Built from Scratch

Ever get to the end of the month and wonder, “Where did all the money go?”

In this episode of Built From Scratch, Erik Libby (Founder & CEO of To-Do Dudes) breaks down the 7 financial metrics that com…

Originally from Egypt, Youssef moved to Dubai at age 3 and later came to the US in 2021 to study Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Future Technology on a full ride scholarship at Boston University.

A ser…

This episode is part lesson, part documentary to take a real look into where I’m spending my time as a CEO and the adjustments I’m actively making. There are constant challenges around setting the ri…

Originally from Dubai and raised in Phoenix, Shaun studied Economics & History at Vanderbilt University.

While at Vanderbilt, and after leading United Nations linked projects like Imagine Land 2040, h…

Originally from New Jersey, Jake earned a B.A. in Economics (with a minor in Computer Science) from Vanderbilt University.

As COVID-19 shut the world down and his work environment changed, he saved up…

Do you ever finish an interview and still wonder, “Should I hire them?”

I’ve been confident one moment, second-guessing the next.

In this episode, I walk through the 5-step process we now follow at To-…

In this episode, I walk through the real-world framework I use to build and launch internal systems from scratch.

We’re covering:

• Defining the actual goal (and not doing too much at once)
• Creating witho…

Andrew is an Ohio native and the founder of dcdx, a branding agency he went all‑in on in 2020 when his senior‑year internship at Vanderbilt was canceled.

In the five years since, he’s helped build mag…

I finally did it! After nearly two months of late nights, caffeine runs, and endless tabs, our “holy grail” data sheet is live. In this episode, I pull back the curtain on how I wrestled scattered sp…

In this episode, I share raw entrepreneurial reflections from memos I kept in April, May, and June. You’ll hear unfiltered thoughts on:

• How coffee has surprisingly affected me
• Choosing between logical …

Originally from St. Pete, Florida, Cole is the founder of Opal, a mental health AI platform built to support therapists and patients. He began his career in machine learning after earning a Master’s …

“You gave a great pitch… but did anyone actually buy?”

After 22 live presentations in just 6 months, I realized there’s a big difference between presenting and converting.

In this episode of Built From…

After five mentor sessions, I committed to morning deep-work sprints and uncovered three key insights:

• It always takes longer than you plan (Hofstadter’s Law in action)
• A cleared calendar is the fastes…

How blocking full days for deep work—like my ongoing Excel sprint—beats endless multitasking.

How Adam Grant, Kobe Bryant, and Steve Jobs eliminated distractions and embraced the process.

I’ll share my…

Originally from Ontario, Canada, Leo’s entrepreneurial journey began in 2020 when he co-founded a nonprofit called Notzr while still in high school. During that time, he scaled to over 50 classes int…

Originally from Montreal, Canada, Charles began his entrepreneurial journey in 2020 when he founded a platform for buying and selling crypto mining hardware—just two weeks before the COVID-19 pandemi…

The To-Do Dudes has officially turned five. What started out as yard work for my grandmother has turned into an operation with 36 team members, over 3,000 homeowners served, 7,000+ projects completed…

Originally from Ontario, Canada, Sharuka’s entrepreneurial journey began in 2020, when she and her sister Navina turned a sewing machine and a passion for self-care into First Love—a brand rooted in …

From hiring friends to building scorecards and screening 120+ applicants — here’s how our hiring and onboarding process evolved across field and admin roles. What we got wrong, what we fixed, and wha…

This episode is for the entrepreneur at day one. After reflecting on my own journey, I’ve identified 7 key steps that helped me finally gain traction and move from idea to action. It took me a long t…