Not Another CEO Podcast

Not Another CEO
  • 5.0 (18)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Our mission is to bend the curve for Founders and CEOs. At Not Another CEO, we know there’s no formula for running a business. Leadership is forged through unique journeys, real challenges, and hard lessons. Our exclusive content showcases unfiltered stories and practical guidance from those who’ve crawled through the trenches. Our platform offers the largest library of CEO insights and how-to guides, sourced directly from a diverse community of leaders. Find our full video library, detailed playbooks, deep dives, and lessons learned on our Substack here ➡️ https://notanotherceo.substack.com/

  1. 6d ago

    How Paw Patrol saved Spin Master - Ronnen Harary - Spin Master - EP#114

    Most people think experience is your greatest advantage. Ronnen Harary believes it can become your biggest blind spot. In this episode, Ronnen Harary, Co-Founder of Spin Master, shares the lessons behind building one of the world's most successful toy and entertainment companies, the creator of global brands like Paw Patrol, Bakugan, Air Hogs, Rubik's Cube, and Etch A Sketch. From turning down a $100 million Hollywood deal he now regrets, to explaining why it's riskier not to bet on yourself, Ronnen unpacks the mindset that helped Spin Master grow from three friends with an idea into a multi-billion-dollar public company. Key Takeaways: 1. The Power of Not Knowing: Sometimes experience becomes a limitation. Ronnen explains why the lack of conventional wisdom helped Spin Master create products that industry veterans had already dismissed, and why trusting your instincts matters more than following what everyone else believes. 2. Bet on Yourself Early: Your 20s are a unique window to take meaningful risks. As responsibilities grow, so does the cost of leaving a stable career. Ronnen argues that waiting until you feel "ready" often means you never start at all. 3. Create Your Own Luck: Luck isn't something that happens to you. It's something you earn by staying in motion, building relationships, and consistently putting yourself in situations where unexpected opportunities can find you. 4. Trust Your Instincts: The same experience that helps you build a successful company can eventually cause you to overthink. Ronnen shares why he believes your intuition is often a better guide than your intellect when making the biggest decisions. 5. Build a Culture of Ideas: Some of Spin Master's best ideas came from meetings that everyone else wanted to cancel. Ronnen explains why protecting time for open discussion and pulling the right people into the room fuels creativity and better decision-making. Quote of the Show: "The power isn't in not knowing. It's in not letting your intellect override what you know internally." – Ronnen Harary, Co-Founder, Spin Master Guest Featured in This Episode: Ronnen Harary, Co-Founder, Spin Master LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronnen-harary-99b13370/ Spin Master: https://www.spinmaster.com/en-US/ No Experience Necessary: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/789812/no-experience-necessary-by-ronnen-harary/ Chapters: 00:00:00 — Trailer & Introduction 00:02:05 — The 32-Year Tri-Founder Partnership 00:05:34 — "The Power of Not Knowing" & The Air Hogs Story 00:09:00 — The $100M Bakugan Regret 00:10:26 — Betting on Yourself in Your 20s & Inverse Risk 00:16:44 — Early Parent Support 00:18:47 — Becoming a "Grinder" 00:22:46 — Operational Discipline 00:27:14 — Making Your Own Luck: The Flick Tricks Story 00:33:40 — "Tethered Freedom" & Owning Your Culture 00:35:20 — Seeking Micro-Mentors & Writing "No Experience Required" 00:38:46 — The Decision to Take Spin Master Public 00:41:28 — The Origin Story of Paw Patrol 00:47:08 — Evolution of the Toy Industry 00:49:45 — Future Outlook for Spin Master 00:50:37 — Ronen’s Background 00:53:39 — Early Hustles 00:58:03 — Core Drive 00:59:13 — Workaholism, Burnout, and Health Sacrifices 01:04:03 — Advice to Younger Self

    How Paw Patrol saved Spin Master - Ronnen Harary - Spin Master - EP#114

  2. Sep 15

    The Provocative Statement That Built Knox - Irina Denisenko - Knox Systems - #EP113

    Most companies that start the FedRAMP process never finish it. Irina Denisenko built a business on getting you through it in 90 days, and said so, loudly, when everyone told her not to. Irina is the founder and CEO of Knox Systems, a company that gets software companies FedRAMP certified — the federal government's exhaustive cybersecurity authorization required to sell to agencies like the Pentagon — in 90 days instead of the usual multi-year process. Two years in, Knox has raised over $30 million, crossed 100 customers, and counts Adobe among them. Before this, Irina was COO of Class Technologies, where she had to get her own company FedRAMP certified and ended up acquiring an already, authorized company just to get through the process. She later spun that capability out as Knox. Here were my biggest takeaways: 1. Trust that you know your market better than the room does: When advisors pushed Irina to soften her tagline, she refused. "I know my market. I've lived this problem," she told me. 2. Turn a cost center into a revenue unlock: Irina assumed her first customers would come through CISOs. Instead, her first ten came from calling friends who ran companies. The real unlock was reframing FedRAMP: it's not a compliance expense, it's access to a market a company was previously shut out of entirely. 3. Make your investors work for you, even when you're not raising: Irina stays close to her investor network specifically because boardrooms are where FedRAMP tends to get dismissed as too slow to bother with. She's built a habit of asking investors to correct that in the room on her behalf. 4. Kill a bad bet before you defend it: Knox made an early bet on a specific AI approach to auto-remediate security vulnerabilities. The technology wasn't ready yet, and by the time that was undeniable, they'd already sunk real time and money into it. 5. Never underpay your best people: Irina calls her hiring approach "Delta Force" — senior only, nobody walking in without years of reps elsewhere. Her rule on comp: she's never once regretted overpaying for the right person, and calls the opposite mindset "pennywise, pound foolish." Quote of the Show: "If you know your market, you should know how to talk to them. And if you don't know your market, you go figure out your market first.” - Irina Denisenko, Founder & CEO, Knox Systems Guest Featured in this Episode: Irina Denisenko: https://www.linkedin.com/in/irinadenisenko/ Knox Systems: https://knoxsystems.com/ If you enjoy the episode, please like and subscribe on your favourite platforms and share with your network. We also break this episode down into a full write-up on Substack, with the exact playbook Irina used to build a go-to-market motion around a tagline everyone told her to drop, we're building out a full library of playbooks and lessons from every episode on Substack. Chapters: 00:00:00 — Intro: Irina Denisenko & Knox Systems 00:02:13 — The "FedRAMP in 90 Days" Tagline 00:06:34 — Building In-Person Across 3 Cities 00:08:52 — Hiring Only "Delta Force" Talent 00:11:41 — Revenue Per Employee in the Age of AI 00:17:10 — How She Vets a Delta Force Hire 00:25:57 — Never Regretting Overpaying for Talent 00:31:26 — Landing the First 10 Customers 00:42:41 — Investors as Her Best Referral Channel 00:47:43 — "Who Cares About This Market" 00:52:31 — The Valuation Hangover 01:02:16 — Scrapping a Year of AI Work 01:05:29 — From the Soviet Union to Founder 01:16:41 — Closing Advice: Integrity Above All

    The Provocative Statement That Built Knox - Irina Denisenko - Knox Systems - #EP113

  3. Sep 8

    Back to School Special with Sammy & Noah Politis #EP112

    I've interviewed over 100 founders and CEOs on Not Another CEO. I've asked them about their hardest days, their biggest regrets, and the sacrifices they made to build what they built. I never thought I'd be the one in that seat. This week, my own kids flipped the mic on me. Sammy and Noah wrote their own questions and interviewed me for the show, and I had no idea what was coming. We covered the worst week of my career, firing people I actually liked, the sacrifices I made that I'd still make again, and the moment my son stumped two successful CEOs on a live stage with a single question. Here's what we got into: Where it started: My father, their grandfather, built companies my whole life, and he put me on the BCC of every email he ever sent so I could learn the business before I had a job in it. My actual first paycheck came from a summer carrying furniture up four story walk ups for a moving company in New York. The worst week of my career: one week in 2019 where we lost our biggest customer, our incoming CRO backed out the day before he was supposed to start, I found out I wasn't winning an award I really wanted, I tore my Achilles, and I missed a family trip to Israel, all in the span of five days. Firing people I liked: I've fired hundreds of people over 20 years, including good friends. My kids asked how I could do that, and we talked about why it's actually the kinder move when it's done right. The sacrifice question: I missed my son's first steps building BetterCloud, and I left the hospital right after my younger son was born to go straight to a VC meeting. My kids wanted to know if I'd still make that call today. Comparing myself to other CEOs: yes, I still get jealous scrolling LinkedIn. It was worse when I was actually running BetterCloud and too deep in the weeds to see anything but my own world. How I define success: the same answer my son got out of me at our first ever live show, the one that stumped Kass and Mike Lazarow in front of a packed room. This is a different kind of episode for the show, and it might be one of my favorites. Thanks for listening, and thanks to Sammy and Noah for the toughest interview I've ever done. Quote of the Show: "The way that I define success is being able to meaningfully impact other people's lives while significantly benefiting your own life." — David Politis, Host, Not Another CEO Podcast Chapters: 00:00:00 - Trailer 00:02:22 - BetterCloud's Biggest Lesson 00:04:52 - What Inspired Me to Want to Be a CEO 00:07:12 - My First Job 00:10:14 - Pitching BetterCloud to My Own Kids 00:15:21 - What 100+ Interviews Taught Me About Building a Company 00:20:31 - AI and the Skills That Won't Get Replaced 00:23:37 - The Hardest Days 00:29:35 - Still Bad At It, Jealous of Other CEOs 00:33:13 - How I Define Success 00:41:29 - The Sacrifice Question 00:46:47 - Trust Your Gut

    Back to School Special with Sammy & Noah Politis #EP112

  4. Aug 11

    The Loneliness Every Leader Feels| Loneliness Compilation - Episode#111

    Most founders assume the loneliness fades once the company succeeds. It doesn't. If anything, it gets quieter and harder to name. In this special compilation episode of Not Another CEO, David brings together lessons from nine founders, CEOs, and investors who have built, scaled, sold, and advised some of the most recognizable companies in tech. The conversation moves through why the seat is lonely in the first place, the false belief that you are the only one carrying it, and what the best CEOs actually build around themselves once they stop trying to carry it alone. Key Takeaways: Loneliness at the top isn't a personal failing, it's baked into the structure of the job: unpopular decisions, imperfect information, and a team that only ever sees half the picture.The belief that you are uniquely alone in your struggles is common and almost always wrong.Even the most people-first, culture-driven CEOs cannot fully escape the isolation of being the one who stays in the seat while everyone else eventually moves on.Founder loneliness is a default, not a fixed destiny. A co-founder, a coach, or a peer group can change the default entirely.The most effective support comes from someone with independent context on your business and your team.Support systems show up in real outcomes, not just in how someone feels.The founders who say they never felt the loneliness usually point to the same thing: a spouse, a family member, or a peer they could call and be fully honest with. Quote of the Episode "Your team has no conception of how lonely it is to be the CEO." — Adam Dell, Founder & CEO, Domain Money Guests Featured in This Episode: Marcus Ryu, Co-Founder & Former CEO, Guidewire — LinkedInAdam Dell, Founder & CEO, Domain Money — LinkedInChieh Huang, Co-Founder & Former CEO, Boxed — LinkedInNick Mehta, Co-Founder & Former CEO, Gainsight — LinkedInNadia Boujarwah, Co-Founder & Former CEO, Dia&Co — LinkedInChip Hazard, General Partner & Co-Founder, Flybridge — LinkedInKathryn Minshew, Co-Founder & Former CEO, The Muse — LinkedInMike Grossman, CEO (6x) & Author, Failure Is an Option — LinkedInKyle Porter, Founder & Board Chair, Salesloft — LinkedIn Chapters: 00:00 – Trailer00:48 – Intro 02:20 – Marcus Ryu 03:34 – Adam Dell 04:57 – Chieh Huang 05:59 – Nick Mehta 07:26 – Nadia Boujarwah 08:43 – Chip Hazard 10:10 – Kathryn Minshew 12:34 – Mike Grossman 15:38 – Kyle Porter 16:38 – Closing Thoughts

    The Loneliness Every Leader Feels| Loneliness Compilation - Episode#111

  5. Aug 4

    Lessons From The Coach of Silicon Valley - Mike Grossman - EP#110

    Everything you think you know about why startups succeed might be wrong In this episode, Mike Grossman, six-time CEO and mentor to first-time founders across Silicon Valley, breaks down what thirty years of running companies actually taught him. From the $200 million counteroffer that blew up his first company, to why he believes luck accounts for 80 to 90 percent of every outcome, Mike pulls back the curtain on what nobody tells you before you take the job. If you think success is mostly about hard work and good decisions, this conversation will make you rethink how you handle risk, pivots, and your own sense of control. Key Takeaways: Build a System to Find the Truth: Your direct reports won't always tell you what's really happening, whether they're afraid to or simply don't know themselves. Cut through the management chain and find the people who will tell you the truth. Hold Your Plans Loosely: A plan is obsolete the moment you make it. The goal isn't a perfect plan, it's a planning mindset flexible enough to adjust without losing the team. Stop Whiplashing Your Team: What feels like velocity to a founder can feel like chaos to everyone else. Pivot too often and even your own board will stop trusting your judgment. Beware Your Own Kool-Aid: Believing your company is destined for outsized value can cost you the deal in front of you. Mike turned down a $40 million offer and countered at $200 million. He got neither. Luck Runs the Table: Mike believes 80 to 90 percent of a company's outcome comes down to luck, not execution. Focus on what you can control and let go of the rest. Watch Out for the Debilitating Win: Founders who succeed once often can't understand why the second company isn't working the same way. It usually wasn't the formula. It was luck. Nobody Talks About the Loneliness: Nearly every first-time CEO Mike coaches struggles with anxiety and isolation, and most feel they can't show it to their own investors. Quote of the Show: Plans are useless because whatever plan you make is immediately out of date and you have to make adjustments to it. But if you don't make any plan and you just do it on a seat of the pants basis, everything is kind of ad hoc, you end up jerking the company around and people get frustrated.- Mike Grossman, Entrepreneur and Author Connect with Mike: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/migrossman/ Book Failure is an Option: https://share.google/9DUEHB6596Eb1uXAa Chapters: 00:00 — Intro 02:21 — The One Thing Mike Would Do Again At Every Company 08:39 — Bill Campbell's Rule 20:13 — Plans Are Useless, Planning Is Indispensable 25:19 — The Pivot His Board Rejected 26:58 — All Of Them Struggle With Their Mental Health 30:47 — The $200 Million Deal He Blew Up 38:58 — Luck Accounts For 80 To 90 Percent 44:17 — The Debilitating Win 54:16 — Remembering The Coach Of Silicon Valley

    Lessons From The Coach of Silicon Valley - Mike Grossman - EP#110

  6. Jul 28

    How to get your first 10 customers - July Pulse Episode - EP#109

    "You cannot outsource acquiring those first ten customers. You can't do it." In this episode of Not Another CEO, David breaks down the six tactical ways he's used, three separate times now, to land his first customers from zero. From holding a pizza party for international students to handing out fliers at the Atlanta airport taxi stand to asking his own uncle to buy a phone system, David gets specific about what actually works when you're starting from nothing. What's covered: -Why getting your first customers is harder now than ever, even though building product has never been easier -Reconnecting with former employers and coworkers who already trust you -How to actually use your investor network, even at the angel stage -Why showing up in person at trade shows and meetups still beats almost everything else -Building in public on social media, even when almost nobody engages at first -The one BCC email that got David a customer and an important hire at the same time -How to do cold outreach that people actually respond to -Why none of these six tactics scale, and why that's exactly the point If you're a founder still chasing your first ten customers, this one's for you. We cover more topics like this in full playbooks on our Substack. Subscribe to get the tactical deep dives, not just the highlights: notanotherceo.substack.com Chapters: 00:00 - Trailer 00:44 - Why Finding Your First Customers Is Harder Than Ever 05:20 - Tactic 1: Reconnect with Former Employers & Coworkers 06:28 - Tactic 2: Tap Into Your Investor Network 08:14 - Tactic 3: Show Up in Person (Trade Shows & Meetups) 09:42 - Tactic 4: Build in Public on Social Media 11:02 - Tactic 5: Tell Your Friends and Family 12:02 - Tactic 6: Cold Outreach Done Right 13:53 - Why Doing Things That Don't Scale Is the Entire Point

    How to get your first 10 customers - July Pulse Episode - EP#109

  7. Jul 21

    Backing Maniacs at Inception - What Investors Actually Look For | Jeff Becker - Antler - Episode#108

    Everything you think you know about venture capital might be wrong. In this episode, Jeff Becker, General Partner at Antler New York, breaks down the brutal, hidden realities of the startup world. From why investors care more about your childhood psychology than your pitch deck, to why a $500 million exit can actually be a massive disappointment to a fund, Jeff pulls back the curtain on how venture capitalists actually math out risk. If you are operating with a broken mental model of how fundraising works, this conversation will completely reshape how you build, pitch, and scale your business. Key Takeaways: Pitch Yourself, Not the Product: Early-stage investors bet on the person first. Master your personal story of resilience before you even open your slide deck. Understand Fund Math: A $500 million exit does not return a large fund. You must build toward a multi-billion-dollar scale to make your investor's job a success. Expect the Volume Game: Firms like Antler build "engineered serendipity" by backing 200 early-stage founders at once, relying on massive diversification to find a breakout winner. Take Money Off the Table: Luck and market shifts rule the startup graveyard. When liquidity windows open, secure your personal financial safety. Storytellers Win the Cash: Being a great operator is not enough. You must be able to compress the gap between reality and future potential to get funded. Give Investors Specific Homework: Investors want to work for you, but vague asks get vague results. Give them transparent, direct tasks so they can help you win. Quote of the Show: "If I'm not working as hard as the founders, none of them are going to want me on their cap table." - Jeff Becker, General Partner, Antler Guest Featured in This Episode: Jeff Becker, General Partner, Antler (New York) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreylbecker/ Antler: https://www.antler.co/ We also break this episode down into a full write-up on Substack, with the exact playbook Scott used to fix the culture and rebuild the strategy from scratch, we're building out a full library of playbooks and lessons from every episode on Substack. Chapters 00:00 — Intro 02:00 — The Maniac Framework 09:00 — Why Childhood Matters 15:00 — Jeff's Origin Story 20:00 — Angel Investing Days 26:00 — The Role of Luck 33:00 — AI & One-Person Companies 41:00 — Fund Math & Dilution 46:00 — Storytellers vs. Operators 51:00 — "I Work For You"

    Backing Maniacs at Inception - What Investors Actually Look For | Jeff Becker - Antler - Episode#108

  8. Jul 14

    Backing the outsiders most VCs ignore | Nick Moran - New Stack Ventures - Episode#107

    Majority founders only start thinking seriously about their next round when they’re already running low on cash. By then, you’re not really raising; you’re begging. On this week’s episode of Not Another CEO, we sit down with Nick Moran, Co-Founder and General Partner at New Stack Ventures. Founded in 2015, New Stack manages close to $100 million and leads pre-seed and seed rounds with a unique mission: backing "The Outsiders," who are ambitious founders building category-defining companies outside the Bay Area and outside the obvious networks. Nick also hosts Full Ratchet, one of the first venture capital podcasts ever made, now closing in on 1,000 episodes. I know how hard it is to stay consistent with a podcast. Doing it for over a decade is a different level. Nick shares his brutal honesty on what it actually takes to build a venture-backed business, why he tells founders to build their next pitch deck the day they close their current round, and how he evaluates the intangibles that traditional VCs completely miss. Key Takeaways:The Next Round Plan (NRP): Why fundraising is a continuous narrative, not a sporadic event. Nick breaks down how to align on business models, track leading indicators over lagging revenue, and build a highly targeted investor list early.Desire Beats Talent: Most VCs look for the "Peyton Mannings" of tech, meaning those who are obvious, expensive, and pedigreed. Nick hunts for the "Tom Bradys," founders with a chip on their shoulder, undeniable ambition, and the drive to beat long odds.Bad News Travels Fast: The ultimate trust-builder between a founder and a VC. Going dark creates anxiety; transparency during a brutal quarter is exactly what inspires an investor to throw you a lifeline.The Power of Being an "Outsider": Building in cities like Charlotte, Nashville, Dallas, or Chicago isn't a disadvantage. When the herd concentrates in the Bay Area, the best, most capital-efficient opportunities are often found where others aren't looking.Where the Smart Money is in AI: The shift from infrastructure to proprietary data. Nick explains why the next massive wave of AI value belongs to domain experts who control the data locked behind enterprise firewalls. Quote of the Show: “Do you want to be great or do you want to be happy?… You better be ready for the big game here because this is not an easy path. We're not going to be happy for the next ten years.” — Nick Moran Connect with Nick: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-moran-a738503/New Stack Ventures: https://www.newstack.com/The Full Ratchet: https://www.youtube.com/@nicholasmoran3095/featured Chapters : 00:00 Trailer 01:30 Welcome Nick Moran, New Stack Ventures 03:54 Why desire is the ultimate founder trait 10:02 First impressions and the dating phase of investing 15:34 Founder-VC fit is like marriage 20:56 The Outsiders thesis and building a national network 27:48 Inside the Next Round Plan (NRP) 32:20 Communication, bad news should travel fast 39:00 What founders misunderstand about the VC side of the table 42:10 Where the smart money is moving in AI & Closing thoughts

    Backing the outsiders most VCs ignore | Nick Moran - New Stack Ventures - Episode#107
See All (115)

Trailer

5
out of 5
18 Ratings

About

Our mission is to bend the curve for Founders and CEOs. At Not Another CEO, we know there’s no formula for running a business. Leadership is forged through unique journeys, real challenges, and hard lessons. Our exclusive content showcases unfiltered stories and practical guidance from those who’ve crawled through the trenches. Our platform offers the largest library of CEO insights and how-to guides, sourced directly from a diverse community of leaders. Find our full video library, detailed playbooks, deep dives, and lessons learned on our Substack here ➡️ https://notanotherceo.substack.com/

Information

  • Creator
    Not Another CEO
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    115
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Not Another CEO
  • Show Website
    Not Another CEO Podcast

You Might Also Like