This week, Josh and Mike go for the throat of the consulting industrial complex—where ex-bankers and MBAs reinvent the obvious for seven figures, while gig workers keep the engine running for scraps. They expose how companies buy advice they never use, and what it really means to ‘hustle’ in 2026.

• Corporate consulting: value creation or value extraction?
• Gig economy exploitation and innovation
• Why “management advice” rarely fixes broken companies
• Case studies: smart consultants, dumb clients

If you ever paid McKinsey six figures for a thirty-slide ‘deck,’ this episode will feel personal—listen and learn.

Josh and Mike torch the empty promises, genuine wins, and major hypocrisies of the corporate DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) industrial complex. From performative virtue-signaling to real programs that actually move the needle, they go deep on the ROI—and landmines—of building a diverse business.

• DEI: Real impact vs performative fluff
• Corporate hypocrisy—who walks the talk, who just talks
• Why diversity makes good business sense (beyond PR)
• The backlash: culture wars, lawsuits, and cynicism

DEI is either your company’s superpower or its smokescreen—this episode peels back both. Listen or stay clueless.

This episode, Josh and Mike drop-kick the “we’re a family” platitudes and dig into startup culture’s real power—or toxicity. They expose why ping pong tables and perky values are usually window dressing, how toxic workplaces spiral, and the truth behind the mantra “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Hear the war stories, spot the red flags, and get the raw truth on building—or surviving—a company where culture isn’t just a catchphrase.

• What startup “culture” really means (and what it doesn’t)
• How founder values shape company destiny
• The deadly myths, the honest mess, and the must-have warning signs
• True stories of great and toxic cultures

Tips for spotting red flags (before you sign or invest)

The pressure is real: runway is just math until the bottom drops out and all that’s left is founder hustle, instinct, and killer timing. Josh and Mike tear into the fantasy that cash cures all — exposing what really keeps companies afloat when the market turns. This is a masterclass in pivots, creative survival, capital discipline, and recognizing when war chests just become bonfires. Real talk, real war stories, and battle-tested advice for outlasting the next storm.

• Why raising more doesn’t mean you’ll make it
• How founders win (or lose) when the gravy train stops
• Tactical pivots and creative survival strategies
• The difference between smart burn and wasted spend
• Why runway isn’t everything, and what actually is

Josh and Mike rip the cover off startup infighting — boardroom betrayals, toxic investors, and founders stabbing each other in the back. From hostile takeovers and power grabs to VCs turning helpful advice into sabotage, this episode lays out why so many promising companies crash and burn behind closed doors.

• Real founder scars: war stories about investor demands, backstabbing board members, and partners gone rogue.
• How so-called ‘strategic guidance’ from investors can torpedo trust, creativity, and team morale.
• Current examples: investor-founder feuds spiraling into company implosions, CEOs forced out by politics and poison pills.
• Survival guide: how to spot a toxic partner, cut losses, and build a startup that doesn’t self-destruct at the table.

Grab a drink. It’s going to get nasty, and fun.

Josh and Mike kick things off by torching startup clichés — visionary decks, inflated TAM slides, and the cult of the “hustle” founder. They dive into why, deep down, every founder is selling a story (and some are just better liars than others). But underneath the bravado? A pulse on where the real opportunities live. Expect hot takes on:

• Why “fake it ‘til you make it” is both genius and dangerous
• The difference between a bold bet and burning cash for ego
• Stories from their own founder days that went completely off the rails
• What actually makes a founder investable once the bullshit clears

This is Burn Rate + Bull$hit at full volume — zero illusions, just scars and lessons from the trenches.

Money changes everything — especially when it flows into power-hungry hands. Josh and Mike take aim at executive egos, broken boards, and the warped incentives that push companies to implode from within. Expect unfiltered takes on:

• Why burn rate isn’t the real killer — ego is
• The CEO myth: are they actually leaders, or just the loudest person in the room?
• Tales of founders who lost control (and the investors who set it up that way)
• How to manage power dynamic chaos when millions are on the line

This one’s brutal, candid, and guaranteed to piss off a few LinkedIn “thought leaders.”

The boys go off on the absurd circus of corporate America — from tech bros chasing AI billions to Fortune 500s paying consultants to tell them what their interns already know. Josh and Mike pull out the flamethrower for:

• The state of big tech leadership: visionaries or overpaid caretakers?
• Why corporations are playing defense while startups eat their lunch
• Current events: massive layoffs, stock buyback, and what Wall Street gets wrong every damn quarter
• How real builders can cut through institutional sludge and move fast without blowing up

Half comedy, half hard truth — this episode calls bullshit on the incumbents while giving founders a blueprint for punching above their weight.