What does a petroleum engineer with 35 years in the oil and gas industry know about creating a hit meal-planning app? More than you think. Mark Semmelbeck’s journey from running drilling operations to running a tech startup is as surprising as it is inspiring.
In this episode, you’ll hear how a simple Sunday visit to his daughter sparked the idea for A Better Meal, a smart, AI-powered meal-planning app that brings joy back to the kitchen. Mark shares his transition into entrepreneurship, his unexpected lessons in consumer tech, and why he believes healthy eating should be simple, personalized, and fun.
Whether you’re a seasoned home chef, a “cook only when you must” type, or an entrepreneur looking to pivot into a new industry, Mark’s story delivers both practical tips and a reminder that it’s never too late to reinvent yourself.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
From Oil to Apps: How Mark went from petroleum engineer to tech entrepreneur without a background in food or software.
The Problem Worth Solving: The Sunday afternoon meal-prep frustration that inspired A Better Meal.
AI in the Kitchen: How artificial intelligence is transforming meal planning, cooking skills, and grocery shopping efficiency.
Making Healthy Eating Fun: Why gamification and bite-sized cooking videos can turn even reluctant cooks into confident creators.
Overcoming the Crowded Market Challenge: How A Better Meal stands out from other meal-planning and delivery services.
Family Collaboration: How Mark’s son joined the mission, bringing his videography skills to produce high-quality cooking tutorials.
The June App Release: Sneak peek at the new features, including 80+ video classes, curated meal plans for athletes, and AI-powered ingredient cross-usage.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.