INspired INsider Podcast

Bruce Borenstein is the Founder and CEO of OPN Sound, a company specializing in innovative open-ear audio technology. A veteran technology executive with over 40 years of leadership experience, he co-founded AfterShokz, now Shokz, helping pioneer the open-ear audio category and scale the company to tens of millions in sales. Bruce is a recipient of the Consumer Technology Association's Innovation Entrepreneur Award and the author of Beyond the Startup: What Every Founder Needs to Know After Launch. He also advises emerging technology companies through PH Advisors, helping founders navigate commercialization, partnerships, and business growth.
In this episode…
A great idea is only the beginning — the real challenge is turning innovation into a brand customers choose. Breaking into major retailers is only part of the challenge — how do you create demand, drive sell-through, and build customer loyalty that supports long-term growth?
With decades of experience in consumer technology, Bruce Borenstein credits passion, partnerships, and customer education as the foundation of sustainable growth. He highlights how leveraging established industry connections opened doors with major retailers, while close collaboration with retail partners turned shelf space into sales. Bruce also emphasizes the value of exceptional customer service, including lifetime warranty to build trust and loyalty. His experience shows that successfully introducing a new product category requires more than innovation — it takes strategic pricing, thoughtful distribution, and a long-term focus on customer value.
In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, host Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Bruce Borenstein, Founder and CEO of OPN Sound, to discuss building and scaling innovative consumer technology brands. They explore launching a new product category, breaking into major retailers, and creating effective distribution strategies. Bruce also shares insights on pricing, customer loyalty, and the lessons founders need to scale successfully.

Adi Klevit is the CEO of Business Success Consulting Group, where she helps businesses scale and grow by implementing efficient business infrastructure, processes, and systems. Their company is made up of experts who create, document, and implement processes and procedures for small- and medium-sized companies that want to scale or expand, or for those gearing up for transition. She is also the host of the Systems Simplified podcast and an international speaker.
Adam Gelhausen is the Managing Partner of Palindrome LLP, a private investment firm that acquires established businesses and focuses on long-term ownership, founder legacy, and company culture. He leads the firm's portfolio management strategy and oversees the valuation and acquisition of new investment opportunities. Adam has more than 20 years of investment management experience, including senior analyst and portfolio management roles at Wellington Management. He earned a bachelor of science in business from Washington State University.
In this episode…
What does it take to unlock growth in an established business without losing the knowledge and culture that made it successful? When critical know-how lives in people's heads and teams are accustomed to doing things the same way, how can leaders build systems that create lasting growth?
Adam Gelhausen, a seasoned investor focused on established businesses, believes sustainable growth starts with understanding how a company actually operates before making changes. He emphasizes learning directly from employees, developing focused 100-day plans, and aligning teams around transparent metrics and regularly updated dashboards. Adi Klevit, a business growth and process improvement expert, highlights the importance of capturing tacit knowledge — the unwritten habits, decisions, and expertise that often live in an owner's or employee's head — and turning it into documented, repeatable processes. Together, they show how operational discipline, collaborative leadership, and effective systems can overcome resistance to change, create owner independence, and make businesses more scalable and valuable.
In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, host Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Adam Gelhausen and Adi Klevit to discuss scaling established businesses through systems and operational excellence. They explore documenting tacit knowledge, implementing technology and KPIs, and gaining team buy-in for change. Adam and Adi also share practical approaches to operational improvement, process implementation, and building businesses that can grow without depending too heavily on individual people.

Karl Hughes is the CEO of The Podcast Consultant, a podcast production company that helps business and financial industry experts build authority and generate long-term value through audio and video content. He also serves as CEO of Rise25, where he helps B2B companies generate clients, referrals, and strategic partnerships through podcasts, and is the Founder of Draft.dev, a developer content agency he launched in 2020. Karl also hosts Retained Trust, a podcast featuring conversations with digital service entrepreneurs about building, scaling, and selling successful service agencies.
In this episode…
Acquiring an agency can accelerate growth, but a successful deal requires far more than finding a profitable business and agreeing on a price. Buyers must evaluate the people, financials, positioning, and long-term fit while preserving the strengths that made the company valuable in the first place. What does it take to make an agency acquisition work well beyond the closing table?
For Karl Hughes, a former software engineer turned multi-business entrepreneur and experienced agency acquirer, the strongest deals are built on trust, careful due diligence, and post-acquisition patience. He highlights the importance of choosing a buyer or seller you can work with throughout diligence, transition, and any long-term payout structure, rather than focusing solely on the biggest number. Buyers also need the discipline to observe before making major changes, since established teams, processes, and client relationships may already be working well. As acquisition experience grows, criteria can become more flexible, allowing buyers to recognize opportunities in companies with solid revenue or leadership even when the financials are not perfect. Karl also emphasizes the value of sharpening a company's positioning after acquisition by identifying where it already succeeds and doubling down on that niche.
In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Karl Hughes, CEO of The Podcast Consultant, to discuss smarter agency acquisitions. They explore building trust with sellers, refining acquisition criteria, and positioning acquired companies for growth. Karl also shares how to integrate businesses without disrupting what already works.

Manoj Saxena is the Founder and CEO of Trustwise, an AI safety company focused on helping enterprises securely deploy and control agentic AI systems. A pioneer in responsible AI, he was the first General Manager of IBM Watson and is also the Founder and Executive Chairman of the Responsible AI Institute, a global nonprofit focused on advancing trustworthy and responsible AI. A serial entrepreneur and University of Texas at Austin lecturer, Manoj has founded two venture-backed software companies acquired by Commerce One and IBM and holds 34 software patents.
In this episode…
As AI evolves from answering questions to making decisions and taking action, the risks to businesses are becoming harder to see and control. Hidden instructions or improper access to sensitive data can expose information, trigger unauthorized actions, and disrupt operations. How can organizations harness AI's power without losing control?
For Manoj Saxena, a pioneer in Trusted Artificial Intelligence, organizations need a control layer that ensures AI acts according to policy, intent, and compliance. He highlights a three-step approach — assess, control, and optimize — to identify risks, apply tailored policies, and simulate AI behavior before deployment. He also shares real-world examples of silent breaches and explains why autonomous agents require clear boundaries, oversight, and accountability. These safeguards allow businesses to innovate with AI while reducing risk and maintaining trust.
In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, host Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Manoj Saxena, Founder and CEO of Trustwise, to discuss controlling the risks of enterprise AI. They explore silent AI breaches, governing autonomous agents, and building responsible AI systems. Manoj also shares emerging AI revenue models and lessons from auto racing.

Matt Watson is the Founder and CEO of Full Scale, an offshore software development company that helps U.S. companies build dedicated software engineering teams in the Philippines. A four-time tech founder and longtime CTO, he previously co-founded VinSolutions, an automotive software company that AutoTrader.com acquired in 2011, and later founded the developer-tools company Stackify. Matt brings more than 20 years of engineering and startup leadership experience to helping companies build and scale high-performing software teams. He is also the author of Product Driven and host of the Startup Hustle podcast.
In this episode…
As AI transforms how companies build software, they are rethinking what it takes to scale development teams without sacrificing quality, speed, or accountability. With global talent and increasingly capable AI tools changing the economics of software development, how can leaders build teams that are both more efficient and more effective?
According to Matt Watson, a serial SaaS founder and longtime software leader, companies can scale development more effectively by combining offshore talent with AI-powered workflows while keeping human judgment at the center. He highlights how staff augmentation allows Philippines-based developers to work directly within a company's existing teams instead of operating as a separate outsourced unit. This approach can give businesses greater flexibility and access to experienced talent while maintaining stronger team integration. Matt also explains how AI tools, MCP servers, and shared plugins can streamline operations by connecting business systems, surfacing information, and standardizing repeatable workflows. As AI accelerates execution, he emphasizes that product thinking becomes even more valuable because teams still need people who can determine what to build, why it matters, and whether the outcome actually serves the customer.
In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Matt Watson, Founder and CEO of Full Scale, to discuss the future of software teams. They explore offshore staff augmentation, AI-powered business workflows, and why product thinking matters more as development accelerates. Matt also shares how AI is reshaping marketing and website development.