Most entrepreneurs think success comes from having the perfect idea. Sam Eitzen believes it comes from something far less glamorous: learning to adapt before you have to.

In this episode of The Necessary Entrepreneur, Mark Perkins sits down with Sam Eitzen, Co-Founder and CEO of Snapbar, to discuss how a simple photo booth business evolved into an AI-powered experiential marketing platform serving more than 10,000 brands, including Microsoft, Google, and Toyota.

Sam shares the unfiltered story of building a bootstrapped company for more than a decade, surviving the collapse of the live events industry during COVID-19, making difficult pivots that nearly cost the company everything, and ultimately betting on artificial intelligence to build the next chapter of Snapbar.

Along the way, Mark and Sam explore why trust has become one of the most valuable currencies in business, how curiosity creates better leaders, what founders consistently get wrong about AI, and why the companies that embrace change will outperform those trying to preserve the past.

If you're an entrepreneur, business owner, founder, or leader navigating uncertainty, this conversation offers practical lessons on resilience, innovation, leadership, and building a company that's prepared for whatever comes next.

In this episode:

• Why Snapbar pivoted from photo booths to AI-powered experiences

• The brutal leadership lessons learned during COVID

• Why trust is your greatest competitive advantage

• How curiosity leads to better entrepreneurs

• The biggest misconceptions about artificial intelligence

• How to build a company culture that embraces change

• Why adaptability beats certainty in today's business landscape

• What non-tech companies need to understand about AI

• Leadership lessons from fourteen years of entrepreneurship

• Why playing the long game almost always wins

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