Getting the Band Back Together: Bobby Bonett, President, SANDOW DESIGN GROUP

This time on BTE, co-host is back and he’s in the hot seat. Bobby Bonett — former Barriers to Entry co-host and newly appointed President of SANDOW DESIGN GROUP — trades the microphone for the guest chair, live at NeoCon 2026. And the plugs were flowing…

Andrew and Bobby cover Bobby’s path from SiriusXM and the NBA to building a house of brands at SANDOW, including the 16-day launch of Design TV during the COVID shutdown and the slow build of Surround from a five-show idea into a full podcast network. They dig into how SANDOW approaches innovation at NeoCon — a 12-month process of iteration, real audience data from ThinkLab, and early adopter partners who keep the ecosystem moving forward — and what it means for Bobby to now be driving that machine from the president’s seat.

They also spend time unpacking the season’s defining thread: in a world racing toward AI, the most durable competitive advantage might still be the human in the loop.

Come for the conversation, stay for the Chicago pizza recommendations.

Connect with our host on LinkedIn: Andrew Lane

Follow Bobby Bonett on LinkedIn

References and resources

• SANDOW DESIGN GROUP
• Surround Podcast Network
• Design TV
• ThinkLab
• Opus Clips
• Azure Magazine
• Get in touch with us at bte@sandowdesign.com
• Discover more shows from SURROUND at surroundpodcasts.com

This episode of Barriers to Entry was produced by Rob Schulte.

This episode was recorded in the NeoCon Podcast Lounge Powered by SURROUND. Thank you to our Lounge sponsor, Unika Vaev, and partners: B+N, DARRAN, Framery, Momentum, and UpSpring.

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