The Hatch Podcast is a show about people building things.

Each episode features honest conversations with founders, creators, and builders working on ideas that are still taking shape — from startups and bioscience to technology and music.

The podcast is connected to Hatch, an innovation hub on the Gulf Coast supporting founders and creators across Lower Alabama, but the stories go beyond any one place.

These are real conversations, with people in the middle of the work.

New episodes weekly.

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.

What do Randy Owen, Jamey Johnson, Jimmy Buffett, and Alan Jackson have in common?

They all trace their story back to Alabama.

In this episode of the Hatch Podcast Music Accelerator, Hatch producer Tim Scott reaches back into his radio archives to curate rare audio and conversations with artists from different generations and genres, all shaped by the same place and the same foundation.

From northeast Alabama, Randy Owen reflects on growing up in Fort Payne, working the land, and learning early lessons about character and humility that helped shape one of the most successful bands in country music history.

From Montgomery, Jamey Johnson talks candidly about success, pressure, and refocusing on who he was really writing songs for. Jamey scored his own breakthrough hit with “In Color” and wrote major songs recorded by other artists, including “Give It Away,” which became a number-one hit for George Strait.

From Mobile, Jimmy Buffett shares the story behind his duet with Alan Jackson, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.” The song went on to spend eight weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and became Alan Jackson’s first pop crossover hit. Jimmy, who passed away in 2023, explains how the collaboration came together not in a studio or a boardroom, but through boats, fishing, and time spent together far from Nashville.

And from Tuskegee, Lionel Richie reflects on longevity, connection, and what it means to stay human across decades in music. Drawing from his experience as a judge on American Idol, Lionel talks about personality, self-awareness, and why talent lasts longer when you don’t lose yourself along the way.

Different eras.
Different sounds.
One foundation.

This episode isn’t about a genre.
It’s about perspective, humility, and stories that travel far beyond Alabama.

That’s what Alabama put in the music.

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.

What does innovation actually look like on the Gulf Coast and across lower Alabama?

In this episode of the Hatch Podcast, we’re taking a look back at some of the conversations that shaped 2025. Rather than a highlight reel, this episode offers a snapshot of the kinds of discussions we’ve been having on the show, across business, bioscience, healthcare, development, and the creative economy.

These conversations come from different industries and perspectives, but they share a common thread: people doing thoughtful, often difficult work in the places they’ve chosen to build.

Featured conversations include:

Michael Lynch — CHONEX
Michael shares how CHONEX is using biology and process to turn agricultural waste into something useful, with implications for soil health and sustainable systems. His conversation offers a grounded look at what innovation actually looks like when it’s hands-on and operational.
🔗 https://www.chonex.ag

Chris Harber — Simparo Surgical
Chris talks about identifying inefficiencies in common surgical procedures and rethinking how those procedures can be done more reliably and consistently. The conversation focuses on practical medtech innovation and improving outcomes through better design.
🔗 https://simparosurgical.com

Dr. Grant Zarzour — Sperity Health
Grant discusses prevention, longevity, and why healthcare needs to start long before someone becomes a patient. His perspective reframes health around risk, time, and quality of life rather than reactive treatment.
🔗 https://www.sperityhealth.com

68 Ventures — Around the Table
In a wide-ranging conversation, the team at 68 Ventures reflects on failure, resilience, and what it actually takes to build teams and organizations over the long term. The discussion emphasizes patience, perspective, and learning through experience.
🔗 https://www.68ventures.com

Susan Godwin — Music Accelerator (119 Collective at Hatch)
Susan breaks down music publishing, licensing, and ownership, explaining why so many artists misunderstand how publishing works and why education is critical. Her conversation highlights the importance of protecting creative work and building sustainable careers in the music industry.
🔗 https://119collective.hatchfairhope.com

This episode is designed as an entry point, a way to understand what kinds of conversations happen on the Hatch Podcast and why they matter.

There’s a lot more coming in 2026, and we’re glad you’re here.

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.

What does it look like to build technology outside a traditional tech hub?

For Kai Gray, it starts with a simple belief: you don’t have to be in Silicon Valley to build something that matters.

In this episode of The Hatch Podcast: Founders Series, Kai shares his journey from major tech markets to Fairhope, Alabama, where he’s building both a company and a growing technology community.

As founder and CEO of Motive AI, Kai works directly with businesses to help them make practical, thoughtful use of artificial intelligence. Alongside that work, he also founded Lower Alabama AI, a nonprofit and meetup focused on bringing people together to learn, share, and build around emerging technology on the Gulf Coast.

This episode explores how place, timing, and intention intersect—and why meaningful innovation doesn’t need a major tech hub to take root.

💡In this episode:

• Why building something great doesn’t require a big-city tech hub
• How Fairhope became part of Kai’s story long before the move
• The origins and growth of Lower Alabama AI
• The difference between AI hype and practical adoption
• What it takes for a region to believe it can lead with technology

About the guest

Kai Gray is the founder and CEO of Motive AI, where he helps organizations implement artificial intelligence in practical, business-focused ways. He is also the founder of Lower Alabama AI, a nonprofit focused on education, conversation, and community around technology and AI on the Gulf Coast.

• Motive AI: https://motiveai.ai
• Lower Alabama AI: https://la-ai.io

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.

What does it take to make sure every medical cannabis product in Alabama is truly safe for the patients who depend on it?

For Laboratory Director Natalie Siracusa of Green Health Laboratories, the answer begins with forensic science, public safety, and a commitment to unbiased testing. Before stepping into the cannabis world, Natalie spent years in forensic toxicology and clinical laboratory work, even helping generate the national data that guided the USDA as it shaped federal hemp regulations.

In this episode, she shares how her background in casework and chemical analysis prepared her to tackle one of Alabama’s most closely watched scientific challenges. You’ll hear what happens inside a medical cannabis lab most people will never see, why fraud has plagued the testing industry nationwide, and what it means to bring courtroom-level science to a growing field.

Natalie also breaks down the full journey of a cannabis sample, from intake to a defensible lab report, and offers a clear vision for what patient safety should look like five years from now.

💡 In This Episode
• Why forensic science was the foundation for her career
• How the opioid crisis and synthetic cannabinoids shaped her mission
• The early chaos after the Farm Bill and the data that guided the USDA
• Why fraud and bad science still threaten the cannabis lab industry
• What happens inside a medical cannabis lab from sample to report
• How Green Health is hiring and training the next generation of scientists
• Her vision for safe, high-quality patient care across Alabama

Learn more about Green Health Laboratories:
https://www.greenhealthlaboratories.com

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.

What if a simpler, faster way to treat thumb arthritis could get millions of people back to living pain-free — and it all started with a former auto mechanic on the Gulf Coast?

In this episode of The Hatch Podcast: Bioscience Innovation, Chris Harber shares his unlikely journey from working under car hoods to founding Simparo Surgical in Fairhope, Alabama. Partnering with hand surgeon Dr. Jeanne L. DelSignore, Chris turned a persistent surgical challenge into an elegantly simple device that’s transforming thumb CMC reconstruction — cutting procedure times from 90 minutes to under 20, making outcomes more reproducible, and helping patients regain function in as little as six weeks.

You’ll hear how the breakthrough Falcon Suture Clutch technology was born, why Chris chose to build his company right here on the Gulf Coast, and what it really takes to scale a med-tech startup while keeping patient stories at the heart of everything.

💡 In This Episode
• From auto mechanic to orthopedic product leader — the serendipitous path that led to Simparo Surgical
• The decades-old thumb arthritis problem that finally has an elegantly simple solution
• How the Falcon Suture Clutch enables intraoperative tensioning and more anatomic repair
• Why reproducible, bone-based fixation beats traditional soft-tissue techniques
• Bringing a med-tech company home to Fairhope and proving innovation thrives on the Gulf Coast
• Rapid clinical adoption, patient success stories, and the responsibility of building implantable devices
• Future applications across extremities — from elbow and wrist to foot and ankle
• Building Alabama’s bioscience ecosystem: talent, manufacturing, and quality of life

🔗 Learn more about Simparo Surgical
→ https://www.simparosurgical.com

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.

What does it really take to study dangerous viruses, engineer next generation vaccines, and build biotech companies in Alabama?

In this episode of The Hatch Podcast: Bioscience Innovation, Dr. Rayner shares how breakthroughs really happen inside research labs and why the Gulf Coast is becoming a place where meaningful bioscience work can take root.

From his early career at the CDC and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute to launching startups like iSeq-Biotechnology, Rayner has spent decades studying some of the most dangerous pathogens on earth. He explains why scientific progress unfolds slowly, how vaccine platforms are developed long before the public hears about them, and what it takes to turn university research into solutions that reach the real world.

You’ll hear candid insights on the challenges of funding, the realities of public perception, and the importance of building the right talent and facilities — especially wet lab space — to keep biotech companies in Alabama. Rayner also shares a lighter side of his story: launching an indoor dog park with his son, a project rooted in family and community.

“Ultimately, I think people get into science because they love science. They enjoy the process of discovery. We're investigators. We do research because we have to kind of do it over and again, and it's different every single day.”
— Dr. Jonathan Rayner

💡 In This Episode

• How emerging viruses are isolated, studied, and understood
• Why “fast” vaccines are built on decades of foundational research
• What broad spectrum antivirals could make possible
• The role of early stage biotech companies in turning discoveries into products
• Why intellectual property and timing matter for university researchers
• How Alabama is building the infrastructure needed for bioscience growth
• The importance of wet lab space for startups across the Gulf Coast
• A look at Rayner’s new venture: an indoor dog park built with his son

🔗 Learn more about iSeq-Biotechnology: https://i-seq.com

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.

What if you could book a day on a private ranch the same way you book an Airbnb?

That’s exactly what Nic De Castro built — and today LandTrust opens up over 1 million acres of private farms and ranches across 40+ states to everyday hunters, anglers, and outdoor families.

In this episode Nic takes us from the frustration of locked gates in Montana… to the single conversation on a 2017 bear hunt that changed everything… to quitting the big paycheck with a newborn at home… to moving the entire company to Fairhope, Alabama.

“One-month-old baby, no income… five days after launch a seventy-dollar booking came through and we had a five-star review from both sides. That was the ‘okay, maybe this actually works’ moment.”
— Nic De Castro, Founder of LandTrust

💡 In This Episode

• The exact moment the idea was born on a Montana bear hunt
• Why the company name is literally “Land + Trust
• Quitting the big paycheck, launching with a newborn, and the $70 booking that proved it worked
• “Stacked enterprises” — how ranches now make real money from turkey hunters
• Why Bozeman lost its magic and Fairhope won
• The pushback from hunters (and Nic’s straight answer)
• The AI future that turns “That’d be cool to hunt hogs” into a booked trip with one tap

🔗 Links
→ Book your next adventure: https://landtrust.com
→ LandTrust on YouTube & Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@landtrust_hunt

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.