Burn The Map: Holograms, Flat Squirrels, & Why You Really Need Cake on Tuesday w/ Elizabeth Bieniek
Burn The Map
In This Episode: We sit down with Elizabeth Bieniek: accidental innovator, corporate plane-repairer at 30,000 feet, and author of Cake on Tuesday, a book for people who like their business advice with more real talk and less corporate fluff. Elizabeth walks us through her unpredictable path—from getting an MBA at Babson and tumbling into the tech world, to launching a stealth startup inside Cisco, and then finally distilling years of chaos into 25 lessons for unlocking corporate innovation. Why Cake on Tuesday? Because frankly, what’s the point of slogging through strategy sessions if...
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Burn The Map: Outfoxing Wall Street with Dr. Craig Kaplan Pt.2
Burn The Map
In This Episode: We sit down with Dr. Craig A. Kaplan, the PhD-wielding brains behind Predict Wall Street (and, apparently, the patron saint of retail investors everywhere). Craig walks us through 14 years in the financial trenches, building tech to turn the “dumb money” crowd into a collective force that could actually beat Wall Street at its own game—at least until the hedge funds caught the scent and crashed the party. Brace yourself for a story that’s equal parts “wisdom of crowds,” collective intelligence research, and “what happens when the little guy dares to play with the...
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Burn The Map: Herding AIs, Dodging Doom, and the New Ethics of Intelligence w/ Dr. Craig Kaplan
Burn The Map
In This Episode: We sit down with Dr. Craig Kaplan—the guy who was building AI before your favorite “disruptor” learned to tie their shoes. Dr. Kaplan takes us on a wild ride from the OG days of artificial intelligence (when data lived on floppy disks and having a “machine learning” project meant you had actual machines to move) to his current crusade: making sure superintelligence doesn’t wreck the joint for the rest of us. Kaplan lays out what everyone’s too scared—or too clueless—to admit: if you wouldn’t leave your wallet with a random LLM, why are you ready to...
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Second Brains, Biometric Socks, and the AI Classroom: Lisa Dieker on the Future of Learning
Burn The Map
“I was the daughter of a mechanic and a librarian—I know a thing or two about fixing things, building things, and making sense of way too much information.” —Dr. Lisa Dieker In This Episode: We talk to Dr. Lisa Dieker about why the future of learning isn’t robots replacing teachers—it’s humans and AI teaming up (with a little extra caffeine and a lot of biometric gadgets thrown in). As the Williamson Family Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas and Director of the FLITE STEM Center, Lisa’s on a mission to hack how we teach, learn, and support every kind of mind...
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Burn The Map: Quivers of Legs and Law Changes w/ Brenda Novak
Burn The Map
In This Episode: We talk to Brenda Novak, co-founder of the Connecticut Amputee Network and champion for anyone told they're “too expensive to fix.” Brenda breaks down her wild ride from business school grad to accidental activist, gives us the unvarnished scoop on the cutthroat world of prosthetic coverage (hint: it’s more ‘Shark Tank’ than ‘Grey’s Anatomy’), and shows us that sometimes, you’ve got to pass whole new laws just to get back on your feet—literally. What We Cover: How Brenda and her fellow “pirates” rallied lawmakers to pass legislation making...
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Burn The Map: Book People, Broken Systems, and Why Kids Are Getting Dumber w/ Rae Foote
Burn The Map
“If you’re worried your kid hates reading, maybe start by showing them you can sit down with a damn book. Kids do what we do, not what we say.” —Rae Foote In This Episode: We talk to Rae Foote, the unicorn who went from running logistics in military manufacturing (yes, actual missiles) to wrangling the chaos of marketing tech at Hachette Book Group in NYC—all while moonlighting as a champion for children’s literacy. Rae's journey is less “lifelong calling” and more “epic faceplant after faceplant, but make it fashion”—falling into publishing, falling for NYC, and now...
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Burn The Map: Joel McKay Smith — Networking Maestro, Rural Champion, and Master of Community Capital
Burn The Map
In This Episode: We talk to Joel McKay Smith—a guy whose “Rolodex” literally stress-tested the Wrench platform—about why real power isn’t in the LinkedIn follower count, but in the relationships you actually maintain. From rural Utah dairy farms to industrial parks, Joel’s journey is a hilarious, head-spinning tour straight through the heart of economic disruption and small-town resurrection. You think you’re a “super-connector”? Please. Joel remembers your name, your birthday, and probably your lactose intolerance from a conversation in 1997, all while masterminding a...
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Burn The Map: Ask Me Anything with Dan & Gabi
Burn The Map
In This Episode: We sit down with Gabi Barragan—strategic advisor, organizational change whisperer, and the go-to for real talk about taming the AI beast in business. Gabi ditches the ‘thought leader’ theatrics and gets honest about what it really takes for companies to stop talking about AI adoption and actually get their hands dirty—without blowing the lunch budget on useless software. She walks us through the mess and magic of wrangling data chaos, the power of fierce internal experimenters (yes, she thinks your employees are already using ChatGPT behind your back), and how a little...
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Burn The Map: Doors, Data, and Digital Twins with Timber Barker
Burn The Map
In This Episode: We talk to Timber Barker, founder/CEO of BOOM Interactive, about turning flat floor plans into living, AI-powered digital twins—and the not-so-glamorous reality of building the company that does it. From selling his truck to keep the lights on to landing partnerships with NVIDIA and projects with the NBA, Timber breaks down how CoreSpec3D makes the built world actually usable: chat with your floor plan, drop “sticky notes” that act like tasks, render photorealistic options in seconds, and hand first responders a real-time 3D view when things go sideways....
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Burn the Map: Are You Even Using Your Data? Drew Phillips on the Realities of Content & Chaos
Burn The Map
“Don’t tell me about your fancy martech stack if you can’t tell me where your own customer data lives. Spoiler: if your dashboards are a mess, your personalization is, too.” —Drew Phillips In This Episode: We talk to Drew Phillips—part globe-trotting data wrangler, part content whisperer—about what actually moves the needle in enterprise content, data integration, and personalization (hint: it’s not a magic vendor pitch or an AI buzzword bingo). Drew reveals the truth behind making content less painful for brands that have more SKUs than most people have socks—and how chaos...
info_outline“Every human is entitled to utter syllables and words and think thoughts and commune with their own highest power. That is… certainly an inalienable right.”
—Bridger Lee Jensen
In This Episode:
We sit down with Bridger Lee Jensen, founder of the world’s first federally protected psilocybin religion, Singularism. Bridger takes us on a trip (pun intended) through the wild ride of founding a new movement—in Provo, Utah, of all places—facing down the SWAT team, and coming out the other side with his mushrooms (and his freedom) intact.
Bridger’s story is a cocktail of therapy, philosophy, legal warfare, and a healthy disrespect for the way “it’s always been done.” He’s a therapist, a reluctant founder, and, apparently, the only guy who’s ever had the government give his stash back—by court order.
What We Cover:
- Why suffering might be good for you (and why you should teach your kid to get their ass kicked)
- The mechanics of starting a federally recognized religion (hint: you’ll need more than a vision board)
- Psychedelics, therapy, and the myth of “fixing” yourself
- How to survive a SWAT raid with your dignity and your sense of humor
- The accidental legal precedent that could change religion in America
Enjoy the episode. This show is brought to you by Wrench.ai.
Guest Bio:
Bridger Lee Jensen is the founder of Singularism, the first psilocybin-based religion in the U.S. to win federal protection—by way of a legal brawl in the heart of Mormon country. He’s a therapist, philosophical troublemaker, and possibly the only person to have his mushrooms returned by court order. Bridger’s mission? Use psychedelics, not as escape, but as a tool to strip away the BS and find real meaning.
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People and Organizations Mentioned:
- Bridger Lee Jensen
- Dan Baird
- The City of Provo
- Singularism
- Wrench.ai
Show Notes & Timestamps
00:04 — Welcome, Bridger: Why start a religion in Provo, Utah? 06:15 — Is suffering actually good for you?
11:45 — Psychedelics, consciousness, and what therapy gets wrong
25:55 — The SWAT raid, the mushrooms, and how not to panic
34:41 — The legal fight: redefining religion in America
1:13:10 — Government gives the mushrooms back (seriously)
1:22:08 — Why Bridger won’t quit, no matter how weird it gets
1:32:09 — How to get involved, support, or just watch the circus