Innovator Insights

Ninety percent of new product ideas never hit market expectations. Rolf Biernath spent 30 years at 3M finding out why.

Henrik Johansson sits down with the founder of Biernath Consulting, inventor on 50+ U.S. patents across adhesives, optical displays, and microreplication. Rolf reviewed roughly fifty programs from his career and asked what question, asked earlier, would have saved each one. The answer became Build What Wins — ...

When her parties kept ending in piles of disposable plates, Pallavi Pande gave herself a new title — “Chief Dishwashing Officer” — then quit it for good. In this episode of Innovator Insights, the DTOCS founder shares how she turned naturally fallen palm leaves into a seven-figure sustainable tableware brand sold across three continents. Drawing on a decade in logistics, Pallavi reveals why she treats her fa...

What does it take to build a premium, made-in-America knife brand entirely by hand — no overseas factory, no marketing budget, no AI? In this episode of Innovator Insights, we sit down with Morgan Keenan, founder of Cudaway and co-founder of the fast-growing CPG brand Empress of Ghee, to hear how he did exactly that.

We cover:

• His winding path from a cross-country dirt-bike trip to head knife maker to launching Cudaway in 2...

How do you go from carrying wine totes to soccer practice to hitting your Kickstarter goal in six hours? In this episode of Innovator Insights, host Henrik Johansson talks with Sarah Wustefeld, co-founder of Grandir Bags, about the twelve months she and her co-founder Kate spent turning a real, lived-in mom problem into a fully launched consumer product brand.

Sarah opens up about leaving her VP role in enterprise sales to bootstrap...

What if the real reason food spoils so fast, and even blood storage is limited, comes down to something simple: oxygen?In this episode of Innovator Insights, Henrik Johansson speaks with Bruce Roesner, founder of Green Life Tech, about how controlling oxygen exposure could extend the life of everything from fresh produce to blood.

Bruce explains how his work in RFID technology led to a broader discovery: oxygen is a key driver of de...

In this episode of Innovator Insights, Kathy Kempff shares how a single trip to Kenya transformed her perspective on purpose, philanthropy, and education. Inspired by the story of a young girl who simply wanted the chance to learn, Kathy founded Moja Tu, a nonprofit providing one-to-one educational scholarships that empower children to break the cycle of poverty.

Kathy opens up about the lessons she has learned building technology-e...

Griff Jaggard, co-founder and CEO of FireDisc Cookers, joins us to share how a gifted plow disc and a few buddy trips turned into a nationally distributed portable outdoor cooking brand.

Griff talks about starting with no consumer product experience, landing their first retail deal with Buc-ee's, building a product tough enough to stop a .357 Magnum, and learning from the founders of YETI.

He also gets real about the impact of tariff...

How do you turn a personal hack into a philosophy that shapes entrepreneurship and land insights from 18 founders along the way?

Jeffrey Chernick and Alex Gitter, co-authors of High Five Energy, didn’t just write a book, they distilled years of founder wisdom into 33 actionable insights. In this episode, they reveal the unfiltered truth about what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur, from impossible moments that seem like l...

What happens when a father-son conversation at the kitchen table resurfaces an old invention and accidentally creates an entirely new product category?

In this episode of Innovator Insights, Henrik Johansson sits down with Devon Wilson, Founder and CEO of RV Snap Pads, a Calgary-based company that makes what Devon calls "shoes for your RV." These snap-on pads, made from recycled semi-truck tires, provide grip, stability, and protect...

How do you go from selling 13 bikes in year one to building a global brand with over $180 million in revenue?

Mathias Ihlenfeld, founder of Woom Bikes, didn’t start with a massive VC check. He started with a side hustle while working as a consultant, building the business at night and on weekends. In this episode, Matthias reveals the unvarnished truth about scaling a physical product company—from the terrifying cash flo...

What does it take to turn a scientific concern into a household name?

Join us as we sit down with Kevin Broderick, the entrepreneur behind Think Baby and Think Sport. Raised in a household of scientists and inventors, Kevin combined his background in biophysics and epidemiology with a passion for entrepreneurship to solve a massive consumer problem: toxic chemicals in everyday products.

In this episode, we discuss:

1. Read more