Consulting Rainmakers Podcast

Agentee Digital

Featuring successful B2B consulting and advisory firms. Every episode is their story and what they picked up building it. Guests come from across the advisory world: strategy and operations consulting, sales and leadership development, finance and accounting, fractional CFO and tax advisory, IT and security, HR and people. My hope is that a founder a few years behind listens and takes something from it. Not so they avoid the same mistakes. Mistakes are fine if you learn from them. So they get there faster. If you run a firm like that, this show is for you.

  1. 16h ago

    You Cannot Hire Your Way Out Of A Capacity Problem (Jessica North)

    Jessica North is the Co-Founder and CEO of EverNorth Solutions. Jessica North is an engineering and project management leader with more than fifteen years of experience across electrical utility engineering, capital infrastructure delivery and operational management. Over those years she watched projects grow more and more complex and harder to keep on track, and she co-founded EverNorth Solutions to give back to the industry that gave her so much. EverNorth works with engineering-intensive organizations to reduce rework, stabilize project delivery and remove the friction that makes good work harder than it needs to be. In this conversation, Jessica explains why adding more people rarely fixes a capacity problem, why high performers end up as the friction absorbers who hold an organization together, and why a leader's first question should be what the organization is doing that makes it harder for people to succeed. Expect to learn where capacity really goes inside an organization, how delayed decisions, unclear ownership and inefficient handoffs consume the people you already have, how a regulated industry like utilities is approaching AI while protecting its security, why Jessica wishes she had tracked the business impact of her work from day one, why performance metrics show what was accomplished but not what the organization had to overcome, and much more… - 0:00 Cold open 0:31 Welcome 1:21 Why Projects Keep Getting More Complex 2:38 The Capacity Problem In Utilities 4:08 Where Capacity Really Goes 4:53 Bottlenecks And Friction Absorbers 6:32 AI In A Regulated Industry 7:55 Track The Impact, Not Just The Work 9:32 Stop Blaming Your People 12:01 The Hardest Part Of Starting EverNorth 13:47 Building Self-Aware Organizations 15:18 Where To Find Jessica North - 🔗 Guest & Resources Connect with Jessica North: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicanorthens Website: https://evernorthsolutions.com - Get in touch: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikulaszach/ Apply to be a guest: https://consultingrainmakers.com/ Email: mikulas.zach@agenteedigital.com

    You Cannot Hire Your Way Out Of A Capacity Problem (Jessica North)

  2. 18h ago

    What Nobody Tells You About Life After Selling Your Business (Nick Foster)

    Nick Foster is a CPA and the Founder of Foster Financial CPA. Nick Foster studied accounting at Arizona State University and spent years in corporate finance, with controller roles at CORE Construction, Adolfson & Peterson Construction and The True Life Companies and a stint as CFO and controller at Kovach. He then founded Foster Financial CPA, which he ran for ten years, helping business owners with advanced tax strategy and fractional CFO work, before selling it recently. Today he works with a smaller group of clients, doing tax planning for people earning a million dollars or more and fractional CFO work for businesses making $5 million to $25 million. In this conversation, Nick explains why he decided to sell, what nobody tells you about the three months of due diligence and the day after the papers are signed, and why most mid-sized businesses still run without a budget. Expect to learn how the weight of running a firm shows up long before you decide to sell, why he did not tell his team until the deal closed, why sitting on a beach has no purpose, how he rebuilt his sense of purpose through Front Row Dads and Big Brothers Big Sisters, why knowing your business is not the same as knowing your numbers, why you should never let the tax tail wag the dog, how he gets a new CFO client's books, budgets and KPIs in order, and much more… - 0:00 Cold open 0:34 Why Nick Sold His Firm 2:07 What Surprised Him During The Sale 4:26 What Comes After The Sale 6:27 Sitting On A Beach Has No Purpose 9:34 What Mid-Sized Businesses Get Wrong About Their Numbers 11:46 The Advice Every Founder Gets 13:34 How He Starts With A New CFO Client 16:04 Would He Do Anything Differently 19:12 Where To Find Nick Foster - 🔗 Guest & Resources Connect with Nick Foster: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-t-foster-cpa-35888a3 Website: https://fosterfinancialcpa.com - Get in touch: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikulaszach/ Apply to be a guest: https://consultingrainmakers.com/ Email: mikulas.zach@agenteedigital.com

    What Nobody Tells You About Life After Selling Your Business (Nick Foster)

  3. 20h ago

    This Is Why Most AI Projects Fail (Craig Tobin)

    Craig Tobin is the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Ascent Business Partners, a digital AI consulting firm for the contact center industry. Craig Tobin has spent 35 years in contact centers. His previous company was sold to Tech Mahindra, and he has worked as an industry advisor on contact centers and BPO for Advent International. Ascent began as a spin-off from a Palo Alto venture capital firm that invested early in AI companies for the contact center space, acting as their go-to-market arm. About two and a half years ago Craig came on board, bought out the investors and turned Ascent into an employee-owned, technology agnostic company with a network of more than 50 AI partners. Ascent charges no consulting fees: it is paid only on outcomes its clients calculate themselves, and across its last 64 projects it reports a 92% success rate against a minimum return of 2.5x in year. In this conversation, Craig explains why most AI projects fail before they start, what AI readiness really takes, and why a bot that is not integrated into your systems does more harm than good. Expect to learn why less than half of AI rollouts deliver a return, the three or four things a company needs before an AI pilot, why knowledge management is the foundation of any AI project, why a pilot should run in your own environment with your own people and data, how AI is hitting the outsourcing industry first, how a conversational bot should hand a call to a live agent, why Ascent only gets paid on outcomes, and much more… - 0:00 Cold open 0:34 Welcome 1:01 How Ascent Started 3:09 Why Most AI Projects Fail 4:57 What AI Readiness Really Means 8:15 A 92% Success Rate On 64 Projects 12:39 AI Is Hitting Outsourcing First 15:00 Bots That Hand Off To Humans 19:27 No Consulting Fees, Paid On Outcomes 23:44 What Is Next For Ascent 26:39 Where To Find Craig Tobin - 🔗 Guest & Resources Connect with Craig Tobin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-tobin-648b80 Website: https://ascentpartners.io - Get in touch: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikulaszach/ Apply to be a guest: https://consultingrainmakers.com/ Email: mikulas.zach@agenteedigital.com

    This Is Why Most AI Projects Fail (Craig Tobin)

  4. 22h ago

    You Cannot Outsource Your Judgment To An AI Vendor (Vijaya Rao)

    Vijaya Rao is the Founder of Techvio. Vijaya Rao started out as a software engineer about 30 years ago and spent more than 20 years in corporate technology, with roles including Vice President of Information Technology at JPMorgan Chase and Senior Director of Global Systems Integration at Google. At the end of 2014 she left Google to found Delivery Circle, a logistics company she launched in Delaware in just over 20 zip codes, grew to more than 20 states through several funding rounds, and served as chair and CEO before selling her stake to a public company in 2024. A certified CISO, she then founded Techvio, which helps small and mid-sized companies, mostly under 500 employees, secure their technology and put AI to work without retrofitting security after the fact. In this conversation, Vijaya explains her Secure and Scale framework, why small businesses should take AI security seriously from day one, and why most AI pilots fail to deliver. Expect to learn why you should secure first and scale second, how cutting overlapping tools lowers cost and closes security gaps, how the Digi Rescue service stabilizes stalled technology projects before rebuilding them, why token costs can turn a $30 a month tool into a $500 a month bill, why you should never let one vendor's roadmap become your security policy, and why the data you hold matters more than the size of your company, and much more… - 0:00 Cold open 0:33 Welcome 0:59 From Software Engineer To Founder 4:03 The Gap Techvio Fills 5:47 Secure First, Then Scale 8:18 Why Small Businesses Need AI Security 11:26 Digi Rescue For Stalled Projects 14:37 Why Most AI Pilots Fail 17:59 You Cannot Outsource Your Judgment 19:21 Proportional Security 21:35 Where To Find Vijaya Rao - 🔗 Guest & Resources Connect with Vijaya Rao: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vijayarao Website: https://techvio.com - Get in touch: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikulaszach/ Apply to be a guest: https://consultingrainmakers.com/ Email: mikulas.zach@agenteedigital.com

    You Cannot Outsource Your Judgment To An AI Vendor (Vijaya Rao)

  5. 3d ago

    Your Customers Will Be Loyal To AI, Not Your Brand (Caitlin Morin)

    Caitlin Morin is the Co-Founder and CTO of Phasewheel. Caitlin Morin studied economics and econometrics at Texas A&M University and built her career in analytics and growth, as a technical analytics lead at Southwest Media Group, a business intelligence manager at PEAK6, an analytics lead at fifty-five and a senior growth analyst at Athletic Greens, with a stint as a trader along the way. Back in consulting, she spotted a wave of ChatGPT crawl activity in a client's server logs in April 2025 and started doing GEO for clients before it had a name. About eleven months ago she co-founded Phasewheel with Eric, a colleague from twelve years earlier, to make brands visible, accurate and recommended by AI assistants. In this conversation, Caitlin explains why SEO gets you found but GEO gets you picked, why loyalty is moving from brands to the AI models people ask, and why you should see movement within ten days of doing GEO properly. Expect to learn the real difference between SEO, GEO and AEO, why AI models want a version of your website without the founder story, how old content you forgot about still shapes what AI says about you, the red flags of vendors who promise instant AI rankings, how Phasewheel measures GEO with clicks, crawl insights and share of voice, why software will soon build itself around you, how a custom outdoor kitchen brand went from no visibility to millions in monthly revenue from GEO, how to make your website easy for AI agents to shop, and much more… - 0:00 Cold open 0:29 Welcome 1:36 Spotting ChatGPT In The Server Logs 3:40 SEO vs GEO vs AEO 5:24 Where A New Company Should Start With GEO 7:56 The Old Content Mistake 9:12 What Ethical GEO Really Means 12:08 The Four Phase Process And How It Is Measured 14:24 Software That Builds Itself And The End Of Brand Loyalty 19:51 How Fast GEO Should Show Results 22:46 Making Your Website Easy For AI Agents 24:41 Where To Find Caitlin Morin - 🔗 Guest & Resources Connect with Caitlin Morin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlin--morin Website: https://www.phasewheel.com - Get in touch: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikulaszach/ Apply to be a guest: https://consultingrainmakers.com/ Email: mikulas.zach@agenteedigital.com

    Your Customers Will Be Loyal To AI, Not Your Brand (Caitlin Morin)

  6. 3d ago

    Your People Problems Are Actually Systems Problems (Lonnie Hirsch)

    Lonnie Hirsch is the Co-Founder and General Partner of Integrate Consulting Partners (INTEGRATE). Lonnie Hirsch has worked alongside the healthcare industry for more than 35 years without ever working inside a hospital or medical group. He spent many years in healthcare marketing, leading two healthcare marketing agencies in the US, one of which he co-founded 20 years ago, before moving into business consulting for healthcare organizations on workplace culture, patient experience and marketing and communications. Through A Loving Organization consortium he came across the INTEGRATE framework developed by Dr. Apurv Gupta, which looks at organizations through their human systems, and co-founded Integrate Consulting Partners around it. He is also the Founder and CEO of Forefront Healthcare Consulting and a Co-Founder and Growth Advisor at Healthcare Success. In this conversation, Lonnie explains why you cannot measure culture by asking employees, how his team assesses culture through behaviour, why consultants have to help implement what they recommend, and what AI means for people at work in healthcare. Expect to learn why most leaders say their culture is great, why engagement surveys miss the real culture, the lenses the INTEGRATE framework uses to look at an organization, what to do when a workplace culture is not supporting its people, why Lonnie now works elbow to elbow with clients on implementation, why AI needs a governance strategy and not just IT, how to judge whether an AI tool is actually helping the people it was meant to support, and much more… - 0:00 Cold open 0:35 Welcome 0:47 From Healthcare Marketing To INTEGRATE 4:30 How To Measure Workplace Culture 7:24 The Lenses Of The INTEGRATE Framework 12:05 How To Fix A Culture That Fails Its People 15:45 Why Consultants Must Help Implement 19:29 AI In Healthcare Workplaces 23:10 Where To Find Lonnie Hirsch 23:58 People Problems Are Systems Problems - 🔗 Guest & Resources Connect with Lonnie Hirsch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lonniehirsch Website: https://icp.consulting - Get in touch: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikulaszach/ Apply to be a guest: https://consultingrainmakers.com/ Email: mikulas.zach@agenteedigital.com

    Your People Problems Are Actually Systems Problems (Lonnie Hirsch)

  7. 3d ago

    Nobody In The Room Knows Who Decides (Evan Unger)

    Evan Unger is the Managing Partner of Schwartz and Associates. Evan Unger got out of business school in 1989 and joined Merck, where a new CEO's push to break down silos landed on his desk with a made-up title, Director of Change Leadership and Development. Three years out of school and unsure how to get people collaborating, he hired an outside consultant, and that firm is the one he works for today. He also served as Vice President of Leadership, Change and Development at CommonSpirit Health. Schwartz and Associates is a small consulting firm that has spent 33 years helping organizations through cultural transformation and teaching leaders the lost art of facilitating collaborative conversations. Based in Denver, he now focuses on training leaders through the firm's Collaborative Leadership program. In this conversation, Evan explains why most leadership dysfunction starts at the meeting level, why the boss who opens with an opinion gets worse decisions and less buy-in, and why AI makes facilitation skills more important, not less. Expect to learn the two questions Evan has asked clients for 33 years, why meetings running at 50 percent effectiveness are a massive productivity loss, how the POPRA model (purpose, objectives, process, roles, agreements) sets a meeting up like a plane taking off, why the decision maker is the role most often left unclear, what HiPPO decision making is and how skilled leaders avoid it, why culture change has to start with the CEO, how meetings will change once AI agents sit in the room, and much more… - 0:00 Cold open 0:35 Welcome 0:49 From Merck To Schwartz And Associates 2:09 Why Leadership Teams Struggle 3:29 How To Measure A Meeting 5:13 Cutting Bad Meetings And The POPRA Model 7:43 The HiPPO Mistake Leaders Make 10:20 Culture Change Starts With The CEO 12:20 What AI Cannot Replace In Meetings 14:26 What Comes Next For Evan 15:50 Where To Find Evan Unger - 🔗 Guest & Resources Connect with Evan Unger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evaneunger Website: https://www.terischwartzassociates.com - Get in touch: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikulaszach/ Apply to be a guest: https://consultingrainmakers.com/ Email: mikulas.zach@agenteedigital.com

    Nobody In The Room Knows Who Decides (Evan Unger)

  8. 3d ago

    This Is Why Founders Stay Stuck At $5 Million (Michael Goss)

    Michael Goss is the Founder & Architect of Leader One. Michael Goss is a second-generation entrepreneur who grew up inside the business his father started in the mid-1970s and says he learned more about real business there than in any classroom. He went on to found or co-found companies across several industries, including InfiniteCEO and Quantum Diagnostics Lab, and served as CEO of ForMor International. His own company sat stuck at around $5 million for years while he tried new products, new promotions and every marketing idea he could find. Nothing moved until he looked in the mirror and changed how he led, and the business went from $5 million to over $25 million in three years. Today, through Leader One, he helps founders whose companies have stalled remove founder dependence and build a leadership culture that runs without them in the middle of everything. In this conversation, Michael explains why growing and scaling are not the same thing, why the founder is so often the bottleneck only the founder can remove, and how to use AI without letting it think for you. Expect to learn why indecision is worse than making mistakes, why most of what founders call growth is really expansion, how a founder-dependent company loses value and freedom, why the founder's mistakes cost the most and how to let your team make theirs, how Michael uses AI inside Leader One, why culture is a product of how the founder thinks and decides, and much more… - 0:00 Cold open 0:34 Welcome 0:46 Raised In His Father's Business 2:25 Growing And Scaling Are Not The Same 11:00 Founder Led Vs Founder Dependent 12:55 The Founder Makes The Most Expensive Mistakes 14:58 AI And The Shiny Object Syndrome 18:25 How Leader One Uses AI 21:17 Why Culture Starts With The Founder 24:37 From $5 Million To $25 Million In Three Years 26:49 Where To Find Michael Goss - 🔗 Guest & Resources Connect with Michael Goss: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leaderone Website: https://leader.one - Get in touch: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikulaszach/ Apply to be a guest: https://consultingrainmakers.com/ Email: mikulas.zach@agenteedigital.com

    This Is Why Founders Stay Stuck At $5 Million (Michael Goss)
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About

Featuring successful B2B consulting and advisory firms. Every episode is their story and what they picked up building it. Guests come from across the advisory world: strategy and operations consulting, sales and leadership development, finance and accounting, fractional CFO and tax advisory, IT and security, HR and people. My hope is that a founder a few years behind listens and takes something from it. Not so they avoid the same mistakes. Mistakes are fine if you learn from them. So they get there faster. If you run a firm like that, this show is for you.

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