BLTnT Podcast

Matt Loria

We can all agree that some of the best moments occur over a meal. For eons, “breaking bread” has been the common element among all cultures for human bonding. Think about the many conversations that you’ve had over lunch that you wish you could share. This show is a platform to extend inspiring conversations about what we call BLTnT – Business, Life, Technology, and Transformations. Our guests are people we can learn from. They are storytellers. They are game changers, luminaries, business leaders, tech gurus, and friends. The show’s host, Matt Loria, is the CEO of Auxiom, an IT and Cyber Security company serving businesses. Matt considers himself to be blessed to make numerous connections in his daily life and have meals with a lot of interesting people. He draws upon his love of connecting to inspire the most intriguing thoughts and perspectives from his guests. He is here to continue the conversation that typically started over lunch. Of all the layers of BLTnT, transformations are arguably the most energizing. They take courage, luck, and fortitude. In each episode, our host will highlight at least one notable transformation or transition that the person has made, and we can be inspired by. Come join us for stimulating conversations with people making BLTnT moves! You can contact Matt Loria at: podcasts@auxiom.com www.auxiom.com www.linkedin.com/in/mattloria/

  1. 1d ago

    What the AI Labs Are Really Doing With Your Data | Sandy Kronenberg

    Sandy Kronenberg has started two companies from nothing. The second time, on a credit card he wasn't sure his dad would let him keep using. He's also spent the last three years watching AI turn old school fraud into something faster and harder to catch. A finance worker in Hong Kong wired close to $30 million after 17 video calls with someone who looked and sounded exactly like his CFO. He wasn't. Sandy built a company called Netarx to catch that kind of thing before it happens, a tool that puts a traffic light on your screen during any call to tell you if the person on the other end is real. Along the way he's run into North Korean operatives applying for remote jobs, water utilities with China already inside their networks, and a theory he calls the biggest heist of the century. Not the kind anyone's going to jail for. What we covered: → How a British construction firm lost $25 million to a deepfake video call → Why he started his first business on his dad's credit card → North Korean operatives getting hired as remote IT workers → Why water utilities have become one of the softest targets in the country → What he means by "the biggest heist of the century" → What happens to jobs and cars over the next ten years Every person on a call today should probably be asking themselves if the face on the other side of the screen is actually who it says it is. Thanks to Sandy for carving out the time to go deep on all of this with me. There's a lot here worth sitting with. Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:17 The $25 Million Deepfake Heist 05:11 Why Humans Are the Weakest Link in Cybersecurity 06:54 Starting a Company on His Dad's Credit Card 13:51 From a $65 Million Exit to a Wall Falling Down 21:19 Building Netarx and the Deepfake Detecting "Nick" 25:44 North Korea Is Getting Hired Into Your Company 30:53 Why Water Plants Are Becoming the Softest Target 36:52 The Biggest Heist of the Century 1:00:52 Cars, Jobs, and the Next Ten Years ~~~ Connect with Matt https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattloria/ https://www.facebook.com/mattloria https://www.instagram.com/loriamatt/ Prefer to Listen? https://pod.link/1742631726 This episode is powered by Auxiom. Finally ready to outsmart your IT chaos? https://auxiom.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/auxiom-llc

    What the AI Labs Are Really Doing With Your Data | Sandy Kronenberg
  2. Aug 28

    How Falling For A Pyramid Scheme Started This Nationwide Worm Business | Dan Beaudoin

    Dan Beaudoin runs DMF Bait, the family owned live bait company his dad and two other school teachers started in 1977 in Pontiac, Michigan. What started as a summer side gig turned out to be a scam they didn't realize they'd bought into… a pyramid scheme left them holding millions of worms nobody wanted. After pivoting to nightcrawlers, they got a meeting with Kmart, and the rest is history. DMF Bait became the number one product in its department, then built out shipping nationwide, and grew into a company moving 300 million worms a year out of seven buildings. In this episode of The BLTnT Podcast, we covered: → How a red worm scam turned into a nightcrawler business → The letter that saved the company's shot at Kmart → Acquiring a competitor and what the due diligence looked like on paper routes → Rebuilding company culture through Vistage and EOS Thanks to Dan for pulling back the curtain on the wholesale bait industry. I appreciate you making the time on this podcast brother! Chapters 0:00:00 Intro 0:01:43 Meet Dan Beaudoin and DMF Bait 0:06:17 The Red Worm Scam That Started It All 0:16:23 Landing Kmart and Nearly Losing It 0:34:19 Finding Vistage and Facing the Culture Problem 0:42:31 Building the DMF Culture 0:45:09 Why Live Bait Beats Every Lure on the Shelf 0:55:39 Switching to a Biodegradable Cup in 2010 1:05:07 Acquiring Waltz and What They Learned 1:12:06 The Night the Power Goes Out ~~~ Connect with Matt https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattloria/ https://www.facebook.com/mattloria https://www.instagram.com/loriamatt/ Prefer to Listen? https://pod.link/1742631726 This episode is powered by Auxiom. Finally ready to outsmart your IT chaos? https://auxiom.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/auxiom-llc

    How Falling For A Pyramid Scheme Started This Nationwide Worm Business | Dan Beaudoin
  3. Aug 14

    The Underdog CEO Mindset | Mark Wisniewski

    Mark Wisniewski is a rare "unicorn" in today’s legal world: he joined Kitch Attorneys & Counselors as an associate in 1990 and has led the firm as CEO since 2014, working out of the same building for 36 years. Mark shares an "out of the box" solution he engineered to save a major client relationship: when a pending merger threatened to force a client to choose between him and a rival counsel, Mark proactively merged his practice with his competitor. The move earned the client's gratitude and effectively doubled their business. In this episode of The BLTnT Podcast, we covered: → Mark growing up on Detroit's east side → The bankruptcy that taught Mark not to put all his eggs in one basket → Deciding to merge two firms before a client had to pick a side → How Mark separates work and home completely → Advice for young lawyers navigating AI and a completely different practice of law Thanks to Mark for carving out time between depositions, parade planning, and running a 200 person firm to sit down and tell these stories! Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:00 How Kitch and Auxiom's partnership started 10:25 Growing up on Detroit's east side: a cop for a dad, a nurse for a mom 15:52 DeLaSalle, brothers, and friendships that still hold 35 years later 32:06 Referrals, relationships, and why he skips Google when hiring a lawyer 35:04 Showing up in person and sponsoring Detroit's St. Patrick's Day Parade 42:05 Watching downtown Detroit come back to life 48:19 AI, changing technology, and advice for young lawyers 1:00:25 Mentors, organization, and never bringing work home 1:05:54 The firm's name, his legacy, and staying the underdog ~~~ Connect with Matt https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattloria/ https://www.facebook.com/mattloria https://www.instagram.com/loriamatt/ Prefer to Listen? https://pod.link/1742631726 This episode is powered by Auxiom. Finally ready to outsmart your IT chaos? https://auxiom.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/auxiom-llc

    The Underdog CEO Mindset | Mark Wisniewski
  4. Jul 31

    Why a 19th-Century Hobo Code Runs This Brewery | Eli Green

    Eli Green, owner of Stumblebum Beer Co., breaks down his career arc that includes NYC acting, voiceover work, IT, and the brewery life in Troy, Michigan. After Eli ditched the stage, he stumbled into an obsession with beer and cheese, and is now scaling his brewery’s culture around The Hobo Ethical Code of 1889. In this episode of The BLTnT Podcast, we covered: → How a beer and cheese lecture in New York changed Eli’s whole career trajectory → Why Eli goes by Mayor Mickey's at his own bar → The hobo code of ethics and why Rule 15 runs his business → Marrying into a different faith without making it complicated → Where he wants Stumblebum's community work to be in five years Thanks Eli for carving out time between running a brewery and being a brand new dad to sit down for this one. Glad to have you here! Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:00 Improv, acting roots, and the mindset behind "yes, and" 7:21 Who Eli is off the resume, and his obsession with animated shows 11:36 How beer and cheese turned into an obsession 15:56 Stumblebum today: the taproom and community events 22:30 Theater roots and the move to New York City 28:29 Leaving acting, voiceover work, and cutting his teeth in IT 31:05 Meeting his wife and choosing Detroit over Nashville 36:46 The hobo code and how Stumblebum got its name 43:43 Rule 15, and building a legacy bigger than beer ~~~ Connect with Matt https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattloria/ https://www.facebook.com/mattloria https://www.instagram.com/loriamatt/ Prefer to Listen? https://pod.link/1742631726 This episode is powered by Auxiom. Finally ready to outsmart your IT chaos? https://auxiom.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/auxiom-llc

    Why a 19th-Century Hobo Code Runs This Brewery | Eli Green
  5. Jul 17

    The CEO Who Didn't Want the Job | Josh Britton

    Josh Britton became CEO of imageOne without ever planning to. He'd spent years telling his wife, telling anyone who'd listen that he was a great number two and wanted to stay that way. But Rob and Joel asked him anyway. Rob Dubay showed up at a peer forum to talk about mindful leadership and walk a room full of executives through a meditation. Josh was on the list of companies he'd been researching. A year of mentorship later, the opportunity materialized on its own. What we covered: → Why imageOne eliminated the two-week notice and how they actually execute it → Two second lean: where it came from, how they run it daily, and what a good lean actually looks like → Open book finance: how a near-loss year in 2013 cracked the company open → Building a ten-year vision with the whole company without collapsing into consensus → Running an automation startup inside a 35-year-old managed print company Josh, thank you for being so open about everything! The imposter syndrome, the ripcord experiments, the lonely startup years before any of this. Chapters 00:00 - Intro 01:00 - Who Josh Britton is and how he ended up at imageOne 03:25 - Mindful transitions: why they got rid of two weeks notice 08:07 - imageOne's origin story: sold, bought back, and the decision to build something different 11:19 - Small Giants, Tugboat Institute, and what it means to want to be great instead of big 14:52 - Josh's path: consulting, the education nonprofit, and finding imageOne 22:03 - Running a process automation startup inside a 35-year-old print company 25:06 - The CEO who didn't want the job: imposter syndrome and the long handoff 27:15 - How they build a ten-year vision with the whole company 38:32 - Two second lean: what it is, how they run it every morning, and a real example 54:00 - Why none of this is impulsive: experiments, ripcords, and getting buy-in 59:22 - Open book finance: how a near-loss year changed everything 01:04:42 - Family, kids, and what actually keeps him grounded ~~~ Connect with Matt https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattloria/ https://www.facebook.com/mattloria https://www.instagram.com/loriamatt/ Prefer to Listen? https://pod.link/1742631726 This episode is powered by Auxiom. Finally ready to outsmart your IT chaos? https://auxiom.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/auxiom-llc

    The CEO Who Didn't Want the Job | Josh Britton
  6. Jul 3

    How He Helps Heal The Chronically Homeless | Father Tim McCabe

    Father Tim McCabe grew up blue collar in Detroit, worked construction, ran refugee programs, and spent years with people at the bottom before he ever put on a collar. He was assigned to a day center for the homeless in 2015. But after five people died of fentanyl overdoses within a couple of days, his team sat together and someone said it doesn't have to be this way. So he started building and he raised nearly $40 million without a donor database. The Pope Francis Center now has a bridge housing facility designed around trauma, with wide hallways, natural light, on-site medical and psychiatric care, a full curriculum, and people graduating to housing. Here's everything we covered: → Why trauma-informed care is the only approach that works for chronic homelessness → How he raised $13 million from a family in California who found him on a Google search → Why Housing First doesn't fix "habitual homelessness” → The moment he knew the building was going to happen → Where the work goes next: housing, trades, and ending the cycle for good Father Tim didn't wait for permission, a budget, or proof it would work. He just started moving and kept going until the resources caught up. Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:00 How We Met: A Hospital, a Saturday, and a Stranger Who Stayed 9:03 The Pope Francis Center and What It Was Before 14:54 Five Deaths in a Week: Why He Decided to Build 16:08 The Consulting Firm Said He'd Never Raise $3 Million 19:25 The Google Search That Led to $13 Million 23:36 What Trauma-Informed Actually Means in a Building 35:34 Father Tim's Life Before the Priesthood 41:23 Why Government Money Makes the Problem Worse 50:53 A Day in the Life Running a 37-Person Operation 55:37 What Comes Next: Housing, Trades, and Finishing the Bridge ~~~ Connect with Matt https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattloria/ https://www.facebook.com/mattloria https://www.instagram.com/loriamatt/ Prefer to Watch? https://youtu.be/FPfT5vDdwRo This episode is powered by Auxiom. Finally ready to outsmart your IT chaos? https://auxiom.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/auxiom-llc

    How He Helps Heal The Chronically Homeless | Father Tim McCabe
  7. Jun 19

    The Man Who Chose To Help 14,000 Michigan Kids | Joe Savalle

    Michigan has about 14,000 kids in the foster care system on any given day. Joe wasn't a nonprofit guy. He was a marketing professional in a cubicle, being laid off for the sixth time in nine years, miserable by his own admission. He'd started Love for a Child as a one-week-a-summer passion project. Then his wife looked at him and said: go full time with Love for a Child. He spent the next six months without a paycheck, newly married with a child on the way, and poured everything he had into making it work. It did. Joe's story is what happens when you stop treating your purpose like a part-time commitment. We covered: → Why Michigan is one of the five worst states in the country for foster care development, and what that actually means for the 14,000 kids in the system → How Love for a Child specifically targets children who are statistically 95% likely to never be adopted before 18 → A story about a nine-year-old girl chained in a basement three blocks from a suburban Michigan high school, and how she ended up in the Love for a Child program → What Joe is doing behind the scenes to investigate CPS neglect and fight for children the system has written off Joe said there's a difference between your work and your job: your work is the 9-to-5. Your job is the people you help. Joe, thank you for trusting me with these stories. The weight of what you carry for these kids came through in every answer, and I'm grateful you're doing it. Chapters 0:00 - Welcome & Intro 1:48 - Meet Joe Savalle and Love for a Child 3:53 - The Reality of Foster Care in Michigan 8:16 - Who Love for a Child Actually Serves (and Why) 11:14 - How the Camp Program Works 16:13 - How Kids Get Selected and What Camp Day One Looks Like 22:51 - Little Joey Goes to Camp: The Book Behind the Character 26:02 - How Joe and the Host Met (and the Vista Connection) 29:21 - Why Most Nonprofits Fail in Year One 32:49 - How a Failed Music Career Led to Foster Care 38:38 - Faith, Mission, and the Heart of the Organization 44:20 - Fighting CPS Neglect Behind the Scenes 55:04 - What "Purpose Over Paycheck" Actually Looks Like 1:01:08 - Plans to Scale Love for a Child Nationally 1:06:29 - The Basement Story: Foster Care Right in Our Backyards 1:13:58 - How to Get Involved, Donate, or Partner ~~~ This episode is powered by Auxiom. Finally ready to outsmart your IT chaos? https://auxiom.com/

    The Man Who Chose To Help 14,000 Michigan Kids | Joe Savalle
  8. Jun 5

    She Had to Let Go of Her Ego Before Going All In | Amy Peterson

    Amy Peterson had the idea for Rebel Nell while hearing story after story from the women in a shelter near the Lion’s stadium. Rebel Nell has been helping women transition out of shelter living, as a self-sustaining social enterprise that sells jewelry and corporate experiences to companies like Ally Bank and the Atlanta Braves. It hasn’t been easy for Amy: her non profit has survived a year when it nearly collapsed under the weight of crises it wasn't built to carry. We covered a lot in this episode: → Why Amy spent two years convincing herself she didn't need to make the leap → The 2016 crisis that almost folded Rebel Nell → How the triple bottom line model actually works (and why it's so hard) → What she looks for in a hire that she learned from restaurant workers → The comparison culture trap → How gratitude helped her stop doing the math on what she gave up The people who build things worth building almost never had a clean story on the way there… and that’s what makes Amy’s story so powerful. She's still in it, still fighting for it, still believes the world needs to see that you can run a business where people and profit sit at the same table. Thank you Amy for being so open about the hard parts. Your passion will stay with me for a very long time. Chapters 0:00 - Introduction: Meet Amy Peterson 1:40 - Serial Entrepreneur, Four Ventures, One City 4:02 - The Dream: First Female MLB General Manager 8:50 - Working for Free: Three Rejection Letters From the Tigers 11:00 - Why She Stayed in Sports Instead of Going All In on Rebel Nell 13:30 - Letting Go of the Ego 16:00 - The Leap: Going All In at a Fraction of the Salary 24:10 - What Rebel Nell Is and How It Works 29:00 - The 2016 Crisis That Almost Killed the Business 33:00 - Corporate Gifts, Murals, and the Triple Bottom Line 40:00 - Boston Edison, The Congregation, and Building Hyper-Local 49:50 - Mentors Who Changed the Trajectory 52:30 - Entrepreneurship, Family, and Letting Go of "Balance" 1:01:00 - Comparison Culture and the Abundance Mindset 1:08:50 - Advice for the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs ~~~ This episode is powered by Auxiom. Finally ready to outsmart your IT chaos? https://auxiom.com/

    She Had to Let Go of Her Ego Before Going All In | Amy Peterson

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

We can all agree that some of the best moments occur over a meal. For eons, “breaking bread” has been the common element among all cultures for human bonding. Think about the many conversations that you’ve had over lunch that you wish you could share. This show is a platform to extend inspiring conversations about what we call BLTnT – Business, Life, Technology, and Transformations. Our guests are people we can learn from. They are storytellers. They are game changers, luminaries, business leaders, tech gurus, and friends. The show’s host, Matt Loria, is the CEO of Auxiom, an IT and Cyber Security company serving businesses. Matt considers himself to be blessed to make numerous connections in his daily life and have meals with a lot of interesting people. He draws upon his love of connecting to inspire the most intriguing thoughts and perspectives from his guests. He is here to continue the conversation that typically started over lunch. Of all the layers of BLTnT, transformations are arguably the most energizing. They take courage, luck, and fortitude. In each episode, our host will highlight at least one notable transformation or transition that the person has made, and we can be inspired by. Come join us for stimulating conversations with people making BLTnT moves! You can contact Matt Loria at: podcasts@auxiom.com www.auxiom.com www.linkedin.com/in/mattloria/

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