Ep. 9: How Young Founders Built a Brand Before They Had a Budget

Ep. 10: The Hardest Mountain to Climb is the One Inside You

In this episode of The Intense Life, John Mashni sits down with explorer, filmmaker, storyteller, and Grace Explorations founder Kevin DeVries for a conversation that goes far beyond adventure.  Kevin has spent years doing extraordinary things in the physical world, from searching for Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat to climbing mountains, making documentaries, and leading men through honest conversations about pain, trauma, healing, and identity. But this episode is not just about the places he has gone. It is about what those journeys have revealed.  Together, John and Kevin explore what trauma does to a person’s story, why so many men keep performing while quietly hurting, and how unprocessed pain often gets externalized in destructive ways. Kevin shares what he has learned about redemptive storytelling, brotherhood, purpose, and why healing is rarely about a formula. More often, it is about staying in the story long enough to let God do something with it.  The conversation also touches on Kevin’s upcoming creative work around Shackleton, survival, the “third man factor,” and the haunting idea that in our darkest moments, we may not be as alone as we think.  One of the most powerful parts of the episode comes when Kevin shares his near-death experience. He recounts collapsing on a run, what happened while others fought to save his life, and how that moment reshaped the way he thinks about mission, identity, mortality, and the presence of God.  For anyone who has wrestled with trauma, shame, loneliness, purpose, masculinity, faith, or the longing to make sense of life’s deeper story, this conversation will resonate. It is about mountains, yes, but even more than that, it is about the mountain within.  Learn more about Kevin DeVries:  https://www.truesummit.llc/about-kevin [https://www.truesummit.llc/about-kevin]    Explore Kevin’s work:  https://www.truesummit.llc [https://www.truesummit.llc/]    Grace Explorations:  https://www.graceexplorations.com/ [https://www.graceexplorations.com/]    Base Camp Nation / Base Camp:  https://www.graceexplorations.com/base-camp [https://www.graceexplorations.com/base-camp]    The True Summit film:  https://www.graceexplorations.com/download/p/the-true-summit-4k-download [https://www.graceexplorations.com/download/p/the-true-summit-4k-download]  For updates on Kevin’s upcoming project, visit True Summit or contact Kevin through his site.

Ep. 9: How Young Founders Built a Brand Before They Had a Budget

In this episode of The Intense Life, John Mashni sits down with Tanvi Gadamsetti and Madhav Aggarwal, the co-founders of BRCE, a company they started while still in college. What makes their story so compelling is not just how young they are. It is how willing they were to start, how quickly they learned, and how seriously they took the opportunity in front of them.  They talk about how BRCE began with a simple idea: colorful shoelaces for sneakerheads. But this conversation quickly becomes about much more than shoelaces. Tanvi and Madhav share how a last-minute opportunity at a Michigan State pitch competition led to their first $500 win, how they turned that momentum into real-world sales at Sneaker Con Detroit, and how those early steps helped them realize they were building toward something much bigger.  John also talks with them about the shift from computer science into material science, and how trying to solve a real everyday problem led them into deeper innovation. What started as a simple product became the beginning of BRCE’s grip-based lace technology, with real potential in athletic safety, stability, and performance.  They also speak honestly about what it has looked like to build so young. From Techstars to hard lessons about listening, relationships, and learning from people further ahead, Tanvi and Madhav share a perspective that feels grounded, thoughtful, and real. They talk about the loneliness that can come with building fast, the importance of community, and the kind of conviction it takes to stay with something long enough to see what it can become.  And because BRCE is about more than just the product, John spends time with them talking about brand, media, and attention too. They share how they started building interest before they had much of a budget, why storytelling matters earlier than most people think, and how they have worked to create something people can connect with long before they ever buy.  If you are a founder, student, builder, athlete, or someone sitting on an idea and waiting for the right time, this episode is a reminder that momentum often belongs to the people willing to begin before everything feels certain.    https://www.brce.shop/blogs/news/from-college-apartment-to-abcs-shark-tank-two-seniors-pitch-patented-material-innovation [https://www.brce.shop/blogs/news/from-college-apartment-to-abcs-shark-tank-two-seniors-pitch-patented-material-innovation]  https://www.sharktankcompanies.com/products/brce [https://www.sharktankcompanies.com/products/brce]  https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanvi-gadamsetti/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanvi-gadamsetti/]  https://www.linkedin.com/in/madhav-aggarwal-/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/madhav-aggarwal-/]

Ep. 8 Build a Business That Grows Beyond You

In this episode of The Intense Life, John sits down with entrepreneur Kyle Mealy for a conversation about confidence, growth, and what it really means to build a life around the next level. Kyle shares how martial arts shaped him from a young age, how stepping away cost him confidence, and how returning helped him reconnect with who he was and the kind of path he truly wanted.   John and Kyle discuss Kyle’s winding road from college martial arts instructor to wastewater lab manager, to running and scaling a karate school. Along the way, he discovered something that would keep showing up in every season of his career: if you measure what matters, understand the patterns, and keep improving, growth becomes a lot less mysterious. That mindset helped him build a million-dollar martial arts business, predict revenue with stunning accuracy, and realize he was never really wired for the safe, predictable path.   From there, Kyle shares how he moved into the world of digital marketing, the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), fractional leadership, and how his ability to build teams, spot bottlenecks, and help founders grow eventually became the foundation for Next Level Revenue, one of his current businesses. But this conversation is about more than business strategy. It is also about identity, the power of the right “who,” and the lesson so many entrepreneurs learn the hard way: you cannot build something meaningful alone.   John and Kyle also dive into the bigger mission behind ENRG and EMC, two ventures that reflect Kyle’s deep belief in help-first community, entrepreneurial growth, and sharing the kind of wisdom that changes lives. Kyle talks about creating spaces where entrepreneurs, integrators, and thoughtful leaders can find each other, grow together, and make a bigger impact on their businesses, families, and communities.   If you are an entrepreneur, operator, founder, or growth-minded leader trying to find the right people, build with more clarity, and keep becoming who you are meant to be, this episode will give you both practical insight and a real shot of encouragement.   Connect with ENRG, learn more, or start a chapter here: https://enrg.life/about-enrg/ [https://enrg.life/about-enrg/] Connect with Kyle Mealy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-mealy [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-mealy]

Friction is Killing Your Business

In this episode of The Intense Life, I sit down with my friend Blake Grewal, a business innovator who learns fast, thinks deeply, and brings something new to every room he’s in. I’ve genuinely enjoyed getting to know Blake professionally, and I’ve already started implementing some of the customer experience thinking he’s shared with me. We kick things off with our mutual love for Middle Eastern food and a very opinionated shawarma conversation, then we get into what Blake does best: helping businesses build smarter, simpler customer journeys. Blake talks about the strategies he’s implemented in his own work, and the systems he’s helped me think through at my firm, especially around onboarding and follow up. We dig into what it means to be a tech enabled service business without turning everything into cold automation. Blake makes a strong case for a human powered, tech assisted approach, where technology supports the relationship instead of replacing it. We also talk about the idea of “moments of insight,” meaning small, clear interactions that give people immediate value and make the next step obvious. We spend real time on two areas that get neglected all the time: onboarding and payment. If onboarding is where momentum dies, payment is where cashflow gets delayed for no good reason. We talk about why long emails get ignored, why clarity wins, and how simplifying touchpoints can improve outcomes for everyone. Blake also shares his background, what shaped his love of building businesses, and why he’s currently focused on working with economic development groups through his company, Customer IQ. If you want to improve your business engagement journey, integrate tech in a way that still feels human, and reduce self-inflicted operational pain, this episode is packed with practical insights you can use right away. A quick heads-up: there’s a technical glitch affecting video quality for the last 15 minutes. We were so excited to share this conversation that we decided it was still worth putting out, and I think you’ll be glad we did. Learn more about Blake and his work here:   [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa3h3a1lZRWE3dVVoWGlKUVFuMGxQWHFVWVozUXxBQ3Jtc0tuRWJmX3pURnE3ZkYwOVFueXd3RmZ4OEFHWDJtcFRjWHNkNENZYUtCejhYZzVaLXgxWEtRdll3Znh5cWF2dXAtcVRBWXJtUXdWbnlzOTdmQWE2VDF3QVJEd3BiTmZiRjBKeWhpb0Z6aThIb2hVMm13Zw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fblakegrewal&v=AOEMvgUi5ao]https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakegrewal

Ep. 6 The Journey of Reinvention

In this episode of The Intense Life, I sit down with entrepreneur and EOS Implementer Ryan Henry to talk about reinvention, clarity, and what it really takes to build a business that supports your life instead of consuming it.  Ryan shares his path from growing up around entrepreneurship and taking early risks, to serving in the Marine Corps, to working in construction and business ownership, and eventually into the work he does today helping leadership teams as an EOS Implementer. Along the way, we unpack the moments that force reinvention, the cost of staying in the wrong situation too long, and how to take the next step without burning your life down in the process.  We go deep on the practical side of entrepreneurship: partnership alignment, trust, values, strengths, structure, and the difference between having a big vision and actually executing it. Ryan explains why opportunity without structure turns into chaos, why “vision without traction” is just a hallucination, and how to build an operating rhythm that helps leaders move from overwhelmed to in control.  If you’re an entrepreneur (or becoming one) and you’re sensing a pivot, wrestling with alignment, or trying to bring real traction to your vision, this episode will give you language and frameworks you can actually use.  Get to know Ryan: https://implementer.eosworldwide.com/ryan-henry/ [https://implementer.eosworldwide.com/ryan-henry/] https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanhenry [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanhenry] https://e-leap.com/unleashing-your-inner-entrepreneur-with-e-leap-visionary-ryan-henry/ [https://e-leap.com/unleashing-your-inner-entrepreneur-with-e-leap-visionary-ryan-henry/] Learn more about E-Leap: https://e-leap.com/ [https://e-leap.com/]