Startups With Stu

What happens when three executives who built a million-dollar EdTech company reunite to share their ...

McKay Francis never planned to battle the SEC or catch Grant Cardone's attention when he launched Ca...

From creating America's #1 cake mix to writing a $25,000 check that launched an educational empire—Corey Smith's unexpected journey unfolds in this episode of Startups with Stu. When Stuart Draper lost his third job in a row, it was Corey's unwavering belief that transformed a desperate situation into Stukent, a company that would eventually impact over a million students worldwide. But before becoming an angel investor, Corey ...

From eight-figure exit to nearly $1 million in debt in less than a year! Serial entrepreneur John Ramp...

From turning down multi-million dollar Wall Street recruitment bonuses to building a billion-dollar wealth management firm, Chad Willardson's entrepreneurial journey is anything but conventional. In this captivating episode of Startups with Stu, Chad reveals how he walked away from a $1.4M salary at Merrill Lynch to start Pacific Capital, taking a 70% pay cut to pursue his vision of serving entrepreneurs differentl...

The gaming industry surpasses music, movies, and sports combined in market size, yet Luke Richey envisions something bigger than profits alone. As founder of America's oldest augmented reality company Gravity Jack, he's crafting a revolutionary gaming experience backed by legendary Atari founder Nolan Bushnell and protected by a powerful patent portfolio. After building games that generated $35M+ monthly revenue, R...

What's the smartest way to turn $10,000 in savings into a business that gives you true time and financial freedom? In this episode of Startups with Stu, Ethan Clark reveals his journey from real estate investing to co-founding Idaho Falls Junk Removal, while plotting an ambitious exit strategy that could multiply his company's value. Host Stuart Draper breaks down the counterintuitive truth about real estate versus...

What happens when you combine the urgent need for expert voices with publishers' insatiable demand for authentic content? Brett Farmiloe, founder of Featured.com, shares how he transformed this market gap into a thriving platform that now powers content for industry giants like Fast Company, Forbes, and HubSpot. In this episode, Brett reveals the strategic pivot that led him from running a 500-client digital market...

"You're not a marketing genius. You don't even have a job. You do yoga all the time." These were the words Curtis Matsko's girlfriend hurled at him when he boldly declared he was going to quit his job and start a hundred-million-dollar company selling leather journals. Her response? "That's the stupidest idea ever." Fast forward to today, and Curtis Matsko didn't just prove her wrong - he built a $200 million global le...

In this week's episode of Startups with Stu, discover what happens when you combine the hype of custom sneakers with B2B marketing. Matt Williams reveals how his company DSCMFRT is transforming corporate gifting and social media engagement by turning Nike and Adidas sneakers into viral marketing assets. From crafting money-themed Air Jordans to creating region-specific designs for real estate firms, Matt shares how...

What happens when you trade a cushy Target supply chain job for a risky startup role with no salary for five months? For Brandon Winter, former CRO of Stukent and founder of Fundraise Genius, it led to helping build Stukent from zero to serving over a million students across 80 countries. Going behind the scenes of Stukent's meteoric rise, Brandon reveals how Stukent grew from a makeshift warehouse office (complete...

Every morning, Stukent's first CTO Mike "Turbo" Farmer would burst into the warehouse-turned-office shouting "TURBO!" – bringing energy and fun to a startup racing against impossible deadlines. As the sole technical leader, Mike powered through Christmas coding sessions to rebuild Stukent's entire platform, ultimately helping create software that would impact students at over 300 universities. Through stories of la...

We showed up to conferences and we had humans all over our booth. So many humans that our neighbours were complaining" - this is how Trevor Erikson describes Stukent's early disruptive entry into the academic publishing space, where he served as the company's first hire and CMO. From pioneering personalized marketing campaigns (including tracking down professors' favorite candy bars from around the world) to scalin...

"I was living in my parents' basement making $15 an hour when suddenly Merrill Lynch paperwork showed up saying I was worth $3 million" - this is how Dan Handy describes his first major exit, but it was just the beginning of his remarkable journey in technology entrepreneurship. From pioneering the freemium model in web hosting to scaling Bluehost to $65 million in revenue without raising external capital, Dan reveals...

"The only thing harder than starting a hemp food business in 1998 was doing it as a guy with a ponytail," jokes Mike Fata, who turned his personal health transformation into a revolutionary business that would forever change the hemp food industry. Starting Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods with just $50,000 in first-year sales, Mike persevered through a decade of unprofitability, regulatory battles with the DEA, and countless ...

"I had a university degree in one hand and a two-month-old baby in the other" - this is how Keri-Ellen Walcer turned simple nursery rhymes into a business touching thousands of families. What started with knee bounces in her living room grew into a network of 50 licensees blending music, movement, and early childhood development. After selling her first company and becoming an entrepreneurship professor, she's back wi...

From ranch hand to digital marketing mogul, Michael Johnson's entrepreneurial journey is a masterclass in building a service-based business. In this episode of Startups with Stu, the CEO of Get Found First shares how early lessons from 4-H sales and a pivotal private jet meeting shaped his path to success. Gain insider perspective on the strategic acquisition that transformed competitors into partners, leading Johnson to scale ...

From bootstrapping a SaaS company to a successful exit, Jared Nygren's entrepreneurial journey is a blueprint for startup success. Now leading Apruv, a customer retention platform transforming the pest control industry, Jared shares his playbook for building and scaling tech companies without massive funding. Learn his innovative approach to building an overseas development team, navigating co-founder dynamics, and the strategi...