Faith Driven Entrepreneur

The Crime Scene Disguised as a Website
Host Justin Forman sits down with Laila Mickelwait, Co-Founder and CEO of the Justice Defense Fund, for a conversation that traces how one late-night test upload exposed a multi-billion-dollar corporation built on abuse — and how she built a movement to take it down.
In 2020, Laila Mickelwait uploaded a test video to P*rnhub just to see what it would take. All it required was an email address. No age verification. No consent verification. No ID. What she uncovered next — a corporate empire worth billions, a website ranked fifth-most-trafficked in the world, and a system that allowed rape and child sexual abuse material to be monetized at scale — set her on a five-year fight that would eventually pull in Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, billionaire investors, and the CEOs of Visa and MasterCard.
Key Topics:
How one test upload revealed P*rnhub's complete lack of age and consent verification

The corporate structure behind P*rnhub — MindGeek, hidden ownership, and a $362 million hedge fund loan

Serena's story: the "immortalization of trauma" and the human cost of self-generated CSAM

The strategy shift that actually moved the needle: going after Visa, MasterCard, and Discover

How a Nick Kristof article and a billionaire's outrage collided to force real corporate change

The Justice Defense Fund's two-part model: public pressure and strategic civil litigation

Why 2.3 million petition signatures — and a single share on social media — actually matter

This conversation is a case study in what it looks like to take a problem the size of a global industry and find the leverage point that actually moves it. For any entrepreneur who has ever felt paralyzed by the size of a problem worth solving, Laila's story is a blueprint for turning conviction into strategy — and strategy into change.
Watch the full episode on YouTube or continue to stream audio on your favorite podcast platform.

Key Topics:
•          The NIL earthquake — how a $471-a-month scholarship check gave way to a multi-million-dollar collision between money and college sports almost overnight
•          Why Trent believes the “quick-fix” entrepreneur mindset is a spiritual dead end, even when it pays
•          The coming clash between private equity and institutional leadership in college athletics
•          How Tim Tebow's boldness opened the door for a new generation of athletes to talk openly about faith
•          The hardest story Trent has ever told: losing his five-year-old son, and the peace that “transcends understanding” that carried his family through it
Notable Quotes:
“I think you could be spiritually bankrupt if you go chase the gold and forget about the soul.” — Trent Dilfer
“I have a peace that transcends understanding. I am not my own.” — Trent Dilfer
“Our God is a master of brokenness. He is the healer of the broken.” — Trent Dilfer
Description:
Trent Dilfer has seen the collision of money and college sports from every angle: as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback who earned $471 a month on scholarship, as a head coach at UAB who watched NIL rewrite the rules six weeks into his first season, and as a broadcaster who now studies the institutions trying to keep up. On this episode of Faith Driven Entrepreneur, Trent joins host Justin Forman for a wide-ranging conversation about what happens when entrepreneurial disruption crashes into institutions that were never built to move fast — and why he believes chasing money without character is its own kind of bankruptcy.
The conversation moves from the mechanics of NIL and the coming wave of private equity in college athletics, to the deeper story of how faith became a normal, bold part of the conversation in locker rooms — tracing a line from Tom Landry and Reggie White through the Tim Tebow era to today's young quarterbacks.
Then Trent shares the hardest chapter of his own story: the loss of his five-year-old son, and the supernatural peace that met him in the middle of it. It's a raw, honest picture of what it looks like to trust God when nothing about the outcome makes sense — and why Trent says brokenness, not polish, is where most people actually meet Jesus.

Half of all U.S. teenagers say they already have a business idea they're passionate about pursuing. That's the headline finding host Justin Forman digs into with David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group, in this data-rich conversation about a generation quietly gearing up to build.
David has spent his career turning research into a roadmap for the church, and in this episode he brings fresh findings on entrepreneurially minded teens — their hope, their hunger for mentors, and the pressure they carry to succeed. Justin and David trace the thread from Lego sets and Shark Tank reruns to the Old Testament story of Daniel, building a case for what David calls a “theology of influence”: preparing young people for a level of impact none of us can fully predict.
This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation exploring Barna's newest research on faith, identity, and the entrepreneurial generation — and what parents, pastors, and business leaders can do with it.
Key Topics:
•          New Barna data: 49% of U.S. teenagers already have a business idea they're passionate about pursuing
•          A “theology of influence” — what Daniel's story in Babylon teaches us about preparing the next generation
•          Why entrepreneurially minded teens report 85% more hope about the future
•          Growing up in “digital Babylon”: raising kids among tech built to capture their attention
•          The mentorship gap — and why entrepreneurial teens are 88% more likely to already have one
•          Identity formation in a world where AI is reshaping the whole idea of a career
•          A practical next step for families: Faith Driven Entrepreneur for Teens
David Kinnaman is CEO of Barna Group, the research firm he has led for over two decades, helping churches, nonprofits, and business leaders understand cultural and generational trends through a faith lens. He is the author of several books on faith and the next generation, and continues to lead original research at the intersection of faith, work, and identity.
This conversation is for any parent, pastor, or entrepreneur wondering whether the next generation is ready to build — and whether the church is ready to help them.
Notable Quotes:
“We need to prepare this generation with a theology of influence that God can and will use them in their faithfulness.” — David Kinnaman
“We prepare a generation for success, but we don't prepare them for suffering.” — David Kinnaman
“I think we've seen the funeral of the lone wolf over the last decade.” — Justin Forman
Watch the full episode on YouTube or continue to stream audio on your favorite podcast platform.

Join host Justin Forman for a candid conversation with Stephen Ellsworth, co-founder of Poppi, the prebiotic soda brand that went from a Dallas farmers market stand to one of the largest exits in beverage history when PepsiCo acquired it for $2 billion. Stephen walks through the pivotal decisions that shaped Poppi's rise — rewriting the formula a week before Shark Tank, the branding fight that determined whether Poppi would be sold as a health product or a soda, and the negotiating table where his team turned down a $1 billion offer because it “didn't feel right.”

But the most striking part of Stephen's story isn't the exit — it's what came after. He opens up about the identity crisis, isolation, and unexpected grief that followed closing the deal, and how wrestling with purpose in the months afterward reshaped his understanding of calling, generosity, and what he calls this next season: not retirement, but “preferment.”

Throughout, Stephen traces how his faith — dormant since he was a teenager — was reawakened through the entrepreneurial journey itself, from a providential tax refund that arrived the week his mortgage was due, to the conviction that let him walk away from billion-dollar offers that didn't align with what he and his team believed was right.

Key Topics:

•      From a Wyoming kitchen to Shark Tank to a $2 billion PepsiCo acquisition

•      The branding pivot that turned an apple cider vinegar tonic into a prebiotic soda

•      Why Stephen's team walked away from a $1 billion Pepsi offer and a $1.65 billion Keurig Dr Pepper offer

•      The unexpected identity crisis and isolation that followed the exit

•      Moving from a Mormon upbringing to a faith renewed through entrepreneurship

•      Setting up a Donor Advised Fund and learning to give with the same rigor used to build a business

Notable Quotes:

“Sitting where we are now, a $2 billion exit from a farmers market stand is just wild.” - Stephen Ellsworth

“Pepsi is a huge system. If you're gonna buy us, buy us.” - Stephen Ellsworth

“The idea of coming to know God more fully through [the entrepreneurial journey] is one of the greatest side benefits of the whole equation.” - Justin Forman

Join host Justin Forman for a candid conversation with Stephen Ellsworth, co-founder of Poppi, the prebiotic soda brand that went from a Dallas farmers market stand to one of the largest exits in beverage history when PepsiCo acquired it for $2 billion. Stephen walks through the pivotal decisions that shaped Poppi's rise — rewriting the formula a week before Shark Tank, the branding fight that determined whether Poppi would be sold as a health product or a soda, and the negotiating table where his team turned down a $1 billion offer because it “didn't feel right.”
But the most striking part of Stephen's story isn't the exit — it's what came after. He opens up about the identity crisis, isolation, and unexpected grief that followed closing the deal, and how wrestling with purpose in the months afterward reshaped his understanding of calling, generosity, and what he calls this next season: not retirement, but “preferment.”
Throughout, Stephen traces how his faith — dormant since he was a teenager — was reawakened through the entrepreneurial journey itself, from a providential tax refund that arrived the week his mortgage was due, to the conviction that let him walk away from billion-dollar offers that didn't align with what he and his team believed was right.

Key Topics:
•      From a Wyoming kitchen to Shark Tank to a $2 billion PepsiCo acquisition
•      The branding pivot that turned an apple cider vinegar tonic into a prebiotic soda
•      Why Stephen's team walked away from a $1 billion Pepsi offer and a $1.65 billion Keurig Dr Pepper offer
•      The unexpected identity crisis and isolation that followed the exit
•      Moving from a Mormon upbringing to a faith renewed through entrepreneurship
•      Setting up a Donor Advised Fund and learning to give with the same rigor used to build a business

Notable Quotes:
“Sitting where we are now, a $2 billion exit from a farmers market stand is just wild.” - Stephen Ellsworth
“Pepsi is a huge system. If you're gonna buy us, buy us.” - Stephen Ellsworth
“The idea of coming to know God more fully through [the entrepreneurial journey] is one of the greatest side benefits of the whole equation.” - Justin Forman