The Bigger Stage w/ Matt Stone

The Bigger Stage w/ Matt Stone is a conversation series about leadership, relationships, and the stories that expand influence. Matt Stone sits down with CEOs, founders, leaders, and creatives to explore the human moments behind growth—how trust is built, how visibility changes responsibility, and how storytelling becomes a leadership skill as stakes rise. This show is for entrepreneurs and leaders stepping into bigger roles, bigger audiences, and bigger impact—who want to lead with clarity, credibility, and connection, not performance.

The Bigger Stage w/ Matt Stone is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 0 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Unknown Host hosts The Bigger Stage w/ Matt Stone, a business show with 0 episodes published.

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  The Bigger Stage w/ Matt Stone

  Stop Fixing Your People. Fix the Work. | Mylena Maulepes

  Sep 26, 202649 min

  Everyone told Mylena Maulepes not to bother applying to Harvard. She applied anyway. Now she helps companies beat burnout by fixing how the work is designed, not by asking people to be more resilient. -- Everyone told Mylena Maulepes not to bother applying to Harvard. She was Brazilian, English wasn't her first language, and she already had offers from other schools. She turned them down and applied anyway. A few months later, an email arrived at work: "Welcome to Harvard." Mylena started out as a mechanical engineer on a truck engine line, went on to earn a master's in industrial-organizational psychology at Harvard, and came home to Brazil with a better question. Companies keep asking how stressed their people are. She asks what's making them stressed in the first place. In this episode: - The night she gave up the sure thing to take a shot at Harvard - Why an engineer's habit of asking "why" became her edge in psychology - Why well-being spending isn't moving the needle, and what does - Crocodiles in the pond: fix the environment, not the swimmer - What younger generations want from work, and why founders should pay attention - Selling culture work to numbers-first buyers - What her eight-month-old son is teaching her about leadership - The mentor who believed in her before anyone else did Chapters 00:00 Cold open 00:46 Meet Mylena Maulepes 04:28 The girl who wanted to fix engines 08:01 Why engineering wasn't enough to lead 11:08 When everyone says your dream is too big 13:25 "Welcome to Harvard" 18:06 An engineer in a psychology world 23:25 Stop fixing people. Fix the work. 25:46 Crocodiles in the pond 28:18 What's actually working 29:13 What clients ask for vs. what they need 32:20 Selling culture work with numbers 36:05 Becoming a mom, and a new lens on work 40:13 Why you need a mentor 45:35 Advice for your bigger stage 47:12 Where to find Mylena Follow Mylena LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mylena-maulepes Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mylenamaulepes TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@maulepes If this episode was useful, share it with a founder who's trying to build a team people want to stay on.

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  The Bigger Stage w/ Matt Stone

  Eric Light — He Left 20 Years in Banking to Buy an HVAC Company

  Jul 25, 202652 min

  A 20-year banker walked away from a senior VP title to buy a 33-year-old mom-and-pop HVAC company that wasn't even for sale. Eric Light on calculated risk, a brutal first year, and the rule he's built two careers on. -- Eric Light spent nearly two decades in banking, working his way up to senior vice president, embedded in the Chester County, PA business community — exactly where he was supposed to stay. Then he bought an HVAC company. It wasn't a detour. Eric took everything he'd built — the relationships, the trust, the front-row view of how hundreds of businesses actually work — and bet it all on Precision Air Heating & Cooling, a 33-year-old shop in West Chester that technically wasn't for sale. In his words: "One day I was a banker, and the next morning I woke up president of this company." He and Matt get into the calculated-risk framework Eric used to coach owners for years and now lives himself, the brutal first 90 days, why he still gets out of bed "a little bit scared" four years in, and the rule he's built two careers on since 2008: chase honest, passionate, successful people, and the business follows. If you're a founder sitting on a leap you haven't taken yet, start here. -- CONNECT WITH ERIC Email: elight@precisionairhc.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericlight/ Precision Air: https://precisionairhc.com ABOUT THE SHOW The Bigger Stage is the show for founders, operators, and builders chasing a bigger vision. Follow in your podcast app so new episodes land automatically.

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  The Bigger Stage w/ Matt Stone

  Jeremy Sirota — The Lawyer Who Worked His Way Into Music (Suno, Merlin, Warner)

  Jun 27, 202654 min

  From tech lawyer to Warner, Meta, and CEO of Merlin — now Chief Commercial Officer at Suno. Jeremy Sirota on never being the smartest person in the room, the book he'd never talked about, and why AI can't help you if you've got nothing to say. FULL DESCRIPTION "I've never been the smartest person in the room. So I've always had to pull at something else." Jeremy Sirota has a career that refuses to sit on a straight line. Tech lawyer at Morrison & Foerster. Record exec at Warner Music. Global licensing deals at Meta. CEO of Merlin, where he took annual revenue from $900M to $1.8B. Now Chief Commercial Officer at Suno, one of the most-watched generative AI music companies on the planet. But he didn't talk his way in — he worked his way in. The through-line was never the title. It was a way of operating: build the room where genius happens instead of trying to be the genius in it. It took his ten-year-old daughter cutting him off mid-lecture — "Dad, no more TED Talks today" — to make that click. In this conversation, Jeremy gets into the class that nearly ended his law career, the book he'd never talked about publicly until now, why he keeps a "captain's log" of half-formed ideas, the "make this worse" game he uses to break a room open, and the one thing AI can't do for you: have something to say. For founders, operators, and builders working the move from operator to authority to icon — this one's worth your time. — Guest: Jeremy Sirota, Chief Commercial Officer at Suno Host: Matt Stone

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  The Bigger Stage w/ Matt Stone

  He Pitched a Fintech Startup at a Funeral. It Worked. | Ricky Michel Presbot, Co-Founder of Ualett

  Jun 13, 202652 minS0

  <p>Millions of people drive, deliver, and hustle to power the American economy — and most of them are invisible to the financial system that's supposed to serve them.</p><p>Ricky Michel Presbot, co-founder and CEO of Ualett, decided to do something about it.</p><p>In this episode, Ricky shares how a failed early venture, a cab ride from JFK, and a chance encounter at a funeral led to the creation of a bilingual fintech platform now serving gig workers across the United States — with a $150 million credit facility to grow nationwide.</p><p>We go deep on the idea...

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  The Bigger Stage w/ Matt Stone

  He Bet His Career on a "Boring" $100 Trillion Problem — Duncan Barrigan

  May 30, 202648 minS0

  <p>What do you do when the most important problem you can solve is also the least glamorous one?</p><p>Duncan Barrigan spent 8 years helping build GoCardless into a global payments unicorn — then walked away to tackle something most founders walk right past: getting businesses paid. Not sexy. Not shiny. Just a $100 trillion problem that's been solved the same way, by humans, for 6,000 years.</p><p>In this conversation, Duncan breaks down why accounts receivable is actually a communication and negotiation problem (not a payments problem), how he brought a real cowboy and horse to lasso the Wall Street Bu...

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