Beyond the Case
A podcast where global leaders from the Harvard Business School Owner/President Management (OPM) community join in a personal capacity and share the real decisions, failures, and mental models behind building enduring companies. This podcast is independent and not affiliated with Harvard Business School.
Episodes
Matt Widdoes’s journey from entrepreneurial parents and professional poker to leading growth teams and founding MAVAN reveals a consistent approach: pursue learning, build trusted relationships, and make thoughtful decisions without waiting for certainty. He credits mentors with shaping his career choices, including his decision to join OPM after a recommendation from Chris Yeh. Having completed Unit 1, Matt f...
This conversation with Prashant Kandoi is largely about family business, entrepreneurship, succession, values, and learning through experience.
Prashant grew up watching his father build an electrical business from the ground up after leaving his job in 1983. Seeing his father work intensely made Prashant’s own path feel natural: he studied electrical engineering and joined the family business in 1992. A defini...
In our living group, Richard was often seen as the wise one, the person we looked to for a thoughtful, well-researched view of a case. His reflections in this conversation reveal why: he has learned to turn experience into a personal philosophy for making decisions, recognizing patterns, and responding with greater clarity.
One of his most powerful insights is that he is now “more lured to philosophies” t...
Jay Shah’s journey reflects the power of combining deep expertise with curiosity, resilience and an openness to change. Influenced by his father’s commitment to excellence, Jay built a career at the intersection of architecture and technology, eventually creating Kaizen AI to improve real-estate design and decision-making. Along the way, he learned that innovation requires more than a strong product. It ...
Pedro Thompson's life philosophy was shaped long before he became a CEO, investor, or entrepreneur. Growing up in a family that had once been wealthy but lost everything taught him an early lesson that external success is fragile, while character, perspective, and inner conviction endure.
In this conversation, Pedro reflects on how that experience transformed his relationship with money, risk, and ambition. He shares...
At first glance, Minh Wilson's story is about martial arts. In reality, it's about family.
The daughter of Vietnamese refugees, Minh grew up watching her parents sacrifice everything to create a better future for their children. When a martial arts instructor offered to teach her for free because her family couldn't afford classes, that single act of generosity changed the trajectory of her life. Decades later, she l...
Dato's journey began at age 14 when he took a job at a parking lot and learned accounting simply because he wanted to understand how profits were calculated. From there, he built a successful career in finance, M&A, and investment management, spending years traveling internationally and working on complex transactions. Yet despite the professional success, he reached a point in 2014 where he realized he was miss...
For 15 years, Sumit Sood built a successful career in global software sales, leading markets across the Middle East and India. By most standards, he had stability, a strong income, and a clear career path ahead of him.
But at age 40, he made a decision that many professionals dream about but few actually make: he walked away from corporate life and bet on himself.
Returning to a family business that his father and bro...
Djo Moupondo shares his journey from rapper to entrepreneur, investor, and business builder across multiple continents. Starting in the music industry, Djo learned early lessons about creativity, conviction, and spotting talent, skills that would later help him build businesses, invest in founders, and contribute to Grammy-winning success as a music publisher.
Throughout the conversation, Djo reflects on the realitie...
David Halabu's career has been defined by disciplined reinvention. Starting as a trader, he learned to make decisions under pressure, manage risk, and separate emotion from outcomes. After recognizing that the post-financial-crisis environment was fundamentally changing the trading business, he pivoted into alternative investments, beginning with non-performing real estate loans and hard money lending.
His early expe...
Kaiyr Kochshigulov shares an inspiring story of transformation, resilience, and leadership. Unable to swim until the age of 10 due to a fear of water, Kaiyr challenged himself to learn, discovered water polo, and eventually represented Kazakhstan's national team for six years. The discipline, teamwork, and mental toughness developed through sport became the foundation for his professional life.
This conversation is ultimately about the tension between achievement and alignment.
Koby’s story begins as a classic success arc: high performer in global financial markets, top-ranked derivatives professional, climbing the corporate ladder. But underneath the external success was an internal conflict. He experienced severe anxiety in his early thirties and eventually realized the problem was not capability, i...
Lewis Ho’s journey is a story of reinvention, from a 25-year legal career built on risk management to entrepreneurship, robotics, and AI. Trained as a lawyer and eventually becoming partner at major firms, Lewis spent decades advising life sciences and technology companies on IPOs, M&A transactions, and intellectual property. By every traditional measure, he had achieved success. Yet he realized he had spe...
A special thank you to Professor Lauren Cohen for taking the time to join me on Beyond the Case and for continuing to inspire so many of us through the Harvard Business School OPM program. This conversation was a reminder that leadership is not only about building companies, it is also about intentionally designing the life around them.
From growing up in a small farming town and discovering markets through a fifth-g...
This conversation with Rishikkes Pawar, Founder & CEO of DigitalZone, moved far beyond entrepreneurship and into identity, curiosity, resilience, and the philosophy behind how he lives. Despite building a bootstrapped global company, Rishikkes repeatedly framed himself not as a founder first but as “a resident of this planet”, emphasizing humanity over titles.
His journey is unconventional: a college ...
Pablo Murra-Farrus is a second-generation Mexican entrepreneur and CEO of Grupo Artec, a diversified automotive and paint distribution company based in Torreón, Mexico. The conversation blends operational wisdom with emotional honesty.
Here are the Top 10 Takeaways from the conversation:
- Legacy businesses still require entrepreneurial thinking: Although Pablo inherited parts of the family automotive business, many...
Truly enjoyed this conversation with Zsolt Nagy where beneath all the businesses, acquisitions, and scale was a much quieter philosophy about life and entrepreneurship. Zsolt spoke less about chasing growth and more about building things that can endure, through uncertainty, changing cycles, personal setbacks, and time itself. What stood out to me was his belief that real wealth is built patiently, through reinvestm...
Saleema Vellani shares the deeply personal story behind her entrepreneurial journey, from childhood trauma and feelings of rejection to building a life rooted in purpose, impact, and leadership.
Saleema reflects on losing her mother at 16, growing up constantly feeling “not enough,” and how those experiences unconsciously fueled her relentless drive as an entrepreneur. She opens up about building business...
In this episode, Gevorg Shahbazyan shares a story shaped by rejection, resilience, and relentless ambition. Despite earning a master’s degree, speaking multiple languages, and completing internships in Washington D.C., he was rejected by nearly 60 employers before pivoting into real estate. One of the most defining moments in his journey came after closing a major deal early in his career - instead of maximizi...
This conversation with Caio Zapata was particularly refreshing because it blended entrepreneurship with deep introspection and philosophy. Beyond discussing business growth and leadership, Caio spoke thoughtfully about freedom, gratitude, adventure, and personal growth. His reflections on purpose being tied to independence, and his belief that happiness is often the outcome of pursuing adventure, stood out as especi...
Popular Podcasts
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.
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of NFL Media hosts including Jourdan Rodrigue, Colleen Wolfe, and Nick Shook provide all the NFL news, previews, recaps and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.