Authority in the Wild

Gabe Marusca
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to Authority in the Wild Podcast. I'm your host, Gabe Marusca, helping action-takers achieve Freedom Through Entrepreneurs, without sacrificing the things that matter to you. From sales and engineering to freelancing and business consulting, I've worn many hats for the past 20 years. Leveraging that background, I host unscripted conversations with successful entrepreneurs, renowned business leaders, and subject-matter experts. Learn the insights, tactics, and business principles successful people rarely share elsewhere. Take what you discover and use it to build your path to freedom.

  1. She Built a 7-Figure Brand Without Amazon, Investors, or Influencers w/ Kate Assaraf

    1d ago

    She Built a 7-Figure Brand Without Amazon, Investors, or Influencers w/ Kate Assaraf

    Kate Assaraf built DIP into a seven-figure haircare brand with forty thousand dollars from her kitchen table, with no Amazon, no investors, and no paid influencers. Her case is that the standard playbook most founders are handed is a trap, and the money you supposedly leave on the table by skipping Amazon is money you keep circulating with your own customers and retailers instead. I brought her the strongest objections any founder would raise, and she answered every one of them with receipts. 🟪 Important Timestamps (00:00) Intro (01:00) The Table Everyone Says You're Crazy to Leave (06:28) The Factory That Almost Didn't Happen (10:55) Scaling Without a Single Investor (15:36) One Tiny Store, One Staggering Number (21:51) The Ugly Secret Behind Everyday Products (26:20) When a Competitor Came After Her (30:43) Who Wakes Up and Does This? (36:22) What Convenience Is Quietly Costing Us (40:29) The One Word That Changes Everything (43:17) Why Founders Really Keep Going 🟪 About Kate Founder and CEO of DIP, a sustainability-forward haircare company making salon-quality shampoo and conditioner bars. 7-figure brand built with $40K personal savings, no Amazon, no VC, no influencers. 800+ small independent retailers. Oprah Daily's #1 Pick for Curly Hair. NJ Family's 2024 Mompreneur of the Year. 🟪 Connect with Kate Assaraf - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dipalready - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-assaraf-b25a741a7 - Press Kit: https://dipalready.com/a/press-kit 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

    51 min
  2. 4 Simple Habits that Bring Burn Out People Back to Life w/ Martin Lesperance

    Jun 23

    4 Simple Habits that Bring Burn Out People Back to Life w/ Martin Lesperance

    The people who are quietly checking out at work usually hide it well. They still show up. Something has just gone quiet. Martin Lesperance is a keynote speaker who delivers around 100 talks a year in more than 20 countries; his audiences started calling him the Simon Sinek of Quebec. In this conversation we get into: Why so many people have "quietly quit" & burning outThe four simple habits that pull a person, and a team, back to lifeWhy your real purpose was never the numbersAnd much more. This is less a talk about engagement than a story about choosing your attitude when you have every reason not to. If you have built something that works but does not feel like freedom, or you manage people who have gone quiet, you will leave with four things you can use today. 🟪 Important Time Stamps (00:00) Intro (00:43) What you'll learn today (02:14) Why engagement is at all time low (07:05) Starving for human connection (09:23) How the Inspire Framework came to life (18:20) Secret #1 (31:00) Secret #2 (44:12) Secret #3 (48:34) Secret #4 (53:39) The call that came the night before my biggest talk (58:52) How to connect with Martin 🟪 About the Guest Martin Lespérance is a bilingual (English and French) keynote speaker based in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. He delivers 80-100 keynotes a year across more than twenty countries. He started his career as a high school science teacher, then became a national trainer at Bayer and Director of Training and Development at Essilor before going full-time as a speaker. He won Inspirational Speaker of the Year at Speaker Slam and is the author of Inspire (available in English and French). Audiences call him the Simon Sinek of Quebec. 🟪 Connect with Martin Lespérance - Website: https://www.martinlesperance.co - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-lesperance-0355263/ - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martinlesperance.ca - Book Inspire (EN & FR): https://www.martinlesperance.co/book 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

    1h 3m
  3. Why Good Marketing Pisses Off 80% of People? w/ Ada Wardzala

    Jun 16

    Why Good Marketing Pisses Off 80% of People? w/ Ada Wardzala

    The most polished marketing is the marketing nobody remembers. Ada Wardzala started in the call center of the company that publishes Harvard Business Review in Poland and was directing its marketing by age 23. Today she runs SUUR, a B2B agency where clients wait for her availability. In this conversation, we get into: - Why 80% of your effort belongs on the part most teams treat as an afterthought - How three women in Utah turned Stanley's worst-selling product into a $750 million business - What a reader should get from your content that they could never get from ChatGPT - The trap that makes expensive events produce names but no clients Ada does not talk in marketing theory. Every claim comes with a client story, a number, or a scar. If you create content, run campaigns, or pay someone who does, you will leave knowing exactly where your effort is leaking. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (00:34) The Marketing Nobody Remembers (05:19) The Real Way to Win People Over (10:46) Why Saying "No" Wins (16:28) Know Them Better Than They Know Themselves (21:41) Built to Go Viral (27:12) Why "Write Me a Viral Post" Always Fails (33:08) Play Every Card in Your Deck (37:57) Brand Building vs. Cold Hard Revenue (44:25) What AI Can Never Fake (49:08) The Voices Telling You to Quit 🟪 About Adrianna Adrianna Wardzała is the founder and CEO of SUUR Marketing, a B2B marketing agency in Warsaw. At 23, she became the youngest-ever Marketing Director at ICAN Institute (publisher of Harvard Business Review Poland), where she also launched MIT Sloan Management Review Poland. After 7 years at ICAN and a year in tech at 10Clouds, she founded SUUR in 2021. She hosts the podcast Surowo o marketingu (31+ episodes) and writes a biweekly newsletter on B2B marketing. 🟪 Connect with Adrianna Wardzała - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriannawardzala - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@adriannawardzala - Agency: https://www.suur.pl - Personal: https://adriannawardzala.pl - Podcast: Surowo o marketingu (Spotify/Apple) 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

    55 min
  4. How to Actually Implement Innovation (Not Just Generate Ideas) w/ Vaughan Broderick

    Jun 9

    How to Actually Implement Innovation (Not Just Generate Ideas) w/ Vaughan Broderick

    Vaughan Broderick has worked on more than 300 innovation projects and trained over 350 leaders across 20 industries. In all of it, he kept seeing the same thing: good ideas dying before they ever reached the people they were meant for. Not because the ideas were weak. Because of the part of innovation almost nobody teaches. In this conversation, Vaughan breaks down why organizations jump to solutions before they understand the real problem, the four forces that quietly kill ideas after everyone says yes, and why what looks like resistance is usually something else entirely. We also get into the question everyone is asking right now: where does AI actually help you innovate, and where does it just help you fail faster? This is Vaughan's second appearance on Authority in the Wild. Episode 35 aired back in 2023. Since then he has co-authored "Innovation in Action" with Dr. Christian Walsh that you can order it now to unlock exclusive bonuses: https://innovationinactionbook.com The book is built on the DUCTRI framework refined over a decade and 300-plus projects. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (04:30) How to Know If Your Idea Is Actually Useful (09:17) What People Always Overcomplicate About Change (14:27) The Barrier Leaders Secretly Underestimate (18:36) What 'DUCTRI' Really Stands For (22:57) Where AI Helps Innovation — And Where It Fails (28:31) The One Thing AI Can Never Replace (33:11) Where the Best Ideas Actually Come From (37:05) From Idea to Action: The Real Steps (43:47) The Belief He's Now Letting Go Of 🟪 Connect with Vaughan Broderick - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaughanbroderick - Website: https://vaughanbroderick.com - Innovation in Action Book: https://a.co/d/0gSsAIwf 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

    46 min
  5. She Almost Died. Then She Fixed Gluten-Free Food. w/ Carolyn Haeler

    Jun 2

    She Almost Died. Then She Fixed Gluten-Free Food. w/ Carolyn Haeler

    Carolyn Haeler spent nine months losing her hair, going gray, and wasting away before anyone figured out what was wrong. Then she bit into a gluten-free cookie that was barely edible, and decided to fix it herself. Carolyn is the founder and CEO of Mightylicious Gluten Free, nationally distributed across 43 states, available at Whole Foods, Walmart, Costco, and 2,600+ specialty stores. She was also the first female LGBTQ+ founder to raise $5 million on Republic.co In this conversation, we get into: Why every gluten-free product on the shelf tastes the way it does (and what the industry keeps getting wrong)How she taught herself the food science in a tiny apartment with a 24-inch ovenWhy she chose crowdfunding over VC, and what that decision actually costsWhat CPG distribution really looks like when you are not a two-bros startup with venture backingThis is a story about obsession, recoverable risk, and what it means to build something that matters to the people who need it most. For founders, operators, and anyone who has wondered why "good enough" keeps winning. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (01:44) When Your Body Turns Against You (04:53) Gluten it's in Almost Everything! (09:34) One Bad Cookie. One Big Decision. (13:25) The Hidden Reason Gluten-Free Tastes Wrong (17:22) The Ingredient Nobody Else Was Using (20:24) Why She Skipped the VCs (23:05) The Moment Everything Unlocked (39:36) You Don't Need a Master Plan to Start (44:27) What's Next and What She'd Never Do Again 🟪 Connect with Carolyn Haeler Website: https://mightylicious.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mightyliciiousfoodsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cpotz/🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca Website: https://www.gabemarusca.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemaruscaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemaruscaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemaruscaTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

    54 min
  6. How to Write a Keynote on One Page that Influence People to Think Differently w/ Brian Miller

    May 27

    How to Write a Keynote on One Page that Influence People to Think Differently w/ Brian Miller

    In 2026, the smartest person in the room is losing. Not to better ideas. To better packaging. Brian Miller built a 3.7M-view TEDx talk using a framework that fits on one page. He spent twenty years figuring out why brilliant people fail on stage, and it has nothing to do with charisma, voice, or slides. In this conversation, we get into: Why asking "what do I want to say?" is the question that kills most talks before they startWhat every audience is silently deciding in the first 60 seconds (and how most speakers fail it)The counterintuitive move that makes people beg for your solutionWhy changing someone's mind requires changing their thinking before you offer anythingBrian is a former professional magician turned speaker coach. His clients speak at TED-style stages in rooms where failure is not an option. 🟪 About Brian Brian Kenneth Miller is a former professional magician turned speaker coach. His TEDx talk "How to Magically Connect with Anyone" has done over 3.7 million views. He's the founder of Conquer the Red Dot, a coaching firm that prepares experts and leaders for TED-style stages, and the principal consultant at Clarity Up Consulting. He's the author of Three New People and the new book The One-Page Keynote: How to Design a Speech That Always Works, No Charisma Required. He also co-founded The SpeakerPath with Francisco Mahfuz. 🟪 Connect with Brian Miller - The One-Page Keynote Book: https://a.co/d/08tE3hmA - Clarity Up: https://www.clarityupconsulting.com - Conquer the Red Dot: https://conquerthereddot.com - The SpeakerPath: https://thespeakerpath.com - Personal website: https://www.brianmillerspeaks.com - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianmillerspeaks - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brianmillerspeaks - TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4cV8yfgNyI 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

    1h 1m
  7. Your Life Looks Perfect. You Feel Nothing. Here's Why. w/ Dr. Margaret Rutherford

    May 19

    Your Life Looks Perfect. You Feel Nothing. Here's Why. w/ Dr. Margaret Rutherford

    The founder who seems fine is often the one who needs this most. I sit down with Dr. Margaret Rutherford, clinical psychologist, author, and TEDx speaker, to walk through Perfectly Hidden Depression, the form of depression that doesn't look like depression at all. It hides behind high performance, emotional control, and the identity of being someone who handles things. And it's disproportionately common among entrepreneurs and founders who have turned perfectionism into a management style. The through-line of the conversation is the framework shared by Dr. Margaret's new workbook that came to life after 30 years of clinical practice? 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (01:01) What is the Perfectly Hidden Depression (04:25) Perfectionism as a Prison (09:45) The 10 Telltale Signs of PHD (16:58) When PHD Traits Become Dangerous (22:12 )The Cost of Loneliness (30:33) From Awareness to Change (33:38) The Compartmentalization Exercise (39:59) Beyond Awareness to Cha 🟪 About Dr. Margaret Rutherford Dr. Margaret Rutherford is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 30 years of clinical experience. She is the author of Perfectly Hidden Depression (November 2019), Perfectly Hidden Depression Workbook (April 2026) the host of the Self-Work Podcast that has over 5 million downloads. Her TEDx talk on emotional transparency has surpassed two million views. She works with high-functioning individuals who carry depression beneath a surface of apparent success. 🟪 Connect with Dr. Margaret Rutherford - PDH Workbook: https://a.co/d/021PCO99 - PHD Book: https://a.co/d/05pmllEo - Website: https://drmargaretrutherford.com - Self-Work Podcast: https://drmargaretrutherford.com/selfwork/ - TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXZ5Bo5lafA - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drmargaretrutherford - LinkedIn: https://www.facebook.com/DrMargaretRutherford - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@drmargaretrutherford 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

    47 min
  8. From $200K to $2M in 5 Months Growth Playbook: We talked Startups, Research, Positioning and Client Acquisition w/ Andrej Persolja

    May 12

    From $200K to $2M in 5 Months Growth Playbook: We talked Startups, Research, Positioning and Client Acquisition w/ Andrej Persolja

    Andrej Persolja built a product with a 4.9-star rating and real clinical proof it worked. He launched in one market and it took off. He then launched to the US and nothing happened. No customers. No conversions. Four years and tens of thousands in ad spend with almost nothing to show for it. He eventually figured out why. Then he ran a structured test. One thing changed. Revenue went up 200%. His cost to acquire a customer dropped by more than half. He left the startup and built a consulting practice around what he learned. He then went on to take another company from $200K to $2M in annual revenue in five months. And in this episode we cover the startup growth playbook, From research to market positioning to client acquisition. This conversation covers: what he learned about why products stop sellinghow he identifies growth levers most teams misswhat customer research actually looks like when it worksand what he did when things were at their worstEnjoy! 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (00:48) Building his First Startup (05:02) Positioning is Killing Great Products (12:41) What Makes a Product Valuable (16:45) How to Get Your Customers (22:43) The Growth Playbook (26:22) Growth Tests And KPIs (29:28) AI Workflows & Life Design (38:26) Systems, Life and Opportunities (43:09) Connect with Andrej 🟪 About the Guest Andrej Persolja is a positioning strategist and growth marketer from Slovenia who has worked with 100+ tech companies, from early-stage startups to 50M EUR revenue companies. He co-founded 2 startups, including a dyslexic learning app where he discovered the power of positioning after lowering CAC by 52% and doubling growth. He now runs We Fix Boring, helping B2B SaaS companies communicate their value through strategic repositioning. A 2023 YTILI Fellow (U.S. Department of State), NextMBA alumnus (under Philip Kotler and Seth Godin), and keynote speaker at Startup Disrupt, Andrej lives at the crossroads of logic and psychology. 🟪 Connect with Andrej Persolja Website: https://apersolja.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV5Evx39NVsWc1z8ofGBY9gLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apersolja/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/apersoljaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/apersolja/Newsletter: https://apersolja.com/the-best-positioned-newsletter-in-marketing/Nail Your Positioning: https://nailyourpositioning.com/We Fix Boring: https://www.founderat.com/andrej-persolja/🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca Website: https://www.gabemarusca.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemaruscaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemaruscaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemaruscaX/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemaruscaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemaruscaTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

    46 min
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5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

Welcome to Authority in the Wild Podcast. I'm your host, Gabe Marusca, helping action-takers achieve Freedom Through Entrepreneurs, without sacrificing the things that matter to you. From sales and engineering to freelancing and business consulting, I've worn many hats for the past 20 years. Leveraging that background, I host unscripted conversations with successful entrepreneurs, renowned business leaders, and subject-matter experts. Learn the insights, tactics, and business principles successful people rarely share elsewhere. Take what you discover and use it to build your path to freedom.

Information

  • Creator
    Gabe Marusca
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    164
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Gabe Marusca
  • Show Website
    Authority in the Wild