Épisodes

  • Johnny Hanna: Entrata’s $4B Journey, Homie’s Disruption, and Entrepreneurs Mental Health
    Nov 13 2025
    In this episode of the Startup Ignition Podcast, we sit down with Johnny Hanna, a true legend in Utah Tech. Johnny shares his incredible journey from co-founding Property Solutions (now Entrata), a company now valued at $4 billion, to disrupting the real estate industry with Homie, and his latest ventures. He opens up about the challenges of innovation, facing lawsuits from industry giants like Zillow and Yardi, and the emotional toll of entrepreneurial highs and lows. Johnny also offers invaluable advice to aspiring founders on self-belief, managing people, and the importance of relationships in business.

    (00:00:00) The cease and desist from Zillow, and why investors advised to "go get sued"

    (00:02:06) Johnny Hanna's background and co-founding Property Solutions (now Entrata)

    (00:04:07) The early days of Property Solutions, from student venture to major platform

    (00:05:52) Property Solutions' initial business model: online rent collection and marketing websites

    (00:10:24) The pivotal moments and deals that turned the corner for Property Solutions

    (00:11:00) The lawsuit with industry giant Yardi and the emotional toll on founders

    (00:15:21) Why Johnny left Property Solutions after 12 years and the transition to Homie

    (00:20:34) The disruptive idea behind Homie and the fight against traditional realtors

    (00:24:36) The political power and lobbying efforts of realtor associations

    (00:28:37) The BYU study showing Homie sold homes faster and for more money

    (00:31:20) The Zillow cease and desist and the constant battles with the industry

    (00:33:57) The expansion of Homie into mortgages, title insurance, and cash offers

    (00:38:07) The impact of rising interest rates on Homie's fundraising and expansion

    (00:41:12) Homie's focus on profitability and eventual sale to new ownership

    (00:43:11) Johnny's year off and his role as CRO at Funnel

    (00:47:42) Joining a Y Combinator company (Corgi/Beagle) and the cultural challenges

    (00:49:42) Advice for startup founders: belief in yourself and managing people

    (00:51:58) The importance of relationships and caring for employees

    (00:53:20) Concluding thoughts and appreciation for Johnny Hanna's insights

    (00:55:03) Johnny's advice for startup founders

    Learn more about us:
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    #StartupIgnition
    #JohnnyHanna
    #Entrata
    #Homie
    #UtahTech
    #Entrepreneurship
    #StartupLife
    #Disruption
    #RealEstateTech
    #Innovation
    #FounderJourney
    #BusinessAdvice
    #TechIndustry
    #VentureCapital
    #Podcast
    #SiliconSlopes
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    59 min
  • Adam Weber: Sold a Profitable Business for a SaaS Startup, Fundraising, Validation
    Nov 6 2025
    In this episode of the Startup Ignition Podcast, host Tyler Richards sits down with Adam Weber, the co-founder and CEO of Driven, a SaaS performance management tool for the home services industry. Adam shares his unconventional journey from feeling like an academic underachiever to becoming a serial entrepreneur. He details his first venture in custom suits, the lessons learned from various businesses including a pest control company and even a porta-potty rental service, and how the pain points of running his own service business led to the creation of Driven. Adam offers incredible insights on customer validation, his "irrational confidence," and a strategic, research-heavy approach to fundraising that has led him to successfully raise a $2.5 million seed round. This episode is packed with real-world tactics and the gritty, unfiltered story of a true operator.


    (00:05:19) Startup "This or That" Icebreaker

    (00:15:49) Adam's Early Life and Feeling Dumb in School

    (00:18:07) How Watching 'The Apprentice' Sparked His Entrepreneurial Drive

    (00:19:40) Starting His First Business: A Custom Suit Company

    (00:23:44) Moving to San Francisco and Bluffing His Way into a Corporate Job

    (00:30:27) The "Knock" Startup Idea in San Francisco

    (00:32:19) The Phone Call That Led to Starting a Pest Control Company

    (00:36:21) The Key to Success in the Pest Control Business: Hustle

    (00:40:22) Side Ventures: Porta-Potties and Dental Service Organizations

    (00:43:30) The Genesis of Driven: Solving His Own Business Pains

    (00:44:45) Selling the Pest Control Company to Go All-In on SaaS

    (00:49:50) Why He Chose a Risky Software Startup Over a Stable Service Business

    (00:53:11) Moving to Utah and Raising a Pre-Seed Round

    (00:55:31) How Driven Acquired Its First Customers and Validated the Product

    (00:58:25) Adam's Unique and Successful Fundraising Strategy

    (01:06:48) Advice for His 20-Year-Old Self

    (01:09:39) The Single Most Important Piece of Advice for Founders: Validate

    Learn more about us:
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    #SaaS
    #Entrepreneurship
    #StartupFounder
    #Fundraising
    #VentureCapital
    #Validation
    #PestControl
    #HomeServices
    #StartupStory
    #FounderJourney
    #Bootstrapping
    #TechStartup
    #UtahBusiness
    #SiliconSlopes
    #BusinessStrategy
    #StartupAdvice
    #LeanStartup
    #ProductMarketFit
    #CEO
    #B2BSaaS
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    1 h et 13 min
  • Jeff Kearl: The Playbook for Iconic Brands, Stance, Skullcandy, Entrepreneurship
    Oct 30 2025
    In this episode of the Startup Ignition Podcast, hosts John and Tyler Richards sit down with Jeff Kearl, a partner at Pelion Ventures and a legendary entrepreneur in the consumer products space. Jeff shares his incredible journey, from his early days in venture capital to co-founding iconic brands like Skullcandy and Stance. He recounts memorable moments, including a breakfast meeting with Will and Jada Smith, receiving a term sheet just minutes into a pitch with Benchmark Capital, and the lessons learned from the dot-com crash. Jeff offers deep insights into building a brand, the importance of product innovation, financing inventory for a fast-growing company, and the power of consistent effort over time.

    (00:00:00) The story of pitching Stance to Will and Jada Smith's team

    (00:01:38) Introducing Jeff Kearl, Partner at Pelion Ventures

    (00:03:48) Most memorable pitch received: Rick Alden and Skullcandy

    (00:09:07) Most memorable celebrity encounter: Breakfast with the Smith family

    (00:11:22) Most memorable failure: His first company, Freeport, during the dot-com crash

    (00:14:20) Parallels between the dot-com boom and the current AI hype cycle

    (00:18:13) Jeff's early entrepreneurial ventures and background

    (00:19:16) How Jeff broke into Venture Capital right out of college

    (00:27:56) How Jeff met co-host John Richards in an elevator

    (00:31:02) Co-founding Logoworks and getting funded by Benchmark Capital

    (00:36:35) Joining Skullcandy and helping scale it to a public company

    (00:40:33) How to finance a fast-growing consumer products business

    (00:47:06) The analytical process that led to the creation of Stance socks

    (00:51:51) Building Stance with the playbook learned from Skullcandy

    (00:53:41) Is product or brand more important for success in consumer goods?

    (00:58:40) Transitioning from CEO of Stance back to venture capital with Pelion

    (01:04:15) Jeff's number one piece of advice for his younger self

    Learn more about us:
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    #JeffKearl
    #Stance
    #Skullcandy
    #PelionVentures
    #Entrepreneurship
    #VentureCapital
    #StartupStory
    #Branding
    #ConsumerProducts
    #CPG
    #UtahBusiness
    #SiliconSlopes
    #StartupAdvice
    #FounderStories
    #BuildingABrand
    #Startups
    #AngelInvesting
    #TechCycles
    #ProductMarketFit
    #Scaling
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    1 h et 7 min
  • David Bradford: The OG of Silicon Slopes, Novell, Microsoft, Wozniak, Venture Capital, IPO
    Oct 16 2025
    In this episode of the Startup Ignition Podcast, we are honored to host David Bradford, a true OG of Utah tech. David takes us on a journey through his iconic career, from his early days as a Hollywood lawyer to becoming the General Counsel at Novell during its legendary battles with Microsoft. He shares the inside stories of taking Fusion-io public with a $1.2 billion valuation, recruiting Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and scaling HireVue from $1 million to over $30 million in revenue. David reveals his timeless principles of networking, the four pillars every great company needs, and his number one piece of advice for every entrepreneur: be a doer.

    (00:00:00) How Google's Eric Schmidt was introduced to Sergey Brin
    (00:02:16) Introducing David Bradford: The OG of OGs in Utah Tech
    (00:06:30) Utah Tech Era Trivia: Novell, WordPerfect, Iomega & more
    (00:15:00) The story of 1-800 Contacts' early days
    (00:21:42) David's journey from a small town in Montana to Hollywood lawyer
    (00:27:07) The legendary Microsoft vs. Novell battles
    (00:31:33) How one contract with Dell changed tech history
    (00:34:40) The Fusion-io story: From advisory board to CEO
    (00:38:14) How David recruited Steve Wozniak to Fusion-io's board
    (00:42:14) David's secret to building an incredible network: Be curious
    (00:48:39) The HireVue journey: From a leaky roof to a half-billion-dollar valuation
    (00:51:57) The 4 Pillars of a great company: People, Capital, Timing, and Innovation
    (00:57:53) Bringing on Larry King to the HireVue advisory board
    (01:01:38) What David is working on today with Fluent Worlds
    (01:02:45) David's #1 piece of advice: Be a dreamer that does
    (01:04:31) How a Steve Young signed football sealed a crucial executive hire

    Learn more about us:
    https://startupignition.com/links

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    #UtahTech
    #DavidBradford
    #SiliconSlopes
    #Novell
    #FusionIO
    #HireVue
    #Microsoft
    #SteveWozniak
    #Entrepreneurship
    #StartupStory
    #TechHistory
    #Networking
    #VentureCapital
    #BusinessAdvice
    #Leadership
    #StartupIgnition
    #BillGates
    #EricSchmidt
    #Google
    #Apple

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    1 h et 7 min
  • Jeron Paul: From Spreadsheet Idea to $419M Exit, SaaS, Salesforce Acquisition, Founder Journey
    Oct 9 2025
    In this episode of the Startup Ignition Podcast, hosts John and Tyler Richards sit down with 4x founder Jeron Paul. Jeron shares the incredible journey of his latest company, Spiff, from a simple idea to replace commission spreadsheets to a stunning $419 million acquisition by Salesforce. He discusses his entire entrepreneurial path, including his early ventures in venture capital, founding the cap table management company Capture, and his core thesis for building startups around the concept of an "effective surprise." Jeron also offers his perspective on the SaaS vs. AI debate, his current strategy as an active angel investor, and invaluable advice for early-stage founders on finding product-market fit.


    (00:01:21) - Introducing Jeron Paul, his background, and the $419M Spiff acquisition by Salesforce.

    (00:04:13) - Icebreaker questions: Paying customers vs. tons of users, favorite founder "hat," and worst customer feedback.

    (00:11:54) - Jeron's early career path through management consulting and venture capital at Vspring (now Rūn).

    (00:16:10) - The origin stories of Jeron's first companies, BoardLink and Scalar, which specialized in 409A valuations.

    (00:23:05) - The logical next step: How Scalar's work with cap tables led to the creation of Capture.

    (00:27:35) - The thesis of replacing mission-critical spreadsheets and the "aha" moment that sparked Spiff.

    (00:30:37) - A debate on the future of software: Is AI killing the traditional SaaS model?

    (00:44:05) - Jeron explains his key insight for successful startups: the concept of an "effective surprise."

    (00:50:28) - The inside story of the acquisition process with Salesforce, from the first conversation to the final wire transfer.

    (00:56:29) - Jeron's current focus on angel investing and what he looks for in the next generation of startups.

    (00:59:32) - Final advice for entrepreneurs: The importance of a "beginner's mind" and focusing on the search for a business model.

    (01:04:05) - Why founders must act on facts, not assumptions, to avoid costly mistakes.

    Learn more about us:
    https://startupignition.com/links

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    #JeronPaul
    #Spiff
    #Salesforce
    #Startup
    #Entrepreneurship
    #Exit
    #Acquisition
    #VentureCapital
    #AngelInvesting
    #SaaS
    #UtahTech
    #StartupIgnition
    #FounderStory
    #ProductMarketFit
    #AI
    #TechPodcast
    #BusinessAdvice
    #Founder
    #StartupJourney
    #Tech
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    1 h et 8 min
  • Startup War Stories That Will Save Your Company | Equity Splits, Bad Investors, Hiring
    Oct 2 2025
    In this episode of the Startup Ignition Podcast, hosts John and Tyler Richards dive into the most popular part of their boot camp: the war stories. They share real-world, personal experiences to illustrate fundamental startup principles. The episode kicks off with a rapid-fire icebreaker, translating common venture capital terminology into plain English. From there, they tackle the critical mistakes entrepreneurs often make, sharing cautionary tales about why 50/50 equity splits are a recipe for disaster, the dangers of partnering with misaligned investors, the fallacy of hiring a "white knight" salesperson too early, and the catastrophic cost of building a product based on an unvalidated idea.

    (00:00:00) The student with the "single worst idea" who became a multi-millionaire
    (00:03:40) Icebreaker: Translating VC terminology into plain English
    (00:11:16) Principle 1: Never split equity 50/50
    (00:14:38) War Story: How a 50/50 split led to a founder losing her own company
    (00:19:52) War Story: An investor's hidden terms killed a startup's biggest deal
    (00:23:32) Principle 2: The danger of hiring a "white knight" to save your company
    (00:25:16) War Story: The Chief Revenue Officer who generated less than 5% of sales in 18 months
    (00:29:04) War Story: Why Quibi failed after raising $1.8 billion
    (00:31:07) Principle 3: Startups must be problem-driven, not idea-driven
    (00:33:23) War Story: How validating an idea with the target market saved a student from failure
    (00:36:38) War Story: The doctor who spent $385,000 building a product nobody wanted
    (00:38:25) Why acting on assumptions is the most expensive mistake you can make
    (00:41:02) Final thoughts and how to hear more war stories


    Learn more about us:
    https://startupignition.com/links

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    #StartupAdvice
    #FounderStories
    #WarStories
    #Entrepreneurship
    #StartupMistakes
    #VentureCapital
    #LeanStartup
    #BusinessLessons
    #FounderJourney
    #MarketValidation
    #Equity
    #StartupFunding
    #EarlyStage
    #Bootstrapping
    #TechStartups
    #BusinessPodcast
    #StartupTips
    #JohnRichards
    #TylerRichards
    #StartupIgnition
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    43 min
  • Ben Knell: Building a $100M+ Sales Engine, Family & Leadership, FBI, Pest Control, Business
    Sep 25 2025
    In this episode of the Startup Ignition Podcast, hosts John and Tyler Richards are joined by Ben, the founder and CEO of BK Marketing. Ben shares his incredible entrepreneurial journey, from his early days in door-to-door alarm sales to revolutionizing the pest control industry. He details the creation of his unique business model, which focuses on building elite, outsourced sales teams for pest control companies nationwide. Ben opens up about the significant challenges he's overcome, including a business partner's FBI investigation, losing over a million dollars in bad investments, and the industry pushback he received for offering unprecedentedly high commissions. He also discusses the importance of work-life balance, the power of focusing on your strengths, and his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: "Why not you?"

    (00:00:00) Ben's shocking call from the FBI
    (00:02:23) Introducing Ben, CEO of BK Marketing
    (00:04:35) Icebreaker: A fun "this or that" session
    (00:10:05) How Ben got his start in door-to-door sales
    (00:16:05) Launching his first pest control company with no experience
    (00:19:30) A partner's $51 million fraud investigation puts everything at risk
    (00:23:45) The pivot: Creating a new business model for sales
    (00:25:44) How a life coach helped Ben 10x his productivity
    (00:29:13) The personal cost of an 80-hour work week and finding balance
    (00:31:47) The business mechanics of paying higher commissions
    (00:36:19) How private equity transformed the pest control industry
    (00:40:21) The biggest scars: Losing $1.4 million and the lesson learned
    (00:45:04) Ben's two biggest pieces of advice for early-stage founders
    (00:46:31) Why the Utah pest control industry pushed back against his model
    (00:48:26) What to look for (and what to avoid) when recruiting salespeople
    (00:51:21) Favorite podcast and the importance of "the becoming process"
    (00:54:17) What keeps Ben motivated today
    (00:56:55) Final advice to his 20-year-old self: "Why not you?"

    Learn more about us:
    https://startupignition.com/links

    Apply to be a guest on the pod:
    https://startup-ignition-podcast.paperform.co/

    Follow John & Tyler:
    https://x.com/trich_
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    #Entrepreneurship
    #Sales
    #PestControl
    #StartupStory
    #BusinessGrowth
    #DoorToDoor
    #UtahBusiness
    #FounderJourney
    #SalesTeam
    #Marketing
    #StartupAdvice
    #WorkLifeBalance
    #Scaling
    #Recruiting
    #BusinessStrategy
    #CEO
    #Innovation
    #Leadership
    #Grit
    #Resilience
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    1 h et 1 min
  • Jeff Burningham: From Real Estate Tycoon to VC, Startups, Becoming Wise in the Age of AI
    Sep 18 2025
    In this episode of the Startup Ignition Podcast, hosts John and Tyler Richards sit down with Jeff Burningham, a seasoned entrepreneur, prolific investor, and now, author. Jeff shares insights from his incredible journey, from launching his first tech company in college and co-founding the multi-billion dollar real estate firm Peak Capital Partners, to shaping Utah's tech scene with Peak Ventures (now Element Ventures). The conversation dives deep into the themes of his new book, "The Last Book Written by a Human," exploring how we can become wiser in the age of AI. Jeff also opens up about his run for governor, the lessons he learned about politics and leadership, and the importance of purpose-driven entrepreneurship. This is a must-listen for any founder seeking to build a meaningful company and a fulfilling life.

    (00:00:52) Welcoming Jeff Burningham: Entrepreneur, Investor, Author
    (00:05:00) The Million Dollar Question: When Did Jeff Make His First Million?
    (00:06:08) Icebreaker: Humans vs. Machines "This or That"
    (00:13:43) Investing: Trusting Your Gut vs. AI and Machine Learning
    (00:16:16) The Single Most Important Trait for Successful Founders
    (00:20:30) Does the Entrepreneurial Grind Serve You Well in Life?
    (00:23:17) Why AI Will Be a "Crucible for Humanity"
    (00:28:35) Jeff's Origin Story: From College Startup to Real Estate Tycoon
    (00:30:30) Navigating the 2008 Financial Crisis with Peak Capital
    (00:34:49) The Genesis of Peak Ventures and Fueling Utah's Startup Ecosystem
    (00:41:05) The Real Reason Jeff Burningham Ran for Governor
    (00:47:26) What Running for Office Taught Jeff About Politics vs. Leadership
    (00:50:31) Proposing a New Political Movement Focused on Human Flourishing
    (00:54:39) A Key to a Fulfilling Life: Prioritizing "Being" Over "Doing"
    (00:58:38) A Personal Story About the Importance of Being Present
    (01:03:14) Jeff's Two Most Important Tips for Early-Stage Entrepreneurs
    (01:06:35) Where to Find Jeff and His New Book

    Learn more about us:
    https://startupignition.com/links

    Apply to be a guest on the pod:
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    Follow John & Tyler:
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    #JeffBurningham
    #StartupIgnition
    #AI
    #ArtificialIntelligence
    #Entrepreneurship
    #VentureCapital
    #UtahBusiness
    #PeakCapital
    #ElementVentures
    #Politics
    #UtahPolitics
    #HumanFlourishing
    #PurposeDriven
    #FounderAdvice
    #ProductMarketFit
    #AngelInvesting
    #UtahTech
    #SiliconSlopes
    #Leadership
    #StartupPodcast
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    1 h et 7 min