What happens when real community problems meet builders willing to jump in and try?

Hatch-a-thon brings together founders, students, technologists, and community members for a two-week build focused on solving real challenges submitted by local organizations. Demo Night is where those ideas come to life.

In this episode of The Hatch Podcast, we take you inside Hatch-a-thon Demo Night. Recorded live at The University of South Alabama in Fairhope, you’ll hear directly from judges and builders as they share what they built, why they chose their challenge, and what surprised them along the way.

From automation and AI tools to nonprofit solutions and first-time builds, this episode captures the energy of a room full of people learning, experimenting, and building together.

You’ll also hear from Explorer Track award-winning teams, including two mother-daughter teams and an individual builder whose project stood out among a strong field.

This episode is a snapshot of what Hatch-a-thon is really about: real problems, real people, and ideas moving from concept to prototype.

💡 In this episode:

• What Hatch is and how Hatch-a-thon works
• What judges look for on Demo Night
• How builders chose their challenges
• The role of AI and automation in many projects
• Nonprofit problems and people-first solutions
• What it’s like to build for the first time
• Explorer Track award-winning projects

About Hatch-a-thon

Hatch-a-thon is a two-week build event hosted by Hatch Fairhope, where teams select real challenges submitted by community organizations and develop solutions to present on Demo Night. The event brings together builders of all experience levels to learn, collaborate, and create in a supportive environment.

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.

What if the most important creative decisions on your record are made before you ever hit record?

In this episode of The Hatch Podcast: Music Accelerator, host Chris Estes breaks down the often-overlooked but critical role of pre-production in the recording process. From refining arrangements and locking in tempo to clarifying creative direction before studio time begins, pre-production is where strong demos turn into confident, efficient sessions.

Drawing from real studio experiences with Music Accelerator artists Josh Lindsay and Jerica Nicole, Chris explains how intentional preparation saves time, protects your budget, and leads to better performances once the red light turns on.

🎧 Pre-Production Essentials Every Independent Artist Should Know:

Preparing with Purpose: Why pre-production brings clarity and creative focus.
Arrangement & Tempo: Making key musical decisions before studio time starts.
Modern Tools & Workflows: Using home studios and AI tools to explore direction early.
Studio Efficiency: How preparation leads to faster sessions and stronger performances.
Avoiding Costly Re-Tracks: Why decisions made early save money later.
Album-Level Thinking: Using pre-production to shape a cohesive body of work.

Whether you’re recording a single, an EP, or a full album, this episode offers practical guidance for artists who want to work smarter, protect their budget, and bring their best ideas into the studio fully formed.

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.

What if the most advanced medical imaging could go anywhere it’s needed, without sacrificing quality?

In this episode of The Hatch Podcast, we explore how Patifina is redefining how healthcare is delivered by bringing hospital-grade imaging and diagnostics to hospitals, rural communities, disaster response settings, and beyond.

Hosted by Stephanie Glines, the conversation features Damon Burrows, CEO of Patifina, and Chris St. Pierre, who is helping lead commercialization of the platform. Together, they discuss how Patifina combines flexible integrated systems, modular mobile imaging, intelligent networks, AI powered workflows, and secure data platforms to deliver diagnostics that can outperform traditional hospital equipment while expanding access everywhere.

The episode also highlights how Patifina’s platform unites imaging, diagnostics, artificial intelligence, and financial access into one connected ecosystem designed to strengthen healthcare resilience and equity worldwide.

💡 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How Patifina delivers hospital-grade imaging in mobile and modular settings
• Why distributed diagnostics can outperform traditional hospital imaging
• What this flexibility means for hospitals, rural clinics, disaster zones, and global care
• How AI and secure data platforms empower patient access and precision workflows
• Why Patifina’s integrated ecosystem is reshaping how care is delivered and financed

Featured Guests

Damon Burrows
CEO, Patifina

Chris St. Pierre
Commercialization Lead, Patifina

Learn More

To learn more about Patifina and its advanced imaging ecosystem, visit patifina.com.

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.

The Hatch Podcast is a show about people building things.

Each episode features honest conversations with founders, creators, and builders working on ideas that are still taking shape — from startups and bioscience to technology and music.

The podcast is connected to Hatch, an innovation hub on the Gulf Coast supporting founders and creators across Lower Alabama, but the stories go beyond any one place.

These are real conversations, with people in the middle of the work.

New episodes weekly.

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.

What do Randy Owen, Jamey Johnson, Jimmy Buffett, and Lionel Richie have in common?

They all trace their story back to Alabama.

In this episode of the Hatch Podcast Music Accelerator, Hatch producer Tim Scott reaches back into his radio archives to curate rare audio and conversations with artists from different generations and genres, all shaped by the same place and the same foundation.

From northeast Alabama, Randy Owen reflects on growing up in Fort Payne, working the land, and learning early lessons about character and humility that helped shape one of the most successful bands in country music history.

From Montgomery, Jamey Johnson talks candidly about success, pressure, and refocusing on who he was really writing songs for. Jamey scored his own breakthrough hit with “In Color” and wrote major songs recorded by other artists, including “Give It Away,” which became a number-one hit for George Strait.

From Mobile, Jimmy Buffett shares the story behind his duet with Alan Jackson, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.” The song went on to spend eight weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and became Alan Jackson’s first pop crossover hit. Jimmy, who passed away in 2023, explains how the collaboration came together not in a studio or a boardroom, but through boats, fishing, and time spent together far from Nashville.

And from Tuskegee, Lionel Richie reflects on longevity, connection, and what it means to stay human across decades in music. Drawing from his experience as a judge on American Idol, Lionel talks about personality, self-awareness, and why talent lasts longer when you don’t lose yourself along the way.

Different eras.
Different sounds.
One foundation.

This episode isn’t about a genre.
It’s about perspective, humility, and stories that travel far beyond Alabama.

That’s what Alabama put in the music.

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.

What does innovation actually look like on the Gulf Coast and across lower Alabama?

In this episode of the Hatch Podcast, we’re taking a look back at some of the conversations that shaped 2025. Rather than a highlight reel, this episode offers a snapshot of the kinds of discussions we’ve been having on the show, across business, bioscience, healthcare, development, and the creative economy.

These conversations come from different industries and perspectives, but they share a common thread: people doing thoughtful, often difficult work in the places they’ve chosen to build.

Featured conversations include:

Michael Lynch — CHONEX
Michael shares how CHONEX is using biology and process to turn agricultural waste into something useful, with implications for soil health and sustainable systems. His conversation offers a grounded look at what innovation actually looks like when it’s hands-on and operational.
🔗 https://www.chonex.ag

Chris Harber — Simparo Surgical
Chris talks about identifying inefficiencies in common surgical procedures and rethinking how those procedures can be done more reliably and consistently. The conversation focuses on practical medtech innovation and improving outcomes through better design.
🔗 https://simparosurgical.com

Dr. Grant Zarzour — Sperity Health
Grant discusses prevention, longevity, and why healthcare needs to start long before someone becomes a patient. His perspective reframes health around risk, time, and quality of life rather than reactive treatment.
🔗 https://www.sperityhealth.com

68 Ventures — Around the Table
In a wide-ranging conversation, the team at 68 Ventures reflects on failure, resilience, and what it actually takes to build teams and organizations over the long term. The discussion emphasizes patience, perspective, and learning through experience.
🔗 https://www.68ventures.com

Susan Godwin — Music Accelerator (119 Collective at Hatch)
Susan breaks down music publishing, licensing, and ownership, explaining why so many artists misunderstand how publishing works and why education is critical. Her conversation highlights the importance of protecting creative work and building sustainable careers in the music industry.
🔗 https://119collective.hatchfairhope.com

This episode is designed as an entry point, a way to understand what kinds of conversations happen on the Hatch Podcast and why they matter.

There’s a lot more coming in 2026, and we’re glad you’re here.

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.

What does it look like to build technology outside a traditional tech hub?

For Kai Gray, it starts with a simple belief: you don’t have to be in Silicon Valley to build something that matters.

In this episode of The Hatch Podcast: Founders Series, Kai shares his journey from major tech markets to Fairhope, Alabama, where he’s building both a company and a growing technology community.

As founder and CEO of Motive AI, Kai works directly with businesses to help them make practical, thoughtful use of artificial intelligence. Alongside that work, he also founded Lower Alabama AI, a nonprofit and meetup focused on bringing people together to learn, share, and build around emerging technology on the Gulf Coast.

This episode explores how place, timing, and intention intersect—and why meaningful innovation doesn’t need a major tech hub to take root.

💡In this episode:

• Why building something great doesn’t require a big-city tech hub
• How Fairhope became part of Kai’s story long before the move
• The origins and growth of Lower Alabama AI
• The difference between AI hype and practical adoption
• What it takes for a region to believe it can lead with technology

About the guest

Kai Gray is the founder and CEO of Motive AI, where he helps organizations implement artificial intelligence in practical, business-focused ways. He is also the founder of Lower Alabama AI, a nonprofit focused on education, conversation, and community around technology and AI on the Gulf Coast.

• Motive AI: https://motiveai.ai
• Lower Alabama AI: https://la-ai.io

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.

What does it take to make sure every medical cannabis product in Alabama is truly safe for the patients who depend on it?

For Laboratory Director Natalie Siracusa of Green Health Laboratories, the answer begins with forensic science, public safety, and a commitment to unbiased testing. Before stepping into the cannabis world, Natalie spent years in forensic toxicology and clinical laboratory work, even helping generate the national data that guided the USDA as it shaped federal hemp regulations.

In this episode, she shares how her background in casework and chemical analysis prepared her to tackle one of Alabama’s most closely watched scientific challenges. You’ll hear what happens inside a medical cannabis lab most people will never see, why fraud has plagued the testing industry nationwide, and what it means to bring courtroom-level science to a growing field.

Natalie also breaks down the full journey of a cannabis sample, from intake to a defensible lab report, and offers a clear vision for what patient safety should look like five years from now.

💡 In This Episode
• Why forensic science was the foundation for her career
• How the opioid crisis and synthetic cannabinoids shaped her mission
• The early chaos after the Farm Bill and the data that guided the USDA
• Why fraud and bad science still threaten the cannabis lab industry
• What happens inside a medical cannabis lab from sample to report
• How Green Health is hiring and training the next generation of scientists
• Her vision for safe, high-quality patient care across Alabama

Learn more about Green Health Laboratories:
https://www.greenhealthlaboratories.com

About The Hatch Podcast

At the intersection of innovation, creativity, and community — The Hatch Podcast shares stories from founders, scientists, and artists shaping the future of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

🎧 Follow us on your favorite platform and share an episode to help us grow.

🔗 Learn more: hatchfairhope.com

📩 Contact: team@hatchfairhope.com

Produced by Tim Scott for The Hatch Podcast Network.