In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Brett Casavant, director of recruiting at a technical recruiting firm and co‑founder of the Techneek podcast. Brett shares a personal story about breaking out of a post‑college slump by aggressively trying new experiences—travel, skydiving, and learning guitar—culminating in a surprise performance on Nashville’s famed Lower Broadway. The anecdote illustrates his core lesson: deliberately leave your comfort zone to spark growth and career change. He then discusses his expertise in tech culture, emphasizing that a company’s culture is as vital, if not more so, than its product and requires constant attention. Brett offers concise business advice—celebrate successes, learn from failures, and stay adaptable. When asked what he would tell his younger self, he mentions learning to code and, more importantly, “enjoy the ride.” His definition of happiness centers on finding and pursuing a personal “North Star.” Brett’s favorite book is Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin; the key takeaway he highlights is the principle of “prioritize and execute.” He also shares a favorite quote about seeking environments where you’re not the smartest person in the room to foster growth. The episode concludes with a plug for Techneek’s online presence (www.techniq.io and iTunes). Throughout, the tone is conversational and motivational, with Brett’s sentiment reflecting enthusiasm, optimism, and reflective confidence.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite makes the process of becoming a published bestselling author as simple as sipping your morning cup of coffee. You can learn more about Authors Unite at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have Brett Cassavant with us. He's the director of recruiting of a small technical recruiting shop, co-founder of Techneek, which is Boston's premier tech culture podcast. And welcome to the show, Brett.
Tyler, thanks for having me on. It's gonna be awesome. I'm psyched.
Of course, man. I'm pumped to have you on as well. And we'll dive right into the first question, which is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
All right. So it's an awesome question. And I was thinking about it. And, you know, after, after I graduated college, much like a lot of people, I was going through a bit of a rough patch and was pretty unhappy with the job that I had at the time and didn't have much kind of direction or motivation and just kind of felt stuck professionally, personally. I just thought to myself that I needed to change, and I decided to just start trying as many new things as possible and just really kind of get out of my comfort zone in a big way. I did a lot of different things, traveled, skydived. I did anything I could, said yes to everything. I always loved music, and I always wanted to learn to play guitar. I took lessons, and it was one of the hardest things that I ever learned, but I fell in love with it. I'm the type of person that hates being bad at anything. I practiced constantly, like, literally till my fingers bled. My apartment neighbors probably hated me and complained a bunch, but I didn't really care at the time. But yeah, it just came really naturally. And like, in like 6 months, I was playing open mics and playing small gigs around where I lived. And I had already planned a trip down to Nashville because I love country music and was just going for myself, kind of a soul-searching trip and try to get soaking everything in. And when I, when I got off the plane, stepped on like Lower Broadway, the big major kind of legendary street in Nashville. And the first person I met struck up a conversation and somehow came up that I play guitar and he just flat out asked me, he goes, "Are you any good?" And I, of course I'm saying, "Yeah, of course I'm good. Why not?" And it turns out his nephew was a regular performer at one of the hockey talks there. He brought me right over and the guy, he introduced us and he said, "All right, you're any good? You wanna play?" Yeah, sure. He's like, all right, I'll give you 10 minutes. If you suck, I'll come back. But it went pretty well and I was pretty excited. And then the next day I went to another bar and the other bar asked me if I could play and let me play around Nashville. So like 6 months after doing it, I tried something new and got to play in kind of one of the more legendary stages in Music City, music mecca, so to speak. And I guess the lesson was just like, don't be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. 'Cause shortly after that trip, I came back, recharged the batteries, and I made a decision to change professions and found a completely different career path and am where I am today. And it's been so helpful for me.
Yes, that's awesome, man. Thanks for sharing that. The next question is, what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Yeah, so on the podcast we do, it's focused on culture in the tech industry. It talks about how to build great company culture, and the best piece of information I can really give or share is that culture within an organization is just as important, if not more important, than any actual product itself. It's something that requires constant attention, maintenance. A poor company culture can destroy entire organizations quicker than anyone can really realize it. So, one of the things I like to tell people is if you don't take care of culture, culture will take care of yourself, and it's something that you won't be able to direct if you don't pay attention.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice?
Celebrate success, learn from failures, and don't be afraid to change. When things are going great, by all means celebrate, that's why you're doing it. But if something isn't going right, whether a product feature isn't doing well or sales last quarter were down, figure out new ways to do things, learn from what happened, and don't get stuck and don't repeat.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Oh wow, this one's tough because I would tell myself a million things, but, uh, you know, one of the things I'd probably say, learn how to write software code. That's, that's one. But, uh, but something my dad always told me when I was a kid and it always kind of stuck with me was, uh, enjoy the ride. And I, I hear— I heard it all the time and it now kind of resonates with me because just you're gonna go down a ton of different roads in life, and if you don't forget to enjoy— if you don't enjoy the ride, you know, you're really gonna wonder where you're at and take a look at yourself and be really upset with where you're at if you don't enjoy it.
And that kind of maybe ties in with the next one, but in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
Yeah, definitely. So my key to happiness, and it's not so cliché, but I love this saying, is find your North Star. Never lose sight of it. So to me, it's about finding what you're passionate about. Never be afraid to chase after and do it, and never make excuses for doing the things that truly make you happy, that you're passionate about.
And what's the best book that you've read, and what was the number one thing you learned from it?
Yeah, so my favorite book that I've read over and over again, it's called Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. And it's two former Navy SEALs that share leadership principles that they learned during training and combat situations and apply it to business. And the biggest thing that I learned from it, or I take away from it, but I mean, every time I read it, I take something else. But right now it's prioritize and execute. And it's applied in countless facets in life, not only business, but especially as an entrepreneur or a business owner, it's easy to get caught up in grandiose ideas that that can pull you away from the problems that are facing directly in front of you. Always have to keep the end goal in sight, but always stay true to your mission. But you'll never get there if you don't prioritize and execute on immediate needs right away.
And what's your favorite quote and why?
If you're the smartest person in the room, go to another room. If you're not learning, you're not growing. It's important to surround yourself with people who you can learn from, people who challenge you and push you to be better. And if you're in a room where you're constantly the one with the best ideas, you know, no one's going to tell you that your idea sucks. You need to hear that sometimes.
I love that, man. Thank you so much for coming on, man. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where's the best place for people to find you online?
Yeah, absolutely. So check out— go to the website. It's www.techniq.io. And you can also listen to our podcast on iTunes under Techniq.
Awesome, man. Thank you again for coming on. We appreciate it.
Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
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