Builders & Doers

Horizon Search
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Builders & Doers is where founders, operators, and investors get practical about building. Each episode unpacks one decision that mattered, the options on the table, and the evidence behind the choice. Clear lessons you can use to launch stronger, lead smarter, and stay ahead. A Horizon Search production. Get The Searchlight newsletter: https://www.thesearchlight.com/subscribe

  1. 4D AGO

    From Human Rights to the C-Suite: Navigating AI, Conflict & Career Reinvention - Minyang Jiang | 56

    Minyang Jiang (MJ) is the Chief Strategy Officer at Credibly, where she runs marketing, sales, tech innovation, and corporate strategy. Before FinTech, she spent nearly a decade at Ford Motor Company launching commercial vehicles with $95M budgets, and before that worked in human rights. She's the youngest member of Credibly's C-suite and a fiction writer who draws on Rilke for leadership inspiration. In this conversation, we talk about what it really takes to break into industries where you're an outsider, why no one makes space for you at the leadership level, how to spot AI theater in companies, the difference between productive and toxic conflict, and why cognitive offloading might be the most important personal decision of the AI era. MJ shares the Wharton framework she teaches her team for human-AI collaboration, her honest take on why her startup didn't work out, and the one question the best manager she ever had asked in a performance review. Follow MJ on LinkedIn and Medium. — 0:00 – Intro and MJ's career journey 1:00 – Ford vs. Credibly: big company vs. FinTech 2:34 – Being the youngest (and only woman) in the C-suite 5:52 – How much should you know about the product you sell? 7:08 – Speaking the language of your customer 9:14 – Selling trust, not mechanics 10:24 – The skeleton key: switching industries without starting over 13:11 – Should leadership be comfortable or challenging? 16:02 – Self-determination theory: competence, autonomy, relatedness 19:50 – Short-term gain, long-term loss 20:55 – How to spot a healthy vs. toxic workplace 25:22 – Productive conflict and the Harvard Everest simulation 28:01 – Rotating the conscientious objector role 29:05 – How to close a heated meeting well 30:40 – Uncurb: entrepreneurship, failure, and honest investor conversations 34:04 – Entrepreneurship is dealing with your insecurities on a timeline 36:07 – How to spot AI theater in companies 39:30 – Agentic commerce and the human-AI interface 42:22 – Tasks that should never be fully automated 44:09 – The Wharton framework: where AI adds value vs. where humans do 46:34 – Lightning round: metrics, servant leadership, Fortune 10 budgets 48:47 – Rilke, The Panther, and what shaped her thinking 50:06 – 30-day playbook for responsible GenAI transformation 51:52 – Cognitive offloading and the search for meaning

    53 min

  2. 6D AGO

    From Cold Calling Billionaires to Decarbonizing NYC - Sarah Mae Selnick | 55

    At 22, Sarah Mae Selnick was cold calling billionaire real estate developers from a boutique brokerage in Manhattan with zero experience and no idea what she was doing. By 24, she had put together the largest single transaction in Brooklyn's history: a deal worth over a billion dollars. Now she's the founder of Source Forward, a company using AI and building data to help commercial real estate owners in New York City tap into energy incentives and sustainability technologies they're leaving on the table. She also leads a decarbonization task force alongside major utilities and technology providers, drafting policy recommendations for NYSERDA. In this episode of Horizon Search, Sarah Mae talks about what NYC brokerage taught her about persistence, why "no" really means "not right now," the shiny object trap that nearly derailed her startup, and why energy costs are about to hit real estate owners harder than most of them realize. Source Forward: https://sourceforward.org Sarah Mae on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/sarahmayselnick — Horizon Search is a podcast by Horizon Search Institute exploring how leaders, founders, and researchers are navigating the forces reshaping industries and institutions. Subscribe for new episodes. Learn more at https://horizonsearch.org — 0:00 Cold calling Jonathan Gray at 22 0:50 How she got into NYC commercial real estate 2:07 Persistence and goldfish memory 4:17 The Vonnegut rule: New York vs. California 5:30 Why phone calls still beat email 6:15 The blind spot in commercial real estate 8:12 How Source Forward uses AI for building owners 8:55 Shiny object syndrome and founder focus 10:30 How her co-founder snapped them back on track 11:55 Scaling a small team with AI 14:06 The billion-dollar Brooklyn deal at 24 15:40 Leading a decarbonization task force 17:05 NYC's climate goals and the UN SDGs 17:43 Moonshot: becoming the household name in building energy 19:13 Green tech trend: big building data for everyone 20:25 What real estate owners underestimate about energy costs 21:15 Favorite NYC spot for inspiration 21:57 Where to find Sarah Mae

    22 min

  3. MAR 13

    AI Messaging, Sales, and Startup Growth - Chris Brisson | 54

    Chris Brisson talks about accidental entrepreneurship, human-first messaging, and where AI is taking sales. He shares how he went from selling rims and tires on eBay to building software, what he learned from a stagnant business he had to reinvent, why most companies get SMS wrong, what “texting is the sacred place” really means, how AI agents are changing lead qualification and booking, what scaling a remote-first company has taught him, and why distribution is often the real bottleneck for founders. This is a strong episode for founders, operators, marketers, and anyone thinking seriously about messaging, growth, and building in the AI era. Connect with Chris:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisbrisson/ Curious how AI is changing SMS and sales workflows? Visit https://www.salesmessage.com/ Timestamps: 00:00 From selling rims and tires on eBay 01:03 Accidental entrepreneurship and early lessons 02:14 What he’d tell his 19-year-old self 02:39 From first exit to product builder 04:45 The “death of Call Loop” and starting over 06:26 Pre-selling Sales Message before building it 08:25 Why most companies get SMS wrong 09:29 “Texting is the sacred place” 11:39 SMS vs WhatsApp vs social DMs 13:40 Open rates, RCS, and modern messaging 15:20 AI filtering, inbox changes, and the future of text 17:19 AI agents, speed-to-lead, and scalable conversations 20:49 Will AI end up talking to AI? 23:35 AI schedulers and replacing the messy middle 26:08 Lessons from scaling a remote-first company 30:30 Resilience, sacrifice, and not chasing money 33:05 Why distribution is the hardest part 35:31 Built-in audiences, integrations, and growth 43:17 Who inspires him right now 45:21 The best advice he ever received 46:41 Where to follow Chris

    47 min

  4. MAR 11

    Brilliant Managers Don’t Have the Answers - Laura Ashley-Timms | 53

    Most managers were promoted because they were good at the work, not because they were trained to lead people. In this conversation, Laura Ashley-Timms explains why so many “manager as coach” programs fail, why accidental managers are quietly draining productivity, and why the best leaders stop trying to be the fixer, solver, and solution giver. We talk about operational coaching, purposeful inquiry, coachable moments, the STAR model, the bottleneck effect, and what it really takes to build managers who create better performance through others. Laura also shares the story behind a major London School of Economics-backed study that found dramatic gains in management capability, retention, and ROI. A sharp episode for founders, operators, executives, HR leaders, L&D teams, and anyone trying to lead without becoming the bottleneck. The Answer Is a Question by Laura Ashley-Timms and Dominic Ashley-Timms, available via Amazon and other retailers: https://a.co/d/0gmY9gON Connect with Laura Ashley-Timms: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-ashley-timms/ Connect with Dominic Ashley-Timms: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-ashley-timms/ For more on STAR Manager, visit: https://www.starmanager.global/podcast Timestamps: 00:00 Brilliant managers don’t have the answers 01:00 Why this is a management operating system problem 01:53 Why “manager as coach” training often fails 04:03 The real cost of coaching confined to sessions 04:33 The accidental manager problem 06:43 Why most leadership programs aren’t properly measured 07:55 Operational coaching as a mindset shift 09:21 Why managers become fixers and bottlenecks 10:18 How asking questions gives managers time back 11:29 AI, management, and developing others 12:13 What a coachable moment looks like 15:54 Purposeful inquiry vs polite questioning 16:53 “Helpful” questions that steal accountability 17:49 How managers stop being fixers 20:49 Why high performers struggle to scale 21:14 The manager-on-holiday test 22:02 The STAR model explained 24:23 Putting leadership impact under academic scrutiny 27:12 The 74x ROI result 31:33 What actually drives the ROI 33:42 Why management development moves at a glacial pace 35:57 Transformation, not just another training program 40:04 Why first-wave champions matter 44:28 A three-question starter kit 47:12 The “marriage saver” question 48:05 What to say when you don’t know the answer 53:29 Laura’s closing message for accidental managers 54:10 Resources and where to find Laura

    55 min

  5. MAR 9

    HBS, BCG, HireFrame: The Real Story Behind the Resume - Mike Wu | 52

    Mike Wu’s résumé looks like the classic prestige path: USC, investment banking, Sony, Harvard Business School, BCG, and then entrepreneurship. But in this conversation, he explains why that neat story looked much cleaner on LinkedIn than it felt in real life. We talk about career searching versus status chasing, what his failed search fund taught him about risk and timing, how HireFrame emerged from a real hiring problem, why offshore staffing succeeds or fails on context, how founders should think about delegation, and what AI is changing in global work. This is a sharp episode for founders, operators, hiring leaders, and anyone trying to build something real behind the optics. 00:00 LinkedIn vs reality 01:00 Meet Mike Wu 02:00 USC, parental pressure, and choosing business 05:30 What elite résumés can hide 07:41 Search funds explained 11:10 When the search fund failed 14:35 How HireFrame started 17:21 The real gap in offshore staffing 21:11 Athena, AI, and executive assistants 23:41 Training global SDR talent 26:41 Delegation with Loom + LLMs 30:08 Trust and remote hires 31:42 Scaling HireFrame in the AI era 33:44 What founders have to unlearn 35:47 Risky bets that changed the company 37:33 The hardest thing in business 38:29 The future of global work in 2030 40:41 Where to find Mike Connect with Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikewulnkd/

    41 min

  6. MAR 8

    From Homeless in Japan at 18 to Scaling a Startup - Alex Peñuñuri | 51

    At 18, Alex found himself homeless in Japan for a week during finals. Years later, that same ability to stay calm in chaos shaped how he approaches startup life: uncertainty, pressure, constant fires, and the discipline to keep moving anyway. In this episode, we talk about the real lessons behind startup growth: what law school taught him about contracts and business, how he helped revive a SaaS that had stalled, why he spent months talking directly to users, what he learned from losing money on ads before they worked, and why CAC:LTV matters more than vanity metrics. We also get into hiring, team alignment, founder motivation, and why learning to fail may be one of the most valuable skills in business.If you enjoy conversations on startups, entrepreneurship, growth, and first-principles thinking, subscribe and share the episode with someone building something real. 00:00 Hook: homeless in Japan at 18 00:58 The Japan story and learning to handle chaos 04:41 What law school taught him about business 08:05 Is college worth it for entrepreneurs? 09:58 What the company does and how he got involved 11:58 Stuck at $25K MRR and what changed 14:02 When to listen to user feedback and when to ignore it 17:29 The “one lever” rule for startup growth 21:03 What he learned from running ads 23:44 Why adding friction improved CAC 28:18 Losing $35K before ads started working 31:11 Team alignment, transparency, and incentives 35:14 Hiring for intelligence and coachability 35:52 What keeps him motivated 40:06 Why failing is part of the process 41:51 “We are becoming” and the closing reflection Connect with Alex https://x.com/penunurialex alex@drippi.ai

    47 min

  7. MAR 7

    He Built a $600M Nonprofit Engine. His Leadership Rule Is Simple - Howard Pearl | 50

    Howard Pearl explains how CARS returned over $600 million to nonprofits, why donor trust and operational transparency matter so much, how respect became his core leadership principle, what drove extremely low turnover, why mission-driven work broadened his worldview, and what first-time CEOs need to hear about confidence, discipline, and doing the work. This is a strong episode for founders, operators, nonprofit leaders, and anyone trying to build teams that perform without losing their humanity. Timestamps 00:00 Leadership begins with respect 01:00 How CARS returned $600M+ to nonprofits 08:05 Taking over as interim CEO and scaling with data 13:14 How nonprofit work broadened his worldview 18:02 Business, service, and political broadening 23:29 Building low-turnover culture through respect 30:01 Can respectful leadership work in competitive environments? 31:20 Ethics, fraud, and “there’s no victimless crime” 36:07 Acquisitions, SaaS, and operational alignment 42:30 Speak to people in a way that shows respect 49:19 Advice for first-time CEOs 50:25 Where to follow Howard Pearl Connect with Howard howard.pearl@gmail.com

    51 min

  8. MAR 6

    Stories That Convert: The 5C Framework for Speaking & Business Growth - Danny Brassell | 49

    In this episode, speaker-coach and former educator, Danny Brassell, breaks down why great communication is rarely about “more information” and almost always about better stories, better structure, and one clear next step. Danny walks through his 5C process for high-converting talks and pitches: start with clarity on who you serve (because “if your audience is everybody, your audience is nobody”), then connect, teach content strategically, give one call to action, and finish with an emotional close. We also get into practical (and surprisingly ethical) persuasion: why “choice is confused and cause you to lose” , why “crocodile tears” stories backfire long-term , how to build a “story bank” fast , and how a single safety story (“Two Finger Joe”) drove a measurable behavior change. If you’ve ever been “liked” on stage but didn’t convert, this one will fix your mental model. Connect with Danny freestoryguide.com Subscribe for more conversations like this. Timestamps 0:00 Stories sell 1:02 Danny’s “Pivots” origin story 5:21 Why one-shot training doesn’t work 6:33 “Location, location, location” in a speech 7:48 Ninja strategy: study 45-second award speeches 9:56 Consistency beats talent 12:12 “Stories we tell ourselves” + the 5C setup 13:08 The 5C framework begins 17:15 Vulnerability over bragging 17:48 Choice kills conversion 22:01 Avoid “crocodile tears 25:15 “Stop selling, start serving” 29:39 Build a story bank 31:49 “Two Finger Joe” 41:44 Nervous? Tell the audience 49:28 Closing

    50 min
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About

Builders & Doers is where founders, operators, and investors get practical about building. Each episode unpacks one decision that mattered, the options on the table, and the evidence behind the choice. Clear lessons you can use to launch stronger, lead smarter, and stay ahead. A Horizon Search production. Get The Searchlight newsletter: https://www.thesearchlight.com/subscribe

Information

  • Creator
    Horizon Search
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    56
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Horizon Search
  • Show Website
    Builders & Doers