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The Founders Sandbox

The Founders Sandbox

By: Brenda McCabe
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 The Founder’s Sandbox is going to be an exciting new podcast produced and sponsored by Next Act Advisors. Our host and founder of NAA, Brenda McCabe, will be interviewing players in the ecosystem of startups. Discussion centers on the nuts and bolts of resilient companies, shared experiences creating (and keeping) revenue, while making companies playful AND well governed! We will tackle common issues faced by the founders of startups, and talk about how to create a fun environment where, under great corporate governance, founders can sit back and watch their employees build and play.2024 Economics Management Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Scaling AI with Ruthless Compassion

    Scaling AI with Ruthless Compassion
    Jun 24 2025
    On this episode of The Founder's Sandbox, Brenda speaks with David Hirschfeld, owner of 18 year old business Tekyz, that boasts a hyperexceptional development team building high “ticket” products in the B2B space. They speak about ways in which AI is a gamechanger, how Tekyz backs their work for clients with relentless pursuit of quality, and how Tekyz practices ruthless compassion,to protect the company and enable it to grow Having collaborated with over 90 startups, he developed the Launch 1st Method—a systematic approach that minimizes risks and accelerates software company success with reduced reliance on investor funding, after observing that many companies launch a product first and then fail at a later stage – With Tekyz approach of Launch 1st exceptional founders are in love with the problem not the product. David's expertise bridges cutting-edge AI technologies, workflow optimization, and startup ecosystem dynamics. When not transforming business strategies, he enjoys woodworking, golfing, and drawing leadership insights from his experience raising four successful sons. You can find out more about David and Tekyz at: https://sites.google.com/tekyz.com/david-hirschfeld?usp=sharing https://tekyz.podbean.com/ - Scaling Smarter Episodes. www.scalingsmarter.net - Schedule an interview https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhirschfeld/ https://x.com/tekyzinc https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhirschfeld/ https://www.facebook.com/dmhirschfeld transcription: 00:04 Welcome back to the Founders Sandbox. I am Brenda McCabe, the host here on this monthly podcast, now in its third season. This podcast reaches entrepreneurs, business owners that are scaling. 00:31 professional service providers that provide services to these entrepreneurs, and corporate board directors who, like me, are building resilient, purpose-driven, and scalable businesses with great corporate governance. My guests to this podcast are business owners themselves, professional service providers, and corporate directors who, like me, want to use the power of the private company to build a better 01:01 world through storytelling with each of my guests in the sandbox. My goal is to provide a fun sandbox environment where we can equip one founder at a time to build a better world through great corporate governance. So today I'm absolutely delighted to have as my guest, David Hirschfeld. David is the owner and CEO of Techies, 17 or 18 year old business now that boasts 01:29 a hyper exceptional development team that are building high ticket products in the B2B space. Welcome David to the Founder Sandbox. Hi Brenda and thanks for having me. Great. So I'm delighted that we actually did a dry run in February. We've known each other for some time and AI, we're going to be touching on AI. And I think that the world of AI 01:58 particularly in software development, has changed significantly since we last spoke in February. So we're going to be getting into some, I think, novel concepts for the listeners of the Founder Sandbox. So I wanted to, you I always talk about how I like to work with growth stage companies that typically are bootstrapped and 02:26 It's only at a later stage do they seek institutional investment by building great corporate governance and reducing the reliance on investor funding until such a time that they choose the right type of investors that can help them scale. So when I found out what you do at Techies with Launch First and the type of work you do in B2B businesses, I absolutely wanted to have you here on the founder sandbox. 02:56 So let's jump right in, right? I think I'm eager to learn more about how to scale your bespoke development at Techies, right? To scale my own business? Okay. So there's a lot of different aspects to scaling my business and I bootstrapped for the last 18 years. 03:25 I've never taken any investment with techies. And I've done that very specifically because it gives me a lot of freedom. I don't have a reporting structure that I have to worry about. That doesn't mean that I can be lazy with my team. To grow my team, I have a philosophy 03:52 that I only hire people that are smarter than I am. And the ones that are in a position to hire, they can only hire people that are smarter than them. And by really sticking to this philosophy, even though sometimes it makes us grow a little slower than we would like, it means that when we bring in people, those people contribute immediately and contribute in a way 04:21 that it's our job to get the impediments out of their way and to facilitate them so that they can contribute and help us grow the company. So I call it the ball rolls uphill here because my job is to support everybody that is above me, which is everybody. And then the people that I support directly, their job is to support the people that are above them. 04:51 Because if we're hiring correctly, then people ...
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    56 mins
  • Purpose: Preserving Family Wealth

    Purpose: Preserving Family Wealth
    May 15 2025
    On this episode of The Founder's Sandbox, Brenda speaks with Alexa Steinberg – a corporate and transactional attorney for middle-market companies and entrepreneurs. Acting as outside general counsel, Alexa represents privately held companies in a wide range of general corporate and transactional matters, including entity formation, structuring, and commercial transactions. With a focus on mergers and acquisitions, she offers clients guidance on structuring deals and ensuring compliance with relevant laws and regulations. Brenda and Alexa discuss her journey from working at a small, all-female law firm to joining a full-service firm to better support her clients. Alexa shares how her parents—both deeply involved in business and community service—shaped her values around financial literacy, record-keeping, and the importance of building generational wealth. They speak about family-owned businesses and best practices in family governance, such as setting clear roles, regular meetings, and involving independent board members. Alexa also emphasizes the importance of building trust with clients and maintaining a purpose-driven, relational legal practice. Brenda and Alexa explore what "purpose-driven," "resilience," and "scalable" mean within the context of business and legal practice. You can find out more about Alexa at: https://www.greenbergglusker.com/alexa-steinberg/ episode transcript: 00:04 Hi, I'm pleased to announce something very special to me, a new subscription-based service through Next Act Advisors that allows members exclusive access to personal industry insights and bespoke 00:32 corporate governance knowledge. This comes in the form of blogs, personal book recommendations, and early access to the founder's sandbox podcast episodes before they released to the public. If you want more white glove information on building your startup with information like what was in today's episode, sign up with the link in the show notes to enjoy being a special member of Next Act Advisors. 01:01 As a thank you to Founders Sandbox listeners, you can use code SANDBOX25 at checkout to enjoy 25 % off your membership costs. Thank you. 01:18 Welcome back to the Founders Sandbox. I am Brenda McCabe, your host of this monthly podcast where I have guests that are either founders, professional service providers, corporate board directors that actually share a mission with me, which is bringing change to the world through great corporate governance, but building resilient, scalable and purpose-driven companies. On a monthly basis, my guests are going to tell their origin stories and kind of how I've met them. 01:48 through the work they do. And I've recreated a fun sandbox environment in which we do storytelling. And ultimately we will touch upon resilience, purpose-driven and scalable or sustainable growth in the businesses that they are working in or owners of. 02:17 l I'm absolutely delighted to have as my guest today, Alexa Steinberg, Alexa is counsel at Greenberg, Glasgow. And before that, she was actually practicing in a smaller law firm and where her story today is going to kind of have some some 02:47 lessons learned on why she chose to leave the firm and move into Greenberg, the Greenberg Lasker. But more importantly, you and I go back a couple years. are part of an informal group of women. We call ourselves Women and Wealth. We meet periodically to really refer business to each other for those women business owners that 03:16 are seeking perhaps an exit in the next three to five years. And through our skillset, some of us are CPAs, strategy advisors, yourself as counsel. A lot of these businesses are family owned. And so you and I and another, know, seven other ladies get to meet each other over lunch and discuss these opportunities. And we're all very passionate about helping women business owners. Aren't we, 03:44 We are Brenda, thank you so much for having me on the Founder's Sandbox. I am an avid listener, so I'm very excited that I get to be a guest. Thank you, thank you. you know, we've had many, conversations, obviously, but I wanted for my listeners to really dive into what you do today, right? Which is really purpose. 04:12 driven and it's preserving family wealth, right? And I know that you actually come from a background where your father owned his business. So tell us a bit, us down memory lane and that first story that you told me. Well, you know, growing up, I watched both of my parents. My mother was a career woman. My father, a financial planner. 04:38 running his own book. My mother, a buyer and then in fashion and then into real estate. I watched they were both very involved in the community. My mother sat on the Studio City Council, the Neighborhood Council. She was on many boards involved with the temple. My father as well sat on many boards involved with the 05:07 Boys and Girls Club, and involved ...
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    40 mins
  • Purpose: Bridging Gaps for Better Governance

    Purpose: Bridging Gaps for Better Governance
    Apr 29 2025
    On this episode of The Founder's Sandbox, Brenda speaks with Dr. Keith Dorsey – Keith is joining to announce the launch of his book on May 6, 2025 “The Boardroom Journey Practical Guidance for Women to Secure a Seat at the Table”. Dr. Keith D. Dorsey is an internationally recognized governance expert and NACD Directorship 100™ honoree who equips senior leaders with proven strategies to secure and excel in board roles. With over 25 years of corporate leadership experience and active board service spanning private, municipal, university, and nonprofit sectors, he delivers engaging presentations that blend research-based insights with actionable guidance. Dr. Dorsey speaks on corporate governance, board effectiveness, and strategic leadership, helping organizations build stronger boards and executives navigate their path to the boardroom. His book, The Boardroom Journey, offers practical guidance for expanding boardroom impact and success. Read more about Keith’s experience. You can find out more about Keith and his upcoming book at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-keith-d-dorsey-798a2681/ https://www.boardroomjourney.com/book Transcript: 00:04 Hi, I'm pleased to announce something very special to me, a new subscription-based service through Next Act Advisors that allows members exclusive access to personal industry insights and bespoke 00:32 corporate governance knowledge. This comes in the form of blogs, personal book recommendations, and early access to the founder's sandbox podcast episodes before they released to the public. If you want more white glove information on building your startup with information like what was in today's episode, sign up with the link in the show notes to enjoy being a special member of Next Act Advisors. 01:01 As a thank you to Founders Sandbox listeners, you can use code SANDBOX25 at checkout to enjoy 25 % off your membership costs. Thank you. 01:20 So welcome back to the Founder's Sandbox. I am Brenda McCabe, your host and this monthly podcast. We're now in our third season and my podcast, the Founder's Sandbox, reaches entrepreneurs, business owners with guests. And these guests teach us about building resilient, scalable and purpose-driven enterprises, all with great corporate governance. My mission is simple. 01:49 with this podcast as I really want to assist through my content and my guests, those entrepreneurs and business owners and building the scalable, well-governed and resilient businesses. And I like to have in my guests, corporate directors, primarily to speak about their own experience sitting on corporate boards and building with great corporate governance. I like to think that we can use the 02:16 power of the private enterprise, be it small, medium, or large, to create change for a better world. And we do some of the storytelling in a fictitious sandbox on the founders or the corporate directors' origin story. I am absolutely delighted that this month I have Dr. Keith Dorsey as my guest. So welcome, Keith. It's great to be here. Thank you, Brenda. Thank you so much. 02:45 While you check many boxes, you're joining today because you have authored a book. It has a launch date of May 6, 2025, so just around the corner. And the title of your book is The Boardroom Journey, Practical Guidance for Women to Secure a Seat at the Table. So kudos to you. Thank you. For, wow, you're a busy person. We'll get to that later. 03:13 you know, where did you find the time and the courage to publish a book, launch it in today's environment? And we'll get to those questions later. So for my guest, Dr. Keith Dorsey and I go back many years, actually prior to you being a doctor, right? You check many boxes as a guest. You are a seasoned board member, executive advisor, 03:44 informal coach, and researcher. I love that. And it was in preparing your doctoral dissertation that you discovered that, I'm going to quote here, I was reading a compelling study on the effects of gender diversity on corporate governance. And you basically repurposed your original dissertation to provide actionable guidance on increasing boardroom diversity. 04:14 And when you switched your dissertation, that topic that you had to defend, otherwise you wouldn't be a doctor today, right? Was the idea for the book that is launching on May 6th. So again, welcome to the podcast and thank you for joining me. So we chose as a, my guests know, we chose a title because I at Next Act Advisors am about building purpose, purpose driven companies. The title 04:43 that Keith and I came up with is, you know, bridging gaps for better governance. So Keith, share with us kind of your origin story. Go back all the way, although I'm gonna encourage my listeners to purchase your book, but go back to your origin story. You nailed it in like one page in the book, but tell us where your origins and what was your, not only your boardroom journey, but your ...
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    50 mins
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