What we talked about
David Esposito traces how West Point, the 101st Airborne, and leading soldiers in high-stakes environments shaped his approach to listening first, setting clear principles, and acting with calm resolve as a healthcare CEO. He and Federico dive into his work at ONL Therapeutics, a biotech company developing therapies to protect retinal cells in diseases like age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and retinal detachment. David explains how the retina works, why retinal cells don’t regenerate, and how ONL aims to “help patients see the future” by stopping stressed cells from dying.
Show notes
David Esposito went from leading infantry soldiers in the 101st Airborne to running a biotech company trying to prevent blindness, and he argues the leadership principles that worked on the battlefield work in a clinical trial, too. What’s less expected is his 30-year “side hustle” building tools to help parents, managers, and community members live by better values, starting with a patented board game he developed with his wife.
What we covered
- ONL Therapeutics develops a small peptide drug that blocks a specific receptor on retinal cells, preventing those cells from triggering their own death cascade under disease. Unlike skin cells, retinal cells do not regenerate, so the more you protect, the more vision the patient retains. ONL is currently in global clinical trials for age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and retinal detachment.
- David explains retinal detachment as wallpaper peeling off a wall. The standard treatment is a surgeon using a laser to tack the retina back in place. ONL’s drug is designed to protect the retinal cells in the window between detachment and that surgical procedure, buying time without letting cells die in the meantime.
- His biggest current leadership challenge is running a large global clinical trial with a small team where everyone is “running hot.” His solution draws directly from Army doctrine: set the destination clearly, build an operating plan with explicit priorities, translate those priorities into individual tasks, and then trust people to execute.
- David says early-stage companies have no room for turf battles. When a problem arises, functional boundaries have to dissolve and everyone gets in the room to solve it together. He values team players over functional experts specifically because of this dynamic.
- Harvest Time Partners, his 30-year side project, was sparked by watching families, including his own, struggle to put real issues on the table. He and his wife Tracy developed a patented board game to help parents and kids talk about principles like compassion and honesty. The business now covers home, work, and community, with books and resources in each area. The fuel that keeps him going is occasional calls and emails from people saying a game or book changed a conversation with their child.
- On exits and acquisitions, David’s advice is that it never goes smoothly. Even with a great business and strong interest, something always blows up between the term sheet and the close. He says knowing that in advance would have saved him from wondering each time whether the deal collapsing was normal. It is, he says, and it almost always comes back together.
About David
David Esposito is a West Point graduate, former infantry officer in the 101st Airborne Division, and currently serves as President and CEO of ONL Therapeutics, an early-stage biotech company focused on protecting retinal cells in serious eye diseases. He is also on the board of Allergenis and runs Harvest Time Partners, a leadership and values development venture he has built alongside his day job for over three decades.
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidesposito2
- Website: http://www.onltherapeutics.com
Episode 94 of the PreVetted Podcast.
Full transcript
Federico Ramallo (00:01) Welcome back to the pre-vetted podcast where we spotlight extraordinary people and remarkable talent reshaping our world. Today we are honored to be joined by David Esposito. He’s a West Point graduate, former infantry officer in the 101st Urban Division and now a CSUN Healthcare CEO. Today David brings that same discipline, mission-driven mindset to his work as
President and CEO of ONL Therapeutics, where he’s focused on protecting patients’ visions in serious retinal diseases and through his other ventures, developing leaders grounded in strong values and resilience. In our conversation, we’re going to explore how military leadership translates into modern businesses and how he’s building his current companies and what it really takes to lead people well when the stakes are high. David, welcome to the show.
David Esposito (00:55) Federico, thanks so much for having me. Excited to be on the program. You’ve had a great program with a number of wonderful guests, so I’m grateful to be on the show.
Federico Ramallo (01:05) thank you. Thank you for the compliment. I’m glad to hear that you listen a few episodes. So you started at West Point and then led soldiers in the army, right? How did that experience shape who you are as a leader today?
David Esposito (01:20) Sure, that’s a great question. I would say very foundational to my role as a leader and learning about leadership. You know, as a kid growing up, played on a lot of sports teams, so you start to begin to understand about the role of leadership and team captains and coaches and all of that.
But my experience at West Point really took all those early experiences to a whole nother level. know, West Point’s just a great backdrop. First and foremost, to observe leadership. In the early years, your freshman or plebe year at West Point, you’re really doing a lot of observing of leaders and following, doing a lot more following than leading. But then four years at that academy, you really, by virtue of on-the-job training, you’re getting various roles.
that rotate in various leadership roles that really help understand your own perspective on leadership, observe others, and what you would hope to do is after the end of four years really have some good foundational leadership principles to guide your journey which in next stage would be as an Army officer.
Federico Ramallo (02:27) Amazing, amazing. mean, many years ago, used to think the leader was the one that was screaming and coordinating, right? Many years ago. anyway, the more experience I have, the more I appreciate the… And then I see the commanding officers and team leaders on different branches of the army, right? And then…
they have this quiet voice that projects command. And the more I experience, the more I appreciate this stoic leadership like in Star Trek, this Picard, that it’s both disciplined, but also care about the people, but also…
David Esposito (03:03) All right, sure.
Federico Ramallo (03:12) It’s, he has non-negotiable commands, right? I mean, there’s places for discussion, but what I’m trying to say is that when something has to be done, it has to be done, right? So I find that interesting.
David Esposito (03:24) Yeah, I think.
Yeah, I think there’s a whole model of situational leadership and stuff. And certainly I think many historical examples you think here you call maybe the loud and proud, the yelling and screaming leader. think maybe there’s a venue and a time where that’s needed. But I think what I found in my journey, both at West Point in the Army and certainly in corporate work, that a leader really wants to be a good listener as to what’s going on, understanding
the team, the dynamics, data points in my TA job or data points on the battlefield, really be a really good listener to what’s going on around to ultimately help set and craft a direction. And then to your point that you mentioned, being very grounded on some core principles that don’t get violated, but ultimately accomplishing an objective in a military setting or a business setting.
there’s going to be some techniques that may vary to get to that objective, but you don’t want to violate some of those core principles. And I think my journey at West Point and the Army were real foundational in terms of that guidance.
Federico Ramallo (04:33) Right, right. So for someone who doesn’t know ONL therapeutics, how can you describe what the company does and why does it matter?
David Esposito (04:43) Sure, so ONL Therapeutics is what you describe a university spin out technology. So our founder, Dr. David Zaks is a retina specialist at the University of Michigan here in Ann Arbor. In David’s original research work, he’s both a clinician seeing patients and a research scientist. Identified, so we’re focused on what would be called back of the eyes, the retina, which is in the back of
your eye ultimately transduces light, a signal to your brain so that you see. That retina, when it’s stressed or under disease, the cells of that retina get triggered, a pathway gets triggered and the death of those retinal cells. So under disease, your retinal cells are dying and David’s research understood there’s a certain receptor on those retinal cells that if you can
block that you can protect those cells under stress or disease. so ONL Therapeutics, we have a vision to help patients see the future. And we developed a drug basically in scientific terms a small peptide that blocks this receptor on retinal cells. whether
your eyes are suffering the disease of glaucoma or age-related macrodegeneration, our drug protects those cells so that they don’t die in the presence of disease. And Federico, unlike skin cells that regenerate, you get a scratch eventually a couple days later, your skin looks fresh again, you have a limited number of retinal cells and when they die, you don’t regenerate retinal cells. our work is really critical.
critical to protect those cells because ultimately the number of retinal cells you have is correlative to your vision and we want to protect patients’ vision.
Federico Ramallo (06:35) Right, Interesting. It’s one of those cells that you’re born with and that’s it, right?
David Esposito (06:42) You’re born with them a finite amount and in times of disease those cells…
begin to cascade into death due to disease. And what we do is block their ability to cascade into that death. And so we protect them kind of like a protective coating around a cell so that it actually doesn’t know it’s supposed to die. And again, the more retinal cells you have, the better you see.
Federico Ramallo (07:09) Right, right. Are those cells related to when you see like these black dots on the eye?
David Esposito (07:16) That’s a great point. So some of the diseases we’re working on, age-related macular degeneration, does, so it’s a lesion in essence on the back of your retina. And so very much begins to show black spots in your vision. And you know, your brain is wired pretty smart. So if you don’t have those spots in one eye, that eye becomes the dominant one to see. But eventually in these diseases, if they’re not treated, you see enough spots
and they need to be treated. So you’re exactly right. That’s one of the diseases we’re treating. Another one is called glaucoma. And glaucoma is a narrowing of your field. So unlike spots that you may have to look around in essence, glaucoma is when your vision narrows and we try to protect those cells again of the retina, specifically ganglion cells, to keep them alive so that you don’t quite get that narrowing effect
is typical of a glaucoma disease state.
Federico Ramallo (08:14) Right, interesting. And what advice would you give to the general public about eye protection and eye healthcare?
David Esposito (08:24) Great great point. So it’s
Eye care is critically important. It’s one of those senses that the greatest fear of most people is to be healthy and lose their eyesight. So it’s critically important on ensuring proper vision. And so what we do encourage people to do is get regular eye exams. Certainly as a kid growing up, you have your regular physicals. We encourage as part of an annual or every other year, physical people get their eyes checked.
You know, for men or women that are progressing in age, the first time you notice it is when you can’t see your phone as well, you know. And those are front of the eye diseases, so we’re not at ONL Therapeutics treating those front of the eyes, but that’s usually what triggers somebody to go to a doctor. They have a little trouble reading their phone and they go see that. Typically for us, there are more sophisticated instrumentation that
that looks at the back of your eye to see if there are any of those lesions that are described or also getting your pressure of your eye, your interlocular pressure checked. So I would say that is an important part, port of overall preventive care because there are drugs, Federico, that can treat many of these diseases. We think we’re leading the way for a new way to treat some of these diseases, but eye health is important. It starts getting those routine checkups and typically
like most of us, we don’t go to see a doctor until we have a problem. And in your eyes is when you start perhaps not being able to see your phone as well.
Federico Ramallo (09:58) Right, right. And I also recall that, I don’t remember who told me this, but this idea that you don’t feel pain on the eyes, right? So you could have issues and not know about it.
David Esposito (10:09) And take it.
Yes, typically,
no, typically you don’t. Unless you know one of the conditions we do treat or we’re in clinical trials to treat is a condition called retinal detachment. Sometimes you hear that from, know, prize fighters, boxers get a retinal detachment as trauma. That’s not the trauma, that’s not the one we’re treating. To your point, it’s a disease of the aging where your retina peels off the back of your eye. You don’t necessarily see spots like I described
before,
it’s almost like a curtain closing on your eyesight. We work to treat that to protect those retinal cells. But you’re exactly right. Most eye conditions, like we’re talking about, you don’t feel the pain of elevated intraocular pressure or of age-related macrodegeneration. And that presents a challenge.
because you usually show up a little bit late to the doctor because of that.
Federico Ramallo (11:04) Right, right. Yes, and what you’re describing on retina detachment is that the retina folds in itself, right? And it blocks the view, basically. Right.
David Esposito (11:12) It kind of folds upon itself exactly right. It’s like
wallpaper peeling off a wall. That’s what happens and the typical procedure is a doctor will use a laser to basically tack back up your retina on the back of your eye. What we’re working on in ONL Therapeutics is to be able to put our drug in the eye to protect those cells until they have that surgical procedure.
Federico Ramallo (11:38) Right. Right. And then the other thing that I was worrying about is this idea that, you you mentioned laser surgery, is that basically the doctor works with a model for tissue reconstruction, right? So it’s very inaccurate compared to other surgeries, right?
So unless it’s absolutely necessary, you should not do laser surgery. That’s what I’ve been told,
David Esposito (12:05) I, it depends, you know, there’s various, again, if it’s front of the eye, laser surgery, corrective vision versus back of the eye, two very different ones, but I think many cases, you know, good consultation with a physician, you understand whether there may be alternatives to that for sure.
Federico Ramallo (12:23) Right, right, yes. mean, mostly because it has a higher risk. basically, you know, the comment that I was getting is, you know, you should be conscious about that. you know, and try, explore other options before doing laser surgery.
David Esposito (12:37) I think within eye disease, physicians do have a number of options. It’s always good to have a good dialogue on the pluses and minuses of drugs, therapies, procedures before going down the path of treatment. I think many of the conditions we were just talking about.
you do want to get some form of treatment and usually they continue to progress and getting worse and so a doctor’s usually adding additional therapies to make sure they slow the disease progression. That’s one of the things we’re hoping at ONL Therapeutics we can get out in front of that and help slow progression of these diseases.
Federico Ramallo (13:14) Right, right, interesting. So as CEO of ONL, what are the biggest leadership challenges you’re focused right now?
David Esposito (13:24) Sure, that’s a great question. Well, I think we’re an early stage biotech company and we encounter problems every day we’re trying to solve. I won’t say right now we’ve, raising capital, we’re a privately held company, so raising venture capital is always tough. It’s always on the agenda, so to speak, to continue to keep our development programs going. We need to raise venture capital funds to fund that development.
That I’ll put aside and I would just say some of the leadership challenges today we’re working on, we’re a small team running a large global clinical trial. So one of the leadership challenges for me and really the team is always the distribution of work. How much work can the team do? Where it’s appropriately allocated because a team like ours, everybody’s running hot, running hard and
as a leader, always concerned about the sustainability of that pace because this is a complicated science we’re dealing with. It’s a global clinical trial, so you’re dealing with time zones, around the clock somewhat operations, and a multitude of complexities. So that distribution of work and how best we get the work done is really an important role for me as a leader. And that comes back, Federico, to a little bit of
some of the leadership principles we talked about. It’s important for a leader to work with a team to set ultimate direction, but beyond that direction, it comes down to building an operating plan with a set of priorities that ultimately translates into individual tasks. And so that big leadership challenge is we’ve got a massive task, a small team. How do you prioritize those tasks to make sure the team stays energized, motivated, and sustained?
that effort for what amounts to a couple-year journey on this test.
Federico Ramallo (15:21) Right, right. There is a fine balance between being able to delegate big tasks, big responsibilities, but also supervising oversight. It’s a unique challenge, And the smarter people, the greater the challenge it is,
David Esposito (15:42) Sometimes that
is, that’s exactly right. You know, and I think at company hour stage, what’s interesting is…
you encounter problems every day on an early stage basis and you have some functional expertise, say it’s in research or clinical development, all regulatory, all of those functional leadership roles you have on the team. But many times at the end of the day, we need to come into a room together and solve a problem. And so there’s very little room for, hey, that’s not my view of the world. I work in this silo. It’s like,
Break down the silos, show up in the room, we got to solve a problem. And that’s another thing as a leader to make sure you really want.
solid team players. We don’t have room for ego maniacs or this is my turf and that’s your turf. We need people who want to work together well as a team and solve problems. I’ve found you need more of those on a team than kind of functional expertise many times because you’ve got to solve problems and you want people who are willing to work together well as a team.
Federico Ramallo (16:53) Right, right. mean, I’m from Argentina, moved to Mexico 17 years ago. in Argentina, lot of people, they idolize Maradona, right? It’s a football player, right? And I actually saw him once before he died. I saw him once, And everybody was, because he’s an idol for everybody, right? ⁓ But…
David Esposito (17:02) ⁓ okay, of course. Yeah.
Okay. ⁓
your work.
Federico Ramallo (17:16) I thought of him as a great technician, but a bad team player, right? ⁓ Because he was, I don’t know if Diva is the right word because he was, actually he had a really, one of the reasons, I apologize for diverting a little bit, but one of the reasons they were telling that why he was really good at playing football was because he has a
David Esposito (17:22) Interesting, okay.
No, no.
Federico Ramallo (17:41) field of vision that was 360 or near 360, right? So he was able to see behind his back. So he was able to see the whole field while running. And he was good with ball and he was, you know, he had a lot of, you know, on the execution side, on the tactics side, he was really good, right? But he was really bad at, you know, bringing the whole team together, right? So, yeah.
David Esposito (18:06) That’s That’s
an important point. No, not a diversion on a leadership standpoint. You need team players at the end of the day, you know.
Federico Ramallo (18:16) Right. Right. And he would keep the ball and he would just, you know, do the goal himself. Everybody would cheer him, but, you know, he would not like pass the ball to other players. Right. Or that’s what I, you know, I’ve been told I could be, I could be wrong, but that’s the image that I had, you know, of him. Right. Yeah. And then you have Pelé. Pelé was a gentleman. Right. He was, you know, a gentleman outside of the, you know, football.
David Esposito (18:33) Understand?
Federico Ramallo (18:44) field, right? And he was a team player, right? So in contrast, right? So I think that the execution, you know, the technical abilities of the execution is important, but it is also important to be able to be a team player and work with everybody else, right?
David Esposito (19:00) Sure was. No, I used to see Pele play as a kid for the New York Cosmos when he played and ⁓ very true. He was a great team player. That’s an awesome memory you just brought back. Thanks.
Federico Ramallo (19:06) Right.
yes,
glad to bring that up. So I wanted to ask you about what does Allergenis do and why did you decide to get involved with that company?
David Esposito (19:26) Sure, so allergenists, part of my journey in 30 plus years in life sciences, I had the privilege of leading a business that was blood-based testing for allergy and autoimmune disease. And so we were able to use blood-based testing for things like pediatric food allergy, inhaling allergens from the environment. That was really important in discerning allergic sensitivities of children and adults we were focusing
focused on there, but allergenous has some groundbreaking technology that helps better assess food allergy in children. So when you think Federico, the most common food allergies in children, peanut, egg, and milk, the allergenous technology, which was a blood-based diagnostic test, has the ability to predict the level of severity of a kid’s allergic reaction and also
predict which kids are going to grow out of that allergy, which is really important. One of the interesting data points in the US is that the…
Most kids sitting at peanut-free tables in the US are not allergic to peanuts. They just didn’t have an accurate diagnosis. And those blood tests from allergenists provide a clinician with a very accurate diagnosis on the state of a child’s sensitivity to whether it was peanut, milk, or eggs. And so I joined that company on the board of directors because I had a prior business that
that saw those problems and the allergenous technology was just leapfrogs of innovation beyond what the current marketplace was. Very exciting technology. And now with, you may be aware there are certain desensitization therapies that are now being approved by regulatory bodies around the.
country, whether it’s microdosing of peanut or a patch that puts peanut in there. And the Allergenis technology can help predict a dose response for kids in food allergies. So food allergy is a big problem, and Allergenis is really helping to better diagnose and assess food allergy in pediatric patients.
Federico Ramallo (21:43) Amazing, very interesting. What is the experience of being on the board versus being a CEO?
David Esposito (21:54) Great question. I think the purpose of that board of directors and any organization is to guide that C-suite, specifically the CEO, to make sure their operating plan is sound, their budget has good governance, and they’re executing on their plan. So what’s very different for me in that role is I’m not a hands-on operator on the company, but I do get a chance to work very closely with the senior team to make sure, again, what’s the
strategy of the organization, how does that strategy tie to an operating plan, and what’s the financial requirements of that operating plan to be able to deliver. So I’d say it’s more in a consultative advisory role, but certainly, you know, in these small companies, everybody, especially as we’re raising capital, picks up the phone and tries to raise capital on where we have. So it gets operational at that stage, but
Really much more to support the CEO and the senior team executing on the plan.
Federico Ramallo (22:53) Right, right, interesting. I’ve seen that there’s this concept of emotional detachment with, you when I’m building something, you know, it’s my own, my baby, you know, kind of like Gollum on Lord of the Rings, right? But this idea of, you know, my baby, I build it, you know, it’s mine, I want to see it flourish, right? But…
But when I give advice to other founders, I have this emotional detachment of the other company. Not because I care less, there’s less stake or less risk on my side. So it’s natural to have more detachment towards that. And even though I tried to have an emotional detachment and be able to make better decisions on my company,
there’s still an emotional attachment to the company and what I’m doing, right? So anyway, the reason I’m talking about this is I’m asking if that same thing happens when you’re operating versus advising on the board.
David Esposito (23:54) Yeah, that’s really thoughtful point. So I would say yes to an extent. I think I’ve found my roles on various boards or investing in early stage life sciences. You do have skin in the game to want to desire to move that technology forward. And I also think it also comes down to a relationship with the people, right? Have you’re a builder and an operator and CEO as well.
You get close to the people you’re working with and even in a board role or an advisor role, you really, you’ve been through the journey. You know the ups and downs. And so it’s hard not to get emotionally connected to people going through that journey because you as an experienced operator and me, you realize it’s a tough journey. You find value in the human connection with others who have been through that. I think to your point, I can maybe detach a bit.
from the maybe financial pressures. I’m not driving sales in some of these roles so you don’t feel that but you do you do feel for the team and you know and you want to help them out that way but there are I say maybe not as many sleepless nights when you’re on the advisory role as perhaps when you’re an operator that that maybe is just the the practical side of things as well.
Federico Ramallo (25:13) Right, right. And also the hindsight in retrospect, right? You can see things with your experience, right? That other founders could not see because they’re just too deep into the game, right?
David Esposito (25:26) Yeah, that’s, know, experience is the mother of all learning, so to speak. So you’re right. I think if you can gather up a lot of that experience and, you know, I found in…
leading early stage teams that there is much more of a collaborative effort amongst other companies or company founders or CEOs because everybody realized this stuff isn’t easy. You know, it’s maybe the much larger companies that may have the big brand battles, whether it’s soft drink wars or beer wars or, you know, those kind of things that they have a tendency to fight for market share. I think in the more early stage, you’re trying to help
everybody move the science forward or solve a problem. It seems much more supportive on the early stage.
Federico Ramallo (26:12) Right, right, yes, yes. I actually personally, prefer to have this emotionally detached feedback, right? I mean, if you ask a parent, you know, they’re going to say, you’re doing great. You’re the most beautiful boy, whatever, right? So, you know, having the feedback is reassuring for the ego, but not helpful for the business, right? So being able to have, you know, hard feedback.
David Esposito (26:25) Ha
Bye.
Federico Ramallo (26:35) not hard but you know honest and know emotionally attached feedback sometimes hard for the ego but good for the business kind of thing right I think it’s important right and I appreciate the people that can can give me that type of feedback because it’s it’s it’s exposed you know that person is also exposing themselves by just you know sharing that right ⁓ so so yeah yeah
David Esposito (26:55) Definitely.
You touch on something maybe from a leadership standpoint or company builder standpoint that I think is important. We all need some trusted advisors who maybe are not in the fight with us or in the ring with us who can give that supportive message but to your point also be very direct on the shortcomings and the shortfalls. When you’re in the ring, it’s hard to see all that. Yes, you may have a parent cheering in the crowd, but you need
Somebody in the corner is going to say, hey, you need to do a little bit better, and here’s where you’re falling short, and get after it. That’s a really important role that advisors play to company builders, because we ⁓ all need that voice sometimes.
Federico Ramallo (27:40) Right, right. And with a subordinate, it’s hard to get that honest feedback, right? Because it’s a lot of stake in the game for them, right? So yeah. And I also appreciate more the consultant that comes in, you know, not getting, as an outsider, not getting involved in the politics and be able to say, well, I see this wrong, why it’s happening, right? Which, you know, it’s to this point of being able to…
prioritize what is the best for the business, right? The business and the team.
David Esposito (28:07) Yeah, very, very much. So I think while you’re touching on something, you know, that you just, you can’t build a company or run a company in a vacuum or in a silo. You need a lot of inputs from not just your team, but consultants, outside advisors to really be your board of directors, to really be effective in a role. mean, most of the easy things have been solved. This stuff’s complicated we’re working on and you need inputs from a lot of folks.
to make sure you’re heading in, I’d say, the most effective direction to build the business.
Federico Ramallo (28:42) Right.
So changing topics a little bit, I wanted to talk about Harvest Time Partners. What inspired you to create it and what change in people’s lives and leadership do you hope to spark when you started it?
David Esposito (28:56) Sure, would say, you know, I’ve been in life sciences over 30 years. I’d say Harvest Time Partners has been my side hustle for over 30 years to what is a busy day job and a busy daytime profession, so to speak. you know, the genesis of Harvest Time Partners started with a board game and it started around, you know, my wife Trace and I raised four kids. We foster parents two
young girl as well and you get connected to other families, our families and others and you realize that you know most families they have good intentions of guiding kids well and raising kids and all that but we typically just like businesses. Don’t always put the issues on the table to talk to them. Don’t always guide properly to your point earlier. Sometimes we may yell and scream and not always listen as much. You all those practical realities.
of trying to build a family. I noticed that quite early on in our own journey of building a family and noticed it in others and I thought, boy, maybe there’s some tools that could help.
parents be their best for those they care about most at home, their children. And that started the business off. We developed a board game. It’s patented to help parents and kids talk about real world issues and reinforce the importance of principles like compassion and honesty in making decisions. So that started it. And then we, through my professional life,
built another side of the business that there’s three components to the business. It’s we help those be their best for those they care about most at home, at work, and in the community. And so as I saw that need to improve my own leadership at work, we developed some products and wrote a few books on leadership to help leaders be better in the workplace for those they care about most. And then you realize, Federico, you talked just a little bit about soccer and sports. There’s a community aspect to
our world as well and so we developed some resources to help community groups.
do what they can do to help in communities be better. So at the end of the day, Harvest Time Partners is really intended on trying to help people be their best in those important roles at home, at work, in the community. If those three areas are functioning well, kids are probably brought up in a really healthy environment, businesses can prosper, and communities can be the kind of environments we want for our families and our businesses to be a part of.
So it’s been a 30-year journey around that core theme of helping people be their best for those they care about most. over that 30 years, we’ve launched a variety of products for both homework and community.
Federico Ramallo (31:42) amazing. Yeah, I think that the that the idea of compartmentalization, I’m pronouncing wrong, probably ⁓ the, you know, I don’t think it works pretty well, because, you know, the stress from work gets translated to to home gets translated to the community as well. Right. And we create these, you know, negative feedback loops. Right.
David Esposito (31:48) That’s a good one. No, that’s a good one.
Federico Ramallo (32:06) where one affect the other ones and then we keep digging ourselves into more dark places, right? So I find refreshing that you are working towards helping people evolve on these three areas.
David Esposito (32:19) Well, thanks, Noah, to your point.
They’re all interrelated and interdependent. You know, if you start your day off well at the home, whatever that home looks like, right? I mean, a lot of variations in that, but you start off on a good foot at home. Coming into work, you’ll be a better version of yourself. You have a little bit of struggles at home. You’re only human. It’s going to bleed into work and you’re driving to work or commuting into work in a community that perhaps adds some stress to you or
or the environment that you’re living and working in, add some stress to, you’re gonna bring that home, you’re gonna bring it to work. And so they are very interrelated and interdependent. So I think our desire would be to really try to make a personal impact on people in those roles. And to your point on the impact we’ve seen, it’s much more on an individual level. Every book I’ve written or resource we’ve put, my cell phone’s on.
My mobile phone’s on there, my email’s on there. So I get occasional calls or emails from people that said, boy, I had a wonderful conversation with my daughter based on a book or a game that you created or maybe a youth center or an adolescent center in town said, hey, we used your games. They were really helpful. That’s what gives me fuel and inspires me, Federico, to keep going. I’ve got an awful busy day job, so I stay very busy and focused on
Federico Ramallo (33:43) you
David Esposito (33:43) but it’s those kind of notes that puts a little fire in my belly to keep going whether it’s early mornings or late nights on that side hustle.
Federico Ramallo (33:52) Right, right.
Yeah, I mean that feeling of being able to give back, impact other people, whether it’s on the business, on the boards, on the board game, on all the activities you do. I think that becomes a significant purpose that can fill our hearts and souls.
David Esposito (34:10) Yeah, I it’s,
You know, we’re all in this in some ways together with some universal and timeless values. It’s hard to argue if you have a difference of opinion on things like compassion, teamwork, sacrifice. You know, if we remembered those principles more often, we’d probably be a better version of ourself at home, at work, in the community, and that’s where a lot of that comes about. It crosses country boundaries. It crosses
Federico Ramallo (34:20) Ahem.
David Esposito (34:36) religious boundaries or faith or unfaith boundaries. know, those universal principles are really important for all of us to listen to.
Federico Ramallo (34:45) Right, right, amazing. So, you as I mentioned before, recording the episode, my wife is also my co-founder, right? So for me, you know, it has been both challenging, but also very rewarding. What has it been like for you working with your wife, Tracy?
David Esposito (35:01) Ha!
That’s a great question. So yes, you know, I’d say it is very rewarding to have a spouse or a partner support in the business, right? These are just like I was describing my day job. These are lonely journeys. So I think with Tracy’s support on how we’ve created these products, launched these products, we have a picture on our website of our four children and us and with Tracy at a toy fair making the pitch for these games. You know, it’s kind of fun.
to have that together. So I think there’s just like anything you get good energy together on a good partnership with a spouse building the business. You also, you know, like I’m sure it is in your house, spouse can be really your best direct counselor many times when you’re straying or going off the rails. So I think Tracy has been that with me with a good form of very direct counseling both on the business and in some of these principles we’re trying to live by.
when I’m falling short. So I think it actually is that real home life that gave birth to a number of these products. You know, we’re like nobody else, even though we’ve, like everybody else, we you know, just because we created these games or written these books doesn’t mean we haven’t figured out, you know? So it’s nice to have that dose of realism as well in the relationship.
Federico Ramallo (36:15) Right.
Right,
right. Yeah, I have lot of thoughts about that, but you know, like one is this idea that if you have a supporting partner, wife or whatever, then kind of, it doesn’t matter what happens in the world. It doesn’t matter, you you achieve your business goals. That becomes, I mean, it is important, right? I mean, I’m not trying to minimize it, but the emotional impact, you know.
it becomes less, you’re more aware, more present and it impacts you less because you have that support, that emotional support that no matter what happens, we’re together and we’re going to face the music together.
David Esposito (37:03) It’s really important. We have a saying that gets banded around quite a bit that there’s no amount of business success that can compensate for a heartache at home. And so we find that very true. And I think having a spouse partner that you can rely on.
tough times and granted let’s face it it’s never an easy journey keeping a family together just like it’s not easy keeping a business together and it’s good it’s good to know you got somebody’s got your back to help that get done.
Federico Ramallo (37:34) Right, right. Yeah, and I think it’s the most important decision that we make, who is going to be our partner, right? Long-term partner, long-term committed partner. And then it could be a dream or it could be a nightmare, right? On both sides, right? Because in order to argue, you need to, right? yeah. And then I noticed that once I got that mindset,
then the success becomes more rich, more interesting, more flavor, because you have somebody to share it with.
David Esposito (38:09) It’s very well said, very well said, sure is.
Federico Ramallo (38:12) Yeah. So I find that very interesting. Yeah. On our side, we had to set boundaries because as a founder, I’m always talking about the business and we can do this and we can do that. So we had to set boundaries so we could spend time as a couple, not talking about business and just enjoying ourselves, So, you know, each other company. it took me a while to learn that. Yeah.
David Esposito (38:31) What?
Well, I think we all are slow learners on a few categories. I understand where you’re coming from. Glad you turned the corner on that, Federico. That’s important.
Federico Ramallo (38:48) Yeah,
yeah, I mean, it’s an interesting thing, yeah. But I wouldn’t change this dynamic with my wife. She’s amazing, so yeah.
David Esposito (39:01) That’s awesome. It’s really important. Let’s face it, you’re putting a lot of hours in the business and in your relationship. It takes work. Nobody’s coasting on this thing, either building a relationship or building a business. If you all of sudden think you got it all figured out, get ready, it’s going to run into trouble. So you’ve got to keep working it.
Federico Ramallo (39:22) Right,
right, yes, yes. So you’ve left companies through big transitions and exits in the past, right? Looking back, what do you wish someone had told you before you went through the process and which should other CEOs know now?
David Esposito (39:36) That’s a good one. I’ve had a few, as you described, successful exits with companies, acquisitions by some big companies, also taking a few companies into bankruptcy or control wind down too. So I’ve seen both sides of it. I think the advice or what I would have loved to know before going through those and I’d share with others is that,
It’s never a smooth process. Even though you may have a successful business, a lot of people are interested in it, companies are doing diligence on you, when you ultimately maybe sign that non-binding term sheet or so to ultimately then get to the close, it’s never a smooth process. Something always just blows up at some point in that process, and you have to rescramble, figure out if the deal can get done, and get going.
And I just, you you have a tendency to read about it in magazines, see these, whether it’s podcasts or somebody on some news program that, hey, we just sold the company for X amount of money, it was great. And you somewhat have this view that, boy, it must be pretty smooth. If you launch great products, build a great business, somehow you can sell it. It never goes smooth. you know, many times in those deals, you come to work and look at some.
and you’re like, my goodness, this is coming off the rails. This is not going to happen. But then you settle down with the team and you kind of work through the counterparties and you figure out what’s going on and eventually it goes down the path of getting done. But I think that Federico was just a was would be a helpful guidance. So I wouldn’t have thought, my gosh, is this normal? is it is every other day this deal going to look like it’s going to fall apart? And I think that would be one.
that would be really important. I think the other piece is that even though you get a deal to a finish line, at the end of the day, yes, it’s not you want to reward investors and shareholders, you want the team to reward in that financially. At the end of the day, though, the real…
purposeful work is that you built something of value in my world and life sciences that you help patients overcome a disease and deal with that. That ultimately is the greatest fulfillment. You know, hear most people can recount the finances and all those kind of things, but for me, in learning and appreciating that, sometimes the money’s really big, sometimes it’s not. But you’ve moved science forward, you’ve helped address the disease, patients,
That’s probably, that is at the end of the day, the most fulfilling part of those transactions, even though most, what gets written about is how many dollars got exchanged.
Federico Ramallo (42:20) Right, right, that’s what the headlines are about, right? But I tend to agree with you on the more, you know, again, I talk about this maturity of my opinion, right? But the more I talk with founders and CEOs, the more I appreciate businesses that has a social mission.
because it has an impact in the world, right? And of course, the business is important, the numbers are important. I I was talking with a founder about this idea of why if the business is self sustained, then I don’t need to go and find, you know, donors or donations, right? Which is a time, it will consume a lot of my time doing that, right?
If I have a self-sustained business that has a social mission, then I have the revenue and the gross profits to execute on the mission. So I think the same thing on impact. And then having a company that is profitable and stable, financially stable and financially responsible, which sounds easy to say but hard to do.
becomes an impact multiplier because now you have the resources to go and change people’s lives as you said.
David Esposito (43:35) No, very true. It’s always the balance on the kind of business you’re building, for sure, no doubt.
Federico Ramallo (43:40) Right. So we’re running out of time. want to ask you one last question. And I truly appreciate you being here today, David. But looking ahead, what kind of leaders do you hope your companies will be known for developing?
David Esposito (43:52) Boy, that’s a really good one. mean, I think, you know, what I’m trying to get my head around again now is we’re in this next wave of massive innovation around artificial intelligence, machine learning, AI agents doing a lot of work.
think the world’s moving really quick now. Change does come in various forms, but it’s moving really quick. I think what I’d really like our teams to be known for and our leaders is that they really know how to engage and be present with their teams and the individuals on their teams. Because at the end of the day, no matter how many AI agents we’ve got scrambling around doing work or artificial intelligence, we’re going to need leaders and people to ultimately
guide that process, guide those technologies, guide the growth of the business. And I still want leaders in this age of AI and machine learning to still be that human connection aspect to the individuals on their teams and to their teams so that they can be the rallying point to align teams efforts, build the motivation, accomplish the long-term goals. That human connection aspect
Federico is so important in our journey nowadays that I’d love our teams and our leaders to be known that they know how to connect with people to inspire them to keep going. I’d say that for the workplace, it’s the same thing at the home. We fight all these things, our kids fight these, right? Everybody’s breaking that. But we still need that human connection to guide our teams and our people just like we need at home to guide our kids.
Federico Ramallo (45:35) Right, I completely agree you. think AI is great. There’s a lot of hype to it as well. But what I rescue is that the core competencies, you know, the finding, being able to build human connections, lead people becomes much more important, much more relevant in the world of AI. Because if you don’t have a good lead, then AI multiplies both.
success and mistakes, right?
David Esposito (46:03) point, great point, yeah. Certainly.
Federico Ramallo (46:05) So yeah, plus I’ve seen agents just saying yes to the most ridiculous things because it basically reaffirms whatever lead you give. it could be tricky. Awesome. So David, thank you very much for joining us today. I truly appreciate it. We had great insights and I’m looking forward what you’re going to do next. Thank you.
David Esposito (46:15) Thank
sure.
Federico, thank you so much. I appreciate you having me on your program. Terrific being a part of it. Thank you.