Startup Ignition Podcast
The Startup Ignition Podcast delivers unfiltered conversations about building real companies. Hosted by John and Tyler Richards — a father-son team with 200+ angel investments and $1B+ in exits — the show features founders, investors, and operators sharing the strategies, mistakes, and hard-won lessons behind building durable companies.
ALL EPISODES
Ep. 61 · Sep 17, 2026
Arian Lewis
Building a coworking company that works, real estate vs venture financing, what WeWork actually got wrong, surviving the pandemic, leveraging gifts over passion
Ep. 60 · Sep 3, 2026
Sterling Jones
Bootstrapping a CPG brand, getting into Costco, retail strategy, founder transitions, scaling to $100M
Ep. 59 · Aug 20, 2026
Adam Sidwell
Worked on Pirates & Transformers, Now Betting His Studio on AI, Gaming, VFX
Ep. 58 · Aug 6, 2026
John & Tyler Richards
Is Your Startup Idea Actually Good? AI, Vibe Coding, Steve Blank & Idea Validation
Ep. 57 · Jul 23, 2026
Clint Betts
You Are Not Your Career, Silicon Slopes, Burnout & Identity, Utah Tech, Community
Ep. 56 · Jul 9, 2026
Brock Blake
Lendio CEO, Small Business Funding, SBA Loans, Bootstrapping vs Debt vs VC
Ep. 55 · Jul 2, 2026
Brian Murphy
Fundraising $25B Across 44 Funds, $73B Merger, Private Equity, Secondaries, Buffett
Ep. 54 · Jun 17, 2026
Joseph Woodbury
The Airbnb of Storage, marketplaces, moats, raising $75M from a16z
Ep. 53 · Jun 11, 2026
Morgan Lynch
Pioneering the Gig Economy, LogoWorks, HP Exit, Needle, Build Angel, Startups
Ep. 52 · May 28, 2026
Cahlan & Colt
10-Year DevMountain Reunion, Bootstrapping, Bootcamps, Acquisitions
Ep. 51 · May 21, 2026
Carine Clark
4x CEO, First Colony Mortgage, Resilience, Beating Ovarian Cancer, Introvert, Leader
Ep. 50 · May 7, 2026
Matty Gay
Building Primo Golf, Signing Phil Mickelson, Grant Horvat & Ecommerce Apparel
Ep. 49 · Apr 30, 2026
Blake Modersitzki
Pelion VC, Venture Returns, AI, War Stories, Top Deals & Scale
Ep. 48 · Apr 16, 2026
John & Tyler Richards
AI Rewriting Startup Investing, SaaS, Solopreneurs, Founder Splits & Vesting
Ep. 47 · Mar 26, 2026
Matt Holman
E-commerce Subscription Playbook, CPG, From Prison to Profit
Ep. 46 · Mar 19, 2026
Jon Richards
Nomatic, E-Commerce, Margins, CPG, Crowdfunding, Retail, Sourcing
Ep. 45 · Mar 5, 2026
Jeremy Andrus
Traeger Grills, Brand Moats, Company Culture, Scaling, Going Public
Ep. 44 · Feb 26, 2026
John & Tyler Richards
The Truth About Product Market Fit, PMF, Customer Interviews, Lean Startup
Ep. 43 · Feb 12, 2026
Dan Caffee
Sold Teem to WeWork for $100M, Startup Mistakes, Personal Family Tragedy
Ep. 42 · Feb 5, 2026
Sam Stoddard
TurboTax for Immigration, YC, VC, Exits
Ep. 41 · Jan 29, 2026
Matt Stapleton
Turning Excel Sheets into $480M, SaaS Ideas, Strategy, Startups
Ep. 40 · Jan 16, 2026
Dave Bateman
How he kept 60% of a Unicorn, Entrata, Bootstrapping, Magic Mushrooms, Silver, Scaling
Ep. 39 · Jan 1, 2026
Cydni Tetro
Disney R&D, Innovation, 3D Printing, Brandless, Startups, Coke, Tenacity, Women in Tech
Ep. 38 · Dec 18, 2025
John & Tyler Richards
John & Tyler go over the Carta Q3 Pre-Seed Analysis, Early Stage Trends, VC, SaaS
Ep. 37 · Dec 11, 2025
Ryan Westwood
Slow Down to Speed Up, His $250M Exit to Infosys, Buying 7 Competitors, Scaling
Ep. 36 · Dec 4, 2025
Paul Ahlstrom
The Origins of Nail It Then Scale It, Market Timing, Utah VC, AI
Ep. 35 · Nov 13, 2025
Johnny Hanna
Entrata’s $4B Journey, Homie’s Disruption, and Entrepreneurs Mental Health
Ep. 34 · Nov 6, 2025
Adam Weber
Sold Service Business to Build a SaaS Startup, Fundraising, Pest, Finding Confidence
Ep. 33 · Oct 30, 2025
Jeff Kearl
The Playbook for Iconic Brands, Stance, Skullcandy, Entrepreneurship
Ep. 32 · Oct 16, 2025
David Bradford
The Master Connector, Wozniak, Jobs, Gates, Eric Schmidt, Sergey, Novell, Microsoft
Ep. 31 · Oct 9, 2025
Jeron Paul
From Spreadsheet Idea to $419M Exit, SaaS, Salesforce Acquisition, Founder Journey
Ep. 30 · Oct 2, 2025
John & Tyler Richards
Startup War Stories That Will Save Your Company | Equity Splits, Bad Investors, Hiring
Ep. 29 · Sep 25, 2025
Ben Knell
Building a $100M+ Sales Engine, Family & Leadership, FBI, Pest Control, Business
Ep. 28 · Sep 18, 2025
Jeff Burningham
From Real Estate Tycoon to VC, Startups, Becoming Wise in the Age of AI
Ep. 27 · Sep 4, 2025
Case Lawrence
From Elon’s Lawyer to Trampoline King, Sky Zone, Startup, Founder Story
Ep. 26 · Aug 21, 2025
Kurt Workman
Owlet Baby Sock’s $100 Million Journey | Startup, SPAC, FDA, Turn Around
Ep. 25 · Aug 14, 2025
John & Tyler Richards
Founder Regrets, PMF, Fundraising, QSBS, Hiring
Ep. 24 · Aug 7, 2025
Dustin Robins
Following Lean Startup all the way to $30M, Don’t Skip Steps, Scalability
Ep. 23 · Jul 31, 2025
John & Tyler Richards
Why We Invest in Elephants, Valuations, VC, Fundraising, Strategy
Ep. 22 · Jul 17, 2025
Garrett Gee
The Secret $54M Snapchat Sale, Bucket List Family, Shark Tank, Raising VC
Ep. 21 · Jul 10, 2025
Adam Edmunds
$4B Entrata CEO on Podium's Growth, Allegiance Sale to MaritzCX, SaaS & GTM Metrics
Ep. 20 · Jul 3, 2025
Phil Kirkeiner
$150k to $7M with an Offshore Sales Team | Startup Scaling, SaaS, Remote Teams, CEO
Ep. 19 · Jun 19, 2025
Scott Johnson
Bootstrapping to a $1.5B Adobe Acquisition, Workfront, Motivosity, Product-Market Fit
Ep. 18 · Jun 13, 2025
Andrew Smith
From Tech to Restaurants, Problem Hunter Building a Food Empire, Scaling & Investing
Ep. 17 · Jun 5, 2025
John & Tyler Richards
VC's Pre-Seed Due Diligence Checklist, Cap Table, Rule 83B, Founder Equity
Ep. 16 · May 30, 2025
Travis Cook
The AI Software Revolution, Building a Top Dev Shop, Blockchain, Startup Investing
Ep. 15 · May 15, 2025
Craig Earnshaw
Destructive Founder Splits & Pitching Investors Confidently, Angel Investing, Exits
Ep. 14 · May 8, 2025
Brian Beutler
Pitching Genius Raises $100M at Alianza, VOIP-2-Cloud Pivot, CEO of the Year Insights
Ep. 13 · May 1, 2025
Evan Teshima
Bootstrapping ForeUP to a Massive SaaS Exit and the $400k Chess Game
Ep. 12 · Apr 25, 2025
Eric Smith
Smart Home Legend, Hotel Internet Inventor, Control4 IPO, & Founder Lessons That Matter
Ep. 11 · Apr 17, 2025
John & Tyler Richards
Startup Validation Roadmap, Founder Mistakes, SI's Bootcamp Frameworks, Real-World Pivot Stories
Ep. 10 · Apr 10, 2025
Bryan Christiansen
Bootstrapping to Millions in ARR, Landing Goldman Sachs, & Customer Obsession
Ep. 9 · Apr 3, 2025
Jared Ward & Brendon Beebe
Coding with AI, Overcoming Scaling Challenges, Founding Team Dynamics
Ep. 8 · Mar 27, 2025
John & Tyler Richards
AI Investments, Founding Teams, VC Market Trends, Startup Strategies
Ep. 7 · Mar 20, 2025
Jason Peterson
Selling Before Building, SaaS Success, Validation, Lessons Learned
Ep. 6 · Mar 13, 2025
Devin Shurtleff
Overcoming Challenges, Strategic Shifts, and Lessons from a CEO’s Leadership Legacy
Ep. 5 · Mar 6, 2025
John Pestana
Silicon Slopes Legend John Pestana on Omniture’s $1.8B Adobe Exit, Enterprise Sales, & VC Tradeoffs
Ep. 4 · Feb 27, 2025
Shane Murphy
Shane Murphy’s Startup Playbook
Ep. 3 · Feb 21, 2025
John & Tyler Richards
Sustainable Growth and Effective Networking Strategies
Ep. 2 · Feb 14, 2025
John & Tyler Richards
What Every Founder Needs to Know
Ep. 1 · Feb 7, 2025
John & Tyler Richards
Our Journeys, Lean Startup Insights, Economic Cycles, and AI’s Role in Modern Entrepreneurship
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