Jake Karls, Lezlie Karls & Nick Saltarelli
Co-Founders | Rule Breakers | Brand Builders
The Mid-Day Squares founders show teams how radical transparency and content-first brand building turn scrappy startups into national consumer movements.
Jake, Lezlie, and Nick are the three wildly different personalities behind Mid-Day Squares — one of the fastest-growing functional chocolate brands in North America. Built out of a condo kitchen in Montreal, the trio took Mid-Day Squares from zero to a nationally distributed, multi-million dollar brand by breaking every traditional rule in the CPG playbook.
What Jake speaks on.
What happens when you mix a family trio, zero filter, and a relentless drive to shake up an industry?
You get Mid-Day Squares — and the real story behind how a condo kitchen in Montreal turned into one of North America’s most talked-about brands.
This is not a polished keynote.
It’s a live, high-energy, behind-the-scenes experience.
The format:
Jake opens the session with 20 minutes of pure electricity. He sets the tone, primes the room, and pulls the audience into the origin story — the breakdowns, the bets, the moments that almost broke them.
For the next 20–25 minutes, Jake, Lezlie, and Nick sit down together for an unfiltered, unscripted conversation. No slides. No rehearsed talking points. Just the three founders unpacking what actually happened behind the scenes:
• Building a culture where honesty isn’t optional • Burnout when your face is the brand • Conflict between founders and how they worked through it • Why bold leadership beats polished management • What most teams misunderstand about trust and communication
The final segment is dedicated to audience Q&A — where nothing is off limits. This is where the real gold comes out. The specifics. The nuance. The real lessons.
It’s raw. It’s funny. It’s edgy. And it’s real.
This is a unique format — and one audiences absolutely love because it doesn’t feel like a keynote. It feels like you’re inside the room with the founders while they unpack the playbook in real time.
The result?
Practical, immediately applicable lessons on culture, leadership, resilience, brand building, and navigating growth under pressure — delivered in a way your audience won’t forget five minutes after they leave the room.
If you want something safe and predictable, this isn’t it.
If you want a room that’s fully engaged, wide awake, and walking out with ideas they can apply the next day — this is it.
InquireNot a bio.
A fingerprint.
Every speaker scored across 15 dimensions from watching them live. Skim it in three seconds — pick who fits your room.
Straight from the room.
Book Jake for more.
A keynote is one hour. Sometimes what your room actually needs is a workshop, a room-in-a-room advisory, a moderated panel, or a private Q&A. Jake does all of it.
Meet Jake first.
Nobody books off a bio. Hop on a 20-minute Zoom with Jake, size up the chemistry, then decide. No pressure, no runaround.