Co-Founder & CEO @ Ruley, the E-Referee | Start Up Business Expert | Entrepreneur

After 25 years building successful companies I found myself at a crossroads. I had built companies that helped people and families. I was proud of that legacy, I knew it was time for a new chapter.

In my early 50s, I sold my third company just a year behind schedule from a personal goal I set at 34. 

During COVID, I had the space to explore ideas that truly energized me. I enrolled in a six-month coding bootcamp to learn Python and deepen my understanding of the technologies shaping our future.

Now I’m the Co-Founder of Ruley, an AI powered smart sports E-Referee API  designed to help federations, sports media and consumer brands gain fans, players and spectators by being the go to venues for sports rules and insights.

My personal mission is to fuse decades of my experience and strategic thinking with modern tech to bring people together through playing sports and watching sports.  By working with these existing sports entities we can grow sports and all the good that comes with them.

At the heart of my work is this belief: we all deserve unbiased, instant information, and we all deserve to enjoy life like we did as kids. 

These ideas aren’t mutually exclusive. With the right tools, we can help provide knowledge in unique ways and inject more joy into everyday life.

Explore Ruley and our API rollout (and more) for sports:
🌐 ruley.ai

📸 Instagram: @ruley_ereferee
🎥 YouTube: @ruleythee-referee
📘 Facebook: @ruleytheereferee

🎾 Just Ruley it!

Cassandra Toroian

Most people still think Ruley is “that sports rules app.”

And sure, that’s where we started.
Because the fastest way to prove accuracy is to
Put it in someone’s hand.

Let them test it.
Let them see it works.
Let them try to break it.

The app was never the endgame.
It was the demo. What we’re building now is
bigger. Much bigger.

APIs.
The quiet engine behind every great product.

That’s where Ruley belongs.
Because if you want to transform sports at scale,
you don’t build another app. You build the
system everyone else can plug into.

Sports apps.
Sports Websites,
Equipment manufacturers,
Sports Federations,
And so, so many more.

Emerging sports trying to standardize their rules.
Recreational programs that need consistency.
Even niche sports nobody’s ever heard of yet.
That’s where the impact lives.

We realized that if we wanted Ruley to actually
fix the rule-accuracy problem, we had to stop
thinking just about players first and start
thinking about the entire ecosystem.

So we pivoted. On purpose. With clarity.
Ruley IS designed and developed
to sit inside any sports related platform.

It’s an API designed to sit inside
any sports platform, anywhere.
Instant rule explanations.

Unbiased.
Consistent.
Sport-agnostic.

This solution grows fans, spectators
AND player knowledge.

This is how you cultivate the next generation of players and fans

We are becoming the rules sports engine infrastructure

We started small so we could prove we were right.
Now we’re expanding so every sport can benefit.

If your platform needs clarity, plug us in.
Fair play starts here.

We can't clean the ocean, but AI can.

Not someday.
Now.

The Ocean Cleanup uses AI-powered sensors
to spot where debris gathers..
Then directs cleanup vessels straight to it.

No wasted time.
No wasted effort.

It’s already happening off Florida’s coast,
Where every current brings back what we’ve
thrown away.

Bottles.
Bags.
Microplastics.

AI is doing what we should have done
tracking the damage,
and fixing it.

Not to make headlines.
To make progress.

Because real innovation isn’t about noise.
It’s about outcomes.

If AI can clean our oceans,
Imagine what it could clean up next
If we pointed it at the right problems.

The tech isn’t the challenge anymore.
The intention behind it is.

What ChatGPT gets wrong about sports rules.

Here’s a fun experiment.
Ask AI a niche tennis rule.
Wait for the confident wrong answer.

I tried it this week.

My question:
“I accidentally double hit in tennis. Do I lose a point?”

ChatGPT’s answer:
“No. Any double hit is an automatic point loss.”

Sounds firm.
Sounds correct.
And it’s completely wrong.

Here’s the real rule:
If the ball hits your racket twice in one
continuous motion, unintentionally,
It’s legal.

The only time it’s illegal is:
If the player intentionally hits the ball twice.

Unintentional double contact, which is what actually
happens in real rallies, is allowed.

This is straight from the ITF rules.
One tiny detail. Massive difference.
 
And this is the bigger issue with AI in sports:
It predicts common answers.
It doesn’t understand nuance.
It doesn’t know how players actually argue on court.
It doesn’t know the rules the way the sport requires.

Sports don’t run on “close enough.”
They run on precision.

And this is exactly why Ruley exists.
Not to replace humans. But to replace confusion.
Sports deserve better than “close enough.”

What would it feel like to play tennis If you were color-blind?

Would there be a struggle with depth perception? 
To follow a game where the lines
And the ball looks the same shade?

VR technology is now letting athletes experience
exactly that. Simulating visual impairments in real time.

It’s confronting.
Because once you’ve felt the limitations,
You start to question how the game is designed,
and who it truly includes.

That’s where technology can shift the conversation.
Not to replace sport, but to expose blind spots
in how we design it.

If AI or VR can help athletes, coaches, and officials
understand those perspectives,
It doesn’t just build better tech.
It builds better empathy.

And maybe that’s what the next era of sport looks like..
one built on awareness as much as performance.

Such a fun time on this podcast episode with Tracy Thomas and host Bryan Fetzer

Sports Personality - Inspire / Lead / Succeed

DO YOU LIKE PICKELBALL?
Got your attention?

Curated gear that actually makes your weekend run smoother? Yes, please. 👀
On Just A Cup, I sat down with Volleybird Athletic Lifestyle founders Cassandra Toroian and Tracy Thomas to talk building a sports-lifestyle brand (tennis, pickleball, padel, golf) and their sister venture Ruley, an AI “E-Referee” that ends the rules debates before they start.

We cover: founder lessons, product curation, community feedback, and turning rec play into a real movement.

Watch/subscribe on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eHQE4X65
Listen on Bleav: https://lnkd.in/gPQKEy8j
Episode page: https://lnkd.in/eF7rqeHh

Learn more about Volleybird https://volleybird.shop/

#Volleybird #SportsTech #SubscriptionBox #Pickleball #Tennis #Padel #Golf #WomenFounders #JustACup #Bleav

Here’s what I heard this morning when I listened to the snow fall.

This song went through my mind. 

Because I know in two days a company I co-founded called Volleybird Athletic Lifestyle is launching a product here in the U.S. that will be game changing.

For the sports of #tennis and #padel.

So to me it feels like a combination of Christmas Eve and this song. 

The future is so bright I gotta wear shades.

If you’re in the #sports #tennis or #padel industries and want to get our announcement DM 💬me your email address and we’ll add you to the list.🔥

Open video: Timbuk 3 - The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades Lyrics on youtu.be

Timbuk 3 - The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades Lyrics

If it hits the kitchen line it’s out… right? Or is it in?



That’s always a big controversy,
especially in college pickleball.

But Brooke and Ava from
University of Miami use
Ruley, the E-Referee
So they don’t worry!

And when Brooke’s parents play,
it stops those classic “I know best”
moments that cause family feuds.

Rules made simple with our
proprietary API, so your players
can play on and enjoy the game.

#JustRuleyIt

Thanksgiving football isn’t just a warm living-room ritual. It’s a tradition steeped in real history and it teaches us something about the power of rules, legacy, and how things become meaningful over time.

Here’s the origin story:

The first college football game on Thanksgiving was in 1876, when Yale beat Princeton, 2‑0, in Hoboken.

By the 1880s, that annual matchup had become a major social event, with thousands of fans gathering in New York City.

But the modern NFL Thanksgiving tradition really took off in 1934, when the Detroit Lions hosted the Chicago Bears in a nationally broadcast game.

That wasn’t just a game, it was a masterstroke of promotion. The Lions’ owner used his radio connections to make Thanksgiving football a national spectacle.
 

Why does this matter, especially if you care about more than just touchdowns?
 
1. Tradition is not born, it’s built. What started as a college holiday game became a cornerstone of professional football through deliberate vision, not accident.

2. Legacy amplifies value. The Lions’ Thanksgiving move wasn’t just about selling tickets, it was about building identity and a long-term franchise reputation.

3. Clarity of rules matters. Football may feel chaotic, but traditions like these survive because there is a shared understanding, and respect, for how the game works. That very principle is why technology that clarifies rules (in sport or business) can be so powerful.
 
As someone who builds in the space of sports clarity, I find this intersection, history, tradition, and precision, endlessly inspiring.

What part of Thanksgiving + football tradition is most meaningful to you?


#Thanksgiving  #NFL  #Tradition  #SportsHistory  #Leadership

My recent trip to the airport was shocking.

Apparently there is a trend where some people purposefully dress inappropriately when air travelling,

Why?

From what I surmise it’s because they want to actually cause a problem or create a scene in the hopes maybe the get kicked off a plane.  

Then they can file a lawsuit. And maybe the airline writes a check!

This seems to be another example of how society has degraded.  

It’s not ok. 

Particularly since the intent behind this choice to wear an outfit that borders on socially unacceptable is to MAKE havoc.

This has to stop. 

But how does it stop when clearly so many aren’t getting taught some basic social norms?

Fortunately we have an administration that has some cajones and recognizes that some helpful hints in civility may have to be part of their job.

They put out a statement encouraging people to dress appropriately for air travelling and not show up at the airport in night clothes.

It causes disruption. It causes delays. It causes rage inside planes and people get kicked off.

We used to be a society where people would tell their neighbor or friend they looked funny, remind them to take off their cap when they go to a restaurant.

This is just yet another example of the degradation of rules in society - rules that are mean to help keep some basic order. Tradition perhaps. But also it just works.

Sad that the government has to give this basic advice. 

If you don’t like that, then please, feel free to be a good neighbor or friend and start gently point out things that you see.

Do it in a nice way. 

Do it in a helpful way.

But do it.

We all have to be part of re-elevating civility in our society again.

Do you agree?

Someone asked where I learned to be resilient.



Resilience doesn’t just happen.
It’s trained through experience.

Was it through sports? Or from
growing up as an only child?
For me it was both.

When you playing solo sports
you learn early that no one’s
coming to rescue you.

→ You problem-solve.
→ You stay resourceful.
→ You make things work.

Sports simply reinforced it.

In tennis or golf, there’s no one
to hand off the pressure to.
It’s just you, your decisions, and
how you respond to setbacks.

That mindset stayed with me for life.
Through building and selling several
companies, and now through building
something completely new.

I’ve learned resilience isn’t about
pushing harder. It’s about adapting.
Seeing patterns, solving problems,
and moving forward even when the
rulebook hasn’t been written yet.

There’s a strong link to resilience
and innovation, they’re two sides
of the same coin.

Right now, as I always have been,
I’m learning the rules and then
redefining how they’re played.

What about you?

Do you see yourself as resilient?

The future of sports tech isn’t standalone. It’s integrated.


For years, the sports technology world
has been driven by the same playbook:

→ build another app,
→ build another platform,
→ build another way for fans to “engage.”

But innovation has never meant
building something completely new.
It means taking what already exists,
and improving on it in a way that people
think “why hasn’t this always existed?”

Look at Airbnb. They didn’t invent hotels.
They invented a way for people to earn
money from renting out their own space.

Look at Uber. They didn’t invent taxis.
They invented a way for people to get a
taxi really conveniently, from anywhere.

Look at Ruley, the E-Referee. We didn’t
invent another tech product competing
for attention. We created Ruley as the
connective tissue that strengthens
the entire ecosystem of sports itself.

Our proprietary API integrates directly
into existing tech, apps and systems,
making it easy for organizations, fans,
and players to understand in real time.

Just like Uber integrating with your cell
and Airbnb integrating with your home,
the future of sports tech is integration.

When people understand the rules,
they’re connected, confident, and loyal.

→ For our partners, that means higher trust.
→ For their users, it means a better experience.
→ For the industry, it means progress that scales.

Ruley’s mission was never about
being the next big sports app.

It’s about being the trusted layer
of intelligence powering fairness
and understanding across sport.

That’s what real integration looks
like, and why the future of sports
technology will be built together.

Do you agree?

Or are we better off with 100’s
of independent systems?

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

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 30 min call and let's see if we are a fit.
https://calendly.com/cruzagamboa/call-with-cruz-ascend-30min

Cruz Gamboa

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

At 40, he’d lost everything.
His company. His savings. His confidence.
Most people would’ve walked away.

But Aaron Krause wasn’t “most people.”

He went back to the garage.
Back to tiny problems no one cared about.
And from that… came a smiling sponge the world didn’t see coming.

Stores rejected him.
Investors laughed.
The idea sat on a shelf for years.

But he didn’t quit.
He took one uncomfortable shot: Shark Tank.

He walked in with a box of sponges.
He walked out with Lori Greiner.
$200,000 for 20%.
Momentum activated.

Then the episode aired…

Overnight demand.
Shelves cleared out.
Factories overloaded.
Scrub Daddy everywhere, from Walmart to Bed Bath & Beyond.

A simple sponge became a billion-dollar brand.
Not because it was cute.
Because he executed when life said “stop.”

Here’s the truth:

👉 He didn’t need a perfect plan: he needed one more attempt.
👉 He wasn’t chasing validation: he was chasing resilience.
👉 He proved the principle every founder forgets:
A small idea + relentless execution can beat a big idea that never ships.

Critics mocked the smile.
Then watched it become one of Shark Tank’s biggest wins ever.

The ones who win?
They push past rejection.
They build through uncertainty.
They keep going when almost everyone quits.

Because billion-dollar outcomes don’t happen in comfort, 
they happen right after the moment you think it’s over.

#resilience#scalingup#founderstory#entrepreneurship

Stephen Schwarzman built Blackstone into a global giant…
without using calculus.

Why?
Because the game he played didn’t reward equations.

It rewarded judgment, negotiation, and understanding people.

Those were the leverage points.

Charlie Munger said the same thing:

Simple thinking beats complicated math in most investing.

But here’s what most people miss:

It’s not about whether calculus matters.
It’s about whether it matters in the arena you choose.

Private equity = people, decisions, patterns.

Quant trading, derivatives, risk modelling = math, models, precision.

Different games.
Different skills.
Different leverage.

People fail because they try to be good at everything…
and end up great at nothing.

The real move?

👉 Pick the game you want to win.
👉 Identify the skills that game rewards.
👉 Get insanely good at those, and ignore everything else.

That’s how you scale.
Not by doing more.
But by mastering the few things that actually move the needle.

#scalingup #growth #ceo #founder

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Security Verification | LinkedIn

At 22, he was rejected by Toyota.
At 38, his factory was bombed. Twice.
Most people would’ve accepted defeat.

But Soichiro Honda wasn’t “most people.”

He went back to the workshop.
Back to broken engines and scraps no one wanted.
And from that… came a machine the world didn’t see coming.

Japan had no money.
Fuel was scarce.
Factories were rubble.

But he didn’t quit.
He bolted a tiny motor onto a bicycle 
not pretty, not perfect, but powerful enough to move people again.

Stores ignored it.
Critics dismissed it.
He kept building anyway.

Because he wasn’t chasing applause.
He was chasing motion.

Then came the breakthrough…

The Super Cub.
Light. Reliable. Unbreakable.
The bike that took Japan and then the world by storm.

A simple motorbike became a $100B legacy.
Not because it was glamorous.
Because he refused to stop when everything told him to.

Here’s the truth:

👉 He didn’t need perfect conditions: he needed one more rebuild.
👉 He wasn’t chasing status: he was chasing solutions.
👉 He proved what most innovators forget:
Small beginnings + relentless persistence beat rejection every time.

Toyota turned him down.
Life knocked him down.
But he got back up again and again until the world couldn’t ignore him.

The ones who win?
They rise after failure.
They create after chaos.
They build when everyone else quits.

Because billion-dollar stories don’t start with luck
they start with someone who refuses to give up.
#scalingup #founder #CEO #boston

They emailed eBay 200 times.
eBay ignored every single one.
Most people would’ve given up.

But Marc, Oliver, and Alexander Samwer weren’t “most people.”

They cloned eBay.
Launched it in Germany.
Executed with speed and perfection.
Within months… eBay bought it back for $43 MILLION.

Then the brothers doubled down.
They built Rocket Internet, the company that turned cloning into a billion-dollar machine.

They copied.
They improved.
They scaled.
And they sold again, and again, and again.

Here’s the truth:

👉 They weren’t chasing approval, they were chasing execution at scale.
👉 They didn’t wait to be discovered, they created their own leverage.
👉 They mastered the one principle most founders overlook:
Doing it better beats doing it first.

Critics called them “copycats.”
But behind the noise, the Samwer brothers built an empire worth billions.

Most people stop when they hear “no.”
The one who succeed?
They push when it’s uncomfortable.
They build when others hesitate.
They turn rejection into momentum.

If you want outsized results, do what most won’t:
Step past comfort.
Step past doubt.
Step past fear.

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

#scalingup #growth #ceo #bostonfounders

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

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

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

He went to Texas to buy a bank.
He walked out owning a hotel.

Most people would’ve gone home.

Conrad Hilton didn’t.

1919. Cisco, Texas.
Oil boom town. 
Money everywhere.

Hilton arrived with $40,000 and one clear plan.

Buy the local bank.
That was the dream.

He studied the deal for months.
Location checked out.
Customers were guaranteed.

Then the last meeting happened.
The owner doubled the price.
Take it or leave it.

Hilton left. Furious.
Plan A was dead.

That night, he needed a bed.
The only option was the Mobley Hotel.
40 rooms. Run down. Forgettable.

But something didn’t add up.

Every room was full.
Not just full.
Overfull.

Beds were rented in 8-hour shifts.
Same room. Three guests a day.

It wasn’t pretty.
But it worked.

The owner wanted out.
“I’m chasing oil,” he said.

Hilton didn’t see a bad hotel.
He saw demand screaming for supply.

So he did the unthinkable.
He spent his banking money on beds.

$40,000.
Deal closed.

A banker became a hotelier by accident.

He rebuilt everything with one rule.
Minimum cost. Maximum comfort.
Every square foot had to earn.

Profits bought the next hotel.
Then another.
Then another.

Banking faded away.
Hospitality took over.

Years later, he bought the Waldorf Astoria.
From a 40-room flophouse
to the most iconic hotel in the world.

Today?
7,000+ Hilton hotels globally.

Here’s the real lesson:

👉 The rejection wasn’t a setback. It was a redirect.
👉 The failure wasn’t the end. It was the entry point.
👉 He didn’t find his calling by planning harder. He found it by paying attention.

Most people quit when the plan breaks.
Builders look around and ask,
''What’s working?''

Sometimes the wrong deal saves your life.
Sometimes Plan B builds the empire.

Because the stories we admire don’t start with perfect plans
they start with someone who refuses to walk away empty-handed.

#entrepreneurship #founder #businessstories #resilience #scalingup

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

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

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

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

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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

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 started with $5,000 and a pizza shop paycheck.
Nobody cared. Nobody believed.

Most people would’ve stayed broke.

Dan Gilbert didn’t.

He looked at a broken mortgage industry slow, complex, full of middlemen and said: “There’s a better way.”

He worked 18 hours a day. Seven days a week.
He studied every inefficiency.
He simplified the impossible.
He moved online when the internet was “just a fad.”
He ignored the naysayers.

It all started with Rock Financial. 
And eventually
Rock Financial became Quicken Loans.
Applications went from weeks to minutes.
Rates went from hidden to transparent.
Customers went from frustrated to obsessed.

Then he didn’t stop.
He bought the Cleveland Cavaliers, poured money into the city, and turned it upside down.
Downtown boomed. 
The team won a championship. 
The city transformed.

Here’s the lesson most people miss:

👉 You don’t need a perfect idea.
👉 You don’t need permission.
👉 You need to see broken systems, fix them better, and move faster than everyone else.
👉 And then, reinvest the wins into something that actually matters.

From pizza shifts to $28.5B, Gilbert’s story isn’t luck.
It’s obsession, timing, and execution.

Most people quit at “too hard.”
The few who succeed? 
They see the gap, go first, and keep building while others sleep.

If you want outsized results, do what most won’t:
Step past the “impossible.”
Step past the doubters.
Step past comfort.

Because fortune isn’t at the starting line, it’s at the point where everyone else stops.

#growth #scalingup #entrepreneurship #CEO #execution

Most founders grind hard for years… and never hit $10M.

Here’s the brutal truth: it’s not about working harder. It’s about thinking differently.

The founders who scale don’t chase approval. They hunt reality.
They don’t run the machine they build the machine.

They don’t wait for perfect conditions, they turn constraints into leverage.

Scaling isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing the few things that actually move the needle.
It’s about creating systems that work without your mood, decisions that multiply impact, and alignment that accelerates everything.

You can keep grinding, or you can flip the mindset switches that separate founders who stall from founders who explode past $10M.

Which one are you?

#scalingup #founder #ceo

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

While everyone's fighting over TVs today, I'm fighting for your 2026.

One stage does what 6 months of content can't.

That's why I'm speaking in Austin December 10-12.

Here's what I've learned:

You can spend hundreds of hours posting content, cold DMing event hosts, vetting podcast opportunities, and hoping something sticks...

Or you can walk into one room where the work is already done.

That's Event Profit Engine.

Hosted by Alex Moscow ($130M in client results) and Eben Pagan (built 10 seven-figure companies, 3 over eight figures).

200 founders doing $500K-$2M+ in one room.

The kind of people you'd normally pay $25K to join a mastermind just to meet.

But this isn't networking. It's deal flow.

On Day 3, they run facilitated sessions where they literally pair you with:

→ High-caliber stages for 2026 
→ Aligned promotional partners 
→ Sponsors for your events (I am one of the sponsors for this event)

Not "hope you meet someone cool at the cocktail hour."

Strategic. Intentional. Partnerships that lead to revenue.

The stages you actually want to be on in 2026? They're in this room. The relationships that would take 6 months to build? Done in 3 days.

I'll be speaking on why most founders are operationally excellent but financially blind—and how to fix it.

This is for you if:
→ You're a founder doing $1M-$10M 
→ You want stages and partnerships locked in for 2026 
→ You're tired of cold outreach that goes nowhere 
→ You'd rather be in the right room than grind online for 6 more months

This is NOT for you if:
→ You're just getting started (under $500K) 
→ You're not ready to invest in growth 
→ You think "networking" means collecting business cards

Here's my Black Friday deal for you:

$1K tickets (normally $4K, goes to $5K on Monday).

I only have a few left. First come, first served.

You can fish with a pole for the next 6 months.

Or you can grab a net and walk into this room.

Comment "AUSTIN" or DM me and I'll send you the code before they're gone.
This is the only deal worth buying today.

See you in Texas.
#scalingup #CEO #founder #growth

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