Founder's Story

Daniel and Anastasia Soare start with Romania, identity, and the immigrant experience, then trace her journey from arriving in the US in 1989 to building one of the most globally recognized beauty brands in the world. Anastasia explains how she went from an esthetician job to renting one room and one chair in Beverly Hills, betting on an overlooked idea: eyebrows. She shares why curiosity and mastery mattered more than “manifesting,” how trust built her celebrity relationships, and why she sees ABH as a legacy she will never stop building, alongside her daughter.

Key Discussion Points

Anastasia shares how hard the first six months in LA were, crying daily because she left family, community, and certainty behind and arrived with no language or security. 

She explains how life under communism trained her for entrepreneurship, constant problem solving, adapting daily, and finding solutions without expecting help. 

Anastasia describes why she chose brows, using art, architecture, and the golden ratio to create a repeatable technique that made faces look balanced and lifted. 

She recalls being told she was crazy by her husband, landlord, and community, but her mindset was simple: what do I have to lose if I believe in this. 

The Oprah moment in 1998 became the turning point, her “Oscar moment,” because Oprah understood the concept and broadcast it to the world before social media existed. 

She explains how celebrity relationships grew over decades, including working with Jennifer Lopez from early in her career, and why trust is everything at that level. 

Anastasia shares her partnership with private equity in 2018, then reveals she personally invested $225M to maintain majority control when the firm exited after COVID disruption. 

She describes ABH as pure legacy, saying she will never “retire,” because innovation and building products with her daughter is her purpose. 

She explains product innovation as a loop of consumer insight, social signals, and chemistry advances, sharing how formulas like brow pomade became possible only when labs could make them waterproof. 

Anastasia credits her daughter for pushing ABH onto Instagram in 2012 to educate customers digitally and reduce constant travel, which later fueled massive growth in retail.

Takeaways

Immigrant grit is transferable, the same mindset that helped Anastasia survive scarcity became the mindset that helped her build a brand under pressure. 

You do not need a huge dream to start, you need obsession with mastering one craft, and for Anastasia that craft was brows. 

Success is easier to achieve than to maintain, and long term winners keep working like rent is due even after the brand is iconic. 

If you want to win as a founder, leave ego behind, ask questions, admit what you do not know, and learn directly from customers. 

Legacy is a decision, and Anastasia’s $225M reinvestment shows how founders protect what they built when outside capital priorities shift.

Closing Thoughts

Anastasia Soare’s story is proof that category creation starts with conviction before the market agrees. She did not follow a trend, she created one, then defended it with craft, discipline, and decades of trust. This episode is a reminder that the American Dream is not a vibe, it is endurance, humility, and the willingness to bet on yourself twice, even after you’ve already “won.”

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Daniel and Guest Host Nadja interview Craig Hamilton-Parker about how he developed his psychic practice, how he distinguishes intuition from opinion, and why he believes prediction is about probability, not destiny. Craig shares a bold call on the Los Angeles mayor race, then zooms out to discuss broader global tensions and what he sees as an approaching “pressure window” in the coming years. They also explore AI, consciousness, and Craig’s belief that periods of instability can trigger deeper questions about meaning and identity.

Key Discussion Points

Craig explains his background and how his work evolved from early experiences into public-facing predictions, plus the responsibility that comes with making specific calls. 

He shares his prediction that Spencer Pratt will be the next LA mayor, and the conversation examines why “off-script” authenticity can outperform traditional political playbooks. 

Craig outlines how he thinks about major world events as shifting probability paths, emphasizing that timing can be difficult and outcomes can change with collective decisions. 

They discuss current geopolitical flashpoints and Craig’s view of a heightened risk period that could peak around 2028, while still leaving room for de-escalation and course correction. 

On AI, Craig takes a tool-based view, arguing that it can amplify or destabilize humanity depending on how people use it, and he believes human meaning-making still matters most.

Takeaways

Predictions, in Craig’s view, are probability maps, not fate, and the most constructive stance is preparation without fatalism. 

People respond emotionally during uncertainty, which is why authentic, unpolished voices can rise fast in politics and media. 

If you consume prediction content, keep discernment: treat it as one input, not a replacement for decision-making and personal responsibility. 

AI may accelerate output and misinformation at the same time, making verification, calm thinking, and trusted relationships even more valuable.

Closing Thoughts

This episode is less about “believing or not believing” and more about how humans seek certainty in chaotic times. Craig Hamilton-Parker leaves listeners with a challenge: stay curious, stay grounded, and don’t outsource your agency to fear—whether it comes from news cycles, algorithms, or predictions.

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Kate Monroe went from Marine Corps veteran to 8-figure CEO, actress, mother, and one of the most relentless entrepreneurs you'll ever hear from. But the lesson that shaped her life did not come from business school. It came from her dad when she was 7 years old.

In this episode of Founder's Story, Daniel Robbins sits down with Kate Monroe to talk about how she scaled her company from $750,000 to nearly $34 million in sales in just three years, why she believes success starts with a decision, and how one childhood lesson taught her to handle pressure, problems, and pain without letting them ruin everything else.

Kate shares the difference between being a "makeup bag person" and a "toolbox person," a simple mindset shift that helped her compartmentalize challenges, build a veteran-owned company, run for Congress, step into film, and launch Studio Mint.

This is a conversation about grit, discipline, ambition, and what it really takes to keep going when most people would quit.

In this episode, we cover:

The lesson Kate learned from her dad at 7 years old

How she scaled from $750K to nearly $34M in sales

Why "decided" became one of the most important words in her life

How she writes a full book in just 14 hours

Why being the face of your brand can change everything

The mindset behind outworking the competition

Her move into acting, movies, vertical shorts, and Studio Mint

Why she believes social media has made people more disconnected

The difference between starting something and actually finishing it

Follow Kate Monroe: Instagram / Socials: @KateMonroeCEO Website: KateMonroeCEO.com

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Daniel and Eric Ries explore the collision of Lean Startup thinking with the AI era, why “anyone with a credit card” can now access world class tools, and why that democratization also creates brutal competition. Eric argues fatalism about AI is dangerous because we still have agency, but only if we build civic infrastructure and accountability. The conversation then pivots into Incorruptible, where Eric documents a 200 year pattern: mission driven companies discover a better way to build, then still get ruined at the peak of success through bureaucracy, extraction, and misaligned incentives.

Key Discussion Points

Eric says AI is an extension of macro trends he’s written about for decades: access to the means of production is now cheap and global, which makes entrepreneurship more open than ever. 

He challenges the assumption that making one step faster makes the whole process easier, because entrepreneurship is adversarial and competitors and incumbents get the same acceleration. 

Eric explains why he’s skeptical of fully unsupervised agents for mission critical work: reliability breaks down as tasks encounter out of distribution scenarios, so humans-in-the-loop matter. 

He introduces Incorruptible and the idea that governance is a design problem, not a vibes problem, describing companies being “surgically deboned” as they grow and optimize for extraction over value. 

Eric breaks the “double mystery”: if mission driven capitalism is more profitable, why do companies still get ruined, yet a few outliers like Patagonia and Costco resist the pattern. 

He argues it’s “always too early until it’s too late” to protect mission, and recommends structural moves like writing purpose into the corporate charter and designing boards and protections early. 

They discuss alternative liquidity and longevity structures beyond a classic exit, including foundations, ESOPs, employee ownership trusts, and purpose trusts, citing examples like Eileen Fisher and Patagonia. 

Eric reframes the word “exit” as part of the problem and shares research suggesting many founders regret selling one year later, questioning what success is for if it destroys what mattered.

Takeaways

AI makes building easier, but it also makes everyone faster, so the advantage comes from judgment, focus, and designing systems that can outlearn competition. 

If you want to protect mission, you have to encode it structurally, not just culturally, because the gap between stated purpose and actual incentives will eventually swallow the company. 

“Exit” is not the only path to liquidity, and founders can design for longevity with structures like ESOPs, purpose trusts, and foundation ownership. 

Agentic AI is powerful when humans stay the driver, but dangerous when accountability is impossible and reliability becomes probabilistic. 

The earlier you build protections, the easier they are, because governance becomes exponentially harder to change once scale and incentives lock in.

Closing Thoughts

Eric Ries helped define how modern startups ship products, but this episode shows he’s now focused on something deeper: how great companies survive success without betraying their purpose. In an AI era where building is cheap and truth is noisy, the real edge becomes institutional design, clarity of mission, and the courage to structure a business that outlives you without losing its soul.

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Daniel Robbins interviews Chuck Knueve about watching his son suffer for decades while the healthcare system searched for answers. Chuck breaks down why Cushing’s disease is so difficult to diagnose, what he believes is broken in the process, and how earlier testing could prevent irreversible harm. He also shares why he wrote the book during COVID, how he learned to write at 73 by joining writing guilds, and why he structured the story through his son’s point of view to show what families live with at home, not just what doctors see in clinics.

Key Discussion Points

Chuck explains that diagnosis often takes years because Cushing’s hides behind common symptoms, and his son’s case took over twenty years. 

He argues the issue is not one person, but the diagnostic process and guidelines, especially testing not happening soon enough. 

Chuck shares the early red flags he wishes had triggered action sooner, including the “buffalo hump,” “moon face,” and abdominal stretch marks appearing together. 

He emphasizes the importance of finding an endocrinologist who specializes in Cushing’s disease, ideally at a university or teaching hospital. 

Chuck describes the moment he committed to writing the book, a family Zoom call during COVID where his siblings challenged him to start. 

He explains why he added jingles: not to be cute, but to create memory triggers that help people recognize the pattern months or years later.

Takeaways

Rare diseases can hide in plain sight, and persistent multi-symptom patterns deserve early testing, not years of waiting. 

Parents and patients often have to advocate harder than they think, including pushing for specialist care when the path stalls. 

Even when the disease is corrected, delayed diagnosis can mean permanent damage, which is why time is the real enemy. 

Writing can become advocacy, and Chuck’s goal is simple: make the next family’s journey shorter than his son’s.

Closing Thoughts

This episode is a reminder that medical systems can miss what families live with every day, and that a single story can change awareness faster than a guideline update. Chuck Knueve turned decades of pain into a practical tool for earlier recognition and better outcomes. If you suspect something is off and you keep hearing “wait and see,” this conversation will push you to ask better questions and keep going.

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