INspired INsider Podcast

Brian Kurtz is a direct marketing veteran, author, educator, and the former Executive Vice President of Boardroom Inc., where he spent 34 years helping grow the company to more than $150 million in annual revenue at its peak. During his tenure, he oversaw the mailing of close to two billion pieces of direct mail and helped market millions of subscriptions and tens of millions of consumer books.
Brian is widely recognized for his expertise in direct response marketing, customer acquisition, list strategy, and customer lifetime value. Today, as the founder of Titans Marketing, he teaches entrepreneurs and marketers the timeless principles behind building profitable, long-lasting businesses.
In this episode…
What turns an overlooked product into a multimillion-dollar success? Is it the product itself, or the strategy behind how it's marketed? And do timeless direct response principles still outperform today's trend-driven tactics?
For Brian Kurtz, a direct marketing veteran, enduring success comes from pairing proven direct response principles with great offers and relentless testing. He highlights that businesses don't always need to create something new — often the biggest opportunities come from repackaging, repositioning, or acquiring underutilized content. By refining headlines, segmenting audiences, and tailoring offers to the right customers, marketers can dramatically improve results without changing the core product. Brian also explains why fair partnerships, creative product sourcing, and testing across multiple channels are essential for long-term growth. His approach shows that understanding customer behavior and continuously optimizing campaigns can turn overlooked ideas into lasting, profitable businesses.
In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, host Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Brian Kurtz to discuss timeless direct response marketing strategies for building multimillion-dollar businesses. They explore sourcing winning products, increasing revenue through better offers and list segmentation, and using direct mail to scale growth. Brian also shares insights on repositioning underperforming products and building lasting customer relationships.

Filip Keuppens is the CEO of The Pickle Juice Company, a leading functional beverage brand known for its science-backed sports drink designed to help stop muscle cramps. Under his leadership, the company has expanded to more than 17,000 retailers across the US and is trusted by elite athletes and professional sports teams. Before leading The Pickle Juice Company, Filip built deep experience in sales, marketing, and retail at major companies, including Kraft Heinz, Warner Home Video, and 20th Century Fox. He is passionate about advancing sports hydration through science, innovation, and consumer education. 
In this episode…
Muscle cramps can strike without warning and derail athletic performance. But what if relieving a cramp had less to do with electrolytes and more to do with your nervous system? What does science reveal about how to stop muscle cramps almost instantly?
For Filip Keuppens, a consumer products executive and endurance athlete, muscle cramps are primarily a neurological issue rather than simply the result of dehydration or electrolyte loss. He explains how years of scientific research led to the development of a proprietary formula that interrupts the nerve signals responsible for cramping in 60 seconds or less. He also discusses the challenge of educating consumers about the difference between a scientifically formulated product and ordinary pickle brine. Beyond the science, Filip shares how authentic athlete advocacy, strategic retail partnerships, and a values-driven culture have fueled the company's growth while building trust with consumers. He also offers insights into launching products in major retailers, cultivating loyal brand ambassadors, and using AI to improve business operations.
In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, host Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Filip Keuppens, CEO of The Pickle Juice Company, to discuss building a science-backed performance beverage brand. They explore the neuroscience behind muscle cramp relief, strategies for expanding into major retail chains, and the power of ambassador marketing. Filip also shares how AI is being explored to improve business efficiency while supporting long-term growth.

Olivier Roth is the Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer at The Swarm, a go-to-network platform that helps companies and investors map, combine, and activate relationship networks for sales, recruiting, and fundraising. He helps lead the company's growth strategy, building systems that turn relationship data into warm introductions and stronger business opportunities. Previously, Olivier founded Timelapse, a strategic creative agency that worked with high-growth startups and brands, including LinkedIn, Lyft, and Stanford Research Park. His work focuses on helping teams use authentic relationships to create more practical, scalable paths to growth.
In this episode…
Cold outbound can create opportunities, but the strongest path to a deal often starts with a trusted relationship already inside your extended network. When teams can map those relationships, identify the right connectors, and ask for introductions with care, how can they turn relationship networks into a repeatable growth channel?
Olivier Roth, a relationship intelligence leader who has spent years helping teams uncover warm introduction paths, says the key is treating networks as structured business assets rather than loose collections of contacts. He highlights the importance of mapping relationships among employees, investors, advisors, customers, partners, and industry friends to identify the most credible path to a target account. Instead of relying on cold emails or broad LinkedIn connections, Olivier explains how teams can use relationship data to identify stronger, more actionable introduction paths. The result is a more human go-to-market motion where AI helps surface the path, but people still build trust, protect social capital, and personalize the ask.
In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Olivier Roth, Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer at The Swarm, to discuss how relationship networks can become a stronger source of pipeline. Olivier breaks down warm introductions, reverse-engineered intro paths, and connector-driven network graphs. He also shares how AI, Claude, Salesforce, and Klarna fit into relationship-led growth.

Gil Makleff is the CEO and Co-founder of Sembly AI, a platform that helps teams turn meetings and conversations into actionable insights and work-ready outcomes. Under his leadership, Sembly AI has advanced tools for AI-assisted collaboration, workflow automation, and human-AI interaction. Before founding Sembly AI, Gil achieved two successful exits to Microsoft and Ernst & Young, where he later served as a Partner. With decades of experience building and scaling technology companies, he is known for championing human-centered AI that empowers people rather than replaces them. 
In this episode…
Technology is advancing rapidly, but as AI becomes more capable, how can businesses embrace automation without losing the human judgment that drives meaningful work? What does it take to keep people at the center of innovation?
In Gil Makleff's view, successful AI is not about removing humans from work but helping them create better outcomes. He highlights the importance of designing AI systems that collaborate with humans, allowing professionals to maintain control while automating repetitive tasks. By transforming conversations into actionable business deliverables, AI can improve productivity without sacrificing critical thinking or decision-making. Gil also shares how his entrepreneurial journey shaped his approach to leadership, from navigating company acquisitions to building empowered, high-performing teams. He explains why values-driven decisions and a culture of trust are essential for long-term success in both business and technology.
In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, host Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Gil Makleff, CEO and Co-founder of Sembly AI, to discuss building human-centered AI that empowers professionals instead of replacing them. They explore the vision behind Sembly AI, the role of AI agents in transforming workplace productivity, and lessons from scaling and exiting technology companies. Gil also shares his leadership philosophy for building loyal, high-performing teams.

Shriram Sridharan is the Co-founder and CTO of Rox, an AI-first revenue operating system that helps enterprise sales teams research accounts, automate workflows, and act on timely customer insights. He helps lead the company's product and technical strategy, building AI agents that make sales processes more focused, efficient, and repeatable. Before Rox, Shriram held engineering leadership roles at Confluent and Amazon Web Services, where he worked on scalable data and cloud infrastructure. His work focuses on using AI to turn complex revenue operations into practical systems that help teams win.
In this episode…
Enterprise sales can do more than track leads and manage deals — it can surface the right signals, automate repetitive work, and give teams more time to build customer relationships. But what separates a sales team using AI as another tool from one using AI agents to actually move revenue forward?
Shriram Sridharan, a technical leader who has built large-scale systems at AWS and Confluent, says the key is using revenue agents to automate or augment the entire revenue lifecycle. He highlights the importance of connecting customer data, public signals, and internal workflows so AI can handle account research, meeting preparation, outbound personalization, and RFP detection. Instead of forcing account executives to switch between tools or spend hours on manual research, Shriram explains how agents can deliver the work behind the scenes with a human in the loop. The result is a more focused sales organization where teams spend less time on grunt work and more time generating pipeline, preventing churn, and growing revenue.
In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Shriram Sridharan, Co-founder and CTO of Rox, to discuss how revenue agents are reshaping enterprise sales. Shriram breaks down AI agent orchestration, sales signals, data warehouses, outbound automation, and RFP detection. He also shares his founder journey and key influences.