The Smoke Trail: Season 1, Episode 23 – Waking Up at Grand Canyon University with Robert Vera: Faith, Innovation, and Student Startups

Guest Bio:

Robert Vera is the Founding Director of Canyon Ventures Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Grand Canyon University (GCU), where he empowers student and community founders to transform visions into thriving businesses. Under his leadership since 2019, the center has accelerated over 40 startups and exited seven into the Phoenix market, valued at over $200 million. A 2024 City of Phoenix Mayor’s Export Champion and 2025 Phoenix Business Journal Red Blazer Award recipient, Robert teaches entrepreneurship at GCU, internationally at the University of Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia, and through Peoria, Arizona’s community program. He co-created the STAR® model for corporate innovation and Founders Forum for emerging entrepreneurs. Robert’s career spans U.S. Senate service, corporate finance, and a health-tech startup exit. A bestselling author of A Warrior’s Faith and co-author of Perfectly Wounded, he highlights resilience through stories of Navy SEALs. A Boston College walk-on football player (Hall of Fame Bowl Champion), multiple Ironman finisher, and Grand Canyon trek leader, Robert holds a B.A. from Boston College, an MBA from GCU, and is completing his Ph.D. This episode also features student entrepreneurs Lucas (Powder Pal), Nick (Hoolist), and others, showcasing faith-driven innovation.

Setting:

Recorded at Grand Canyon University’s Canyon Ventures Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Phoenix, Arizona, where open workspaces buzz with student startups and collaborative energy, this episode captures Smoke Wallin’s enthusiastic dialogue with Robert Vera and three young founders. The center’s innovative vibe—blending faith, grit, and entrepreneurial spirit—creates a sacred space for awakening potential, set against Phoenix’s dynamic metro backdrop.

Summary:

Smoke Wallin visits Grand Canyon University’s Canyon Ventures, interviewing Founding Director Robert Vera and three student entrepreneurs to explore faith-based innovation and conscious leadership. Robert shares his journey from U.S. Senate service and corporate finance to creating Canyon Ventures in 2019, starting with an empty room and no budget, building an ecosystem where students gain paid experience supporting startups. He emphasizes entrepreneurs as “faith-filled misfits” betting on visions from a higher power, fostering an “unfair advantage” through professional networks and hope as “abundance of options,” as in Episode 19’s collective genius. Smoke chats with Lucas of Powder Pal, a dissolvable collagen supplement born from his golf performance anxiety, scaling to $160K in six months via TikTok Live. Nick of Hoolist describes his vagus nerve stimulator for panic attacks, evolving from engineering research to hands-free headphones and GABA supplements, helping athletes and high-performers. The episode highlights GCU’s abundance mindset, where failures teach winning, and spiritual alignment fuels success, inspiring listeners to harness collective hope for transformative impact.

Learnings:

• Faith Fuels Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurs’ visions from a higher power, as Robert teaches, drive innovation, per Episode 19’s alignment.
• Fail Fast, Learn More: Quick pivots from setbacks, like Lucas’s TikTok shift, accelerate growth, echoing Episode 18’s resilience.
• Collective Ecosystem Empowers: Canyon Ventures’ support network, providing paid experience, builds unfair advantages, as in Episode 19’s genius.
• Vibration Drives Performance: Nick’s vagus nerve tools for calm, per Episode 21’s compassion, enhance focus under pressure.
• Hope is Abundance: Viewing problems as options, as Robert’s “epidemic of hope,” transforms failures into wins, per Episode 20’s trajectory.

Universal Truths:

• Divinity Guides Vision: Entrepreneurs’ ideas from a higher source, per Episode 15’s synchronicity, manifest through faith.
• Consciousness Creates Success: Raising vibration, as in Episode 22’s vibes, unlocks abundance, per Episode 11’s health.
• Collective Genius Transforms: Shared wisdom, per Episode 19’s buy-in, elevates all, as in Episode 18’s love.
• Resilience is Grit: Embracing failures, per Episode 3’s triumph, builds epidemics of hope.
• Presence Heals Stress: Tools for calm, per Episode 21’s empathy pivot, align with Episode 17’s intentionality.

Examples:

• Canyon Ventures Launch: Robert’s start with nothing in 2019, launching 40 startups, reflects Episode 19’s alignment, creating $200M value.
• Powder Pal Scaling: Lucas’s TikTok Live demos, hitting $160K in six months, echoes Episode 15’s manifestation.
• Hoolist Innovation: Nick’s vagus stimulator for panic, evolving to headphones and GABA, aligns with Episode 22’s healing.
• Student Walk-On: Robert’s Boston College football grit mirrors Episode 18’s resilience, inspiring student founders.
• Epidemic of Hope: Robert’s vision of transforming communities, per Episode 20’s clean-up, fuels GCU’s ecosystem.

Smoke Trail Threads:

• Consciousness (Episodes 1, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22): Robert’s faith-driven innovation ties to Smoke’s awakening, Steve Hershberger’s map, Ivan Rados’ health, Chris Clements’ action, Rob Follows’ intentionality, Rob Hersov’s love, Dave Garrison’s genius, Mark Walker’s vibes, and Episodes 16-17, 20-21’s tools.
• Leadership (Episodes 4, 6, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22): Robert’s ecosystem aligns with Michael Brabant’s safe workplaces, Justin Breen’s vulnerability, Elizabeth Funk’s empowerment, Rob Follows’ significance, Rob Hersov’s advocacy, Dave Garrison’s alignment, Mark Walker’s intentionality, and Episodes 16-17’s conscious leadership.
• Resilience (Episodes 2, 3, 5, 18, 20, 22): Robert’s grit echoes Sarah Fruehling’s trauma recovery, Jack Maxwell’s triumph, Shireen Hafeez’s advocacy, Rob Hersov’s truth, Episode 20’s trajectory, and Mark Walker’s healing.
• Presence (Episodes 2, 3, 8, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22): Nick’s calm tools echo Sarah Fruehling’s breathwork, Jack Maxwell’s living now, Liv Fisch’s holding space, Rob Follows’ meditation, Dave Garrison’s curiosity, Mark Walker’s vibes, and Episodes 16-17, 20-21’s calm.

 • • Healing (Episodes 2, 8, 10, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22): Nick’s vagus stimulation aligns with Sarah Fruehling’s EMDR, Liv Fisch’s human medicine, Dani Brooks’ coherence, Mark Walker’s regenerative living, and Episodes 16-17, 20-21’s hairballs.