What happens when a founder stops trying to do it all?

Chris sits down with DJ Kim, a serial entrepreneur who’s built and sold three companies in just two years, to unpack what it really takes to delegate well, build lean systems, and avoid the burnout loop so many founders get stuck in.

DJ shares the behind-the-scenes of his speed-run journey:

- Growing RevGenius from 0 to 30,000 members in under a year

- Scaling and selling Dataghost in 6 months

- Building and exiting multiple businesses across tech, e-commerce, and local services

- And why offshore talent became his unfair advantage

This episode is for founders who are tired of being the bottleneck.

It’s a real talk on how to get your time back without letting the business fall apart.

Expect honesty, frameworks, and the hard truths about control, speed, and trust.

Topics we will cover:

⁠→⁠ ⁠Delegate Without Losing Your Damn Mind

⁠→⁠ ⁠Building Systems That Don’t Suck the Life Out of You

⁠→⁠ When to Use AI vs Human In the Loop

If you’ve ever said, “It’ll be faster if I just do it myself,” this one’s for you.

What if the CEO archetype we've been sold, dominant, cold, relentless, is the very thing killing innovation, empathy, and longevity in business?

In this powerful episode of Warm-Blooded Founders, host Chris Sherrick welcomes Eric Gardner and Tom Gegax, co-creators of the gripping documentary Confessions of a CEO (available on Amazon Prime). Together, they unpack decades of personal and professional experience to explore what happens when leadership breaks you before it builds you, and how to come back stronger, softer, and more sustainable.

Tom shares his journey from toxic executive at Tires Plus to spiritual and emotional transformation after a crash that nearly cost him everything: his health, his marriage, his company. Through therapy, self-work, and a complete rethinking of leadership, he rebuilt not just a more successful company, but a more meaningful life. Eric, a seasoned television producer and former Bravo showrunner, brings his own lens on burnout, ethics, and choosing storytelling with purpose over prestige.

The episode dives into:

→ What it means to lead with a “warm-blooded” mindset: emotionally intelligent, human-centered, and values-aligned

→ How Tom integrated wellness, coaching, and profit-sharing to transform his team culture, and drive better business results

→ The personal reckonings that shaped both Eric’s and Tom’s careers, including tough calls, toxic workplaces, and creative rebirths

→ A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Confessions of a CEO, a film that blends documentary and thriller to reveal the raw truth behind success stories

→ A call to action for modern founders: build with heart, play the long game, and stop chasing short-term ego boosts in exchange for lasting impact

Through humor, honesty, and hard-won insights, Eric and Tom make a compelling case for why today’s leaders need to evolve or get left behind. They challenge the outdated “my way or the highway” model and offer a new blueprint rooted in humility, community, and strategic emotional intelligence.

Whether you’re a founder burned out by hustle culture, a corporate leader questioning your legacy, or someone simply craving more humanity in business, this episode offers both inspiration and actionable wisdom.

Watch the film → Just type “CEO” into Amazon Prime search.

Learn more → confessionsofaceomovie.com

What happens when your business success collides with life’s biggest transitions and you choose to lead with heart instead of hustle?

In this episode of Warm-Blooded Founders, host Chris Sherrick sits down with Ellen Hockley, a three-time entrepreneur whose journey spans sustainable event planning, postpartum activewear, and now business consulting. Ellen shares what it means to lead as a warm-blooded founder someone who values authenticity, connection, and emotional intelligence just as much as execution and growth.

From the outside, Ellen’s story looks like a classic entrepreneurial arc: successful business, pivot during crisis, build again. But the real story is richer and more human. She opens up about selling her first company after the pandemic upended her event planning business, navigating the highs and lows of running Evergreen Activewear as both a founder and a mother, and now helping other solopreneurs find their way through the noise.

This conversation isn’t about pretending it’s all smooth sailing. It’s about the real stuff—how to stay grounded when everything changes, how to build a business that works with your life instead of against it, and how to make decisions that protect your energy and your values.

Chris and Ellen explore: → What warm-blooded leadership looks like in practice

→ The emotional and logistical complexity of selling or closing a small business

→ Why traditional startup narratives leave out the realities of parenting while building

→ How community support can transform the solopreneur experience

→ Why therapy, coaching, and founder self-care aren’t optional—they’re foundational

Ellen also talks about the invisible load founders often carry especially women and why giving yourself permission to rest, re-evaluate, and reimagine your path is a sign of strength, not failure. She shares how taking a real maternity leave reshaped her approach to leadership, and how local community building became one of her most powerful tools for growth and resilience.

This episode is a must-listen if you’re: → A founder balancing business and family

→ A solopreneur seeking more meaningful support

→ Wondering what to do next with a business that’s no longer aligned

→ Tired of “crush-it” culture and craving something more sustainable

It’s not about winning at all costs. It’s about redefining what winning even means and building something you can be proud of, in work and in life

In this episode of Warm-Blooded Founders, Chris Sherrick sits down with Zach Temer, CEO of Areas of Effect, for a raw conversation about identity, burnout, long-term vision, and the emotional side of building startups. Zach brings over 15 years of product and tech leadership into the chat, but this isn't a standard founder success story. It's about the honest, often uncomfortable truth of what it takes to lead with heart in the digital age.

They explore the idea of being “warm-blooded” as a rejection of the cold-blooded, cutthroat founder persona. For both Chris and Zach, warmth isn’t weakness—it’s the core of connection, trust, and long-term leadership. From immigrant hustle to digital identity, Zach shares how his upbringing shaped his mindset, his relationship with money, and his drive to build something meaningful.

You’ll hear stories of navigating burnout, redefining success beyond flashy exits, and building a company that aligns with your actual values. Zach opens up about choosing a startup life where personal goals and company vision aren't separate—they’re one and the same. And how trying to play a role that isn't authentically you? That just leads to exhaustion.

This episode also digs into the deeper challenges founders face: the pressure to perform, the blurred lines between personal identity and startup brand, and the tension between doing what you love and making ends meet. Zach and Chris talk candidly about money as a tool—not a trophy—and how defining your own metrics for success is the key to staying grounded.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re building in a way that’s not aligned with who you are, this one’s for you.

Key topics include: → Balancing long-term vision with short-term execution

→ The founder's evolving relationship with money

→ Mental health, burnout, and the pressure to always “be on”

→ How authenticity leads to stronger team, investor, and customer trust

→ The future of digital identity and building reputation over time

→ The role of data, ownership, and values in the next phase of the internet

Zach also shares his “act as if” philosophy—what it looks like to behave today like the founder you want to become, whether that’s with your health, your habits, or your decisions. From eating sardines and quinoa to setting a North Star that ties together business and life, it’s a conversation packed with perspective.

Whether you’re a first-time founder, a repeat builder, or somewhere in between, you’ll walk away from this episode with clarity, encouragement, and a few mindset shifts to bring into your next big decision.

This isn’t a podcast about shortcuts. It’s about the long game. The human one.

In this episode of Warm-Blooded Founders, Chris Sherrick sits down with sales leader Sean Malone for a real, no-BS conversation about authenticity, burnout, and what it actually takes to sell without losing yourself in the process.

The conversation opens with Chris unpacking the meaning behind “warm-blooded”, a deliberate pushback on the outdated idea that leaders need to be cutthroat to succeed. Instead, he shares why vulnerability, honesty, and human connection are essential traits in today’s founder journey. This isn’t about being soft, it’s about building trust and staying real, even when the pressure’s high.

Sean brings raw honesty to his story. He opens up about his early years in sales, making 2,400 cold calls over six weeks without landing a single appointment. The failure was brutal. But it was also the beginning of something better. That experience pushed him to rethink everything he knew about sales and start learning the systems and strategies that actually work. Over time, he built a framework rooted in three core beliefs: you need 100% conviction in what you're selling, consistent practice through reps, and persistence, even when it sucks.

From there, the conversation goes deeper into what happens when you're selling something you don’t believe in. Sean and Chris talk about the inner conflict that creates, and how it shows up as what Sean calls “commission breath”, that desperate, hollow energy that kills trust. On the flip side, when you're truly sold on what you're offering, sales feel effortless. You're no longer convincing people, you’re connecting with them.

But sales success isn’t the whole story.

Sean shares a powerful, personal account of hitting a wall while running multiple businesses. Despite the success, the pressure nearly broke him. He opens up about the moment he contemplated suicide and how that crisis became a wake-up call. It forced him to ask harder questions, about his values, his boundaries, and what actually matters in life. With the help of coaches, he rebuilt how he works. Not harder. But smarter. More human.

They talk about what it looks like to build a business that doesn’t own you. For Sean, that starts with defining your values, setting real boundaries (like start and stop times), and making your mental and physical health non-negotiable. And yes, having coaches who challenge you and hold up the mirror. Because even the best founders need support. Just like elite athletes, entrepreneurs do better with a team of specialized coaches guiding the way.

Throughout the episode, Sean drops practical tools and hard-earned wisdom, on sales, on mindset, and on what it really means to grow something sustainable. From how to overcome imposter syndrome to why “done is the new perfect,” this one’s packed with insight you can actually use.

Some standout quotes from Sean:

“If you treat sales like a sport, it'll pay you like an athlete.”

“What do I need to see to believe that I’m the person I want to be?”

“Done is the new perfect.”

Whether you're in the trenches of startup life or rethinking how you lead, this episode will leave you with real tools—and a reminder that you're not alone in the messy middle.

Because being a founder isn’t just about execution. It’s personal. And staying warm-blooded? That’s the real edge.