Episode 17: Play to Learn, Build to Last (with John Salzinger, Category-Creating Founder of Haven Lantern & MPOWERD)

John Salzinger builds products that matter and the markets around them. As the founder behind MPOWERD’s category-creating solar lights (5M lives impacted, B Corp score 140) and now Haven Lantern, John blends purpose with ruthless practicality. In this episode, we get into:* Why “play to learn” beats “play to win” for founders and sellers* Lean, founder-controlled go-to-market (and when capital quietly becomes a boss)* Culture you don’t manufacture—people you actually want to work with* How category creation really happens (and how it gets cheapened)* Designing products for hard places first—then winning everywhere else* Haven Lantern: 1200-lumen solar + USB-C, 10,000 mAh, ~20 nights, SOS—priced for NGOs to scale impactIf you lead revenue, build product, or care about doing good without the fluff, this one hits.🎙 Hosted by Max Notis | Learn more at comissionsales.comConnect with us:John Salzinger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalzinger/Max Notis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxnotis/CoMission: https://www.linkedin.com/company/comissionsales/