*Customer Feedback Is Screaming at You (You're Just Not Listening) S2 Ep 12*

Brian Balduf spent years building a feedback machine at VHT Studios. Same seven questions every year, sliced by geography, rep, product, and brand. Forty ways to Sunday. Then he stayed at a hotel, got a generic email survey, and ignored it. He had five complaints. They'll never get them. His window is shut. This is episode 62. What your customers aren't telling you, and why it's your fault.

*YOU'LL DISCOVER* • Why the guy who built a feedback empire refused to fill out a hotel survey • The $500 Starbucks math that could shape your next five years • Why your survey asks questions that matter to you, not your customers • The "close the loop" rule that turns one-time responders into repeat ones • Why no complaints doesn't mean everything is fine

*WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS* • Ask in person while they're still there, not days later in a generic email • Tie every survey to something small that shows you value their time • Ask the same questions every year so you can track if you're improving • Close the loop. Tell clients what changed. Or they stop responding.

*WHO THESE GUYS ARE* Brian Balduf built and sold VHT Studios. Brad Balduf scaled By Your Side Autism to 11 centers and 550+ employees. Matt Croke hosts and asks the questions nobody else will.

*THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH* "We offered you feedback. You said no. That guy flamed us online." Your customers have opinions. Are you making it worth their time to share them?

👇 SUBSCRIBE for new episodes every Friday. Real stories, real disasters, no LinkedIn energy.

*TIMESTAMPS*

0:00 - The Hotel Survey Brian Deleted

2:35 - Where Does Feedback Actually Rank?

5:29 - How Brian Built VHT's Feedback Machine 6:31 - The Same Seven Questions Every Year

9:42 - The $500 Starbucks Math 11:13 - The Close the Loop Rule 13:06 - Boulder Ridge Does It Right

14:19 - Brian Gets Called Out Live 19:34 - What Would Get Brian's Feedback

22:04 - Why JD Power Gets Timing Wrong

26:32 - The Bathroom Button Nobody Will Touch

*ABOUT CEO BROS AFTER HOURS* CEO BROS: After Hours is raw business talk from CEO brothers Brian Balduf (VHT Studios) and Brad Balduf (By Your Side Autism Therapy) with host Matt Croke. Every Friday they share what actually happens building companies: brutal failures, scaling disasters, and the messy truth about leadership. No corporate polish. No LinkedIn energy. Just honest stories from the trenches.

🍸 *WIND DOWN WITH THE BROS: THIS WEEK'S COCKTAILS* Three drinks for three takes on feedback. Pick the one that matches how you handle it.

🍸 *THE FORTY WAYS TO SUNDAY* Brian Balduf - Built the feedback machine, then deleted the hotel survey Recipe: • 2 oz blended Scotch whisky • ¾ oz lemon juice • ½ oz honey syrup • 2 dashes Angostura bitters • Lemon twist • Shake with ice, strain into rocks glass The Vibe: Brian sliced VHT's annual survey by geography, rep, and brand. Same seven questions every year, forty ways to Sunday. Then the hotel sent a generic email and his window slammed shut. Meticulous, complex, worth far more than anyone expects.

🍸 *THE CLOSED LOOP* Brad Balduf - The operator who built 11 centers on following up Recipe: • 2 oz blanco tequila • ¾ oz fresh lime juice • ½ oz agave syrup • 1 oz fresh grapefruit juice • Pinch of salt • Shake with ice, strain into coupe The Vibe: You ask. They answer. You tell them what changed. No kale on the burger. Brad closes the loop because if you don't, they stop filling out the next one. Sharp start, clean finish, just like a feedback cycle that actually works.

🍸 *THE BATHROOM BUTTON* Matt Croke - Watching Brian's window slam shut in real time Recipe: • 1.5 oz gin • ¾ oz elderflower liqueur • ¾ oz lemon juice • Club soda • Lemon wheel • Shake first three with ice, strain, top with soda The Vibe: Someone thought bathroom feedback buttons were genius. Easy, on your way out. Then reality: the last button you want to touch in a bathroom is one everyone else has touched. Matt's watched Brian argue against surveys for twenty minutes. This drink is his only comfort. Make all three. Building empires you won't use? Closing your loops? Just surviving the chaos? Tag us.

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#CustomerFeedback #Entrepreneurship #CEOLife #BusinessPodcast #StartupLife #Leadership #ClientExperience

*Take the AI Red Pill (Your Competitor Already Did)* Brad was a skeptic. Now he's all in. Brad was the skeptic in the room. Brian said AI was for everybody. Brad looked at him and said it plainly: "That ain't going to happen. The world is full of foolish and ignorant people." He said it with full conviction. Now he runs multiple AI platforms and laughs that he's leading the foolish and ignorant people himself. This is episode 60. The AI red pill most business owners are still refusing to take.

*YOU'LL DISCOVER* * Why Brad thought AI would never work for regular people and what flipped him * Operation Star Trek: how Brad rolled AI out across his entire leadership team * Why Matt needed Brad's explicit permission before he'd open a single tool * The three stages of AI: search, answer, and full agent mode * Brian's warning about the guy in a basement building your business right now

*WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS* * Search "top 20 AI tools for [your industry]" before anything else * Use platforms together, not separately. They don't get jealous. * Find the task you think is "stupid." That's your starting point with AI.

*WHO THESE GUYS ARE* Brian Balduf co-founded and sold VHT Studios. Brad Balduf built By Your Side Autism Therapy to 550+ employees across 11 centers. Matt Croke hosts and asks the questions nobody else will. *THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH* "You can either use AI or compete against it. Someone's in their basement right now. Bam website. Bam e-commerce. Bam product. Twenty agents, zero employees." Have you taken the red pill yet? What are you actually using?

#bestbusinesspodcast #AI #artificialIntelligence #leadership #businessgrowth # startups # entrepreneurs

*They Told Him He Was Stubborn (He Immediately Proved Them Right) Season 2 Episode 9*

You think your team knows how you're performing? You think annual reviews actually help people improve? You think working hard guarantees a raise? Brad says annual reviews are lazy. Managers avoid tough conversations all year, then dump everything in one meeting. Brian says it gets worse when nobody sets clear objectives. So reviews turn into "I worked hard" instead of "Did you hit $10K/month or not?"

Then it gets real. Brad walks through a 360 review and hears it from every angle. His team. His peers. His boss. Brian and Brad (brothers) both hear "You're stubborn." Brian's response? Immediate denial. Argument. Proves the point in real time. This is what actually happens inside companies. People don't know how they're doing. Managers avoid conflict. Reviews become surprises. And raises get tied to effort instead of impact.

*YOU'LL DISCOVER* • Why annual reviews are a copout for bad management • The $10K objective test that eliminates opinion • Why employees get blindsided when they're fired • The real difference between recognition and rewards • What a "5" rating actually means (hint: not showing up on time)

*WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS* • Set clear, measurable objectives upfront • Give feedback in real time, not once a year • Tie compensation to impact, not effort • Define your rating system so everyone understands it

*Hey! You Got Your Cost-Cutting in My Peanut Butter (The Grandson Noticed. So Did Everyone Else)*

Wild Card Friday: five business autopsies, one lesson they all skipped. Matt showed up with six news story cards the brothers had never seen. Hershey quietly changed the Reese's recipe, denied it when caught, then admitted it. The founder's grandson went public, it went viral, and Brad's take was the backlash probably helped sales. That was just card one. This is episode eight. What actually kills a brand, and why you never see it coming.

*YOU'LL DISCOVER* • Why Hershey thought nobody would notice (the founder's grandson proved them wrong) • The craft beer bubble: why 30 crazy flavors killed the industry and what survivors did instead • How Red Lobster's most successful promo ever also filed for bankruptcy • 12,200 stores closing in 2026: bad locations or dying brands?

*WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS* • A loss leader only works if it drives other purchases. All you can eat shrimp is not a strategy. • One great SKU beats thirty mediocre ones. Distribution doesn't lie. • Somebody is always watching what you quietly change.

*WHO THESE GUYS ARE* Brian Balduf co-founded and sold VHT Studios. Brad Balduf scaled By Your Side Autism Therapy to 11 centers and 550+ employees. Matt Croke hosts and asks the questions nobody else will. They've been there, survived it, and have the scars to prove it.

*THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH* "The brands going out of business are the ones that don't take time to figure out how their business is actually evolving." Which brand death surprised you most? Or did you see it coming? 👇 ———————————— *TIMESTAMPS*

0:00 - Spotted Cow and Tito's: Not a Sponsored Combo

1:21 - Wild Card Friday Begins

1:54 - Hershey Changed the Recipe (Then Denied It)

6:38 - Craft Beer Bubble: Too Many Flavors, Not Enough Drinkers

11:01 - Narrow to One Great SKU or Die

14:10 - Red Lobster's Endless Shrimp Was a Math Problem

19:36 - Walgreens Forgot What Business It Was In

23:04 - 12,200 Closings: Bad Location or Dying Brand?

27:04 - You Don't Evolve, You Fail ————————————

*ABOUT CEO BROS AFTER HOURS* CEO BROS: After Hours is raw business talk from CEO brothers Brian Balduf (VHT Studios) and Brad Balduf (By Your Side Autism Therapy) with host Matt Croke. Every Friday they share what actually happens building companies: brutal failures, scaling disasters, and the messy truth about leadership. No corporate polish. No LinkedIn energy. Just honest stories from the trenches. ————————————

🍸 *WIND DOWN WITH THE BROS: THIS WEEK'S COCKTAILS* Three drinks for three companies that thought nobody was watching. Pick the one that matches your Friday mistake.

🍸 THE SECRET INGREDIENT Brian Balduf - The guy who spotted the PE firm's fingerprints on the peanut butter cup Recipe: • 2 oz tequila reposado • 3/4 oz fresh lime juice • 1/2 oz agave syrup • 2 dashes orange bitters • Lime wheel • Shake with ice, strain into rocks glass The Vibe: Looks exactly like what you ordered. Tastes exactly like what you ordered. Until something's off. PE firms cut corners quietly and hope nobody notices. The grandson noticed. So did everyone else.

🍸 THE ONE GREAT SKU Brad Balduf - The operator who knows twenty flavors is how you go bankrupt Recipe: • 2 oz bourbon • 3/4 oz lemon juice • 1/2 oz honey syrup • 2 dashes Angostura bitters • Lemon twist • Shake with ice, strain into coupe The Vibe: No grapefruit juice. No pear juice. No crazy can with a wild label. Just a drink that's really good at being one thing. Brad's advice to every dying craft brewery: find your one great product and stop apologizing for not being twenty.

🍸 THE WILD CARD Matt Croke - The host who showed up with six cards and zero warning Recipe: • 2 oz Irish whiskey • 3/4 oz lemon juice • 1/2 oz honey syrup • 1 egg white • 2 dashes Angostura bitters • Lemon twist • Dry shake, add ice, shake hard, strain into coupe The Vibe: Looks simple. Has more going on than you expected. Matt pulled cards nobody saw coming: Reese's, Red Lobster, Walgreens, and watched the brothers react in real time. This drink rewards the same thing: paying attention. Make all three. Figure out which mistake you're closest to. Quietly changing the recipe? Spreading too thin? Or the one holding the cards? Tag us.

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#entrepreneurship #businesslessons #brandstrategy #startuplife #ceomindset

The financial reports every founder needs from day one. Brian once worked with an accountant who never left the corporate office. Never visited a city, never went on a sales call, never attended a single event. But he could look at quarterly statements and tell you exactly what was happening in Cleveland, Detroit, and Minneapolis as if he'd been in the room all week. That's what knowing your numbers actually looks like. And it starts with three reports most founders either skip or don't know exist. This is Season 2, episode 6. The three reports that tell you everything.

*YOU'LL DISCOVER* • The difference between P&L, cash flow, and balance sheet and why you need all three • Why a profitable business can still run out of cash and go under • The accountant who never left his desk but knew more than every regional manager • Why bad financial reporting kills acquisitions before they start • How to get your books in order from day one, even if you're a solo founder

*WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS* • P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, get all three from day one, even if you're solo • Hire a part-time bookkeeper before you need one, even give them a small piece of equity • If your financials are a mess when you sell, buyers go through every single closet

*WHO THESE GUYS ARE* Brian Balduf co-founded and sold VHT Studios. Brad Balduf runs By Your Side Autism Therapy with 550 employees across 11 centers. Matt Croke keeps it honest and pulls out the chaos. They've been there, survived it, and have the scars to prove it.

*THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH* "It's always going to get more complicated as you go. If you instill it as a practice from day one, when it becomes important, you're not starting from scratch and scrambling." Are you tracking the right numbers right now?

👇 SUBSCRIBE for new episodes every Friday. Real stories, real disasters, no LinkedIn energy. ———————————— *TIMESTAMPS* 0:00 - All in Black, All About the Black 3:11 - The Room That Didn't Know Red Was Bad 4:57 - Why Bad Financials Kill Acquisitions 6:19 - Your Business Vitals (And How to Read Them) 9:04 - The Accountant Who Never Left His Desk 16:06 - Why Profitable Businesses Still Go Broke 17:35 - Managing the Ins and Outs 22:46 - The Three Reports That Actually Matter ————————————

*ABOUT CEO BROS AFTER HOURS* CEO BROS: After Hours is raw business talk from CEO brothers Brian Balduf (VHT Studios) and Brad Balduf (By Your Side Autism Therapy) with host Matt Croke. Every Friday they share what actually happens building companies: brutal failures, scaling disasters, and the messy truth about leadership. No corporate polish. No LinkedIn energy. Just honest stories from the trenches. ————————————

🍸 *WIND DOWN WITH THE BROS: THIS WEEK'S COCKTAILS* Three drinks for three reports. Pick the one your business needs most right now.

🍸 THE ORACLE Brian Balduf - The storyteller who's been there and sold the company Recipe: • 2 oz Scotch whisky • ½ oz honey syrup • ¾ oz lemon juice • 2 dashes Angostura bitters • Lemon twist • Shake with ice, strain into rocks glass The Vibe: Brian's accountant never left his desk but could tell you exactly what was wrong in every city just by reading the numbers. This drink is quietly powerful. No flash, no noise. Just the truth in a glass.

🍸 THE BALANCE SHEET Brad Balduf - The operator who scaled to 550 employees across 11 centers Recipe: • 2 oz Irish whiskey • ¾ oz sweet vermouth • ¼ oz Benedictine • 2 dashes orange bitters • Orange peel • Stir with ice, strain into coupe The Vibe: Assets minus liabilities. That's your number. Brad runs 550 people and knows exactly where every dollar sits. This drink is sophisticated, layered, and tells you more than it looks like it will.

🍸 THE CASH FLOW Matt Croke - The host keeping it real Recipe: • 2 oz añejo tequila • ¾ oz lime juice • ½ oz agave syrup • 2 dashes orange bitters • Lime wheel • Shake with ice, strain into rocks glass The Vibe: Out of cash is out of business. Game over. Space Invaders. This drink moves fast and hits harder than expected. You think you've got more time than you do. Make all three. P&L, balance sheet, cash flow. Which one are you missing? Tag us.

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#entrepreneurship #financialreporting #startuplife #smallbusiness #cashflow

The financial reports your business can't survive without.

Brad was teaching business basics to a room full of clinicians when one of his therapists pumped her fist. They were "in the red," she announced. Brad had to break the news: red means you're losing money. The room went quiet. Brian's own version of this story involves mailing vendor checks with the wrong zip code on purpose to buy time before payroll. He admits this on camera without blinking. This is Season 2, episode 6. Why profitable businesses still go broke.

*YOU'LL DISCOVER* • Why your P&L is lying to you and cash flow tells the real story • Brian's wrong zip code trick for surviving payroll week • The accountant who never left his desk but could tell exactly what was wrong in every city • Why "out of cash" is Space Invaders game over, even when you're profitable • The 3 reports banks, investors, and smart founders actually look at

*WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS* • P&L, balance sheet, cash flow; get all three from day one, even if you're solo • Hire a part-time bookkeeper before you need one, even give them a small piece of equity • If your financials are a mess when you sell, buyers go through every closet

*WHO THESE GUYS ARE* Brian Balduf co-founded and sold VHT Studios. Brad Balduf runs By Your Side Autism Therapy with 550 employees across 11 centers. Matt Croke keeps it honest and pulls out the chaos. They've been there, survived it, and have the scars to prove it.

*THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH* "If you don't have some form of that report being done by somebody that knows what they're doing, shame on you." Are your financials actually telling you the truth right now?

👇 SUBSCRIBE for new episodes every Friday. Real stories, real disasters, no LinkedIn energy.

*TIMESTAMPS*

0:00 - All in Black, All About the Red

3:11 - Brad's Therapist Celebrates the Wrong Number

4:57 - Why Bad Financials Kill Acquisitions

6:19 - Your Business Vitals Are Flatlining (You Just Don't Know It)

9:04 - The Accountant Who Never Left His Desk 16:06 - Out of Cash Is Space Invaders Game Over

17:35 - Brian's Wrong Zip Code Trick

22:46 - The Three Reports That Actually Matter

*ABOUT CEO BROS AFTER HOURS* CEO BROS: After Hours is raw business talk from CEO brothers Brian Balduf (VHT Studios) and Brad Balduf (By Your Side Autism Therapy) with host Matt Croke. Every Friday they share what actually happens building companies: brutal failures, scaling disasters, and the messy truth about leadership. No corporate polish. No LinkedIn energy. Just honest stories from the trenches. ————————————

🍸 *WIND DOWN WITH THE BROS: THIS WEEK'S COCKTAILS* Three drinks for three financial realities. Pick the one that matches where your business actually is.

🍸 THE WRONG ZIP CODE Brian Balduf - The storyteller who's been there and sold the company Recipe: • 2 oz Scotch whisky • ¾ oz lemon juice • ½ oz honey syrup • 2 dashes Angostura bitters • Lemon twist • Shake with ice, strain into rocks glass The Vibe: Payroll's in 7 days and the vendor check needed to disappear for a week. Brian mailed it with the wrong zip code. This drink looks completely professional and above board. Until you check the fine print.

🍸 IN THE RED Brad Balduf - The operator who scaled to 550 employees across 11 centers Recipe: • 1.5 oz Campari • 1 oz sweet vermouth • 1 oz gin • Orange peel • Stir with ice, strain into coupe The Vibe: His therapist celebrated when she heard "we're in the red." Brad had to explain that red is bad. This drink is unmistakably, aggressively, unambiguously red. No confusion now.

🍸 THE $200,000 Matt Croke - The host keeping it real Recipe: • 2 oz añejo tequila • ¾ oz lime juice • ½ oz agave syrup • 2 dashes orange bitters • Lime wheel • Shake with ice, strain into rocks glass The Vibe: Out of cash is out of business. This drink hits harder than expected and costs more than you planned. Make all three. Which one are you? Hiding the check? Celebrating the wrong news? Confidently wrong on the math? Tag us.

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#entrepreneurship #financialreporting #startuplife #smallbusiness #cashflow

How good teams quietly fall behind Brad walked into his leadership meeting and dropped one question: "What happens when we replace you with robots?" Everyone froze. He wasn't actually doing it. He wanted to break the grip of "this is how we've always done it." Brian calls that grip sawing with a dull blade. You work twice as hard, fall further behind, and your metrics never show it until the competitor who sharpened theirs is already ahead. This is episode five. The thing killing productive teams that nobody measures.

#bestbusinesspodcast

*YOU'LL DISCOVER* • Brian's "sharpen the saw" principle and why most CEOs don't realize how dull their operations have become • Brad's Project Star Trek: 7 leaders, one challenge, 17 AI best practices in a week • Why Brian met with every vendor even when he had zero intention of buying from • The Blockbuster warning: how "too busy" is exactly how you miss the next internet • Rutbusters: the small daily moves that break the "this is how we do it" death grip

*WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS* • Hackathons work: Matterport gave engineers a week to build anything. Many of them wind up being shipped. • Sales pitches are free MBAs: vendors will tell you what every competitor is doing • Organized chaos: let your team bounce ideas. Nine are stupid. The tenth changes everything.

*WHO THESE GUYS ARE* Brian Balduf co-founded and sold VHT Studios. Brad Balduf runs By Your Side Autism Therapy with 550 employees across 11 centers. Matt Croke keeps it honest and pulls out the chaos. They've been there, survived it, and have the scars to prove it.

*THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH* "In six months you're going to ask how you got so far behind your competition. The answer is you were too busy to look up." Are you sharpening the saw or just sawing harder?

👇 SUBSCRIBE for new episodes every Friday. Real stories, real disasters, no LinkedIn energy. ————————————

*TIMESTAMPS* 0:00 - The improv game neither can win

1:38 - What "sharpen the saw" actually means for CEOs

3:42 - Brad's Project Star Trek and the AI challenge

6:35 - Brian: you're going to be Blockbuster in six months

10:03 - The robot question that startled an entire leadership team

18:29 - Matterport hackathons and the "ship it" moment

24:23 - Executive networks and the vendor free MBA

23:32 - Rutbusters: how to break the daily grind

*ABOUT CEO BROS AFTER HOURS* CEO BROS: After Hours is raw business talk from CEO brothers Brian Balduf (VHT Studios) and Brad Balduf (By Your Side Autism Therapy) with host Matt Croke. Every Friday they share what actually happens building companies: brutal failures, scaling disasters, and the messy truth about leadership. No corporate polish. No LinkedIn energy. Just honest stories from the trenches.

🍸 *WIND DOWN WITH THE BROS: THIS WEEK'S COCKTAILS* Three drinks for three ways to sharpen your edge. Pick the one that matches your Friday.

🍸 THE WHETSTONE Brian Balduf - The storyteller who named it and sold the company Recipe: • 2 oz Irish whiskey • ¾ oz lemon juice • ½ oz honey syrup • 2 dashes Angostura bitters • Lemon twist • Shake with ice, strain into rocks glass The Vibe: Takes a minute to build right, but once it's sharp everything cuts cleaner. Brian didn't invent skill development, he named it, made everyone in the room feel it, and proved it works.

🍸 PROJECT STAR TREK Brad Balduf - The operator who challenged 7 leaders and got 17 answers Recipe: • 2 oz tequila reposado • ¾ oz fresh lime juice • ½ oz agave syrup • 2 dashes orange bitters • Orange twist • Shake with ice, strain into coupe The Vibe: Bold challenge, unexpected results. Brad told his team to find AI solutions and walked out with 17 best practices. This drink goes somewhere you didn't expect when you started shaking it.

🍸 THE RUTBUSTER Matt Croke - The host who breaks the pattern every single week Recipe: • 2 oz rye whiskey • ¾ oz lemon juice • ½ oz honey syrup • 3 dashes Peychaud's bitters • Lemon twist • Shake with ice, strain into coupe The Vibe: Take a different road to work. Wear something unexpected. Order something you've never tried. Matt keeps these two from grinding the same groove every episode. The Peychaud's is the thing you didn't see coming. Make all three. Which one are you? Naming the problem? Running the challenge? Just breaking the pattern? Tag us.

*JOIN THE CONVERSATION* https://x.com/CeoBrosAH https://www.instagram.com/ceobrosah/ https://www.facebook.com/CEOBrosAH https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-bros

#Entrepreneurship #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #CEOLife