News / Updates:

* 🤝 We host a bunch of events. In cities like Nashville (tonight), Washington D.C. (next week), Houston (22nd), Dallas (20th), and Wausau, WI. Check out our events here.

* ⭐ Check out last week’s episode of CF with Juan Dominguez of Ad Aeternum Media

* 🤖 We recently launched a bot to help you learn from ALL the content we’ve produced. Join the Guild today to gain access.

* 💸 Want to invest in other Catholic projects/companies/ventures? Subscribe (for free) to the Faithful Steward newsletter.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Guest: John Cannon - Topic: When to Close a Chapter

* Core Takeaway: Take the Next Step

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

John Cannon | Monk Mindset

Today’s guest is the one and only John Cannon. He started SENT Ventures after many years as a monk. SENT currently puts on one of the biggest conferences for Catholic builders every year (happening in Denver this year). But now John is on to his next venture.

We take some time to discuss his journey, and we spend a bit of time on what it looks like to close a chapter and go onto the next one. It’s a core focus of the discussion.

John’s genuine spirit and care for the work he’s doing is very evident to all who meet him. Hopefully that comes through in this interview.

Do what John has promoted, build like the saints!

Want to get your business in front of hundreds of business owners?

Sponsor this podcast! — Reach out, admin@catholicfounders.com

Core Lesson:

The journey you’re called on, is going to be a lot crazier than you imagine. God is helping you take step after step — He doesn’t usually share the next 100 steps. But trust Him!

John’s journey, like many of us, did not go in a straight line. As entrepreneurs, we have lived this and seen how many ups and downs the entrepreneurship life has.

But what’s funny is often when we start out, we think it’s going to be in a straight line. Growth is going to be up and to the right, and before you know it, we’re going to be millionaires.

Anyone who’s been in this for any period of time knows that’s not exactly how it goes.

However, despite all of these ups and downs, the point is we must trust in God and take the next step and the next step and the next step. We must follow Him with trust, knowing that He will be with us.

The road ahead isn’t likely a straight line, but I assure you its the journey of a lifetime.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* SENT Ventures

* Monk Mindset

* Hallow

* Missionaries of Charity - Calcutta

* Institute of Christ the King

* Mystery of Transfiguration of Jesus

* Come Holy Spirit Prayer

* Her Last Conversations (book)

Select Quotes:

* “The faith had transformed my life so much. I was like, well, why don't people like take this seriously out there?” - John Cannon

* “It just got me seeing that entrepreneurship has actually been a key ingredient to how the church has renewed historically.” - John Cannon

* “I found that there was like a lot of them, one of the things that they really benefited from or that was most important or meaningful to them was having like a community or at least a few other entrepreneurs they could really like, they trusted and they could bring hard problems or issues too to get.” - John Cannon

* “There's a saying in entrepreneurship, fail fast, and that's actually preferable. If you just fail very quickly, then you know that doesn't work, and you can move on to the next thing. Like it's actually really painful to fail slowly because then you don't actually know you're like failing over a long period of time.”- John Cannon

* “God, if you don't want this, like just crush it or have it fail or like, like actually praying that prayer.” - John Cannon

* “The wheat and the weeds are all together, right? A little bit in almost any human endeavor.” — John Cannon

* “I think the hard part for me sometimes feels, though, that there are two or three viable options that it feels like God's kind of saying, like, Hey, it's up to you to choose. Right? Like at the end of the day, still want you to be, to use your agency, to use your free will...” — Silas Mähner

* “God will help open those doors in that path. And then I think on the human and natural level, like we're not relieved of doing the work there too, right?” - John Cannon

Key Moments: (outline)

* [00:00] Intro Silas introduces John Cannon and sets the stage for discussing monastic life, high-level business networks, and the transition into fresh vocational missions.

* [05:08] Founding SENT: John describes his deep-dive study into historical church renewal leaders like St. Benedict and St. Francis, highlighting the entrepreneurial core driving these major movements.

* [07:56] Navigating the Evolution of Ideas An exploration of how early concepts begin as amorphous goals and must adapt continuously through initial feedback loops.

* [10:38] Building Community Among Entrepreneurs: Discussing the critical value of trusted peer circles where founders can openly process professional and spiritual hurdles.

* [13:11] Balancing of Faith & Entrepreneurship: Reflecting on the integration of everyday business with a life of prayer, including the practice of praying for non-viable paths to be cleared away.

* [15:59] From Nonprofit to For-Profit: John details the early structural considerations of Sent Ventures and how its mission evolved over time.

* [20:23] Reflections on the Impact: Discussing the unique synergy that occurs when sharp business operators and spiritually-driven apostolate leaders collaborate in a shared ecosystem.

* [23:09] Introducing Monk Mindset: John presents his latest project focused on delivering traditional monastic structure and interior habits into modern daily schedules.

* [29:27] Stoicism & Monk Mindset: Contrasting popular secular self-help philosophies with the deeply rooted, transcendent truths of Catholic monastic tradition.

* [33:06] Cultural Shifts and the Return to Tradition: Identifying a growing societal hunger for continuity, timeless truth, and traditional institutional wisdom amidst modern digital overload.

* [36:42] Monk Mindset and Its Impact on Entrepreneurship: How bridging media production with enclosed monasteries allows ancient charisms to reach millions of modern seekers.

* [41:16] Daily Practices for a Flourishing Life: Breaking down the four core daily monastic habits necessary to establish interior stability, foster community, and prevent burnout.

* [45:46] Discernment God’s Call: Exploring how to evaluate clear vocational signs and navigate the transition of handing off or wrapping up a major project.

* [50:14] Rapid Fire: A concluding fast-paced segment touching upon favorite books, formative saints, and essential insights gained on the journey.

* [58:04] Intentional Work: Why regular daily tasks, when approached with explicit intentionality, transform into a continuous expression of deep prayer.

* [58:42] Embracing Change: Encouraging builders to release personal self-reliance and confidently allow the Holy Spirit to open or shut relevant doors.

* [59:47] Closing: Final words from Silas outlining the mission of the Catholic Founders Guild and urging listeners to support fellow builders.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts, and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* 🤝 We host a bunch of events. In cities like New York, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, and even Central Wisconsin. Check out our events here.

* 🇻🇦We released an emergency episode last Tuesday to break down the newest Encyclical of Pope Leo XIV: Magnifica Humanitas.

* ⭐ Check out last week’s episode of CF with Zak Slayback and Edmund Mitchell

* 🤖 We recently launched a bot to help you learn from ALL the content we’ve produced. Join the Guild today to gain access.

* 💸 Want to invest in other Catholic projects/companies/ventures? Subscribe (for free) to the Faithful Steward newsletter.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Juan Dominguez | Ad Aeternum

Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Catholic Founders Podcast.

If you’ve spent any time bouncing around the Catholic part of Substack over the last few years, you have almost certainly crossed paths with the work of today’s guest. I am joined by Juan Dominguez, the founder of Ad Aeternum. A best-selling Substack publication formerly known as Simple Man.

Juan has built an incredible global community dedicated to a massive mission: helping young men recover deep virtue, shake off the epidemic of modern loneliness, and start living with radical purpose.

In this conversation, we talk about living a faithful life in this modern age. The interior life. Sharing our faith publicly. How building a business can satisfy the desire to conquer in modern times. And what to do about the AI situation (this was recorded pre Magnifica Humanitas FYI).

I really had fun chopping it up with Juan. I hope you enjoy this episode as well!

Wanna sponsor this podcast or the newsletter?

Reach out to Admin@catholicfounders.com to get started, and to get your business or service in front of hundreds of Catholic Business owners… every week (for very affordable rates).

Core Lesson:

True Catholic entrepreneurship is not false humility. It’s about us using our God-given talents to answer the calling He has for us.

Humility doesn’t mean being small. It doesn’t mean disagreeing with people when they compliment a skill you have.

Humility is recognizing where it all comes from and directing the praise towards Him.

Humility is realizing you’ve been given a mission calling, and answering it, regardless of how unworthy you feel.

Humility is what allows you to run a wildly successful business without it going to your head, because you don’t see it as yours at all.

Now, in the new AI era, it’s more important than ever that we take this responsibility seriously.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

Creative Works & Publications

* Ad Aeternum Substack

* Ad Aeternum YouTube Channel

* Becoming Noble by Johann Kurtz

* Simple Man (Song)

* The Fountain of Youth by Dave Durand

Scripture & Parables

* “Be the light of the world” Gospel (Matthew 5:14)

* Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30)

* Isaiah 6:8

Select Quotes:

* “At times like this, the halos are hanging from the lowest branches.” - Juan Dominguez

* “Sanctity and holiness is there for the taking. It’s really up to you to decide to be one of the few ones who are a light in this world, and the encouragement and the motivation are for you to actually do it and strive to become a saint.” - Juan Dominguez

* “You are the representation of the Gospel. You are the representation of what the Catholic Church stands for. So it’s a huge responsibility to carry, even if you’re not doing it publicly, of course, especially if you’re doing it publicly, but just in day-to-day life, in the conversations that you have with other people, it’s we have that a huge burden to bear and I think we really haven’t been understanding that and taking it with the seriousness that it deserves” - Juan Dominguez

* “If you are called to build, then build and do it for the glory of God.” - Silas Mähner

* “It’s usually just a cop out and just an excuse for cowardice to not put yourself out there and try, you know, it’s way easier to just accept what is, not try to build anything better, not try to go anywhere better, not try to be better in any way.” - Juan Dominguez

* “The coward’s way out is just using this false humility, like you said, to masquerade a cowardice that keeps you from actually doing what you need, like what your duty is, and that is to put your talents to good use” - Juan Dominguez

Share your favorite quote from above!

Key Moments: (outline)

* (00:00) - Intro : Juan Dominguez frames the vital need for promoting virtue and guiding young men back to Christ.

* (00:35) - Mission Statement : Silas Mähner outlines the core objective of Catholic Founders and introduces Juan Dominguez.

* (02:23) - The Origin of Ad Aeternum : Juan discusses his background as a Colombian writer and entrepreneur growing his Substack community.

* (04:38) - Rediscovering the Faith : Juan details how a secular masculinity project unintentionally led him back to the Catholic Church.

* (07:34) - The Heavy Burden of Hypocrisy : A deep look at why modern men reject the Church due to poor lived examples, and our duty to be the face of the Gospel.

* (11:53) - The Rebrand Blueprint : Juan shares the business and spiritual motivations for shifting from “Simple Man” to a serious faith-based media company.

* (18:39) - The AI Breaking Point : How artificial intelligence acts as a spiritual amplifier and where men must draw strict relational boundaries.

* (21:05) - The Resurgence of the Human Element : A strategic look at tech layoffs, automated markets, and why uniquely human skills are poised for a comeback.

* (28:19) - Anarchy vs. Chivalry : Confronting the cultural void that attracts lost young men to worldly gurus like Andrew Tate, and how Catholic leaders can fill it.

* (40:05) - The Masculine Drive to Conquer : Why entrepreneurship serves as a modern frontier for men to exercise their drive to build in an orderly, creative way.

* (45:18) - Cycles of Cultural Restoration : Juan envisions a hopeful future anchored in restored families, structured relationships, and traditional values.

* (50:51) - The Duty of Wealth & Talents : Busting the myth of false humility, breaking down the Parable of the Talents, and competing directly against godless influence.

* (55:14) - Rapid Fire Questions : Juan reveals his favorite scripture, an inspiring Colombian entrepreneur, his love for St. Francis, and the ultimate spiritual “cheat code”.

* (57:13) - Outro : Silas recaps his biggest takeaways, challenges listeners to stop hiding behind cowardice, and invites founders to join the Guild.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts, and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* 🤝 We host a bunch of events. In cities like New York, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, and even Central Wisconsin. Check out our events here.

* 🇻🇦We released an emergency episode last Tuesday to break down the newest Encyclical of Pope Leo XIV: Magnifica Humanitas.

* ⭐ Check out last week’s episode of CF with Matt Ingold

* 🤖 We recently launched a bot to help you learn from ALL the content we’ve produced. Join the Guild today to gain access.

* 💸 Want to invest in other Catholic projects/companies/ventures? Subscribe (for free) to the Faithful Steward newsletter.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Intro to our Guests & the Point of Today’s Podcast

Zak Slayback is a Venture Capital Investor and well-read convert to Catholicism (2020).

Edmund Mitchell is a serial entrepreneur and is very plugged into the AI world, especially on the Catholic side of the scene.

We brought them on today to discuss their key perspectives on Pope Leo’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas.

We cover a wide range of topics, but we are just scratching the surface, so let me know if you’d like to hear another one of these.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Select Quotes:

* “The fundamental anthropology that is proposed in Rerum Novarum […], is that the primary unit of society is man and his family.” - Zak Slayback

* “Unemployment is a grave evil. That is one thing that is noted in the document, citing back to John Paul II’s social encyclicals. Why is it a grave evil? Well, one, because work is a good thing for man.” - Zak Slayback

* “Pope Leo doesn’t give us the room to outsource our thinking to this document or outsource our thinking to any, you know, podcast or news clip, right? Like we I think sometimes we want to find a justification for things we’re already doing when often the opposite is the case, these encyclicals challenge us to change.” - Edmund Mitchell

* “The social function of credit remains irreplaceable. Finance for its own sake is fundamentally different from finance aimed at the development. Creation and evolution of work.” - Zak Slayback (Quoting from Magnifica Humanitas)

* “ROI maxing is not the purpose of being an entrepreneur. It shouldn’t be at least. It shouldn’t be the purpose behind making an investment.” - Silas Mähner

* “The call to action from the Holy Father is to develop more sustainable technologies, it’s not necessarily to tear the data. Centers down or to not build them.” - Zak Slayback

* “The decision to invest in one place rather than another, and one productive sector rather than another, is always a moral and cultural choice, and that’s italicized in the original document.” - Zak Slayback

* “Technology itself is one of the talents that we’re granted. And I was thinking a lot about the fact that we were intentionally put in this time of history to be to use the things that are at our disposal.” - Silas Mähner

* “We can use the tools that are at our disposal in our time and our own journey of sanctification is intentionally set up. to be in this time of history.” - Silas Mähner

Key Episode References:

Church Documents & Papal Teachings

* Magnifica Humanitas Encyclical | Rerum Novarum | Quadragesimo Anno | Populorum Progressio | Pacem in Terris | Redemptor Hominis | Laborem Exercens | Centesimus Annus | Caritas in Veritate | Laudato si’ | Fratelli Tutti | Gaudium et Spes | Antiqua et nova | Evangelium Vitae | Veritatis Splendor | Casti Connubii | Humanae Vitae | Second Vatican Council Documents | Paul VI - Address to the United Nations (“No war, no more war”)

Popes & Church Figures

* Pope Leo XIV | Pope Leo XIII | Pope Pius IX | Pope Pius XI | Pope Paul VI | Pope John XXIII | Pope John Paul II | Pope Benedict XVI | Pope Francis | Fr. Jean Gove, Archdiocese of Malta | Second Vatican Council

Organizations, Projects & Media

* Digital Continent

* SENT Ventures

* The Faith and AI Project

* “Delete Magisterium AI Debate” by Matthew Sanders and Mark Barnes

* Catholic Answers

* Y Combinator

* Chesterton Academy

* Simple Man / Ad Aeternum by Juan Dominguez (episode coming out this week)

Tech Companies, Tools & Frameworks

* Pinecone | Patmos Hosting | Pat Lencioni’s Working Genius

People & Other References

* Zak Slayback

* Edmund Mitchell

* Andre Karpathy

* John Johnson

* J.R.R. Tolkien

* Brian Johnson

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Key Moments: (outline)

* (00:00) - Introduction and Setting the Stage: Silas welcomes everyone back to the Catholic Founders podcast and introduces the topic of the newly released AI encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, by Pope Leo XIV.

* (04:02) - Getting the Squad Together: Silas brings on guests Zak Slayback and Edmund Mitchell, establishing their backgrounds in venture capital and Catholic tech projects.

* (05:05) - Guest Introductions: Zak shares his background as a tech investor and his 2020 conversion story, followed by Edmund introducing his work with Digital Continent and the Faith in AI project.

* (06:56) - The Encyclical Tradition and History: Zak unpacks the deep history of contemporary Catholic social teaching, charting the path from Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum to modern papal documents.

* (15:21) - Broad Takeaways on Magnifica Humanitas: Edmund and Zak explain that the document is less about specific technology and more about addressing human anthropology within the age of AI.

* (17:25) - AI as an Immersed Environment: Edmund references paragraph 110 of the encyclical to illustrate how AI has shifted from a mere tool to an environment we are completely immersed in.

* (24:10) - Moving Beyond Political Paradigms: The group discusses why analyzing Church documents through an American left-or-right political lens is a category error, emphasizing that the primary unit of society is always man and his family.

* (31:30) - Key Doctrinal Developments: Edmund and Zak discuss authoritative developments within the document, including the practical ban on autonomous weapons, just war limitations, and applying the universal destination of goods to digital data.

* (39:37) - Data Extraction and Emerging Business Models: Zak addresses the ethical concerns surrounding the high concentration of power in tech and the challenge for startup founders to create business models that respect personal data.

* (45:11) - The Rapid Evolution of Software and Infrastructure: Edmund and Zak analyze the shift toward treating compute as a utility and evaluate the environmental impact of data centers without succumbing to secular catastrophizing.

* (56:21) - Intellectual Property in a Knowledge Economy: Edmund looks at the future of intellectual property frameworks, explaining how large language models affect how creators and institutions handle their proprietary data.

* (58:45) - The Social Function of Finance and Work: Silas leads a discussion on paragraph 160 of the encyclical, diving into how financial credit and investments must always prioritize providing dignified, meaningful work rather than pure “ROI maxing”.

* (1:08:33) - Rebuilding Jerusalem and Overcoming Consumption: Silas, Zak, and Edmund call on Catholic founders and individuals to transition from passive consumption to active, real-world participation in building a civilization of love.

* (1:15:30) - Conclusion and Outro: Silas wraps up the episode by reminding listeners that technology is a given talent for our time, announces the next episode with Juan Dominguez, and extends an invitation to join the Catholic Founders Guild.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts, and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* 🤝 We have events happening in Dallas, Nashville, Wisconsin, and Columbus. Register to attend.

* 🇻🇦We released an emergency episode last Tuesday to break down the newest Encyclical of Pope Leo XIV: Magnifica Humanitas.

* ⭐ Check out last week’s episode of CF with Matt Pinto

* 🤖 We recently launched a bot to help you learn from ALL the content we’ve produced. Join the Guild today to gain access.

* 💸 Want to invest in other Catholic projects/companies/ventures? Subscribe (for free) to the Faithful Steward newsletter.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic: Matt Ingold, Founder of Metanoia Catholic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Matthew Ingold | Metanoia Catholic

Alright folks, welcome back to another episode of the Catholic Founders Podcast. Today, we are bringing you a powerful conversation recorded live at the YCP conference in Dallas with the one and only Matt Ingold, co-founder of Metanoia Catholic.

They have been building for 7 years and have evolved into a premier coach training academy that helps form executive and life coaches who integrate the Catholic faith into human development and personal growth.

We discuss:

* How founders can reclaim the entrepreneurial space from modern hustle culture.

* How looking closely at our daily biz ops can help us with our interior diologue with the Father.

* What it’s like to run a business with your wife.

* How to see God’s hand in the ups, and the downs, of running a business.

* And much more.

Regardless of what type of biz owner you are, and how far along you are on your journey, I think you’re going to like this.

Core Lesson:

Your business serves as an architectural space for your personal sanctification and a visible manifestation of the unique, unrepeatable dialogue you share with the Father.

Running your company IS your ministry. It’s God’s way of bringing others to Him through you, and bringing you to Him through the work.

The challenges of running a business are many. For Catholics, it has a new meaning though, because we know there is more to life than pursuit of money and status. We know that the only thing we can take with us when we die are the other souls that we bring along.

As entrepreneuers, we get the opportunity to affect and touch the lives of many many people in a meaningful way throughout our life. This is our mission field. Mission is the point. Bringing others to know God is the point.

When this clicks, your business is no longer about the specific mission you solve or making oodles of money, as much as it is a mission to bring more ppl to know God.

Perhaps the most fascinating thing that comes from this is, that God uses this experience to help us be sanctified. The daily challenges, the way He teaches us about ourselves, and about His providence and love; it all contributes to bringing us closer to Him… if we allow it.

So, next time you’re thinking about your business challenges, or planning the future, or wanting to complain, realize that this is your mission field. Through answering the call to enter into the mission field willingly, you’ll bring more people to know God, and you will come to closer to God, and eternal life.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* Organizations & Websites

* Metanoia Catholic

* Young Catholic Professionals (YCP)

* Catholic Coaching

* FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students)

* His Way at Work

Books & Literary Works

* The Purgative Way - How to make your coaching Catholic Course

* Soul of the Apostolate by Jean-Baptiste Chautard

* Clear Path to Making Missionary Disciples by Jim Jansen

* The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander

Assessments

* StrengthsFinder

* Working Genius

Saints, Devotions, & Scripture

* St. John Paul II

* St. John Vianney

* St. Thérèse of Lisieux

* Mother Teresa

* Our Lady of Sorrows

* Ezekiel 37: Valley of the Dry Bones

People

* Venerable Fulton Sheen

* Christopher Pereira

* Ryan Foley

* Alex Hormozi

Select Quotes:

* “Something happens when you enter an environment where you got a lot of Catholics that have a similar heart, especially in the business world. I mean, that's where my heart's at. I love business and I love my faith. So getting to share that, it invites me to kind of be better.” - Matt Ingold

* “Fulton Sheen would put it, what the church puts down, the secular world picks up.” - Matt Ingold

* “But then as entrepreneurs, we've got our business, but the business isn't our identity. It's like what we're called to do inside the business because God doesn't care if our business makes money or doesn't, right? That's not what he cares about. What he cares about is leading us closer to him through that.” - Silas Mähner

* “That's why I like coaching. It actually creates a space for somebody to pause and reflect. And suddenly those breadcrumbs that God has been leaving behind all this time, we start to see the path lighting up and his will starts to really focus and sharpen.” - Matt Ingold

* “I think everybody should have a season where they're working with somebody and the person is really guiding them through some intentional self reflection.” - Matt Ingold

* And that's like the unique mission, the unique identity that you bring into your married vocation. And when you're living that authentically, it elevates the way that you experience the married vocation.” - Matt Ingold

* “You can't give what you don't have. You certainly can't witness a relationship which is the Christian called, our telos, our end is to be in union, a relationship with God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, for all eternity, right?” - Matt Ingold

* “And so those very words, if those words that we're using are aligned with the truth of who we are, and that's the foundation of the relationship, it transforms or it elevates the relationship, because God's word always elevates, which elevates and reveals a sense of who we are and sends us on mission.” - Matt Ingold

* “But when we started to realize that no, we just had complimentary gifts and we started to make space for the gift of the other to come forward and be humble and receive, that changed everything.” - Matt Ingold

* “you discover who you are, your identity and relationship, and then your identity reveals your mission. So you have relationship, identity, mission, right? Well, the foundation of a relationship is a dialogue, two people that are conversing, communicating with one another.” - Matt Ingold

* “if you are going through life without any self-reflection because you're too distracted by the world, you are missing out on the second and third dimensions of your own existence because God created us to share in that love, right?” - Silas Mähner

* “I like to look at business as another manifestation of the work that the Holy Spirit is doing with you that’s just made in a way that can be consumed and shared with other, and experienced by other people.” - Matt Ingold

* “This is the business doing the sanctifying work on me. This is a feature, not a bug of business. If it’s really from the Lord, it will sanctify me. It will sanctify the owners. And that’s a good thing.” - Matt Ingold

Key Moments: (outline)

* [01:16] - Podcast Introduction and Mission : Host Silas Mähner introduces the show’s mission to help Catholic entrepreneurs achieve sainthood through their co-creative business journeys.

* [02:19] - Welcome and Conference Vibe : Silas welcomes Matt at the YCP (Young Catholic Professionals) conference in Dallas, highlighting the powerful energy of faith-driven business leaders.

* [03:30] - Introducing Metanoia Catholic : Matt gives an overview of Metanoia Catholic, explaining their evolution into an academy that trains and certifies Catholic life and executive coaches.

* [04:05] - The Origin of Metanoia : Matt shares how experiencing burnout while working in ministry led him and his wife to coaching, inspiring them to build a personal development framework aligned with Catholic anthropology.

* [06:18] - Reclaiming the Business World : Silas and Matt discuss the need for Catholics to reclaim leadership in standard business fields rather than abdicating them to secular humanistic ideologies.

* [08:08] - Deepening Identity and Temperaments : Matt describes identity through personal relationships and temperaments, explaining how his structured choleric nature balances his wife’s charismatic style.

* [10:54] - God’s Breadcrumbs in Entrepreneurship : Matt emphasizes the power of coaching and self-reflection to help entrepreneurs spot the “breadcrumbs” God leaves to clarify their path.

* [12:42] - The Impact of Having a Coach : Matt reveals his favorite part of his own story—investing heavily in a coach to gain self-awareness through tools like StrengthsFinder.

* [14:45] - Running a Business with Your Spouse : Matt shares practical insights on working with a spouse, highlighting the humility required to receive each other’s complementary gifts and set healthy boundaries.

* [18:45] - The Vocation Within a Vocation : Matt defines a business as a “call within a call” that should elevate a marriage rather than compete with it, serving as a litmus test for spiritual alignment.

* [20:42] - Practical Tools for Relationships : Matt recommends using profile assessments to depersonalize irritations and recognize the unique lens through which a business partner sees the world.

* [23:20] - Ministry as a Spiritual Overflow : Drawing from Soul of the Apostolate, Matt notes that any outward ministry or business must overflow from a deep, honest relationship with the Father.

* [25:24] - The Ingredients of a Unique Calling : Silas and Matt discuss how God curates a person’s geography, parents, and early experiences as custom “talents” to steward.

* [28:39] - Self-Reflection and the Trinity : Silas maps self-reflection to the relational nature of the Trinity, stressing that quiet reflection keeps business owners from getting lost in worldly distractions.

* [33:27] - The New Frontier of Evangelization : Matt points out that the workplace engages people for 40 hours a week compared to a short Sunday Mass, making Catholic business leadership a primary engine for formation.

* [35:24] - Isaac vs. Ishmael in Business : Matt warns against forcing secular growth strategies out of fear, urging business owners to let God lead the vision rather than trying to manufacture control.

* [37:57] - A $40,000 Mistake and a Shift in Strategy : Matt shares a past failure with a high-end live event and contrasts it with his current shift toward growing organically through “persons of peace”.

* [44:02] - How to Get Started as a Catholic Coach : Matt breaks down the “beyond healing” focus of positive psychology in coaching and what to look for in a certification program.

* [46:19] - Overcoming the Fee Dilemma : Matt addresses the mental barrier of charging money for faith-adjacent services, emphasizing that “people who pay, pay attention”.

* [48:50] - Rapid-Fire Questions : Matt shares his favorite scripture (Ezekiel 37), favorite entrepreneur (Alex Hormozi), favorite saint (John Vianney), and his current favorite spiritual book.

* [51:06] - Finding Metanoia Catholic : Matt directs listeners to Catholiccoaching.com to browse their certified coach directory.

* [51:56] - Podcast Outro and Call to Action : Silas closes the episode by asking listeners for reviews to boost discoverability, leaving them with his sign-off reminder: “You were created to create.”

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts, and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

Emergency Pod!

As many of you know, yesterday Pope Leo XIV published his first encyclical. It has been heavily anticipated because ever since he announced his name as Leo, we knew this was the reason and that this was coming.

We are in the midst of another industrial revolution, this time caused by AI systems.

Yesterday, instead of relaxing and enjoying the holiday, I took the whole day to read through the encyclical.

Admittedly, I thought it would take me about 4 hours to read and make a pod, but it ended up taking me all day. The only breaks I took were to eat and help my wife with a few things. I’m genuinely surprised at how long it took me. Nevertheless, it is here.

Join Our Encyclical Discussion

📆 For anyone interested, this Wednesday (tomorrow) at 12:30 pm Central Time, the Catholic Founders Guild (paid members) is having a discussion on this encyclical. You must be a paying member of our Substack to attend, so if you’d like to, please join up right away, and we will ensure you get the invite.

The Structure of My Breakdown: Summary + Key Considerations for Business Owners

This is not some scholarly take going deep into the theology. I am not a theologian. Heck, half the time I can barely speak English properly.

Instead, I summarize the key components of the introduction, 5 chapters, and the conclusion.

Then I dive into the key components of each section that I thought were interesting to focus.

Along the way, I offer my commentary on what each of these means for us as business owners.

This is by no means an extensive exploration. It is meant to help you understand the key items.

I will be writing more about this in the coming weeks and months, and I will likely do additional podcast episodes on key components of it. But I hope that this helps you figure out which part of the encyclical to focus on reading, and the key things that you, as a business owner, should be aware of.

I Need Your Help

Please, help me out by sharing this around with your friends. Ideally, please reach out to a fellow member of the Catholic Founders Guild to discuss it with.

I cannot emphasize enough that each of us has a role to play in building the city of the future that Pope Leo speaks of in this encyclical. We all have a role to play.

None of us is on the bench. This is a Church-wide effort. We must work in union.

Please share this, and please reach out with your key observations for business owners so that I can continue to formalize my understanding of how this applies to Catholic Founders.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Key Moments: (outline)

Here are the timestamps for your podcast show notes, organized cleanly by the key chapters and themes discussed in the transcript.

Podcast Timestamps: Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas

* 00:00 – Introduction: Reflecting on recording late and the release of Magnifica Humanitas on May 25th.

* 00:46 – Setting expectations: A non-theologian’s summary focusing on business owners and major takeaways.

* 01:21 – Why this encyclical matters: The significance of the name “Leo XIV” and the historical connection to Catholic Social Teaching (Rerum Novarum and Laborem Exercens).

* 02:18 – High-level overview of the document’s structure (Introduction, 5 Chapters, and Conclusion).

* 04:02 – Deep Dive: The Introduction – The Tower of Babel vs. the walls of Jerusalem, technology as non-neutral, and the human heart.

* 05:43 – Chapter 1: The Church’s Journey with Humanity – Continuous tradition, initiating good processes, and moving away from cultural strongholds.

* 06:50 – Chapter 2: Core Principles & The Spicy Take on Data – Restating human dignity and the common good; why data, patents, and algorithms are now considered universal goods.

* 07:54 – Chapter 2 (Cont.): Subsidiarity & Solidarity – The role of the state, environmental impacts of data centers, and avoiding exploitation.

* 09:30 – Chapter 3: The Dangers of AI – Why AI is not human, the trap of fake objectivity, and the simulation of human connection.

* 11:15 – Chapter 3 (Cont.): Critiquing the Technocratic Paradigm – Why human suffering is a feature, not a bug, and a response to transhumanism.

* 12:54 – Chapter 4: Truth, Work, and Modern Slavery – The pursuit of truth and a direct challenge to business owners regarding layoffs and profit margins.

* 14:41 – Chapter 4 (Cont.): The Dark Side of Tech Infrastructure – Data labeling exploitation, child labor in supply chains, and the hijacking of attention spans.

* 16:11 – Chapter 5: AI in Warfare – The socialization of war and the absolute necessity of keeping humans in the loop for lethal choices.

* 17:33 – Chapter 5 (Cont.): Building a Civilization of Love – The 5 pillars of peace, reviving dialogue, and a practical challenge to know your neighbors.

* 19:10 – Conclusion & Final Reflections – The Incarnation through Mary, our role as “weavers of hope,” and final thoughts for Catholic entrepreneurs.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts, and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* 🚀 We just hired Oscar Shingledecker to help us grow! Our first FT hire. So if he reaches out to you, it’s legit.

* 🤝 We have events happening in Dallas, Nashville, Wisconsin, and Columbus. Register to attend.

* 🎵 Check out last week’s episode of CF with Will Hickl — the Catholic Spotify

* 🤖 We just launched a bot to help you learn from ALL the content we’ve produced. Join the Guild today to gain access.

* 💸 Want to invest in other Catholic projects/companies/ventures? Subscribe (for free) to the Faithful Steward newsletter.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the community/group chat, our AI Chatbot trained fully on CF Content, and the CF Guild member directory.

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic: Matthew Pinto — Founder of Ascension Press & Ascension Presents

* Core Takeaway: Build for Eternity

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Matthew Pinto | Ascension Press, Catholic Catalyst, The Genesis Group

Hey folks! Excited to share this discussion with Matthew Pinto. He is an absolute legend.

Not only did he found one of the most widely known Catholic media assets today (Ascension Press / Presents, yes, the place Fr. Mike Schmitz Publishes), but he also does coaching of startups and angel investing.

Matthew is one of the rare people who deeply understand that their money is not for themselves. He views his role as a servant of God here to leverage the connections and network that he has with the excess capital he has to help advance the kingdom of God.

Oh, and he’s a serial entrepreneur. In addition to Ascension Press, he founded CatholicExchange.com, the Theology of the Body Institute, and Envoy Magazine.

It would be an understatement to say that Matthew is a giant in the history of Catholic Media in the modern age. But, you wouldn’t know it by his humility.

Check out the Faithful Steward!

If you’re a Catholic and want to invest in other Catholics, sign up for our free deal flow newsletter today.

Go to https://catholicdealflow.com and start getting deals in your inbox.

Core Lesson:

As Catholic builders, we need to think in Decades.

Behind every massive, visible breakthrough we witness in the Church today (ie, the success of Father Mike Schmitz’s video content) lies a decade (or more) of hidden groundwork. There was infrastructure in place to handle the growth when it happened.

This means, as we build our companies, we need to be thinking in decades. As founders, it can be super frustrating if things aren’t ‘taking off’ right away, but, as is evident through Matt’s story, sometimes the time is necessary.

Jesus gave us the same example. 30 years of preparation for 3 years of ministry.

Let’s build for the future — let’s build for eternity! We as Catholics should understand this better than anyone else.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* Books & Publications

* Companion Book to Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ

* Only the Paranoid Survive by Andy Grove

* The Great Adventure Bible / Bible Timeline

Scripture & Parables

* Book of Revelation

* Parable of the Talents

Movies

* The Passion of the Christ

Select Quotes:

* “I think this is the... I guess you could say in some ways the challenge of our age is like if we're going to try to be good Catholics in the world, it's a very challenging world to be in in so many ways, but we cannot become paralyzed by fear of making a mistake or, you know, fear of the wrong decision because then we have no momentum.” - Silas Mähner

* “One is the book of Revelation with the Lord when he says, I'd rather you be hot or cold, just not lukewarm. I'm of the opinion that we're supposed to use prudence. You know, it's the mother of all virtues… I think the Lord would rather us strike out than not swing.” - Matt Pinto

* “So I encourage anyone who's listening, who loves the Lord, loves the Church, wants to do things, pray specifically for a double portion of blessing and zeal and fervor for the faith.” - Matt Pinto

* “Praise if everything depends on God. Work if everything depends on you.” - Matt Pinto

* “And believe me, the celebration is not in oneself. It's in what the Lord did through broken instruments. Yes, we had skills, but it was all a gift.”- Matt Pinto

* “She said, money in the right hands is a very good thing.” - Matt Pinto (quoting a prominent mother in Philadelphia)

* “But what they do is they guard, they build safeguards when you don’t fully trust yourself. And at the end of the day, no human being should fully trust him or herself.”- Matt Pinto

* “If you think of an idea and it looks like it works out from the different angles that you look at it, be bold and go for these things.” - Matt Pinto

* “Think big, but realize that you gotta lock in and you gotta put in the time.” - Matt Pinto

* “Think big, but realize that you gotta lock in and you gotta put in the time. Very few things are cultural phenomena. Even the viral things that we see pop up. Well, for every one viral phenomena, how many videos are produced that are not viral? 500,000? Have optimism, have zeal, pray for zeal. But I'm sorry guys, most instances you gotta get ready to lock in because there really are very few free lunches. It's just gonna take time.”- Matt Pinto

Key Moments: (outline)

* [00:00] - Groundwork for Success: Matt Pinto highlights the 15 years of hidden groundwork behind Ascension Presents.

* [00:52] - Show Intro: Silas welcomes listeners and introduces serial Catholic entrepreneur Matt Pinto.

* [03:24] - Welcome and Framing: Silas sets the stage for a conversation exploring Matthew’s vast portfolio of faith-based building.

* [04:04] - Introducing Matthew Pinto: Matt shares his background and historical achievements across multiple ministries.

* [05:25] - Vision and Drive: Matt explains how conviction for the Catholic faith drives organizational action.

* [06:29] - Handling Mistakes and Regrets: A reflection on navigating individual wrong choices while avoiding macro regrets.

* [07:53] - Overcoming Lukewarmness: Matt shares how scriptural reflection drives him to push hard rather than stay passive.

* [09:21] - Praying for Charism and Zeal: Christopher West’s insight on passion and the power of praying for a double portion of spirit.

* [11:09] - Grace and Nature in Apostolates: Balancing hard work with reliance on God and rejecting false humility.

* [14:20] - Commerce and Faith: Two vital self-examination questions for entrepreneurs concerning wealth and kingdom building.

* [19:20] - Inflection Points and The Passion Project: The inside story behind the massive success of the Mel Gibson companion book.

* [24:43] - Discovering Father Mike Schmitz: Leadership lessons on building a young staff to stay ahead of cultural shifts.

* [33:37] - Tactical Advisory for Builders: Analyzing total addressable markets, assessing hidden costs, and identifying loss leaders.

* [34:40] - Defeating Ego in Business: Matt warns that ego is dust and underscores the need for structural safeguards.

* [40:31] - The Priority of Personal Prayer: Matt candidly reflects on wishing he had tripled his personal prayer time during operational seasons.

* [47:20] - Catholic Integration of Body and Spirit: How Catholic theology leads to superior human resource and business practices.

* [50:06] - Discerning Excess Capital: Strategic views on tithing safeguards and managing financial returns.

* [56:27] - Accountability and Salvation: A sobering reminder from a mentor that failing to bring our natural gifts to bear risks our salvation.

* [58:08] - Scriptural Inspiration: Matt shares the favorite Bible verses that hung on his office wall for a decade.

* [1:03:09] - Episode Outro: Final practical thoughts on connection points, investment pauses, and closing encouragements.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts, and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* Shout out to Fio for sponsoring this recording at the recently held YCP Conference 🙌🏼

* We have events happening in Dallas, Nashville, Wausau, and Columbus. Register to attend.

* I recently went on the BeatiDudes podcast. Check it out here.

* We just launched a bot to help you learn from ALL the content we’ve produced. Join the Guild today to gain access.

* Want to invest in other Catholic projects/companies/ventures? Subscribe (for free) to the Faithful Steward newsletter.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic: Will Hickl — Taking on the Music Giant: Spotify

* Core Takeaway: Build for the Long Haul

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Will Hickl |Fio, Novum Records

I’ve known Will for a while now. Ever since he liked one of my posts about Catholic Founders stuff, he’s been ensnared in my web muahhahaha. Just kidding.

However, when he liked that post, I reached out to see what he thought of the content. This led to him eventually joining the Catholic Founders Guild and becoming one of the most active members. Always being helpful and shares his witness with the world.

In the time we’ve known each other, I’ve seen Will go through some challenging times in life, things out of his control, and the way he handled them was truly inspiring to me. It was about time we had him on the podcast to tell his story and to share more about what he’s doing to take on Spotify (among other things).

It’s also because of Will that I ended up getting to record these in-person interviews in Dallas at the YCP conference. So… shoutout to him for that.

If you’re not already, go download the Fio app, become a paying member, and go subscribe to our podcast on there 🤣.

Check out the Faithful Steward!

If you’re a Catholic and want to invest in other Catholics, sign up for our free deal flow newsletter today.

Go to https://catholicdealflow.com and start getting deals in your inbox.

Core Lesson:

Taking the Long view is, in most cases, the Catholic ‘way’ to be an entrepreneur.

This manifests in two ways with Will’s story.

First, he’s building Fio slowly but surely. He hasn’t given up despite not seeing huge uptake from day one. He’s building the business slowly but surely. He takes his excess income and invests it in Fio to keep it going. This has led to them having a strong position in the market, and the compounding continues. Also worth noting that in some cases this has meant not focusing solely on the artists ‘financial appeal’ so that he can invest in them and give them a chance when others may not.

Second is building a platform that rewards the artists more than Spotify. He’s taking a long view on this, meaning that he’ll draw in more artists who want better payment per stream. Sure, they are giving up more of the profit to the artists, but the artists make the platform. This is the key behind Catholic entrepreneurship. We do the right thing in the long view. We build companies that make a profit for the long term. Not just for one quarter.

This is how we win. Build good companies that do good, for the long haul.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* YCP Conference

* Novum Records

* Fio.fm

* Grace Lee

* The Church Needs Your Dreams (Will Hickl’s talk)

* St. John Nepomucene

* Our Lady of Walsingham

Select Quotes:

* “ I think entrepreneurs and business people should know their industry or what they're trying to do, I think they should know it well. I think they should be a subject matter expert if they want to do it well” - Will Hickl

* “ You need to understand the basics and be willing to have that learning spirit the same way that we have to have that learning and willingness in our faith. ” - Silas Mähner

* “ God is not going to ask me, you know, hopefully I'm talking to him before the gates of heaven and he's not going to be like, hey, how many artists did you like get a million streams for? How many artists got like big Instagram followings? He's going to be like, hey, like, did you love them well? Did you treat them with dignity? Did you help them glorify me through their gifts? ” - Will Hickl

* “ I genuinely think it'll be a different generation will see it and I'm okay with that and I love that idea even that I like I want to build something that like, you know will last generations ” - Will Hickl

* “ I think the church deserves excellence… I have zero qualms with ambition as a Catholic. I think, honestly, think God deserves it. ” - Will Hickl

* “… regardless if you have a lot of horsepower upstairs or you don't, like you are called to use whatever horsepower you were given to take it as far as God will take you. ” - Silas Mähner

* “ If you know, if you think to yourself, if you go to bed and you're like, I should do this, but I don't know, and you dream about like, or you think to yourself like, am I gonna regret this in 30 years that I didn't do this? And the answer is strongly yes, you've got your answer. ” - Will Hickl

* “ …no matter what anxieties I had about work like once I see the crucifix and I realized like none of that stuff matters like eternity is all that matters… ” - Silas Mähner

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:26 - Podcast Introduction : Silas welcomes listeners to the episode recorded live at the YCP conference in Dallas and introduces Will Hickl.

* 02:32 - Architectural Motivations and Childhood Legos : Will shares how his love for building Lego sets guided his approach to early ideation and starting new projects.

* 05:32 - The Origin Story of Novum Records : Will recounts a powerful moment of prayer in adoration that led him to establish an infrastructure for Catholic artists.

* 08:55 - Subject Matter Expertise in Code and Business : A deep dive into why founders should study the core components of their industry, referencing books on music contracts and Android development.

* 14:01 - Answering the Call and the Concept of Late Bloomers : The discussion centers on matching God’s timeline instead of forcing immediate professional milestones.

* 18:18 - Discernment and Navigating Dry Seasons : Will shares his personal benchmark for evaluating entrepreneurial initiatives based on active prayer and spiritual fruitfulness.

* 20:02 - Redefining Balance Sheets by Eternal Standards : Will explains how he evaluates success based on the dignity and care of creators rather than conventional corporate metrics.

* 34:00 - Holy Ambition and the Parable of the Talents : An exploration of why excellence is an offering to God and how burying gifts out of fear harms the church.

* 46:10 - Cultivating Communities for Catholic Creators : Will and Silas discuss the value of the Catholic Founders Guild and the significance of intentional consumer habits.

* 53:19 - Embracing Calculated Risks and Overcoming Regret : A tactical discussion about calculating personal runway and following a clear path of long-term vocational clarity.

* 58:13 - The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as a Centerpiece : Silas emphasizes utilizing the flexibility of entrepreneurship to visit daily Mass to calm professional anxieties.

* 1:02:59 - Outro and Call to Support Creators : Silas wraps up the episode by encouraging listeners to leave reviews and download the Fio app to directly support independent Catholic content.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts, and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* Shout out to Fio for sponsoring this recording at the recently held YCP Conference 🙌🏼

* We have events happening in Houston, San Francisco, Dallas, Nashville, Wausau, and Columbus. Register to attend.

* Luca at Fides is hosting an awards night on May 15th in NYC. We’re a sponsor. Sign up here.

* I recently went on the BeatiDudes podcast. Check it out here.

* We just launched a bot to help you learn from ALL the content we’ve produced. Join the Guild today to gain access.

* Want to invest in other Catholic projects/companies/ventures? Subscribe (for free) to the Faithful Steward newsletter.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic: Edmund Mitchell

* Core Takeaway: AI is the Great Equalizer

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Edmund Mitchell. Creator of Digital Continent, The Faith & AI Project, Real+True, Zealous Parish Ministers

Welcome back to the pod! Today, we’re sharing an episode we recorded in person at the YCP conference in Dallas a few weeks back. I was joined by Edmund Mitchell. He and I had a lot of fun, probably because in so many ways we are very similar personalities, both just loaded with ADHD, ideas, and energy. You kind of get the picture.

I learned about Edmund because he recently hosted a debate between Mark Barnes and Matthew Harvey Sanders about AI on his podcast called The Faith and AI Project.

Edmund is dedicated to helping Catholics turn their obsessions into intellectual property, authority, and income by applying Catholic anthropology to modern marketing.

Our conversation dives straight into the biggest world-changing shift of our time—Artificial Intelligence—which Edmund argues is uniquely geared towards entrepreneurs who are intrinsically motivated.

For Catholic Founders, this is an immense opportunity to escape the corporate monkey life by leaning into our unique calling and putting our personality into our work.

Invest in Other Catholic-Run Businesses

Sign up today (for free) for the Faithful Steward. Our free, private, deal-flow newsletter for Catholic investors to discover Catholic-run business ventures to invest in. —> CatholicDealFlow.com

We gotta help each other out! Doing our part to connect the ecosystem.

(Raising? Submit your deck here)

Core Lesson:

AI is the Great Equalizer, and Will Enable 100x More Catholic Entrepreneurship

With AI, the barriers to starting a business are much lower. You can get started with very little pre-existing knowledge. Turning those ideas you dreamt up, or the ones you saw on Instagram, into a real business has a minimal barrier now.

On top of this, more people will need to build out some sort of side hustle. Either they will be laid off because of AI, or they will need additional income because the rising cost of living makes it impossible for them to pay for their 10 kids.

The ingredients are there for some spicy soup.

As Catholics, who have true knowledge of our purpose, we must seize this moment to build business. To gain influence and prestige, to create a future that puts human flourishing at the center of society.

(There are many other things I could have put from this episode, but this one stands out to me the most)

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* Digital Continent (Edmundo Reyes)

* Zealous Parish Ministers

* Real and True (digital content based on the catechism of Catholic Church)

* Scott Hahn

* Tim Ferriss

* Richard Feynman

* Working Genius

* Murray Davis

* Matthew Harvey Sanders vs Mark Barnes debate podcast

* Magisterium AI

* A Thousand True Fans - Kevin Kelly

* Lucas Wall, Catholic University of America

* Leviticus 3:16

* The Righteous Mind - Jonathan Haidt

* Dietrich Von Hildebrand

* FIO

* YCP Conference

* The Faith and AI Project

* Delete Magisterium AI - Mark Barnes article

Select Quotes:

* “If you’re in the old model of the industrial revolution, the public school system, it was there to train people to be good employees. But the AI world is much more geared towards entrepreneurs. And these are people that are intrinsically motivated, who can come up a direction to go on their own. So instead of what’s the correct answer to the question, an entrepreneur is saying, is the question?” —Edmund Mitchell

* “As Catholic entrepreneurs, we are not just created to achieve some sort of earthly fame or glory or monetary pile. We are called to be instruments of God’s will in the world and to bring glory to Him. So that’s what we’re here and that’s what we’re all about.” —Silas Mähner

* “The litmus test of have you found your one thing is does it work for you?”—Edmund Mitchell

* “There’s a lot of people that aren’t saying something new because they’re scared. They’re scared to put their unique personality into their message.” —Edmund Mitchell

* “As long as I just keep coming up with ideas, just keep pursuing things. At some point you’ll find it.” —Edmund Mitchell

* “AI is one of the most, I mean, it is the most groundbreaking thing. I thought the internet and social media was going to be the most revolutionary thing, but AI really is.”

* —Edmund Mitchell

* “There’s a difference between automated and automatic. Something that’s automatic, I automatically send a text, or I automatically get a reminder to send a text to my sister when it’s her birthday. That’s automatic. Automated is a robot sends and crafts a text and sends it to my sister. So we want to avoid automated things. But we want to avoid automating things that should be a human touch and are built built on trust and connection. We want to make other things automatic.” —Edmund Mitchell

* “Of all of the disruption and confusion, we [Catholics] should be thinking, we should be so thankful that we have truth and morality to lean on. And we have these anchors because the number of people who are going to have lost all sense of stability and understanding of who they are. is going to be really hard for a lot of people.” — Silas Mähner

Key Moments: (outline)

* [02:55] - Edmund Mitchell’s Work and Mission: Mitchell introduces himself as a freelance content creator and brand strategist whose mission is to help Catholics turn their “obsessions into intellectual property, authority and income” by applying Catholic anthropology to modern marketing.

* [04:24] - Entrepreneurial Origin: Mitchell shares that his entrepreneurial journey began in college when he secretly read business books while serving in parish ministry, noting how business and Catholic theology helped each other.

* [08:24] - Finding Your Unique Calling: Mitchell advises defining your life’s work by picking “one question” for the next five years, stating the “litmus test” for finding your one thing is “does it work for you?”.

* [11:27] - Ideas Spreading: Mitchell quotes sociologist Davis Murray: “Ideas don’t spread because they’re true Ideas spread because they’re interesting,” and notes that many Catholic content creators are scared to put their unique personality into their message.

* [18:38] - The Creator Economy: Mitchell discusses the massive growth of the creator economy and how AI is increasing the effectiveness of solopreneurs, making freelancers look “much more like just business owners”.

* [25:27] - The Mindset of Persistence: Mitchell shares his long-term mindset on failure: “I’ll never fail because I’ll come up with another idea” and just keep pursuing things until you find it.

* [32:02] - AI as a Groundbreaking Shift: Mitchell calls AI “the most groundbreaking thing” since electricity, noting its exponential growth and current security challenges with models like Mythos.

* [36:36] - Leveraging AI Agents: Mitchell explains advanced AI use as having a “Jarvis companion AI” that routes tasks to an entire “team of agents” (research, content creation, SEO), allowing him to operate as an advisor to his company of agents.

* [38:21] - Automated vs. Automatic: Mitchell clarifies the need to avoid “automated” tasks (robot crafting a text) and instead make other things “automatic” (a reminder), especially to preserve the “human touch” built on trust and connection.

* [49:50] - The Insight Economy: Mitchell says the world is moving from the “information economy” into the “insight economy,” where unique connections between ideas and ultimately wisdom become the most valuable assets.

* [52:34] - Gratitude for Truth: Silas Mähner encourages Catholic listeners to be thankful for their anchors of “truth and morality” in times of disruption, which provides stability and clarity amid widespread confusion.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts, and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

More About the BeatiDudes Podcast:

A while back, when I met Jeff Schiefelbein in person, he said I could come on the BeatiDudes podcast the next time I was in Dallas. It finally happened. He was true to his word.

The BeatiDudes podcast is a religiously funny podcast that brings people closer to Christ. I joined hosts Jeff Schiefelbein, Paul Kolker, and Nick Bezner to cover a lot of big topics at their tiny table.

We covered some of my story, being from Wisconsin. How I started Catholic Founders. We talked about how to take risks as a Catholic Founder and our relationship to risk, storytelling, prudence, and humility.

I asked them some questions too. Including what held them back from doing what God called them to do.

Overall, it was a lot of fun. Especially so because Jeff was running on very little sleep. Less sleep = more unfiltered = more fun.

Enjoy the conversation!

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* Silas Marner by George Eliot

* The Five Love Languages

* Wild Leaders Assessment

* Young Catholic Professionals (YCP)

* Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

* The Virtuous Leadership Institute (Alexandre Havard)

* Everybody Matters by Bob Chapman

Select Quotes:

* "I started to wonder, what if Jesus was the CEO of a company? How would that look?" — Silas Mähner

* "God created your soul in this particular time of history to those particular parents in whatever circumstances. You didn't choose that, right?" — Silas Mähner

* "It's not to say we can't derail ourselves, but if we just lean into the track that He's laid out for us... whether or not you achieve great things in the eyes of the world or small things, it doesn't really matter because it's what God called you to." — Silas Mähner

* "My way is not the way, it's just a way. There's certain things that are true and certain morals that are right and wrong, but everything else is just like the lens by which you're looking through stuff." — Jeff Schiefelbein

* "What are my unique gifts that aren't replaceable? Or at least that only a handful of people can use, right? So that if I'm using them in my kind of circle, then I'm having the greatest impact for those people."— Paul Kolker

Key Moments: (outline)

* [00:00] - Intro : Silas introduces the crosspost of his appearance on the BeatiDudes podcast.

* [06:26] - Jesus as CEO : Silas explains the original thesis behind Catholic Founders and his interest in clean tech.

* [10:20] - Man of the Woods : A look into Silas’s upbringing in rural Wisconsin as the oldest of eight kids.

* [13:20] - Co-creators with God : Discussing the inherent call to entrepreneurship and co-creation.

* [17:01] - Identifying the Track : Silas shares what he has learned from interviewing 60 different founders.

* [21:34] - The Dinner Format : Describing the intentional networking dinners Silas hosts in Nashville.

* [24:19] - The Big Question : Silas asks the Dudes what they feel uniquely called to and what holds them back.

* [36:39] - Prudence vs. Risk : A discussion on the balance between business risk and trusting in God’s providence.

* [42:30] - Resilience through Failure : Jeff and Paul discuss how failures create the best stories and build character.

* [52:56] - Outro : Final plugs for Catholic Founders and the BeatiDudes sponsors.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Stop building alone! There is a community of Catholic hustlers who, like you, are looking to escape corporate monkey life, make more money to provide for their family, or who just have a very specific calling.

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.

Annual membership is only $100; it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Two Years of Catholic Founders: Reflections, Rebranding, and the Future of Co-Creation

Today marks a milestone that is deeply personal to me. It is May 1st — the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

As the son of a carpenter, this day has always held a special place in my heart. But today, it carries a double significance: it is the two-year anniversary of the public launch of my recruitment business and the birth of Catholic Founders.

At the start, the key goal was to understand how to be a Catholic Founder. How to imitate the way Jesus would run a company today.

The beginning was rough — my AI-generated logo and the sporadic blog posts. But it’s been two years, and things are a lot more refined. Not perfect, but it’s a good time for updates.

I want to cover why I started this, what we’ve accomplished so far, and where we are going (what we’re evolving into).

Why We Started: The Theology of Entrepreneurship

In 2019, I was struck by a question that I couldn’t find a substantial answer to: If Jesus were the CEO of a company today, how would He lead?

We have Theology of the Body and a lot of writing on the Theology of Money, but I saw a void where a Theology of Entrepreneurship should be. I knew there was more to the hustle culture of Gary V and Tai Lopez. Jesus wouldn’t be telling you about how to make money with a Lambo in the background.

My hope in starting Catholic Founders was that I’d find others who were also curious about this question. Thankfully, I did.

What We’ve Achieved So Far

What was at first sporadic blog posts and a simple WhatsApp group chat has thankfully become a lot more than that.

* The Podcast: In January 2025, we launched the podcast. We are now 64 episodes deep. We’ve been blessed to have heavy hitters like Alessandro DiSanto (Hallow), Andreas Widmer (CUA), Matthew Harvey Sanders (Magesterium AI), Tim Connors (Investor), John Johnson (Patmos), and many others.

* The Saintly CEO & Faithful Steward: We launched a tactical Monday newsletter and a free private deal-flow newsletter to connect Catholic investors with Catholic builders.

* The Community: We now have over 800 total subscribers, 109 paid members, and have hosted ~20 meetups, coffee hangs, and dinners. And the group chat is now a thriving WhatsApp community. (Join today)

The Next Chapter: The Launch Pad For Catholic Entrepreneurs

As we move into our third year, I have gained immense clarity on who we are here to serve. We are going all in on helping Catholics start and grow their businesses. The launchpad, so to speak.

We’ll continue to provide value and create resources that serve those early needs.

The four core types of people who would be a good fit for Catholic Founders are as follows.

* The Aspiring Founder: You want to start a business but have no idea where to begin. Maybe it’s a side hustle to support a growing family; we are here to help you get off the ground.

* The Struggling Entrepreneur: You have a business (likely under $1M in revenue), and you’ve hit a ceiling. You need mentors and peers to help you break through bottlenecks.

* Seeking Friends Founder: You’re likely hitting your stride and winning, but you don’t want to go it alone. You want a community that cares about the same things you do.

* The Mentor: You’ve achieved significant success and want to turn around and lend a hand to the next generation.

This IS the Missing Layer: While great organizations like Legatus or SENT Ventures exist for established leaders, there is almost nothing for the beginner. We are filling that gap.

Invest in Other Catholic-Run Businesses

Sign up today (for free) for the Faithful Steward. Our free, private, deal-flow newsletter for Catholic investors to discover Catholic-run business ventures to invest in. —> CatholicDealFlow.com

We gotta help each other out! Doing our part to connect the ecosystem.

(Raising? Submit your deck here)

Why This Matters Now: The Post-AI Civilization

We are at a crossroads. AI disruption is changing the nature of work, and many people are going to lose their jobs. But we know that work is good for man. God told us to dominate the earth before the fall of Adam. It’s part of our divine mandate.

I believe, metaphorically speaking, society is about to experience a series of gargantuan earthquakes that will level the structures we take for granted. But when the dust settles, the Church and her faithful will still be standing — visible in the distance. Gleaming like a city on a hill.

When people hit rock bottom, they become open to the Truth. This is a massive opportunity for evangelization. Think of the energy St. Paul would have today — he’d be on every podcast, in every forum, bringing the truth to a world in ruins.

On top of this, we have a chance to shape the new civilization. Will it be vapid and utilitarian, or will it be beautiful, founded on truth, and full of the laughter of children?

The future will be built by someone. Let’s make sure that someone is a group of Catholic entrepreneurs who love God.

Join the Guild

If this resonates with you, I invite you to join the Catholic Founders Guild.

We’ve priced it at $100 a year (or $10 a month) because I want it to be accessible to the person just starting. While there are many perks, I wouldn’t suggest joining for that reason. It’s about surrounding yourself with like-minded Catholics striving for both saintly greatness and professional excellence.

You were created to create. Don’t forget that.

Join us at: catholicfounders.com/subscribe

Thank you for two incredible years. Here is to many more.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* Sign up for the Faithful Steward private newsletter. As mentioned in the episode, we are launching the Faithful Steward. A private newsletter for Catholic Investors. 👉 Sign up to get deal flow here.👉 Submit your deck to be shared with the network here.

* Wausau, WI Monthly Meetup: Sign up here (Last Saturday of each month)

* San Francisco Meetup: May 14th, after mass at Star of the Sea (Feast of The Ascension, Holy Day of Obligation). Sign up here.

* Houston, TX, and Columbus, OH, are close to getting something on the books - reach out if interested in attending.

* Sponsor Catholic Founders to get in front of Hundreds of Catholic Business owners each week. admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic: James Reichert - Cana Wedding Group

* Core Takeaway: Our daily evangelization mandate

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

James Reichert | Cana Wedding Group

In this episode, I sit down with James Reichert, the co-founder of Cana Wedding Group, to discuss how they are taking on the “big wedding” industry. ie: Zoho, The Knot, etc. You know, the companies that have turned marriage into a commercial activity and nothing more.

His take (which I agree with) is that because Marriage is a sacrament, and we as Christians are the only ones really doing it properly, we should have a company to work with that doesn’t actively hate what marriage truly is.

Not to mention, we’re the only ones with families, so we’re the ones who are creating their future customers.

Aside from his story and what they are building, we also get into his thoughts on how Catholics should be building businesses, and how entrepreneurship is an incredible vehicle for evangelization.

You’re going to enjoy this — I’m sure of that.

Invest in Other Catholic-Run Businesses

Sign up today (for free) for the Faithful Steward. Our free, private, deal-flow newsletter for Catholic investors to discover Catholic-run business ventures to invest in. —> CatholicDealFlow.com

We gotta help each other out! Doing our part to connect the ecosystem.

(Raising? Submit your deck here)

Core Lesson:

Every Catholic-run business carries a mandate for daily evangelization, whether through direct witness or the pursuit of excellence in service.

For too long, we’ve separated our professional lives from our spiritual calling. It’s what the world has demanded of us. But as Catholic entrepreneurs, we know we are created to be instruments of God’s will in the world. James points out, if your target market is fellow Catholics and you can offer a tool that avoids the woke friction of secular competitors, you have a unique opportunity to strengthen the faith of your customers.

True success in business should be framed through the lens of excellence rather than blind ambition. While ambition can become vicious if it overlooks holiness, excellence glorifies God by utilizing the specific talents He has entrusted to us to their fullest potential.

The goal of a Catholic venture is not just to survive in a secular market. It’s to build an uncancelable ecosystem where our values are preserved, and our businesses serve as a primary vehicle for sanctification. By creating high-quality alternatives like Cana, we reclaim territory in the modern world and provide living examples of what it means to be a “Man of the Kingdom”.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* Magisterium AI

* Leaving a Legacy - Johann Kurtz

* St. Moses the Black

* National Catholic Register article

* EWTN article

Select Quotes:

* "It's a funny one too, if you're a Catholic and you run a company, there should be a level of evangelization every single day."— James Reinchert

* “Shoot for excellence, not ambition. Blind ambition, can I think eventually become a bit vicious in the sense that like if you have ambition over empathy or ambition over compassion, ambition over holiness, that’s where things can be a bit dangerous. So shoot for excellence. Ambition can be a good thing. You want to funnel and use that ambition for excellence and to glorify God in whatever way you can, but just be careful about taking it to its logical extreme.”— James Reinchert

* "The parable of the talents is a really important one, especially for the modern young man who, if he wants, he can sit on his couch all day long and play Fortnite... and never live up to the potential that he's supposed to."— James Reinchert

* "Catholics should be owning marriage preparation, wedding preparation, wedding planning."— James Reinchert

* “If you give, the Lord will give back. And that's not the reason why you should do it, but he really does love when you take the gifts that he's given you and you put them to good work.”— James Reinchert

Key Moments: (outline)

* [04:27] - Introducing Cana: James describes building the first Catholic and Christian alternative to secular wedding sites.

* [10:18] - The Need for Catholic Alternatives: A discussion on why certain industries like marriage require uncompromised faith-based solutions.

* [14:44] - Ambition vs. Excellence: James explores the fine line between healthy drive and blind ambition, emphasizing excellence for God’s glory.

* [21:02] - Parable of the Talents: The importance of using God-given skills to avoid wasting potential on earthly distractions.

* [35:12] - Honesty in Business: Why truthfulness creates a “spiritual resonance” in professional relationships and fundraising.

* [44:35] - Sacrifice and Startups: James shares the personal challenges of building a venture while providing for a young family.

* [51:41] - Leaving a Legacy: A brief discussion on the importance of generational support and the work of John Cortines.

* [54:19] - Reinvigorating Faith: James talks about the power of confession and adoration in his personal spiritual life.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

News / Updates:

* Sign up for the Faithful Steward private newsletter. As mentioned in the episode, we are launching the Faithful Steward. A private newsletter for Catholic Investors. 👉 Sign up to get deal flow here.👉 Submit your deck to be shared with the network here.

* Wausau, WI Monthly Meetup: Sign up here (Last Saturday of each month)

* Nashville Monthly CF Meetup: Sign up here

* Sponsor Catholic Founders to get in front of Hundreds of Catholic Business owners each week. admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Nhan Dinh | Seller Labs

Straight up, this is the most vulnerable conversation that we’ve had on the show.

Normally, we talk a lot about success and winning. But part of every entrepreneur’s journey is failure. And in some cases, shutting down your company.

Nhan, has started many projects and companies. He’s also shut down many of them. And this is all fresh for Nhan. He’s in a period of transition currently, seeking his next opportunity or company to build (so reach out if you’re interested in meeting him).

However, despite all of these challenges, Nhan keeps the faith as he steps forward confidently, trusting in God that he will be able to feed his 9 children.

His humility is inspiring to anyone with open ears. I encourage you to open yours.

Enjoy the conversation!

Core Lesson:

Your fear determines what you are attached to; whatever you are most afraid of losing is exactly where your heart is bound. God is seeking to free you from that attachment.

As Catholic founders, we often mistake our drive for stewardship when it’s actually a desire for control or recognition. Nhan challenges us to use the discernment of St. Ignatius to look at our businesses with “holy indifference,” being equally at peace with riches or poverty, success or failure.

If the thought of your business being taken away today causes a tantrum in your heart, it’s a clear sign that you’ve shifted your trust from God’s providence to your own hands.

Have the mindset that “I either succeed or I learn” so that you can grow. God will teach you and bring you closer to Him through these failures. The dark moments are times of blessing because they help bring us back to God. To trust in Him.

Finally, learn to embrace the “necessary endings” required to stay true to our ultimate mission. Sometimes God calls us to shut a door so that we can walk through a new one, and while that new path might not be more glamourous, but it is the path of obedience. Whether it’s a business, a relationship, or a dream that no longer serves the goal of glorifying God, we have to be willing to let it go — before we are forced to.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* Necessary Endings by Dr. Henry Cloud

* The Culture Solution by Matthew Kelly (Culture is king)

* St. Ignatius of Loyola - Spiritual Exercises and Discernment

* The Surrender Novena

* Raising Great Saints (Nhan Dinh’s youtube channel)

* Mastermind

* St. Maximilian Kolbe

* The Faithful Steward (Catholic Investors)

Select Quotes:

* “Your fear will determine what you’re attached to; so whatever you’re most afraid of losing, that’s what you’re attached to.”— Nhan Dinh

* “The odds of you closing a business is very high, so you gotta be prepared to go penniless.”— Nhan Dinh

* “It’s like, are you doing it because you want to glorify yourself? Are you really like in it to glorify God? Because God will test you. Like, if your heart’s not pure, He will test you. And at that point, are you going to be able, it’s still, you know, running to Him to trust.

Because if you do, then your faith grows. But if you don’t, then it’s going to drive you away from God.”— Nhan Dinh

* “You don’t need to worry about not working hard enough. You need to worry about whether you’re trusting in God and going in the right direction.”— Nhan Dinh

* “Either I succeed or I learn.”— Nhan Dinh

* “Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.”— Nhan Dinh (quoting St. Ignatius of Loyola)

* “The problem with the entrepreneur is not that they give up, it’s just that they give up too late.”— Nhan Dinh

* “I was like, how do I discern if I should continue a business or should just go get a job? And he's(spiritual director) like, your wife will tell you when you need to go get a job.”— Nhan Dinh

* “The mission of the business is king and you need to have necessary endings.”— Nhan Dinh

* “On your deathbed, which one are you gonna regret not making?”— Nhan Dinh

* “Desiring and choosing only what is most conducive to the end which we are created, which is to praise, to adore, and to serve God.”— Nhan Dinh

Key Moments: (outline)

* [00:00] - Intro: Fear and Attachment : Nhan explains how our fears reveal what we are truly attached to in business.

* [01:08] - Mission: Becoming Saints through Business : Silas discusses the core mission of Catholic Founders—sainthood through entrepreneurship.

* [04:27] - Background: The Vietnamese Immigrant Story : Nhan shares his family’s journey from post-war Vietnam to starting life with nothing in America.

* [07:33] - Family: Raising Nine Kids as an Entrepreneur : Discussing the necessity of entrepreneurship when providing for a large Catholic family.

* [08:49] - Risk: The Reality of Pennilessness : Why being willing to lose everything is the price of entry for full-time founders.

* [10:39] - Discernment: Glorifying God vs. Self : How to distinguish between building for your own ego and building for God’s glory.

* [15:05] - Exit Strategy: When to Shut Down : Learning when to embrace “necessary endings” rather than holding on too late.

* [17:23] - Mid-Roll: The Faithful Steward : Silas announces a new initiative to connect Catholic investors with builders.

* [21:38] - Motivation: Sorting Through the Desire for Recognition : Silas and Nhan discuss the spiritual danger of seeking recognition.

* [24:14] - Prudence: The Three Circles of a Viable Business : Identifying the intersection of passion, skill, and market demand

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts, and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* Sign up for the Faithful Steward private newsletter. As mentioned in the episode, we are launching the Faithful Steward. A private newsletter for Catholic Investors. 👉 Sign up to get deal flow here. 👉 Submit your deck to be shared with the network here.

* Wausau, WI Monthly Meetup: Sign up here (Last Saturday of each month)

* Nashville Monthly CF Meetup: Sign up here

* Sponsor Catholic Founders to get in front of Hundreds of Catholic Business owners each week. admin@catholicfounders.com

Trigger Warning

Note to Listeners: This episode briefly mentions rape towards the end of the show. Viewer/listener discretion advised.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Ian Stroud | Verti Commercial Real Estate

Today, we’re talking about real estate. Our guest is Ian Stroud, a multifamily investment sales advisor who specializes in the 20 to 250-unit range across the Midwest.

If the name sounds familiar, it’s because his brother Colin was on the show way back in Episode 6 talking about credit card points.

Ian brings a different flavor to the table, focusing on the mechanics of apartment complexes and how Catholics can steward their capital through real estate.

We cover a lot of ground here, from the boring back-office analysis that eventually led Ian to find his true calling, to the gritty reality of the current housing crisis.

My mind was blown when Ian shared a story about a real estate investor who managed to drop crime rates in a neighborhood by 80% by simply engaging with his tenants.

This is a prime example of what it means to be a Catholic entrepreneur — to use our role to bring Christ’s love to those around us, and make practical improvements as well.

We also get into Ian’s personal faith journey — including his family’s conversion and how Exodus 90 eventually led him to his wife.

In short, this is an example of how our interior and professional lives are meant to be woven together (like what Jeff Schiefelbein told us on episode 9)

Core Lesson:

True stewardship in real estate requires moving beyond the ‘greedy landlord’ trope to actively engage in the flourishing of the community and the tenants.

The common narrative around real estate often boils down to a supply and demand math problem, but Ian challenges us to see the human element behind the numbers.

While it is true that we are facing a massive housing shortage — needing roughly 5 million units annually just to stay flat — the role of a Catholic owner isn’t just to fill a gap in the market. It’s about recognizing that the property is a tool for human flourishing. When an owner engages with tenants rather than treating them as mere entries on a rent roll, it can transform an entire neighborhood’s safety and culture.

Again, it’s simple (not easy but simple). Engage with your tenants, as children of God, and you could reduce the crime rate of an entire neighborhood by ~80%. This ultimately leads to an increase in your property value.

Ultimately, for the Catholic business owner, real estate is a way to diversify excess profit while participating in God’s creative work. Whether it’s through multifamily investments or simply being a virtuous landlord, the goal is to be a Faithful Steward of the physical spaces where families live and grow. It’s a reminder that doing the right thing for your tenants often aligns with the long-term value and profitability of the asset itself.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* The Faithful Steward Newsletter

* Verti Commercial Real Estate

* Cornfields and Cap Rates Newsletter

* EWTN

* Exodus 90

* Wild at Heart by John Eldredge

* Save Your Parish by Patrick Neve

* Walsh University

* Patrick Madrid

* Jamie Baxter

* Catholic Founders Episode 6: Colin Stroud

* St. Francis of Asisi

* James 2:14-26

* Litany of Humility

Select Quotes:

* “I think we're always driven to provide. And if we're not providing, then what are we? And I think that's tough. It's a question I have no idea how to answer because I've never encountered it. I don't think I will for a while.” — Ian Stroud

* “I was in my suit and tie, asleep on the living room floor. I was just exhausted. And even though I was bored, it was like it was more draining because I was bored than if I was engaged. And I think a lot of people probably feel that way about their job is when you get bored, you can just kind of implode a little bit.”— Ian Stroud

* “There's a difference… where it's like you know something out there and then kind of taking it and internalizing it. And that was the point for me that I was able to kind of, to take what I knew to what my brain knew to be true and move it into my soul and kind of to bring it home.”— Ian Stroud

* “But we did it as a community and living with the guys that I was doing it with was the best possible way I could have done it because every morning we're complaining about the cold showers. But it's also, we're complaining about the cold showers but also it's like the feeling of we're doing this together.”— Ian Stroud

* “You're going in, you're not trying to make the deal work. You're trying to find a deal that works. And the difference is pretty big.”— Ian Stroud

* “You have a responsibility to treat her with the dignity. You cannot kick her [out]… immediately. I think you need to work with her… But on the other hand, she is causing a real risk for health problems for the other tenants. So you also have a responsibility to them.”— Ian Stroud

* “I credit that and therapy with saving my wife's life. I mean, for sure. So I think that people that don't recognize the power of having good people around you all the time, they don't really get what it's about.”— Ian Stroud

* “Being around the right people is so important that it is life saving. I mean, it's, it's, there's a reason that when we go to church, it's not one it's when two or more, there's a community inherent in the body of Christ.”— Ian Stroud

Key Moments: (outline)

* [01:14] - Intro: Silas introduces Ian Stroud and the mission of Catholic Founders as co-creators with God.

* [04:48] - Meet Ian Stroud: Ian details his role as a multifamily investment sales advisor and his work with AI-forward firm Verti.

* [07:29] - Falling into Real Estate: Ian shares his journey from “draining” back-office equity management to the dynamic world of brokerage.

* [13:40] - The RV Conversion: The story of Ian’s family’s conversion to Catholicism via EWTN radio while living in an RV.

* [18:01] - The Faithful Steward: Mid-roll announcement regarding a new initiative for Catholic investors to find deal flow.

* [21:06] - Exodus 90 & Awakening: Ian discusses his spiritual awakening through Wild at Heart and the community built during Exodus 90.

* [36:52] - Stewardship & Rent Crisis: A deep dive into the math of real estate, the supply-demand problem, and the reality for modern landlords.

* [46:50] - Outro: Closing thoughts on rent-to-own models and final community announcements.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent

In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.

Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts, and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.

To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* Wausau, WI Monthly Meetup: Sign up here (Last Saturday of each month)

* (April 12th) Catholic Founders Guild Dinner in Dallas, TX. Register here (2 spots left)

* Sponsor Catholic Founders to get in front of Hundreds of Catholic Business owners each week. admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Zuhair Madanat | Auto Glass Experts

Welcome back to Catholic Founders. Our guest for this episode is Zuhair Madanat, the founder of Auto Glass Experts based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. He started as a middle school religion teacher and ended up as the founder of a fast-growing service business doing auto glass repair and replacement.

I love Zuhair’s story because it shows how rewarding it is to fully rely on God in our business journeys. To set aside our will and plans, and to allow God’s to fill us and move us as He pleases.

No, it’s not always sunshine and roses, but it’s what He desires of us. And that’s all we should ever want.

You’ll learn a lot today, I’m sure. Zuhair’s got a lot of good perspective on upholding the dignity of his employees, focusing on quality, and treating himself as a servant to his team.

Perhaps most critically, he also shows us how each interaction with a customer or employee is an opportunity to be God’s hands in the world — to carry out His will.

Enjoy the episode!

Core Lesson:

True business leadership is found in the radical commitment to being a "servant of servants" by prioritizing the human dignity of every person within the organization.

Adopting the role of a “servant of servants” transforms the traditional hierarchy of management into a community of mutual care. When a leader focuses on providing for the needs and growth of their employees, those employees are naturally empowered to extend that same level of care to the customers. This creates a sustainable ecosystem where the business thrives because it honors the inherent value of every individual involved in the transaction.

Scaling a venture requires a profound death to self, particularly regarding the need for total control. Zuhair highlights that trusting God with the timing and the results of a business allows for a peace that surpasses market volatility or unprofitable years. By acknowledging that the founder is merely an instrument, the pressure of “owning” the outcome is replaced by the joy of stewardship, allowing the business to serve as a genuine conduit for grace.

Integrating faith into a service-based industry means looking beyond the transaction to the human connection. Whether it is keeping humans on the phone instead of AI or treating a windshield repair as an act of service, the goal remains the same: glorifying God through excellence. This approach ensures that the work itself becomes a form of prayer and a means of sanctification for the founder, the team, and the community.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* Managing as if Faith Mattered

* The Prayer of St. Philaret of Moscow

* St. Joseph the Worker

* St. Josemaria Escriva

* St. Andrew

* St. Paul the Apostle

* Proverbs 16:3

* Matthew 5:16

* The Trisagion Prayer (Holy God, Holy Mighty One)

Select Quotes:

* “It’s hard to take credit, and when you just know He’s been a part of everything, it’s hard to—I know that He uses me and I’m His instrument in this world, and I’m bringing His light into the world. But yeah, it’s just it’s really humbling.”— Zuhair Madanat

* “If small business owners knew that this was the way that our faith is guiding us to run their business, it would look way different.”— Zuhair Madanat

* “I was like, all right, God, if this goes away, then just let it go away and just show me whatever I'm supposed to do. I'm doing this just to glorify you in the world, to provide for my family, but I could do anything. It doesn't matter.”— Zuhair Madanat

* “I tell them like I’m the servant of servants. So I’m here to serve you so that you can then serve the customer. And the way that I serve you is the way that I want you to serve the customer.”— Zuhair Madanat

* “The tasks that a computer or AI, whatever, can handle, we let them handle it so that we have more human-to-human interaction so that the customer service reps aren’t feeling rushed on the phone and like they have to hang up to get to something else.”— Zuhair Madanat

Key Moments: (outline)

* [00:00] - The Universal Human Experience: Zuhair discusses how his time teaching middle school religion taught him that human problems remain constant throughout history.

* [00:39] - Intro: Silas introduces Zuhair Madanat and the mission of Catholic Founders to help entrepreneurs become saints through their work.

* [04:12] - From Classroom to Auto Glass: Zuhair explains his transition from teaching to starting Auto Glass Experts and the leap of faith involved.

* [12:45] - Stewardship in Business: A discussion on the mindset shift from “owner” to “steward” and how it changes daily operations.

* [18:30] - Servant Leadership: Zuhair breaks down what it means to serve your employees so they can effectively serve the customers.

* [25:50] - The Challenges of Scaling: Insights into the growing pains of moving from a solo operation to multiple physical locations.

* [38:15] - Faith in the Workplace: How to integrate Catholic identity into a secular service industry without being performative.

* [42:05] - Spiritual Disciplines: Zuhair shares his daily prayer routine, specifically the importance of the Prayer of St. Philaret.

* [55:20] - Advice for New Founders: Encouragement for those sitting on the fence about starting their own Catholic-led business.

* [58:10] - Outro: Silas concludes the episode with a call to join the Catholic Founders Guild and a reminder that we were created to create.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* Wausau, WI Monthly Meetup: Sign up here (Last Saturday of each month)

* (April 12th) Catholic Founders Guild Dinner in Dallas, TX. Register here (~5 spots left)

* Sponsor Catholic Founders to get in front of Hundreds of Catholic Business owners each week. admin@catholicfounders.com

* NOTE: There will be no podcast next week as we take time off to observe Holy Week and enter into the Triduum. (We’re still trying to get a Monday newsletter out, let’s see if we get to that)

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic - Rob, CEO of Publicly Traded Hotel Brand - Now Investor

* Core Takeaway -

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Rob Hays | Investor & Entrepreneur

This episode is legendary! Why? Because Rob is legendary.

If you’re not familiar with him, he took over as CEO of a publicly traded hotel brand days before COVID. Crazy!

He had to furlough most of the company. And did what he could, little by little, each day to see them through that crisis (of having zero revenue).

Rob has spent a lot of time thinking about how to integrate his faith into what he does. Which makes him a great guest for us. He’s got some incredibly fiery takes.

In this episode, we dive into how that crucible of crisis refined his faith and why he believes professional prestige and mundane tasks are essential components of a founder’s sanctification

Core Lesson:

Professional prestige is a byproduct of excellence. That excellence serves as the "bait" for apostolic influence. Which in turn, gives us more credibility to share our faith (because they see we are good at what we do).

Seeking prestige often feels like an act of pride, yet Rob reframes it as a functional necessity for the personal apostolate. People naturally seek advice and leadership from those who demonstrate mastery in their craft. By striving for excellence as an input, we create the credibility required for others to take our witness seriously.

This perspective shifts the focus from self-glorification to professional stewardship. When we prioritize excellence in our roles as founders, fathers, and husbands, the resulting prestige becomes a tool to wield for the sake of the Gospel and human flourishing. We must remain detached from the output of prestige while remaining fiercely committed to the inputs of excellence and prayer.

(I should probably write more about this in the future)

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* St. Josemaria Escriva Institute

* New Horizons Podcast

* St. Josemaria Escriva

* The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist

* The Matter with Things by Iain McGilchrist

* OptimalWork

* Kevin Majors

* Uniformity with God’s Will by St. Alphonsus Liguori

* Time for God by Father Jacques Philippe

* Sent Ventures

* Triumph of the Heart (Film)

* Anthony D’Ambrosio

* Dante’s Inferno

* Jeff Bezos on Work-Life Harmony

* Dr. Daniel Tataje - #49 He Beats PE Firm’s With Lower Bids

* St. Catherine of Siena

* St. Thérèse of Lisieux

* St. Joseph

Bible Passages

* 1 John 4:8 - God is Love

* Exodus 12:5 - The Unblemished Lamb

* Matthew 16:24 - Take up your cross

* Matthew 26:34 - Peter’s Denial

* Luke 2:51-52 - The Hidden Life at Nazareth

* Luke 3:23 - Jesus at Age 30

* Matthew 6:9-13 - The Our Father

Select Quotes:

* “St. Josemaria’s thesis was that he did that to show us that the mundane and the, and both the company of the mundane, ordinary things of life, know, family, living in a little village, going to work every day, but then also work is a part of the salvific plan of God and is part of our own redemption.” — Rob Hays

* “Jesus was a carpenter or blacksmith and doing mundane tasks as God of the universe. That’s completely insane. But that is the example that he gave us.” — Rob Hays

* “Who cares about what someone says who is bad at what they do?” — Rob Hays

* “Prestige, for lack of a better word, is effectively the ‘bait’ for the apostolate.” — Rob Hays

* “If I am in fact excellent at those things, there very well likely will be prestige that comes from it. And that prestige, I can then use for good.” — Rob Hays

* “I always think it’s about priorities rather than balance... that priority is a constant reordering of things.” — Rob Hays

* “Every day, the first several years of my role was the house is burning to the ground.” — Rob Hays

* “I needed to have the tangible list of things that I was gonna do so that I knew that if I accomplished these things today, it was enough.” — Rob Hays

* “If you don’t have this idea of detachment of the outcome and trust that God is in control, I don’t know how you make it through the trials and struggles and failures.” — Rob Hays

* “Holiness is very difficult, if not impossible, without suffering.” — Rob Hays

* “Where the value, the redemptive and salvific value comes is in the love that’s put into it.” — Rob Hays

Key Moments: (outline)

* [00:00] - Intro Hook: Rob discusses the hidden life of Jesus in Nazareth and the inherent value found in mundane labor.

* [01:02] - Introduction: Silas welcomes listeners and introduces Rob Hays, former CEO of a major hotel brand.

* [04:05] - Redefining Prestige: Rob explains why seeking professional excellence and prestige serves as a Christian duty.

* [08:20] - Priorities vs. Balance: A discussion on maintaining a “seamless garment” of life through prayer and constant reordering of priorities.

* [10:58] - Leading Through Crisis: Rob shares his experience taking over as CEO during COVID and managing extreme professional anxiety.

* [13:24] - Consecration of the Company: The story of Rob consecrating his business to Our Lady and the Lord while on the brink of bankruptcy.

* [17:02] - Detachment and Trust: Why entrepreneurs must trust God with outcomes and view professional struggles as hidden blessings.

* [19:19] - Happiness and Sanctity: Exploring the necessity of the Cross and suffering in the life of a Catholic leader.

* [21:50] - Sanctifying the Mundane: How the hidden life of Jesus serves as the model for finding salvific value in daily administrative tasks.

* [26:27] - Practical Reminders: Rob’s tactics for keeping faith front and center, including using a pocket crucifix and praying for others during difficult tasks.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* Wausau, WI Monthly Meetup: Sign up here (Last Saturday of each month)

* (March 24th) We invite you to the in-person Nashville Meetup (next week)

* (March 26th) Tim Busch, major Church donor, wine and hospitality mogul, is speaking at a Fides event in NYC that we are helping sponsor. Register here (only a few spots left)

* (April 12th) Catholic Founders Guild Dinner in Dallas, TX. Register here.

* Sponsor Catholic Founders to get in front of Hundreds of Catholic Business owners each week. admin@catholicfounders.com

Get the full Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide here (including more events).

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Francisco J. Lara | Catholic University of America

There are a LOT of businesses that need buyers — a lot of wealth being transferred (or not) to the next generation in the coming years. If you’re looking to buy a business, the time is now.

That’s what we are discussing today.

How one should do succession planning. How you’d buy a business in a way that respects human dignity. How to work well with your family as it’s passed from generation to generation. And perhaps most importantly, how to maintain the family business even if none of your generation want to run it, in its current form.

Core Lesson:

Succession requires a moral discernment that prioritizes the common good over lineage.

We often feel this massive weight to pass our businesses down to our children, assuming that lineage is the only path to protecting the legacy we’ve spent decades building. However, true stewardship requires us to recognize that our businesses are essentially communities of persons rather than simple family assets. If the next generation lacks the specific skills or the genuine desire to lead, forcing them into that role can actually jeopardize the very community we are trying to preserve. We have to approach succession as a rigorous moral discernment where the long-term health of the company and the well-being of the employees take priority over keeping a specific last name on the ownership docs.

This is where Entrepreneurship through Acquisition (ETA) becomes such a vital tool for the Catholic founder. By opening the door to a searcher, someone with the hunger and talent to lead but perhaps lacking the capital to start from scratch, you are essentially identifying a spiritual heir for your life’s work. It aligns perfectly with the principles of business stewardship we frequently discuss on the Substack and in our previous sessions. Much like our conversation with Andreas Widmer in Episode 15, we have to remember that leading a business is a vocation. Finding the right person to carry that vocation forward ensures the business continues to serve the common good and provides a stable foundation for the families who depend on it.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

Bible Passages

* The Parable of the Talents

* The Promise of the Hundredfold

Saints & Devotions

* St. Joseph

* Pope St. John Paul II

* The Holy Eucharist

* The Holy Mass

Books & Documents

* The Pope and the CEO by Andreas Widmer

* The Art of Principled Entrepreneurship by Andreas Widmer

* Rerum Novarum

* Laborem Exercens

* Centesimus Annus

* Stanford 2024 Search Fund Study

* Stanford/IESE 2022 International Search Fund Study

Organizations & Academic Institutions

* Catholic University of America (CUA)

* University of Navarra

* IESE Business School

* Polytechnic University of Valencia

* Catholic University of Valencia

* Lagar Brothers

* Stanford Graduate Business School

* Harvard Business School

* Wharton School

* Fiber (Fiverr)

* Castfeed

* Singularu

Episode Connections

* Episode 15: Andreas Widmer

* Episode 40: Mike Parrott

Select Quotes:

* “So then you need to make a discernment. And that’s the important moral responsibility of the family businesses, not to impose that succession into the family members if they don’t want to, and they are not able to, skilled enough to do that in the right way.” — Francisco J. Lara (00:36)

* “Search funds can be the solution for a family business to move from traditional family business into a family office.” — Francisco J. Lara (18:40)

* “He has to combine two difficult virtues that are humility with magnanimity.” — Francisco J. Lara (19:00)

* “Catholic social doctrine do not mandate dynastic control.” — Francisco J. Lara (24:19)

* “The firm is a community of persons, It’s not a nexus, it’s not a combination of social contracts, and it’s not an end.” — Francisco J. Lara (25:40)

* “The normative criterion should not be lineage, but stewardship effectiveness.” — Francisco J. Lara (29:45)

* “So the entrepreneur is not simply allocating capital, but choosing a community of work to steer.” — Francisco J. Lara (23:14)

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00] - Succession Discernment: Francisco discusses the art and moral responsibility of family business succession and the danger of imposing legacy.

* [01:02] - Intro: Silas introduces Francisco Lara and his role as an “evangelist” for Entrepreneurship through Acquisition.

* [02:30] - From La Mancha to CUA: Francisco shares his background as a Spaniard, his law degree from Navarra, and his family’s third-generation farming roots.

* [04:22] - Theory Meets Practice: The founding of Lagar Brothers and Francisco’s realization that the person behind the business matters most.

* [11:02] - The ETA Framework: A deep dive into the four stages of a traditional search fund: search, acquisition, operation, and exit.

* [14:15] - Identifying Talent: Why finding the right “searcher” who acts as the child the family business owner never had is the hardest part of the model.

* [22:09] - Moral Reasoning in ETA: Applying Catholic Social Teaching virtues like justice and prudence to each stage of the acquisition process.

* [24:19] - Stewardship vs. Dynasty: Breaking down why Catholic doctrine prioritizes the common good over “dynastic capitalism”.

* [31:00] - Outro: Final thoughts on professionalizing small businesses and a recommendation to listen to the episode with Andreas Widmer.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Thanks for bearing with me. See you guys tomorrow for day…9, yes, that’s it!

Get the novena here: https://www.usccb.org/resources/novena-saint-joseph-english.pdf

Get the novena here: https://www.usccb.org/resources/novena-saint-joseph-english.pdf

FREE BOOK ALERT! I’ll send a copy of Pat’s book, Save Your Parish, to anyone who joins the Catholic Founders Guild in reference to this episode! Just join the paid membership today, and DM me letting me know it’s because of this episode that you joined. I’ll have the book delivered to your house.

News / Updates:

* Wausau, WI Monthly Meetup: Sign up here (Last Saturday of each month)

* (March 24th) We invite you to the in-person Nashville Meetup

* (April 12th) Catholic Founders Guild Dinner in Dallas, TX. Register here.

* Sponsor Catholic Founders to get in front of Hundreds of Catholic Business owners each week. admin@catholicfounders.com

* To start a local CF meetup near you, reach out, and we’ll help you get started — admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Pat Neve | Pat on Substack | Bropostles Podcast, Author of ‘Save Your Parish’

In this episode, I’m joined by Pat Neve, the mind behind the Catholic Pat Substack and author of the vital new book, Save Your Parish. Pat has a fascinating background that spans stand-up comedy, professional youth ministry, and high-level sales—a combination that gives him a unique vantage point on how we, as founders, can impact our local church communities. We dive deep into why the skills you use to build your business are exactly what your parish needs to move from a state of maintenance to a state of mission.

We explore the concept of “ownership” versus “consumption.” Most people approach their parish like a customer at a store, but as entrepreneurs, we have a natural drive to build, fix, and steward. Pat challenges us to see our wealth and influence as a “necessary burden” for the benefit of the community. If you’ve ever felt frustrated by the lack of community or leadership in your local parish, this conversation provides the blueprint for how you can step up and lead without waiting for a programmatic fix from the top down.

Core Lesson:

Transform your local church by moving from a consumer mindset to an ownership mentality.

We’ve spent a lot of time on the podcast and over at the Catholic Founders Substack talking about how our businesses are meant to be instruments of God’s will. However, there’s a real danger in compartmentalizing that “founder energy” and leaving it at the office. Too often, we walk into our parishes with the mindset of a customer, expecting the priest to provide a perfect “user experience” while we sit back and consume. Pat hits on a point that we’ve explored in previous episodes with guys like Johann Kurtz: we are responsible for the legacy we leave in our local communities. If you see a lack of fellowship or a crumbling infrastructure, that should be viewed as a call to stewardship, rather than a cue to find a better “product” down the road.

Taking ownership means recognizing that you’ve been equipped with the specific skills and resources to actually move the needle. As entrepreneurs, we have a natural tendency to create and build, and we must apply that same drive to the “garden” of our parish. This is a matter of justice—giving to the community what it is due because we are an integral part of it. When you start seeing yourself as a co-owner of the mission rather than a recipient of a service, your entire approach to the Sunday obligation shifts. You begin to look for ways to leverage your social influence and your capital to cultivate a culture where the faith can actually thrive for the next generation. We were created to create, and that creative responsibility extends directly into the pews.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* Save Your Parish by Pat Neve

* Catholic Pat Substack

* Bropostles Podcast

* Christifideles Laici by Pope John Paul II

* Leaving a Legacy by Johann Kurtz

* Alpha for Catholics

* Life Teen

* Genesis 2:15

* St. Ignatius of Loyola

* Pope Paul VI

Select Quotes:

* “There are three ways to influence your parish. One is through money. The other is through social influence. And the third is through prayer. And we should all be doing the third one. And if you don’t do the third one, you’re going to suck at the other two.” — Pat Neve (00:00)

* “Social influence and money are a great way to change your parish for the better. So business owners ought to see their wealth as a necessary burden for benefiting the community.” — Pat Neve (00:15)

* “You’re responsible for the care and cultivation of the garden of Eden, of the earth. And so that means that some people in this life are going to be cursed with wealth, power, pleasure, and fame.” — Pat Neve (00:45)

* “If you as a business owner are trying to grow your business, look at it as recognize it as a burden, kiss your cross and carry it and understand that you have a higher responsibility.” — Pat Neve (00:58)

* “The amount of judgment and rejection you get [in sales] is minimal compared to being a youth minister.” — Pat Neve (07:34)

* “You’re not working for an institution. You’re not like leading an institution. You’re leading a people. You’re leading a community.” — Pat Neve (08:24)

* “How do you build momentum in a business is you do everything and then you start teaching other people how to do it... It’s a lot like entrepreneurship.” — Pat Neve (40:15)

* “You start building a ministry that builds itself and runs without much input... you’re just in charge of the culture check.” — Pat Neve (40:55)

Key Moments: (outline)

* [00:00] - Influencing Your Parish: Pat identifies money, social influence, and prayer as the three primary levers for parish change.

* [01:06] - Welcome to Catholic Founders: Silas introduces the mission of becoming an instrument of God’s will through business leadership.

* [04:11] - Pat’s Background: From stand-up comedy and youth ministry to theology and sales.

* [05:36] - The Premise of “Save Your Parish”: Exploring why entrepreneurs are the natural catalysts for parish revitalization.

* [09:44] - The Resistance: Why staying and building a “bad” parish is often more fruitful than leaving for a perfect one.

* [13:55] - Strategy and Grace: Balancing human effort with divine reliance in the work of building community.

* [25:30] - Justice and the Precepts: Understanding our fundamental obligations to the Church as a matter of justice.

* [30:28] - Choosing Where to Plant Roots: Tactical advice on selecting a parish when you have multiple options in a metropolitan area.

* [40:15] - Scaling Ministry Culture: How to apply entrepreneurial delegation and culture-building to parish life.

* [55:00] - The Founder’s Charge: Silas summarizes the call for business owners to lean into their gift of creating for the sake of the Gospel.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Get the novena here: https://www.usccb.org/resources/novena-saint-joseph-english.pdf

Get the novena here: https://www.usccb.org/resources/novena-saint-joseph-english.pdf

News / Updates:

* (March 12th) San Francisco Meetup: Friend of the pod, Luca Zocche, is hosting a meetup for Catholic founders in SF next week. Sign up here: 👉 SF Fides Meetup

* Wausau, WI Monthly Meetup: Sign up here (Last Saturday of each month)

* (March 24th) We invite you to the in-person Nashville Meetup

* (April 12th) Catholic Founders Guild Dinner at Dallas, TX. Register here.

* Sponsor Catholic Founders to get in front of Hundreds of Catholic Business owners each week. admin@catholicfounders.com

* To start a local CF meetup near you, reach out, and we’ll help you get started — admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Episode:

I was recently invited to the Lead Different Podcast by Dan Dominguez, and we are sharing it here for your viewing.

If you have not already, I recommend checking out his pod and getting in touch with him for his leadership assessment. It’s really fascinating to help understand your unique leadership style. It will help you lead differently, I’m sure. Learn more here: https://whynotleadership.com/

Core Lesson:

Scaling a business is not a distraction from your spiritual life; it is the very path to your sainthood.

You’ve probably heard me say this before, but if you’re a Catholic who is called into entrepreneurship, your path to heaven is the path of being a good business owner. It’s not by setting it aside in the name of ‘humility’ or ‘poverty’ — it’s by embracing the call to be a co-creator and instrument of God’s will in the word.

Do not run from it. Embrace your cross and carry it on the path to heaven.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

Creative Works & Resources

* Catholic Founders Guild

* Lead Different Podcast

* The Six Working Geniuses

* Seton Home Study Program

* Clean Techies Podcast

Spiritual Figures & Prayers

* St. Joseph the Worker

* St. Josemaria Escriva

* St. Therese of Lisieux

Scripture

* Genesis 1:26-27

* Matthew 25:14-30

Select Quotes:

* “First of all, do you not trust in God? If God called you on this path, do you not trust in him for your daily bread?” — Silas Mähner

* “Striving isn’t the same as surrender. Ambition isn’t the same as obedience. And impact doesn’t come from control, it comes from trust.” — Dan Dominguez

* “If you’re somebody who approaches your faith first and you are Catholic first, and you do everything through the lens of your Catholic faith, scaling your business is actually your path to sainthood.” — Silas Mähner

* "We talk about this a lot here—that leading different is really about being open to the fact that God might have a better plan for your business than you do." — Dan Dominguez

* “A good steward does the best things, even if they will end up getting recognition, but they’re not doing it for recognition. They’re doing it because they know at the end of the day, they’re going to have to answer to their Master.” — Silas Mähner

* “And this is what leads to the backlash against wealthy people and against billionaires is that they’re not taking the stewardship approach to the people around them.” — Silas Mähner

* “He with the most conversations wins. You gotta have conversations. Meet as many people as you can. Learn and listen, right?” — Dan Dominguez quoting Adam Packard

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00 – Intro: The tension between anxiety and trusting God for “daily bread”.

* 01:59 – Dan Dominguez introduces the theme of leading from trust instead of fear.

* 04:00 – Silas joins the show and discusses his background as the oldest of eight in a Wisconsin cabinet-making family.

* 06:30 – The influence of mentor Jack Schultz and the “number one asset in business”.

* 10:00 – The impulsive 11 PM launch of Catholic Founders on the Feast of St. Joseph.

* 12:43 – Scaling as a path to sainthood and the “co-creative” nature of entrepreneurs.

* 15:30 – The stewardship of wealth: What to do with a $100 million exit.

* 20:58 – Implementing Patrick Lencioni’s “Working Genius” and learning to delegate execution.

* 49:40 – Outro: Joining the Catholic Founders Guild and the call to be instruments of God’s will.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Tune in tomorrow for our live around the same time. Keep an eye out for the notification on the Substack app or in your email.

Here is the link to the downloadable pdf of the novena.

IMPORTANT NOTICES:

* San Francisco Meetup: Friend of the pod, Luca Zocche, is hosting a meetup for Catholic founders in SF next week. Sign up here: 👉 SF Fides Meetup

* Wausau, WI Monthly Meetup: Sign up here

* Sponsor Catholic Founders to get in front of Hundreds of Catholic Business owners each week. admin@catholicfounders.com

* To start a local CF meetup near you, reach out, and we’ll help you get started — admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

SPECIAL ISSUE:

Jimmy Coleman | X Cathedra, Arimathea

Today, we are going to learn some killer advice on how to grow your business.

With Jimmy’s skills at growth, go-to-market, and sales, I’m confident you’re going to get a pile of value out of this.

So get out your notepad and prepare to be educated!

I highly encourage you to reach out to X Cathedra if you’re looking for help growing your business.

Core Lesson:

The fortune is in the follow-up, and your growth is a stewardship of the talents God entrusted to you.

If you don’t follow up, you’re missing out on growth. Jimmy outlines this very clearly today.

But follow-up is about more than growing your business. It’s about allowing God to have the maximum impact in the world through your business. If you don’t grow, you’re in a way preventing God from doing what He wishes of you.

You were not given skills and the desire to be an entrepreneur for nothing. You were given these to bring Christ to the world.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* Creative Works & Organizations

* Arimathea

* Lead Baller

* X Cathedra

* Paraclete VA

* Sherwood Fellows

* Spirit Juice Studios

* Coronation Media

Saints & Devotions

* St. Gemma Galgani

* The Holy Eucharist

* The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

* Eucharistic Adoration

Bible Passages

* John 6:51-58 (The Bread of Life Discourse)

* Matthew 25:14-30 (The Parable of the Talents)

* Matthew 6:24 (God and Mammon)

Select Quotes:

* “We need to make sure that we’re doing it for the right reasons. Like anything good, the devil tries to pervert it and make the benefits that can derive from it become your master, a false master.”— Jimmy Coleman

* “Jesus made it pretty clear he wasn’t happy about the people that just kind of like didn’t do anything with their talents. He was even much happier the people that tried and failed.”— Jimmy Coleman

* “If you get this part the right way, the downstream effects are huge because what I see happen a lot of times is people set up shop and then just take whoever’s money, whoever’s willing to give them money and then they do really good work for this person over here, really bad work for this person over here, and then they’re robbing from the people they do really good work from.”— Jimmy Coleman

* “Most people need to be asked to the dance. Most people like want you to like come over and say, hey, would it make sense, you know, for us to have a conversation about working together? And then risk hearing no.”— Jimmy Coleman

* "She is cold prospecting, but within her sainthood." (referring to St. Gemma Galgani)— Jimmy Coleman

* "Risking hearing no is the thing that a lot of, I'm noticing that Catholic businesses are not doing. They're just kind of waiting for people to come to them."— Jimmy Coleman

Key Moments: (outline)

* [00:00] - Intro - Jimmy breaks down the three questions every founder must answer to find their “sweet spot” of profitability and joy.

* [03:23] - Mapping the Catholic Ecosystem - The story behind Ex Cathedra and why building a comprehensive list of Catholic businesses is a form of service.

* [05:58] - The Five Pathways to Kingdom Expansion: Tactical advice on multiplying value and volume while maintaining a spirit of stewardship.

* [11:15] - The “Rule of 10” and Outbound Strategy: Why simple, consistent daily actions beat complex marketing schemes every time.

* [15:43] - Human Dignity in Outsourcing: How to build a global team (specifically in the Philippines) that honors the worker as a person, not just a line item.

* [18:20] - The Art of the Follow-up: Why most founders fail by stopping at the second touchpoint, and how to build a persistent but respectful follow-up system.

* [24:58] - The Ambition Debate: A deep dive into whether wanting to build a massive company is compatible with a life of holiness.

* [32:25] - Go-To-Market Mistakes: Common pitfalls Catholic businesses face when trying to scale their message.

* [35:57] - Running for the Eucharist: Jimmy talks about his 50-mile run and the “aggressive” intercession of St. Gemma Galgani.

* [42:23] - Outro: Closing thoughts on being a co-creator and trusting the results to the Father.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* If you’d like to sponsor this project to get in front of hundreds of Catholic business owners, email us also — admin@catholicfounders.com

* I’m planning to host a dinner / meetup in Nashville soon, reach out if interested in attending.

* We’re starting up a monthly recurring in-person meetup in Wausau, WI — learn more

* To start a local CF meetup near you, reach out and we’ll help you get started — admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Jimmy Coleman | X Cathedra, Arimathea

If you’re a Catholic and you’ve spent any amount of time on LinkedIn, you’ve probably heard of Jimmy Coleman. He’s kind of a legend.

But Jimmy wasn’t always floating around the Catholic circle. The early part of his career was characterized by achieving financial success, always being the best salesman, and eventually starting his own business, which he grew to 7-figures in revenue.

But despite always performing well financially and growing a successful business, there was still something missing inside.

Through the SENT Summit, Jimmy rediscovered his faith and would go on to understand the true meaning of success: a life lived in union with God.

Today, we’re telling Jimmy’s story of how he came to understand what the true metrics of success are.

Join us next time for a big ole pile of wisdom from Jimmy on how to grow your business and get new sales. This is something he’s become very good at (through his agency, now for Arimathea, and also with his new project X Cathedra).

Core Lesson:

Your definition of success is dictated by the crowd you run with—ensure your community is aiming for Heaven rather than a million-dollar exit.

The world wants us to constantly chase financial success. To level up. To ascend the career ladder. As a result, we idolize financially successful entrepreneurs, top salespeople, and content creators who have amassed millions of followers. But is this truly success?

As Catholics, we know the only true measure of success is if we love God so much that we make it to heaven on Judgment Day

How can we square that with the pursuit of financial outcomes above everything else? Well, the good news is we can, but not if our primary objective, or rather our primary measure of success, is financial and earthly

Earthly and financial success are only good insofar as they help us get to Heaven. If you’re called to be a king but choose to be a hermit, that’s not pleasing to God, and vice versa

Keep Heaven as your ultimate goal, and ensure you’re surrounding yourself with people who believe the same. Your environment shapes you, so choose your environment.

Choose ambitious entrepreneurs who love God first and foremost. Yes, this is basically a plug to join the Catholic Founders Guild, but even if you don’t join us, please, surround yourself with Faithful Entrepreneurs.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

Books & Literary Works

* Built to Sell by John Warrillow

Organizations & Websites

* Arimathea

* Lead Baller

* X Cathedra

* Sent Ventures

* Paraclete VA

Saints & Devotions

* St. Anthony of Padua

* St. Paul

* The Rosary

* Sacrament of Confession

Bible Passages

* John 6:53-56

* Matthew 6:24

Select Quotes:

* "There's been plenty of times where I was just around people that weren't defining success the right way and therefore I was kind of a leader of an anthill of something that in eternity doesn't really matter." — Jimmy Coleman

* “I actually just realized I wasn’t asking God to help me with this situation because I thought this situation was too hard for God, which is silly.” — Jimmy Coleman

* “True success is, you know, the formation of my family helping their souls get to heaven.” — Jimmy Coleman

* “You can tell what someone’s priorities are based on how they spend their money and their time.” — Jimmy Coleman

* “You have these graces fall upon you which come in the form of weight on your shoulders sometimes.” — Jimmy Coleman

* “I thought that logic would lead me towards atheism. That’s just kind of what I was told. And then, I was kind of pleasantly surprised to see just how much of a stretch atheism is.” — Jimmy Coleman

* “If you truly believe in [the Eucharist], every other reason, like, oh yeah, there’s people doing bad things, whatever... you’re gonna go wherever God is, you’re gonna go and touch God instead of all these other silly reasons.” — Jimmy Coleman

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00 – Intro: Dropping spiritual bombs on Mammon.

* 05:57 – Early Entrepreneurship: Jim’s Collectible Hats and selling Cutco knives.

* 09:08 – The “God of Money”: Defining success by the wrong metrics in his 20s.

* 15:06 – Launching Lead Baller: Productizing intellectual property and the “Baseball Field Methodology”.

* 21:07 – The Exit Journey: The challenges of selling an agency and the “humiliation” of over-committing.

* 28:19 – The Spiritual Pivot: How fatherhood and the fine-tuning argument led Jimmy back to Catholicism.

* 32:43 – The Eucharistic Hook: Why the historical argument for the Real Presence changed everything.

* 40:14 – New Motivations: Shepherding souls and being a steward of God’s gifts.

* 43:04 – Outro: Setting your eyes on the right objective.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* If you’d like to sponsor this project to get in front of hundreds of Catholic business owners, email us also — admin@catholicfounders.com

* I’m planning to host a dinner / meetup in Nashville soone, reach out if interested in attending.

* We’re starting up a monthly recurring in-person meetup in Wausau, WI — learn more

* To start a local CF meetup near you, reach out and we’ll help you get started — admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Nathan Price | Shepherd's

How often do you see me suited up? Not often is the answer ha!

Well, for today’s guest, who is the Catholic king of menswear, I had to throw on a suit.

Nathan Price is the co-founder of Shepherd’s menswear. Famously the firm that clothes Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker. Many othes like Michael Knowles can be found wearing their work as well.

The idea is simple: make uncompromisingly high-quality menswear that is not absurdly expensive.

As always, we covered a lot of ground, but some of the key areas are:

* Nathan’s unique career journey and how it’s obvious God led him down this path.

* How to work with a celebrity to turn that initial interest into long-term customer loyalty

* Why dressing well is a moral imperative

* How dressing well can help retake the culture around us

* And how he thinks about family legacy and considering the idea of his son taking over one day

There is something in here for everyone!

Core Lesson:

Quality is a moral obligation for the Catholic entrepreneur, as the excellence of our work serves as the primary witness to the integrity of our faith.

Nathan points out that many build a “Catholic brand” and then forget to actually make a high-quality product. They hide behind the Creed so to speak.

His opinion is that if your product is subpar, if it’s not among the best in class, you are damaging your credibility as a witness to the Truth.

Afterall, if you truly believe in your faith, how can that conviction not bring you to do whatever you do with great love so that those around you may know the love of Jesus?

This lesson is one we constantly need to remind ourselves of. High quality is a moral obligation, and it’s the key way that others will be drawn to God through our work.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

Episode References

Creative Works & Media

* Shepard’s

* The Gentleman’s Gazette

* REAL AF with Andy Frisella

* The MFCEO Project

* Liturgy of the Hours

* The Rosary

Saints Mentioned

* Blessed Karl of Austria

* St. Thomas Aquinas

* St. Andrew the Apostle

* St. Joseph of Cupertino

Bible Passages

* Joshua 1:9

* Matthew 25:14-30 (The Parable of the Talents)

* Colossians 3:23

Select Quotes:

* "If you're out there offering a subpar product, people are gonna question some other things about you. Like if your product falls apart immediately and you're out there touting how great it is, it's like, what else isn't very honest about these guys?" — Nathan Price

* "We’re not a Catholic company, we’re a virtuous company... owned by people who are striving towards virtue." — Nathan Price

* "Look for some of the underlying threads that go through the job or opportunity... rather than just looking at it as the job itself." — Nathan Price

* "You really got to impact someone's life in a really special way... if their clothing fits well, then they have more confidence." — Nathan Price

* "Oftentimes fit is one of the greatest communicators of quality, not necessarily the actual materials used." — Nathan Price

* "We have to really, really land every aspect of this experience, and that's the way that you convert it into long-term business." — Nathan Price

* "If it's a vest that fastens with buttons, the bottom button should be undone." — Nathan Price

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00 – The Catholic Quality Standard: Nathan opens with a challenge to avoid the “Catholic crutch” and why a subpar product is actually a form of dishonesty.

* 00:37 – Introduction: Silas introduces Nathan Price and the mission of Shepard’s to bring virtue back to the modern wardrobe.

* 01:45 – The Harrison Butker Connection: How a chance meeting with the NFL kicker evolved into a deep business partnership and shared vision for excellence.

* 05:12 – High School Roots: Nathan recounts his “accidental” start in tailoring at age 16 and how he discovered a natural talent for fitting suits.

* 10:30 – The Providential Thread: A reflection on how God uses seemingly random jobs to build the skillset required for a future calling.

* 14:20 – Leaving the “Catholic Bubble”: Why Shepard’s aims to compete in the mainstream market rather than just selling to a niche religious audience.

* 18:55 – Private Equity vs. Craftsmanship: A critique of how modern brands lose their soul when they prioritize margins over the quality of the garment.

* 24:40 – The Shepherd’s Philosophy: Nathan explains his “moral obligation” to the customer: ensuring they never regret spending their hard-earned money.

* 31:15 – Technical Excellence: A deep dive into the construction of a suit—full canvas versus fused—and why the details reflect the founder’s integrity.

* 38:40 – Dressing the Leader: Why outward appearance matters for the modern man and how it impacts his ability to lead his family and community.

* 45:10 – Spiritual Non-Negotiables: Nathan shares his daily routine, including Joshua 1:9, the Rosary, and the intercession of Blessed Karl of Austria.

* 49:30 – Building a Multi-Generational Legacy: Nathan’s desire to build a business that his children can inherit and take pride in.

* 53:15 – Closing Thoughts: Silas concludes with the reminder that every founder is “Created to Create” and the mission to elevate the culture through work.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Thanks for stopping by!

Please Take Note!

* The buildwithchrist.ai event takes place just north of Atlanta on March 7th from 11 to 4.

What is it: It’s a FREE event for you to come and learn how to use AI to build things. There will be free coaches on staff to teach you. And you can also learn about AI or watch professional teams build a product in a few hours for Adopt a Family.

It’s FREE to attend, but you do need to REGISTER. Do so here.

Today’s Guest:

Michael Lyons | [Y] Impact Ventures & Global Petals

Select Quotes:

* “Everything in this world can be sanctified by Christ. And He works through us.” — Michael Lyons

* “AI should be used to strengthen human relationship, not replace it and advance human dignity.” — Michael Lyons

* “I really think that the world is gonna shift pretty quickly from getting a job, from using a resume to using a portfolio.” — Michael Lyons

* “You can skip the ‘I’m not doing it because I can’t build it.’ You can skip straight to the relationship... I think this is a way of bringing down those walls.” — Michael Lyons

* “This is really about upskilling people... giving them the ability to elevate what they’re doing for their organizations, for their families, for themselves.” — Michael Lyons

* “It’s artificial intelligence, but it’s really accessible intelligence, especially for this other rung of people who need help.” — Michael Lyons

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Key Episode References:

* BuildwithChrist.ai

* Lovable.dev

* Magisterium AI

* The Harvard/BCG Study — This is the study Michael referenced (specifically the HBS/BCG collaborative research) which found that while AI increases productivity, it can also lead to “brain drag” and workers taking on more tasks rather than resting.

* Corporal Works of Mercy

Key Moments: (outline)

* [00:00] — Intro. Silas introduces the mission of the episode and the upcoming shift in how we approach technology.

* [00:29] — The “Build with Christ” vision. A breakdown of the March 7th event in Alpharetta, GA, and why it’s designed for anyone, regardless of technical background.

* [03:40] — Sanctifying the tools. Why we shouldn’t abdicate AI to the secular world, but instead bring a “virtue layer” to modern technology.

* [05:16] — From Podcast to Product. How a conversation about legal injustice led Michael to build “Justice Lens” to serve those without a voice.

* [11:33] — The Hackathon experience. Why this event feels more like The Great British Baking Show or BattleBots than a boring tech seminar?

* [15:45] — Why your portfolio is the new resume. How the economy is shifting toward what you can produce with AI rather than where you went to school.

* [22:49] — The “Pie in the Sky” goal. A vision of a future where AI handles the administrative “noise” so we can return to authentic, face-to-face ministry.

* [26:40] — Closing thoughts. How to start your own upskilling journey today and stay grounded in your Catholic mission.

* [27:15] — Outro. Final details on registration and how to join the event virtually or in person.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* I’m planning to host a dinner / meetup in Nashville soone, reach out if interested in attending.

* We’re starting up a monthly recurring in person meetup in Wausau, WI — reach out for details.

* To start a local CF meetup near you, reach out and we’ll help you get started — admin@catholicfounders.com

* If you’d like to sponsor this project to get in front of hundreds of Catholic business owners, email us also — admin@catholicfounders.com

* Ensure you are prepared for Lent! This episode has good insights and so does yesterday’s Saintly CEO post.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Fr. Nathaniel Haslam | Lumen Institute

Scaling a business in the fanatic hurry of the modern world often feels like a zero-sum game between your growth and your soul. Today’s guest, Father Nathaniel Haslam, understands this tension from the inside out. Before being ordained as a priest with the Legionaries of Christ and serving as a chaplain for the Lumen Institute, Fr. Nathaniel was an atheist engineer and businessman with his sights set on becoming a billionaire.

Now, he spends his time mentoring top-tier executives on how to integrate Christ into the boardroom. In this episode, we explore the inherent nobility of the entrepreneurial path, the danger of burying your talents out of fear, and a practical tool called the generosity thermometer designed to keep your heart detached from the grip of success.

Core Lesson:

Your business is the primary environment where your spiritual life is meant to flourish. In other words, your business is how you’re meant to become a saint.

Many founders carry a heavy existential angst, a lingering feeling that they chose a secular path while the “holy” work is happening elsewhere — in missions or rectories. Fr. Nathaniel shatters this misconception by pointing to the Church’s own teaching: business leadership is a noble calling.

As entrepreneurs, we are called to be co-creators with God. This is a specific commission to take the unique talents of leadership and wealth creation and put them to work for the Kingdom. Our role is one of stewardship and divine trust. When we anchor our company culture in human dignity and treat every person as an individual to be loved, we are participating directly in God’s ongoing work of creation. Our work in the marketplace is a vital, sanctified mission.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to admin@catholicfounders.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* The Vocation of the Business Leader

* The Lumen Institute

* The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace

* Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word

* His Way at Work

* Litany of Humility

* Biblical Passages: Genesis 1-2, Matthew 25, John 15:5

Select Quotes:

* “The noble callings are not just the priests and the nuns... the church specifically said in that document, you have a noble calling. Business leadership is a noble calling.” — Fr. Nathaniel

* “Humility is to live in the truth of who God is, who others are, and who you are.” — Fr. Nathaniel

* “Will you trust my trust in you? That’s God speaking to the person.” — Fr. Nathaniel

* “If he gave you a mission as a business owner, he’s also empowered you to live this out.” — Fr. Nathaniel

* “There’s a lot of good desire, and there’s a lot of goodwill, but there’s also a tendency to delay giving… are you depriving yourself of the joy of giving now?

…It’s more joyful to give than to receive.” — Fr. Nathaniel

Key Moments: (outline)

* [00:00] Intro: The Nobility of the Entrepreneur. Why business leadership is not just a job, but a high vocation on par with any other calling in the Church.

* [03:40] Fr. Nathaniel’s Journey. The shift from an atheist engineer seeking wealth to a priest seeking souls, and how that background helps him mentor executives.

* [08:25] The Mission of the Lumen Institute. How spiritual coaching and virtue-based leadership are transforming the way CEOs approach their daily grind.

* [10:59] Breaking the “Existential Angst.” Addressing the feeling that business is “secular” and providing the theological proof that it is actually a holy endeavor.

* [15:10] Incorporating Christ into the Boardroom. Practical ways to bring faith into a professional setting without being performative.

* [18:45] Leadership and Human Dignity. Using the “Five Languages of Appreciation” to build a culture where employees feel seen as children of God.

* [22:36] Reframing the Parable of the Talents. A deep dive into why “burying the talent” is a sin of fear, and why God’s trust in us is the real story.

* [33:15] The Danger of the “Fanatic Hurry.” How the noise of the world kills our ability to hear God’s direction for our companies.

* [41:14] The Generosity Thermometer. A practical spiritual exercise to ensure that your heart remains free as your net worth grows.

* [48:27] Outro & Lenten Challenge. Moving from passive sacrifices to active “stretches” that allow God to work through your business.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* If you’d like the framework to host local meetups for other Catholic business owners in your area, email us and we’ll talk — admin@catholicfounders.com

* If you’d like to sponsor this project to get in front of hundreds of Catholic business owners, email us also — admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today If you believe you're called to be an instrument of God in the world, and you're a business owner, this is the group for you. We work together to help each other grow, and learn how we can be true stewards of our gifts. How we can carry out God's will in the world. Join the guild today by upgrading to a paid membership.

The Mozart Principle: Cultivating Your God-Given Genius

Today’s Reflection:

We often look at geniuses like Mozart and think they are one-of-a-kind anomalies. But for the Catholic Founder, Mozart’s life offers a profound blueprint for leadership and stewardship.

Mozart didn’t just write music; he transformed culture by mastering the rules and then breaking them to create something more beautiful. He lived only 35 years, yet his prolific output (over 800 pieces) reminds us that our time is short and our responsibility to our gifts is absolute.

In this episode, I dive into why being born at the wrong time is a myth and how we must play dual roles in our businesses: being the son (Mozart) who leans into their unique creative talent, and the father (Leopold) who recognizes and fosters that same genius in our employees.

Core Lesson: The Incomplete World Theory

The world is fundamentally incomplete if you do not put your gifts to use.

This isn’t just about personal success; it’s about our co-creative nature. When we build businesses, manage teams, or innovate in our industries, we are acting in the image and likeness of God. Every employee you hire is a unique gift to the world, and as a founder, you have a moral duty (much like Mozart’s father) to help that gift come to life.

If we choose laziness or bury our talents, the corner of the universe we were meant to transform remains dark. Our calling is to create a culture of beauty and service, ensuring that on Judgment Day, we aren’t counted among the stewards who buried the talents entrusted to them.

Hire a Catholic VA to do the busy work, so you can focus on scaling your business. We have a network of vetted, Catholic VAs who work across, finance, marketing, admin, and graphic design. Most hires take ~10 days to fill. Pay $500 when they start and $500 if you're still happy 30 days later. To get started, email admin@catholicfounders.com with what you're looking for. Several Catholic Founders in our community have utilized this service to great satisfaction.

Select Quotes:

* “God doesn’t have people born at the wrong time, ever. He creates our soul exactly when He does for a very specific reason.”

* “If we don’t put our gifts to use, the world is less complete than it could be.”

* “As entrepreneurs, we are fundamentally engaged with our co-creative nature... that’s what created in the image and likeness of God actually means.”

* “We have times where we are Mozart in the story, and we also have times where we’re his father.”

Key Moments:

* 00:00 – The Mozart Stats: 35 years, 800 pieces, and the “Mozart Ratio” of true influence.

* 01:15 – Transforming Culture: Moving opera and concertos from background noise to complex dialogue.

* 02:37 – Mastering the Rules: Learning when to break conventions to keep beauty engaging.

* 03:10 – The Myth of “Wrong Timing”: Why God placed you in this specific era with these specific challenges.

* 04:11 – The Role of the Father: Recognizing talent as a “duty to God” and investing in its growth.

* 04:53 – The Theology of Entrepreneurship: What it means to be a “co-creator” in the 21st century.

* 06:11 – Employee Stewardship: Seeing staff as gifts to the world, not just “units of labor.”

* 07:07 – The Incomplete World: Reflections on wasted gifts and the inspiration of Dr. Daniel Tataje.

* 08:47 – Born for a Particular Reason: A call to transform whatever corner of the universe you find yourself in.

* 09:37 – Final Vision: Creating a “Culture of God” through beauty, family, and community support.

Share this with someone else who needs to recognize they have unique skills — that God wants them to put to use. We are here to help encourage and push each other to greater heights. To push each other to live out our calling in full color. Sharing this post can help us do that in a small way.

News / Updates:

* If you’d like the framework to host local meetups for other Catholic business owners in your area, email us and we’ll talk — admin@catholicfounders.com

* If you’d like to sponsor this project to get in front of hundreds of Catholic business owners, email us also — admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Dr. Daniel Tataje | Mercy Dental Group

I could give you a big, long write-up about today’s guest. But I’m not.

I’ll just say this — if you don’t listen to this, you’re missing out on the opportunity to have an incredible new role model for your business. Dr. Tataje is incredible.

As you know, I meet a lot of entrepreneurs, and I walked away from this conversation feeling like I’ve met someone who is truly a living example of what it means to be a saint in business.

Please take in this episode slowly, with a notepad at your side. He has so many insights, you’ll surely value the time.

One note: I’d highly suggest picking up his book, The Leader Humanity Needs. It dives into how the Christian virtues of integrity, humility, and service are the true foundations of effective leadership.

The 7 Marks of Leadership

To build his practice, he’s used what he calls the 7 marks of leadership. He shared those in the episode so we also summarized them here for you. He is sure to impress these upon every new hire and uses them to guide his leadership team:

* Integrity: The foundation of trust. Daniel argues that true integrity is ultimately achieved through a life of holiness.

* Respect: Recognizing that every person is a unique, unrepeatable gift from God. It’s the “honor of meeting the only you in the history of humanity.”

* Positivity: Choosing to be a light in the darkness. It’s not about ignoring difficulty, but finding the positive outcome and the opportunity for growth in every struggle.

* Empathy: Moving beyond the Golden Rule to treat people how they want to be treated—which requires taking the time to truly know them.

* Teamwork: Transferring power by saying, “I believe in you.” Investing in the success and talent of those around you.

* Service: An intentional act of love. Treating the person in front of you as the most important person in your life at that moment.

* Humility: The “King of Virtues.” Leading as a humble servant in the image of Christ, recognizing that your talents are a gift to be stewarded, not owned.

Core Lesson:

The power of looking every person in the eyes — customer and employee — and recognizing they are a gift from God — more than that, they are a gift for that moment right there — this act is powerful beyond understanding.

I would chalk up all of his success to this key thing. He believes all humans are created in the Image and Likeness of God. That they are a gift to humanity, and when in his presence, they are a gift to him.

Because he believes this so deeply, he treats his employees in a way that reflects that. He does the same for their patients. And in turn, the employees do this with each other and with the patients as well. This leads to huge benefits, but as always with these things, we don’t do this because of the praise. We do this because it’s right.

Consider your own disposition to this truth. Is it truly engrained into you? Or is it just something you intellectually know. Make it something you live out through your actions.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* The Leader Humanity Needs - Dr. Daniel Tataje

* Prayer of St. Francis

* St. Joseph

* St. Mother Teresa

* St. John Paul II

* St. Maximilian Kolbe

* St. Augustine

* St. Padre Pio

* St. Thérèse of Lisieux

* Biblical Passages: Matthew 4:19, Matthew 7:12, Matthew 20:26-28, Hebrews 11:1

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Select Quotes:

* “We are moved by love, not by greed. We love our mission.” — Daniel

* “Be good stewards of the people and the resources we have. So it’s not trying to grow the business, but growing the business and creating wealth is a by-product of what we do.” — Daniel

* “What I want is to create more leaders. And how do I create more leaders? I want to follow the greatest leader of all humanity, the history of humanity, which is Jesus. And what were the aspects of the leadership of Jesus that made him a great leader? I came out with these seven marks of leadership…” — Daniel

* “Of course, we respect everyone’s faith. We are not a Catholic organization, but we are a Catholic-led organization. They know that the person that leads this company is Catholic. And we make sure that everyone follows those values.” — Daniel

* “What I mean with respect is the fact that everyone is unique, that everyone is valuable and everyone is talented.” — Daniel

* “Everyone is a gift and the patient that you see in today is a gift, too. It’s a unique person.” — Daniel

* “It’s better to light a candle than to curse darkness. What are you doing to create a great environment where you are?” — Daniel

* “The most powerful thing you can say to someone is, I believe in you. And why is that? It’s because that transfers power.” — Daniel

* “The ‘leader humanity needs’ actually is the reader. So it’s an invitation for everyone, I believe that everyone is called to lead the world to a better place, against using your talents, be light in the darkness.” — Daniel

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00 – Intro: Daniel’s philosophy on stewardship and mission-driven growth.

* 03:00 – Host Update: Silas shares how he met Daniel and his impression of the Mercy Dental Group.

* 03:40 – The Origin Story: Daniel’s transition from a practicing dentist to a business founder.

* 06:06 – Growth Strategy: Building the group through word-of-mouth and retiring doctor referrals.

* 08:22 – Virtue vs. Private Equity: Why sellers choose legacy and staff care over higher PE bids.

* 11:12 – Subsidiarity: Empowering local clinics to maintain their own unique identities.

* 17:54 – The Founder’s Edge: How working every entry-level role built Daniel’s leadership.

* 20:15 – The Seven Marks of Leadership: Introducing the core virtues of the organization.

* 22:35 – Deep Dive on Respect: Viewing every employee and patient as a unique gift.

* 30:10 – Host Commentary: Silas reflects on the “competitive advantage” of Christian integrity.

* 34:22 – Company Culture: Rewarding long-term staff with “loyalty trips.”

* 39:18 – Mercy Dental Missions: Providing free care locally and internationally.

* 48:17 – The Turning Point: Moving from “God as co-pilot” to full consecration of the business.

* 52:24 – Final Message: A call for leaders to be “light in the darkness.”

* 55:40 – Host Outro: Silas recaps key takeaways on integrity and community impact.

* 58:15 – Call to Action: Information on Daniel’s book and joining the Catholic Founders Guild.

Enjoy this episode? Share it with others!

It’s time for another episode of Catholic Founders! This time with my good pal Federico - or as we call him, Fed.

News / Updates:

* If you’d like the framework to host local meetups for other Catholic business owners in your area, email us and we’ll talk. admin@catholicfounders.com

* If you’d like to sponsor this project to get in front of hundreds of Catholic business owners, email us also — admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today We're building the largest network of Catholic biz owners in the world. It's for any Catholic biz owner who believes they are called to be an instrument of God's will in the world. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month. Curious? --> "What is the Catholic Founders Guild"

In Today’s Issue: Intro to the Guest and Topic | Core Takeaway | Episode References | Select Quotes | Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Federico Chavez-Torres | Tex

If you think the tech world is a spiritual desert, you haven’t been paying attention to what’s happening in San Francisco.

In this episode, I’m joined by Federico “Fed” Chavez-Torres, co-founder of Tex and a leading voice in a growing cohort of venture-scale Catholic founders. Fed is one of those rare people who combines high-level Silicon Valley ambition with a deep, gritty commitment to the Faith. And he’s a good friend, so I was happy to have him on the show.

We’re moving past the “small business” comfort zone and diving into the deep end: The duty of greatness.

Here is what we cover:

* The San Francisco Renaissance: Why the Bay Area is seeing record-breaking conversions and how a “bubble” of serious Catholic founders is actually a secret weapon for innovation.

* Reclaiming Magnificence: A gut-check on why Catholics have abandoned the pursuit of greatness and how we can reclaim “intellectual ownership” of ambition.

* The “Death Athlete” Mindset: A radical framework for living (and building) where we train every single day to leave everything on the court for the glory of God.

* Building the Future: Why the world desperately needs Catholics at the helm of the companies defining AI, biotech, and the re-industrialization of the West.

Fed’s perspective is a direct challenge to the “poverty-first” mentality that Catholics have taken for a long time. I think you’ll like his takes.

Core Lesson:

Don’t confuse humility with smallness.

As Catholics, we rightly emphasize poverty, service, and care for the vulnerable. But somewhere along the way, many of us have become uneasy with greatness — with scale, influence, and ambition — even when God has clearly given us the talent to build something significant.

Fed makes the case that venture-scale companies will shape culture whether Catholics build them or not. The algorithms, platforms, and institutions defining modern life are not neutral. If they are not led by people with a moral spine, they will be led by people who are perfectly comfortable exploiting human weakness for profit.

The alternative is not retreat. It’s responsibility.

For those of us called to build at scale, the task is to pursue excellence with discipline, to aim high without idolizing power, and to order ambition toward Christ. Not for our own glory, but so that the companies shaping the future are led by men and women who actually know what the good is.

This episode is a reminder that Catholics don’t just belong in the room — in many cases, we are morally obligated to be there.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Offshore Talent We help you find vetted Catholic offshore talent to help your business grow. $500 upon hire and $500 if you're still happy in 30 days. Email us your needs -> hire in days -> admin@catholicfounders.com

Key Episode References:

* You Must Change Your Life – Peter Sloterdijk

* Ghost Gunner (Documentary)

* St. Charbel Makhlouf

* St. Joan of Arc

* St. Bruno of Cologne

* Biblical Passages: Psalm 51, John 1:1–18, 2 Timothy 4:7, 1 Corinthians 9:24–27, Luke 22:39–46,

Select Quotes:

* On the Call to Greatness: “We have been in this focus on poverty for 70 years, but we’ve neglected the call to magnificence. We should have complete intellectual ownership over the concept of greatness.”

* On the “Death Athlete” Mindset: “We are training every day towards our death. I want to be a ‘death athlete’—someone who, like Christ on the cross, leaves absolutely everything out on the court for God.”

* On the Mission for San Francisco: “It’s about a new way to cope with the horrors of modern life in a Catholic way—one that isn’t just ‘move to a farm,’ but staying to make the city beautiful again.”

* On Ethical Technology: “If there were more Catholics in these businesses, half of them wouldn’t exist—because we wouldn’t build algorithms designed to hijack the human soul for a click.”

* On the Power of Community: “Founders hunt in packs. Being Catholic in the middle of Silicon Valley makes you differentiated—it centers the hustle around the Cross rather than just the exit.”

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00 – Intro: Catholic concept of “becoming like gods.”

* 00:23 – Host Update: Silas on moving to Nashville.

* 03:38 – SF Renaissance: The Catholic revival in the Bay Area.

* 06:52 – Silicon Valley Leverage: Why “bubbles” can be good for innovation.

* 11:50 – Tex: Fed explains his industrial asset startup.

* 14:21 – Catholic VCs: The state of faith-aligned venture capital.

* 19:24 – Ethical Tech: Why Catholics should build AI and social media.

* 25:18 – The Mission: Making San Francisco Catholic again.

* 39:41 – Magnificence: Reclaiming ambition as a Catholic virtue.

* 45:49 – Death Athleticism: Training to leave everything on the court for God.

* 53:41 – Rapid Fire: Psalm 51, St. Charbel, and the Angelus.

* 58:33 – Outro: Final reflections on the duty of greatness.

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Welcome back to another great episode of Catholic Founders.

Today we have a special discussion with Johann Kurtz . He’s the creator of the Substack Becoming Noble and author of Leaving a Legacy: Inheritance, Charity, & Thousand-Year Families. A book I highly recommend you add to your library.

I recently read this, and it blew my mind. Since then, I’ve passed out 8 or so copies and convinced probably another dozen to buy it.

Why?

This book encapsulates several core things of what it means to be a steward in God’s creation. From charity, to raising your children to caring for your community, to loving your neighbor.

A key point of the book, and something we discuss in the podcast, is the role of owning businesses in passing on a legacy.

The business itself doesn’t have to be the only asset. In fact, it would be better to have many assets, but a business is a good means of building assets that are intentionally illiquid. Assets that require care and attention. These must be inculcated into your children so they understand their broader responsibility.

Rather than liquidating everything you own at your death, children ought to continue to steward and grow that wealth, so that it may benefit the family, the community, and, of course, the Church.

Please listen to this with an open heart to what type of legacy God may be calling you to build.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Core Lesson:

God wants to use us as stewards of His creation. Lean into whatever that stewardship looks like for you.

Some Catholics I’ve come across have no intention of building a financial legacy to hand off to their children. They are worried it will ruin them. But that’s only true if you don’t teach them the right virtues.

You are called to be a steward of the world around you. That includes the things God has put into your care. And in some cases, what’s put in your care includes your skills to acquire more.

When we act in line with God’s will, we can act as the worker ants distributing God’s goodness to the world — yes, including through our assets.

God wants you to build a legacy. Not for yourself. But for Him. So He can use you and your progeny to carry out His will in the world.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Talent That Actually Shares Your Mission with Verso Jobs. Verso Jobs has built a gamified, data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values. Their team understands your needs, goes out to qualified candidates, tests them through the gamified application. Then presents you with candidates who truly share your mission. If you’re a Catholic or conservative organization looking to cut through the fog, reach out to Verso Jobs to help you today. Whether you’re hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom. Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights. ⛰️

Key Episode References:

* Get Johann’s Book: Leaving a Legacy, Inheritance, Charity and Thousand Year Families

* Rerum Novarum (Papal encyclical by Leo XIII)

* Allocution to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility (By Pope Pius XII)

* Good Money (Series by the New Polity Catholic think tank)

* Biblical Passages: 1 Timothy 5:8, Proverbs 13:22, Luke 18, 2 Corinthians 8, Acts 4.

Select Quotes:

* “What I think is to be avoided at all costs is […] is passing on a massively liquid inheritance. In other words, pure capital, stock shares, cash, because that really, that is you’re passing on a massive temptation to your children, like just liquid money. It becomes a problem.” — Johann

* “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives and especially for their own household has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (Quoting 1 Timothy 5:8) — Johann

* “A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.” (Quoting Proverbs 13:22) — Johann

* “The virtue of humility is not believing that you are more than you are and being very conscious of the talents you do have, where they came from... But what it is not is the suppression or the ignoring or the wasting of your God-given talents.” — Johann

* “If you participate with joy in the divine commandments, you can leave a legacy which lasts forever... the quintessential commandment in this regard is be fruitful and multiply.” — Johann

* “Dominion carries with it the burden of rule. In some sense, there is a place for wealthy people in society... but they should always understand that wealth as a gift that is to be properly stewarded for the creation of the good, the true, and the beautiful.” — Johann

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Key Moments: (outline)

* 0:00 - Johann Kurtz on Ecclesiastes and the vanity vs. reality of leaving a legacy.

* 4:04 - Book Summary: The tension between traditional charity and modern philanthropy.

* 7:41 - Why newly wealthy often give away assets, citing the Vanderbilts.

* 8:53 - The book’s target audience: wealthy individuals and their children.

* 10:56 - The “way of life” pitched: Wealth as duty, favoring illiquid assets and family businesses over liquid inheritance (cash/stocks).

* 16:17 - The role of business in legacy, quoting Papal encyclicals (Rerum Novarum) on community obligations.

* 21:33 - “Actualizing God’s will” through entrepreneurship and the complex Catholic view of wealth.

* 31:12 - Responding to Catholics against pursuing wealth, referencing the Parable of the Talent and humility.

* 36:44 - Question: Should one break away from a “rough” family to build a new intentional legacy?

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Hey everyone,

I was not going to publish an episode today because we are beginning our drive to Nashville, where we are relocating, hopefully for the rest of our lives.

However, yesterday morning, I had it on my heart to record something.

This was one-shotted and not edited much at all, so please forgive my rambling and stumbling a bit. It’s in there because I didn’t have time to edit it, but also, it seemed fitting to me to allow the Holy Spirit to speak through me with the end audience in mind.

That’s you. Please only listen to this when you are able to focus and reflect on what this exhortation means for you specifically. In what way is God after your heart? In what way is He calling you closer to Him?

If we want to do God’s will, we need to know God’s will. If we want to know God’s will, we need to spend time with Him. How else are we supposed to know His will?

One Hail Mary in the morning isn’t going to cut it.

You need some serious 1:1 time with the most important guide, mentor, or consultant in your life. If you don’t, you’re relying on your own wisdom (or lack thereof) instead of God’s.

Don’t forget, He always offers His wisdom; we just have to tune in.

So which way will it be? Your way? Or His way?

Let me know what you think of this style of episode. If you like it, share it as a sort of ‘tipping the waiter’ situation.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Hey everyone!

Today is a special bonus episode because I love the Magi. So I’m covering 1) the real history, 2) why I find this story so compelling, and 3) what it means for our lives as business owners.

I’m not going to do a write-up on it in detail, so you’ll have to listen to it (or read the transcript, I suppose).

Enjoy it and let me know what you think in the comments!

ICYMI:

* Saturday, we published our 2025 recap

* Sunday, we published another bonus episode with Jamie Baxter, Founder of Exodus 90

* Yesterday, we published the Saintly CEO on Personal Transformation

* Fill out our listeners/readers survey

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Key Moments: (outline)

* 0:00 | Introduction: The Magi’s Real Story - Knowledge into Action

* 1:45 | Content Recap & Happy Epiphany

* 3:00 | New Year’s Request: Share the Show

* 4:30 | The Scale of the Journey & Identity of the Magi (King David’s advisors, understanding the stars)

* 7:00 | The Magi’s Motivation and Deep Knowledge

* 9:00 | Timing of the Magi’s Arrival (More likely within a 12-month period)

* 10:30 | The Core Lesson: Knowledge Translated into Action

* 13:00 | Why We Need Spiritual Mentors (Priests, Bishops, Saints)

* 16:00 | The Principle of Justice: Giving God What is Due

* 18:00 | From Mental Ascent (Junior Leagues) to Action (Pro Level)

* 20:00 | The Call to Action: How Does Faith Change Your Q1 Goals?

* 22:30 | Catholic Founders Guild Invitation (Membership details and purpose)

* 25:00 | Closing & Prayer Request for Catholic Entrepreneurs

* 26:00 | Farewell

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* Enjoy this Sunday special to kick off the year

* Stay tuned for a Catholic Founders Dinner near you (we aim to host 12 this year, so let us know if you’d like us to come to your area)

* This week is going to be packed full of content — please check it all out because we are putting a lot of effort into it (will go back to normal posting after this week)

* Sponsorships: We are looking for 3 anchor sponsors to support the show in 2026 — reach out to learn more admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Jamie Baxter | Exodus 90

How to have true detachment from your business, without being detached from the work and from your customers.

As entrepreneurs, it’s easy to make entrepreneurship, and by extension, our company, our identity. But we know that our true identity is that of a child of God, created in His image and likeness. We also need to avoid attachment to our earthly success, recognition, or financial outcomes.

Today’s conversation does a great job of covering the different angles of this topic.

Hire Talent That Actually Shares Your Mission with Verso Jobs. Verso Jobs has built a gamified, data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values. Their team understands your needs, goes out to qualified candidates, tests them through the gamified application. Then presents you with candidates who truly share your mission. If you’re a Catholic or conservative organization looking to cut through the fog, reach out to Verso Jobs to help you today. Whether you’re hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom. Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights. ⛰️

Core Lesson:

We can be detached from this world while still being in it, even as business owners with a responsibility to our communities. And when we do this well, we’re simply recognizing that God is the ultimate master.

We are called to carry out God’s will in the world. That doesn’t mean we are called to make oodles of money. Or to gain the respect of men. Those things may be part of God’s will for our lives, but that will be unique for each of us.

What is not unique is that we are called to detach ourselves from this world and attach ourselves firmly and irremovably to the Will of God for us.

Attachment to money or fame is incompatible with this goal.

However, when we see all things as coming from God, we become capable of being good stewards of the things He has given to our care.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to admin@catholicfounders.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Key Episode References:

* Exodus 90

* St. John Henry Newman

* St. Arsenius

* Jim Perry - Generous Catholic Donor

* Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson - 37Signals

* Blue Ocean Strategy (book)

Select Quotes:

* “You don’t need more than you have to do God’s will.” (Jamie Baxter)

* “The only reason I kept going was I felt like the Lord was asking me to... when that stops, I will stop.” (Jamie Baxter)

* “Whatever your mind’s eye is on your thing... God’s plan is different.” (Jamie Baxter)

* “I just ask for my daily bread. I pray that the breadcrumbs be there.” (Jamie Baxter)

* “[John Henry] Newman... actually sees faith as the highest form of reasoning.” (Jamie Baxter)

* “I have never done this to hit some kind of revenue goal.” (Jamie Baxter)

* “I think the vast majority of us should... play a part in renewing the good and necessary and essential institutions like our parishes.” (Jamie Baxter)

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00 — Intro

* 03:47 — Jamie Baxter on the importance of detachment for entrepreneurs

* 05:12 — Exploring the first three years of Exodus 90 and the role of providence

* 07:32 — Recognizing the business journey as a tool for personal and spiritual growth

* 11:26 — Discerning the line between divine calling and personal hubris

* 13:14 — Cultivating a daily disposition of trust and seeking “daily bread”

* 16:39 — Integrating faith and reason when making high-stakes business decisions

* 22:36 — A Catholic perspective on the importance of renewing existing institutions

* 27:37 — Scaling impact while maintaining a lean, mission-focused team

* 31:50 — Applying “Blue Ocean Strategy” to avoid competition and stay true to a unique charism

* 37:15 — Practical advice for remaining detached from outcomes during periods of success

* 44:14 — Balancing high-level vision with staying close to the daily “work”

* 48:12 — The strategic transition from a non-profit to a private for-profit entity

* 53:48 — Redefining ownership and reinvestment through a Catholic lens

* 1:01:18 — Learning from secular entrepreneurs and filtering for traditional wisdom

* 1:03:29 — Rapid Fire: Favorite scriptures, influential saints, and the power of the Rosary

* 1:15:44 — Closing reflections on purifying desires and pursuing spiritual freedom

Listen on: Fio (Catholic Spotify) | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

Take the 2025 Readers/Listeners Survey!

News / Updates:

* 🍽️ This past Tuesday, we hosted a Catholic Founders Dinner in NYC. It was epic. You should have been there. We even had a priest there. Really enjoyed that!

* ❌ No more episodes or newsletter until January. I’m taking a bit of a break after today. Tune in again in January when we resume (unless I get inspiration last min and put out more content).

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

* Jeff Carron

* Jeff Carron is the owner and operator of the Paul Davis Restoration franchise in Portland, Maine, which he runs with his two brothers. They realized the industry’s software stack was outdated, so they bought into the franchise to intimately understand the business and build their own software solution called Recover, which they are now scaling to other restoration franchises.

Hire Talent That Actually Shares Your Mission with Verso Jobs. Verso Jobs has built a gamified, data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values. Their team understands your needs, goes out to qualified candidates, tests them through the gamified application. Then presents you with candidates who truly share your mission. If you’re a Catholic or conservative organization looking to cut through the fog, reach out to Verso Jobs to help you today. Whether you’re hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom. Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights. ⛰️

Core Lesson:

Catholics should be the best at taking risks. Reason being? If we believe our faith — if we truly believe — we will take drastic actions to share that faith with everyone. Because there are moral consequences.

One of the key questions we ask today is, why do most Catholics pursue safe careers. Finance, law, etc? Why are so many Catholics risk-averse? When our faith literally tells us to trust in the Lord. The faith has moral consequences (heaven or hell) so why aren’t we willing to do things to share that?

The Apostles received the Holy Spirit and went out to preach to all nations. There was no safety there. They knew they would probably be killed. But they did it because they trusted in God. They answered the call to action.

How about you? Are you aware of what God is calling you to? And are you willing to step up and take that action? It may not even be martyrdom. It may be as simple as starting a business and trusting that God will provide.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Launch Your Podcast — Build Trust With Customers Trying to bring in more leads? Launching a podcast might be the best move you haven’t made yet. Saint Kolbe Studios helps Catholic entrepreneurs launch professional, mission-aligned podcasts that build trust and increase leads. Their team walks with you every step of the way, from strategy and recording to branding and editing, so you can launch your podcast in under 90 days. Get 20% off all services for the rest of 2025 because you listen to Catholic Founders. Just mention Catholic Founders when you reach out. 158 million people listen to podcasts every month, and that’s just in the US! Your ideal customer may already be listening to a competitor’s podcast. Visit saintkolbestudios.com to get started.

Key Episode References:

Individuals

* Mike Parrott (Referenced our past episode with him)

* Catherine Boyle (Partner at Andreessen Horowitz - Catholic)

Companies, Organizations, and Media

* Opus Dei (Religious group)

* Knights of the Holy Sepulcher (Religious group)

* Knights of Malta (Religious group)

* The Passion of the Christ (Movie)

* The Founder (Movie, mentioned in relation to Michael Keaton)

Select Quotes:

Share your favorite!

* “The risk is actually just someone else thinking you’re stupid. That’s the maximum risk that most of us encounter.” — Jeff Carron

* “Stability should not be the priority for a Catholic of any kind of means or significant talent.” — Jeff Carron

* “We are all capable of being more courageous than folding because someone thinks less of us.” — Jeff Carron

* “Risk is the nature, is’s really the business we’re in. We are risking our entire lives by believing in something that by its very nature is not necessarily provable.” — Jeff Carron

* “You have a moral imperative to be present in the society. I know we’re not of the world, but we are in it.” — Jeff Carron

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00 – Cold Open

* 01:57 – Introduction to Recover: Silas introduces Jeff Carron and the origin story of Recover, a software company built after Jeff and his brothers bought a restoration franchise to “dogfood” and solve industry inefficiencies.

* 06:44 – The “Trojan Horse” Strategy: Jeff explains why they intentionally entered the restoration trade as franchisees to identify and solve problems from the inside.

* 11:15 – Working with Family: Insights on the advantages of working with brothers, navigating conflict, and why “unvarnished discussions” are a competitive advantage in business.

* 15:45 – Business as a Forge for Relationships: How shared struggle and “being in the foxhole” together creates deeper spiritual and professional bonds than superficial family interactions.

* 18:15 – Why Sharp Catholics Choose Safe Careers: An analysis of why high-achieving Catholics often focus on “de-risking” through elite degrees and stable professions rather than taking entrepreneurial swings.

* 21:00 – The Moral Imperative of Capital: Discussing the need for visible Catholic leaders in enterprise and why capital is necessary for the distribution of ideas and the faith.

* 25:21 – Fear of Failure and Reputation: How the fear of looking “stupid” in the public square stymies innovation and creative risk-taking within the Catholic community.

* 31:30 – Salvation as a “Zero-Sum Game”: Jeff argues that if Catholics aren’t present in global discussions and industry, souls are lost to counter-productive secular messages.

* 38:50 – Filling the “Internal Emptiness”: A discussion on sobriety, the desire for control, and leaving space for the Holy Spirit rather than trying to “guarantee” outcomes.

* 45:45 – Suffering as Currency: Reframing suffering and sacrifice not as something to be avoided, but as the “fuel” for growth and transformation in Christ.

* 53:00 – The Individual vs. The Collective (The “Thread and the Blanket”): Using the analogy of a weaver to explain how God sees both the individual soul and the entire fabric of humanity simultaneously.

* 1:00:15 – Self-Awareness and “Dorian Gray”: Using Oscar Wilde’s fable to discuss the importance of recognizing our own internal “blemishes” to foster charity toward others.

* 1:04:30 – Making Space for God: Practical challenges of transitioning from a high-intensity work environment to a prayerful state or a present family life.

* 1:11:00 – The Impact of Almsgiving: Why the “Works of Mercy” and direct, personal charity are more spiritually transformative than simply “cutting a check” to an anonymous organization.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* In NYC, on December 16th, we’re hosting our Catholic Founders dinner. It’s happening at a private residence, with limited space. So if you’d like to attend, reach out to me directly.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* My story of starting my business

* The Principles that you can Apply To Your Own Situation to Get Your Business Started

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Hire Talent That Actually Shares Your Mission with Verso Jobs. Verso Jobs has built a gamified, data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values. Their team understands your needs, goes out to qualified candidates, tests them through the gamified application. Then presents you with candidates who truly share your mission. If you’re a Catholic or conservative organization looking to cut through the fog, reach out to Verso Jobs to help you today. Whether you’re hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom. Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights. ⛰️

The 9 Principles:

9 Essential Principles for the Catholic Entrepreneur

Starting a business is a major step that requires clarity and commitment. Based on my journey, here are nine principles to guide you as you take the leap:

The Core Principles

* Make a Commitment: Stop dabbling with side projects. If you want to be an entrepreneur, take concrete, committed steps toward your goal. Full commitment is necessary for success.

* Understand Your Burn: Know your monthly family expenses (not luxury) plus business operating costs x the number of months (9-12) you need to give it a go. This gives you a clear financial target and removes ambiguous fear.

* Get Concrete with How to Make Money: Define exactly how much you will charge, how many deals you need to close monthly, and the concrete process to generate revenue. Remove all ambiguity around making money.

* Don’t Pursue Crazy Ideas: Choose a proven path—something you already know how to do, or a well-trodden business model (e.g., home services). Entrepreneurship is about execution and demand, not harebrained innovations.

* ICP 100: Pick a niche and identify your top 100 Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs). A clear niche makes your pitch resonate directly with those who need you most.

* Commit with an End Date in Mind: Give the business full-time, full-effort commitment for a minimum of six months (nine months is better). Plan for an additional three to six months of financial “runway” to find a new role if you pull the plug.

* Relinquish the Outcome to God: Commit to working hard, but trust the outcome to God’s will. Crucially: Do not cut your spiritual time (daily prayer, Mass, Rosary) for the business.

* Get Spouse On Board: Ensure your spouse is supportive and clear on the timeline. Also, find a peer or mentor—don’t unload all work-related struggles onto your spouse.

* Build Your Way Out (Alternative Option): If you’re disciplined enough, you can build your side business in the evenings and weekends until it replaces your current monthly income (e.g., 1.2x). This is best for unproven ideas to validate demand before you quit your job.

I hope this helps those of you going through this process.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Select Quotes:

* “The whole point is you have to relinquish the outcome to God because the reason we’re pursuing entrepreneurship is not for our own glory.” (On relinquishing the outcome to God)

* “Don’t play around with side projects like I did. The likelihood of a side project just popping off is low. It will require full commitment.” (On making a commitment)

* “Ideas are nothing without execution. I really need everybody here to understand that and internalize it deeply.” (On not pursuing crazy ideas)

* “Your spiritual life is much, much more important than any earthly success.” (On prioritizing your spiritual life)

* “Remember, we are created in the image and likeness of God… co-creators. Being an entrepreneur is part of our nature – you can lean into it.” (Word of encouragement)

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00: Introduction to the Solo Episode & Catholic Founders Podcast

* 01:14: Overview: Principles for Starting Your Business

* 01:42: Host’s Story: Early Desire to Start a Business

* 04:00: The Headhunter Job, Side Projects, and Loss of Focus

* 06:50: Shifting Priorities: Marriage, Family, and Moving Away from “Innovative” Ideas

* 09:30: Mentor’s Advice: Visualizing Worst-Case Scenarios and Committing to a “Boring Biz”

* 11:30: The Launch Story: The Day I Filed Paperwork and The Sign from God

* 15:50: The First Few Months: Ups, Downs, and Landing Key Clients

* 19:00: Rewind: Core Principles for Starting Your Business

* 19:25: #1: Make a Commitment (Don’t just play with side projects)

* 20:11: Interruption: Paraclete VA Ad

* 22:35: #2: Understand Your Burn (Calculate family and business expenses for runway)

* 24:45: #3: Get Concrete with How to Make Money (Know what you can charge and how many deals you need)

* 26:50: #4: Don’t Pursue Crazy Ideas (Choose a well-trodden path for certainty)

* 28:45: #5: ICP 100 (Pick a niche and target your top 100 ideal clients)

* 31:35: #6: Commit with an End Date in Mind (Give yourself 6-9 months of full effort)

* 34:30: #7: Relinquish the Outcome to God (Work hard but trust in God’s will; do not cut your spiritual time short)

* 38:40: #8: Get Spouse on Board (Ensure their support and find a peer/mentor for struggles)

* 41:10: #9: Other Option – Build Your Way Out (A less risky approach: build on nights/weekends)

* 44:48: Theme Recap, Word of Encouragement, and Call to Action (Catholic Founders Guild)

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* In NYC, on December 16th, we’re hosting our Catholic Founders dinner. Location TBD, and total space available TBD. We could use help pulling this together, so if you have a location or can help sponsor, please reach out. Register here.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

* Matthew Harvey Sanders| Longbeard

* Matthew sits at the crossroads of Catholicism and cutting-edge tech. He’s the founder of Longbeard, the venture studio building a new wave of Catholic technology products. His path is anything but linear: political science, discerning the priesthood, serving in the Canadian military, working for the Archdiocese of Toronto, then jumping full-time into digital evangelization and tech innovation. The studio is also known for building Magisterium AI, the first large language model trained directly on Church documents. Matthew works closely with Church leaders on the ethics of AI and runs the Builders AI Forum in Rome, pushing for a moral, human-centered approach to tech.

Hire Talent That Actually Shares Your Mission with Verso Jobs. Verso Jobs has built a gamified, data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values. Their team understands your needs, goes out to qualified candidates, tests them through the gamified application. Then presents you with candidates who truly share your mission. If you’re a Catholic or conservative organization looking to cut through the fog, reach out to Verso Jobs to help you today. Whether you’re hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom. Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights. ⛰️

Core Lesson:

Catholics must actively build and lead in the AI space because it is a “critical battleground” and the only way to combat its misuse is to steer the technology morally.

Here’s the deal: As Catholics, we need to be involved AND leading in the AI transformation. Because it’s a battleground for our Faith. There big moral questions at stake with many aspects of AI, and Catholics, possessing the fullness of the Truth, cannot abdicate the responsibility to lead in this time.

If we do nothing, many souls will be lost.

Using our moral perspective, we must steer AI to be used for good. We must be the modern St. Pauls of our time.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Key Episode References:

* Magisterium AI (an AI large language model trained on Church documents, Bible, and catechism)

* Longbeard (Matthew Harvey Sanders’ studio/venture studio)

* Paulist Fathers (the order Matthew was discerning with)

* Paulist Press (pioneered by the Paulist Fathers)

* Builders AI Forum

Select Quotes:

* “And given that this [AI] technology in particular is going to reshape the world like nothing we’ve ever seen before, if we decide that we’re just not going to use it, well, the devil is going to. And I guarantee he’ll use it to wreck us. So just consider this a critical battleground. And I don’t think we can cede the field, especially with this technology, to the enemy.” — Matthew

* “If we are passive and we’re not focused on evangelization as a church, if we’re not willing to take risks and proclaim the gospel, there are souls that are only gonna be lost on this earth because of that. And we have to take responsibility for that. That’s on us.” — Matthew

* “...the biggest civilizational risk is, that people use it [AI] as a proxy for real human relationships or spiritual life, thinking that somehow AI is going to be able to fill those vital roles.” — Matthew

* “Ultimately, what’s gonna make you happy is becoming friends with God, with loving and worshiping God, and making deep and meaningful connections with other human beings. Nothing else will suffice.” — Matthew

* “The whole point is to ensure that individuals and civilization flourish…[making] sure that the technologies we’re developing are pointed at the right problems or what we call the impediments to human flourishing.” — Matthew

* “If you’re attracted by what the role of the priest is and you feel that they’re vital and you feel that you may have the gifts to do it, just go and try it. I guarantee you, going into seminary and coming out again, you’ll be a better person for it.” — Matthew

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00 Introduction to Matthew Harvey Sanders

* Introduction to Matthew Harvey Sanders’ background

* 06:43 Journey into Technology and Faith

* Matthew explains how his desire to effectively reach young people for evangelization led him to embrace and start a company focused on leveraging technology for the Church.

* 09:27 The Role of AI in Evangelization

* Matthew states that we must view AI as a critical battleground, drawing on the Church’s long tradition of using new technologies to proclaim the Gospel.

* 12:11 Navigating the Challenges of AI

* The conversation covers the need for strong Catholic formation to responsibly wield AI and the idea that fear of technology is often a fear of ourselves and others.

* 14:45 Human Flourishing in the Age of AI

* The biggest civilizational risk is using AI as a proxy for human and spiritual relationships, emphasizing that the telos must be human flourishing—becoming friends with God and making deep human connections.

* 18:19 The Builders AI Forum and Church Engagement

* An initiative faturing experts, academics, and ministry workers, focused on ensuring Artificial Intelligence is properly adopted and used to advance the Catholic Church’s mission.

* 37:33 Catholic Leadership in AI

* The discussion begins on how to effectively encourage Catholics to become leaders and builders in the field of artificial intelligence

* 44:36 The Role of Small Businesses in AI

* Discussion on human talent and the use of AI

* 55:00 Ambition and Greatness in Catholicism

* Redefining ambition and having a hunger for excellence

* 01:03:30 Co-Creators with God: The Entrepreneurial Spirit

* We are called to hone our gifts and put them at the service of others

* 01:12:23 Embracing Responsibility in the AI Age

* A Wrap Up and an invitation to reflect on what is our part in ensuring AI is pointed at the right problems and serves human flourishing

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

News / Updates:

* Today I’m in SF for a gathering of Catholic Entrepreneurs — if you’re in SF and not attending, LMK, would love to find time to meet while I’m here

* In NYC, on December 16th, we’re hosting our Catholic Founders dinner. Location TBD, and total space available TBD. We could use help pulling this together, so if you have a location or can help sponsor, please reach out. Register here.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

* Mike Parrott | Novo Inspire Studios

* Mike Parrott is a former Marine Corps officer and Wall Street finance professional who transitioned into the film industry (working on projects like Sound of Freedom and Cabrini) before becoming a serial entrepreneur, successfully building and selling three home services businesses. Currently, he teaches at Benedictine College and researches the connection between modern franchising and medieval guilds. His core philosophy, which he developed through his career and as a father of eight, emphasizes the importance of making life and career decisions “in service of their families,” valuing self-employment and tangible work, and passionately advocating for a return to dynastic family businesses as the ideal social and economic unit, viewing the sale of a family legacy for cash liquidity as a cultural tragedy.

Hire Talent That Actually Shares Your Mission with Verso Jobs. Verso Jobs has built a gamified, data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values. Their team understands your needs, goes out to qualified candidates, tests them through the gamified application. Then presents you with candidates who truly share your mission. If you’re a Catholic or conservative organization looking to cut through the fog, reach out to Verso Jobs to help you today. Whether you’re hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom. Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights. ⛰️

Core Lesson:

Through building God-centered businesses, we can cultivate a true sense of identity for our families. In so doing, we help our children avoid years of wandering in the desert to ‘find themselves,’ thus allowing for more compounding in life.

An idea exists that man must ‘find himself’ through some sort of discovery process. But truthfully, we have been given the cards God wants us to play.

We were born into this specific family, at this time in history, in this geography, with all of the other circumstances that surround us.

Do you really think God just rolled the dice on that?

No, He gave you those specific circumstances.

Now, look at it the other way. As a parent, you get to build something to pass on to your children. Not the money or the business — but the identity.

Through building a life (personal and business) centered around God, you can bestow on your children a true sense of identity. Nothing quite like this in life.

Don’t take this opportunity for granted.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Launch Your Podcast — Build Trust With Customers Trying to bring in more leads? Launching a podcast might be the best move you haven’t made yet. Saint Kolbe Studios helps Catholic entrepreneurs launch professional, mission-aligned podcasts that build trust and increase leads. Their team walks with you every step of the way, from strategy and recording to branding and editing, so you can launch your podcast in under 90 days. Get 20% off all services for the rest of 2025 because you listen to Catholic Founders. Just mention Catholic Founders when you reach out. 158 million people listen to podcasts every month, and that’s just in the US! Your ideal customer may already be listening to a competitor’s podcast. Visit saintkolbestudios.com to get started.

Key Episode References:

* Novo Inspire Studios

* 360 Painting of Saint Joseph

* Benedictine College

* Cabrini

* Monster Summer

* Sound of Freedom

Select Quotes:

* “The fundamental building block of a society is a family...” –Mike

* “I think we should mark the death of a family when the entrepreneurial venture that was family-owned for 100 years now gets sold to some private equity vulture, merely to placate the liquidity desire for the children.” –Mike

* “It is French revolutionary principle that the idea that your estate is equally divided amongst all your heirs... One of the things that held Christendom together was a contrary idea to that called primogeniture, in which the firstborn son was sort of dubbed as the heir to the empire and the family assets.” –Mike

* “The guy who can come and fix your clogged toilet. That guy has real value and that will never go away and AI cannot replace it.” –Mike

* “The home is a sacred space, it’s where families are raised, it’s where children are raised. We believe that the home should be beautiful, that children should be surrounded by beautiful things...” –Mike

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00 Introduction and Welcome

* Mike Parrott opens the conversation by stating that elite franchising is the “new Ivy League.”

* 03:00 Mike Parrott’s Background

* Mike summarized his varied career in the Marines, finance, film, and home services.

* 09:20 Family Legacy and Identity

* Mike discusses how his career decisions were guided by family needs and relying on God’s providence.

* 18:00 The Role of Mentorship

* Mike talks about mentorship across generations in companies and organizations.

* 26:00 The Family is the Basic Unit of Society

* 27:00 Franchises and Medieval Guilds

* Mike argues against modern individualism, stating that true freedom is choosing the “good path” laid out by one’s father.

* 36:00 The French Revolutionary Principle

* Mike critiques the “French revolutionary principle” of equal inheritance, which he says forces the sale of family businesses.

* 45:00 Building a Legacy

* Silas reflects on how disconnected work can lead to a general decay in stewardship over one’s home and life.

* 58:13 On Subsidiarity

* Discussion on subsidiarity as a Catholic Social Teaching

* 1:04:00 Rapid Fire and Conclusion

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Hey everyone — Silas here with another Catholic Founders podcast episode.

Today, we are talking about money with the host of the Theology of Money podcast, Daniel Catone.

News / Updates:

* This past Tuesday evening, we hosted a dinner with Catholic Founders in Chicago — thank you to all who attended! If you’d like to attend the one we’re hosting in NYC, reach out (penciling in a date soon).

* This coming Tuesday, we have a Catholic Founders Guild call on the topic of considering our legacy.

* Fides is offering Catholic Founders Readers/Listeners 15% discount on all upcoming events through the end of the year — just use code: CATHOLICGUILD2025 at checkout. (He has some incredible speakers lined up).

* There is a Catholic entrepreneur gathering in San Francisco on November 20th (tentatively) — Stay tuned for more details.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

* Daniel Catone | Arimathea Investing

* Daniel Catone, founder of Arimathea, is redefining what it means to grow wealth with purpose. Rooted in Catholic Social Teaching, he believes finance can—and should—serve the common good. He experienced leading Golden State family of companies’ $4.5B investment network, and throughout the years has built a career proving that faith and finance aren’t opposites. With a master’s in Catholic Theology and years of pro-bono service to the Church, he’s on a mission to show that impact investing is true stewardship a way to multiply God’s gifts while transforming the world.

Hire Talent That Actually Shares Your Mission with Verso Jobs. Verso Jobs has built a gamified, data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values. Their team understands your needs, goes out to qualified candidates, tests them through the gamified application. Then presents you with candidates who truly share your mission. If you’re a Catholic or conservative organization looking to cut through the fog, reach out to Verso Jobs to help you today. Whether you’re hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom. Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights. ⛰️

Core Lesson:

The world tells us, cover your own financial needs first, then others, and then, if there is any leftover, you can give to The Church. A proper ordering is the exact opposite. God first. Others. And then ourselves.

This is not something easy for us to entertain with any amount of seriousness. Mainly because we imagine if others around us did that, we’d call them crazy.

However, if you think it’s crazy you need to ask yourself why Jesus told his Apostles not to worry about their own provisions. In Luke 12:29-31 He said:

“As for you, do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not worry any more. All the nations of the world seek for these things, and your father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these other things will be given you besides.”

(The entire passage from verse 13 through 34 is incredible. I’d encourage you to read it today)

Acting on this teaching is not easy. But it is possible when we ask God for the grace to desire it. So, in human terms. Maybe it is crazy. But a lot of people probably considered the Apostles to be crazy. We know they were not.

This tells us is that—through a human lens, some things may look crazy. But through the lens of the faith, with grace, they are the only things that do make sense. I think this is one of them.

If you hear this and don’t immediately think—wow I want to do that. Don’t worry—you’re like the rest of us. Human. But if you spend some time pondering this and asking God to help you understand this. You might get to the point of wanting to pursue it.

Not because you want it, but because you know it’s the right thing. Once you reach that point, it’s time to ask God for the grace to desire this teaching—the properly ordered perspective on spending our money.

God bless and Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Launch Your Podcast — Build Trust With Customers Trying to bring in more leads? Launching a podcast might be the best move you haven’t made yet. Saint Kolbe Studios helps Catholic entrepreneurs launch professional, mission-aligned podcasts that build trust and increase leads. Their team walks with you every step of the way, from strategy and recording to branding and editing, so you can launch your podcast in under 90 days. Get 20% off all services for the rest of 2025 because you listen to Catholic Founders. Just mention Catholic Founders when you reach out. 158 million people listen to podcasts every month, and that’s just in the US! Your ideal customer may already be listening to a competitor’s podcast. Visit saintkolbestudios.com to get started.

Key Episode References:

* Arimathea Investing

* The Theology of Money Podcast

* Saint Joseph of Arimathea

* Rerum Novarum

* Rerum Novarum in 2025: Applying it to Your Business | Travis Callaway

* The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

Select Quotes:

* “This ordering of goods or ordering of goals is the exact opposite of what our Lord teaches. Our Lord teaches us that we are to put God first, others second, and ourselves last because He puts us first. We don’t have to worry about ourselves.” — Daniel

* “Money is a tool in service to the common good, and so I would caution any entrepreneur to not begin the path of entrepreneurship with the intention of accumulating wealth. That’s a byproduct of other actions.” — Daniel

* “What the Lord is calling us to do is integrate every aspect of our life under His authority so that whether we’re at work or at home or at church, we are engaged with the Holy Spirit, we are engaged with Christ.” — Daniel

* “We must approach the rain with an open hand and not try to grasp... it helps us reframe that ambition so that rather than it being self-serving, it becomes other-serving.” — Daniel

* “The truth is we are touching people’s souls first and then offering them a product... wealth is inferior to the eternality of a soul.” — Daniel

* “I kind of adopted him as the true CEO of my company... every once in a while, I got a knock on his door and say, St. Joseph, this is a problem I can’t fix, I need to take care of it. And he does...”— Daniel

* “We leave everyone better off for having met us... treat everyone... with infinite human dignity.” — Daniel

* “Man cannot be smaller than his money... if your character and capability is not of a significant heft, the money will fall through your fingers.” — Daniel

Key Moments: (outline)

* 01:06 Introduction

* Introduction of Daniel Catone, CEO and Co-Founder of Arimathea, a financial asset manager that screens investments for alignment with Catholic teachings.

* 03:41 The Catholic Approach To Money

* Reorder goals: God first, others second, and self last.

* 06:13 The Foundational Sources of Catholic Financial Teaching

* including Sacred Scripture, Church Fathers (St. John Chrysostom), Encyclicals (Rerum Novarum), and modern documents.

* 10:18 Cautioning entrepreneurs against accumulating wealth as the primary goal.

* The business journey should start with prayer and focus on serving the common good.

* 12:46 A Deep Dive Into Ambition

* Daniel suggests that the proper approach towards ambition.

* 15:22 The Necessity of Living a Fully Unified Life

* and recognizing that work is a vocation that impacts people’s souls, which is superior to the acquisition of wealth.[

* 17:05 Staying Away From The Modern Tendency to Artificially Segregate Life

* The importance of recapturing the rhythm of a fully integrated life.

* 18:49 Practical Tips for Integration of One’s Life

* 25:47 Discerning One’s Unique Mission

* Talent is “meaningless without virtue,” with prudence being a core entrepreneurial virtue

* 31:00 Personal Testimony

* Daniel shares a story of leaving a successful a secular company because the work was “vacuous” and unfulfilling, leading to a new, liberating mission

* 53:16 Saint Joseph of Arimathea

* 1:00:00 Conclusion

* Rapid Fire

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Hey y’all — welcome back to another episode of the Catholic Founders podcast! Today’s episode will not disappoint.

News / Updates:

* We’re hosting a Catholic Founders meetup in Chicago this 4th of November. Email us if you’re interested in attending (we are near capacity but if you reach out soon we can likely squeeze you in).

* Fides is offering Catholic Founders Readers/Listeners 15% discount on all upcoming events through the end of the year — just use code: CATHOLICGUILD2025 at checkout. (He has some incredible speakers lined up).

* There is a Catholic entrepreneur gathering in San Francisco on November 20th (tentatively) — Stay tuned for more details.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

* Seamus Coughlin | Freedom Toons

* 💰 Help them hit their fundraising goal! 📈

* Seamus Coughlin is showing what happens when you use creativity as a weapon for truth. He is the founder of Freedom Toons, one of the most influential Catholic animation channels on YouTube. Through humor, storytelling, and sharp satire, he’s reaching millions with messages that defend truth, reason, and faith — all while making people laugh.

Hire Talent That Actually Shares Your Mission with Verso Jobs. Verso Jobs has built a gamified, data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values. Their team understands your needs, goes out to qualified candidates, tests them through the gamified application. Then presents you with candidates who truly share your mission. If you’re a Catholic or conservative organization looking to cut through the fog, reach out to Verso Jobs to help you today. Whether you’re hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom. Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights. ⛰️

Core Lesson:

The most powerful way to transform culture is to create good work, work so excellent, it points back to God. And the best way to do that, is to allow God to transform your own heart.

In this episode, Seamus said something very interesting about the priest shortage. He said that the priest shortage is actually just a holiness shortage.

Most people are not living out their vocations faithfully. This is what is leading to a lack of priests and a lack of nuns and a lack of holy families (and even children because they are all prevented from being born or worse, aborted).

A key goal of ours at Catholic Founders is to help rally business owners to use their skills to bring the culture back to God. But we cannot do this if our own hearts are not transformed.

And only God can do this.

The good news is, He is trying to. But we prevent him. If we start asking for the grace to desire a total transformation of heart, we are one step closer.

When transformed, the work we do will also be transformed. When this happens, the work will be good and beautiful. And it will bring people back to God.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Launch Your Podcast — Build Trust With Customers Trying to bring in more leads? Launching a podcast might be the best move you haven’t made yet. Saint Kolbe Studios helps Catholic entrepreneurs launch professional, mission-aligned podcasts that build trust and increase leads. Their team walks with you every step of the way, from strategy and recording to branding and editing, so you can launch your podcast in under 90 days. Get 20% off all services for the rest of 2025 because you listen to Catholic Founders. Just mention Catholic Founders when you reach out. 158 million people listen to podcasts every month, and that’s just in the US! Your ideal customer may already be listening to a competitor’s podcast. Visit saintkolbestudios.com to get started.

Key Episode References:

* Freedom Toons

* Help Them Raise Money for the Full-Length Series

* Jordan Peterson

* Charles Schultz

* Father Chad Ripperger

* Shawshank Redemption

Select Quotes:

* “We really just have a holiness shortage. Almost no one’s living out their vocation. Well, unfortunately. So if you just live out your vocation well, the effect you will have on the world will be unbelievable.” - Seamus

* “God gave you a vocation, live that vocation out.” - Seamus

* “For media to be effective, it has to A, be something that’s going to appeal to people outside of your group and B, the moral that you’re trying to deliver has to be delivered naturally through the story and through the jokes and not through these ham-fisted monologues.” - Seamus

* “The most extraordinary thing in the world is just an ordinary family.” - Seamus

* “God doesn’t make rules that don’t make sense if we follow God’s commandments. This is not the prosperity gospel I’m not saying that your life will always be great But we know that societies that follow God’s commandments are more likely to be successful than ones that don’t...” - Seamus

* “Anytime we create anything, we’re participating with God and His creativity.” - Seamus

* “Your work should sanctify you and you should use it to sanctify the world in some way But it does not have to be explicitly religious in order for you to be able to do so.” - Seamus

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00 Intro

* 04:25 Freedom Toons and Cultural Transformation

* Seamus introduces himself and Freedom Toons, explaining his mission to fight back against entertainment media controlled by those with opposing values

* 06:32 Seamus’s Faith Journey and Media Concerns

* Seamus shares his faith journey, falling away, and returning at 20

* 09:23 Reaching the Younger Generation with Good Media

* Offering an alternative to what the younger generation are constantly being sold

* 10:22 Faith Deepening and Content Evolution

* Seamus details how his deepening faith led to change his political views

* 15:24 Freedom, Submission, and Choosing the Good

* A discussion on what is true freedom

* 18:40 The Creative Process and Overcoming Writer’s Block

* Seamus talks about his creative process for Freedom Toons

* 22:46 Integrating the Holy Spirit in Creativity

* The role of the Holy Spirit in Seamus’ creative process

* 25:17 Building Good Companies vs. “Catholic” Companies

* The importance of Catholics building “good companies” and creating undeniable products, rather than just “Catholic” versions of existing things

* 33:17 Heart Transformation and Truthful Products

* Personal heart transformation as the foundation for transforming the culture

* 44:20 Life as a Story: Earning Big Moments

* Understanding life through the lens of story can help in personal growth

* 48:18 Ambition, Humility, and God at the Center

* The idea of ambition and achievement within a Catholic context

* 52:28 The Universal Call to Change the World

* The universal call to change the world, even in seemingly small ways

* 54:45 Changing Culture: Vocation and Family

* Changing the world involves faithfully living out one’s vocation and the importance of family and personal holiness as the starting point for cultural transformation.

* 59:32 Conclusion

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

Hey y’all — welcome back to another episode of the Catholic Founders podcast! Today’s episode will not disappoint.

News / Updates:

* Ellen Twomey is teaching the CF Guild how to scale on October 28th. Upgrade to attend.

* Fides is offering Catholic Founders Readers/Listeners 15% discount on all upcoming events through the end of the year — just use code: CATHOLICGUILD2025 at checkout. (He has some incredible speakers lined up).

* We’re hosting a Catholic Founders meetup in Chicago this 4th of November. Email us if you’re interested in attending — we need your input to finalize details.

* There is a Catholic entrepreneur gathering in San Francisco on November 20th (tentatively) — Stay tuned for more details.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

In Today’s Issue:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

* Mallory Root | Roots Brew Shop & The Cottage on Turner

* Following God’s lead, Mallory Root moved to Grand Rapids to open Roots Brew Shop, a coffeehouse built on faith, community, and authentic human connection. Guided by her faith in God, she embraced the challenges of entrepreneurship as an act of stewardship, trusting that her role was to build with God. Since opening in 2016, Roots has become a warm, welcoming space where strangers become friends and people encounter Christ through everyday conversation and genuine hospitality.

Hire Talent That Actually Shares Your Mission with Verso Jobs. Verso Jobs has built a gamified, data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values. Their team understands your needs, goes out to qualified candidates, tests them through the gamified application. Then presents you with candidates who truly share your mission. If you’re a Catholic or conservative organization looking to cut through the fog, reach out to Verso Jobs to help you today. Whether you’re hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom. Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights. ⛰️

Core Lesson:

We need to make the transactional relational.

Mallory’s whole approach to business can be summed up in one line.

And honestly, I love that.

It’s the heartbeat of what makes her business, Roots Brew Shop, special. Every customer interaction, every cup of coffee, every conversation is a chance to actually see the person in front of you. Mallory’s not running a shop just to sell coffee, but instead she’s building relationships, restoring what’s been lost in a world that moves too fast and connects too little. It has become a place that invites people back to God through their experience and eventually brings dozens of conversions.

In the same way, we are invited to design our products and experiences to have something special. Where the simple moments and typical transactions are transformed into encounters with Christ.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Launch Your Podcast — Build Trust With Customers Trying to bring in more leads? Launching a podcast might be the best move you haven’t made yet. Saint Kolbe Studios helps Catholic entrepreneurs launch professional, mission-aligned podcasts that build trust and increase leads. Their team walks with you every step of the way, from strategy and recording to branding and editing, so you can launch your podcast in under 90 days. Get 20% off all services for the rest of 2025 because you listen to Catholic Founders. Just mention Catholic Founders when you reach out. 158 million people listen to podcasts every month, and that’s just in the US! Your ideal customer may already be listening to a competitor’s podcast. Visit saintkolbestudios.com to get started.

Key Episode References:

* Roots Brew Shop

* Rerum Novarum in 2025: Applying it to Your Business

* Mother Cabrini

* Servant of God, Father Walter Cizek

Select Quotes:

“Our mission is to make the transactional relational.”

“If I have a relationship with the Lord, everything should exude from that.”

“We should be fully integrated in all the things we do.”

“Beauty disarms. When people walk into Roots, they encounter goodness and truth through beauty.”

“All that we own is for the common good, and we are stewards of that.”

“If we are not building one another in virtue and we’re not building in virtue, what is the purpose of our labor?”

“Hold it all loosely, and something that is good to foster is that spirit of detachment (detachment that it isn’t mine). Steward what God gives you today, and be ready to let it go tomorrow.”

“If you’re serious about leadership, you have to be rightly ordered, and that means making time for God.”

Key Moments: (outline)

* 02:46 Introduction

* 04:27 Faith as a Rubric for Business

* Mallory discusses how her faith permeates every aspect of running her coffee shop, serving as the guiding principle for all decisions

* 10:01 Subtle Evangelization Through Business

* Learn about Roots Brew Shop’s unique approach to evangelization

* 13:24 Underutilized Methods of Evangelization

* The importance of responding to the dignity of the human person and the dignity of work, especially when interacting with diverse guests, including those experiencing homelessness.

* 15:19 Training Staff in Virtue and Dignity

* Discover how Roots Brew Shop trains its employees through monthly sessions on the dignity of the human person and the dignity of work

* 19:08 Low Employee Turnover and Formation

* Mallory shares how their focus on building relationships and investing in employee formation leads to remarkably low turnover

* 25:23 Maintaining a Spirit of Detachment and Stewardship:

* Mallory views her business as a gift from God to be stewarded

* 30:57 Engaging and Serving the Community

* Mallory discusses how Roots Brew Shop interacts with its community

* 35:18 The Impact of Daily Mass for Entrepreneurs

* The spiritual benefits and the importance of prioritizing one’s relationship with God.

* 38:41 Spiritual Growth Through Entrepreneurship

* Mallory reflects on how her entrepreneurial journey has deepened her trust in God, taught her to say “yes” more readily, and provided numerous opportunities to love her neighbor with compassion.

* 43:09 Mallory’s Founding Journey

* Mallory recounts her path from an art major to a coffee shop owner, including her discernment process, the influence of her family, and the two-year journey to opening Roots Brew Shop

* 49:48 Conclusion

*

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started.

If you don’t yet have a strong community of Catholic builders around you — build one or join one. And if you want an online version of this kind of fellowship, join the Catholic Founders Guild. You can sign up at CatholicFounders.com/subscribe — it’s $10 a month or $100 a year.

Before I wrap it up here I want to shout out some upcoming events. 

News / Updates:

Join us for our upcoming events — or share them with others who should attend.

*Ellen Twomey is teaching the CF Guild how to scale on October 28th. Upgrade to attend.

*Fides is offering Catholic Founders Readers/Listeners a 15% discount on all upcoming events through the end of the year — just use code: CATHOLICGUILD2025 at checkout. (He has some incredible speakers lined up, including past CF guest, Rob Kaczmark).

*We’re hosting a Catholic Founders meetup in Chicago the first week of November. Stay tuned for more info.

*There is a Catholic entrepreneur gathering in San Francisco on November 20th (tentatively) — Stay tuned for more details.

Upcoming Events:

* Our CF Guild topic call is next week, Tuesday. Topic: Competition. Upgrade to paid to attend.

* Ellen Twomey is teaching the CF Guild how to scale on October 28th. Upgrade to attend.

* Fides is offering Catholic Founders Readers/Listeners 15% discount on all upcoming events through the end of the year — just use code: CATHOLICGUILD2025 at checkout. (He has some incredible speakers lined up).

* We’re hosting a Catholic Founders meetup in Chicago the first week of November. Stay tuned for more info.

* There is a Catholic entrepreneur gathering in San Francisco on November 20th (tentatively) — Stay tuned for more details.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today! It's $10/month or $100/year so anyone can afford it. Don't build alone -- join 50+ Catholic business owners building, learning, and praying together. https://www.catholicfounders.com/subscribe

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway: Build Family-Centered Company Culture

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

* John Johnson | Patmos | Pizza Norcia | Albertus Magnus Institute

* John is the founder of Patmos, Albertus Magnus Institute, and Pizza Norcia. Today, we discuss ambition in Catholic men, the dignity of employees, the stewardship of wealth, and the integration of faith and AI in business. John shares his unique perspective on building successful enterprises while staying true to Catholic principles. This is a truly inspiring episode.

PS: We apologize for the poor audio quality in some places — I made some mistakes setting up the recording, and we had to do some patching together in order to salvage the audio at all. Poor as the audio quality is, we feel very strongly that the content is top-tier.

[sponsored content]

Hire Talent that Actually Cares About Your Mission with Verso Jobs.

The team at VersoJobs.com has built a remarkable gamified and data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values.

The best part, it's built by Catholics.

Whether you're hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom.

Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights! ⛰️

Core Lesson:

Catholics must build company cultures that promote family values, because family is the basis of society.

At Patmos, they pay bonuses when employees get married or have babies. Recently, they agreed to pay the salaries of the spouses of their employees who are affected by the government shutdown (repayable without interest).

Where most corporate cultures promote a culture of death, Patmos is upholding the culture of life. They are also treating their employees with respect as individuals, which leads to the flourishing of the human individual. No more just surviving and suffering through endless bureaucracy and HR rules.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

[sponsored content]

Launch Your Podcast — Build Trust With Customers

Trying to bring in more leads? Launching a podcast might be the best move you haven’t made yet.

Saint Kolbe Studios helps Catholic entrepreneurs launch professional, mission-aligned podcasts that build trust and increase leads.

Their team walks with you every step of the way, from strategy and recording to branding and editing, so you can launch your podcast in under 90 days.

Get 20% off all services for the rest of 2025 because you listen to Catholic Founders. Just mention Catholic Founders when you reach out.

158 million people listen to podcasts every month, and that’s just in the US! Your ideal customer may already be listening to a competitor’s podcast.

Visit saintkolbestudios.com to get started.

Key Episode References:

* Episode 18 with Daniel Francis (Abel Police)

* Episode 24 with Daniel Egan (St. Joseph Mural)

* Episode 29 with Joe Coleman (Saint Kolbe Studios)

* Joe Coleman from Saint Kolbe Studios

* Episode 30 with Drago Dimitrov (Holy Habits)

* Dave Durand

* Frank Hanna

* Lilies of the Field — Matthew 6:28-34

Select Quotes:

In case you’re not already sold on listening to the episode, here are some killer quotes.

* “Ignorance is my superpower. If I had any idea what I was getting into these things, I never would have done it.” — John Johnson

* “We have an amazing potential to be co-creators, not just generators of our progeny.” — John Johnson

* “There’s a real problem with it, especially men who have grown addicted to comfort over the years, where we’re so addicted to security, ease, then golden handcuffs.” — John Johnson

* “If you can sell Jesus to teenagers, you can pretty much sell anything.” — John Johnson

* “If anybody really wants to be successful, there’s no better practical way of forming yourself than through a real liberal arts education.” — John Johnson

* “You have to first understand the reality of material things... things of the material world elicit in us a great desire that when we have them, they make us miserable.” — John Johnson

* “Money is like fun. If you set out trying to have it, you’re not going to.” — John Johnson

* “First employees have names and infinite dignity. No matter who they are, no matter what the background is, they’re worthy of respect.” — John Johnson

* “We have bonuses for when employees have babies. We have bonuses for when employees get married. Big tech base employees effectively to abort their progeny. We do the opposite.” — John Johnson

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today! It’s $10/month or $100/year so anyone can afford it. Don’t build alone -- join 50+ Catholic business owners building, learning, and praying together. https://www.catholicfounders.com/subscribe

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00 Intro to John Johnson

* 01:57 His Empire: Patmos, Albertus Magnus, and Pizza

* 02:20 The Secret Behind His Pizza Perfection

* 06:29 The Drive to Build: Ambition in Catholic Men

* 07:31 Ignorance as a Founder’s Superpower

* 08:23 Co-Creation and Divine Guidance in Entrepreneurship

* 09:53 Escaping Comfort: The Entrepreneurial Adventure

* 11:12 Unlocking Your Creative Potential: Discovering God’s Call

* 13:17 Ambition vs. Calling: The Truth About Material Desires

* 15:19 Beyond Mercenaries: The Power of a Mission-Driven Business

* 16:01 The Entrepreneur’s Edge: Why Theology and Liberal Arts Matter

* 18:36 Leisure vs. Labor: Redefining Education’s Purpose

* 19:06 Balancing Ambition with Family and Faith

* 20:12 John’s Advice on Scaling: From Heroics to Systems

* 24:41 The Visionary and the Operator: Building a Strong Team

* 26:24 Radical Respect: Dignity and Family-First Policies for Employees

* 28:18 Beyond Market Rates: The Philosophy of Just Wages

* 29:22 Stewardship, Wealth, and the True Meaning of Blessing

* 31:31 The Parable of Talents: Embracing Risk for God’s Glory

* 33:55 Wealth as a Tool: Detachment and Purposeful Stewardship

* 34:23 Investing with Intention: Tithing and Proximate Charity

* 36:49 Faith in the Workplace: Cultivating Culture with Diverse Teams

* 39:00 Beyond Resumes: Hiring for Culture and Innate Intelligence

* 39:52 AI’s Dark Side: The Counterfeiting of the Human Person

* 42:47 Navigating the AI Landscape: Caution and Limits

* 45:01 Rapid Fire:

* Favorite Scripture: John’s Gospel, Enthymemes

* Favorite Saints

* Favorite Devotions: Rosary and the Office of Prime

* 49:22 Final Thoughts: Patmos, Albertus Magnus, and Prayers

Join The Catholic Founders Guild

Do you see your business as a tool to re-insert God into the culture? Join 50+ Catholic business owners who share that view. We are building an Army of Catholic Entrepreneurs who are putting God in His rightful place — at the center of culture.

Guild Member Benefits: Member Directory | Monthly calls | Bonus content | Guild-member-only dinners

You are the average of the 5 people you hang out with most. Choose wisely!

It’s only $10/month or $100/year (for now)

Before we start:

* Join our October Rosary Challenge: Pray 1 more rosary each day than usual

* Chicago Catholic Founders meetup: Tent date: Nov 3rd (details pending)

* SF Catholic founders meetup: Tent date: Nov 20th (details pending)

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today! It's $10/month or $100/year so anyone can afford it. Don't build alone -- join 50+ Catholic business owners building, learning, and praying together. https://www.catholicfounders.com/subscribe

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

I’ve mentioned Ecclesiastical Ventures many times on the pod and in our CF Guild calls. Now we are finally breaking down what an Ecclesiastical Venture is, and how we can bring them back.

We really appreciate Mark taking the time to share his learnings — we hope this inspires you.

* Mark Wilson | Nicodemus Ventures

[sponsored content]

Hire Talent that Actually Cares About Your Mission with Verso Jobs.

The team at VersoJobs.com has built a remarkable gamified and data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values.

The best part, it's built by Catholics.

Whether you're hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom.

Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights! ⛰️

Core Lesson:

You Can Run a Profitable Business Even if Your First Objective is Not Profit

The underlying principle of an Ecclesiastical Venture is that we are not focused soley on profit. We are focused on using the venture to get to heaven. We build our way of life around the goal of heaven.

Daily mass — prayer throughout the day — a spiritual director — etc. All of these things are in service of eternity. But most secular business owners wouldn’t consider these a good ROI.

When you focus on what truly matters most (heaven) first, you’re actually doing yourself a favor because you’re putting the right things first. Doing so has very positive downstream effects. Because when you do the right thing in one area you do it in others.

Doing the right thing for your customers leads to positive customer reactions which leads to new customers (as Tim Connors told us on the pod he did with us).

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

[sponsored content]

Launch Your Podcast — Build Trust With Customers

Trying to bring in more leads? Launching a podcast might be the best move you haven’t made yet.

Saint Kolbe Studios helps Catholic entrepreneurs launch professional, mission-aligned podcasts that build trust and increase leads.

Their team walks with you every step of the way, from strategy and recording to branding and editing, so you can launch your podcast in under 90 days.

Get 20% off all services for the rest of 2025 because you listen to Catholic Founders. Just mention Catholic Founders when you reach out.

158 million people listen to podcasts every month, and that’s just in the US! Your ideal customer may already be listening to a competitor’s podcast.

Visit saintkolbestudios.com to get started.

Key Episode References:

* Nicodemus Ventures

* Saint Kolbe Studios

* VersoJobs

* The Saintly CEO (newsletter)

* Daughters of Charity

* Marian Friars Minor

Select Quotes:

* “When you dedicate it to God or you surrender it to Him, He’s in charge. And I’ve learned that you can abandon it, right? You can abandon this commitment... But you can’t undo it. You’ve given it over to God, now He’s in charge.”

* “Their goal was not profit. Their goal was not success. Their goal was a salvation of its founders, managers, and employees. That was the purpose of work.”

* “It’s like a magnet. People say, I want that. I want to be in that environment. I want to be with those people... And then over the course, they realize, hey, wow, it’s Jesus. And then when they recognize that, they convert.”

* “The primary objective is salvation. Life is short. So where do want your eternal soul to go? And that’s really what they were focused on, and worshiping God, and living a penitent lifestyle.”

* “Every day you should be growing, becoming more holy. The environment is one in which you’re sanctifying yourself and others and your work.”

* “You’re never gonna outdo God in generosity. Well, when God sees that you’re so detached from this stuff, He knows He can entrust you to do the right things with His wealth.”

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00 - Introduction and Mark Wilson’s Background

* 04:02 - Discovery and History of Ecclesiastical Ventures

* 08:26 - Core Purpose: Salvation Over Profit

* 17:28 - Characteristics of Ecclesiastical Ventures

* 22:06 - Examples and Impact of Ecclesiastical Ventures

* 33:10 - Managing Finances and Tithing

* 40:21 - How to Rebuild Ecclesiastical Ventures Today

* 45:47 - Trusting God and the Role of Faith

* 52:39 - Future Vision and Contact Information

* 59:39 - Conclusion

Join The Catholic Founders Guild

Do you see your business as a tool to re-insert God into the culture? Join 50+ Catholic business owners who share that view. We are building an Army of Catholic Entreprenuers who are putting God in His rightful place — at the center of culture.

Guild Member Benefits: Member Directory | Monthly calls | Bonus content | Guild-member only dinners

You are the average of the 5 people you hang out with most. Choose wisely!

It’s only $10/month or $100/year (for now)

Get Chris’ Book: From Work to Vocation 📚

Welcome back, everyone! If you’re a fan of entrepreneurship through acquisition, today’s guest should really excite you because after starting his career in the military, he became a serial entrepreneur. In total, he has bought and sold 4 companies, most of which were turnaround businesses. He has also started a company from scratch and sold it. This is also his first-ever podcast appearance!

Read on for more info!

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

* Chris Farls | The Vocation Project (Substack) | The Vocation Project (Website)

* Because this is Chris’ first podcast appearance, we covered his career journey from the military to getting started as a business turnaround person and the lessons learned in that arena. Chris’ faith has always been important to him, though, so we also got to hear how he integrated his faith into how he ran his businesses. There are some incredible nuggets of advice in here on how to treat your employees well.Perhaps most interesting to our community are his thoughts on how to engage your community through your employees.

[sponsored content]

Hire Talent that Actually Cares About Your Mission with Verso Jobs.

The team at VersoJobs.com has built a remarkable gamified and data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values.

The best part, it's built by Catholics.

Whether you're hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom.

Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights! ⛰️

Core Lesson:

You can invest in your community properly and uphold the dignity of your workers by getting to know your employees well.

One of Chris’ biggest focus areas with his employees was ensuring he knew them. Knew what they liked to do. Knew what their kids were up to. Knew that they liked to bowl on Thursday nights, etc. By knowing them, he not only upheld their dignity in his own eyes (because they were not just a number). This also provided him a window into what matters to his employees and, by extension, what matters in the local community.

For any of you with local employees, take note as this is a very impactful thing you can do.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Get in front of Catholic decision makers today!

Our publication is ready by devout Catholic founders and business owners across America.

Best for anyone selling services or products to those audiences. (Plus they’d all rather buy from another Catholic).

Key Episode References:

* The Vocation Project

Select Quotes:

* “The formula for negotiating a good deal is taking the time to ask and listen to what the seller is looking for in the deal.” — Chris Farls

* “I think confidence is gained through action and activity. I don’t think you can sit and read a book and then talk yourself into it.” — Chris Farls

* “I think the bigger problem a lot of times is, people know what the right thing to do is, but doing it’s hard.” — Chris Farls

* “You know, you have a certain circle of influence where you can make an impact and that’s where you need to act.” — Chris Farls

* “You want to create an environment where they can flourish... you want to give them opportunities to flourish and grow and have input into their work. So there’s a human dignity element to that as well.” — Chris Farls

* “What do you feel good about looking backwards? I think I’ve had that validated a little bit because when I mentor and talk to young aspiring entrepreneurs, I talk to them about these intangible rewards that you get.” — Chris Farls

* “If you’re doing it right, you end up with many more employees at the end than you did when you started.” — Chris Farls

* “Decide how you want to live it and live it that way and have the courage and fortitude and perseverance.” — Chris Farls

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00 Introduction to the Catholic Founders Podcast and Chris Farls’ background

* 02:07 His early entrepreneurial journey and the influence of his upbringing and family

* 04:34 The importance of confidence, mentorship, and taking action in building a career

* 06:51 His transition from military to corporate life and then into running a small business

* 10:09 How an MBA and strategic networking helped launch his entrepreneurial career

* 13:30 The model of acquiring old economy businesses and their financial structures

* 16:38 His experience turning around a railroad services business and achieving a quick exit

* 18:12 Key strategies for business turnaround, focusing on competitive strategy and understanding owner personalities

* 21:18 The multifaceted responsibilities of a business leader, including employees, partners, and community

* 25:36 Navigating ethical conflicts and making difficult decisions in business

* 28:01 The role of a business owner in community engagement and supporting employees’ interests

* 32:25 His approach to upholding employee dignity and fostering a flourishing work environment

* 35:08 The evolution of his perspective on business, from financial gain to humanitarian reasons

* 38:56 Stories of providing employment opportunities to individuals with challenging backgrounds

* 43:32 The power of actions over words and the positive impact of ethical business practices

* 44:58 Balancing efficiency and ethical considerations when acquiring and restructuring businesses

* 49:06 Ensuring that new buyers respect employees and align with company values during a sale

* 52:58 The impact of financial success on his personal outlook and transition to mentoring

* 55:29 Developing a strong sense of identity and purpose, aligning career with faith

* 57:50 How entrepreneurship shaped his relationship with God and led to a focus on serving others

* 1:00:31 The importance of intentional living and integrating spiritual habits into daily life

* 1:04:30 Introduction to The Vocation Project, an initiative to help people find meaning and purpose in their work

Join The Catholic Founders Guild

The Catholic Founders Guild is a vetted group of Catholic entreprenuers who are building businesses with their faith at the heart of what they do.

Some are building ‘Catholic’ products. Most are building normal businesses. We’ve got tech founders. Agency owners. Mom & Pop. E-commerce. And some people who bought a business.

Guild Member Benefits:

* Member Directory Access | Join our monthly calls | Access to all paid content | Attend guild-member only dinners

You are the average of the 5 people you hang out with most. Don’t you want that to describe other Catholic founders?

It’s only $10/month or $100/year (for now)

Hey everyone! Welcome back to another episode of Catholic Founders!

Today, we’ve got another episode mostly focused on AI and how to engage with your spouse as an entrepreneur. But Lucas has an incredible history of entrepreneurship and brought a lot of value to the discussion of being a Catholic entrepreneur.

Before we start!

* On Friday, we are hosting a Catholic Founders Guild call. Open-ended topic, but with the intention to discuss Competition.

* If you’d like to join, become a paid member of the CF Guild today!

In today’s post:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

* Lucas Wall | Almma.ai

* AI — Family — Living through tragedy and more

[sponsored content]

Hire Talent that Actually Cares About Your Mission with Verso Jobs.

The team at VersoJobs.com has built a remarkable gamified and data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values.

The best part, it's built by Catholics.

Whether you're hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom.

Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights! ⛰️

Core Lesson:

You cannot Run From Pain — Going Through Pain is the Only Way to understand God’s Grace for you from that Pain

Lucas lost his son at a young age. This, after having endured a lot of sacrifice in his move from Argentina to the US. This, plus his experience enduring the pains of entrepreneurship—including shutting down a company because of Covid—makes Lucas a great person to learn from on the topic.

I gained a lot from this discussion with him. His story really moved me in a deep way. I hope you listen thoroughly to the entire episode to reap the same benefit.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Get in front of Catholic decision makers today!

Our publication is ready by devout Catholic founders and business owners across America.

Best for anyone selling services or products to those audiences. (Plus they’d all rather buy from another Catholic).

Key Episode References:

* The Bible:

* Book of Job

* Genesis

* St. Paul's Epistles/Works

Select Quotes:

* "AI is so big, so transformational that it's going to give us a chance. We still have a chance in front of us. So let's ride the wave together." — Lucas

* "The moment we allow machines to take our dignity, is when we lost the entire discussion." — Lucas

* "If a machine can replicate your thinking, maybe your thinking needs upgrade." — Lucas

* "You cannot run from your pain. You cannot run from your sadness. You have to go through the experience to understand the grace of God." — Lucas

* "Timing is the number one thing that we entrepreneurs cannot move forward. We cannot speed up time. We cannot slow down time." — Lucas

* "Share your gifts. Become an entrepreneur to share your gifts and learn with the community. We belong to communities. We're not islands. give yourself a try." — Lucas

Key Moments: (outline)

* 00:00 Engaging with your spouse about business stress

* 00:26 Introduction to Catholic Founders podcast and Lucas Wall

* 02:25 Lucas Wall's introduction and background

* 03:31 Explanation of Alumm.ai and its mission

* 04:47 How Alumm.ai aims to democratize wealth in the AI revolution

* 06:24 Illustrative example of an AI agent

* 08:18 AI as a change of eras and its distribution, unlike past technologies

* 10:39 Exaggeration of AI's benefits and drawbacks

* 13:13 AI and the questioning of human value/thinking

* 16:21 Human dignity and AI from a Catholic perspective

* 19:51 Benefits of technology in revealing truth for the Church

* 22:35 Role of Catholic entrepreneurs in the AI era

* 26:01 Importance of human dignity over ROI and AI's role in small businesses

* 31:07 Catholic Founders Guild advertisement

* 31:59 Using AI to resolve disagreements and build connections

* 33:45 Spouse as the first business partner

* 36:27 Tips on engaging your spouse as an entrepreneur

* 39:04 Managing expectations and stress with your spouse

* 40:00 De-risking a startup and involving your spouse

* 43:23 Minimizing risk in entrepreneurship

* 48:42 The option to pause a company instead of shutting down

* 49:53 Importance of timing in entrepreneurship

* Rapid Fire:

* 50:43 Favorite scripture/holy reading: St. Paul

* 54:08 Favorite entrepreneur: Elon Musk, and a discussion on suffering

* 59:20 Favorite saint: St. Paul and a personal relationship with God

* 1:00:58 Favorite devotion: Hail Mary and Mother Mary's protection

* 1:01:52 Call to action: share your gifts and become an entrepreneur

Join The Catholic Founders Guild

The Catholic Founders Guild is a vetted group of Catholic entrepreneurs who are building businesses with their faith at the heart of what they do.

Some are building ‘Catholic’ products. Most are building normal businesses. We’ve got tech founders. Agency owners. Mom & Pop. E-commerce. And some people who bought a business.

Guild Member Benefits:

* Member Directory Access | Join our monthly calls | Access to all paid content | Attend guild-member only dinners

You are the average of the 5 people you hang out with most. Don’t you want that to describe other Catholic founders?

It’s only $10/month or $100/year (for now)

Welcome back to the pod, everyone!

Today you get to hear from someone who’s YouTube channel recently had a pretty breakout moment. One video put him at nearly 100k views. This led him to pursue the 1-man creator business. He also shares some YouTube video tips and part of his journey.

Before we start!

* See you at SENT Summit! — If you’re attending, drop me a message so we can connect.

* Upgrade to Paid for a Free Book! I have 200 copies of Alex Hormozi’s book, $100m Money Models and every new member of the Catholic Founders Guild get’s a free copy. The value I’ve gotten out of this book so far are worth far more than what I paid for 200 copies.

In today’s post:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes

* Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

* Max Haben | The Contemplative Dad

* How Max’s YouTube channel took off after his job ended and he invested in it. That’s the core of Max’s story today. But given his wisdom, we spoke broadly about how to grow a YouTube Channel, how to know when God is calling you to go deep in your artistic project, and how to make money on YouTube. This is an especially good episode for anyone who is hesitant to get started on their entrepreneurial journey. Reason being, Max gets pretty real about what it was and is like today, to learn to trust fully in God for his daily bread, as a husband and father who is also a creative.

[sponsored content]

Hire Talent that Actually Cares About Your Mission with Verso Jobs.

The team at VersoJobs.com has built a remarkable gamified and data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values.

The best part, it's built by Catholics.

Whether you're hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom.

Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights! ⛰️

Core Lesson:

Pursuing a ‘Risky’ Artistic Pursuit Might Be What God Is Calling You To, but You’ll Never Know Unless You Spend Time In Prayer

Taking the leap into full-time content creator was not easy for Max. He had all the pressures of needing another job to provide for his family. But he invested the time. He has spent a lot of time in prayer trying to figure this out. He thinks he’s found the answer. But the truth is, none of us ever knows all the answers. That’s why we need to pray without ceasing.

Through constant prayer we’ll come into a closer relationship with God so He can lead us in different ways as we go on our journey.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Get in front of Catholic decision makers today!

Our publication is ready by devout Catholic founders and business owners across America.

Best for anyone selling services or products to those audiences. (Plus they’d all rather buy from another Catholic).

Key Episode References:

* The Contemplative Dad Substack

* St. Paul Center

Select Quotes:

Here are 10 incredible quotes from the episode that will hook people into listening:

* "Whether you have a full-time job or you're self-employed or whatever you're doing, there is some level of dependence on God." — Max

* "Your faith gets stronger when you see God show up and provide for you. …if you want to grow in your faith, then put more dependence on God and put more in his hands." — Max

* "I was losing my interior quiet. Like I was losing that sort of ability to listen to God just with all the noise and distraction and stress and anxiety that we're surrounded with." — Max

* "This security of having a job where… you're kind of like a slave to the company." — Max

* "Most people don't make it, most people fail because they stop or they don't start. That's really the number one reason people don't succeed on YouTube." — Max

Key Moments: (outline)

* 0:00 Cold Open & Guest Intro

* 4:40 Dependence on God for Provision

* 8:30 Illusion of Job Security

* 10:56 Why "The Contemplative Dad" Started

* 13:08 When to Pursue Creative Callings

* 17:08 Going Full-Time with "The Contemplative Dad"

* 20:54 Balancing Work & Life as an Entrepreneur

* 26:55 Entrepreneurship in 2025: Anyone Can Do It

* 30:01 Historical Context of Self-Employment

* 31:23 Detachment from the World & Financial Needs

* 34:48 Monetizing a YouTube Channel

* 39:40 Vision for The Contemplative Dad

* 43:18 Who Should Start a YouTube Channel & Basic Principles

* Rapid Fire Questions:

* 50:18 Inspiring Scripture

* 52:24 Inspiring Entrepreneur

* 53:17 Favorite Saint

* 54:11 Favorite Devotion

* 55:18 How to Reach Max

* 55:52 Join the Catholic Founders Guild!

Join The Catholic Founders Guild

The Catholic Founders Guild is a vetted group of Catholic entreprenuers who are building businesses with their faith at the heart of what they do.

Some are building ‘Catholic’ products. Most are building normal businesses. We’ve got tech founders. Agency owners. Mom & Pop. E-commerce. And some people who bought a business.

Guild Member Benefits:

* Member Directory Access | Join our monthly calls | Access to all paid content | Attend guild-member only dinners

You are the average of the 5 people you hang out with most. Don’t you want that to describe other Catholic founders?

It’s only $10/month or $100/year (for now)

Hey everyone! Silas here. We’re back with another incredible pod discussion.

Before we start, please pray for the families of the shooting yesterday in Minnesota.

Announcements:

* 📚 Have you collected your free book yet? I bought 200 copies of Hormozi’s new book, $100m Money Models. All existing & new paid members of Catholic Founders get a free copy ($30 value) (note: shipping not included). — Sign up today to get your copy!

* Yesterday we had a great Catholic Founders Guild event. If you’re a paid sub and missed it, we’ll have the recording + notes from the discussion posted soon. Note: it’s all advice on how to save money on taxes. We kept it simple so even if you’re a newbie, you can understand.

* ☕ Book Club for Catholic entrepreneurs: I’m hosting a book club for Catholic biz owners. The first book is The Pope & The CEO by Andreas Widmer (former bodyguard of Pope St. JPII). On Sep 12th, we’re doing a call with the author to discuss the book. All are welcome — join here.

In today’s post:

* Intro to the Guest and Topic

* Core Takeaway

* Episode References

* Select Quotes