Shows
Getting Real with Dan DiSciulloGetting Real with Dean Barta: Leaning Into Fear – From Devil's Tower to Business OwnershipDean Barta, founder and CEO of Barta Business Group, shares his journey from the outdoors to business, drawing parallels between guiding in the wilderness and guiding businesses through financial challenges. He emphasizes the importance of easing clients' pain and the evolution of success from financial metrics to personal impact. The conversation covers topics such as flexibility in business, customer intelligence, emotional intelligence, business culture, fractional CFOs, and the impact of AI. Dean Barta shares insights on the importance of being flexible in business, the value of customer intelligence, the impact of emotional intelligence, and the role of a fractional...
2026-02-0651 min
Getting Real with Dan DiSciulloFrom NYSE Reporter to IR Innovator: Annabel Zhang on Stories That Raise CapitalOne-Line Summary (for SEO & social)Annabel Zhang, CEO of International Elite Capital, shares how blending economics, authentic storytelling, and investor matchmaking turns visions into successful IPOs and lasting capital relationships.Full Episode Summary / Show NotesAnnabel Zhang, CEO of International Elite Capital (IEC), began her career as a financial reporter on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange—interviewing CEOs, decoding market moves, and uncovering the human stories behind the numbers.Today, she leads a firm that redefines investor relations by combining rigorous economics (she’s a CFA hold...
2025-12-1648 min
Getting Real with Dan DiSciulloThe Dash That Drives Him: Peter Prieto on Family, Faith & Fearless HustleOne-Line Summary Peter Prieto shares his raw journey—from young fatherhood and bankruptcy to building NDataStor on relentless customer service, people-first hiring, and never quitting.Full Episode Summary / Show NotesPeter Prieto, Founder & CEO of NDataStor, didn’t follow a typical tech-founder path. A young father by 23, he hustled through bread delivery, warehouse management, high-stakes sales, bankruptcy in 2007, and multiple pivots to build one of California’s most respected IT service companies.Today, NDataStor stands out in the MSP space for its white-glove, human-first customer service—no scripts...
2025-12-1656 min
Getting Real with Dan DiSciulloSecureAuth CPO Brook Lovatt: Passwordless Future, AI Agents & Surviving a TsunamiEpisode Title (chosen – 88 characters)SecureAuth CPO Brook Lovatt: Passwordless Future, AI Agents & Surviving a TsunamiOne-Line Summary (for SEO & social)From surviving the 2004 tsunami to leading identity security at SecureAuth, Brook Lovatt shares insights on phishing-resistant auth, AI risks, and hands-on leadership in cybersecurity.Full Episode Summary / Show NotesBrook Lovatt, Chief Product Officer at SecureAuth, brings over two decades of experience in identity and access management (IAM). From co-founding startups to leading IBM's Cloud Identity division and serving as CEO of Cloudentity (acquired by Se...
2025-12-1653 min
Getting Real with Dan DiSciulloSpin-Free PR Veteran Jeff Pizzino: Building Authentic Brands in an Age of AI & Fake NewsOne-Line SummaryFrom celebrity water endorsements to fighting hype in network marketing, Jeff Pizzino shares 40 years of lessons on why authentic storytelling wins hearts, employees, and headlines.Full Episode Summary / Show NotesJeff Pizzino, APR, has been a "spin-free PR purist" since 1987—starting at Ketchum in NYC, working with Johnson & Johnson, securing celebrity endorsements for ultra-pure Penta Water (Sting, Olympic swimmers, product placement on The Biggest Loser), and navigating tough corporate cultures.Now Chief Authentic Officer at AuthenticityPR (Johnson City, TN) and fractional Chief Communications Officer for li...
2025-12-1640 min
Getting Real with Dan DiSciulloFormer SEC Enforcer Turned CEO: Steven Yadegari on Authentic Leadership in FinanceOne-Line SummaryFrom SEC enforcement to founding FiSolve, Steven Yadegari shares how mediation, authenticity, and relationships turn regulatory challenges into business advantages.Full Episode Summary / Show NotesSteven Yadegari spent decades at the intersection of regulation, law, and finance—starting with senior roles at the SEC, transitioning to prestigious law firms, and serving 16 years as COO, General Counsel, and CCO at a leading money management firm. Now, as Founder and CEO of FiSolve (an outsourced provider of COO, legal, and compliance services), he's leveling the playing field for smaller asset managers fa...
2025-12-1536 min
Getting Real with Dan DiSciulloSerguei Melnik: Fentanyl Patches Impossible to Abuse – The Mission to End the Opioid CrisisFrom Soviet immigrant to NASDAQ CEO, Serguei Melnik is racing to bring the world’s first truly abuse-deterrent fentanyl patch to market — and end accidental overdoses for good.Full Episode Summary / Show NotesSerguei Melnik never planned to fight the opioid crisis. After ringing the opening bell at the NYSE in 2003 for his first public company (a Moldovan wine producer), taking multiple companies public, and semi-retiring, a chance Thanksgiving-weekend meeting in Las Vegas in 2015 changed everything.That meeting introduced him to Gareth Sheridan and a tiny company with a big idea: coat...
2025-11-2717 min
Getting Real with Dan DiSciulloJohn Switzer: $250M in Solar Projects, Zero Outside Investors – What Real Grit Looks LikeEpisode Summary From real estate law to shipping-container-sized batteries saving Texas lives — JJ Switzer bootstrapped SMT Energy to 500 MW operating + $1B pipeline. No VC. All grit.Full Show NotesJohn “JJ” Switzer was a structured-finance lawyer who got “bit by the solar bug” in 2013. Six years later he bet the entire company on utility-scale battery storage. Today SMT Energy has 500 MW operating, 1.5 GWh in the pipeline, $250M in the ground, and a $1B development queue — all 100 % bootstrapped.This is the closest thing you’ll hear to a modern-day “built an empire with no investor...
2025-11-271h 14
Getting Real with Dan DiSciulloRevant Nayar: Princeton Quantum Physicist Explains Why Markets Follow the Same Rules as the UniverseEpisode SummaryPrinceton-trained quantum physicist Revant Nair walked away from string theory to build investment models that use the same principles governing the universe. Mind-bending, first-principles investing.Full Show NotesMost investors rely on spreadsheets, news, and gut feel. Revant Nair relies on parsimony, falsifiability, and out-of-sample prediction — the exact same modeling rules used in quantum mechanics and general relativity.In this episode you’ll discover:The three unbreakable physics principles he applies to every market modelWhy most financial theories fail the “falsifiability” testHow symmetry, fractals, and turbulence theory s...
2025-11-2733 min
Getting Real with Dan DiSciulloTim Enneking: Crypto Pioneer on Luck, Conviction, Life Rules & What Wall Street Still Gets WrongEpisode SummaryHe ran the best-performing fund-of-funds AND the best-performing crypto fund of all time (5,500 % in 2014). Tim Enneking reveals how dumb luck, radical honesty, and refusing binary thinking built a legendary career.Full Show NotesTim Enneking has spent 35 years moving billions across traditional finance and crypto — from Eastern Europe fund-of-funds to launching the world’s first professional crypto index. He once turned $1M into $55M in a single year with Bitcoin… and still calls most of it “dumb luck.”This is the rare conversation that combines hard-earned wisdom, zero ego, and life-c...
2025-11-271h 00
Getting Real with Dan DiSciulloSteve Nigiri: Fintech Founder Buried Best Friend at 50: Life Lessons About What Really MattersEpisode SummaryFintech founder Steve Negri lost his best friend at 50. In this raw, unfiltered conversation he reveals the real cost of the founder journey, why relationships beat revenue, and how death at 50 changed everything.Full Show NotesSteve Negri has started four fintech companies, sold one to Jack Henry, and helped build the modern payments rails most of us use every day. But in 2025, after burying his best friend of 38 years, everything looks different.This is the most honest founder interview we’ve ever recorded.You’ll h...
2025-11-2737 min
Getting Real with Dan DiSciulloRandy Tate: How a Farm Kid from Northern California Built America’s #1 AI Stock PickerSummaryIn this engaging conversation, Randy Tate, CEO and co-founder of iFlip, shares his remarkable journey from a farm in Northern California to leading a fintech revolution with AI-driven investing. He discusses the values instilled in him from his upbringing, the challenges and triumphs of entrepreneurship, and the innovative approach iFlip takes to democratize investing. Randy emphasizes the importance of leadership, team culture, and the impact of AI in transforming wealth management, all while advocating for a future where everyone has the opportunity to grow their wealth.KeywordsRandy...
2025-11-2745 min
Getting Real with Dan DiSciulloRobert Wilson: His Father Stormed Omaha Beach – Now He Supports Warfighters His Father Fought ForEpisode SummaryDesert Storm veteran Robert R. Wilson grew up in the shadow of his WWII Ranger father (Omaha Beach). Today he runs R2C — a 140-person defense-tech powerhouse that still moves at battlefield speed to save American lives.Full Show Notes (copy-paste ready)From the beaches of Normandy (his father’s D-Day landing) to the sands of Desert Storm and now leading one of America’s most respected veteran-owned defense contractors — Robert R. Wilson reveals the non-negotiable principles that took him from enlisted soldier to CEO.In this powerful episode you’ll d...
2025-11-2741 min
Getting Real with Dan DiSciulloSteve Robinson: Supply-Chain Legend's Mission to Fight Hunger – Taking on America’s $1T Waste CrisisEpisode Summary40-year supply-chain titan (UPS → Walmart → billions transformed) left corporate to fix humanitarian logistics full-time. Now building “Angelic Intelligence” AI that asks “should we?” before “can we?”Full Show Notes (copy-paste ready)Steve Robinson spent four decades mastering global supply chains — starting on the warehouse floor at UPS in 1976 and eventually running transformations worth billions at Walmart.Then he quit everything to dedicate 100 % of his life to one mission: closing the gap between peak waste and peak need in humanitarian aid.This is the rare conversation that combines world-class operat...
2025-11-2642 min
The Trending CommunicatorBuilding and Leading the AI-Enabled Enterprise Comms Team - with Megan DiSciulloFor years, we've been talking about upgrading the communications function - or at least modernizing it, bringing comms into parity with their Marketing colleagues. Embracing technology is the most visible part of this journey. But what good is technology - project management tools, social media management tools, intelligence and analytics software, email automation, and now Generative AI - without the people to drive it? You can't conquer the frontier of CommsTech without capable pioneers. In this episode of The Trending Communicator, host Dan Nestle reconnects with award-winning strategic communications leader and all-around CommsTech pioneer Megan DiSciullo, Senior Managing Director of U...
2024-07-121h 08