CWE Crane Enterprises 

CWE Crane Enterprises is a privately held Canadian firm focused on acquiring and scaling essential service businesses, where trust, consistency, and operational execution drive long-term value.

We believe in building businesses that serve people, create livelihoods, and operate with integrity. Our mission is to lead with clarity, act with conviction, and steward each business with the long-term sustainability.

Current Portfolio:
1. Scaling Success: industrial sales training
2. Molly Maid: residential cleaning service 
3. Texas Ticket: online education service

President

Scaling Success

At Scaling Success™, we believe success compounds. It starts with education and ends with execution.

Our mission is simple: transform industrial sales reps and leaders into formidable sales professionals and 7-figure closers.

We don’t do generic fluff: We deploy proprietary frameworks — ARC5™, CICSR™, and PTR™ — built from years in the field, designed to help reps and teams close bigger deals with consistency.

Founder & President

MOLLY MAID Canada

At MOLLY MAID, we deliver premium, professional home cleaning services with a personal touch. As a franchise owner, I’m proud to lead a bonded, insured, and detail-oriented team committed to excellence, safety, and consistency.

Our crews arrive in branded vehicles, fully equipped with eco-friendly products as part of our Green Housekeeping Program. We operate Monday to Friday during daylight hours, supporting both family balance and professional service.

Backed by Canada’s most trusted name in residential cleaning since 1979, we combine proven systems with local care. Whether you’re a client or part of our growing team, you’re in good hands with us.

Franchise Owner

XCMG Canada

Led a national sales team and the development of a national dealer network, securing $12M in new revenue while traveling across Canada in 3 months.

Vice President of Sales

Naumann Hobbs Material Handling, Inc.

Led the development of a new forklift division, while overhauling the existing rental and used equipment departments.

Lonestar Forklift, Inc.

Led the growth & development of 4 sales branches, growing the total team size from 6 to 15 & leading revenue growth from $8M to $15M

General Manager

Leavitt Machinery

Led the development of a new sales department after acquisition, and grew the sales team from 0 to 10 and annual revenue from $4M to $12M.

Regional Sales Manager

Crown Lift Trucks

Managed a sales territory, growing market share from 9% to 33% and total revenue from 3M to 9M.

Territory Account Manager

The London Vocal Studio

Founder and Instructor of the #1 rated vocal teaching studio in London Ontario. Sold in 2020 to a large franchise.

Founder & Master Instructor

Ricoh Canada Inc.

Managed a sales territory, growing market share from 7% to 27% and revenue from 2M to 6M.

Territory Sales Representative

I write about sales, leadership & productivity to help you become a top sales performer. RSM at Lonestar Forklift | AIB MBA

Hey,

I’m Chris Crane, and my mission is simple: transforming industrial sales reps into formidable sales professionals.

Over my 15-year sales career, I’ve closed over $100 million in industrial equipment deals, trained more than 150 reps, and led industrial sales teams across Canada and the U.S.

I built the Scaling Success System™ to give industrial sales reps what no one else offers: a sales operating system specifically engineered for industrial sales. This system has taught over 150+ industrial sales reps to make over $250k+ per year consistently, and it can do the same for you. 

This isn’t theory. It’s a proven system designed to cut through the noise and turn conversations into conversions.

DM "sales" to learn more.

Chris Crane

Your quota isn’t just tied to skill. It’s tied to how much you learn. 

Most reps skim headlines.
They never finish the chapter.
They never build the habits that sharpen their advantage.

They celebrate small wins.
They stop improving after quota.
They forget that continuous learning is a must. 

Here’s what I know:
→ Books compound advantage.
→ They sharpen instincts reps overlook.
→ The best closers study strategy when others chase shortcuts.

Consider these takeaways: 
→ Stories create connection.
→ Urgency must be discovered, not forced.
→ Buyers need to feel like the decision is theirs.
→ Most reps pitch too early because they never uncover real pain.
→ Psychological leverage comes from trust built before the solution is ever shown.

If you’re not reading, you’re already losing ground.


P.S. This is just a sample of what I teach.

If you want to improve your selling ability right now, I created a FREE 5-day course to get you started: 👉 https://lnkd.in/gKGYmHUM

The $100M Closer | I install the Scaling Success System™ in your industrial sales organization. Your team gets a 5x return.

Most companies think they understand why the buyer buys, but they often fail here. 

They let buyers wander through stages.
They hope the prospect “moves forward.”
The the consumer decision-making process like a passive observation.

And that’s why deals drift, stall, and disappear.

If your a sales leader, here is what you need to consider:

Awareness doesn’t happen by luck.
→You establish authority, name the issue, and trigger the need.

Research isn’t random.
→Your questions expose the friction points the buyer didn’t see yet.

Consideration isn’t a comparison game.
→You redirect, clarify cost, and anchor your solution using their logic.

Conversion isn’t an emotional moment.
→It’s the natural result of controlled sequencing.

Re-purchase isn’t about satisfaction.
→It’s about systemized follow-up & expectation management

Here’s what happens when companies operationalize these stages with a unified system, like the Scaling Success System™

→ Objections decrease
→ Deal velocity increases
→ Repeat business multiplies
→ Forecasts become accurate

The buyer’s journey isn’t something you monitor, it’s something you command.

P.S. This is just a sample of what I teach

If you're ready to improve your sales team's outcomes and you want to install a proven system with proven frameworks, start here: 👉https://lnkd.in/g4t7DKmP

You can’t scale a team on hope.

Most leaders think they have a system.
They think their reps are following the process.
They think deal flow is healthy because the dashboard is green. 

Then quarter-end hits and everything falls apart.

The pipeline shrinks.
The “strong” opportunities melt under basic questions.
And the reps who sounded confident two weeks ago suddenly can’t defend a single number. 

The problem wasn’t effort.
The problem was structure.
And structure is where most companies quietly bleed.

So I installed the Scaling Success System™ inside a team that was missing quota for 6 straight quarters.

We rebuilt from the ground up using Canon Pillars and the integrated frameworks: CICSR™ for discovery, ARC5™ for objection control, and PTR™ for resistance handling. 

Here’s what changed:

→ Reps stopped “winging” discovery and started running CICSR™ with discipline.
→ Leadership stopped guessing and started inspecting using the 5 Core Pillars.
→ Deals stopped stalling because ARC5™ became the default cadence.

Here’s why it worked:

→ When a team has a unified operating system, performance compounds.
→ When reps follow a framework, conversations stop collapsing.
→ When leaders coach the same structure the reps execute, forecasting becomes real.

Teams don’t fail from a lack of effort. They fail from a lack of architecture.

P.S. This is just a sample of what I teach

If you're ready to improves your sales team's outcomes and you want to install a proven system with proven frameworks, start here: 👉https://lnkd.in/g4t7DKmP

Most sales leaders don’t coach their team.

They manage metrics.
They push for more activity.
They don’t build performance.

I’ve seen it too many times.

The pipeline stalls.
Good reps get stuck.
leadership has no clue why.

Here’s what I know:
→ Good leaders are good coaches
→ Good teams are properly coached
→ Good coaching provides clear guidance 

Consider these 8 tips: 
→ Be direct
→ Design actions
→ Set goals & follow up
→ Hold them accountable
→ Establish solid agreements
→ Create a trusted environment
→ Use powerful direct questioning 
→ Practice focused, active listening

Ask yourself: What could I be doing better than I am doing today as a leader? 

Want my full leadership framework? 

Comment "leadership" and I will send it over.

Stalled teams don’t need motivation. They need a system.

Most organizations...

Blame the rep.
Blame the market.
Blame “seasonality."

Then they wonder why performance keeps flat lining.

I was brought in to evaluate a team that hadn’t closed a meaningful deal in 90 days.

→ Pipeline looked full.
→ Nothing was moving.
→They blame the market.

The problem was obvious the moment I listened to three calls.

→ Discovery was shallow.
→ Objections were mishandled.
→ Deals were dying because nobody was controlling the rhythm.

So I installed the Scaling Success System™ 

→ CICSR™ for discovery flow.
→ ARC5™ for call control and objection sequencing.
→ PTR™ for categorizing the real resistance instead of fighting ghosts.

Within 30 days:
→ Conversion on second meetings doubled.
→ Deals stopped slipping into “next quarter.”
→ Reps finally understood why process beats personality.

Within 60 days:
→ Leaders could forecast accurately.
→ Reps stopped wasting time on dead opportunities.
→ High-stakes meetings became predictable instead of chaotic.

Within 90 days:
→ Revenue stabilized.
→ Momentum took over.
→ The team wasn’t guessing anymore

Here’s the truth:
→ Structure removes failure.
→ Systems remove hesitation.
→ Frameworks remove inconsistency.

When you replace hope with architecture, everything changes.

P.S. This is just a sample of what I teach

If you're ready to improves your sales team's outcomes and you want to install a proven system with proven frameworks, start here: 👉https://lnkd.in/g4t7DKmP

The first 90 days don’t determine your sales career, your first 900 do.

Everyone wants fast results.

But sales rewards those who stay.

Not those who hit early numbers.
Not those who get lucky with leads.
Not those who jump teams when it gets hard.

It rewards the reps who stay disciplined when it’s boring.

It rewards the ones who master the territory.

The ones who build relationships before they need them.

The ones who show up even when it feels like nothing’s working.

Most reps fail not from lack of talent.

They fail because they confuse discomfort with a sign to leave.

Top performers don’t chase momentum.

They create it, protect it, and compound it.

Great careers reward permanence, not panic.

900 days.

Mark it down. 

P.S. This is just a sample of what I teach

If you want to improve your selling ability right now, I created a FREE 5-day course to get you started: 👉https://lnkd.in/gF8aRNXf

Most teams don’t lose deals at the close, they lose them because they never lead the close.

Closing isn’t a mystery.
It isn’t “reading the room.”
It isn’t a special personality.

It’s structure.

It removes hesitation by anchoring to the next logical step.
It shifts the buyer from decision-making to decision-confirming.
It reinforces leadership, which is the core of every successful sales interaction.

Assumptive questions only land when the system behind them is solid because control isn’t created in the close, it’s created in the discovery and reinforced through ARC5™.

Here’s how each question maps to elite selling psychology:

→ “What method of payment would you like to use?”
Positions the deal as already aligned and moves the buyer into action mode.

→ “How quickly would you like the product delivered?”
Transitions from evaluation to implementation, a psychological shift buyers follow.

→ “Whose name do I make the invoice out to?”
Anchors administrative certainty and removes ambiguity.

→ “How many of these items do I need to put you down for?”
Frames quantity, not commitment, removing risk from the answer.

→ “What day do you want our technician to do the installation?”
Assumes forward motion and reinforces that the solution is the next step, not the question.

Here’s what organizations see when assumptive closes become standard:

→ Faster decision velocity
→ Stronger buyer confidence
→ Reduced last-minute resistance
→ Higher proposal-to-close conversion

Most reps try to “get the close right." Elite teams get the system right, and the close becomes automatic.

P.S. This is just a sample of what I teach

If you want to improve your selling ability right now, I created a FREE 5-day course to get you started: 👉https://lnkd.in/gaNEXimq

Most teams don’t realize how fragile their pipeline actually is.

They think more activity will fix it.
They think reps just need to “try harder.”
They think next quarter will magically look better.

It never does.

I worked with a team that looked strong on paper.

They had volume.
They had experience.
They had decent territory coverage.

But they had no system.

Every proposal looked different.
Every rep ran their own version of discovery.
Every close depended on whatever mood the rep was in that day.

You can’t scale chaos.

So we rebuilt everything through the Scaling Success System™.

→ We rebuilt discovery using CICSR so reps finally exposed real cost.
→ We rebuilt objection handling using PTR so stalls got categorized instead of feared.
→ And we rebuilt deal flow with ARC5 so reps controlled rhythm instead of losing momentum.

Three weeks later the shift was obvious.

→ Deals moved faster.
→ Customer confidence spiked.
→ And reps who were “average” suddenly looked elite.

Here’s the truth: systems outperform talent because systems don’t collapse under pressure.

P.S. This is just a sample of what I teach

If you're ready to improves your sales team's outcomes and you want to install a proven system with proven frameworks, start here: 👉https://lnkd.in/g4t7DKmP

You don’t fix a rep’s confidence by giving them more motivation.

They think their issue is mindset.
They think they just need “to believe.”
They think confidence shows up before competence.

But every stalled rep I’ve coached followed the same pattern.

They avoided real discovery.
They softened their questions.
They hid behind “relationship building” instead of leading the call.

Here’s where deals died:

They never took the buyer deep enough.
They never quantified the cost.
They never created the urgency the deal required.

So I taught them CICSR the way it’s meant to be used — with pressure, sequence, and control.
→ Context to ground the conversation in reality.
→ Issue to expose the friction they kept glossing over.
→ Cost to make the buyer say their own pain out loud.
→ Solution to co-create the future instead of pitching features.
→ Resistance to surface the objections early so nothing blindsided them later. 

→  The shift was immediate.
→ Their questions sharpened.
→ Their confidence finally came from evidence, not hope.

Your confidence doesn’t grow before the work. It grows because of the work.

P.S. This is just a sample of what I teach

If you want to improve your selling ability right now, I created a FREE 5-day course to get you started: 👉https://lnkd.in/gaNEXimq

The deal almost died because I broke my own rule: never accept the first answer.

The timeline sounded “set.”
The buyer sounded confident.
The numbers sounded reasonable.

But something was off.

The answers were too clean.
The logic didn’t match the pain.
The urgency didn’t match the cost.

I stopped the drift and shifted into ARC5.

→ First, I aligned — calm, steady, zero resistance.
→ Then I redirected — “Walk me through what’s actually causing the slowdown.”
→ Then I clarified — and that’s where everything cracked open.

→ The “minor delay” was costing them six figures a quarter.
→ The “non-urgent project” was stalling three other initiatives.
→ The “we’ll revisit next month” was actually fear of making the wrong call.

So I reframed using their own admissions.

“You said the delays hit revenue, correct? And because they hit revenue, the cost stacks every week, correct?”

I tied the issue to the consequence, the consequence to the math, and the math to the solution.

Once the logic was undeniable, closing was a formality.

→ The hesitation vanished.
→ The timeline moved forward.
→ The deal locked in that afternoon.

Control isn’t force. Control is sequence.

P.S. This is just a sample of what I teach

If you want to improve your selling ability right now, I created a FREE 5-day course to get you started: 👉https://lnkd.in/gaNEXimq

Most reps don’t follow a sales process, they follow their emotions. 

They panic during objections.
They forget what they already uncovered.
They rush to close without setting the stage.

Here’s what I know:

→ They use structure to create control.
→ Great reps don’t “wing it” in critical conversations.
→ They follow a sequence that leads the buyer, not chases them.

Most sales reps skip the steps that build trust.

They push too early.
They misread the buyer’s resistance.
They never anchor their solution to the real pain.

Here’s how elite reps use the ARC5™ sequence to run a world-class sales process:

→ Align: Start by agreeing with the buyer’s concern to lower resistance.
→ Redirect: Guide the conversation back to what really matters, their pain.
→ Clarify: Dig into the issue, quantify the cost, and confirm what’s at stake.
→ Reframe: Position your solution as the logical fix, backed by ROI.
→ Close: Affirm the outcome, set the timeline, and secure the next step.

It’s not just a framework.
It’s a cheat code for closing high-value deals.
It’s how top 1% reps stay in control of every conversation.

Sales isn’t just personality, it’s about process.

P.S. This is just a sample of what I teach.

DM "sales" if you want to learn more.

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

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

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

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

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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

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

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