[S3] #41 He Turned Down a $30M Valuation and Built a Profitable Startup Anyway - with Adam Fard

[S4] #44 Your SaaS Is Shrinking and You're Avoiding the Money with Foti Panagiotakopoulos

The Scale Room Ep. 2 — Foti Panagiotakopoulos on AI, Mentorship, Burnout & Building Human-Centered Companies In this deeply personal and unexpectedly emotional episode of The Scale Room, Olya sits down with Foti Panagiotakopoulos, founder of GrowthMentor for a raw conversation about entrepreneurship, AI disruption, mentorship, founder psychology, burnout, and the human need for connection. What starts as a story about postpartum depression, isolation, and one life-changing mentorship call evolves into a wide-ranging exploration of what scaling actually feels like in 2026. Foti opens up about: * Why GrowthMentor is shrinking in the AI era * What AI can never replace * Founder loneliness and “sanity-check” conversations * The emotional side of decision-making * Why most entrepreneurs are solving the wrong problems * His struggle with enterprise sales and self-worth * Building side quests like ParentMentor & Growth Adventures * Burnout, ambition, and redefining success This episode is part founder therapy, part strategy session, and part existential reflection on what it means to build companies in a world where AI can do almost everything except be human. If you’ve ever questioned your direction, your ambition, or yourself… this one will hit hard.

[S4] #43 Your Competitors Own ChatGPT Search. Now What? with Frank Sondors

Frank Sondors scaled Salesforge to €3M ARR in year one and now he's making a bet most founders haven't even considered: generative engine optimization. He comes to The Scale Room with a question that's about to matter for every B2B company — how do you win when your buyers stop Googling and start asking ChatGPT instead? Olya digs into his GEO playbook, his Wikipedia hack, why mentions are the new backlinks, and the channel-kill decisions that got him here. If you're still treating SEO as your only organic strategy, this one's going to sting.

[S3] #42 Micro-Decisions That Shape Your Life: Mindset, Money & Leadership - with Maria Reid

Most decisions that change our lives don’t look dramatic from the outside. They happen quietly in our thoughts, our beliefs, and the stories we tell ourselves. In this episode of Decision Factory, Maria shares the most pivotal decision she ever made and it had nothing to do with her career, business, or external success. It was the moment she chose to change her perspective. We talk about: * Feeling like life is “happening to you” instead of for you * The identity crisis that often follows motherhood and major life transitions * Why money decisions are emotional, not logical * How women unconsciously play it safe with pricing and ambition * The power of micro-decisions and how they quietly shape your future * Why the state you create from determines what you create more of This conversation is for anyone who feels stuck in the messy middle, not who they used to be, not yet who they’re becoming and is ready to stop operating on autopilot. Because the most important decisions aren’t always the loud ones. They’re the ones you make internally, every single day.

[S3] #41 He Turned Down a $30M Valuation and Built a Profitable Startup Anyway - with Adam Fard

Everyone tells founders the same story: Raise money. Move fast. Figure it out later. Adam Fard chose a different path. In this episode of Decision Factory, Olya Grovel sits down with Adam Fard, founder of UX Pilot, to unpack why he turned down a VC term sheet at a $30M valuation and how bootstrapping gave him something far more valuable than capital: clarity and control. Adam shares how UX Pilot grew from an internal agency tool into a profitable AI product, how he filters real signal from noisy feedback, and why metrics like NPS and usage often matter more than early revenue. They dive into decision-making under uncertainty, avoiding confirmation bias, removing features instead of adding them, and how AI is reshaping UX design without replacing human judgment. This episode is a masterclass in calm, disciplined decision-making for founders who want to build something real, not just something fundable. 🎧 Listen if you’re questioning whether raising money is actually the right move.

[S3] #40 Why AI Makes Smart People Worse at Decision-Making (And How to Think Clearly Again) - with Dan Sanchez

We don’t have an AI problem. We have a decision-making problem. In this episode of Decision Factory, Olya sits down with AI-driven marketer and podcaster Danchez to unpack what it actually takes to think clearly in a world flooded with tools, trends, and “one-click solutions.” Dan shares how he filters signal from noise when new AI products drop daily, why most tools are just well-disguised procrastination, and how confirmation bias quietly sabotages founders, marketers, and creators — especially when AI is involved. We talk about why the hardest problems in business are still wicked hard, why judgment beats automation, and how podcasts are becoming one of the most powerful trust engines in an age where everything looks polished but not everything delivers. This conversation explores learning in public, making decisions with incomplete data, and why calm, clarity, and lived experience matter more than ever as AI accelerates everything else. 🎙️ Listen if you’re overwhelmed by AI, building something meaningful, or trying to make better decisions without getting lost in the noise.