Finding Peak w/ Ryan Hanley

I help founders & executives generating more than $1M in revenue find their Easy Mode. Start here: https://ryanhanley.com/subscribe
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/lKaYO5Hy5LI
If you are using AI to optimize for conversion rate, return on ad spend, or time-to-hire, you are pointing a self-driving car at the wrong address. And it’s going to take you there really, really fast.
In this episode of Finding Peak, I sit down with Nicolas Darveau-Garneau, former Chief Evangelist at Google and author of "Be a Sequoia, Not a Bonsai." Nicolas has advised over 1,000 CEOs on digital transformation, and his conclusion is staggering: 90% of companies are optimizing the wrong KPIs.
We break down the $15 Billion mistake companies make with AI, why Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is the only metric that actually matters, and how a simple mindset shift helped a local gym owner turn a $200K business into a $1.2M powerhouse without adding more members.
Whether you run a Fortune 500 company or a Main Street bakery, this conversation will completely change how you deploy AI in your business.
In this episode, we cover:
👉 The $15 Billion AI mistake most companies are making right now
👉 Why optimizing for conversion rate is killing your long-term profit
👉 How to use AI to predict the future (and why you must get comfortable with forecasts)
👉 The exact strategy a gym owner used to 6x his business by targeting 55-year-olds
👉 How to build a limitless testing organization that your competitors can't catch
👉 Why brand building is no longer just for massive corporations

** Connect with Nicolas Darveau-Garneau **
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickdg/
Book: Be a Sequoia, Not a Bonsai: https://amzn.to/4tdw84D

This show is part of the Unplugged Studios Network — the infrastructure layer for serious creators.
👉 Learn more at https://unpluggedstudios.fm.

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I help founders & executives generating more than $1M in revenue find their Easy Mode. Start here: https://ryanhanley.com/subscribe
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtube.com/ryanmhanley
Paul Hutchinson led 70+ undercover child rescue missions in 15 countries and was the primary investor and executive producer of the Sound of Freedom movie. His most dangerous weapon wasn't combat training — it was learning to listen with his heart.
Connect with Paul Hutchinson
✅ Liberating Humanity: https://liberatinghumanity.com
✅ Child Liberation Foundation: https://childliberation.org
✅ Sound of Freedom Book: https://amzn.to/4cgMIKI
✅ Paul on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/paulhutchinson
More about this episode
This one hits different. Paul Hutchinson has lived a life most people can't imagine — building a billion-dollar investment fund, producing the most talked-about movie of 2023, and leading black-ops rescue missions that saved more than 7,000 children from trafficking networks across the globe.
But the conversation that unfolded wasn't what I expected. We got into the real stuff — the cell phone debate every parent is having right now, what sextortion actually looks like (and why 12-year-old boys are the primary target), and why over-sheltering your kids might be making them a softer target. Paul lays out exactly what parents can do today to protect their children without becoming helicopter parents.
Then the episode takes a turn. Paul shares how meditation and divine intuition became his primary operating tool in the field — from taking down the largest child trafficking ring in the Caribbean to a cold-read operation in Ecuador that shouldn't have worked but did. We go deep on the pineal gland, the science of awareness, and why learning to listen with your heart might be the most important skill you never develop. Whether you're a parent, a leader, or someone who feels like their awareness has been shrinking — this episode is the unlock.
Powerful Quotes
"95% of the situations where somebody has to use hard skills to fight their way out could have been avoided if they were just paying attention."
"We're not going to fix trafficking by pulling children out of hell forever. We fix it by pulling the hell out of the adults."
"Faith isn't going to church and asking God to fix things you don't believe will be fixed. Faith is the unwavering conviction that what you want to have happen will happen."
I help founders & executives generating more than $1M in revenue find their Easy Mode. Start here: https://ryanhanley.com/subscribe
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtube.com/ryanmhanley

This show is part of the Unplugged Studios Network — the infrastructure layer for serious creators.
👉 Learn more at https://unpluggedstudios.fm.

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Join 15,000+ leaders and become undeniable: https://ryanhanley.com/subscribe
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/nMAx8-9DswY
Alberto Crane was the first American to earn a BJJ black belt from Gracie Barra. He fought in the UFC. Won world championships. Built Legacy Jiu-Jitsu into a 25-year institution.
Then came the MS diagnosis.
Most people would have stopped. Alberto went on a world tour.
In this episode, we talk about what getting punched in the face teaches you about leadership, why 3 years of losing made Alberto unstoppable, the power of the mantra "I believe in my technique," and why your rough edges are features, not bugs.
His new book "All In: Lessons On and Off the Mat" is out now.
📖 Get the book: https://amzn.to/3PBPMID
🥋 Legacy BJJ: https://legacybjj.com
🏋️ TACFIT: https://tacfit.com
📸 Alberto's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/albertocrane/
🌐 Alberto's website: https://www.albertocrane.com/

✅ Subscribe to Finding Peak: https://ryanhanley.com/subscribe
🎙️ More episodes: https://ryanhanley.com/podcast

This show is part of the Unplugged Studios Network — the infrastructure layer for serious creators.
👉 Learn more at https://unpluggedstudios.fm.

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Subscribe to Finding Peak for frameworks that actually work: https://ryanhanley.com/subscribe
Watch the show on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9gToRCbu1TU
Your retention problem isn't product. It's not customer success. It's sales.
Mark Roberge was the 4th employee at HubSpot and took them from $0 to IPO as their founding CRO. Now he's a Harvard Business School professor, co-founder of Stage 2 Capital, and author of The Science of Scaling.
In this conversation, Mark and I break down why most founders get the scaling question wrong, how to build compensation plans that kill coasting, the one interview technique that reveals a salesperson's ceiling, and the brutal math behind knowing when you're actually ready to scale.
I also share the story of selling my own company to the wrong buyer and the single question I wish I'd asked before signing.
📕 Get Mark's book — The Science of Scaling: https://amzn.to/4uS6Z0s
🔗 Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markroberge/
🔗 Stage 2 Capital: https://www.stage2.capital
Subscribe to Finding Peak for frameworks that actually work: https://ryanhanley.com/subscribe
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This show is part of the Unplugged Studios Network — the infrastructure layer for serious creators.
👉 Learn more at https://unpluggedstudios.fm.

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Contrarian takes on power, leverage, and influence in the age of AI: https://ryanhanley.com/subscribe
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You've been told your whole life that passion and drive are the keys to success.
What if they're actually the biggest risks to your mental health?
In this episode of Finding Peak, I sit down with Dr. Guy Winch — internationally renowned psychologist, 3x TED Talk speaker (35M+ views), and bestselling author of Mind Over Grind: How to Break Free When Work Hijacks Your Life.
We go deep on the uncomfortable truth about overworking, the hidden dangers of being "driven," and why your passion might be slowly amputating parts of your personality — one by one.
If you've ever felt like work is hijacking your life, or if you've experienced that crushing emptiness after achieving a massive goal (like selling a company), this conversation is your wake-up call.
We cover:
→ Why passion and drive are actually psychological risk factors
→ The "scurvy" of the modern entrepreneur (and how to avoid it)
→ Why you feel depressed after a big win — and how to prepare for it
→ How to stop work from invading your personal time
→ The difference between automatic coping and intentional problem-solving
→ Why action creates passion — not the other way around
→ How Gen Z's short-term thinking is creating a mental health crisis
Stop grinding yourself into the ground. It's time to build a life that actually sustains you.
This is the way.
—
Connect with Guy Winch
📘 Get Dr. Guy Winch's book, Mind Over Grind: https://amzn.to/4dfXCBJ
🌐 Learn more about Dr. Winch: https://www.guywinch.com/
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Contrarian takes on power, leverage, and influence in the age of AI: https://ryanhanley.com/subscribe

This show is part of the Unplugged Studios Network — the infrastructure layer for serious creators.
👉 Learn more at https://unpluggedstudios.fm.

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