Join host Henry Harrison on the Entrepreneurs, Business and Finance podcast for an inspiring conversation with serial entrepreneur Anthony Franco. Anthony shares his rollercoaster journey—from founding and exiting multiple companies (including a major sale to WPP), appearing on Shark Tank with his innovative MC Squares reusable whiteboard product (securing a deal from Kevin O'Leary), to facing the tough reality of business failure and bankruptcy in 2023.

Now thriving in the AI era, Anthony discusses his current work pioneering AI First Principles (an open-source governance framework developed with leaders from Meta, Google, Salesforce, and more) and the WISER Method—a practical methodology to help organizations truly become AI-first, operationalize AI responsibly, and drive perpetual innovation beyond just ChatGPT prompts.

Hear raw lessons on resilience, the loneliness of entrepreneurship, why many successful founders discourage others from starting (yet can't imagine doing anything else), transparency in tough times, and how AI is democratizing innovation for idea-driven people today.

Whether you're a founder, executive exploring AI implementation, or simply love real entrepreneurial stories, this episode is packed with wisdom, candor, and motivation.

Connect with Anthony:

AI First Principles: www.aifirstprinciples.org/

WISER Method: www.wisermethod.com/

His entrepreneurial podcast: How to Founder www.howtofounder.com/

LinkedIn for consulting and more. www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyfranco/

Discover the Henry Harrison Entrepreneurs, Business, and Finance Podcast, hosted by Dallas-based entrepreneur Henry Harrison. Episodes feature conversations with founders, leaders, and experts on business growth, finance, innovation, and resilience.

The latest episode features serial entrepreneur Anthony Franco: HenryHarrison.com/anthony-franco

Subscribe for interviews and business insights.

Watch Here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN0UjDITkeE

Henry Deimel Harrison

Henry D Harrison

In this episode, Henry sits down with Hugh Massie, a serial entrepreneur and the founder of DNA Behavior, a behavioral data analytics company pioneering the intersection of psychology, decision-making, and financial behavior. Hugh has spent more than two decades building systems that decode how people think, communicate, and make choices—especially around money.

Resources Mentioned

DNA Behavior — https://dnabehavior.com

Behavioral Economics Today Podcast - https://www.youtube.com/@BehavioralEconomicsToday

Connect with Hugh on LinkedIn.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hughmassie/

Episode: https://henryharrison.com/hugh-massie-dna-behavior/

From his beginnings in wealth management to leading a global behavioral-data company with operations across multiple countries, Hugh shares a remarkably candid look at entrepreneurship, leadership, people dynamics, and the future of AI-powered behavior insights.

If you’ve ever wondered how to truly understand people at scale—or even understand yourself better—this conversation will hit you right between the eyes.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode

• The Origin Story of DNA Behavior

How a wealth management firm led Hugh to realize that understanding a client’s behavior is just as important as understanding their finances—and how that became the foundation for a global psychometric and behavioral analytics platform.

• The Big Leap: From 2.5 Million to 275 Million Behavioral Profiles

Hugh explains the breakthrough moment when his team reverse-engineered their system using AI to digitally “scan” individuals’ behavioral patterns—no questionnaire required.

• Profiling People… Without the Profile

How DNA Behavior can now derive behavioral insights from public data using AI, why accuracy differs between traditional profiling and digital scanning, and where each method makes sense.

• Why Money Is the Ultimate Behavioral Trigger

Hugh shares fascinating examples of how people “flip” into instinctive behavior under pressure—especially when money and relationships are involved.

• A Story Every Entrepreneur Will Recognize

Hugh recalls two founders at war over a personal guarantee for a bank loan—and how behavioral insights helped them rescue their partnership, keep their company intact, and rebuild trust.

• Behavioral Economics in the Real World

From decoy pricing to communication misfires, Hugh breaks down why people make irrational decisions—and how truly personalized behavioral data can transform sales, leadership, and client experience.

• Building Behavioral Intelligence into Organizations

Learn how leadership teams, advisors, and even Fortune 100 companies use heat maps, dashboards, and matching tools to communicate more effectively, build trust, and improve performance across entire ecosystems.

• Leadership, Culture, and “Knowing Me, Knowing You”

Hugh talks about the DNA Behavior culture framework—Know, Engage & Grow—and why leaders must share their own profiles first if they want psychological safety, trust, or authentic communication inside the organization.

• How Hugh Built a Global Team Across Four Countries

A look inside DNA Behavior’s distributed team across Atlanta, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Australia—and how Hugh keeps culture aligned across continents.

• Personal Growth, Empathy & the Journey from Numbers Guy to People Person

Burt Copeland, founder and CEO of New Life CFO, joins Henry Harrison to discuss how his near-collapse during the 2008 financial crisis became the catalyst for building one of the leading fractional CFO and outsourced accounting firms. Serving companies from roughly $2M to $80M in revenue, New Life CFO combines strategic CFO guidance with clean, decision-ready books—because even the best CFO is useless without accurate data.

New Life CFO: https://newlifecfo.com/

Episode: https://henryharrison.com/burt-copela...

The conversation is rich with real-world tools, client success stories, and the deeply personal faith journey that gave the company its name.

Key Takeaways

What New Life CFO Does

-Two-thirds of the business is fractional/outsourced CFO services

-One-third is outsourced accounting, controller, and accounting-manager support

-Focus: drive sustainable cash flow, EBITDA, and enterprise value

-Core belief: “Even a great CFO can’t make good decisions on bad information.”

Typical Clients

-Accounting services: $1M–$25M revenue

-CFO services: generally $5M–$80M revenue

-Rule of thumb: “As soon as I start looking like overhead, fire me.”

Philosophy

Your financial statements are nothing more than a historical reflection of your people, decisions, behaviors, processes, and systems. To permanently change the numbers, change one or more of those five drivers.

Burt’s 2008 Story

Grew a construction subcontractor from $7M to a $30M run rate. In April 2008, revenue fell 86% overnight when banks froze all construction lending. Lost $6–7M of personal net worth in months. The crisis produced both a business and faith epiphany that led him to sell the company and start New Life CFO with a mission to keep other entrepreneurs from stepping into the same “bear trap.”

Why “Operational CFOs”

Every CFO on the team has P&L ownership experience (GM, COO, or prior business owner) and has professionally “stubbed their toe” somewhere along the way—creating empathy, humility, and practical insight that pure finance backgrounds often lack.

During the darkest days of 2008, Burt prayed two questions:

“What do You want me to learn?” → Answer: “You’re not using My gifts, and you left Me behind.”

“Where do You want me to go?” → Answer: “Use My gifts and take Me with you.”

The company exists to use God-given financial and operational gifts to serve entrepreneurs in a God-honoring way through “Care-Frontational” (caring but direct) partnership. Diagnostic Services Offered Turning Sweat Equity into Gold – exit/life-after-business planning (personal vision → gap analysis → value-building roadmap)

Insight 29:11 – deep dive into structural EBITDA, cash flow, and value-creating vs. value-diluting revenue streams

PLANO, TX: Entrepreneurs, Business & Finance — Episode: Glenn Poulos on Building (and Rebuilding) Winning Sales Organizations

https://henryharrison.com/glenn-poulos/

Guest: Glenn Poulos

— founder, 3× company builder, LinkedIn Top Voice, author of Never Sit in the Lobby

Episode Snapshot

What we cover: Selling without being “that salesperson,” buying a business under non-competes, the power-utility pivot, recovering from a zero-to-hero-to-zero moment, enterprise deal strategy, and practical ways Glenn uses AI daily to win more bids.

Why listen: Glenn has built and sold companies across telecom and now power utilities. He’s candid about a painful, all-stock exit that went to zero—and exactly how he bounced back to $84M revenue before his next sale.

Quick Bio

Glenn sold GAP Wireless (telecom distribution) to private equity in 2022, then acquired Prog USA (power-utility test & measurement distributor) in January 2024 to stay clear of non-competes—switching tech (telecom → power), customers (telcos → utilities), and country (Canada → U.S.) while running the same style of business. He’s an active LinkedIn Top Voice and the author of Never Sit in the Lobby.

Key Takeaways

“Nothing happens until something gets sold.” Sales is the starting point of the value chain—and it’s a craft worth defending.

Customer-first systems win. Build repeatable ways to get, act, and stay in front of customers and be a “pleasure to do business with” even when you lose a deal.

Map the money machine. Learn how your customer actually makes money (e.g., some “hardware” firms are really finance companies).

Enterprise deals require altitude. Start at the highest relevant level; know exactly who signs at each $ tier.

Resilience is a skill. Glenn once sold for stock, got locked up, and watched it all go to zero—then founded a new company within days and grew it to $84M before selling.

AI as a force multiplier. Use AI to mine tenders, summarize 80-page contracts, craft (then humanize) outreach, and spot cash-flow patterns.

Standout Stories

The Dofasco Steel Mill “door-knock relay.” In 24 hours, Glenn and his president went from plant floor → Toshiba integrator → electrical distributor → VP approver and closed the largest order of his career, no emails, no quotes—just live, high-altitude selling.

The painful exit that reset everything. After a stock-only sale to a public company, Glenn became an insider, couldn’t sell, and lost everything when the acquirer imploded. He turned that failure into the launchpad for GAP Wireless, later sold to PE.

Favorite Lines

“Start and finish at the highest possible level relative to the size of the deal.”

“People want to buy—but not from a pain in the butt.”

“I call it poverty avoidance—it keeps me moving.”

Book: Never Sit in the Lobby — 57 sales tips to be “a pleasure to do business with.” https://www.amazon.com/Never-Sit-Lobb...

Connect with Glenn

Website: https://glennpoulos.com/

LinkedIn: / glennpoulos

Connect with Henry

Website: https://henryharrison.com/

Podcast Hub: Entrepreneurs, Business & Finance (subscribe, rate & review!)

In this episode, Henry Harrison sits down with Chaitanya NK, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Track 3D, an AI-powered construction technology company revolutionizing how job sites are monitored and managed. With over 15 years of experience across AI, 3D vision, robotics, and IoT, NK shares how his team is transforming the trillion-dollar construction industry through “reality intelligence”—the seamless fusion of reality capture and artificial intelligence.

Listeners will gain insight into how Track 3D is helping construction companies stay on schedule, on budget, and ahead of risk by automating project tracking and progress documentation—all from a simple camera walk-through.

Key Topics Discussed

🚀 The Origin of Track 3D

Founded by three lifelong friends with a shared background in software engineering and AI.

Inspired by the inefficiencies in how construction data is collected and shared.

Evolved from earlier startups in smart cities, robotics, and 3D modeling to solving one of the biggest problems in global construction: manual, inconsistent field data.

🧠 How Track 3D Works

Uses mobile devices, drones, or robots equipped with cameras to scan job sites.

AI automatically reconstructs the space in 3D and identifies what work has been done—down to specific materials, placements, and quantities.

Provides real-time progress tracking, early error detection, and precise visual data for all stakeholders.

Enables field teams to spot issues before they become costly rework problems.

📈 From Seed to Series A

Track 3D has raised over $14 million to date from top construction tech investors.

The focus of their Series A round is on scaling go-to-market efforts—expanding sales, marketing, and U.S. operations.

Now active on 400+ job sites, from data centers and hospitals to single-family homes.

🧩 Ease of Adoption

Designed for zero learning curve—onboarding takes just minutes.

Users simply upload drawings and start walking the site with a camera.

Built to integrate smoothly with existing workflows, ensuring fast field adoption rather than top-down resistance.

🤖 The Future of “Reality Intelligence”

Track 3D’s platform combines AI, robotics, and computer vision into a “reality intelligence” system that documents and analyzes every inch of a job site.

The company’s long-term vision: become the operating system for every physical asset across its full lifecycle—from construction to maintenance.

🌎 AI + Robotics = The Next Construction Revolution

With advancements in autonomous drones, robotic site walkers, and improved camera resolution, Track 3D leverages cutting-edge hardware and software to scale globally.

NK sees construction as a data problem—and Track 3D’s mission is to make that data accessible, actionable, and automated.

🔗 Learn More

Guest Website: https://track3d.ai/

Host Website: https://henryharrison.com/

In this episode, Henry Harrison sits down with Jack Carrere, the founder and CEO of Prokeep, a fast-growing software company transforming how distributors communicate with contractors. From a startup born in New Orleans to a nationwide organization with more than 100 employees, 1,000+ distributors, and 40,000 active users, Jack shares his entrepreneurial journey — including scaling through challenges, harnessing AI, and raising over $37 million in venture funding.

Together, they discuss how Prokeep unifies communication channels for distributors, what it takes to survive market shocks like COVID and Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, and why empowering counter staff through technology can drive entire industries forward.

Key Topics Discussed

🧩 Building Prokeep

Prokeep was founded over ten years ago to simplify the complex communication flow between distributors and contractors.

Its platform integrates text, email, fax, and phone into a single unified inbox, helping distributors manage orders, improve efficiency, and strengthen customer relationships.

Recently launched “Order Engine”, enabling counter teams to proactively generate orders and connect directly with contractor needs.

🚀 Scaling & Growth

Headquartered in New Orleans with an additional hub in Portland, Oregon, plus a remote workforce of “Prokeepers.”

Serves over 1,000 distributors and 3 million contractor interactions through its platform.

Transitioned from a small two-location pilot customer to working with major national distributors like Ferguson, ABC Supply, and PoolCorp.

💡 Innovation in Distribution

Prokeep’s biggest competitor? Sticky notes and fragmented communication.

The platform consolidates disjointed workflows and improves collective intelligence across teams.

New ERP integration automatically generates quotes and shortens response time — a major advantage in winning orders.

⚙️ Adapting Through Challenges

Survived the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank by acting fast.

Navigated COVID-19 by helping distributors stay operational when walk-in counters shut down — enabling contractors to text orders and remain productive.

Learned to innovate under pressure and embrace agility during times of uncertainty.

🤖 AI and the Future of Prokeep

Prokeep now uses AI to analyze over 80 million customer messages, identifying trends and improving marketing response rates.

AI assists in suggesting targeted audiences, optimal send times, and message templates for promotions.

Jack views AI as an accelerant — both internally for team productivity and externally to help customers communicate smarter.

💼 Entrepreneurial Journey

Initially focused on helping contractors manage their workflow before pivoting toward distributors.

Spent years refining the product through trial, error, and perseverance.

Believes success comes from “surviving as long as you can — and letting hard work compound.”

💸 Raising $37 Million in Venture Capital

Early years were bootstrapped before securing major investments.

Seed Round: Led by Iron Spring Ventures and S3 Ventures (Austin, TX).

Series A: Led by Dalia Equity (San Francisco, CA).

Funding enabled expanded product development, engineering talent, and the rollout of Order Engine.

Jack humorously recalls signing funding documents during Mardi Gras — dodging parade crowds to find phone service!

Guest: https://www.prokeep.com/ — Jack Carrere, Founder & CEO

Host: https://henryharrison.com/ — Entrepreneurs, Business & Finance Podcast

In this episode, Henry sits down with long-time friend and fellow EO Forum member James Poen, President and part-owner of Richardson Saw & Lawn Mower. James shares his remarkable story of taking over his family’s outdoor power equipment dealership, growing it into a thriving business, and eventually partnering with Graycliff Partners, a New York–based private equity firm, to launch a multi-store acquisition strategy.

From early days working alongside his father, to navigating manufacturer changes, to managing the complexities of a nine-month equity sale process, James offers listeners a behind-the-scenes look at running — and selling — a successful family business. He discusses how he learned financial discipline, implemented systems and processes to scale, balanced customer service with operational efficiency, and now helps other dealership owners explore selling while staying involved in their businesses.

This conversation is packed with lessons for entrepreneurs considering succession planning, private equity partnerships, or simply looking to run a tighter ship.

Key Takeaways

Family Business Legacy: How Richardson Saw evolved from a small Garland, TX shop into a premier outdoor power equipment dealership.

Operational Excellence: The importance of systems, processes, and retaining long-term employees to maintain efficiency and customer service.

Private Equity Insights: What it’s like to sell to private equity, stay on as president, and transition into a new role focused on acquisitions.

Financial Discipline: Why monthly books, asking questions, and surrounding yourself with smart peers are essential for business growth.

Navigating Change: Adapting to online sales expectations, manufacturer restrictions, and generational shifts in customer behavior.

Succession & Exit Planning: Why entrepreneurs should start preparing 18 months ahead of a potential sale — from tightening processes to choosing the right partners.

Links & Resources

Visit Richardson Saw & Lawn Mower: https://www.richardsonsaw.com

Learn more about Henry Harrison: https://henryharrison.com/

From Plano, TX

FROM PLANO TX: Construction payroll is brutal: dispersed crews, changing sites, language barriers, thin margins, and paper timecards that bleed profit. In this episode, Albert Bou Fadel explains how SmartBarrel combines rugged jobsite hardware with software to capture time at the source (worker check-in/out), automate approvals, and flow clean data straight to payroll/ERP—reducing risk and making labor cost visible in real time. Albert also shares the grind behind building hardware, raising capital, and why “it just has to work” is non-negotiable on a jobsite.

https://smartbarrel.io/

About the Guest

Albert Bou Fadel is a construction entrepreneur who previously built a glazing company before founding SmartBarrel, a field-first labor management and timekeeping platform purpose-built for construction.

Key Takeaways

Field-first beats office-first. SmartBarrel was designed around the hardest part—jobsite capture—so implementation spreads upward smoothly.

Time equals survival. In construction, small daily productivity leaks compound into seven-figure losses over long projects.

Hardware is hard. Prototyping, reliability, and iteration cycles are slower and costlier than software—plan accordingly.

Implementation risk is better than the subscription price. Failed rollouts damage credibility and careers; buyers are de-risking, not penny-pinching.

Fast start. Teams can be live in 2–3 days (simple setups) to a couple of weeks with integrations.

Memorable Quotes

“Price is only a problem in the absence of value. Buyers are de-risking, not haggling.”

“In construction, we don’t have the luxury of failing twice—on the third try the device ends up in a lake.”

“You pay for 40 hours but get 35—over 18 months that’s seven-figure leakage.”

Resources Mentioned

SmartBarrel – Field-first labor management/timekeeping for construction (hardware + software + mobile).

Integrations with common payroll/HR/ERP systems (e.g., Procore, Vista, CMiC, etc. referenced broadly).

Connect

Guest: Search Albert Bou Fadel on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/albert-boufadel/

Host: Subscribe to Entrepreneurs, Business, and Finance with Henry Harrison on your favorite podcast app. https://henryharrison.com/