The Disruptor Podcast
"The Disruptor Series," your blueprint for groundbreaking innovation, started as a periodic segment of the Apex Podcast. This is not your standard conversation around Design Thinking or Product Market Fit; this is the series that dares to go beyond conventional wisdom, confronting the status quo and exposing the raw power of disruptive thinking. Our journey begins with intensely provocative dialogues that set the stage for the unexpected. With a focus on Experience Disruptors, Product Market Fit, and a range of other captivating topics, we bring you face-to-face with the ideas that are revolutionizing traditional buying and selling experiences. But we don't stop at ideas; we dive into their real-world applications. "The Disruptor" offers an unfiltered glimpse into the lives and minds of those who are being disrupted, creating disruption, or strategically navigating it. Our guests range from industry veterans to daring newcomers, all willing to share their experiences in shifting the paradigms that define their stakeholders' experiences. If you're tired of business as usual and eager to question the preconceived notions that hold back innovation, "The Disruptor Series" is your ticket to a transformative journey. Tune in, disrupt yourself, and become an agent of change in an ever-evolving landscape. ...
Episodes
Hi everyone, I'm your host John Kundtz, and today we’re doing something a little different. Welcome to Board Room Bound, The Disruptor's special series on not-for-profit leadership, purpose, and giving back.
For those who are new to our show, the Disruptor series is your blueprint for groundbreaking innovation. We started the podcast in December of 2022. Our vision was to go beyond conventional wisdom by confronting t...
Are you tired of pouring hours into strategic plans, only to watch them turn into dusty “shelfware” that your board never looks at again?
Most organizations are treading water in a sea of “What”. They manage the day-to-day administrative tasks but lose sight of the overarching mission. If we want to disrupt the status quo, we have to stop managing the “what” and start leading the “why”...
Originally broadcast on September 13, 2025, on The Hungarian Hour (WCSB Cleveland 89.3 FM)
In this special rebroadcast of The Hungarian Hour* (WCSB Cleveland 89.3 FM), hosts Walt Mahovlich and Elizabeth Papp Taylor are joined by John M. Kundtz.
John shares the remarkable “rags to riches” American immigrant story of his great-grandfather, Theodor Kundtz.
Tune in to hear how Theodor arrived in Cleveland with noth...
Welcome to this trailer for another episode of Board Room Bound! Today, we are tackling one of the most frustrating challenges in the nonprofit world: strategic planning.
We all know the drill: a beautifully detailed document is created with high hopes, only to gather dust on a shelf as forgotten “shelfware”.
In this brief preview, we introduce John M. Kundtz’s latest book, The Five-Step Nonprofit Strategy Blu...
Heart without execution remains aspirational …
… and systems without heart won’t scale
In Part 2 of this two-episode series, John Kundtz sits down with Greg Warner, CEO & Founder of MarketSmart, to discuss bridging “Start with the Heart” from philosophy into an operating system.
Greg argues that most nonprofits are still running outdated, transaction-first fundraising playbooks.
Mea...
In this episode of The Disruptor Podcast, John Kundtz sits down with Bill Crouch, CEO of BrightDot Fundraising Advisors and former college president, to discuss why traditional development tactics are failing leaders, and what replaces them:
➡️Trust,
➡️Relevance,
➡️Relationship, and
➡️Mattership (the discipline of making supporters feel seen and valued, so philanthropy becomes relational, not transactional.)
...
The AI Energy Crunch: Why FinalSpark Thinks Neurons Are the Answers
In this episode of The Disruptor Podcast, host John Kundtz sits down with Dr. Ewelina Kurtys, Strategic Advisor at FinalSpark, to discuss a hard truth most AI leaders are starting to feel: the next wave of AI scale will be constrained less by algorithms and more by energy, cooling, and infrastructure limitations.
While much of the industry is stil...
In this episode of The Disruptor Podcast, host John Kundtz sits down with Jon Levesque, Founder and CEO of Seeq, to explore why the age of static directories such as Google, Yelp, and star ratings is officially over.
Jon shares how Seeq, the world’s first Experience Network, transforms social content into living, bookable experiences. Instead of endless scrolling and fake reviews, Seeq turns creator videos into AI-assi...
Can you create blue oceans after the sale?
In this episode of The Disruptor Podcast, host John Kundtz sits down with Ken Rapp, CEO and co-founder of BluStream, to discuss how to escape pre-sale “red ocean” battles by winning the ownership moment.
Born from a cracked acoustic guitar and a missing post-sale experience, Ken’s Product Experience (PX) playbook shows how to activate, engage, and nurture customers ac...
In this episode of The Disruptor, host John M. Kundtz takes listeners on a personal and historical journey into the remarkable life of his great-grandfather, Theodor Joseph Kundtz, an immigrant craftsman whose vision helped shape Cleveland and Lakewood at the turn of the 20th century.
From his humble beginnings in Metzenseifen (today Medzev, Slovakia), Theodor crossed the Atlantic in 1873 with little more than his skills and...
What if your business could deliver Disney-level customer experiences—without Disney’s budget?
In this episode of The Disruptor Podcast, host John Kundtz sits down with Vance Morris, a former Walt Disney World leader turned entrepreneur and customer experience authority.
From cast member to carpet cleaner to consultant, Vance has built a career proving that small businesses can create “wow moments&r...
When founders design products for themselves, or worse, for their “dog,” failure is almost inevitable.
In this episode of The Disruptor Podcast, host John Kundtz sits down with Oksana Kovalchuk, founder and CEO of ANODA.
This leading UX/UI design agency has guided more than 200 startups through Techstars and beyond.
From writing her first line of code at age five to mentoring thousands of entrepreneu...
John Kundtz introduces his new book, "The Five-Step Not-for-Profit Strategy Blueprint," designed to help executive directors strengthen collaboration, governance, and growth.
This interview-style review examines how nonprofits can transform strategic planning from static documents into dynamic processes that drive meaningful impact through stakeholder-centered design thinking.
- The "epiphany bridge" concept shifts focus from...
In this episode of The Disruptor Podcast, host John Kundtz sits down with Harish Chandramowli, founder of Flaire Software, to explore how AI is revolutionizing traditional ERP systems.
Drawing on his background in cloud security at MongoDB and Bloomberg, Harish shares how his deep technical expertise and hands-on experience led him to create Flaire, a lightweight, AI-enabled workflow optimization platform specifically designed...
Design isn't dead, but it's evolving fast
Nick Cawthon, the founder of Gauge, a San Francisco–based consultancy, joins John on this episode of The Disruptor Podcast to explore why traditional enterprise design often fails and how smarter strategies can bridge the gap between creativity and business value.
Highlights
- Why commoditization pushed Nick to reinvent his design career
- Common enterprise pitfalls when integrati...
Welcome to another edition of The Disruptor Podcast!
This is part two of our two-part series.
In this episode,Zengines CEO Caitlyn Truong returns to reveal how her team simplifies the high-stakes challenge of mainframe modernization.
She also discusses the challenges of mainframe modernization and how Zengines helps enterprises de-risk legacy systems with smart data lineage.
Key Topics Discussed:
- Why legacy mainframes st...
Welcome to another edition of The Disruptor Podcast!
In this episode, your host, John Kundtz, interviews Caitlyn Truong, CEO and Co-founder of Zengines.
This is part one of our two-part series.
Today's show explores how Zengines disrupts organizations' efforts to automate the end-to-end data conversion process.
Caitlyn shares information from her background in electrical and computer engineering and...
Chapter 5: Defining High-Performance in Nonprofit Boards
In this episode of Board Room Bound, host John Kundtz takes you through what makes a nonprofit board high-performing.
Drawing on The Board Builder’s Blueprint, John explains the essential traits distinguishing exceptional boards.
Episode Highlights
- Actionable strategies for aligning board governance with mission success.
- Real-world examples of innovati...
In this episode of Board Room Bound, host John Kundtz discusses the importance of cultivating high-performing nonprofit boards.
Drawing from Chapter 4 of his book, The Board Builder’s Blueprint: A Strategic Guide to Creating Exceptional Nonprofit Leadership, John explores how capable boards ensure mission success and organizational sustainability, even in challenging landscapes.
Whether you're a board chair, executive dir...
In this episode of Board Room Bound, host John Kundtz takes you inside Chapter 3 of The Board Builder's Blueprint to uncover a critical element of nonprofit leadership: understanding who benefits from your board’s insights and how to ensure those benefits are maximized.
Drawing from over 30 years of board experience, John outlines five key groups nonprofit boards must serve to achieve high performance and lasting impact.
...
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