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Raw and Real Entrepreneurship®

Raw and Real Entrepreneurship®

By: Susan Sly
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 Get ready to step into the unfiltered world of entrepreneurship with the award-winning entrepreneur Susan Sly on the Raw and Real Entrepreneurship® podcast. Recognized and featured by major media outlets such as Forbes, MIT Sloan Management Review, CNBC, Fox, and CNN, Susan brings an exceptional blend of real-world experience and hard-earned knowledge to the podcasting stage. As the co-founder of a leading AI company, Susan harnesses her unique insider perspective to explore the hearts and minds of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs. She presents candid, in-depth conversations that uncover the realities of their journeys, featuring enlightening discussions with illustrious founders like Glenn Stearns, Jesse Itzler, and Brandon Steiner. The Raw and Real Entrepreneurship Podcast is a dynamic and insightful show dedicated to revealing the unfiltered truths of entrepreneurship with new interviews every week. Through compelling stories and personal anecdotes, guests share their highs and lows, offering listeners a glimpse into the perseverance, resilience, and hard work required to navigate the unpredictable landscape of business ownership. From startup struggles to strategic growth, each episode provides valuable insights, practical advice, and actionable takeaways for aspiring and established entrepreneurs alike.Copyright© 2026 Economics Leadership Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • From Full-Time Government Job, and no Entrepreneurial Experience to Building a Luxury Interior Design Franchise | Alisa Sparks

    From Full-Time Government Job, and no Entrepreneurial Experience to Building a Luxury Interior Design Franchise | Alisa Sparks
    Apr 9 2026
    What does it really take to walk away from stability and build something from scratch?In this episode of Raw and Real Entrepreneurship®, Susan Sly sits down with Alisa Sparks, Founder and CEO of Linden Creek. They unpack Alisa's journey from managing multi-million-dollar budgets for Naval aircraft to building a luxury interior design, home staging, and Airbnb setup brand. Linden Creek is now franchising nationwide.Alisa shares the unfiltered reality behind her leap from finance into entrepreneurship, including early cash flow challenges, bootstrapping the business as a mother of young children, and the moment she realized she had accidentally built a company that could scale beyond herself. This is not a conversation about pretty rooms. It is about leadership, emotional resilience, hard hiring and firing decisions, and the internal work required to grow a business without losing what matters most.You will also hear how Linden Creek evolved into a franchise, why cultural fit matters more than skills, how technology became a growth lever through proprietary software, and what it really costs founders when they never stop to celebrate progress. Alisa speaks candidly about motherhood, divorce, delegation, and the pressure of carrying responsibility for other people’s livelihoods.In this episode, you will learn:What it feels like to leave a secure career for an uncertain entrepreneurial pathHow Alisa bootstrapped a fast-growing luxury design businessThe mistakes founders make when hiring and holding on too longHow to scale a brand into a franchise without losing its soulWhy systems, boundaries, and self-leadership determine long-term successIf you are a founder, creative entrepreneur, or professional standing at the edge of a big decision, this conversation will meet you where you are. Honest, grounded, and deeply human, this episode serves as a reminder that growth is rarely linear and leadership always begins within.Listen now and discover what building a luxury brand really demands behind the scenes.Alisa Sparks is the Founder and CEO of Linden Creek, a luxury interior design and home staging franchise built around elevated living and meaningful design. She also leads the Linden Creek Shoppe, an online destination for curated décor and furnishings, along with Archd, an inventory management and CRM platform created to support the home staging and interior design community. With a background shaped by entrepreneurship, family life, and a love of travel and thoughtful interiors, Alisa brings a warm, creative perspective to both her work and the communities she serves.Connect with Alisa:LinkedIn: @alisasparkslcWebsite: https://linden-creek.com/Susan Sly is the maven behind Raw and Real Entrepreneurship®. An award-winning AI entrepreneur and MIT Sloan alumna, Susan has carved out a niche at the forefront of the AI revolution, earning accolades as a top AI innovator in 2023 and a key figure in real-time AI advancements for 2024. With a storied career that blends rigorous academic insight with astute market strategies, Susan has emerged as a formidable founder, a discerning angel investor, a sought-after speaker, and a venerated voice in the business world. Her insights have graced platforms from CNN to CNBC and been quoted in leading publications like Forbes and MarketWatch. At the helm of the Raw and Real Entrepreneurship® podcast, Susan delivers unvarnished wisdom and strategies, empowering aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned business veterans alike to navigate the challenges of the entrepreneurial landscape with confidence.Connect With Susan:Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thepause.ai/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://susansly.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠:⁠⁠⁠@susansly⁠⁠⁠
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    54 mins
  • From Alice + Olivia to AI: Reinventing Entrepreneurship and Building Community with Rebecca Matchett

    From Alice + Olivia to AI: Reinventing Entrepreneurship and Building Community with Rebecca Matchett
    Mar 31 2026

    This episode features a conversation with Rebecca Matchett, co-founder and COO of Synchrony, about the grit, courage, and resilience required to build a business—even in the face of deep personal and professional reinvention.

    Rebecca shares her entrepreneurial journey, starting with a volume-focused lemonade stand and later co-founding the iconic fashion brand Alice + Olivia, where she learned the importance of differentiation by using unique materials for pants.

    The discussion covers Rebecca's powerful story as a lawyer, mom, and cancer survivor, including her decision to have a prophylactic mastectomy after learning she was BRCA positive, her cancer recurrence, and going through a full hysterectomy (flash menopause). She explains that her resilience stems from her ability to compartmentalize and focus only on actionable challenges.

    Rebecca details how a dinner conversation led to her latest venture, Synchrony, a self-funded social ecosystem designed to connect verified neurodivergent young adults, combating loneliness and building community. She explains the user journey, where members are matched based on shared interests and communication preferences. A key feature is Jesse, an AI assistant who acts as a "wingman slash Mom Dad" to help users decode messages, start conversations, and foster social independence.

    ​Finally, Rebecca provides a raw look at the realities of building deep technology, discussing the high costs of development, the variability of AI tokenization, and the challenges of App Store and Google Play fees and approval processes. She reveals that Synchrony is looking toward building a Progressive Web App (PWA) to mitigate these platform risks.

    Rebecca Matchett is a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience building and scaling businesses across fashion and technology. She is the co-founder of Alice + Olivia and has launched multiple brands, including Rebecca & Drew and TrioFit, where she developed a patented approach to women’s sizing. She is now co-founder and COO of Synchrony, an AI-driven platform designed to foster connection and community for neurodivergent individuals.

    Connect with Rebecca:

    Website: https://joinsynchrony.com/

    LinkedIn: @synchrony-app

    Susan Sly is the maven behind Raw and Real Entrepreneurship®. An award-winning AI entrepreneur and MIT Sloan alumna, Susan has carved out a niche at the forefront of the AI revolution, earning accolades as a top AI innovator in 2023 and a key figure in real-time AI advancements for 2024. With a storied career that blends rigorous academic insight with astute market strategies, Susan has emerged as a formidable founder, a discerning angel investor, a sought-after speaker, and a venerated voice in the business world. Her insights have graced platforms from CNN to CNBC and been quoted in leading publications like Forbes and MarketWatch. At the helm of the Raw and Real Entrepreneurship® podcast, Susan delivers unvarnished wisdom and strategies, empowering aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned business veterans alike to navigate the challenges of the entrepreneurial landscape with confidence.

    Connect With Susan:

    Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thepause.ai/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

    Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://susansly.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

    LinkedIn⁠⁠:⁠⁠⁠@susansly⁠⁠⁠
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    57 mins
  • How a Shark Tank Deal Led to a Multi-Million Dollar Exit to Hickory Farms — with Tracey Wheeler Noonan, Co-Founder of Wicked Good Cupcakes

    How a Shark Tank Deal Led to a Multi-Million Dollar Exit to Hickory Farms — with Tracey Wheeler Noonan, Co-Founder of Wicked Good Cupcakes
    Oct 27 2025

    In this inspiring episode of Raw and Real Entrepreneurship®, Susan Sly sits down with Tracey Wheeler Noonan, co-founder of Wicked Good Cupcakes, to uncover how a Shark Tank appearance led to a multi-million dollar exit to Hickory Farms. Tracey shares the behind-the-scenes story of landing a deal with Kevin O’Leary, navigating public scrutiny, building a scalable business from a home kitchen, and what life looked like after the acquisition.

    She opens up about reinventing herself after divorce, manifesting success through journaling, and how she’s now on a mission to help women over 50 step into their next chapter with confidence, clarity, and purpose.

    Whether you're an aspiring founder, navigating a transition, or dreaming of your own big exit, tune in now to get inspired and empowered—don’t miss this episode packed with grit, wisdom, and hard-won insight.

    Tracey Wheeler Noonan is a self-made entrepreneur, author, and speaker who turned a home-based cupcake biz into a multimillion-dollar brand. After striking a Shark Tank deal with Kevin O’Leary, her company was acquired by Hickory Farms. Today, she’s a published author and keynote speaker for Inc. Magazine, AT&T, HP, and more—mentoring others through her course, The Cupcake Analogy.

    Connect with Tracey:

    • LinkedIn: @traceynoonan
    • Instagram:@thecupcakeanalogy
    • Instagram: @dont_call_me_cupcake
    • Website: www.thecupcakeanalogy.com

    Susan Sly is the maven behind Raw and Real Entrepreneurship®. An award-winning AI entrepreneur and MIT Sloan alumna, Susan has carved out a niche at the forefront of the AI revolution, earning accolades as a top AI innovator in 2023 and a key figure in real-time AI advancements for 2024. With a storied career that blends rigorous academic insight with astute market strategies, Susan has emerged as a formidable founder, a discerning angel investor, a sought-after speaker, and a venerated voice in the business world. Her insights have graced platforms from CNN to CNBC and been quoted in leading publications like Forbes and MarketWatch. At the helm of the Raw and Real Entrepreneurship® podcast, Susan delivers unvarnished wisdom and strategies, empowering aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned business veterans alike to navigate the challenges of the entrepreneurial landscape with confidence.

    Connect With Susan:

    • Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thepause.ai/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
    • Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://susansly.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
    • Trusted Partners:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.susansly.com/trustedpartners⁠⁠⁠
    • LinkedIn⁠⁠:⁠⁠⁠@susansly⁠⁠⁠
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    1 hr and 1 min
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