No. 13
Grew up in Las Vegas as a third-generation casino employee, worked on Disney's Pixar deal at Goldman Sachs, and later ran Resorts World Las Vegas.
Alex Dixon / Resorts World Las Vegas
An entrepreneurship podcast hosted by Jack Pitts
How business owners built
their companies.
Long-form interviews with founders and owners about how they started and how they grew. Past guests include the president of Induron Protective Coatings, a family business founded in 1947, and the co-founders of Four Branches Bourbon.
Where to listen.
From past episodes
No. 09
Grew up poor in Flint. Spent seventeen years in a corporate job, then bought a laundromat that was losing money and worked ninety-hour weeks to fix it.
Dave Menz / Laundromat Millionaire
No. 01
A side-hustle idea became Mammoth Holdings' first self-serve car wash. More than thirty acquisitions followed.
Gary Dennis / Mammoth Holdings
Melissa Banko: The Reality of Building a Business and Raising a Family
Melissa Banko started Banko Design in a spare bedroom in 2014 and built it into a multi-brand organization serving senior living, multifamily, and private club clients across the country. But along the way, she learned that bigger isn't always better.
Episode notesWhere to Start
As covered in the Riverside-Brookfield Landmark
January 8, 2026
The Making of Doug Taylor: Taylor's Candy
Doug Taylor, known as the Candyman, who shares his journey of building Taylor's Candy from a small family-run operation into a successful candy distribution and manufacturing business. Doug discusses his upbringing, early jobs, and the transition into the candy industry, highlighting the importance of hard work, family dynamics, and adapting to market changes.
Episode notesThe first episode
November 18, 2025
The Making of Mammoth Holdings with Gary Dennis
Gary Dennis, co-founder and former CEO of Mammoth Holdings, to unpack how a kid from Macon, Georgia ended up building one of the leading car wash platforms in the country. Gary walks through his path from humble beginnings, with a dad who was a maintenance mechanic and a mom who was a secretary, to Georgia Tech, an MBA from Vanderbilt, and an early career in equity research and investment banking.
Episode notesRecent Episodes
Issue No. 19
October 8, 2026
From Selling Ice to Building a 140-Person Pet Care Business | Scott Burnley
Scott Burnley went from delivering bags of ice and working in sales to quitting his job, becoming a dog trainer, and helping build Pet Station Country Club into three locations with around 140 employees.
Episode notesIssue No. 18
September 17, 2026
How Four Veterans Built Four Branches Bourbon | Rick Franco & Mike Trott
Rick Franco and Mike Trott, co-founders of Four Branches Bourbon. Four Branches didn’t start as a business. It started as an honor barrel created by four veterans who wanted to remember friends they lost and give back to the military community.
Episode notesIssue No. 17
August 20, 2026
Dave Moorman: Building an MSP, Scaling Through M&A & Exiting Twice
Dave Moorman, who spent more than 30 years in the IT and MSP world building, scaling, acquiring, and selling businesses. Dave shares how he went from working at 10 years old and discovering computers through a heavy metal band to building DynaSis for 26 years.
Episode notes