Take the risk. That’s the story of this week’s Wild Business Growth podcast guest, Ken Gavranovic. Ken is the Serial Entrepreneur and Board Member of Product Genius. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and your other favorite podcast platforms, and watch on YouTube.
Episode 328: Ken Gavranovic – Growing Your Business, Product Genius
Ken Gavranovic, the Serial Entrepreneur and Board Member of Product Genius, joins the show to share his journey from growing up poor to leading several exits. Hear the 80’s movie that rocked his world, how to lead your company toward IPO, how to best spend your time as an entrepreneur, how to start a business in the AI space, and how improv helps you as a business owner. This episode covers everything from Dial-up Internet to skydiving. Here’s a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:
- What was the Internet like when Ken started Web.com
- How do you IPO
- Cricket Business 🙂
- What’s the best indicator of business success
- How did Ken fly a fighter jet
Connect with Ken at KenGavranovic.com, ProductGenius.Guru, and on LinkedIn.
Enjoy the shoooooow! Check out the show notes below for much more detail. You can also find the full transcript here.
Show Notes
- Intro & Web.com
- [0:30] Email me at to save time with your high-quality podcast and use it as a business-building tool
- [0:40] Connect with Ken at KenGavranovic.com, ProductGenius.Guru, and on LinkedIn
- [2:08] How did the movie WarGames inspire Ken
- [3:35] What was his favorite part of the movie
- [4:36] What was the Internet like when he started Web.com
- [5:18] StockX
- [5:33] Dial-up Internet
- [5:38] Shoutout, Barb & Fred!
- [6:56] Revenue
- [7:58] How do you IPO (Initial Public Offering)
- [9:08] VC (Venture Capital)
- Growing Your Business
- [10:41] How do you grow your business
- [12:16] Cricket Business 🙂
- [13:12] Bill Gurley, Benchmark, Super Pumped
- [14:08] What’s the best indicator of business success
- [15:25] Rich Mahogany from Anchorman
- [17:04] What’s an example of great timing
- [17:24] Generative AI aka Gen AI aka Artificial Intelligence
- [17:52] Claude, ChatGPT
- [18:02] Product-Market Fit
- [18:42] Mark Cuban, Broadcast.com
- [19:12] How do you best spend your time as a business owner
- [21:16] OKRs (Objectives and Key Results)
- [21:55] New Relic
- [23:05] API (Application Programming Interface), Kubernetes
- [25:15] What is Product Genius
- [26:12] How Taylor Swift Broke Ticketmaster
- [28:14] How do you start a business in the AI space
- [30:07] The Wild Business Growth podcast is on YouTube! Subscribe @MaxBranstetter to watch full video interviews with Wild entrepreneurs like Ken
- [30:08] Sign up for the Podcasting to the Max newsletter at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter and receive How to Edit Your Podcast in Audacity. It’s where podcasting meets entrepreneurship – and terrible puns
- [30:10] Such an honor speaking at Podcast Movement ’23 in Denver! Sign up to grab the slides from my session at MaxPodcasting.com/PM23
- The Unusual: Pet Peeves, Quirks, and Weird Talents
- Rapid-Fire Q&A
- [35:12] What’s Ken’s favorite Aggie tradition at Texas A&M University
- [35:42] Johnny Manziel, Untold: Johnny Football
- [35:47] What’s the most underrated part of living in Atlanta
- [36:05] Hawaiian Chick-fil-A aka Truett’s Luau, Dwarf House, Chick-fil-A Batmobile
- [36:51] How often does Ken get called Kenny G
- [37:18] What did he learn about money from growing up poor
- [38:22] Connect with Ken at KenGavranovic.com, ProductGenius.Guru, and on LinkedIn
- [39:07] What are Ken’s Final Thoughts
- [40:04] Follow the Wild Business Growth podcast and tell a friend about the podcast. And show love (or roast me) by leaving 5 stars on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify
- [40:08] The Wild Business Growth podcast is on YouTube! Subscribe @MaxBranstetter to watch full video interviews with Wild entrepreneurs like Ken
- [40:10] Check out the Wild Business Growth podcast on Goodpods, where you can see what your favorite people are listening to
- [40:16] Connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter (aka X), and Threads @MaxBranstetter and TikTok @WildBusinessGrowth
- [40:19] Save time with your high-quality podcast. Email me at to bring your podcast to life and use it as a business-building tool
- [40:21] Sign up for the Podcasting to the Max newsletter at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter and receive How to Edit Your Podcast in Audacity. It’s where podcasting meets entrepreneurship – and terrible puns
- Theme music: Freestyle Percussion Magik – “Jungle Tribe” – provided by Jamendo
What is the Wild Business Growth podcast?
Wild ideas. Wild growth. Every Wednesday morning a new entrepreneur joins the Wild Business Growth podcast to share the wildly creative and unusual ways they grew their business – and teaches you how to do it, too. Hear the minds behind WordPress, Stacy’s Pita Chips, Drybar, NFL RedZone, Big Mouth Billy Bass, the voice of Bart Simpson, and more Wild stories. Hosted by Max Branstetter (that’s me), Founder and Podcast Producer at MaxPodcasting.
How do you start a podcast?
Interested in starting a professional-sounding and professional-looking podcast for your brand, but don’t want to deal with the time commitment of all those behind-the-scenes details? I’ve got you covered. Email me at to save time with your high-quality podcast and use it as a business-building tool.
Thanks for listening to Ken Gavranovic on the Wild Business Growth podcast. To hear more Wild stories like this one every Wednesday morning, follow the Wild Business Growth podcast and tell a friend about it. And take some risks. Until next time, Let your business Run Wild…and Bring on the Bongos!!
