The Midnight Founders Podcast

Tanner Beckstrand and Caleb Wagner - Baywatch Technologies

This week’s episode is a discussion with Tanner Beckstrand and Caleb Wagner from Baywatch Technologies.  Caleb and Tanner have been best friends since they were kids and they talked about the dynamic of being best friends running a business together. They shared some insights about market validation and how important it is to figure that out early with a startup. Thanks for listening, and we hope you enjoy our conversation with Baywatch!

Aleksa Porter - Wander

We are excited for this week’s episode with Aleksa Porter from Wander. She talked about the challenges of starting a business as a side hustle while her and her co founders were balancing full time jobs. Aleksa also talked about how important it is for her to leave a personal legacy as well as the mark she wants Wander as a company to leave on the world. Get ready for another great episode!

Wade Rasmussen - Dirty Dough

On this week’s episode of The Midnight Founders Podcast, we interview Wade Rasmussen, COO and co-founder of Dirty Dough, the breakout cookie startup currently being sued by Crumbl. Many of our listeners are already familiar with Dirty Dough as a major player in the trending #UtahCookieWars. Billboards standing alongside Utah’s freeways share their side of the lawsuit from a lighthearted, comical perspective, demonstrating the company’s appetite for growth in spite of attempts to shut them down. In fact, the lawsuit has had the opposite effect, helping triple Dirty Dough’s revenues in the past few weeks alone.Wade’s most important priorities today include hiring the right people and creating operational efficiencies, each being essential to the explosive growth they’ve experienced in their franchise model. Even still, Dirty Dough’s mission goes far beyond just delicious cookies. During our discussion, Wade makes the profound point that “what’s on the inside matters most”—a concept applicable to cookies and people alike. And this is the motivation behind their newest mission, to support those with mental disorders and other similar challenges.Thanks for listening, and we hope you enjoy our chat with Wade Rasmussen!
The Midnight Founders Podcast is focused on telling the behind-the-scenes stories for what makes a successful entrepreneur. Just like Donavan Mitchell spends countless hours practicing step back jumpers to become a master at his craft. You are in the trenches spending countless hours to become a master at your business. We are inspired by this, we believe that is what it takes to be a midnight founder, and we want to share your story. Our podcast is casual, every conversation is different, so we like to take the conversation wherever it leads. As such, we don’t really follow a script, but we really want to know who you are as a founder, and what makes you tick? We also want to know what keeps you up at night, what are the problems you are currently trying to solve? As entrepreneurs we know that there are challenging times where you don’t have anyone to fall back on to meet the deadline or finish the task, all the weight is on your shoulders. One question we ask every guest that we want you to think about is: What is the gnarliest experience you have had as an entrepreneur? Stories about you and your business are engaging and pull the listeners in.
Hosts:
AJ Rounds: A.J. Rounds currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer of RevRoad. In addition, he is a co-founder and investor. A.J.’s passion is helping other entrepreneurs like himself. This position allows A.J. to do that. A.J. has an 18-year track record in Marketing communications, consumer retail and direct sales channels, global business development, human resources, editorial, business writing, and building effective management teams.
Jacob McHargue: Jake is the Director of Entrepreneurship for the CB Vault which is the new entrepreneurship division of Central Bank. He is focused on helping startups and entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Jake grew up in an entrepreneurial family and has been enthusiastic about entrepreneurship since a young age. He has spent much of his career building teams and helping organizations grow.

Carlton van Putten - Payrent

We are excited for this week’s episode with Carlton van Putten who is the CEO of Payrent. Carlton waited until later in his career to begin his entrepreneurial journey, he talked about how he is utilizing all of the lessons he learned throughout his career to help make Payrent the success it is today. We hope you enjoy this week’s episode!

Keith Huang - Sentient Academy

We are excited for this weeks episode with Keith Huang who is the Founder & CEO of Sentient Academy. We had a great conversation about embracing your inner artist and letting your creativity out. He had some great advice for founders about staying in touch with your company by “walking the floor” which is something he learned during his time working in the casino industry. Hope you enjoy this week’s episode.
 

Emily Applegarth - Gamify

We are excited for this weeks episode with Emily Applegarth who is the co-founder and CRO for Gamify. Emily talked about her entrepreneurial journey and how sitting next to the sales leaderboard with a previous company helped her create the idea for Gamify. Get ready for another amazing episode.

Jeff Erickson

 We had a great conversation today with Jeff Erickson. He's currently working with a company called Forecaster. He's really involved in the entrepreneurial community here in Utah and really well connected. He had a lot of fun stories about businesses that he and his wife have run, as well as ventures that he's done on his own. You will learn a little bit more about him and also some tips on how to become a LinkedIn influencer. He just surpassed 15,000 followers. 
The Midnight Founders Podcast is focused on telling the behind-the-scenes stories for what makes a successful entrepreneur. Just like Donavan Mitchell spends countless hours practicing step back jumpers to become a master at his craft. Entrepreneurs are in the trenches spending countless hours to become a master at their businesses. We are inspired by this, we believe that is what it takes to be a midnight founder, and we are excited to share their stories.
 
Hosts:
AJ Rounds: 
A.J. Rounds currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer of RevRoad. In addition, he is a co-founder and investor. A.J.’s passion is helping other entrepreneurs like himself. This position allows A.J. to do that. A.J. has an 18-year track record in Marketing communications, consumer retail and direct sales channels, global business development, human resources, editorial, business writing, and building effective management teams.
 
Jacob McHargue: 
Jake is the Director of Entrepreneurship for the CB Vault which is the new entrepreneurship division of Central Bank. He is focused on helping startups and entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Jake grew up in an entrepreneurial family and has been enthusiastic about entrepreneurship since a young age. He has spent much of his career building teams and helping organizations grow.
 
 

Jake Hawksworth, Jon Miller - Hypercraft

 We're super excited for this week's episode with Jake Hawksworth and John Miller from HyperCraft. We are so excited to learn about their journey in helping to electrify the world, they talked about making a pivot that has really helping their business grow quickly. they also talked about the process of relocating their headquarters from Arizona to Utah. They had some really cool stories in store for you, we are excited to introduce you to HyperCraft. 
 
The Midnight Founders Podcast is focused on telling the behind-the-scenes stories for what makes a successful entrepreneur. Just like Donavan Mitchell spends countless hours practicing step back jumpers to become a master at his craft. Entrepreneurs are in the trenches spending countless hours to become a master at their businesses. We are inspired by this, we believe that is what it takes to be a midnight founder, and we are excited to share their stories.
 
Hosts:
AJ Rounds: 
A.J. Rounds currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer of RevRoad. In addition, he is a co-founder and investor. A.J.’s passion is helping other entrepreneurs like himself. This position allows A.J. to do that. A.J. has an 18-year track record in Marketing communications, consumer retail and direct sales channels, global business development, human resources, editorial, business writing, and building effective management teams.
Jacob McHargue: 
Jake is the Director of Entrepreneurship for the CB Vault which is the new entrepreneurship division of Central Bank. He is focused on helping startups and entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Jake grew up in an entrepreneurial family and has been enthusiastic about entrepreneurship since a young age. He has spent much of his career building teams and helping organizations grow.
 
 
 

Rachel Quarnberg

We are excited for this week's Midnight Founders podcast episode with Rachel Quarnberg, who is the founder and owner of Audrey and Bear. I love how she told us about how her business is built on a mission to help families with babies in the NICU. From the humble beginnings in Eagle Alaska, the business has continued to grow each year.  Rachel talked about the challenges of growing a business with just herself and her husband helping behind the scenes. Get ready for another awesome episode.
 
The Midnight Founders Podcast is focused on telling the behind-the-scenes stories for what makes a successful entrepreneur. Just like Donavan Mitchell spends countless hours practicing step back jumpers to become a master at his craft. Entrepreneurs are in the trenches spending countless hours to become a master at their businesses. We are inspired by this, we believe that is what it takes to be a midnight founder, and we are excited to share their stories.
Hosts:
AJ Rounds: 
A.J. Rounds currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer of RevRoad. In addition, he is a co-founder and investor. A.J.’s passion is helping other entrepreneurs like himself. This position allows A.J. to do that. A.J. has an 18-year track record in Marketing communications, consumer retail and direct sales channels, global business development, human resources, editorial, business writing, and building effective management teams.
Jacob McHargue: 
Jake is the Director of Entrepreneurship for the CB Vault which is the new entrepreneurship division of Central Bank. He is focused on helping startups and entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Jake grew up in an entrepreneurial family and has been enthusiastic about entrepreneurship since a young age. He has spent much of his career building teams and helping organizations grow.