Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur | Start and Grow Your Own Business1577: The skills and things we learn DO pay off... we don't always know when! (COLLAB EPISODE!)
In this special Collab Week episode of Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur, seven founders come together to answer one deceptively powerful question:
What's something you started or learned long ago that's finally paying off?
You'll hear from Shawn Sundsvold of GoldBear Media, Nate Hebbert of SelfWare Consulting, Raamon Newman of New Mavericks, Rami Akeela of Nera Systems, David Beltran of Accord Intelligence, Brandon Pankey of Blue Pine Works, Zeyno Dodd of AlgiSense, and Drew Mehta of ThinkFraction, as they each trace a skill, habit, or hard lesson from years ago straight into the business they're running today.
✨ What You'll Take Away
In this episode, you'll learn how to:
Spot when an old passion is quietly becoming a business asset
Prioritize real recovery, not just harder training
Stay in a "niche" you love, even when nobody else sees the value yet
Trust hands-on problem-solving even when it doesn't match the manual
Build a go-getter mindset early that compounds over years
Use pattern recognition across industries when you're stuck
Say yes more often in the early stages of entrepreneurship
🎙️ Meet the Collab Week Contributors
Shawn Sundsvold — GoldBear Media
Shawn is Co-Founder and COO of GoldBear Media, a marketing agency in Westminster, Maryland. After sitting in nearly every seat in business and recovering from a serious 2019 spinal surgery, he helped his wife Kelly grow GoldBear Media into a full-time business by 2022, focused on marketing, branding, and online presence for small and medium businesses.
Website: https://goldbear.media/
Nate Hebbert — SelfWare Consulting
Nate Hebbert is an entrepreneur and software engineer who previously worked for 3M, KPMG, and Domo—where he developed custom Java code for Fortune 500 clients. When burnout threatened to ruin his career, he became obsessed with solving one problem: how to escape the cycle of burnout. Now, Nate is the founder of SelfWare Consulting—an organization that empowers tech companies to beat burnout without pressing pause.
Website: https://selfwareconsulting.com/
Raamon Newman — New Mavericks
Raamon is co-founder of New Mavericks, a CEO leadership development partnership he started 25 years ago as a full-time meditating monk. He works with founder-CEOs worldwide to raise their leadership consciousness for clear, healthy decision-making, and is co-author of "The Science of Protection."
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raamonnewman/
Rami Akeela — Nera Systems
Rami is the founder of Nera Systems, a confidential AI company helping enterprises use AI on their most sensitive data. With 20+ years across hardware, software, and cryptography and PhDs in electrical and computer engineering, he previously founded DZK, the first zero-knowledge proof systems company.
Website: https://nera.systems/
David Beltran — Accord Intelligence
David is founder and CEO of Accord Intelligence. After nearly three decades in enterprise IT, including 14 years at IBM in cybersecurity and governance, he built Accord's decision layer, helping organizations trust, govern, and stay accountable for AI-driven decisions.
Website: https://www.accordintelligence.ai/
Brandon Pankey — Blue Pine Works
Brandon is co-owner and Operations Lead at Blue Pine Works, an arboriculture and land stewardship company in East-Central Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. He runs the operational side — systems, marketing, HR, finance, and client communication — while working toward a COO-level role.
Websiten: https://bluepineworks.com/
Zeyno Dodd — AlgiSense
Zeyno is co-founder of AlgiSense, developing AI-driven EEG digital biomarkers to objectively measure pain. With 25+ years across healthcare, cybersecurity, and applied AI, her work spans government modernization and privacy-focused health platforms, rooted in a passion for ethical AI.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zeynoaygendodd/
Drew Mehta — ThinkFraction
Drew is the founder of ThinkFraction, helping owner-operators grow revenue by fixing leaks in their back-end workflows and teaching them how AI fits into their business — all while learning to be an entrepreneur himself after 20+ years in corporate.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhroovmehta/
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