Podcast · Business

The Founders Sandbox

by Brenda McCabe · English · Business

The Founder's Sandbox, produced and sponsored by Next Act Advisors, is now in its fourth season. Hosted by NAA founder Brenda McCabe, each episode features in-depth conversations with founders of small and midsized, owner-operated companies, and operators that support the ecosystem including board o

New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 44 min
Latest: 30 Jun 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

30 Jun 2026 · 44 min

Season 4, #7 - Abundance in the Startup Ecosystem

Episode Summary: Abundance in the Startup Ecosystem with Naseem Sayani In this episode of The Founder's Sandbox, Brenda McCabe sits down with investor, ecosystem builder, and female founder advocate Naseem Sayani to explore how capital, community, and visibility can create a more abundant and equitable startup ecosystem. Naseem shares her journey from management consulting and digital innovation to venture investing, where she became increasingly aware of the disparities women founders face when raising capital. After leaving a successful consulting partnership, she dedicated her career to…

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Earlier episodes 9 most recent

S4 · E6 · 26 May 2026 · 50 min
Season 4, #6- Resilience & Purpose: A Little more Social
In this episode of The Founder's Sandbox, host Brenda McCabe sits down with behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business to explore the surprising power of human connection. Drawing on decades of research and his new book A Little More Social, Epley reveals why we consistently underestimate how positive social interactions can be—and how small choices, like expressing gratitude or starting a conversation, can significantly improve our well-being, relationships, and workplace culture. Together, they discuss the science behind social connection, the…
S4 · E6 · 14 May 2026 · 47 min
Season 4, #6- Building Reputation with Purpose
In this episode of the Founder's Sandbox, Brenda McCabe sits down with growth advisor and author Vanessa Golsby to explore what it really takes to scale private equity-backed SaaS companies. Vanessa shares the story behind her new book, The $100M Push: The Four Decisions PE-Backed SaaS CEOs Make to Deliver Growth in 100 Days, and reveals the four critical decisions CEOs must lead to build scalable, resilient growth: defining the ideal customer profile, aligning go-to-market execution, making strategic investment decisions, and creating long-term operational accountability. Drawing from her…
S4 · E5 · 10 Feb 2026 · 56 min
Season 4, #5- Be Curiously Different
What happens when you're tasked with reinventing an economy—and later find yourself building investment systems in countries where the rulebook doesn't exist? That's the story of Thomas Nastas, this month's guest on the Founder's Sandbox. His journey from Michigan's automotive belt to the front lines of the former USSR is a masterclass in resilience, creativity, and leadership under pressure. In this episode, host Brenda McCabe interviews Thomas Nastas, a seasoned board director with over 30 years of experience in international markets. They discuss Thomas's journey from Michigan to various…
S4 · E4 · 13 Nov 2025 · 37 min
Season 4, #4 - Chris Daden Scaling for work 4.0
In this episode of The Founder's Sandbox, host Brenda McCabe sits down with Chris Daden, CTO of Criteria Corp, to explore what it takes to scale purpose-driven businesses in the era of Work 4.0. Chris shares his fascinating origin story—starting with a childhood shaped by tech-savvy parents and leading to multiple exits, international teams, and leadership at a global talent success platform. He breaks down how Criteria uses science and AI to remove bias from hiring, why soft skills matter more than ever, and how to future-proof your workforce in an AI-augmented world. Learn about his…
S4 · E3 · 23 Oct 2025 · 37 min
Season 4, #3 - Growth Gears for Scaling
On this episode of The Founder's Sandbox, Brenda McCabe sits down with Jen Apy, Area Managing Partner and Chief Marketing Officer at Chief Outsiders, to explore how scaling companies can unlock growth through fractional marketing leadership. Jen shares insights from her 30+ years of marketing experience—spanning Mattel, Adobe, Intuit, and now Chief Outsiders—and introduces listeners to the Growth Gears framework: a strategic methodology designed to help small and mid-sized companies grow efficiently and sustainably. Jen and Brenda also dive into key trends such as the rise of "flash teams,"…
S4 · E2 · 23 Sep 2025 · 32 min
Season 4, #2 - Sustainable Impact Through Family Play
On this episode of The Founder's Sandbox, Brenda speaks with Anbern R. Guarrine: a partner of The Guarrine Group (tGG), a global training company based in Illinois. tGG has facilitated team building, leadership, and organizational development workshops around the world for over 30 years. tGG partners with excellent facilitators who help groups have FUN, which is a hallmark of tGG Anbern R. Guarrine calls herself a "Facilitator of Family Play." By facilitating games, she helps participants gain insights about their strengths, their relationships with peers, and how they can use their skills…
S4 · E1 · 14 Aug 2025 · 39 min
Season 4, # 1. Purpose: Ethos in Employee Benefits
On this episode of "The Founder's Sandbox", Brenda speaks with Donovan Ryckis; CEO of Ethos Benefits, the nation's leading fiduciary benefits consultant in mid- -large market employers. Ethos Benefits was founded in 2016, after a chance request from a client of Donovan when he operated as a financial advisor--the client was faced with an increase in the companies' health insurance bill for the companies' employee plan that would have had a financial burden that threatened the sustainability of the company. 'Ethos' represents the guiding principle, character, or spirit of a person or…
S3 · E14 · 10 Jul 2025 · 35 min
Season 3, #14 - Scaling the Co-founder Relationship
Tim He checks many boxes as a guest on the Founders Sandbox- a 3x founder, now advisor, professor, creator, writer and coffee snob. Tim's newsletter, "Cherrytree", allowed him to keep teaching entrepreneurship while the pandemic closed the classroom. By providing a newsletter, Cherrytree now offers consulting and coaching to cofounders. In Tim's own words; "I want to actually change how people become cofounders. And then how they stay cofounders." It is a tough decision to "divorce a co founder" and we find on this episode with Tim He sound advice on getting the pre nuptials in place for…
S3 · E13 · 24 Jun 2025 · 56 min
Season 3, #13- Scaling AI with Ruthless Compassion
On this episode of The Founder's Sandbox, Brenda speaks with David Hirschfeld, owner of 18 year old business Tekyz, that boasts a hyperexceptional development team building high "ticket" products in the B2B space. They speak about ways in which AI is a gamechanger, how Tekyz backs their work for clients with relentless pursuit of quality, and how Tekyz practices ruthless compassion,to protect the company and enable it to grow Having collaborated with over 90 startups, he developed the Launch 1st Method—a systematic approach that minimizes risks and accelerates software company success with…

About The Founders Sandbox

The Founders Sandbox is a English business podcast from Brenda McCabe. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Brenda McCabe
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 44 min
Latest episode: 30 Jun 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1635602627
Rights: 2025

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