LivLive: Design, Building, and the Business of Remodeling

About LivLive: Design, Building, and the Business of Remodeling

LivLive is a conversation-driven podcast about design, building, real estate, and the business behind it all. Hosted by Dave Pollard, architect and co-founder of LivCo, LivLive brings together architects, builders, developers, and industry leaders to talk honestly about how projects really come together — from early ideas and design decisions to construction, ownership, and long-term value. Each episode blends professional insight with real-world experience.

Publisher

David Pollard

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

29 Dec 2025

Latest episode

15 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

54 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   15 Oct 2026

   LivLive Ep. 0000056 - Nik Rokop: Engineering Entrepreneurship

   What happens when you combine an engineer's problem-solving mindset with an entrepreneur's ability to recognize opportunity? In Episode 56 of LivLive, Dave welcomes back Nik Rokop for a second conversation exploring engineering, first-principles thinking, business ownership, and the unexpected paths that lead people into entrepreneurship. Nik's journey is anything but conventional. Born in Hungary, he immigrated to the United States, studied mathematics at Carnegie Mellon, nearly attended law school, and ultimately joined his father's steel-industry engineering business. He later earned a mechanical engineering degree while working full-time, traveling internationally, and raising a family. That combination of mathematics, engineering, and hands-on business experience helped shape a philosophy Nik returns to throughout the conversation: simplify complicated problems by understanding their fundamental principles. Dave and Nik explore how that mindset translates into entrepreneurship, including the difference between strategic planning and recognizing opportunities as they arise. Nik shares stories from his own entrepreneurial journey—from helping grow his father's business and launching an early internet café at Pittsburgh International Airport to unexpectedly becoming a partner in a manufacturing company. Some ventures succeeded, others didn't, but each created opportunities to learn. They also discuss entrepreneurship education, the importance of selling, the role of relationships, and how technology continues to create new possibilities. The conversation even ventures into architecture, the work of Mies van der Rohe and Bertrand Goldberg, AI-powered networking, and Nik's latest venture with his son involving a new programming language inspired by Gödel, Escher, and Bach. It's a conversation about curiosity, simplicity, lifelong learning, and the ability to see possibilities where others see problems. Whether you're an entrepreneur, engineer, architect, business owner, or simply someone who enjoys figuring out how things work, there's plenty to take away from this episode. Chapters: 00:00 — Nik Returns to LivLive 02:45 — From Hungary to Carnegie Mellon 06:00 — Mathematics & Problem-Solving 08:15 — The Family Engineering Business 12:30 — Choosing Engineering Over Law 15:30 — Lifelong Learning 18:00 — Thinking in First Principles 20:30 — Teaching Entrepreneurship 24:30 — Finding Business Opportunities 27:00 — The Airport Cyber Café 30:30 — Lessons From Failure 34:00 — Unexpected Opportunities 38:00 — The Accidental Entrepreneur 39:30 — Buying a Manufacturing Company 43:00 — Building Businesses & Partnerships 47:00 — Relationships & Creating Value 50:00 — Passion vs. Profit 52:30 — Architecture & First Principles 55:30 — Ideas From the Next Generation 59:00 — Gödel, Escher, Bach & AI 63:00 — Closing Thoughts

2. 

   7 Oct 2026

   LivLive Ep. 0000055 - Nik Rokop: What Makes an Entrepreneur?

   What actually makes someone an entrepreneur? In this episode of LivLive, Dave reconnects with Nik Rokop, longtime entrepreneurship educator, founder, mentor, and former director of the Knapp Entrepreneurship Center at Illinois Tech. Nik was never technically one of Dave’s professors—but his influence during Dave’s graduate studies at IIT went far beyond the classroom. When a young architecture student showed up with an idea for wirelessly powering a home, Nik connected him with electrical engineers, patent attorneys, business resources, and experts across the university. The invention never became a business, but the experience helped shape how Dave would eventually think about entrepreneurship and build LivCo. That story becomes the jumping-off point for a much bigger conversation about how entrepreneurs actually learn. Nik explains why he doesn't believe in doing the work for entrepreneurs, why building a network can be more valuable than having all the answers yourself, and why entrepreneurship requires curiosity, resilience, experimentation, and a willingness to act without knowing exactly where you'll end up. Dave and Nik explore venture capital and bootstrapping, the difference between entrepreneurs and small-business owners, whether entrepreneurship can actually be taught, and the role that family, childhood experiences, education, mentors, and even failure play in creating an entrepreneurial mindset. They also dig into the realities of running a business: cash flow, growth, debt, risk, hiring, decision-making, and the constant challenge of figuring out what comes next. After years of teaching entrepreneurship, Nik has now retired from academia and returned to where he started—as a founder himself. It’s a wide-ranging conversation about entrepreneurship not as a job title, but as a way of thinking: find problems, connect ideas and people, create value, learn constantly, and keep moving forward. Chapters: 00:00 — Meet Nik Rokop 01:30 — From Founder to Professor 05:30 — How Dave & Nik Met 08:15 — Connecting Across Disciplines 11:30 — Funding a Business 16:15 — What Makes an Entrepreneur? 20:30 — Risk & Entrepreneurship 23:30 — Where Entrepreneurs Come From 27:30 — Growing Up Entrepreneurial 31:30 — Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught? 35:30 — Learning by Doing 38:00 — Building a Lasting Business 42:30 — Knowing When to Pivot 46:30 — Growth, Debt & Cash Flow 50:00 — The Entrepreneurial Mindset 54:00 — Mentors, Networks & Experience 58:00 — Nik’s Next Chapter 1:02:00 — Final Thoughts

3. 

   30 Sept 2026

   LivLive Ep. 0000054 - Chuck Pollard: The Business of Relationships

   In this episode of LivLive, Dave welcomes a particularly special guest—his older brother, Chuck Pollard—for a conversation about sales, technology, building things, and the relationships behind all of it. Chuck has spent more than 30 years in sales and sales leadership, watching the technology industry evolve from the early internet and data-storage boom through cloud computing, cybersecurity, and now AI. The tools have changed dramatically, but Chuck argues that one thing hasn't: people still buy from people they know and trust. Dave and Chuck explore what great sales actually looks like, why solving the customer's problem matters more than simply selling a product, and why the human relationship remains so important even as technology becomes increasingly automated. Chuck also shares his perspective on sales leadership, building teams, developing people, and why nearly everyone—whether they realize it or not—is in sales. The conversation eventually turns closer to home. The brothers look back at Dave designing an addition to Chuck's house when he was only 15, Chuck's experiences building and remodeling homes, and their shared appreciation for the process of creating something tangible. And then there are the sandcastles. Chuck explains how a family project recreating UVA's Rotunda in sand unexpectedly grew into an ongoing creative obsession, complete with college campuses, landmarks, Fourth of July creations, local news coverage—and an Instagram following. It's a fun, wide-ranging conversation between two brothers about careers, entrepreneurship, technology, construction, creativity, family, and why—whether you're selling software, remodeling a house, or building something out of sand—the relationships you build along the way still matter. Chapters: 00:00 — Meet Chuck Pollard 02:15 — A Career in Sales 04:15 — 30 Years of Technology 06:15 — The Internet & Data Boom 08:15 — Cloud, AI & What’s Next 10:30 — Sales vs. Sales Leadership 12:30 — Building Teams & Solving Problems 14:15 — Everybody Is in Sales 16:30 — Why Relationships Still Matter 18:30 — Builders at Heart 20:00 — Dave’s First Addition 22:15 — The Pain of Remodeling 24:00 — Chuck’s Remodeling War Story 26:15 — The Need to Build Things 28:30 — The Sandcastle Obsession 31:30 — Building Landmarks in Sand 33:45 — Sandcastle Fame 35:00 — The Art of the Sandcastle 37:00 — Technology & Remodeling 39:00 — Closing Thoughts

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Contact LivLive: Design, Building, and the Business of Remodeling

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.