How a Gold Star Military Spouse Built a 3D Printing Company Around Real Math
Release Date: 09/29/2026
Steve Vincent 39 Years Of Service And He's Not Done
The Jason Cavness Experience
Steve Vincent did 25 years in the Navy, retired as an O-6, and has now spent 14 more years at the same company. He's about to turn 62. His wife has a passport that needs stamps. By most measures, it's time to slow down. He's not doing it. Not yet. Steve says he still has something to contribute, he genuinely likes the team he works with, and he gets zero satisfaction out of selling software just to sell software. The work has to actually help people, or it's not worth doing. He's already thinking about what comes after full-time work too, getting involved with Rotary Club and childhood...
info_outline
Barbara Kvelstein Investigates Child Traffickers While Running A Med Spa
The Jason Cavness Experience
Barbara Kvelstein had one facial in her entire life before she bought a medical aesthetics clinic. No aesthetics background, no nurse practitioner license, no industry experience. Just a business she found on LoopNet and a willingness to learn on the way. Barbara is the founder of Nordic Clinic and creator of Norderm, a Scandinavian-inspired skincare line launching out of the clinic. Before any of that, she spent over a decade as a human rights lawyer and anti-trafficking investigator, and traveled to nearly 90 countries as a professional-level tennis player and model. We get into how she...
info_outline
Dr. Dave Hester on AI Governance, Consciousness, and Why We're Not Ready for What's Coming
The Jason Cavness Experience
We're building artificial intelligence the way we built nuclear weapons, without the wisdom to manage it. Neuroscientist and AI ethics advisor Dr. Dave Hester argues that regulation isn't coming from Congress; it's coming from you, your company, and the engineers who know the real risks. If the researchers behind GPT and Claude are asking for a slowdown, we should pay attention. This is not a podcast about AI slop or image filters. This is about the moment right before we decide whether AI serves everyone or just the people who can afford it. It's also about consciousness, multiverse theory,...
info_outline
How a Gold Star Military Spouse Built a 3D Printing Company Around Real Math
The Jason Cavness Experience
Paula Thomas left Amazon after 14 years as a software engineer. She's now running Viter Manufacturing—a 3D printing company focused on custom retail displays. But she's not a typical startup founder. She's a Gold Star military spouse, which means her husband died in service. Her approach to building a company around grief, resilience, and curiosity is the opposite of the hype-and-speed culture that dominates tech. In this conversation, we talk about why most 3D printing startups fail (the hidden costs nobody tracks), how to know when to push through and when to walk away, the power of...
info_outline
20 And Building A Brand — Chancy Williams
The Jason Cavness Experience
Chancy Williams didn't know the difference between GSM and cotton blend six months ago. Now he's running his own streetwear brand, Majority, funded entirely out of a 9-to-5 job and a college class schedule. Chancy is 20, a double major in international business and marketing, and the son of one of my old Army buddies. We get into why he started a clothing brand before he had a real job, what happened when his first bulk order came back ruined, and why he thinks his generation needs to stop waiting for permission to start something. We also discuss: Why he chose sweatpants and hoodies as his...
info_outline
How He's Taking On a $2 Billion Software Giant — Keith McCall
The Jason Cavness Experience
Keith McCall is building a company that watches the Earth from above. Omniris pulls imagery from drones, satellites, and IoT sensors, overlays it on a map, and adds the one thing that makes data powerful time. Capture the same field or cell tower ten times across a year and you get a living database, a digital twin more useful than anything sitting in a spreadsheet. His network of 4,000 independent drone pilots has flown Walmart's headquarters, Amazon distribution centers, 11,000 Verizon cell towers, and solar farms around the world. Keith is the CEO of Omniris, along with the...
info_outline
Why Local Government Stops Improving — Brien Kennedy
The Jason Cavness Experience
Most elected officials face voters. Many local officials never face an opponent. Brien Kennedy left a career scaling e-commerce businesses at Amazon, Microsoft, Nuun Hydration, and SmartyPants Vitamins to work inside the Kitsap County Superior Court. What he saw was a system that people depend on during some of the hardest moments of their lives. But often cannot understand or navigate. Now he is running in only the third contested race for Kitsap County Clerk in 28 years. We also discuss: • Why uncontested elections create complacency • What a county clerk actually controls...
info_outline
Culture Is a Business Advantage Suleiny Altamirano
The Jason Cavness Experience
Preserving culture requires more than celebrating it. The traditions also need customers, economic opportunity, and a path to the next generation. Suleiny Altamirano, founder and CEO of Tizana Mexicana, shares how moving from Guerrero, Mexico, to Seattle inspired her to build a bridge between Mexican artisans and new markets. She explains why trust matters more than technology, how immigrant founders can build a new support system, and why social impact companies still need a sustainable business model. We also discuss: • Why immigrant founders need to create a new family of mentors,...
info_outline
Why Most Influencer Marketing Fails with Alex Shebar
The Jason Cavness Experience
Most brands do not have an influencer problem. They have a strategy problem. Alex Shebar, founder of NYC Social Club, explains why generic campaigns, rigid scripts, and oversized creator lists fail to generate meaningful results. He breaks down how brands can find creators who match their audience, test content without wasting their budget, and build smaller communities that actually care. We also discuss: • Why 10 engaged followers can be more valuable than 1,000 passive ones • How community managers keep online communities alive • Why brands should stop trying to reach everyone...
info_outline
Why Encryption Fails Under Pressure with Josh Thomas
The Jason Cavness Experience
The strongest encryption in the world cannot protect you when someone can force you to unlock your phone. Josh Thomas, founder of Deniable, explains why conventional mobile security ignores coercion and how plausible deniability changes the equation. He also shares a hard-earned rule for builders: decide what would make you kill a project before your identity, money, and emotions become attached to it. We also discuss: • Why institutions often capture problems instead of solving them • How incentives shape behavior inside nonprofits and the United Nations • Why every...
info_outlinePaula Thomas left Amazon after 14 years as a software engineer. She's now running Viter Manufacturing—a 3D printing company focused on custom retail displays. But she's not a typical startup founder.
She's a Gold Star military spouse, which means her husband died in service. Her approach to building a company around grief, resilience, and curiosity is the opposite of the hype-and-speed culture that dominates tech.
In this conversation, we talk about why most 3D printing startups fail (the hidden costs nobody tracks), how to know when to push through and when to walk away, the power of learning out loud and getting called out publicly, and why innovation actually requires the customer sitting at the table with you from day one.
We also discuss:
• Why resilience is a skill you build early, not something you develop in crisis
• The brutal math behind 3D printing pricing and why so many entrepreneurs get it wrong
• Gold Star families, TAPS and the resources most military families don't know exist
• From software engineering to 3D printing: what skills transfer, what doesn't
• Beta programs that flip the script on R&D costs
• How military spouses are the most underemployed demographic in America
• Why listening is harder than talking,and why it matters more
Paula links: Weiter Manufacturing weiter-mfg.com
Paula Thomas on LinkedIn — linkedin.com/in/paula-thomas
Jason links:
The Jason Cavness Experience thejasoncavnessexperience.com
Jason on LinkedIn — linkedin.com/in/jasoncavness
Cavness LLC — cavness.io