
The First Customer
Ever wondered how to use your experience to start or grow a business? The First Customer intimately dissects successful entrepreneurs journeys to their first customer. Learn from practical real-life examples of regular people transforming into superheroes by starting their own business. Buckle up … the rocket is taking off!
Show episodes

The First Customer – Bootstrapped, Burned Out, and Building Back Smarter with Keilian & Prags
In this episode, I was lucky enough to interview Keilian Knudsen and Prags Mugunthan, co-founders of Pangea.ai. Keilian and Prags explored their journey from university roommates in Scotland to building a global tech talent platform. Keilian described how growing up in Switzerland with an American mother and Norwegian

The First Customer - Turning a High-Risk Market into a Scalable Business with Aubrey Amatelli
In this episode, I was lucky enough to interview Aubrey Amatelli, Founder and CEO of PayRio—the first payment provider focused exclusively on alternative medicine. Aubrey shared how her roots in Silicon Valley and a traditional finance career at JP Morgan eventually led her to launch PayRio, combining her passion for c

The First Customer - How to Build a QA Army Without Drowning in Bugs with Founder Ben Fellows
In this episode, I was lucky enough to interview Ben Fellows, CEO and founder of Loop QA. Ben shares how his company addresses the growing need for highly skilled, mid-to-senior QA professionals in a market lacking structured training and clear entry paths. Loop QA focuses on embedding experienced testers directly into
In this episode , I was lucky enough to interview Bill Douglas, CEO of Optic Wise, also known as “The Resilience Guy”. From buying his first car at 15 with money he made running a newspaper hustle, to surviving a coral snake bite and a paralyzing ski accident 30 years to the day later, Bill’s journey is a lesson in gri
In this episode, I was lucky enough to interview Steven Webster, CEO of asensei. Steven reflects on the importance of learning through iteration. He shares how some of the company"s earlier choices—while later adjusted—were necessary stepping stones that shaped their current success. Rather than dwell on what could hav

The First Customer - Built Like a Startup, Written Like a Mission with Founder Gregory Shepard
In this episode, I was lucky enough to interview a longtime friend and startup expert Gregory Shepard. Greg shares the story behind his new book, The Startup Lifecycle, which grew out of a four-year research project on why startups fail. With thousands of transcripts and 200,000 case studies, he saw the need to turn