Colin Fraley | Founder & Startup Playbook Coach
20 episodes listed below
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Business growth and go-to-market strategies for creators, startup founders, and indie builders. STARTUP or SHUTUP! is the zero-fluff entrepreneurship podcast where host Colin Fraley trades highlight reels for real playbooks: how guests found their first customers and fans, validated product-market fit (PMF), built repeatable go-to-market (GTM) motions, and scaled revenue without the guru noise.Each episode breaks down what actually worked—customer acquisition, audience growth, pricing and packaging, sales systems, partnerships, sponsorships, community funding, and launching offers that convert. You’ll hear the wins, the face-plants, and the “SHUTUP!” moment when the strategy clicks and momen…
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Founder interviews turn business growth into specific decisions about demand, delegation, marketing, timing, and the productive use of limited resources.
Colin Fraley builds interviews around the decisions that turn an idea into an operating business. Guests range from investor Andrew Ackerman to Sproutwise founder Abby Gates, NBN Nails owner Nasjali Cruz, serial entrepreneur Rob Finlay, and paid-community builder Carol Tice.
A nail salon's booking calendar meets an investor's "why now" test, if your business curiosity runs that wide.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded founder-to-investor conversation with useful filters and little gloss.
Andrew Ackerman's conversation reads as a practical guide to how an early-stage investor weighs founders and ideas. His experience as both founder and investor gives the discussion weight, especially when he explains why timing matters, how cold email can work, and how to tell…
A practical look at Sproutwise as a short-term people ops lift for early-stage teams.
Abby Gates frames Sproutwise as a people culture studio for early-stage teams that need to hire smarter, onboard faster, and build systems that hold up as they grow.
A founder conversation about leverage, legacy, and starting again.
Rob Finley comes across as a founder shaped by more than 25 years of building and exiting companies, with family entrepreneurship and debt optimization giving the story its spine.
A grounded young-founder story with local-business lessons and a clear view of Instagram-driven bookings.
This piece follows a 20-year-old nail business owner as NBN Nails grows into a Lakeview staple after an opening that came sooner than expected.
A firing becomes a practical lesson in delegation, scale, and founder freedom.
Carol Tice's path is presented as a case study in what a firing can become: a reset with business upside. The episode follows her from business journalism into entrepreneurship, then into a paid community for freelance writers that grew to 1,500 members and later sold for…
Rob Walling on bootstrapped SaaS growth, plateaus, and exits — with founders who lived them.
Abbey Ashley's playbook for turning your job skills into a virtual assistant business.
Naval Ravikant on epistemology, startups, and crypto, from David Deutsch to Vitalik Buterin.
Alex Theuma interviews SaaS founders and investors on scaling to $10M-plus ARR.
Guy Raz traces founders' origin stories and fields live advice-line calls from entrepreneurs.
Alex Blumberg interviews guests like Megan Phelps-Roper and Shane McAnally about failure and reinvention.
Andrew Ackerman traces the path from founder to investor with the show’s usual mix of curiosity and practical questions.
Abby Gates, founder of Sproutwise, discusses her journey from HR roles at fast-growth tech companies to starting a fractional HR startup.
Najali Cruz, 20, owns NBN Nails in Lakeview, Chicago, and says she opened the salon at 18 while still connected to the high school across the street.
Rob walks through the path that pulled him into entrepreneurship.
Carol Tice shares her journey from being fired as a journalist to building and selling Freelance Writers Den, a 1,500-member paid community.
A founder discusses the importance of cultivating empathy for understanding customers, investors, and employees.
Host Colin Fraley interviews a guest about their 'shut up moment'—a time they were told to give up but persisted, discussing ageism in online business and the decision to keep going.
A rapid-fire Q&A session about nail art preferences, techniques, and trends.
A nail salon owner discusses how Instagram marketing drives bookings and customer engagement.
Ken Barton turns a real estate headache into a tech idea.
Renee Hastings starts with family.
Host Colin interviews Denora, co-founder of Luxeria Productions, about her journey as a trans Latina entrepreneur and building a nightlife community in Chicago.
Host Colin Fraley interviews travel entrepreneur Vincent Wong about turning a passion for travel into a business and building global impact.
Host Colin Fraley interviews creator Marissa about her journey from pain to building a healing community on TikTok.
Host Colin Fraley interviews Milo, a former politician turned content creator, about his pivot from public service to building a brand and business through authenticity and community.
Host Colin Fraley interviews Jay Munoz about how to start a podcast, covering background, motivation, and practical advice for beginners.