You don’t have to burn yourself out to build a successful business.

I learned that the hard way.

On paper, everything looked great.
✔ Built three businesses to $200M in revenue
✔ Bootstrapped a service business to $25M with 25 people in five years
✔ Scaled a VC-backed tech company to $28M ARR in under two years with just 12 people
✔ Made a double-sided consumer marketplace profitable in three months with a five-person team
✔ Raised $30M in venture capital

But behind the scenes, I was exhausted, constantly putting out fires, and convinced the business would fall apart if I stepped away.

So I pushed harder, thinking that was the only way.

Then life forced me to stop.

I ran headfirst into a glass window. A concussion took me out for eight weeks. No emails, no meetings, no problem-solving. For the first time, I couldn’t step in to fix things.

And when I came back, I was shocked. The business hadn’t just survived. It had thrived.

That moment forced me to question everything.

I always thought the key to scaling was working harder and building better systems. And systems did help. But what really made the difference wasn’t the business. It was me.

I had built a company that depended on me, not because it had to, but because I didn’t know how to let go. I believed that stepping back meant losing control. That if I wasn’t involved in everything, things would fall apart.

That belief had to change.

Learning to trust my team, step back, and stop being the bottleneck wasn’t easy. But once I did, everything changed.

The systems worked because I let them. My team thrived because I gave them space. And the business grew faster than ever, not because I was in every decision, but because I wasn’t.

Now, I help founders do the same.

Most founders come to me because they feel stuck. They’re scaling, but at the cost of their time, health, and freedom. It doesn’t have to be that way.

If you’re ready to build a business that grows without you being in the weeds, join me for daily insights on scaling, leadership, and personal growth.

Let’s get started.
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Let’s connect:
Email: hello@christinecarrillo.com
Twitter: @ChristineCarril

Christine Carrillo

I'm a seasoned operator and two-time founder with a track record of building and scaling consumer-facing businesses. My core strengths lie in cross-functional execution, systems thinking, and translating strategy into results. I specialize in DTC e-commerce, subscriptions, memberships, and customer-centric innovation — with deep experience leading companies through startup, scale-up, and turnaround phases.

In 2013, I co-founded Vinyl Me, Please — a record-of-the-month club and online record store — and built the company from the ground up. Over five years, we bootstrapped the business from $0 to $11M in ARR before raising a $3M Series A. By 2020, we had 30K+ members across 40+ countries and were generating over $15M annually. After stepping away from day-to-day operations, I returned in 2024 to lead a full-scale turnaround, restoring operational discipline, improving unit economics, and guiding the company back to profitability.

Between stints at VMP, I co-founded a strategy and innovation consultancy, UNBRKBLE. There, I led strategic engagements for brands like Microsoft, Nike, On Running, Denon, Munich Re, and others — driving initiatives across go-to-market planning, customer experience, qual/quant research, innovation, and operational strategy.

I hold a BBA in Music Business & Entrepreneurship from Belmont University (Cum Laude, 2011) and live in Arvada, CO with my wife, Ester, and our three kids: Kinzie, Audrey, and Rhett.

Avid reader. Ultrarunner. Systems thinker. Curious human. Always building.

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