SCORE Houston's Podcast
Our podcast features three series:
Mentor Conversations — In-depth interviews with experienced SCORE mentors, including former CEOs, industry leaders, and successful entrepreneurs sharing their decades of business expertise.
Small Business Success Stories — Real journeys from Houston small business owners who have built thriving companies, often with SCORE mentoring support.
Lessons from the Greats — Insights from renowned business leaders and successful global companies, distilled into practical guidance for small business owners.
Topics include: starting a business, business planning, financing and SBA loans, marketing and digital strategy, leadership, scaling and growth, financial management, resilience, adaptability, AI for small business, and Houston's evolving business landscape.
Whether you are launching a startup, navigating challenges, or scaling your business, this podcast delivers actionable insights to help you succeed.
Connect with a free SCORE Houston mentor at scorehouston.org
Join the conversation at scorehoustonpodcast.blogspot.com
New episodes weekly. Subscribe and follow on your favorite platform.
Episodes
43 episodes
How Small Businesses Win Federal Contracts — SBA Experts Explain SAM.gov & Set-Asides Ep 42
Federal contracting for small businesses: how to register on SAM.gov, qualify for set-asides, and get certified through SBA — explained by two Business Opportunity Specialists from the SBA Houston District Office. The fe...
How Estée Lauder Built a Beauty Business With No Marketing Budget Ep 41
How Estée Lauder built a global beauty business with zero marketing budget, no business degree, no formal advertising — and what small business owners can learn from her playbook today. Starting from a backyard stable in Queens, New York...
Veteran Entrepreneur Builds America's Largest Scuba Park After Losing Everything. Ep 40
Veteran entrepreneur Jason Burleson bought an abandoned lake in rural Texas that no bank would touch and no investor would fund. Today, Mammoth Lake Dive Academy in Clute, Texas is the largest dedicated scuba park in the United St...
Charlie Munger's Mental Models for Small Business: A Practical Framework Ep 39
Charlie Munger's 14 mental models, applied specifically to small business owners navigating real-world entrepreneurial chaos. Most businesses don't fail from bad products or lack of funding — they fail because founders are running the wr...
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Aging in Place: How Home Modifications Became a Healthcare Strategy | Rosarium Health Ep 38
Aging in place is becoming a healthcare strategy, not a home improvement project. Cameron Carter, CEO and Co-Founder of Rosarium Health, explains why health plans and hospitals are now paying to modify homes, and how that fits into va...
How to Start a Mental Health Practice With No Business Background | Clearhope Counseling EP: 37
How to start a Mental health practice when you have no business background, no business plan, and no startup capital. Heather Lambert did it from a storage closet in a Pasadena, Texas church. Today Clearhope Counseling and Wellness Ce...
Cancer Scientist to Sugar-Free Chocolate Founder | SCORE Houston Ep. 36
Dr. Beata Lerman spent nearly 20 years as a cancer research scientist with patents in cancer immunotherapy. Then a personal cancer diagnosis led her to build a sugar-free chocolate company safe for diabetics.On this episode of the...
From Corporate Careers to Kitchen Gardens: How Three Houston Entrepreneurs Built Garden Girls with SCORE Mentoring. Ep 35
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How Do You Fund a Deep Tech Startup Without Venture Capital? Ep 34
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Ep 33: SpaceX Business Lessons: What Small Business Owners Can Learn from Elon Musk's First Principles Thinking.
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Episode 32: How to Start & Grow a Small Business | Free Mentoring, Social Media & Community Networking
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Ep 31: Small Business Lessons: How One Woman Built a Houston Breakfast Empire
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Episode 30: How to Start a Business: Expert Advice on Planning, Funding & Sales
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They left Mexico City and Built Houston's Music Hub/ The Band Room Ep 29
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Digital Marketing for Small Business: Grow on a Tiny Budget Ep 28
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Episode 27: Secure and Steady: Phylicia Hill on Growing a Cybersecurity Firm from the Ground Up.
In this episode of the SCORE Houston Podcast, host PV Bala sits down with Phylicia Hill, Co-Founder and CEO/Managing Director of H5 Strategic Alliance — a Houston-based cybersecurity and IT professional services firm she co-founde...
Episode 26: How a Grandmother's Kitchen Became a Multi-Location Catering Empire & 27 Vending Machines | Britany Vinson
She started with a piece of paper, a vision, and a rented church kitchen. Today, Britany Vinson runs three restaurant locations, 27 refrigerated vending machines, 33 employees, and a soon-to-be national franchise — all from East Texas.
How an Immigrant Built a Towing & Auto Business From Nothing- Ep 25
What does it take to build eight companies before the age of 30? In this episode of the SCORE Houston Podcast, host PV Bala sits down with Bahaa Elabbasi, SCORE Houston subject matter expert, who moved to the US from Lebanon at age 10, s...
How to Write a Business Plan: First-Timer's Guide from SCORE Mentor: Ep 24
Why do most new businesses fail — and how does a business plan fix that?In this episode of the SCORE Houston Podcast, our mentors walk first-time entrepreneurs through everything they need to know about building a solid business p...
Starting Small, Thinking Big: Building a Booked-Out Beauty Studio- Ep 23
From One Room to Rural Business Owner of the Year | Nicole York | Small Business Success Stories. What does it take to turn a personal struggle into a thriving business? Nicole York did exactly that — and her story will inspi...
From a Kickstarter in Chile to 55 Countries: The re:3D Story with Samantha Snabes Ep 22
Samantha Snabes is the co-founder and CEO of re:3D, a bootstrapped Austin and Houston-based company that makes industrial-scale 3D printers — manufactured entirely in America. She's also an Air National Guard officer, a former NASA strat...
How to Start a Small Business: 20 Episodes of Advice in One Masterclass Ep 21
What if you could skip the costliest mistakes in business — before you ever sign a lease or drain your savings? In this special compilation episode, we break down the best insights from 20 SCORE Houston mentorship sessions into one hi...
How to Buy a Small Business: Valuation, SBA Loans & Seller Financing: Ep 20
Should you start a business from scratch, buy an existing one, or invest in a franchise? In this episode of the Score Houston Podcast, host and SCORE mentor PV Bala talks to Jeffrey Jones — President of Advanced Business Brokers, cert...
How Excargo Services Became Houston's Premier Container Carrier: Ep 19
Join SCORE Houston host and mentor PV Bala in an inspiring conversation with Marcia Faschingbauer, CEO of Excargo Services, as she shares her remarkable 45-year journey building a logistics powerhouse in Houston's male-dominated trucking...
From School Psychologist to Business Owner: Dr. Dedra Frazier- Ep 18
What does it take to walk away from a stable career, open a one-room office with borrowed rent money, and build a thriving multi-location business? Dr. Dedra Frazier did exactly that — and the results speak for themselves.In this ...
