When founders say, “We’re ready to grow — now what?” they’re usually staring at a cold engine with no momentum. In this episode, Matt and Anne unpack why early-stage marketing feels impossible, why 90–95% of ideas fail, and why A/B testing is useless before you have volume. They dig into the real levers a small business can control: consistent output, memorable creative, and accepting that momentum is built — not predicted. From paid tests to guerrilla tactics to simply talking to someone about your idea, this conversation reframes how to think about growth when the engine hasn’t started yet.

🚨 Stuff You’ll Want to Remember:

• “Marketing works when you actually like doing it.” — Matt
• “Ideas start from conversation. Go talk to someone.” — Anne
• “You can control your creative, not the outcome.” — Matt

📡 Where to Find Us

• Anne → Fix & Form - LinkedIn
• Matt → ChipBot - LinkedIn

We sit down with marketing strategist and podcast host Kristi Mitchell, whose journey from corporate burnout to seven years of thriving entrepreneurship is anything but ordinary. Kristi opens up about her rocky exit from corporate life, the unexpected push from her husband that reignited her business, and the uncomfortable-but-transformative leap into full-time ownership.

We get into the messy reality of early clients, learning to trust yourself, surviving (and evolving through) a pandemic, and why “living in the gray” might be the most powerful skill a founder can build. Kristi shares how she shifted from doing all the marketing “things” to helping founders fall in love with marketing — by embracing authenticity, clarity, and a whole lot of inner work.

From boundaries and burnout to inbound strategies and personal evolution, this conversation is packed with insights on building a business and a self you’re proud of. And yes… Anne and Kristi absolutely go all-in on the fraud-filled world of SEO.

🚨 Stuff You’ll Want to Remember:

• “You have to get comfortable in the gray — that’s business ownership.” — Kristi Mitchell
• “Marketing starts working the moment you stop forcing it.” — Kristi Mitchell
• “People do business with people. Just be yourself.” — Kristi Mitchell

📡 Where to Find Us

• Kristi → UNF*DGE Your Marketing Podcast
• Anne → Fix & Form - LinkedIn
• Matt → ChipBot - LinkedIn

Matt and Anne dive into the strange tension between being wildly busy yet weirdly unfazed by it. Matt’s been running on four to six hours of sleep while juggling new ChipBot features, US Open training, and a schedule only a “partial nomad worker” could maintain — yet insists he’s not brain-dead, just operating in “GPT-5 Thinking Mode.” Anne challenges him on how he stays functional, which leads them both into a conversation about adrenaline, flow, burnout, and why table tennis gives Matt something business never can.

🚨 Stuff You’ll Want to Remember:

• “Hard decisions are the easiest ones — it’s the small ones that stop you in your tracks.” — Matt
• “Your kids’ memories are built from the input you give them.” — Anne

📡 Where to Find Us

• Anne → Fix & Form - LinkedIn
• Matt → ChipBot - LinkedIn