Built By Endurance

Nicholas Delmonico
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  • Entrepreneurship

Built By Endurance The mental toughness it takes to cross a finish line after hours of suffering doesn't stay at the race course. It follows you into the boardroom, the startup, the deal, the hard conversation. Built By Endurance sits down with high-performing athletes who are also building something meaningful in business. Each episode digs into the real connection between what endurance sports demand of you and how that shapes the way you lead, make decisions, and handle adversity at work. No highlight reels. No motivational fluff. Just honest conversations about what the grind actually teaches you and how it compounds over time.

  1. 3 days ago

    Mapping Solo Ultras and Startup Roadmaps with Daniel Cerone - #25

    Daniel Cerone has run ultras across Hawaii, Italy, Sweden, and the Appalachian Trail, and he has never entered a race. He designs and maps every route himself, then runs it solo. It started with a childhood game of manhunt in the New Jersey woods and a trail he drew in Microsoft Paint, and it grew into a habit of asking what else is out there until the answer stretched across state parks and continents. In this episode Daniel walks through the 52 mile route he built along the Appalachian Trail from Harriman State Park to the Pennsylvania border. He talks about what went wrong on the day and what he learned about elevation profiles, calorie math, and carrying everything you need on your own back. He also shares the career built alongside it. After eighteen years in technology, including AI and cybersecurity work, Daniel rebuilt his company DCerone to help founders in AI and cloud compute run better beta programs. He explains the forever beta problem, the four pillars he uses to keep a young business from tipping over, and where he thinks AI falls short. Takeaways You do not need a race bib to go long distanceKnowing when to ask for help is as important as knowing the answerA beta with 3,000 free users and no conversion plan is not traction Chapters 01:33 Designing His Own Ultras09:27 The 52 Mile Attempt19:42 From Tech Career to DCerone24:10 Beta to Paying Customers34:32 What AI Cannot Do Links Website: dcerone.comLinkedInInstagram: dcerstudio

  2. 2 Sept

    Why He Signs Up for Races He Probably Won't Finish with Josh Rosenthal - #24

    Josh Rosenthal has toed the line at eleven hundred-mile races and finished two. He considers that a feature, not a problem. A Salt Lake City half marathon in 2010 turned into a five-year plan to reach a hundred miles, and a borrowed DVD of Unbreakable turned that plan into an obsession he's now fifteen years into, including five starts at the Zion 100. The same instinct runs through his business career. He released his first punk album at sixteen, and his dad's question afterward, "how do people know about it?", became the thread connecting everything since: ten albums, a coffee roasting company, thirteen restaurants, a private equity fund, and a cookbook co-authored with his wife. Today he runs Borderlands, a trail running media company built around the idea that the sport is worth more than its performance metrics. Takeaways If you're likely to finish, you picked the wrong distance. The low odds are the appeal.Longevity comes from being willing to quit. At 43, he thinks his PRs are still ahead of him.A great product is worthless if nobody knows about it. Distribution is the whole game. Chapters 00:00 A Half Marathon and a Five Year Plan to 100 Miles03:00 Eleven Starts, Two Finishes, and Why That's the Point07:43 Epiphanies at Mile 70 and Ideas That Became Businesses10:23 Punk Albums, Coffee, and Thirteen Restaurants15:17 Building Borderlands and the Trouble With Metrics\20:58 Two Years in France and the Move Back Home30:00 Hot Takes on the Food Industry Social Media & Links borderlands.cc analog.borderlands.cc play.borderlands.cc YouTube IG

  3. 26 Aug

    The Iron Tooth: How He Lost a Tooth 300 Meters Into His 1st Ironman with Coach Matt Davis - #23

    At 40, Matt was a private banker who had not swum a lap in 25 years, did not own a bike, and had never ridden with clip-in pedals. He looked in the mirror, did not like the trajectory, and signed up for a full distance Ironman on a whim. Three hundred meters into the swim at Ironman Barcelona, an elbow knocked out one of his front teeth. He watched it spiral toward the seabed and did the math on what it would cost to replace. By the time he crossed the line his mates had already christened him as the Iron Tooth. In this episode Matt walks through that first race, the decision to leave banking and burn his suits, and the harder truth about entrepreneurship that corporate never prepares you for. He also gets into why he screens every new athlete for their why before he ever tests their fitness, how a COVID lockdown on a nine by five mile island turned him into an ultrarunner, and the five day jungle stage race he calls the best thing he has ever done. Takeaways Passion for the work is not the same as running the businessUnderstanding the 'why' is crucial for athletes' successUltra races are where the best business ideas come from Chapters 00:00 Banking to Ironman03:35 Barcelona and the Tooth11:23 Quitting the Corporate Job15:57 Finding Clients18:18 The Why Test22:47 Ultras, Jungles, and Moab

  4. 19 Aug

    Santa Cruz to Salesforce: Racing Half Ironmans and Building a Sales Career with Zack Levandov - #22

    Zack Levandov got into endurance sport in 2013 through a chance conversation in New York City about a nonprofit taking inner city kids into the outdoors. That introduction led to the NYC Half, the NYC Triathlon, and eventually two half Ironmans after he moved to San Francisco. His career followed a similar path of chasing the harder thing. He left private equity for a sales role at one of the firm's portfolio companies, then became the first sales hire at a ten person startup working out of a WeWork. Later he walked away from a good job at Smartsheet to finish his MBA at Babson full time. He is now twelve years into enterprise sales, recently started a role at Salesforce, eight weeks into fatherhood, and figuring out what race comes next. Takeaways Mindset is the differentiator in early stage salesBetting on yourself sometimes means stepping backward firstHow you do anything is how you do everything, whether that shows up in training, work, or at home Chapters 00:00 A Chance Meeting That Started It All03:06 San Francisco, Triathlon, and the First Half Ironman05:31 Startup to Salesforce: A Sales Career at Every Company Size15:32 Double Flats and the Mindset That Gets You Through21:16 Becoming a Father and What Comes Next Links https://zacklevandov.com/

  5. 12 Aug

    6 Ironmans at 60 and Retiring on His Own Terms with Dave Capitano - #21

    At 57, Dave Capitano had never swum before, didn't own a bike, and couldn't run three miles. He gave himself one goal: finish a full Ironman before turning 60. He got it done, and then instead of calling it a bucket list item checked off, he set a bigger one. Six full Ironmans in 2026, the year he turns 60. All of this comes on the heels of a 35 year career as a partner at an international consulting and accounting firm, where he served as managing partner. He announced his retirement two years before he took it, built the transition himself, and walked away on his own terms. We got into why he did it that way, what he is doing with the time now, and why the goal was never really to finish an Ironman. Takeaways The goal was never the finish line it was the fitnessRetiring on one's own terms and mentoring young professionals Chapters 00:00 Never Swam, Didn't Own a Bike, First Ironman at 5906:37 Training for Six Races Instead of One18:06 35 Years, One Firm, and Retiring on His Own Terms22:11 Mentoring, Grandkids, and What's Next

  6. 5 Aug

    Building a Recruiting Firm Through COVID and First Ironman with Justin Dixon - #20

    Justin Dixon grew up playing soccer and golf in a small town in central Pennsylvania. Not an endurance background. At the end of 2022 he made a New Year's resolution to finish a full Ironman before the next year was out. He did not own a bike and had not swum laps since he was a kid. Eleven months later he raced Ironman Arizona in Tempe. The business timeline was just as compressed. In January 2020 he left a stable role leading recruitment at a wealth management firm in Philadelphia to start his own recruiting firm, a few weeks before COVID became a global pandemic and hiring stopped everywhere. Takeaways Shrink the downside before you take the riskA W2 is a single point of failureFueling is the limiter, not fitness Chapters 00:00 Signing Up for an Ironman17:03 Strategic Transition to Entrepreneurship21:19 Resilience During COVID26:37 Involvement in Angel Investing Links https://hiretomorrow.com/

  7. 29 Jul

    From a Bosnian Village With No Electricity to Valuing Derivatives with Miko Devedzic - #19

    Miko Devedzic grew up in a Bosnian village with no electricity and no running water, arrived in the US at 15 speaking no English, and learned the language over one summer while babysitting two middle schoolers. Today he values derivatives and manages risk at a bank and is building Rijeka, an open source derivatives platform named after his hometown. He also runs ultra marathons, most recently two in two weeks alongside his 14 year old daughter, raising money that went directly to families back in Bosnia. This episode covers all of it, plus why he treats learning something difficult the same way he treats a 100 mile race. Takeaways Miko's journey from a Bosnian village to the US with no knowledge of EnglishThe development of Rijeka, an open-source derivative platform he is building.How his 14 year old daughter got involved in his ultra racing to help raise money for families back home. Chapters 00:42 Ultra Running and Raising Money for Families in Bosnia06:01 From Wartime Yugoslavia to the US at 1510:20 A Career in Quantitative Finance and Risk19:44 Building Rijeka, an Open Source Derivatives Platform22:42 Blockchain, Settlement, and Investing in Yourself

  8. 22 Jul

    From Guadalajara to Alabama: Viviana Sandoval on Ironmans and Life at Mercedes - #18

    Viviana Sandoval shares her journey from Guadalajara, Mexico to Alabama and built a new life around two things: a career at Mercedes-Benz and Ironmans. Today she's a senior project manager, a role she says the sport helped open for her. The triathlon story began by accident. She was anonymously registered for her first marathon with three weeks' notice. A knee surgery soon pushed her into swimming and biking, and the sport took over from there. By 2019 she had finished her first full Ironman, all while working full-time and completing a second degree. In this episode she talks about why the mind, not the body, carries you through the back half of an Ironman, how she fits training around a demanding career, and how she built running clubs and virtual races inside Mercedes that kept colleagues connected through the pandemic. Takeaways In long-course racing, the body gives out before the finish and the mind does the rest.Her Mercedes job came through people she met while training, not a job board. Sport built the network first.Sport can be a tool for building culture at work, from internal run clubs to virtual races that held a team together during COVID. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Background02:03 Getting Into Triathlon06:35 The Mind Does the Work16:31 Balancing Career and Training26:13 What's Next: Boston, Chattanooga, and Kona

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About

Built By Endurance The mental toughness it takes to cross a finish line after hours of suffering doesn't stay at the race course. It follows you into the boardroom, the startup, the deal, the hard conversation. Built By Endurance sits down with high-performing athletes who are also building something meaningful in business. Each episode digs into the real connection between what endurance sports demand of you and how that shapes the way you lead, make decisions, and handle adversity at work. No highlight reels. No motivational fluff. Just honest conversations about what the grind actually teaches you and how it compounds over time.

Information

  • Creator
    Nicholas Delmonico
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    25
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Nicholas Delmonico
  • Show Website
    Built By Endurance