Find your "why." Ask yourself "why" you want to succeed seven times, writing down each answer to get to the core emotional driver behind your ambition.
✅ Invest in your financial education. Pick one book (like a Robert Kiyosaki classic) or find a mentor to start learning how to make your money work for you, not just how to earn more of it.
✅ Reframe your schedule. Identify the hours outside of your 9-to-5 where you can build your "new identity" and business, just as Digna did after 5 PM.
🔗 Links & Resources
Website: https://www.joinnationwidefinancialfirm.com
Connect with Digna on LinkedIn
Follow Digna on Instagram

Ever created something—a social media post, a proposal, an email—and hesitated to send it because it just wasn't "perfect"? This Solo Sunday, Brian pulls back the curtain on a first-time event in the show's 1,500+ episode history: a brilliant guest interview that will never see the light of day. In this transparent episode, Brian shares the story of why the episode was pulled and the profound lesson it sparked about perfectionism, impact, and the courage to "hit publish." This isn't just a story about a podcast; it's a powerful reminder that the world is changed by imperfect action, not by ideas that stay locked away waiting for the perfect moment.
✨ Why This Matters for You
This episode is a permission slip to take imperfect action:
It helps you overcome the analysis paralysis that keeps you from launching, posting, and pitching.
It reframes your "flaws" and "mistakes" by reminding you that your audience is listening through their own lens, looking for value that helps them.
It highlights the real cost of waiting for perfection: someone, somewhere, is missing out on the exact message they need to hear from you.
It shifts your focus from your own performance to the service of your audience.
📝 Key Takeaways
The World Changes Through Publishing. "Publishing" isn't just for content creators; it means launching your business, pitching that client, making that hire, or sending that proposal. Progress only happens when you act.
Your Message Isn't About You. Listeners and customers consume everything through the lens of "how does this apply to me?" They aren't judging your delivery; they're looking for solutions to their problems.
Imperfect Action Creates Real Impact. Brian shares a powerful story about a listener in Egypt whose life was changed by the show's early, inconsistent, and "imperfect" episodes. Your "good enough" is often exactly what someone needs.
Don't Rob People of Your Value. When you hold back because you feel you weren't at your best, you prevent your stories, lessons, and experiences from reaching the people they were meant to serve.
Conversations Aren't Perfect. Entrepreneurship is a conversation, not a performance. Tangents, stumbles, and unpolished thoughts are often where the most relatable and valuable insights are found.
🚀 Put It Into Action
This week, conduct an "Imperfect Action Audit" on your business:
What is one thing you've been holding back on because you're waiting for it to be perfect? (A blog post, a new offer, a cold email, a social media video?)
Ask yourself: "What's the 'good enough' version of this that I could ship today?"
Commit to "hitting publish" on that one thing this week. Don't overthink it. Just get it out there and let it start working for you.
🔗 Stay Connected
Subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode
Connect with Brian on Instagram @imetbrian
Share this episode with a fellow entrepreneur who needs permission to stop waiting and start doing.