PODCAST · business
You Can't Lose!
by Joe Rinaldi & Richard Banfield
Podcast by Joe Rinaldi & Richard Banfield
Episodes
-
OpenAI Codex Prairie Fire
This week felt seismic. What happens when elite engineers get their hands on tools like Codex and suddenly compress four weeks of work into four hours? This is not about AI replacing developers. It is about AI amplifying the great ones and what that means for agencies, pricing, value, and the…
more -
Keep an Eye on the "Experts"
If someone is telling you that positioning is the best way for all agencies to improve sales, they probably sell positioning consulting. There are some universal truths, but they require a lot more hard work, and you can't pay someone to do it for you. Beware of experts, they're usually most…
more -
It's a December to Remember Sales Event!
Hopefully y'all are experiencing what I am demanding all of my clients call a 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 with an uncommon rash of sales opportunities and energy at 11:59 of the year 2025. This is bonkers. Here's some quick context and advice before EOY.
-
YCL! 2026 Announcement (and a lil Second Harvest tease too)
New plans & big plans for You Can't Lose! in 2026, as well as a tease for some more updates from Richard to follow about exciting new Second Harvest things too!
-
Singles and Doubles
Joe and Richard unpack why creative work, and life, is more about steady contact than home runs. They explore the art of doing less but better, resisting the urge to please everyone, and finding meaning in risk, friction, and imperfection.
-
Richard is back from Second Harvest in Spain!
In this episode, Richard joins fresh off his Second Harvest retreat in Spain to talk about the myth of constant creativity, Joe talks about the beauty of the “average Thursday,” and Richard speaks to why resistance is the doorway to real growth. We trade stories about chasing the thrill of…
more -
The Nanas in the Village: Hospitality & Anticipation as a Superpower
This week Richard and Joe are still unpacking Second Harvest leading to some insights into the concept of hospitality as a skill. Convening the right people, the right way, and letting uncommon outcomes happen is a skill both Richard and Joe have developed over decades and applying these ideas to...
-
Second Harvest! Behind the Scenes
Richard and Devon launched Second Harvest in Austria successfully and he's here to spill a ton of behind the scenes details, insights into the event, deeper dives into the unique philosophy behind Second Harvest, how it went, and where it goes from here. This is a must-listen if you've followed...
-
Alliance Has Direction
In this episode, Joe and Richard explore the difference between community and alliance: “An alliance is going someplace… it has direction.” They trade time-travel hypotheticals, reflect on the problem-solving joy of The Martian and The Last of Us, and debate whether their businesses are behaving...
-
Solid Diagonal Line Up: Anthony Colangelo & MECO's origin story
While Richard was away Joe catches up with Anthony Colangelo, partner at Pine Works, host of Main Engine Cut Off & cohost of Off-Nominal, Engineering leader, iOS product developer, birds fan, dad, and Joe's spiritual nephew. Anthony has grown a space flght, exploration, and policy podcast empire...
-
eHouse Gets Acquired: Reaction Pod + The Philadelphia Experiment starts!
Richard and Joe break down their conversation with Chris & Aaron Quinn, more details about agency acquisitions, private equity vs venture capital, and they spill the beans about The Philadelphia Experiment April 9-11.
-
Little By Little, Then All At Once: eHouse Gets Acquired
Chris and Aaron Quinn join to share their experiences creating, growing, and ultimately scaling eHouse through an acquisition. Thanks to our friends for being so candid and informative about their experiences!
-
Take the Credit Out & Get More Done
Duolingo announced changing their job titles from UX Design to Product Experience Design and created a 2013-Twitter-era dust up so Richard and Joe chime in with their thoughts. We discuss the purpose of job titles, the way identity effs with you, and to bring it back to sales in a meta way we ask...
-
Waiting Super Hard is Your Biz Dev Strategy
This episode has it all! Richard shares how embedding "brown M&M" contract requirements helps you get what you want He also discusses how the TNT (takes no talent) parts of a business lead to success Joe provides an example: Respond to new leads shockingly quickly and meet your clients'…
more -
The Medium & The Message
Richard and Joe discuss the little cohort/therapy group they're in and how beneficial that relationship has become over the past year. Within that discussion Richard explains how effective it can be to manage communication patterns within a community, for example conducting types of conversations...
-
Zero Forecasting & Overinvesting in Biz Dev Seasons
There's a few big ideas in this week's episode. Richard makes a strong case that Pipedrive weighted outcome forecasting for open opportunities and leads is steering you wrong. It's 0% forecastable revenue until the check clears. Joe says tracking sales quarterly sets you up to fail. There are two...
-
How to Make Funny Kids
In our ongoing "Parenting Advice That's Not For Everyone" Richard and Joe explain in detail the benefits of arming your kids with humor, and how to make your kids funny. From the benefit of "banned books" to letting your kids funny their way out of trouble to shoving your 8-year-old into…
more -
Concept Cars & Black Tar Heroin
This week Joe and Richard discuss some tactical tricks of the trade as well as examples from the industry and from popular culture. What's the value of showing a client a glimpse into a far future state of their project as a concept car? How does casting the vision far ahead dramatically improve...
-
You Are Not The Car You Drive! -Tyler Durden
This week Joe unpacks some old Happy Cog notebooks and they spark a conversation about our identity and relationship to our work. How revisiting previous versions of yourself and your experiences can reinvigorate your current status quo. And how to overcome the urge for perfect by embracing small...
-
Chief Repeating Officers, Alumni & AI
This week we talk about reinforcing change with repetition. Consistently reinforcing new behaviors and processes to drive lasting change. Investing in talent growth by positioning your agency as a talent incubator. Leveraging alumni networks and expanding your agency's reputation and business...
-
Why You're Tired of Running Your Agency...?
Joe and Richard discuss: The challenge and opportunity of inexperience The mistake of getting permission or seeking credentialing The risk of not taking risks Why owners tire of running agencies after 7+ years What to do about that... And Joe takes shots at luminaries in the agency consulting...
-
A Work/Life Additive Approach to Mid-Life Opportunities
In this episode, Joe and Richard explore the idea of blending work and life, highlighting the ability to mix business with pleasure on trips, and emphasize how midlife can be a time of reinvention rather than decline. The episode also touches on the benefits of running life "experiments" to…
more -
The End of You Can't Lose!?!?!?!?
Well it's not the end, but we're talking about ways the podcast's focus will evolve and change. No spoilers yet, but this week we talk more about a "Second Harvest." The opportunity to make the next 50 years of our lives a better 50 years than the first. Look for some updates over the next few...
-
Back to School
When the kids are loaded on to the school bus and Richard and Joe are left alone in their houses we start digging into some bigger picture ideas... Some of which might harbinger and new direction for the podcast over the next few weeks...????
-
You're Doing Business Travel Wrong
This week the boys discuss their life hacks for successful business travel that also fill your cup spiritually. The TL;DR version is spend one additional day wherever you travel, and put up a Bat Signal once your there to attract some serendipitous meetings and hangs. Lots more detail and tips in...
-
Make Art Post Art
In this episode, we talk about finding the right balance between creative side projects and work. Ensuring side hustles don't become hassles. Joe shares the fun of turning art into a successful Etsy shop and the thrill of connecting with a supportive fanbase. They touch on the challenges of…
more -
Burn It To The Ground!
Sometimes it feels like the only way to change something is to throw a match at it and burn it all down to start over. In this episode we talk about Gell's Law, how all complex systems are built upon simple systems. Getting the core, foundational systems "right" influences everything. Let's talk...
-
Nate Silvering the Math
n this episode, we explore the intricate balance between math and qualitative insights in business operations, particularly in consulting and lead flow, highlighting the limitations of small sample sizes. We dive into how organizational structure impacts innovation, referencing Safi Bahcall's...
-
From Fixing $5 Haircuts to the Future of Agencies in 45 Min
Richard has an angle on agency viability and purpose in an age of highly competitive digital products and tools. He's been working this out offline for a while now, but he's sharing with the You Can't Lose! audience to stress test his hypothesis. There's something there and it's a delight to hear...
-
MC Adam Kurzawa: Trust is Currency
Adam is a biz dev pro with decades of experience in client services and after all of those years, and all of those clients, and all of that revenue, sales success comes down to trust. Clients have to trust you. Your team has to trust you. Ownership has to trust you. You can see why Adam has…
more -
Wil Reynolds: People Want to Hear from People
Wil Reynolds joins You Can't Lose! this week, hold onto your butts. Wil is the shot in the arm you need if you're working in client services trying to figure out how to connect with clients. He's a content marketing machine, founder of SEER interactive, and a great example of how good citizenship...
-
Config & IRL Conferences Strike Back!
Richard is fresh off his trip to Config in SF and has thoughts on what the demand for this event tells us about the value of live events, some quick thoughts on the latest Figma news, and a long conversation about the value of people connecting IRL. Let's dive in!
-
Tracey Halvorsen Back! Always Be Helping
Somehow we got Tracey Halvorsen to join the podcast again! Tracey is the CEO at Adeo (https://helloadeo.com/) and shares her thoughts on a lifetime of client services experience, her thoughts on value pricing, the value of relationships, and the secret to a long and successful career: You gotta...
-
Warren Wilansky: Smooth is Fast
Warren Wilansky is founder and President of Plank, our favorite Montreal web design and dev agency, and he joins us this week to explain how to grow an agency over 25 years. 25 years!!! It's super simple, it's all about relationships. Don't think about leads or accounts or marketing or sales....
-
Comparison is the Thief of Joy
Ryan Irelan reminded me of this quote he heard on Julia Luis Dreyfus's podcast Wiser Than Me when she interviewed Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird, who attributed it to Teddy Roosevelt. That's how information works these days btw. Comparison shopping and Keeping Up With the Jones focuses on...
-
No Solutions, Just Roadmaps of Inquiry
There are no answers. No book that solves all your problems. No operating system to save you. What will serve you is an ability to see through these remedies to the underlying lessons or principles they're built on. Apply what works. Be flexible about what doesn't. Evolve constantly and question...
-
First Dog to the Bowl Wins & Agency Life Expectancy
How do you grow your most valuable accounts? Is that the PM's job? Do you need account managers? What can we learn from an ad agency's account strategy playbook? This episode we go HARD into account leadership. We share recommendations and best practices. Start here: Establishing process is an…
more -
How to Punch Above Your Weight
How can we apply what we know about client services sales to B2B sales? To SaaS sales? To small businesses? To traditional selling environments? It's easier than you think. This episode is about applying base principles of agency and client services sales to ALL KINDS OF SALES. How can you punch...
-
Fixing Unintentionally Hybrid Teams
On the topic of in-person teams and distributed teams a population of unintentionally hybrid teams are struggling with their identities. Teams that embraced a distributed approach during COVID, and are now left reconciling with the remnants of their in-person culture and the reality of their...
-
Episode 036: Back To Office!!! And the Hybrid Hell in Between
Building out from Richard's Extreme Agency Playbook we dive into the issue of co-located and distributed teams. More accurately we really dig into the current state of many teams: Unintentionally Hybrid. COVID created an industry of unintentionally hybrid teams and we're only starting to deal…
more -
Episode 035: Richard Banfield's Agency Playbook
How to run an agency? Richard has notes. Colocation over distributed. 12 year strategies. Apprenticeships. No bonuses, no profit share, no exits. Suburban campuses over city offices. This episode packs a lot of heat. We're kicking off a miniseries within the podcast this week. Over the next few...
-
Episode 034: Jay Fanelli Rides The IPO Lightning
Richard meets his new best friend Jay Fanelli in this episode of You Can't Lose! Jay is an agency owner, e-commerce company owner, and enterprise design leader with a unique perspective on how teams and businesses grow and evolve. A self described "vibes" over "numbers" manager, the vibes are...
-
Episode 32: A Mustache Is A Choice, And So Is Everything Else
This week Richard and Joe focus on the conscious and unconscious decisions that shape work culture. Why does your team use Slack? Why not Discord? Whatever happened to Campfire? How about Figma, and Notion, and Basecamp, and Google docs, and where was that question someone asked you? Was it in...
-
Episode 031: Jon Lax, As Close To Bare Metal As Possible
Jon Lax joins the podcast this week, you're welcome. We tracked down the elusive former Meta VP of Product and cofounder of legendary Teehan+Lax in a mountain cabin where he's not planning the future of technology and spatial computing because he's earned a goddamn break. Curious about what it…
more -
Episode 029: Dan Ostrower & the 3 Party Agreement
This week we're joined by Dan Ostrower from 3rd Horizon. Dan shares about his experiences on both the enterprise and consulting agency sides of the client services industry and makes a great case for the value of this insider/outside perspective. He also speaks to his experience cultivating...
-
Episode 028: Tracey Halvorsen on art, relationships, and kicking ass
We’re joined this episode by badass Tracey Halvorsen!!! Tracey is an artist, a people connector, and she’s sold and executed more amazing web and digital client services projects than you’ve ever imagined. Tracey unpacks some of her thoughts on how relationships inform and are reflected in client...
-
Episode 027: "Scaling" is for Assholes
This week Richard and Joe are back out in the wild hosting events, meeting with friends and colleagues IRL, and trying to make meaningful connections within their networks. Richard is in NYC for a Knapsack Design System Leadership summit:...
-
Episode 026: Bromantic Valentine's Day Pod
In a very special Valentine's Day episode join Joe and Richard for a deep dive into the complexities of male friendships, personal growth, and the evolving landscape of professional relationships. They explore the significance of nurturing genuine connections outside of work and the impactful…
more -
Episode 025: Close All Your Tabs NOT THAT ONE!
It's Story Time again on the pod! Richard has a sordid story about browser tabs, and then Joe has a story about a client video conference pitch fumble. From there we unpack pitching. It's so weird! Why is this the way? Richard has notes.
-
Episode 024: Story Time from Jon Lax + Botany of Desire
Jon Lax of Teehan + Lax and Meta fame is our first brave Story Time contributor. Thank you Jon! Jon is the best and his story weaves a client pitch nightmare that will sound familiar to many, and haunt your dreams. We screw up all of the value Jon brings by talking about the Vision Pro release…
more
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
Podcast by Joe Rinaldi & Richard Banfield
HOSTED BY
Joe Rinaldi & Richard Banfield
CATEGORIES
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does You Can't Lose! have?
You Can't Lose! currently has 73 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is You Can't Lose! about?
Podcast by Joe Rinaldi & Richard Banfield
How often does You Can't Lose! release new episodes?
You Can't Lose! has 73 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to You Can't Lose!?
You can listen to You Can't Lose! 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 You Can't Lose!?
You Can't Lose! is created and hosted by Joe Rinaldi & Richard Banfield.
URL copied to clipboard!