What does it really take to build, scale, and lead technology companies that last?

In this episode of Tech Scenes, we go inside Enterprise Rising for a fast-moving conversation with founders, operators, investors, and serial entrepreneurs shaping the future of Midwest tech, enterprise SaaS, sports technology, recruiting, workflow automation, edtech, digital platforms, and startup execution.

Live from Enterprise Rising, this conversation captures the energy of the Midwest startup ecosystem and the builders who are helping move it forward. The episode covers what it takes to find the real constraint in a business, build technology for industries that need it, lead through growth, improve how teams work, and create companies with the discipline to execute.

This episode features: Andre “Dre” Creighton, Dick Polipnick, Doug Berg, Joe Keeley, John Sundberg, Jon Maichel Thomas, Michael Gorman, Scott Burns, and Mark Lacek

Chapters:

00:00 — Opening hook: focus on the real constraint

00:34 — Tech Scenes at Enterprise Rising

01:06 — Andre “Dre” Creighton: finance, operations, and founder perspective

01:15 — Dick Polipnick: GoRout and sports technology adoption

01:21 — Doug Berg: Match2, recruiting, and helping people find the right fit

01:32 — John Sundberg: Kinetic Data and enterprise workflow

01:55 — Jon Maichel Thomas: MadeDaily, UX, design, and secure digital platforms

02:10 — Michael Gorman: Cascade Reading, edtech, and investing

02:24 — Scott Burns: investing, entrepreneurship, and pattern recognition

02:54 — Mark Lacek: serial entrepreneurship and builder perspective

03:30 — Why old industries need better technology

04:28 — Enterprise software, workflow, and solving real customer pain

05:10 — Design, trust, security, and digital product experience

06:01 — Founder finance, constraints, and scaling choices

06:51 — Talent technology, recruiting, and the candidate experience

07:33 — Joe Keeley on coaching, leadership, and the human side of entrepreneurship

08:26 — Building durable products and earning user trust

09:42 — Investor and operator lessons on focus and execution

11:28 — Hard-earned founder lessons from scaling companies

12:25 — AI, recruiting, workflow, edtech, and real-world adoption

13:09 — Coaching, leadership, and company-building

14:05 — Reading technology, education, and thoughtful investing

14:45 — Startup pattern recognition and practical execution

15:53 — Final founder reflections from the room

18:26 — Closing thoughts on execution, conviction, and Midwest momentum

19:19 — Outro

Topics include:

Startup execution

Founder leadership

Enterprise SaaS

Midwest technology companies

Sports technology

Recruiting and talent technology

Workflow automation

Venture investing

Product focus

Leadership alignment

Operating rhythm

Team execution

Scaling growth companies

The Minneapolis, St. Paul, Twin Cities, and Midwest startup ecosystem

At Collective Genius™, we help CEOs build organizations that execute together through the Peak Operating System™ — aligning people, priorities, metrics, and operating rhythms so growth teams can move faster with clarity and focus.

Learn more about the book Peak Teams – Mastering the Habits of Unstoppable Venture-Backed Companies: https://a.co/d/hp5Jtnu

Visit Collective Genius™ to build your growth team with the Peak Operating System™: https://www.collective-genius.com/

Explore Collective Genius™ insights on leadership, execution, scaling teams, operating rhythm, and organizational alignment: https://awesome.collective-genius.com/insights/

Insights Article

Why Growth Companies Need Operating Discipline Before They Scale - https://awesome.collective-genius.com/insights/why-growth-companies-need-operating-discipline-before-they-scale-mrc6dala

Subscribe to Tech Scenes for conversations with founders, CEOs, investors, operators, and builders shaping the future of technology, leadership, and growth.

“Recycling internally by complaining is a blind spot.” - Brian Wang

In this episode of Tech Scenes Unplugged, Jeff Martin sits down with Brian Wang, a former venture-backed CEO turned executive coach who helps founders evolve into high-performance leaders.

Brian brings a rare combination of operator experience and deep coaching expertise, having led companies himself and coached over 50 CEOs through the complexities of scaling. His focus is simple but powerful: helping leaders shift their mindset and behaviors to reduce friction, improve decision-making, and create teams that operate with clarity and alignment.

The conversation explores the critical transition from builder to leader, the importance of systemic coaching and feedback loops, and how founders can identify blind spots that quietly limit their effectiveness. Brian also shares practical frameworks for reducing team chaos, improving communication, and creating environments where teams can perform at a high level with less stress and more confidence.

They also dive into how AI is reshaping team dynamics, accelerating workflows, and increasing the need for strong leadership systems — not replacing them.

Chapters:

00:00 The Importance of Difficult Conversations

01:06 Transitioning from Founder to Leader

03:02 The Role of Coaching in Leadership

06:40 The Need for Support Systems

08:08 Feedback and Learning Loops

11:22 Key Behaviors of High-Performing Teams

17:16 Identifying Blind Spots in Leadership

24:09 Aligning Team Goals and Revenue Expectations

26:26 The Importance of Context in Conversations

28:43 Creating a Safe Space for Open Dialogue

30:33 The Role of Technology in Team Dynamics

34:18 Navigating AI and Autonomous Workflows

41:17 The Intersection of Leadership and Jiu-Jitsu

Watch now to learn how founders can lead with more clarity, reduce internal friction, and build teams that actually perform — especially as AI accelerates the pace of work.

Collective Genius Insights Article:

Why Leadership Blind Spots Become Organizational Constraints

https://www.collective-genius.com/blog/tech-scenes-unplugged-with-brian-wang

📘 Learn more about the book Peak Teams – Mastering the Habit of Unstoppable Venture-Backed Companies 👉 https://a.co/d/hp5Jtnu

🌐 Visit Collective Genius™ to build your growth team with the Peak Operating System™ 👉 https://www.collective-genius.com/

⏱️ Got 5 minutes? Take the Peak Teams Assessment to see where your team can level up 👉 https://www.collective-genius.com/peak-teams-assessment

#TechScenes #Leadership #ExecutiveCoaching #Founders #Startups #TeamAlignment #AI #PersonalGrowth #PeakTeams

“What if we could read every piece of customer feedback, every single day?”

In this episode of Tech Scenes Santa Barbara, Jeff Martin sits down with Ryan Millner, Co-founder & CEO of Unwrap, to explore how AI is transforming how companies truly understand their customers.

Ryan’s journey spans early startup experience at Graphiq (acquired by Amazon) and years at Amazon helping scale Alexa’s intelligence systems — giving him firsthand insight into the power and limitations of natural language processing. That experience led to a simple but powerful idea: companies struggle to understand customer feedback at scale — what if AI could solve that?

Unwrap was built to do exactly that.

The platform ingests massive volumes of customer feedback — from support tickets, calls, surveys, and social channels — and turns it into clear, actionable insights for product, engineering, support, and executive teams. Companies like DoorDash, Stripe, and Southwest Airlines use Unwrap to stay in sync with what their customers are actually experiencing.

The conversation dives into the rise of AI-native products, the acceleration of learning loops inside organizations, and the growing gap between those building with AI and those unaware of its capabilities. Ryan also shares insights on pricing, moving upmarket, and why the bar for product excellence is rising faster than ever.

They also explore the realities of building in AI — from guardrails and data privacy to deciding when to build vs. buy — and why focusing on core competency is more important than ever in an AI-driven world.

Chapters

00:00 The Rise of AI and Customer Understanding

01:28 What Unwrap Does and Why It Matters

04:40 The Evolution of AI Interfaces and Chat

07:48 Guardrails, Data Privacy, and Enterprise Complexity

10:43 Founder Journey and the Idea Behind Unwrap

13:20 Learning Loops in the Age of AI

15:16 Why This AI Moment Is Different

17:31 Build vs Buy in an AI World

20:19 What People Still Don’t Understand About AI

26:19 Startup Lessons: Pricing and Moving Upmarket

28:37 AI Coding and the Future of Product Development

29:29 The Ever-Rising Bar for Product Excellence

Collective Genius Articles:

https://www.collective-genius.com/insights/why-growth-companies-need-faster-organizational-learning-loops-mq8ltb1i

https://www.collective-genius.com/insights/why-great-founders-solve-problems-they-have-lived-mq8lbc8t

https://www.collective-genius.com/blog/tech-scenes-santa-barbara-with-ryan-millner-ceo-and-cofounder-of-unwrap

Watch now to understand how AI is reshaping the feedback loop between companies and customers — and why the teams that learn fastest will win.

🌐 Visit Collective Genius™ to build your growth team with the Peak OS™ 👉 https://www.collective-genius.com/

📘 Learn more about the book Peak Teams – Mastering the Habit of Unstoppable Venture-Backed Companies 👉 https://a.co/d/hp5Jtnu

⏱️ Got 5 minutes? Take the Peak Teams Assessment to see where your team can level up 👉 https://www.collective-genius.com/peak-teams-assessment

#TechScenes #UnwrapAI #AI #CustomerExperience #ProductDevelopment #Startups #Leadership #NLP #Innovation #PeakTeams