Andy Mewborn

Distribute

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Founder & Customer Support

Taplio

Co-Founder

Outreach

Enterprise Sales

Sales Engineering Lead

Scaled the early success team to 14 people.

Manager - Customer Success

Early Employee.
Specialties: Data Sync, API, Onboarding, Platform Integrations, Partner Ecosystem

Product 

Start-Up Chile

Our team was selected for Generation 11 of Start-Up Chile (the YC of South America). We provided solar energy services and installed solar power systems.

Gridlee - Co-founder & Sales

Progress Chef

Sales Development Representative

Muhuru Bay Community Microgrid Project

Designed 3kW off-grid power system
Modeled renewable energy resources at remote site
Implemented system in Kenya
Tested and installed 11-channel GSM telemetry system

Electrical Engineer

Seattle City Light

Power Systems Engineer

Distribute.so

I use to be young & cool. Now I do b2b SaaS. 

Husband. Dad. Ironman. Pilot. Taco lover. 

Founder of Distribute // Co-founder of Taplio (acq. by Lemlist) // Early @ Outreach.io.

Creator

A community of over 4,000+ B2B professionals growing together on Linkedin.

• "Brand30 absolutely did wonders for my business." -Maritha Koortzen

• "Brand30 changed the trajectory of my life...To say it’s opening doors for me is an understatement" - Amanda Stern

• "Brand30 provided the group accountability and expert advice I needed to more than double my LinkedIn engagement in just one month" 

🚀 Start Building An Audience Of Potential Buyers On LinkedIn In 30 Days👇

• https://www.brand30.io/

8 months ago, we had 0 users. Today, Distribute.so has 15,000+ users. I’ve helped build a $250M company before, but this feels different.

Building a startup is glamorized on social media. But the reality is messy. Here are the 7 ugly truths about building fast in 2025 that nobody talks about:

1. Hitting a wall is normal 
I've been stuck at revenue plateaus multiple times. It feels terrible. But you can get moving again if you don't freeze.

2. You will mess up 
I've hired the wrong people. I've built the wrong features. I've spent money on things I didn't need. It's part of the game.

3. People will copy you 
We just beat 4 competitors for a deal. They are going to look at our product and copy it. Let them. By the time they copy us, we will be onto the next thing.

4. Saying "No" is painful 
To close those 18 killer logos, we had to say "no" to hundreds of other ideas. It hurts to say no to customers. But if you try to please everyone, you please no one.

5. Cash flow is everything 
It doesn't matter how cool your idea is. If you run out of money, you die. We watch every dollar.

6. It takes longer than you think 
People overestimate what they can do in a year. And underestimate what they can do in a decade. We are playing the long game.

7. Just start 
Every successful founder started with nothing. No revenue. No customers. No audience. The only difference is they didn't quit.

I’m documenting the whole ride here. The wins. The losses. And the lessons.

Follow along if you want to see how we get to the next level. Just keep building.

Andrew Mewborn

Click my profile, get a free taco 🌮 (also I automate your follow-ups)

7 ugly truths about building fast in 2025

Everyone told me I was crazy. "You can't sell to Enterprise logos without a massive sales team." "You can't be Product-Led and Sales-Led at the same time."

I disagreed. We have 15,000+ users on our self-serve app. But we also just closed 18 massive killer logos in 3 months.

Here is the 7-step playbook we used to move upmarket without losing our soul:

1. We stayed lean intentionally 
Most founders hire 10 reps the moment they get traction. We didn't. We used our own product to handle the volume.

2. We looked at our own backyard 
We didn't buy cold lists. We looked at our 15,000 free users. We found the ones who were using the product every day. Then we asked them: "Who is your boss?"

3. We sold the Result, not the Method killer 
Buyers don't care how your tech works. They care about the problem disappearing. We showed them exactly how Distribute would solve their problem in week 1.

4. We gave before we asked 
We didn't try to trap them in long contracts immediately. We let them use the product. We let them see the value. Trust is built by giving, not taking.

5. We stopped chasing shortcuts 
We didn't use clever tricks. We just focused on making the product 1% better every day. Word of mouth is the only growth strategy that lasts.

6. We kept the team tiny 
We are doing millions in revenue potential with a team that fits in a minivan. This keeps us profitable. And it keeps us hungry.

7. We worked in public 
I shared the wins and the losses on LinkedIn. This built trust with buyers before we ever spoke to them. They felt like they knew us.

TAKEAWAY: You don't need to follow the Silicon Valley rules. You don't need to raise $100M. You don't need a fancy office. You just need a product that people love. And the guts to do it your way.

They said you can't sell Enterprise without a suit.

had our quarterly all-hands today

CEO said we're "laser-focused on execution"

CTO said we're "moving fast and breaking things"

CFO said we have "18 months of runway"

VP Sales said we're "building a repeatable sales motion"

i asked "what does any of that mean?"

got pulled into a 1-on-1 about "culture fit"

turns out "what does that mean?" is not a growth mindset question

i'm now "transitioning to focus on other opportunities"

which means i have 2 weeks to find another company where nobody knows what they're talking about

shouldn't be hard

I helped build Outreach to $250M in revenue. I helped over 4,000 people grow on LinkedIn. Now, I have 15,000+ users on my new company, Distribute.so

I have seen the movie before. And I can tell you that the sequel is very different from the original.

Back in 2015, the playbook was simple: Force the sale. Hire an army of BDRs. Buy a massive list of emails. Send thousands of messages a day. It worked then. It doesn't work now.

Here are the 6 things that have changed in the last 10 years:

1. Buyers ignore the noise 
Email open rates have tanked. Sending more messages doesn't work anymore. You have to earn their attention, not demand it.

2. Don't push, attract 
You can't force a sale anymore. You have to create interest through content and brand. Then you capture that interest when they are ready.

3. Small teams are winning 
We closed 18 killer deals with a tiny team. You don't need 50 reps. You need a few seniors who know what they are doing.

4. Reputation is the new advantage 
Features get copied in a week. But they can't copy who you are. Your personal brand is the most efficient sales channel that exists.

5. Easy beats Powerful 
killer software used to be clunky and expensive. Now, the best tools feel like consumer apps. If it feels like work, they won't use it.

6. Speed over Forecasts 
We don't try to predict every dollar. We try to move fast. We launch, we test, we fix. Speed is the only advantage a startup really has.

TAKEAWAY: If you are still running the 2015 playbook, you are working too hard. The game has changed. You can either complain about it, or you can adapt. We chose to adapt. And it's working.

I helped build Outreach.io to $250M in revenue

I just beat 4 competitors to win a killer contract. We didn't have the most features. We didn't have the biggest sales team. But we have 15,000+ users and just closed our 18th killer logo in 3 months.

How did we do it? We realized that the old way of selling software is broken. Most founders try to build everything for everyone. They add buttons, settings, and complex workflows. They think "more features" equals "more value."

They are wrong. In 2025, buyers are overwhelmed. They don't want another tool they have to learn. They want something that just works.

Here is the 7-step playbook we used to win on Simplicity:

1. Go where the big fish swim 
We didn't wait for them to come to us. We found where they were hanging out and showed up.

2. Prove it, don't pitch it 
Our competitors sent 40-page slide decks. We sent a link to the product. If you have to explain how it works, it's too complicated.

3. The "Zero-Training" Standard 
We built Distribute so a 5th grader could use it. If a user needs a certification to use your tool, you have already lost. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

4. Escape the "Feature Trap" 
Customers will ask for a million things. We said "no" to 90% of them. We only built the things that made the core product faster and easier.

5. Sell it yourself 
I didn't hire a VP of Sales to figure this out. I did it myself. Founders should sell until at least $500K ARR because nobody knows the product like you do.

6. Find the "Aha!" instantly 
We found the one specific thing that made users say "wow." Then we made that experience happen in under 60 seconds.

7. Let the product drive the deal 
When the product is simple, the champion can sell it internally for you. They don't need you to fly in for a demo. They just show their boss, and the boss gets it.

TAKEAWAY: Startups are hard. But in 2025, complex startups are impossible. Stop building more. Start building simpler. That is how you win.

I just beat 4 competitors to win a killer contract

intern: "should I add my phone number to my email signature?"

CEO: "absolutely, we're accessible"

intern: "what about my LinkedIn?"

CEO: "yes, we're modern"

intern: "calendar booking link?"

CEO: "of course, we're efficient"

intern: "headshot?"

CEO: "why not, we're human"

intern sends first email

signature is 47 lines long

includes:

• 3 phone numbers
• 4 social media links
• calendar link
• company tagline
• legal disclaimer
• "Sent from my iPhone"
• sustainability notice about not printing emails
• AI-generated motivational quote

the actual email says "sounds good"

we promoted them to Head of Email Excellence

I spent 3 hours on a crap ton of follow-ups at Outreach while we scaled to $250M. Now our 15,000+ Distribute users do better follow-ups in 30 seconds. After closing 18 deals in the past few months, I learned something most founders miss: complexity kills deals, simplicity closes them.

Here's why the best salespeople are deleting tools, not adding them:

1// YOUR BUYERS DON’T WANT YOUR 55-SLIDE DECK

They want one page with what you discussed, the ROI, and next steps.

We tracked 10,000+ deals.

Average time on slide decks? 47 seconds.

Average time on simple deal pages? 8 minutes.


2// YOUR CHAMPION CAN’T SELL INTERNALLY WITH MEETING NOTES

They need a business case, ROI calculator, and executive summary.

Not a transcript.

When we switched from sending 27 attachments to one link, deal velocity increased MUCHO.


3// EVERY TOOL YOU ADD CREATES ANOTHER PLACE TO LOSE

The average rep uses 10+ tools for follow-ups.

Fathom for notes. Loom for demos. Google Docs for emails. Canva for slides.

The winners? They use one tool that does it all.


4// SIMPLICITY SPREADS FASTER THAN FEATURES

When we made Distribute dead simple, word-of-mouth exploded.

No training needed. No change management.

Just send your follow-up in 30 seconds and move on.


TAKEAWAY:

I watched Outreach grow because it simplified prospecting.

Now I'm watching Distribute grow because it simplifies follow-ups.

The pattern is clear.

Simplicity isn't just a feature.

It's a moat.

We beat 4 competitors  with 90% fewer features

prospect: "tell me about your product"

me: "what if I told you that you could save 20 hours per week?"

prospect: "how?"

me: "great question. let me share my screen. can you see this?"

prospect: "yes"

me: "perfect. so imagine your current workflow..."

**proceeds to spend 40 minutes describing their own job back to them**

me: "...and that's where we come in"

prospect: "what does your product actually do?"

me: "I'm going to send over some case studies and let's reconnect next week"

booked the follow-up

still haven't answered what we do

this is sales

investors rejected our pitch deck last month

they said our projections were "unrealistic"

we were forecasting $100M ARR by year 2 with zero marketing spend

i asked "don't you believe in product-led growth?"

they said "you have 3 customers"

so i updated the deck

changed "customers" to "enterprise partners"

changed "3" to "a curated selection of design partners"

changed "$47 MRR" to "high-intent early revenue signals"

we raised $8M Series A last week

words matter more than numbers

Last week I asked 4,000+ sellers how long they spend on follow-ups. 73% said 2-3 hours. That's 750 hours per year writing emails nobody reads. I helped build Outreach to $250M, and even we were wasting time on follow-ups.

Here's the math that'll make you sick:

Let's say you close 20 deals per year. Each deal takes 5 calls. Each call needs a 3-hour follow-up. That's 300 hours. Or 37.5 work days. You're spending 2 months per year on admin work.

**screams at sky***

While you write follow-ups, your competitors are on their next call.

Here's what actually works in 2025:

1// Stop crafting. Start automating.

AI can write better follow-ups than you.
It remembers everything. Never forgets the ROI discussion.
Includes the right case studies.
Our 15,000 users proved this.

2// Stop sending files. Send experiences.

PDFs get lost.
Attachments get ignored.
But a personalized page? That gets shared with the CFO.
We see 3x higher engagement on deal pages vs traditional follow-ups.

3// Stop hoping. Start tracking.

You need to know when the CFO views pricing. When legal downloads the contract. When your deal goes cold.

Email can't tell you this. 

The sellers crushing quota aren't working harder.

They're working different.

They turned 3-hour follow-ups into 30 seconds.

And their buyers actually engage.

Holy sh*t, right?

You waste 37.5 days per year on follow-ups

I helped scale Outreach to $250M. Then I started my own company and made every mistake I swore I never would. Here are the 6 dumbest things I did building Distribute to 15,000 users:

1// I spent 3 months building features nobody asked for

We had a roadmap. It was beautiful. Customers wanted something else entirely. I should have talked to 50 more people before writing a single line of code.


2// I chased logos instead of problems

Early on, I got excited when big names showed interest. I bent the product to fit them. They churned anyway. The customers who stayed were the ones whose problem we actually solved.


3// I wrote follow-up copy like a robot

I'm embarrassed to show you our early emails. Corporate garbage. The moment I started writing like a human, reply rates doubled.


4// I ignored my own LinkedIn audience for 6 months

I had built a following. I knew how to create content. But I thought "real companies" needed paid ads and SDR teams. Wrong. My posts still drive more pipeline than anything else.


5// I hired before I had a repeatable process

Brought on help too early. They failed. It wasn't their fault. I didn't have a playbook to hand them yet.


6// I thought the product would sell itself

It doesn't. Nothing does. Even great products need someone to explain why they matter.


TAKEAWAY:

Building a startup is just a series of mistakes.

The winners aren't the ones who avoid them.

They're the ones who make them faster and don't repeat them.

I'm still making mistakes every week.

But at least they're new ones.

I made every mistake I swore I never would

spent all morning analyzing our competitors

Competitor A: raised $50M, has 200 employees, beautiful website
Competitor B: raised $30M, has enterprise clients, won industry awards
Competitor C: bootstrapped to $10M ARR, profitable, amazing product

Us: 1 founders, $a couple mil raised, website built on Webflow template, LinkedIn is our entire marketing strategy

but here's the thing...

we respond to customer emails in under 5 minutes

our competitors take 3 business days

we shipped 12 features last month

they shipped a new font

we're not better funded

we're not better positioned

we're just more desperate

and in B2B SaaS, desperation scales

posted "what if we just... listened to customers?" on LinkedIn

38,000 impressions

427 comments saying "this is so true"

16 VCs sent connection requests

got invited to speak at a SaaS conference

my talk is titled "Revolutionary Customer-Centric Strategies for Modern B2B"

it's a 45-minute presentation on literally just talking to people who pay you

they're paying me $5k to speak

i'm writing a book about it called "The Listening Framework"

it's 280 pages explaining how to have conversations

pre-orders are through the roof

disruption is just common sense with better marketing

We just won a deal against 4 established competitors. They had 10X the funding, bigger brands, and fancier demos. But we won all 4 times. After helping 4,000+ people grow on LinkedIn and scaling Outreach to $250M, I knew exactly why: buyers don't want more tools, they want less work.

Here's how we beat everyone:

Competitor 1: 55 features, 3-hour onboarding
Us: 3 features that actually matter, 5-minute setup

Competitor 2: "AI-powered intelligence platform"
Us: "Your follow-up in 30 seconds"

Competitor 3: 47-page implementation guide
Us: Chrome extension. Click. Done.

Competitor 4: $500/month per user
Us: $49/month. Everything included.

**drops mic**

Here's what I learned closing our first big deals:

1// FEATURES ARE A TAX ON YOUR BUYERS

Every feature needs explaining.
Every option needs deciding.
Every setting needs configuring.
We do one thing perfect instead of 50 things okay.

2// COMPLEXITY IS WHERE DEALS GO TO DIE

The moment a buyer says "let me check with IT," you lost.
The moment they need training, you lost.
Make it so simple they can start now.

3// YOUR CHAMPION NEEDS TO LOOK SMART

They don't win by showing a complex tool.
They win by solving a problem fast.
Give them a quick win, not a science project.

We have 15,000+ users not because we're the best.

But because we're the simplest.

And in 2025, simple beats everything.

Every. Single. Time. YALL.

Step by step ↓

Let me tell you what's really going on…

When a prospect says "we don't have budget"…

They're not broke.

They just spent $47 on DoorDash last night. They've got budget for a new CRM. Budget for that conference in Miami.

What they DON'T have?

A reason to fight for YOUR deal.

See… right now, they're sitting in some internal meeting. Your proposal is open on their screen. And their CFO asks:

"Why do we need this?"

And your prospect?

They freeze.

They fumble.

They can't remember what you said. Can't articulate the ROI. Can't justify the spend.

So the deal dies. Not because of "budget." Because you made THEM do the selling.

That's on you.

Here's the fix:

Send them a Deal Summary BEFORE they go dark.

One page. One link. Everything they need to sell this deal internally:

→ The bleeding-neck problem you're solving 
→ The cost of doing NOTHING (this is the killer) 
→ Exactly what you're proposing 
→ What happens next

You do the selling. They just forward the link.

Takes 2 minutes. Saves you from chasing ghosts for 3 weeks.

💬 Comment "TACO"

I'll send you the exact Deal Summary template I use to close deals without begging for follow-ups.

💬 Comment "TACO"

Year 1: "we're pre-product-market fit, iterating rapidly"
Translation: nobody wants this

Year 2: "we're finding early signals of PMF"
Translation: 2 customers didn't churn

Year 3: "we've achieved strong product-market fit"
Translation: we stopped pivoting because we're tired

Year 4: "we're scaling past PMF into market domination"
Translation: we hired a VP of Sales who convinced us we're doing great

Year 5: "we're exploring strategic alternatives"
Translation: acquisition talks because we never actually found PMF

Year 6: got acquired for $8M by a company that will shut us down in 9 months

called it a "successful exit"

changed LinkedIn title to "Founder & CEO (Exited)"

already working on the next one

customer: "can you add dark mode?"
us: "it's on the roadmap"

customer: "can you fix this bug?"
us: "it's on the roadmap"

customer: "can you add SSO?"
us: "it's on the roadmap"

customer: "can we see the roadmap?"
us: "that's on the roadmap"

our roadmap is a Google Doc titled "stuff_we_might_do_idk.doc"

it hasn't been updated since 2023

we closed $2M ARR this year

turns out "it's on the roadmap" is enterprise software for "leave me alone"

Sellers

What’s more dangerous for sales teams: bad managers or bad AI tools?

A) Bad managers – morale killer
B) Bad AI – data chaos
C) Both – one demotivates, the other misleads
D) Neither – blame the process, not the tools

P.S. - My AI handles 90% of my sales process now—prospecting, follow-ups, closing. Set it up in 90 seconds: https://lnkd.in/eNYQ3DeQ

What’s more dangerous for sales teams: bad managers or bad AI tools?

Sellers

What’s the biggest shift in sales since 2020?

A) Buyers research more than sellers
B) Remote selling is the new normal
C) Champions have more power than AEs
D) Product-led growth changed everything

P.S. - Turns out I've been following up like an IDIOT for 5 years. This 90-second quiz showed me my actual follow-up style (and how to fix it): www.distribute.so/quiz

Sellers

Would you take feedback from an AI “sales coach”?

A) Yes – No bias, just data
B) Maybe – Only if it knows context
C) No – You can’t coach without empathy
D) I already do — ChatGPT’s my therapist

P.S. - My AI handles 90% of my sales process now—prospecting, follow-ups, closing. Set it up in 90 seconds: www.distribute.so/quiz

Strategy & Finance Executive | Scaling Impact-Driven Companies Beyond $10M | Strategic CFO | Certified Scaling Up Advisor

Scaling Founders Beyond $10M with Strategy, Financial Clarity, and Leadership Expansion

Most companies stall not because of lack of effort—
but because the founder has outgrown the systems, strategies, and financial models that once worked.

At Ascend Growth Ventures, we partner with CEOs of $3M–$10M companies to implement Scaling Up, strengthen financial infrastructure, and elevate leadership teams—building businesses that scale profitably and predictably, without burning out the founder.

By integrating Scaling Up, Exponential Organizations, and CFO-level financial insights, we deliver a complete, battle-tested system for sustainable, high-performance growth.

🔹 We Work With CEOs Who Want To:
✔️ Scale revenue and profits without chaos
✔️ Build self-managing leadership teams
✔️ Unlock hidden cash flow and improve financial decision-making
✔️ Sharpen their strategy for exponential growth
✔️ Prepare for capital raises, acquisitions, or exits

🔹 Our Core Focus Areas:
  * Strategic Scaling Up Implementation

  * Financial Strategy & Cash Optimization

  * Leadership Team Development

  * Systems for Predictable Growth

  * Valuation Prep and Exit Strategy

✅ Why Work With Me?
25+ years of experience scaling businesses from the inside out:
➡️ Regional CFO, GE Gas Power (LATAM, +1.5GW record year)
➡️ Strategic finance and underwriting leadership at GE Capital
➡️ Business/project development for 8-figure ventures
➡️ Trusted advisor to founders scaling past $10M and beyond

✅ Industries We Specialize In:
✔️ Clean Energy & Decarbonization
✔️ Industrial Goods & B2B Services
✔️ Impact-Driven Companies
✔️ Scaling Coaching & Consulting Firms

🧠 If You're Ready to Scale Intelligently and Sustainably

Let's have a strategic conversation about where you are—and where you can go.

Easiest way to work with me?

Book a private power hour call and let's create your vision.
https://calendly.com/cruzagamboa/90-min-power-hour

Cruz Gamboa

Some companies don’t stall because of strategy.
They stall because of perception.

You can have the right model, metrics, and playbook—
and still struggle to scale
because trust isn’t in the culture.

We think scaling is about systems, KPIs, and offers.
But it’s really about energy, alignment, and belief.

Teams don’t reject initiatives.
They reject inconsistency.
They sense when the leader says one thing
and embodies another.

Every interaction in a growing company is a mirror—
it reflects the culture that’s actually being built.

Before you refine your next OKR,
refine your presence.

Because the best strategy in the world can’t fix a trust gap.

➡️ People follow clarity before they follow goals.
➡️ Integrity scales faster than intensity.


#leadership #scalingup #growth #trust #mindset

The market tells stories. Your financials & metrics tell truth.

In 2001, Amazon's stock cratered from $113 to $6.

Wall Street declared it dead.

Let's be clear: that had to be terrifying. Even for Bezos.

Watching 95% of your valuation evaporate. Hearing the whispers. Feeling the pressure from every direction.

But here's what separated him from founders who fold in those moments, he kept coming back to his dashboard:

Customer acquisition costs...improving. 

Fulfillment efficiency...improving. 

Contribution margin per unit...improving. 

Defect rates...declining.

The stock price reflected fear. 

The operating metrics reflected reality.

Confidence isn't the absence of fear. It's choosing to trust what you can measure over what you can't control.

This is Financial Intelligence: knowing which numbers actually predict your future, especially when everything around you is screaming that you're losing.

Watch the video. Bezos is calm. 

Not because he wasn't scared, but because he had clarity.

He knew exactly what was true inside his business.

That's how you survive what looks like a reversal, and come out the other side stronger.

That's how $6 becomes $1.7 trillion.

So here's my question for you:

What would it be worth to have that kind of clarity the next time everything feels like it's falling apart?

To know—not hope, not guess—that you're on the right track?

That's the game worth playing.

Check out comments for details

#founder #growth #ceo #scalingup

Helping Founders Break the $10M Ceiling | Strategy, Cash Flow & Leadership Systems | Scaling CFO

𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.

Hamdi Ulukaya didn’t just build a yogurt brand, he redefined an industry.

No investors. No marketing budget. Just purpose, grit, and belief.

In 2005, he saw an ad.
An abandoned Kraft yogurt factory.

Everyone saw a money pit.
He saw possibility.

He didn’t have the money.
So he took a loan.

Bought the factory.
Kept 5 employees who believed when no one else did.

No income.
No sales.
No marketing.
Just faith, and a recipe from home.

Two years later, in 2007, Chobani was born.

No ads. Just bold packaging and pure taste.

Retailers hesitated.
But the people loved it.

Within 5 years, #1 yogurt in America.

Over $1B in sales.
The giants, Dannon, Yoplait, couldn’t catch up.

He stayed private.
Gave 10% of the company to his employees.

Hired refugees.
Put people before profit.

When asked why, he said:

👉 “Business is the strongest force for good, if it puts people first.”

From a shepherd in Turkey…
To a billionaire who still walks the factory floors.

Lesson?
You don’t need investors.
You need integrity.
You don’t need luck.
You need courage.

Because the dream still works, if you do.

Loved this story. Let me know your comments. 

What problem in your business keeps calling for your most creative energy?

#CEO  #FOUNDER #GROWTH #SCALINGUP

Two friends, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.

One dropped out.
One got rejected from med school.
But both wanted to build something.

First idea: bagels.
Too expensive.
So they pivot to ice cream.

No experience. No investors.
Just a $5 correspondence course from Penn State.
$2.50 each.

They find an abandoned gas station in Vermont.
Borrow $12,000.
Do the renovation themselves.

Ben can’t even taste properly, a condition called anosmia.
So he focuses on texture.
Big chunks. Wild swirls. Bold flavours.

What others saw as a weakness became their edge.

Within months, lines formed outside the door.
Free Cone Day became a tradition.
Word spread fast.

Few years later, they launched Cherry Garcia.
The brand took off across the country.
Soon, Ben & Jerry’s was making over $500M a year.

All from $12,000 and a $5 course.

Lesson?
You don’t need the perfect start.
You need creativity, courage, and the guts to turn constraints into leverage.

#scalingup #ceo #founder #growth

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁.

Steve Jobs said it best, the greatest people are self-managing.

They don’t need direction. They are the direction.

When you’re scaling, this is the difference between speed and stagnation.

You can’t build a $10M company micromanaging every move.
You build it by surrounding yourself with people who:

➡️ See the problem before you do.
➡️ Fix it without asking.
➡️ Then tell you how they made it better.

That’s who scales companies.
Not followers.
Not “yes” people.
Builders.

If you have to keep pushing your team to move, 
you don’t have a scaling problem,
you have a people problem.

The truth?
The best teams don’t need managing.
They need mission.

Hire those who act like owners.
Give them the target.
Then get the hell out of their way.

That’s how you scale.
That’s how you win.

#scalingup #ceo #founder #growth

He built a dating site that generated exactly zero activity.
No users. No traction. No revenue.

Most leaders call that a failed model.
I call it an early audit.

Three ex-PayPal employees launched “Tune In Hook Up,” expecting market fit.
What they got was silence.
Operational cost? Rising.
User acquisition? Non-existent.
ROI? Negative from day one.

But here’s what mattered:
They reviewed the data instead of reacting to the emotion.

They noticed users trying to upload videos
Not for dating, but for everyday moments.
Unintended behaviour, but real demand.

So they executed the smartest financial move any early-stage team can make:
A low-cost pivot.

Same infrastructure.
Same upload system.
Zero additional burn.
Just a shift in positioning:
Share any video.

And that decision changed their entire valuation trajectory.

Users scaled exponentially.
Cost per acquisition plummeted.
Engagement skyrocketed.
Suddenly, they weren’t running a dating site…
They were running the internet’s first true video platform.

By 2006, their risk profile had flipped
High growth. High virality.
And high legal exposure.

Enter Google.
They offered $1.65B in stock for a business that still had no established monetisation engine.
From a financial lens?
That’s called derisking the future.

Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim accepted.
Smart move.
They transferred operational liability…
And secured generational wealth.

Today, YouTube contributes over $40B in yearly ad revenue
and sits at a valuation north of $500B.

All from a product that started as a complete miss 
until the data told a different story.

Lesson:
You don’t scale perfection.
You scale what the market proves it wants.
Listen to the numbers, not the narratives.
And never underestimate the ROI of a well-timed pivot.

#CFOInsights #Leadership #Strategy #Scalingup

He sold garbage bags at 12.
Not for fun.
To buy basketball shoes his parents couldn’t afford.

At 25, he was broke.
Sleeping on the floor.
Sharing a three-bedroom apartment with six guys.

Then one day, he got fired.
His boss told him
“You’re not cut out for this business.”

That hurt.
But instead of arguing,
He used the commission money from his last deal…
to start his own company.

MicroSolutions.
A small computer consulting business.
No degree. No investors. No fancy office.
Just pure hustle.

He made calls. Closed deals. Got rejected. Repeated.
Slowly, it worked.
Clients came in. Revenue grew.
Then, in 1990, he sold it for $6 million.

Most people would stop there.
Mark didn’t.

He bet everything on a new idea:
Streaming sports on the internet.
Way before the world was ready.

That company? Broadcast.com
In 1999, Yahoo bought it for $5.7 billion.
He became a billionaire overnight.

From selling garbage bags to selling a billion-dollar vision.
From sleeping on the floor to owning the floor on Shark Tank.

Mark Cuban didn’t just build companies.
He built proof, that hustle beats pedigree every single time.

Lesson:
You don’t need permission to start.
You don’t need approval to build.
You just need belief and the courage to act when no one bets on you.

#entrepreneurship #founders #startuplife #scalingup #markcuban #successstory

She sold her engagement ring for $10,000.
Ten years later, Vicky Tsai built a $500M skincare empire.

Most people call that crazy.
I call it commitment.

She walked away from a six-figure job…
Moved back into her childhood bedroom at 30…
Got rejected for 18 months straight…
And kept going anyway.

1,000 units.
Her last $5,000.
No safety net. No backup plan.

Month one? $2,000 in sales.
Most people quit here.
Vicky didn’t.

She packed every order by hand.
Wrote thank-you notes to strangers.
Built trust one customer at a time.

Then the internet found her.
Demand exploded.
Sephora called.
And the bedroom startup became one of the fastest-growing skincare brands in America.

In 2019, Unilever bought Tatcha for $500 million.
The $10,000 ring she sold?
It turned into 50,000x.

Lesson?
You don’t need permission.
You need conviction.
And the courage to burn Plan B. 

#ceo #founder #growth #scalingup

She was 20. A housewife. No experience. No degree.

Just a dream, and a recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

Everyone said it would fail.
“Cookies? That’s not a business.”

Banks said no.Experts laughed.

The market was ruled by Oreos and Chips Ahoy.

But Debbi Fields didn’t care.
She took a $50,000 loan with her husband.

Rented a small store in Palo Alto.

Rent: $800/month.
Failure wasn’t an option.

Opening day:
By noon, not a single sale.
She panicked. Grabbed a tray.
Walked outside.
“Try one. They’re free.”

That one line changed everything.
Crowds formed.

They sold out by evening.

She baked fresh every 2 hours.
Never sold day-old cookies.
If they sat too long, she gave them away.

Advisors hated it.
Customers LOVED it.

Year one: $200,000 in sales.
Then store #2.
Then San Francisco.
Then malls.
Then the world.

By the 1990s:

➡ 600+ stores
➡ $500M in annual sales
➡ And a new category: premium cookies

All from one woman who ignored logic and trusted her gut.

The takeaway:
If everyone says your idea is crazy,
you might just be onto something.

#scalingup #founder #growth #ceo

He got fired.
The company he built said, “We don’t need you anymore.”
Everyone forgot him.

But Steve Jobs didn’t stop.

He poured tens of millions into a failing company called Pixar.
Everyone thought he was crazy.
Most would have quit.

12 years later… that gamble sold for $7.4 BILLION.

Here’s the thing:

👉 He wasn’t chasing money. He was chasing vision.
👉 He embraced risk when others ran from it.
👉 He bet on what he believed in, even when the world said no.

Most people quit right before the payoff.
The real winners? They push through when it’s hardest.
They see opportunity where others see failure.

If you want massive results, you need to do what most won’t.
Step past comfort. Step past doubt. Step past fear.

Because the biggest payoffs live just beyond the point where almost everyone quits.

#scalingup  #growth #ceo

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Steve Jobs

He built pole barns to pay for college.

Decades later, John Menard Jr. built Menards, an $18B home improvement empire.

Most people call that luck.

I call it financial discipline.

He opened a small lumber yard in 1964…

Kept prices rock-bottom by building his own factories…

And built every store with cash, not debt.

No investors. No loans. No noise.

While others chased speed and Wall Street, John chose control.

He knew his margins by product line. He tracked cash flow like a pilot tracks altitude. He made the numbers his single source of truth.

Store by store. State by state. Slow, steady, unstoppable.

When 2008 hit, he didn't scramble; he expanded.

Today?

340+ Menards stores. $13B+ revenue. 3rd third-largest home-improvement chain in America. Still 100% private.

The lesson?

You don't need to grow fast. You need to grow right.

That means: 
→ Knowing your profit margins by service line 
→ Tracking cash flow weekly, not just at tax time 
→ Building systems so the business works, not just you

Financial clarity isn't about being a "numbers person."
It's about building simple, repeatable habits that let you scale with confidence.

Have the courage to own every decision, starting with your numbers.
#founder #growth #businessmindset #financialclarity #scalingup

Most people think success comes from working harder, dreaming bigger, or thinking smarter.

Here's the truth: none of that matters if you don't act.

In one simple test, a $50 bill was up for grabs. 

Everyone wanted it. 
Everyone talked about it. 
Everyone wished they had it…

Except Debbie.

She stood up. She walked forward. She took it.

That's it. 

That's the difference between winners and everyone else.

While everyone else burns time and money chasing online strategies that become less effective every day…

The smartest entrepreneurs thriving in 2025 are walking away from their screens and adding an extra 7-figures through live events.

Real humans. In-person communities. High-profit partnerships.

The ultimate advantage in the age of AI isn't replacing humanity with efficiency; it's experiences that are deep, connective, transformative, and profitable.

Getting face-to-face with your ideal clients AND peers is the most consistent solution to the Trust Recession.

I'll be at Event Profit Engine in Austin (December 10-12)...and I still have 4 discounted tickets.

If you're ready to get clarity on the financial blind spots keeping you from scaling, this is your moment.

Don't sit in the room wishing. 

Be Debbie.

P.S. Stop waiting for perfect timing. The money, the deal, the break… it's waiting for the first person who moves. Will it be you? DM me AUSTIN for ticket details.
#scalingup #CEO #founder #growth

Most founders don't fail because of competition.
 They fail because of the blind spots they never see coming.

Cash looks fine… until it doesn't. Revenue grows… but profit disappears. You hire fast… and spend months fixing mistakes. You work harder… but scale refuses to unlock.

I spent 20+ years at GE Capital navigating these exact challenges at a corporate level.

Closing an $800M+ power plant deal? That taught me cash flow precision. Managing international transactions? That revealed the profit leaks most miss. Building high-performance teams? That showed me the cost of hiring fast vs. hiring right.

Those frameworks didn't just help me lead deals—they gave me the blueprint for scalable growth.

Now I help founders apply these same battle-tested systems to their businesses.

The 7 blind spots in this carousel? They're the ones holding 90% of founders back from predictable, profitable scale.

If you want to go deeper… Download my free ebook in the comments. 

Fix the blind spots. Scale with clarity. Build a business that runs like a pro—because you learned from one.
#scalingup #founder #ceo #growth

7 Blind Spots

𝗛𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿.

Most founders know Pinterest.

Almost no one knows Paul Sciarra, the guy who paid early salaries out of his own pocket, skipped taking income, and carried the company when no one else believed.

He wasn’t a “supporter.”
He was the architecture.

And then the quiet part of startup life happened.
Not a blow-up.
Not a fight.
Just… inches.

One meeting he wasn’t invited to.
One decision he didn’t have visibility into.
One board conversation that happened without him.

By the time Pinterest crossed millions of users and raised over $100M…
Paul was out.

He walked away with ~$15M.
Not nothing.
But painful when your original idea becomes a $25B enterprise.

This isn’t a story about betrayal.
It’s a story about leadership, governance, and identity.

𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗱𝗮𝘆.
They lose it when:
 • they stop owning the financial strategy
 • they delegate governance without understanding it
 • they avoid hard conversations
 • they let investors define the path
 • they disconnect from the role of architect

You can build something extraordinary…
and still get written out of your own success if you don’t stay in the seat you were meant to own.

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 $𝟯𝗠–$𝟭𝟬𝗠 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻.
The product works.
The company has traction.
Teams are growing.

 But governance, capital strategy, and leadership identity aren’t keeping pace.
That’s the real risk.

𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻:
Your idea can change the world,  but only if you stay in the role of architect as it scales.

Own your equity.
Protect your seat.
Upgrade your thinking.
Build with intention.
The threat isn’t being pushed out.
The threat is drifting out of your power.

𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:
 Are you building like the founder…
 or leading like the architect?

#ceo #founder #scalingup #growth

He was dropped at an orphanage at seven.
No food. No money. No choice.

By 14, he was on a factory floor, making metal frames.
One wrong move crushed part of his finger. Permanent injury.

Most people would quit. Most people would settle.
He didn’t.

He watched. He learned.
Every machine. Every process. Every decision.
Night classes. Every penny saved. Knowledge accumulation.

At 26, he opened a tiny eyewear shop in the Italian Alps.
Nothing fancy. No connections. Just him, a few employees, and an obsession with understanding the craft end-to-end.

Most competitors sold parts. He had a different idea: make complete frames. Control the product. Own the market.

By the 1980s, he was making designer frames for fashion houses.
By 1995, he bought LensCrafters—suddenly he controlled both the product and the retail.

Then came Ray-Ban.
Everyone said he overpaid $640 million for a dying brand.
He didn’t see risk. He saw opportunity.

Ray-Ban wasn’t just glasses anymore.
Movies. Celebrities. Fashion statements.
Value multiplied. Brand exploded.

He kept buying. Oakley. Sunglass Hut. Prada. Versace. Chanel. Pearle Vision.
Vertical integration? Check. Market dominance? Check. Monopoly? Almost.

When he died in 2022, Leonardo Del Vecchio had $25.8 billion.
One orphan. One factory worker. One relentless learner.

Lesson:
You don’t need luck. You need mastery, observation, and relentless execution.
Start small. Learn everything. Then own the ecosystem.

#ceo #scalingup #growth #founder

Mastermind Scaling Dinner 

This past Wednesday night in Boston, twelve leaders got uncomfortably honest about their real constraints.

No pitch decks. No surface-level networking. 

Just the Hero's Journey framework and one question: 

"What's actually stopping you from scaling?"

Three principles guided the conversation:

🪞 Your Business is a Mirror 

The bottleneck in your business is a reflection of a constraint in your leadership. 

Stop fixing symptoms. Fix the leader, and the business scales.

🐉 Constraints are Your Greatest Leverage

 Your biggest constraint is not a problem—it's the dragon guarding your next treasure. 

The right constraint, once identified and solved, unlocks massive, non-linear growth.

⚖️ Not All Success Has the Same Price

 You can build a company that breaks you, or one that fulfills you. 

Alignment + Clarity = Sustainable Success.

🎯 What showed up:

Estate planning. Cybersecurity. Medical devices. Food distribution. Banking. Fractional sales leadership. IT services. M&A law. Green infrastructure. Urban revitalization. Job search acceleration.

Different industries. Same truth: Every business grows until it hits a constraint, then grows no further.

The magic wasn't in solving everything in one night. 

It was in naming the real constraint out loud - not the sanitized version we tell at networking events, but the 2am version that keeps us up.

Some constraints were about capital. Others about people, partnerships, or positioning. A few were about letting go of what got them here to embrace what gets them there.

🤝 The vulnerability created immediate value: Real partnerships forming. 

Actual introductions being made. Problems being reframed. Resources being shared.

Thank you to Adrian Mendoza and the Mendoza Ventures team for hosting us.

And to everyone who showed up: Marco A. Schiavo , Geoffry Gilton, Joshua Sigsworth, PT, DPT, Dominic Endicott, Jacques Cohen, Maud Dentico, Vasant Narayan, Raffi Yardemian, CSL, Paul Smith, Alex Khalarian, and Sam "Butch" Nigro.

This is what happens when you build community around truth instead of transactions.

The Mastermind dinner happens monthly ( but we are taking a break in December). If you're a founder or executive in Boston or Greater Boston working on something real and willing to get honest about your constraints, let's talk.

We are going to start hosting Metro West dinners as well. More to come.

P.S. - Curious about finding the constraint for your business? Drop a comment or DM.

Most founders don’t fail because they’re lazy.
They fail because their goals are small.

Small goals keep you grinding.
Big goals force you to rebuild the system.

When you raise the target to 10x, everything changes:
your strategy, your thinking, your standards, your circle.

You stop playing in the crowded middle
and start operating where very few people dare to go.

10x isn’t harder.

It’s cleaner. 
It’s clearer. 
It’s smarter.

Stop playing safe. Start playing big.

I learned this lesson the hard way.

I wanted to grow my LinkedIn presence to 100K in a year.
I had 2k followers. 

A few people said that it would take years and that I was unrealistic.

Maybe they would have been right - if I'd believed them

I tried anyway. 
I took a course to learn from others who were ahead of me.
I showed up here every day.
Continuously improved my content (and my mindset)
Hired people to help me.

Did I accomplish my goal?
NO. 

I am still at 72k followers today, a year into that challenge.
But I am still grateful for the results. 

Can you imagine what would have happened if I had played small?
I may be at 15K followers at best. 

And that's the whole point. 

Even if you miss the 10X mark, it beats linear thinking. 

This same principle is why I help founders identify the 7 financial blind spots killing their scale - because small thinking about money keeps you grinding, while 10x financial clarity forces you to rebuild the system.

Want to apply 10x thinking to your finances? 

I've identified the 7 blind spots most founders miss. 

Download the guide; link is in the comments. 

#founder #ceo #growth #scalingup

10X Thinking = 10 X Results

He bought a bankrupt textile factory for $15 million.
Forty years later, Bernard Arnault built a $500B luxury empire.

Most people call that impossible.
I call it vision.

He didn’t invent anything.
He didn’t design a product.
He didn’t chase trends.
He just saw what others couldn’t.

Buried inside that dying company was a forgotten gem: Christian Dior.
Everyone overlooked it.
Arnault didn’t.

He sold everything except Dior.
Bet the house on one iconic brand.
And rebuilt from zero.

Then he made an even crazier move
He went after LVMH.
Louis Vuitton. Moët. Hennessy.
The crown jewels of French luxury.

The elite hated it.
The media mocked it.
It was the most hostile takeover France had ever seen.
Arnault didn’t blink.

He bought the shares quietly.
Took control boldly.
And turned LVMH into a global machine.

One acquisition at a time.
Fendi. Tiffany. Givenchy. Sephora.
Dozens of brands reborn under one ruthless strategy:

Let creators dream.
But keep the business razor sharp.

While tech giants chased disruption…
Arnault chased timelessness.

While others discounted…
He raised value.

In 2023, he became the richest man on Earth.
Quiet. Precise. Unshakeable.
He outplayed every tech titan without writing a single line of code.

Lesson?
You don’t need to invent.
You need to see the hidden gem
And have the courage to bet everything on it.

#entrepreneur #growth #businessstrategy #founder #scalingup

𝗛𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘀.
𝗛𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Back in the early 2000s, Jon Oringer wasn’t building empires, he was just trying to find affordable stock photos for his tiny online business.

But what he found instead… was an opportunity.

Stock images back then cost $300+ per photo, a luxury small creators couldn’t afford.

So Jon did something different:

▶ Bought a camera
▶ Took 100 photos a day
▶ Built his own website
▶ Uploaded 30,000 photos
▶ Charged $49/month for unlimited downloads

That’s how Shutterstock was born.

No fancy investors. No marketing team.

Just a subscription model, executed brilliantly.

He wasn’t selling images,
he was selling convenience, freedom, and access.

And the best part?

Every sale cost him nothing to reproduce.Pure passive income.

By the time Shutterstock went public in 2012,
Jon still owned 55% of it.

His net worth crossed $1 billion,
built from a camera, a simple website, and consistency.

That’s not luck.
That’s vision meeting execution.

Because the smartest entrepreneurs don’t wait for an opportunity,
they create it by solving a problem once
and selling the solution over and over again.

𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧:

Stop chasing “new.”
Find one problem.

Solve it better than anyone else.
Then systemize, scale, and sleep while your solution works for you.

#Entrepreneurship #ceo #BusinessModel #founder #scalingup

Passion isn’t happiness.
It’s pain.
It’s grinding when no one is watching.
It’s suffering through every mistake, every rejection, every late night, just to build something nobody thought was possible.

Jensen Huang didn’t follow the market.
He didn’t wait for AI to be big.
He invested 10,000 engineer-years ahead of demand.
He pivoted Nvidia from graphics chips to AI dominance.
That’s vision. That’s first-principles thinking. That’s suffering smarter than everyone else.

Breakthroughs aren’t born in comfort zones.
They’re born when you refuse to quit, when you embrace the grind, and when you’re willing to suffer today for what the world will celebrate tomorrow.

Extraordinary isn’t given.
It’s earned.
Through struggle.
Through relentless work.
Through being willing to do what everyone else won’t.

If you want to be great, get comfortable being uncomfortable.

#scalingup #growth #ceo #founder

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