How do you protect the soul of the working class when you're the one brokering the billion-dollar deals?

Kevin Acklin is the former President of the Pittsburgh Penguins and former Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Pittsburgh. Born and raised in South Oakland, Kevin shares his incredible journey from leading his childhood hockey league in penalty minutes to navigating the highest stakes in sports and civic leadership.

Kevin unpacks the formative moments of his career, including a shocking boardroom revelation in North Carolina that forever cemented his drive to protect the "little guy." We also get the untold, behind-the-scenes story of how he orchestrated the return of NHL legend Jaromir Jagr to Pittsburgh.

00:00 Intro: Preserving Pittsburgh's Soul

00:49 The Enforcer of South Oakland: Growing up across the street from Dan Marino and leading the league in penalty minutes

06:26 The Man in the Arena: Drawing inspiration from Teddy Roosevelt and empowering the community

11:33 The Boardroom vs. The Working Class: The emotional North Carolina term sheet story that cemented his defense of the "little guy"

20:35 Rebuilding the City: From painting cannons to saving August Wilson's boyhood home and becoming Chief of Staff

29:29 Bringing Jaromir Jagr Home: The mysterious phone call, the jersey retirement, and the stolen bobbleheads

45:43 Lightning Round

54:28 What's Next?: Life at Stevens & Lee, looking toward the future, and why his client will always be Pittsburgh

#businesspodcast #pittsburgh #thoughtliters

WHAT IS THOUGHT LITERS?

Thought Liters is a series created and hosted by Adam Conner. On the show, Adam learns from the top of the world through the bottom of their glass. Each episode, we share a flight of local craft with the best and brightest brand minds around – whether it be an entrepreneur, an athlete, an artist, or otherwise. The questions evolve as the sip changes.

The show is proudly founded and produced in Pittsburgh, PA.

The whole goal is to have conversations about business with a more lighthearted look and feel. Adam thinks most business content is dry, and wants to change that.

If you’re interested, follow along! If not, that’s cool too. But if you wanna be where the thought leaders are…you’ll tune in to where Thought Liters is.

Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Pittsburgh International Airport, is executing the first ground-up, brand-new airport build in the US since the pandemic. Today she joins Thought Liters to tell that story and answer an important question: why do it

You'll also get to learn about Christina lifts up leaders, her 2030 vision for air travel in and out of the Steel City, and how she went from intentionally flunking out of college to becoming a high-powered CEO.

Special thanks to Cafe Conmigo (and their owner Derek) who let us use their space inside the new terminal to film.

0:00 The $1.7B Comeback (Trailer)

1:09 Meet Christina Cassotis & The Pan Am Pilot Influence

3:09 The Iced Tea Flight at Cafe Conmigo

5:01 Why Great Ideas Fail (How to "Architect" Change)

6:48 Leadership is Just Selling an Idea

8:22 The Day the Hub Pulled Out: "This Isn't Coming Back"

11:06 Speaking Truth to Power & Winning the Room

15:23 Inside the New Terminal: Constellation Lighting & Design

22:34 The Biggest Challenge: Building During a Global Pandemic

26:49 Lightning Round: Rating Wild Airport Upgrades

30:28 Inside the Actor's Studio: What Gets a CEO Out of Bed

41:01 Last Call: Legacy-First Leadership & Mentorship

47:16 Unfinished Business: The Final 6% of the New PIT

49:18 Flunking Out of College & Advice for Your 20s

51:00 The Final Sip & Behind the Scenes at Cafe Conmigo

#businesspodcast #pittsburgh #thoughtliters

WHAT IS THOUGHT LITERS?

Thought Liters is a series created and hosted by Adam Conner. On the show, Adam learns from the top of the world through the bottom of their glass. Each episode, we share a flight of local craft with the best and brightest brand minds around – whether it be an entrepreneur, an athlete, an artist, or otherwise. The questions evolve as the sip changes,

The show is proudly founded and produced in Pittsburgh, PA.

The whole goal is to have conversations about business with a more lighthearted look and feel. Adam thinks most business content is dry, and wants to change that.

If you’re interested, follow along! If not, that’s cool too. But if you wanna be where the thought leaders are…you’ll tune in to where Thought Liters is.

Miles Mufuka Martin, founder of Relai, joins to share how he's building the future of local delivery via a network of battery-powered asynchronous exchange zones... and perhaps the hard drive of the neighborhood as a result. Miles shares the gritty reality of building a company from the ground up, including getting rejected by 300 businesses before a local pizza shop finally said yes to hosting their first asynchronous exchange zone. We dive deep into the challenges of hardware development, what it took to learn how to code after getting burned by outside dev shops, and how Relai is secretly building a hyper-localized network of compute power for local businesses and startups.

00:00 The Local Delivery Paradox

00:20 What is Relai? (Asynchronous Exchange Zones)

02:50 300 Rejections: Getting the First Pizza Shop

04:15 Getting Burned & Learning to Code from Scratch

08:11 Heritage, Resilience, and the "Figure It Out" Mentality

11:46 The Co-Founder Dynamics of a Hardware Startup

14:21 The Secret: Building "Invisible Infrastructure"

19:38 Lightning Round: Business Mistakes & The Roku Dream

23:59 The Pittsburgh Dream: Exchange Zones on the Sister Bridges

#businesspodcast #pittsburgh #thoughtliters

WHAT IS THOUGHT LITERS?

Thought Liters is a series created and hosted by Adam Conner. On the show, Adam learns from the top of the world through the bottom of their glass. Each episode, we share a flight of local craft with the best and brightest brand minds around – whether it be an entrepreneur, an athlete, an artist, or otherwise. The questions evolve as the sip changes.

The show is proudly founded and produced in Pittsburgh, PA.

The whole goal is to have conversations about business with a more lighthearted look and feel. Adam thinks most business content is dry, and wants to change that.

If you’re interested, follow along! If not, that’s cool too. But if you wanna be where the thought leaders are…you’ll tune in to where Thought Liters is.

The AI energy and compute arms race is completely unsustainable. Companies are burning billions of dollars on hardware to run artificial intelligence, and they are all using the exact same foundational building block from 1943: the artificial neuron.

Today, Dr. Rorry Brenner, neuroscientist and CEO of Perforated AI, reveals why AI desperately needs a "brain upgrade." Rorry breaks down how introducing biological dendritic technology—essentially the "brain of the neuron"—can make AI models run twice as fast while making them 70% cheaper to operate.

In this episode, we cover:

-- Why the 80-year-old artificial neuron is driving compute costs through the roof.

-- The "Brain Upgrade": What dendritic technology actually is and how it works.

-- How to cut your AI compute and hardware costs by 70% without losing accuracy.

-- The difference between "raising the ceiling" (better accuracy) and "lowering the floor" (cheaper compute).

-- How making AI cheaper will democratize the industry and enable offline edge computing.

-- The massive environmental benefits of moving away from electricity-guzzling server farms.

00:00 Introduction: Why AI Compute is So Expensive

01:47 Welcome Dr. Rorry Brenner & The AI Hardware Arms Race

07:06 The "Brain Upgrade": What is a Dendrite?

08:46 The Metaphor: An Army of Toddlers vs. A Team of Adults

11:14 Lowering the Floor: Making Compute Cheaper

15:30 How Perforated AI is Bringing Dendrites to Market

22:00 Real-World Impact: Cutting AI Costs by 70%

27:11 Will This Solve the AI Hype Cycle Decline?

31:23 Democratizing AI and The Future of Edge Computing

34:07 Lightning Round

38:31 The Green AI Future & Last CallWHAT IS THOUGHT LITERS?Thought Liters is a series created and hosted by Adam Conner. On the show, Adam learns from the top of the world through the bottom of their glass. Each episode, we share a flight of local craft with the best and brightest brand minds around – whether it be an entrepreneur, an athlete, an artist, or otherwise. The questions evolve as the sip changes.The show is proudly founded and produced in Pittsburgh, PA.The whole goal is to have conversations about business with a more lighthearted look and feel. Adam thinks most business content is dry, and wants to change that.If you’re interested, follow along! If not, that’s cool too. But if you wanna be where the thought leaders are…you’ll tune in to where Thought Liters is.

Imagine buying a car without test-driving it. If you hate it, you can't return it. That is the unthinkable reality for many of the 2.5 million people in the US living with limb loss.

In this episode of Thought Liters, we sit down with Josh Caputo, CEO of Humotech. Josh explains how his company is revolutionizing the industry by using a robotic system that lets patients test-drive different prosthetic feet before they commit. Instead of being stuck with the wrong fit for 3 to 5 years due to insurance rules, Humotech allows patients to find their perfect fit in minutes.

We dive deep into Josh's journey from a technically curious engineer at Carnegie Mellon University to pioneering a brand-new clinical business model. We also explore the future of wearable robotics, orthotics, and exoskeletons.

Plus, stick around for our brand-new lightning round where Josh shares what keeps him up at night and the hard truths about the marathon of entrepreneurship.

00:00 The Unthinkable Problem in Prosthetics

01:48 Finding the Spark at Carnegie Mellon University

05:29 The Entrepreneur's Dilemma & Finding First Customers

08:18 Creating a "Shoe Store" for Prosthetic Feet

11:10 Moving from R&D into Real-World Clinics

13:38 How the Robotic Emulator Actually Works

15:21 Beating the 3-to-5 Year Insurance Trap

17:39 The $15B Market and the Future of Exoskeletons

21:30 Lightning Round: The Marathon of Entrepreneurship

#businesspodcast #pittsburgh #thoughtliters

WHAT IS THOUGHT LITERS?

Thought Liters is a series created and hosted by Adam Conner. On the show, Adam learns from the top of the world through the bottom of their glass. Each episode, we share a flight of local craft with the best and brightest brand minds around – whether it be an entrepreneur, an athlete, an artist, or otherwise. The questions evolve as the sip changes.

The show is proudly founded and produced in Pittsburgh, PA.

The whole goal is to have conversations about business with a more lighthearted look and feel. Adam thinks most business content is dry, and wants to change that.

If you’re interested, follow along! If not, that’s cool too. But if you wanna be where the thought leaders are…you’ll tune in to where Thought Liters is.

Ryan Shazier went from NFL stardom to a career-ending injury in a heartbeat. But his transition to the business world was just as painful. In the first ever live recording of Thought Liters, Ryan reveals post-career losses, the bad mentors he trusted, and the brutal reality of his forced pivots.

Prepare for a raw, unfiltered look at the failures that built the man you see today.

You'll hear more about:

-- The Identity Crisis: How Ryan went from "provider to provided for" overnight.

-- The $0 Mistake: The trucking business failure that drained his bank account.

-- Bad Mentors: How to spot the middlemen who will ruin your business, and properly vet mentors instead.

-- The Turnaround: How he applied the lessons of failure to build the Ryan Shazier Fund.

-- Coach Tomlin's Advice: The one principle Ryan uses to lead his team today.

0:00 Intro: From All-Pro to Forced Pivot

2:15 I Felt Adopted by Pittsburgh

6:14 The Reality Check: Money vs. Skill

14:15 Mourning Your Career vs. Mourning Your Business24:22 The Trucking Business Disaster (Full Story)

33:22 How to Build a Foundation the Right Way

45:04 Leadership: The Difference Between the Field & The Office

51:01 Final Advice: Get Uncomfortable

#businesspodcast #pittsburgh #thoughtliters

Special thanks to Komos for being the beverage partner on this event. Thanks too to Babb, Inc. and VPO for their support.

WHAT IS THOUGHT LITERS?

Thought Liters is a series created and hosted by Adam Conner. On the show, Adam learns from the top of the world through the bottom of their glass. Each episode, we share a flight of local craft with the best and brightest brand minds around – whether it be an entrepreneur, an athlete, an artist, or otherwise. The questions evolve as the sip changes.

The show is proudly founded and produced in Pittsburgh, PA.

The whole goal is to have conversations about business with a more lighthearted look and feel. Adam thinks most business content is dry, and wants to change that.

If you’re interested, follow along! If not, that’s cool too. But if you wanna be where the thought leaders are…you’ll tune in to where Thought Liters is.

Join the flight.

It sounds like a script for a reality TV show: You hire a business consultant to help organize your startup, only to discover he’s actually a high-net-worth investor in disguise, testing you for his next massive deal.

That is exactly what happened to Mike Vindler, CEO of Tronix3D.

In this episode of Thought Liters, we explore how that "undercover billionaire" moment became the catalyst for Tronix3D. Mike takes us from the early days of uncertainty to building an industrial empire that prints in grade-five titanium for aerospace and life-saving medical devices.

We also get the story of the "genius in the garage": Mike’s partner, Jason, who was hand-building 4K monitors for Samsung before the rest of the world caught up—and discuss why 99% of people are using 3D printing completely wrong.

In this episode, we cover:

-- The "Undercover Billionaire": The wild true story of the consultant who hid his wealth to test Mike’s character.

-- The "Genius" Partner: How Mike’s co-founder built tech for Samsung and Palmer Luckey out of his garage.

-- Building the Empire: Why Tronix3D isn’t printing cheap plastic toys, but rather replacing supply chains.

-- Sustainability: How they became the only facility in the US recycling 100% of their powder on-site.

-- The CEO’s Burden: The brutal honesty about what actually keeps a founder awake at night.

00:00 Intro

02:15 From Corporate to "The Real World"

08:40 Why Most People Use 3D Printing Wrong

14:54 The "Genius in the Garage": Meeting Jason

21:04 We Are The Only Ones Doing This (100% Recycling)

26:58 Fixing a Medical Device by Accident

34:37 The "Undercover Billionaire" Consultant Story

40:15 The Hardest Part of Scaling a Manufacturing Business

43:44 The Real Nightmare That Keeps CEOs Awake

47:55 The 3D Printing Buzzkill: Stop Printing Plastic Trash

54:10 The Future: Titanium & Aerospace

58:32 Where to Find Mike

WHAT IS THOUGHT LITERS?

Thought Liters is a series created and hosted by Adam Conner. On the show, Adam learns from the top of the world through the bottom of their glass. Each episode, we share a flight of local craft with the best and brightest brand minds around – whether it be an entrepreneur, an athlete, an artist, or otherwise. The questions evolve as the sip changes.

The show is proudly founded and produced in Pittsburgh, PA.

The whole goal is to have conversations about business with a more lighthearted look and feel. Adam thinks most business content is dry, and wants to change that.

If you’re interested, follow along! If not, that’s cool too. But if you wanna be where the thought leaders are…you’ll tune in to where Thought Liters is.

Thought Liters has been around for a year now. I dumped a buttload of money into it. Here's what happened, what I made, and where I'm doubling down in 2026.

In this video, you'll get a full picture of a content creator's first year of creation. The good, the money, and the future, all in 11 minutes. Let's get it.

You'll also learn:

• The "Occupational Hazard" of drinking on camera
• How I secured the show's first partnership without a massive subscriber base
• The economics of high-production content, and why I spent $24,204 on it

To all who have tuned in during 2025, this will also serve as the year in review for the show. Thanks a bunch, and see you next year!!

00:00 Intro (it's been a year)

00:22 Stats: views and subscriber growth in 2025 for Thought Liters

01:13 The Good from Thought Liters in 2025

02:09 Thought Liters Ship: an IRL event test for the show

02:30 On Tap: Thought Liters live recordings

03:13 The first partnership for the show ("The Six Pack Series"")

04:10 The money: how much Thought Liters made in 2026

04:46 The money: how much I've spent on Thought Liters in 2026 (and why)

06:10 Plug: where the money comes from (how to help)

06:50 The Plans and To Dos for 2026 for Thought Liters

09:07 Closing: Where This Came From, Early Memories, a Thanks, and small advice

#businesspodcast #pittsburgh #thoughtliters

WHAT IS THOUGHT LITERS?

Thought Liters is a series created and hosted by Adam Conner. On the show, Adam learns from the top of the world through the bottom of their glass. Each episode, we share a flight of local craft with the best and brightest brand minds around – whether it be an entrepreneur, an athlete, an artist, or otherwise. The questions evolve as the sip changes.

The show is proudly founded and produced in Pittsburgh, PA.

The whole goal is to have conversations about business with a more lighthearted look and feel. Adam thinks most business content is dry, and wants to change that.

If you’re interested, follow along! If not, that’s cool too. But if you wanna be where the thought leaders are…you’ll tune in to where Thought Liters is.