How to Turn Customers Into Raving Fans with Savannah Bananas Owner Jesse Cole

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Customers come and go. Fans will drive 40 hours just to be in the room with you.

I've wanted Jesse Cole on this show for a long time, and this conversation went further than I hoped. More than 4 million people are on a waitlist for a ticket to one of his games. He's drawn crowds bigger than the Super Bowl. And he's done it by obsessing over the thing I believe matters most as AI moves into every business: how people feel when they deal with you.

This was not an overnight success. Jesse's pro baseball dream ended with a torn shoulder. He spent ten years running a team almost nobody came to see. Then he and his wife, Emily, bet everything on a college summer team in Savannah, and in the first three months, they sold two tickets. What happened next became the Banana Ball Championship League and one of the great American business stories.

I asked him the question every entrepreneur in a hard season needs answered: why didn't you quit? I share what it felt like when my own baseball dream ended. I push back on founders who build companies just to sell them, and I explain why most big exits aren't what they look like. And I challenge Jesse on what separates great entrepreneurs: they keep improving even when everything is already working.

We finish with what Jesse and Emily are building off the field, and it may be the most powerful part of the whole conversation.

Here's what you'll gain from this episode:

Fans vs. Customers: Why one is transactional and the other will defend you when you make a mistake.

The Friction Question: The one question that sparked Banana Ball, and how it applies to a realtor, a dry cleaner, or any business.

Attention Beats Marketing: Why Jesse hasn't spent a dollar on marketing since opening night, and what he does instead.

The Energy List: How Jesse found what fuels him, and why it changed the way he shows up as a leader and a dad.

Lessons from Walt Disney: Two principles Jesse built his company on, including the one that explains why he won't sell.

Learn, Change, Plus: The nightly habit that keeps a sold-out business from ever getting comfortable.

Two tickets in three months. That's where this started. Whatever season you're in right now, get to the next day, then the next one. You are much closer to your dreams than you realize.

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