Show Notes:

In this episode of the Business Growth Spotlight, Heidi Schalk sits down with David Saadia, Director of Operations at Rove Travel, to explore how luxury hospitality is evolving in a remote first, AI driven world.

Broadcasting from Mexico City, David shares his global hospitality journey, from studying in Switzerland to leading hotel operations across major international cities, and how he transitioned from traditional hotel management into a fast growing luxury property management startup.

This conversation dives into experiential travel, operational excellence, company culture, AI implementation, and what it truly takes to scale a hospitality brand without sacrificing service standards.

Bio:

I was born and raised in Mexico City from a French father and American mother. At 16 I attended a hospitality summer program at Cornell and knew this was the path I wanted. I studied at Les Roches in Switzerland and later completed a Bachelor of Arts in Food and Beverage and Revenue Management at Kendall College in Chicago.

My career has taken me through several countries and brands. I worked in Barcelona at the Ritz Carlton, in New York at the Eventi Hotel, in Thailand, Italy, and Chicago. At 23 I moved to California to run operations for a 93 room hotel, overseeing housekeeping, front office, reporting directly to the General Manager.

After 8 years abroad I moved back to Mexico City to be closer to family and stepped into the startup world. I joined WeWork in its early stage and worked across operations and sales. I eventually led all building openings across Latin America during a period of rapid growth. I later joined Oyo Rooms, where I led Sales Operations and helped build processes for a business development team of around 300 to 400 people.

A few years later, my passion for hospitality brought me back when I got recruited as General Manager at Habitas. I managed their flagship hotel in Tulum and their new property in Bacalar, overseeing about 200 team members and 77 rooms.

A year ago I joined Rove Travel as Director of Operations. I oversee the guest experience across multiple US markets and manage a fully remote concierge team. My work focuses on operational systems, quality control, vendor management, training, and building consistent hospitality standards across our luxury rental portfolio.

To connect with our guest, click on the links below:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rove_travel?igsh=MTZvZDd3bXhtMGgzZg==

Website: www.rovetravel.com

Connect with me:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidischalkcoaching/

🎁 Grab your Spotlight to Scale Blueprint: https://spotlighttoscale.com/blueprint

Show Notes:

In this episode of the Business Growth Spotlight, Heidi Schalk welcomes Dolapo Adedayo, Founder of Trend Hijacking, to discuss how e-commerce can be repositioned from a side hustle into a structured, cash flowing investment vehicle.

Dolapo shares how his journey began in 2017 when he acquired his first profitable e-commerce business, scaled it, and exited within two years. That experience reshaped his perspective on digital businesses, leading him to build a firm that helps investors buy, scale, and exit profitable e-commerce brands using institutional grade diligence and below market acquisition strategies.

Rather than building from zero, Dolapo advocates skipping the zero to one phase and acquiring businesses that already have product market fit, infrastructure, teams, and cash flow in place. From there, the focus becomes operational optimization, margin expansion, global scalability, and structured exits within one to three years.

Bio:

Dolapo Adedayo is the Founder and Managing Partner of Trend Hijacking, an alternative wealth advisory helping high-net-worth individuals, professionals, and entrepreneurs diversify into digital assets, specifically e-commerce businesses, through structured acquisition, growth, and exit strategies.

Under Dolapo’s leadership, Trend Hijacking has developed a proven model designed to create predictable and outsized returns:

- Acquire profitable e-commerce businesses below market value.

- Scale them using performance-driven frameworks to achieve 2–5× revenue growth within 12–24 months.

- Exit at premium multiples of 3–5×, maximizing client ROI.

Unlike traditional brokers, Dolapo and his team operate as buy-side advisors and operators, applying private equity discipline to every phase of the process, from sourcing and evaluation to negotiation, scaling, and exit execution.

Through this model, Dolapo has helped investors generate consistent cash flow, mitigate risk, and build long-term wealth within the rapidly growing $6 trillion e-commerce sector.

His mission is clear: To democratize the strategies used by private equity firms and make them accessible to individual investors seeking to diversify portfolios and build sustainable wealth through digital commerce.

To connect with our guest, click on the links below:

Personal Socials:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/adedayo-dolapo/

https://x.com/DolapoAdedayo3

Business Socials:

https://www.youtube.com/@TrendHijackingAcquisition

https://trendhijacking.com/blog

https://trendhijacking.com/ecommerce-businesses-for-sale

Website: http://trendhijacking.com/

Connect with me:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidischalkcoaching/

🎁 Grab your Spotlight to Scale Blueprint: https://spotlighttoscale.com/blueprint

Show Notes:

In this episode of the Business Growth Spotlight, Heidi Schalk sits down with James Hamet, CEO and Founder of Vistim Labs, to explore a breakthrough approach to neurological care.

Vistim Labs is tackling one of the biggest challenges in neurology: knowing whether a treatment is actually working. While tools like PET scans and MRIs provide structural information, they are expensive, difficult to access, and not designed for frequent monitoring. James shares how Vistim Labs uses advanced EEG based brain imaging to deliver real time, non radioactive insights into brain function in just 30 minutes.

The conversation dives into how this technology helps physicians personalize treatment plans for conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. With nearly 40 percent of patients potentially receiving therapies that do not produce results, having measurable feedback can dramatically improve outcomes. By providing objective data, doctors can adjust treatment sooner, build trust with patients, and accelerate progress.

James also explains the science behind neurofeedback and how measurable feedback drives neuroplasticity. From retraining fall prevention responses in elderly patients to supporting cognitive recovery, feedback loops are central to measurable improvement in both medicine and performance.

Beyond the science, this episode explores the realities of building a high tech medical company. James discusses regulatory hurdles, insurance reimbursement challenges, long sales cycles, and the importance of humility and generosity in scaling innovation. He shares why scientific conferences have been his most effective growth strategy and how physician education remains a critical focus.

A powerful takeaway from this conversation is that Alzheimer’s disease is not necessarily a hopeless diagnosis. Emerging research and measurable treatment monitoring are changing what is possible.

Key topics covered include

• How EEG based brain imaging compares to PET scans
• The importance of treatment monitoring in neurology
• Personalized therapy for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease
• Neurofeedback and brain plasticity
• FDA approval and reimbursement challenges in medical innovation
• Scaling a mission driven biotech startup
• Increasing access to neurological diagnostics across the United States

To learn more or connect with James, visit vistimlabs.com.

If you are a neurologist, physician, patient, or know someone navigating a neurological condition, this episode is one you will want to share.

Bio:

Serial neurotechnology entrepreneur, specialized in brain imaging

To connect with our guest, click on the links below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jchamet/

Website: https://vistimlabs.com

Connect with me:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidischalkcoaching/

🎁 Grab your Spotlight to Scale Blueprint: https://spotlighttoscale.com/blueprint