Is Anything Real?

🎁 Bonus drop
Two Boston College-connected founders. Two Shark Tank episodes. Back-to-back weeks.

 And the lesson isn’t “how to go viral.” It’s how relationships compound.

In this episode, I sit down with Tiffany McCasland of City Bonfires/The Chair Blanket™ and Sarah Fox of Rip Tie Hair — founders with a Boston College connection — to unpack what actually drives durable growth: trust, follow-through, and relationship-building that doesn’t feel transactional.

If you’ve ever felt like “networking is cringe,” this episode is your reset. Because the truth is: relationships aren’t a nice-to-have. They’re a strategy.

In this episode:
  • The mindset shift that makes networking feel human (not gross)
  • How trust becomes pipeline (without pushing)
  • Follow-up practices that create momentum
  • What high-integrity founders do differently
👉 Book a 20-min Foundation Call: https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/foundation-call-20min

Featuring voices from: Tiffany McCasland + Sarah Fox (Boston College alums)
Links
Contact: sarah@riptiehair.com | tiffany@citybonfires.com

Creators and Guests

Host
Adam W. Barney
Adam W. Barney helps transitioning leaders navigate career and leadership inflection points with clarity and momentum. Author of Make Your Own Glass Half Full and creator of EnergyOS. Based in Boston, fueled by family and music.

What is Is Anything Real??

Is Anything Real? is the Reality-First Leadership podcast for builder-leaders who want outcomes, not optics. Each week, Adam W. Barney sits down with founders and operators to unpack positioning, marketing, community, energy management, and influence - plus the numbers behind what actually worked.

You’ll hear: a quick Reality Check, a practical Proof Stack (inputs → actions → outcomes), and one EnergyOS habit you can run this week. Specifics over slogans; humane systems over hustle cosplay.

New episodes every Wednesday at 12:00 PM ET.

👉 Book your 20-min Exploration Call: https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/explorationplugin-20min

[00:05.5]
Networking has a branding problem. People act like it's either fake, transactional, or some weird business card mating ritual. But the truth is networking is infrastructure. It's how opportunities move. It's how support shows up. It's how the next door opens.

[00:22.4]
Today's episode is the receipts. Two Boston College friends cross paths 20 years later and end up on the same season of Shark Tank, one week apart, and immediately start trading real resources, an ad agency, PR, mentorship.

[00:39.5]
That is what's real. Relationships compound. Welcome back to "Is Anything Real?", the reality-first leadership show where operators test advice and publish the receipts so you can ship what works. I'm Adam W. Barney, transition leadership coach for executives and founders, author, and host of this podcast.

[00:59.2]
Today is a full-circle episode with two guests I also realized we've probably crossed paths at the same concerts and music festivals over the years. Tiffany McCasland, entrepreneur with over 20 years in strategic communications and marketing, previously helped scale brands, including Citi Bonfires.

[01:18.8]
And she's now bringing her newest product, The Chair Blanket, to Shark Tank, a patented cozy blanket and windproof, waterproof chair cover designed to make outdoor events more comfortable. And Sarah Fox, founder of Rip Tie Hair and based in San Diego.

[01:36.2]
She launched Rip Tide with $2,000 after years before, dealing with post-dive hair tangles while living in Guam and working at a scuba shop. What started as a pure diver solution has grown into a brand used across communities, with 500,000 units sold.

[01:54.8]
Here's the wild part. You both went to Boston College, more than crossed paths back then, and now you're both on the same season of Shark Tank. Sarah, Tiffany, welcome to the chaos. Thank you so much for having us. Thank you, it's so great to be here.

[02:10.8]
I'm excited. So let's start with that big myth I think that we want to cover. Networking is fake and it's transactional. But the reality of it is that networking is how operators survive and thrive. Let's do sort of a reality check here. Most people treat networking like a nice-to-have, or something they'll do when they're successful.

[02:29.7]
But I've seen the opposite and you're case in point of that, people who last build relationships before they need them. What's the biggest lie people believe about networking? I agree with you. I think it's that it's a purely transactional relationship.

[02:45.0]
I remember the first time that I went to a networking event. I was in college, about to graduate. I hid in the bathroom because I didn't know what to say to anybody. Because it felt to me like I was walking up to people, and I wanted something from them.

[03:03.2]
But I think that for networking, we can cast a wider net than just having a target at like, a networking dinner or a trade show. And that everyone you come into contact with, you can find something that you have in common, and then later down the road, that can lead to opportunities.

[03:22.2]
Right, right. I love that. And, you know, I can tell that's probably where relationships have saved you a number of times. Sarah, as a founder who's been scrappy and non-linear, but, you know, Tiffany, as someone who's built multiple things, what do you think people misunderstand about asking for help?

[03:43.3]
I think that a lot of times people can see it as bothering you, or you may not have the time to help them, or the time to listen. And for me, it's truly the opposite. I really enjoy helping other people, and connecting the dots, and connecting them to resources and people who I may know that can help them.

[04:01.9]
So, you know, I think that it's definitely something that I pride myself in doing. And having grown up in a military family and moving around all the time, it was a skill that I had to learn really quickly was how to find commonalities with people, because I would go into a new school and be the new person, and not know anybody, or go into an event.

[04:24.5]
And so I think that it's really a great skill to have is to find, you know, be able to walk up to someone, find that commonality, and not... Like here in D.C., it's very much like inside the Beltway. It's very much about what you do and who you know.

[04:40.4]
And that's not my vibe. And that I think can definitely turn people off is like, you know, what can you do for me today? But seeing it more as, like, how can I help lift you up?

[04:56.5]
And how can, like, my experiences, you know, kind of create a path for you as well? Yep. Yeah. And I would say I've seen it time and time again, through my own journey as well. And I'm sure you would agree, if you wait until you need the network, you're actually already late.

[05:14.1]
Absolutely. Yeah. All right. I want to set the scene, almost like a movie. You're at Boston College 20 years ago, then you reencounter each other on a Shark Tank legal call. I would say, that's probably the most unromantic reunion location imaginable.

[05:33.5]
Tiffany, what was the exact moment you saw Sarah's name pop up, and you were like, wait, I know her? Yeah. So ABC has all the entrepreneurs from the season get on a Zoom call, and you learn sort of the legalities of your NDA, and what you can and can't do, and what you can and can't say.

[05:51.2]
And I was looking at all the names of the entrepreneurs and the companies, and I saw Sarah, and I was just like, oh, my gosh, that's Sarah. I know her. And I actually had, I think, I messaged her on LinkedIn, but I didn't hear back. And so I know we're also connected on Facebook and Instagram.

[06:07.1]
And so, like, I DM'd her on Instagram, I don't know how much longer after, and then she immediately got back to me on Instagram. So, yeah, it was so awesome to reconnect that way and have that, you know, like, new commonality of this experience that not many people get to have at all.

[06:26.5]
That's, great. And, you know, Sarah, when Tiffany reached out, did you immediately remember the connection, or were you like, who is this person, and why is she in my messages? So I think, yeah, I met Tiffany when I was 18, a couple years before that networking event that I mentioned earlier.

[06:46.5]
But I was 18. I was new on campus. It was, I think, my second day at Boston College. I think I moved in on a Friday, and classes started Monday, so it may be, like, Saturday night. And there was another girl from my high school who was also a freshman.

[07:05.5]
And her older sister, who I knew from our hometown, invited us to go out with her and her friends on that first Saturday night, which was pretty, you know, we felt pretty cool. We're like, oh, yeah. We've got something to do. We're hanging out with the upperclassmen. And Tiffany was my friend's sister's roommate, so that is actually how we met.

[07:32.2]
So she and her roommate took us to an upperclassmen party, showed us around campus, kind of gave us the whole college experience, introduced us to college life. So, yeah, definitely have some really strong, strong memories of Tiffany from that time period in my life.

[07:52.7]
So we had, you know, we had fallen out of touch after college. She was a little bit older than me, but we were connected on Facebook and Instagram for all of those years. And I remember seeing things about her business pop up on her Instagram.

[08:08.5]
So I did have a connection there where I'm like, oh, we're both small business owners. So then when she messaged me, after the call, yeah, I was like, oh, my gosh, of course. Like, if I'm going to see anybody on a Shark Tank call, it's going to be Tiffany.

[08:25.4]
But what's been, what's been so cool is, as you mentioned, she has 20 years of experience with scaling brands, whereas I am a little bit newer in that space. So just like when I was 18 and needed to be shown around campus, I feel like reconnecting with her has been amazing because she can kind of, you know, tell me all about what she's been doing for the last 20 years and how she scaled brands.

[08:48.4]
And it's a lot of lessons that I can get from her. So that's been so cool. I think this is the part people miss a lot, right? And you're emphasizing this. What this experience was wasn't networking for you both.

[09:06.5]
It was actually recognition. It was pattern memory. It was humans being human. And, you know, obviously, this is a great example of how network isn't built in big moments. It's actually built in small connections and small reconnections. Yeah, absolutely.

[09:24.7]
All right, proof stack time: inputs > actions > outcomes. Because networking matters is cute. I want to kind of dig into the receipts. What did each of you have in this moment? You know, you had the shared history, a shared context, the Shark Tank experience.

[09:40.7]
What were the inputs that made this reconnection work and grow?

[09:47.6]
Well, I think that sometimes entrepreneurship can be a little lonely because, a lot of people, if you haven't founded a company before, there is so much that you are dealing with all the time. Every decision is going to be your responsibility.

[10:05.6]
And a lot of people can't relate to that as well if they haven't done it. So something, I think what we immediately connected over was how it's, like, how it's going, how you deal with, like, being, you know, the person that has to make every decision. We also both have young children, so that's another thing that we connected over.

[10:25.6]
Like, how do you balance having a family with having a business? Because they're both so important. But you need to balance it because you can't ignore one totally in the favor of the other. I mean, you also didn't just do a catch-up, you immediately started trading real resources.

[10:47.6]
You know, Tiffany, you switched to Sarah's ad agency. Sarah, you got connected to Tiffany's PR person. That's actual value exchange. You know what, Tiffany, made you confident enough to switch agencies based on Sarah's referral, and Sarah, what made you say yes to that intro?

[11:07.2]
And what does it feel like when a peer with experience becomes that real-time mentor? Yeah, I think, clearly I trust Sarah, and I've seen what she's grown and the amazing brand that she's built, and the presence that she has on social media, and her brand has on social media.

[11:24.9]
So having been through my fair share of ad agencies and consultants, you know, I really took what she was saying to heart. And we also use the same social media consultant, which has been like a massive help for me too.

[11:43.9]
And that resource came from Sarah as well. So, I think just, you know, as she said, like being able to not only trade sort of those like, what are we doing? Like, you know, how do we handle something like Shark Tank and then, you know, what are you doing on a day-to-day, how are handling inventory preparations or projections, and then also, like, how are you doing this as a mom?

[12:08.8]
Like we both are a mom of boys. And and yeah, like when did you start traveling when your child was younger. And you know, she was just sharing that she went to China, and you know, went to her factory, and things like that.

[12:24.1]
Like, it's just there's so many, we have the BC base, and then the Shark Tank piece, but there's like so many levels of commonalities that we share just being you know, moms and entrepreneurs. And I mean, this might be tough to get back to, but what changed because of the reconnection even within two weeks?

[12:47.6]
Was it, you know, talking about pipeline, clarity, confidence? What actually changed quickly there? Well, I think that we both had resources that we felt were strong that we shared with each other. So Tiffany mentioned the ad agency I use, also the social media consultant.

[13:06.6]
For me, I had never done any kind of PR or outreach, whereas that's something that Tiffany's been really strong in in the past. So you know, when you talk to new agencies or new consultants, and they send you case studies, you know that they're really curated and edited, right?

[13:26.1]
Like they're not telling you the bad one. So I think that having somebody that you know, personally vouch, is just a powerful step, because it's like, okay, this isn't just some curated, like one case study.

[13:41.8]
This is somebody I actually know and who's having real results. And I, I think too, going back to what Sarah said about the loneliness of entrepreneurship. Not to say there's a loneliness in the Shark Tank process, but you really can't talk to people about it.

[13:59.0]
And, so it was helpful to have someone that's going through it at the same time, and definitely helped that loneliness and that anxiety of the whole process and experience.

[14:13.9]
That's a great point. And I mean, this is all digging into how networking isn't just about vibes, right? It's about the leverage you can get from other people. I don't want to focus too much on Shark Tank, but let's cover something everyone thinks they understand, but they don't.

[14:33.6]
You know, Shark Tank looks like an overnight rocket ship, but you both know it's an animal. What's the biggest myth people believe about Shark Tank and what it does for a business?

[14:53.5]
You both probably have different answers here.

[14:58.3]
I mean, I didn't really know what to expect going into it, but a big piece of it, or at least from my point of view, you know, my husband and I pitched together and we were in the Tank for at least 45 minutes. And so, what they actually edit and how they craft the story is really interesting.

[15:18.9]
And it's not necessarily how the conversation flowed or even the reasons why the Sharks went out. Like, it's very interesting how they piece it all together. So I think, you know, that bit of it, I don't know if people actually understand how it's television.

[15:34.0]
Right. So it is like an edited story, strategically. And then also there's a good percentage of companies that film, that don't air. That causes a lot of anxiety too, because you can go through this whole process and then never actually get on the show.

[15:54.2]
And so we were both very lucky that not only do we both get on the show, but we both walked out with a deal, or, you know, winners in the sense of Shark Tank. So, yeah, so that's been really cool to be each other's cheerleaders. And then having the episodes air back-to-back was just wild too.

[16:13.1]
The timing of that was very crazy. It's the magic of serendipity coming together in so many different ways. We don't hear much about how the experience can actually be stressful or messy.

[16:33.4]
So that's incredible to hear a part of what people never see.

[16:41.6]
Yeah, I think it can be. The filming is, I thought it was pretty stressful standing there, and you have no notes, you don't have your P&L in front of you, and you're getting asked a lot of questions. And so kind of keeping your cool. And also still getting across the points that you want to get across, and what is great about your business.

[17:04.1]
I mean, I would say it was the most stressful pitch of my life.

[17:10.5]
So I would say what maybe people don't know about Shark Tank is. So you do see a really big bump right after, right after your episode airs. You see, you get like a lot of visitors on your website. You get more sales than normal. But I think what is difficult is to continue that momentum and make sure that it isn't just a moment, like a peak, but rather that you can build on that.

[17:33.9]
Or almost use it as a starting point and then have to continue it, you know? Right. Yes, yes. But it's a situation where the spotlight is loud, but the systems are quiet. But they're critically important there to be able to rely upon as well.

[17:49.1]
Because I've heard other folks who've been on Shark Tank, who get that bump in terms of traffic or visibility, and they can't even handle the product delivery, the sales, or they sell out immediately, which is a whole other unexpected ball of wax here.

[18:07.7]
Yeah. And planning that inventory, I mean, we just really lucked out, honestly, that our inventory arrived the week before because they only give you two. And, they gave us two and a half weeks notice. And there would have been no way to actually replenish our inventory. It just magically worked out that, you know, our inventory was delivered the week prior.

[18:28.9]
But, I will say too, what I've seen so far is the amount of people that have been on Shark Tank and the other entrepreneurs that are also networking and helping you, and want you to succeed, as well. And that's been really cool to see. Like people that have reached out to me on LinkedIn just in like a cold DM that's like, Hey, I was on Shark Tank too.

[18:49.7]
The resources that are passed around. This is how you should prepare. Three weeks prior, you should think about writing blog content, or you need to really focus on SEO, and just giving you those tips of people that have been there before.

[19:05.7]
And again, people that I've never met. But they're kind of like pulling you up and into that network as well, which is something I'm very excited about. I'm very excited to be part of that Shark Tank entrepreneurial network. And I've heard that it's just can be such a wealth of help and information, and conferences and events, whether it's like officially sponsored or not.

[19:31.7]
So that, I mean, I think that kind of like ties us back to that networking piece of like having that commonality and that experience again, that not that many people have had. Well, in that vein, I'd love to have you both close us out with one runnable move.

[19:49.0]
You know, if someone's listening and they're building something, what's one move they can run this week to build relationship infrastructure without being weird?

[20:02.9]
I would say cast a wide net when it comes to networking. Don't focus on people that you're like, oh, that person could get me this. And rather just cast a wide net. Talk to people in any kind of situation you're in, whether it's a networking event, whether it is, you know, I don't know, watching your kids' gymnastics meet.

[20:23.4]
Just anybody you meet, you can talk to, find a commonality. And you never know who's going to open the next door for you. But if you're laser-focused on who you think might open the next door, then you might miss the person that actually will open the next door. And just like Sarah said about being at your kids' sports events or what have you.

[20:43.5]
When I first moved to Washington D.C. and I didn't know a lot of people I joined at the time, it was kickball. Like I joined a kickball team and that was such a great way to meet people. We played on the National Mall, and it was all like young professionals just graduated from college.

[20:59.5]
And so I think again, having that commonality, but not just like staying in your lane, like taking those risks and chances of going and doing something new or going to a new place or reconnecting with your boss. For us, Boston College alumni groups or finding that commonality and being able to connect.

[21:22.6]
That's great. And I mean, you know, I think there are maybe some other things that listeners can do. Maybe, you know, the five reach out. Five short voice notes, let's say to peers. A little bit of, saw this thought of you, proud of you. I like to also work in the framework of the one ask, one give. So make one specific ask, one specific give, merge those together every week.

[21:47.1]
Or I think you both are a great example of the reconnect loop. Right. Remessage three dormant connections, weave in a real memory and a real offer, or an opportunity to reconnect. And those pieces that they can use

[22:09.1]
so that it doesn't feel like it's performative networking theater. Right? Yeah. All right. And also, energy isn't a vibe, it's a constraint. And relationships conserve energy when they're built early and they're ready. But Sarah, Tiffany, I always end here.

[22:26.1]
Is anything real in networking and in business? Well, I think we're proof that there's real things that can come from networking in business. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

[22:44.2]
Well, where can folks find each of you: Rip Tie, The Chair Blanket, and everything you're both building? Yes. You can find The Chair Blanket at thechairblanket.com and we also sell it on citybonfires.com and I'm available on LinkedIn.

[23:00.2]
I'm happy to connect with any listeners and see what our commonalities might be. Okay, you can find riptiehair.com and you can also find me on LinkedIn. All right.

[23:15.3]
And we'll, of course, link to those in the show notes below. But you know, before we stop recording, confirm for me, on the record, you're both Dave Matthews people, because that really explains everything today of why we're here. Absolutely.

[23:30.6]
That's very hard to imagine.

[23:34.8]
All right, well, if this episode hit you. Sorry, Sarah, go ahead. Oh, I was gonna say, is there anybody who went to college in the early 2000's and in Boston and wasn't a Dave Matthews fan? Yeah, I don't know many people. Like, no.

[23:50.1]
I love it. I love it. All right, you know, if this episode hit you send it to one founder who thinks they have to do it alone. And if you're leading through change and want a reality first reset, there's a 20-minute clarity call linked in the show notes below. No pitch, just space to get honest about what's working, what's waste, and the one move to run next.

[24:09.7]
But until next time, proof over performance and ship what works. But Sarah, Tiffany, thank you for joining today.