PODCAST · business
Killer Growth
by KillerGrowth
The KillerGrowth Podcast is where founder Samuel McVay has real conversations with business owners, entrepreneurs, and creators about what it truly takes to grow. Each episode uncovers one practical insight to move a business forward while digging into the struggles behind the scenes—finding traction, navigating uncertainty, and adapting in a changing world. Genuine stories, honest lessons, and relatable perspectives for anyone building something that matters.
Episodes
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He Lost Everything. Then Rebuilt His Life. With Reid Zeising | Ep 90
What happens when you achieve the business victory you've been chasing—only to discover it was the beginning of losing everything? In Episode 90 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Samuel sits down with Reid Zeising, founder and CEO of GAIN Servicing, to talk about ambition, failure, rebuilding, and the...
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53 Years in Business: The Story of Walter's Flowers with Harold Harmon | Ep 89
What does it take to build a business that becomes part of a community for more than half a century? In Episode 89 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Samuel sits down with Harold Harmon, longtime owner of Walter's Flowers in El Dorado, Kansas, to talk about 53 years in business, the people who shaped…
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A Conversation with Ty Masterson | Ep 88
What does a career in public service look like when you trace it back to childhood, family, and the challenges of running a business? In Episode 88 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Samuel sits down with Ty Masterson, president of the Kansas Senate and a candidate for governor, for a long-form...
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I Asked Claude If AI Could Wipe Out Humanity | Ep 87
Traditional software is written. AI is more like something that’s grown. In Episode 87 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Samuel sits down with Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant, for the second installment in his experiment interviewing the world’s leading AI models. And Claude has some interesting…
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How a “Fake” Game Store Made $3 Million with Peter Kuhlman | Ep 86
What happens when a “fake” business experiment accidentally becomes a multimillion-dollar company? In Episode 86 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Samuel sits down with Peter Kuhlman, founder of MinMax Games and owner/partner at DuPage Industries, to talk entrepreneurship, e-commerce, trading cards,...
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The Data Center Debate: What Small Towns Need to Know with Sam & Tyler | Ep 85
Who’s actually driving the massive growth in data centers? According to Sam McVay and Tyler Norris, the answer is simpler than you might think: all of us. In Episode 85 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Sam and Tyler revisit the data center conversation as their hometown of El Dorado, Kansas prepares…
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The AI Arms Race Is Already Here with Heath Jeppson | Ep 84
Heath Jeppson’s books: The Death of a BANANA Republic: https://a.co/d/06PUIKxh The Cloud Has Hit the Ground: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1QK3QTR What if the debate over data centers is really part of a much bigger story about AI, energy, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and America’s future? In...
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From Two Garage Bays to a Thriving Auto Shop with Mike Dorrell | Ep 83
What should you actually do when your vehicle reaches 100,000 miles — keep driving it or trade it before something expensive breaks? In Episode 83 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Samuel sits down with Mike Dorrell, founder and owner of Superior Auto Care, to talk about cars, entrepreneurship…
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From a College Walk-On to the PGA Tour with Patrick Adler | Ep 82
What does it actually take to chase the dream of becoming a PGA Tour golfer? In Episode 82 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Samuel sits down with professional golfer Patrick Adler to talk about the long, uncertain, and sometimes brutal road toward playing golf at the highest level. Patrick grew up...
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I Asked ChatGPT If AI Could Wipe Out Humanity | Ep 81
What happens when you stop prompting ChatGPT to do something — and start interviewing it? In Episode 81 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Samuel sits down with an unusual guest: ChatGPT. Instead of asking it to write an email, analyze data, or solve a problem, Samuel asks ChatGPT questions about…
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Can Social Media Be Good for You? with Jason Toevs | Ep 80
What if social media was designed to make your life better instead of simply keeping you scrolling? In Episode 80 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Samuel sits down with Jason Toevs, CTO of Up, to talk about entrepreneurship, technology, algorithms, and an ambitious question: can we build a healthier...
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How a College Project Became a SaaS Business with Steven Werner | Ep 79
In Episode 79 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Samuel sits down with Steven Werner, co-founder and CEO of Lawn Buddy, to talk about building a software company, raising capital, finding product-market fit, and the lessons that come from nearly a decade of startup life. Steven grew up in Wyoming…
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Why Smart Business Owners Still Struggle With Money with Dani Martin | Ep 78
What if the biggest thing holding your business back isn’t revenue, marketing, or strategy — but your own capacity? In Episode 78 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Samuel sits down with Dani Martin, founder of The Financial Alchemist, for a conversation about money, entrepreneurship, neurodivergence,...
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What’s Really Happening to Public Schools? with Chad Higgins | Ep 77
What’s really happening inside public education — beyond the headlines, politics, and social media arguments? In Episode 77 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Samuel sits down with Dr. Chad Higgins, longtime Kansas educator, former superintendent, and outgoing executive director of ESSDACK, for a…
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The Appliance Whisperer: 50 Years of Appliance Repairs with Charley Green | Ep 76
What happens when you spend more than 50 years fixing appliances? Eventually, people start calling you the Appliance Whisperer. In Episode 76 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Samuel sits down with Charley Green, the original founder of Charlie’s Appliance Service and a longtime El Dorado fixture…
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The Future of Construction Is Digital — Here’s What’s Coming
What if you could build an entire building digitally, find the problems, fix them, and coordinate every system — before construction ever begins? In Episode 75 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Samuel sits down with Roy Aniruddha, founder of TechnoStruct, to talk about the technology quietly...
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Evergy Will Pay 50% of Your Lighting Upgrade (Here's Exactly How) with Brandon McLey | Ep 74
What if upgrading your business’s lighting could pay for itself — and an energy company covered roughly half the upfront cost? In Episode 74 of the KillerGrowth Podcast, Samuel sits down with Brandon McLey, founder of Titan Lighting, to talk about the surprisingly complex business behind…
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From Coke to Community: The John Banks Story | Ep 73
In Episode 73, Samuel sits down with John Banks — El Dorado native, longtime entrepreneur, and one of the quieter forces behind more businesses in that town than most people realize. John doesn't particularly want to be here. He said so himself. That's exactly why this conversation is worth...
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Why the Resume Is Broken and What Comes Next with Jacob Schlittenhardt | Ep 72
In Episode 72, Samuel sits down with Jacob Schlittenhardt - co-founder and CEO of Planetary Talent, a hiring accelerator built on the idea that the resume is a fundamentally broken tool and that finding the right person for a job is, at its core, a storytelling problem. Jacob brings a background…
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From Accidental Job Interview to Luxury Interior Design Studio with Emma Schlittenhardt | Ep 71
In Episode 71, Samuel sits down with Emma Schlittenhardt — luxury interior designer, architecture degree holder, and founder of Hardt Studio Interior Design in Wichita. She launched her company during COVID at 21 with a handful of moonlighting clients and a husband studying entrepreneurship. Four...
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It's Not If, It's When: Cybersecurity, AI, and IT as a Business Tool with J.D. Zluticky | Ep 70
In Episode 70, Samuel sits down with J.D. Zluticky — founder of Essential IT Services in Wichita — for a conversation that starts with Navy machinist mates and ends up somewhere most IT conversations never reach: what it actually means to run technology like a business decision, not a checklist....
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Magic, Music, and Getting Booed at the Apollo with Keith Coast | Ep 69
In Episode 69, Samuel sits down with Keith Coast — comedy magician, musician, book reseller, and one-man entertainment circuit who has performed in 18 countries and 48 states. Keith rolled into El Dorado straight from a library show in Greensburg, Kansas (yes, that Greensburg), and somehow ended…
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Build More Than Buildings: Growth, Generational Legacy, and Design-Build with Ben Hutton | Ep 68
In Episode 68, Samuel sits down with Ben Hutton - CEO of Hutton, a Wichita-based construction and development firm that has grown from a small general contracting shop into a full-spectrum organization with five service lines, 400 employees, and offices across the Plains states. Ben is...
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The Fugly Tissue Box Had It Coming: Building Blow Tissues with Ariel Westphal | Ep 67
In Episode 67, Samuel sits down with Ariel Westphal - founder of Blow Tissues, a Wichita-based brand that set out to do something the tissue industry hasn't bothered with since the 1930s: make a tissue worth actually using. This one's a founder origin story at its most honest, covering everything...
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From Broadway's Phantom to Teaching Theater with Katie Banks-Todd | Ep 66
In Episode 66, Samuel sits down with Katie Banks-Todd, a vocal and theater teacher at El Dorado High School and a former member of the Broadway and national touring company of Phantom of the Opera. She grew up in the front row of the El Dorado High School auditorium watching her mother direct…
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Behind Closed Doors: How India Taught Alyssa McGinn the Business of Gathering | Ep 65
In Episode 65, Samuel sits down with Alyssa McGinn, founder of Behind Closed Doors, a company built around one idea: the best opportunities in life don't happen in public. Alyssa's path to getting there is genuinely unpredictable, and this is a conversation worth listening to if you've ever tried...
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From Ninja Swords to YouTube Films: Jordan Hatfield's Lifelong Creator Journey | Ep 64
In Episode 64, Samuel sits down with Jordan Hatfield, filmmaker, creator, and Sam's actual brother-in-law. Jordan has been making movies since he was 14 years old, and this conversation is a full tour through what that actually looks like when you're not in Hollywood and you're figuring it out as...
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Moonshine, Rum, and Entrepreneurship with Joel Fox | Ep 63
In Episode 63, Samuel sits down with Joel Fox - owner of Fix It Quick Computers in El Dorado and co-founder of Speed Trap Distillery. Joel is the kind of guy who has a pilot's license, tinkers with cars, does his own plumbing, and once got curious about how hard it is to make alcohol during…
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Do You Work for Me or the Insurance? with Clay Hoberecht | Ep 62
In Episode 62, Samuel sits down with Clay Hoberecht - owner of Best Body Shop and Wichita Wagyu, and one of the more unusual social media success stories in Wichita. Clay built a massive following by doing something most body shops would never do: being radically transparent about how insurance...
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500 Homes a Day: Running a $100M Appliance Empire with Tim Hillebrand | Ep 61
In Episode 61, Samuel sits down with Tim Hillebrand — president of Don's Appliance in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and someone Sam calls a genuine mentor from his years running Charlie's Appliance in Kansas. This one has a different feel than most episodes: it's two guys who've been in the same...
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Law, Burnout, and the M&A Work That Finally Made Sense with Sam Foreman | Ep 60
In Episode 60, Samuel sits down with Sam Foreman — founder and CEO of Foreman Law, an attorney focused on mergers and acquisitions based in Wichita. Sam's story is an honest one: a career built through hard work and ambition that eventually ran him straight into the ground, and the long road back...
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Margin, Design, and Building Pet Products That Actually Win with Trevor Crotts | Ep 59
In Episode 59, Samuel sits down with Trevor Crotts - founder of Buddy Rest and American Pet Works, and someone who spent years figuring out that building a product and building a product business are two very different things. Trevor's story starts in mattress retail, where he spent years…
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Cisco Had No CRM. So He Built One: Sandy Mehra and the Making of Telgoo5 | Ep 58
In Episode 58, Samuel sits down with Sandy Mehra - CEO of Telgoo5, a full-stack telecom software platform that's been powering mobile operators and MVNOs for over 20 years. Sandy runs a company of nearly 500 people from Bryant Park and has stayed largely out of the spotlight. This conversation is…
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The Entrepreneurologist: Why the Soil Matters More Than the Seed with Jon Bachura | Ep 57
In Episode 57, Samuel sits down with Jon Bachura - self-described entrepreneurologist, peer group facilitator, and the newest member of the Acumen team in Wichita. Jon has spent the better part of 20 years studying entrepreneurs up close, and this conversation is about what he's actually learned...
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From $5M to $60M: The Business of Healthcare Staffing with Chris Sund | Ep 56
In Episode 56, Samuel sits down with Chris Sund - president and CEO of United Med and GQR Healthcare, keynote speaker, Maxwell-certified coach, and founder of Amplify Speakers bureau. Chris took a risk on a brand-new healthcare staffing company, helped grow it from a small team and roughly $5...
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From Finance to 50,000 Fans: The Emcee Journey of Fayola Oyatayo | Ep 55
In Episode 55, Samuel sits down with Fayola Oyatayo - Wichita-based emcee, media entrepreneur, and the closest thing this city has to a hometown host. Known to most as Fay, he's the guy running energy at WSU basketball games, KU's College GameDay, corporate galas, and wedding receptions. The path...
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Following Curiosity: From Ranch Life to Country Music Media with Chase Locke | Ep 54
In Episode 54, Samuel sits down with Chase Locke — El Dorado native, former CEO of One Country, and the kind of guy who has somehow managed to weave together radio, nonprofits, local government, Nashville, and a Reba McEntire Corvette campaign into one career that makes no sense until it does.…
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From Candy Striper to CEO: Melissa Hall on Rural Healthcare and Why It Matters | Ep 53
In Episode 53, Samuel sits down with Melissa Hall — CEO of Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital in El Dorado and one of those rare executives who actually did every job on the way up. She started volunteering at a hospital at 14, was trained as a CNA by her own grandmother, served breakfast to…
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Pushing Parts to 107 Employees: How David May Built Trinity Precision | Ep 52
In Episode 52, Samuel sits down with David May - CEO of Trinity Precision and co-founder of Akeratos, a robotics automation consulting company - for a conversation covering nearly 30 years of aerospace manufacturing, a COVID-era pivot that spawned a second business, and the kind of company…
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How to Build a Content Engine That Feeds Your Whole Business | Ep 51
In Episode 51, Samuel and Tyler sit down to talk about something they've been practicing, not just preaching - the content engine. It's a topic episode, no external guest, just two people 6 months into building something and reporting back on what they've actually learned. The conversation starts...
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The Wrong Ball Play, Letterman, and Life as a Full-Time Hunter with Tylen Hall | Ep 50
In Episode 50, Samuel sits down with Tylen Hall - the Hunter's Helper - for a second try at a conversation that was lost to a technical issue the first time around. Tylen is a hunting consultant based in Kansas who grew up around outfitting, spent years as a journeyman pipe fitter in refineries,...
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Do Good Work: Building a Purpose-Driven Tech Company for Nonprofits with Ted Kriwiel | Ep 49
In Episode 49, Samuel sits down with Ted Kriwiel — childhood friend, founder of 8 Oaks, and the person behind Honeystack.agency, a software consulting company built specifically to help nonprofits build modern tech stacks. Ted is one of those rare people who found his thing and built everything...
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Never Settle: How a 32-Year Koch Veteran Built Two Businesses with Janelle Wilson | Ep 48
In Episode 48, Samuel sits down with Janelle Wilson, owner of 360 Painting in Wichita and a 32-year veteran of Koch Industries, where she leads a global IT team of 65 people across enterprise technology. Janelle brings a rare combination of corporate discipline and entrepreneurial fire — and…
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Human Skills Are Your Competitive Edge: Leadership Development with Shem Hatfield | Ep 47
In Episode 47, Samuel sits down with Shem Hatfield, founder of Process Elevation — a leadership development coach, certified organizational leader, and someone Samuel has known since they were building theater sets and running Code Teal ops through the hallways of Butler Community College 17…
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From Driveways to Private Equity: Building Encore Pavement with Andy Waller | Ep 46
In Episode 46, Samuel sits down with Andy Waller, CEO of Encore Pavement — an entrepreneur Samuel counts as his second business mentor. Andy's story starts in a Wichita State entrepreneurship program, where a side job sealing a single driveway sparked what would become one of the region's most...
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Balancing Growth and Stewardship with Bill Young | Ep 45
Sam sits down with Bill Young — El Dorado, Kansas Mayor and Tharseo IT Chief Strategy Officer — to talk local leadership, community service, and the practical tradeoffs towns face when opportunity meets stewardship. Bill walks through his path from radio and IT to public office and why small‑town...
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From Shop Floor to Business Owner: The Craft and Grind of Custom Woodworking with Josh Cogan | Ep 44
In this episode, Samuel sits down with Josh Cogan, owner of Cogan's Woodshop in El Dorado, Kansas — a full custom cabinet shop with roots going back to when Josh was sweeping floors at 14 years old.Josh didn't plan on owning a cabinet business. He spent his early career working in a cabinet shop...
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Your Brand Should Divide the Room: Mortgages, Rock, and the American Dream with Chris Waipa | Ep 43
In this episode, Samuel sits down with Chris Waipa, branch manager and loan officer at Neighborhood Loans and creator of Mortgage Punk — the brand that's making mortgages feel less like a root canal and more like a rock show.Chris traded a career in music for a career in mortgages back in 2003…
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Data Centers and Small Towns: What Communities Need to Know Before Saying Yes | Ep 42
In Episode 42, Samuel sits down with Tyler Norris, lifelong El Dorado resident and co-founder of KillerGrowth, for a grounded conversation about one of the most talked-about topics hitting small towns across America right now: data centers.Tyler spent his early career in tech, visiting and…
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From Hand-Drawn Cards to 10,000 Sold: Building Dueling Llamas with Stephanie Boswell | Ep 41
In Episode 41, Samuel sits down with Stephanie Boswell — the creative mind behind Dueling Llamas, the card game that started with cardstock, hand-drawn llamas, and a lot of encouragement from her husband Brian.Stephanie's story doesn't start with entrepreneurship. It starts with writing stories…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The KillerGrowth Podcast is where founder Samuel McVay has real conversations with business owners, entrepreneurs, and creators about what it truly takes to grow. Each episode uncovers one practical insight to move a business forward while digging into the struggles behind the scenes—finding traction, navigating uncertainty, and adapting in a changing world. Genuine stories, honest lessons, and relatable perspectives for anyone building something that matters.
HOSTED BY
KillerGrowth
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Killer Growth have?
Killer Growth currently has 90 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Killer Growth about?
The KillerGrowth Podcast is where founder Samuel McVay has real conversations with business owners, entrepreneurs, and creators about what it truly takes to grow. Each episode uncovers one practical insight to move a business forward while digging into the struggles behind the scenes—finding...
How often does Killer Growth release new episodes?
Killer Growth has 90 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Killer Growth?
You can listen to Killer Growth on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Killer Growth?
Killer Growth is created and hosted by KillerGrowth.
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