Christopher Nelson

Helping You Build Wealth with Tech Equity and become the Founder of Your Financial Independence

In the early 2000s,  my focus was on growing my skills, climbing the ladder, and being where I needed to be to get the job done. 

In 2009, I burned out hard. 

My new plan was to work for equity in tech start-ups and become financially independent.

Swing and Miss, the first start-up company I chose to work for, was going nowhere (equity worth zero). 

What happened? Did I screw up everything?

I chose the company because I was passionate about its mission, but I had not examined it further. I had no real plan.

My next step was to call people that I knew had been successful in working for equity in tech and see what was different in their "playbook."

Key lessons learned after first dead-end tech startup:
 -In trading my time and talent for equity, I need to think like an investor
 -Create a rigorous due diligence process
 -Don't fear failure, stay in the game
 -Keep learning

May 2011, Started at Splunk Pre-IPO

April 19th, 2012 Splunk had a break-out IPO

April 20th, 2012 feelings of anxiety and fear creep in about how to manage the newly generated wealth. 

I had to figure out how to get real income (real estate) into my portfolio. I needed something sending me checks.

Key lessons learned after the first IPO:
 -How to invest in private equity real estate
 -Set up my family for generational wealth
 -Own the result (don't put my future in someone else's hands)

New Mission: Be the Founder of a Micro Family Office to become Financially Independent.

Strategy:
 -Live within paychecks
 -Bonuses for extras
 -Invest all of our equity

I climbed the ladder to become a CIO. 

At the peak, I realized I wanted to build my DIY Family Office more than climb the ladder.

I changed roles and reduced my scope. 

On August 26, 2022, I graduated from my W-2 job to live a lifestyle by design.

I founded WealthOps in 2023 to equip technology professionals with the skills to build and run their portfolios.

My Portfolio:
 -3  Start-Ups I worked for IPOed (SPLK, YEXT, GTLB) <-Traded Time
 -Replaced paycheck with $200k+ of portfolio income
 -Built my Micro Family Office
 -Running a company structured around my life

My Results:
 -Highly Diversified Portfolio - Stocks, PE Real Estate, Debt, Businesses, and VC. 
 -$223 Million AUM with investors
 -7 Investments  gone full cycle with an Avg 19.4% IRR to investors
 -1000+ tech employees being educated on Managing Tech Millions
 -20+  and growing Portfolio CEOs

My mission - 1000+ Portfolio CEOs

Learn more about how I did this, join our free live workshop  →  https://dub.sh/wealthops-linkedin

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David Choe was offered a choice in 2005:

$60,000 cash to paint Facebook's murals - or stock options instead.

Most people would take the cash.

Choe took the stock.

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 $𝟮𝟬𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻.

The chances he would have gotten rich from his art sales alone?

𝘚𝘭𝘪𝘮.

It's the same with your salary.

It will likely never make you wealthy.

But your equity compensation has a chance to.

Last year, over 500,000 people became millionaires in the United States.

The majority didn't get there through salaries or side hustles.

They got there through equity compensation.

RSUs that vested.
Options that multiplied.
ESPP grants that 10x'd.

But here's the trap I see constantly:

Smart people treat equity like a bonus.

Something extra. Nice to have.

They optimize for salary and ignore the life-changing potential in their equity grants.

I've watched tech executives negotiate hard for an extra $20K in base salary.

Then leave $500K in equity on the table because they didn't understand the company's trajectory.

David Choe understood something most people miss:

Your time and talent are finite resources.

But equity in the RIGHT company?

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂.

𝗜𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗽.

𝗜𝘁 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝟯 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵.

The difference between $1M and $10M isn't working harder.

It's recognizing when equity compensation creates asymmetric returns.

🔶

If you're sitting on $1M+ in equity compensation and struggling to figure out how to manage it, how to divest it, how to grow it -- I want to invite you to my upcoming live workshop.

I'll teach you how to architect your wealth around a Micro Family Office.


𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://dub.sh/mN0g8tK

---

Here is what attendees from last months workshop said about it:

𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.

- 𝗠𝗮𝘂𝗿í𝗰𝗶𝗼 𝗛.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥.

- 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘆 𝗪.

𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰.

- 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗪.

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Talks about #realestate, #technology, #techstartups, #realestateinvesting, and #financialindependence

I Run My Own Micro Family Office and Teach Others to Do the Same | Founder @ WealthOps

This post from Mitchell Baldridge, CPA, CFP® is hilarious!

Not gold. Not bonds. The Costco hot dog.

Most people with $1M-$30M don't have a wealth management problem.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺.

Last Wednesday, I watched 49 high-earners realize this in real-time.

Tech executives with 7-figure stock portfolios they're afraid to touch.

Entrepreneurs sitting on $3M in cash, paralyzed by what comes next.

Doctors earning $500K+ but managing wealth like they have $100K in a 401K.

The common thread?

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩. 𝘉𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵.

So we walked through the exact framework ultra-wealthy families use to architect portfolios... but designed for $1M-$30M net worth.

Not generic asset allocation charts.

A strategic Investment Thesis that defines YOUR rules for deploying capital, targeting returns, and protecting legacy.

The same system that help me transition from tech executive to Micro Family Office CEO—now generating $200K+ in annual portfolio cashflow.

Want to join us for live, tactical guidance on managing wealth like the business?

As of typing this we have 53 people signed up for our next workshop.

𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽: December 17th

𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://dub.sh/mN0g8tK

---

Here is what attendees from last months workshop said about it:

𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.

- 𝗠𝗮𝘂𝗿í𝗰𝗶𝗼 𝗛.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥.

- 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘆 𝗪.

𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰.

- 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗪.

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"I wish I could retire."

I hear this all the time from people with $3M-$5M-$7M portfolios.

They're brilliant at building wealth.

But they feel trapped in their jobs.

Here's what they don't realize:

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘵.

The problem isn't the size of their portfolio.

It's how it's structured.

Most high-net-worth professionals are stuck in the Traditional Drawdown Model:
→ Selling assets to generate income
→ Watching principal decline year after year
→ Paying unnecessary taxes
→ Living with constant sequence risk
→ Feeling anxious about market volatility

But there's a different approach.

One that ultra-wealthy families ($100M+) have used for decades.

It's called an Evergreen Income Model.

Instead of liquidating your portfolio, you build it to generate consistent, tax-efficient cashflow.

The difference is dramatic:

A $3M Evergreen Portfolio can generate $250K annually—with principal staying intact (or growing).

After-tax income? ~$240K.

Effective tax rate? 3-5%.

Compare that to a traditional drawdown approach:
$120K gross income → $90K after-tax → principal declining every year.

Same portfolio size. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲.

How does it work?

The Evergreen Model rests on 4 pillars:

1️⃣ Asset Selection – Income-focused investments (industrial triple net leases, self-storage, debt funds, energy infrastructure)

2️⃣ Tax Optimization – Depreciation shields, depletion allowances, carried interest treatment, strategic loss harvesting

3️⃣ Risk Management – Diversification across asset classes, sponsors, and vintages. 10-15% liquidity buffer.

4️⃣ Operation Cadence – Quarterly reviews, annual rebalancing, ongoing due diligence, regular tax planning.

This isn't theory.

It's how my own portfolio works.

I've got ~50% of my portfolio in income generating assets.

The result? $200K+ annually in tax-efficient cashflow.

It's not a secret method.

And it's how TIGER21 members (ultra-wealthy families) structure their wealth:
→ 30% Private Equity
→ 25% Real Estate
→ 15% Private Credit
→ 20% Public Equities (stocks)
→ 10% Other

They're not trying to "beat the market."

They're building income engines.

If you're sitting on $1M-$30M but still feel dependent on your paycheck, you're not stuck.

You're just one strategic shift away from financial freedom.

Want to learn how to transition your portfolio from drawdown to evergreen income?

I'm hosting a free live workshop on December 17, 2025 where I'll walk through:

✓ The exact framework to build an Evergreen Portfolio
✓ How to access these same investments
✓ How to create your own investment thesis
✓ Real portfolio examples (including mine)

Link to register 👇
https://dub.sh/mN0g8tK

Micro Family Office Evergreen Portfolio Model

You built a $6M portfolio.

But you're still managing it like it's a $700K portfolio.

Here's what I mean...

Most high-net-worth professionals are running Drawdown Portfolios when they should be running Evergreen Portfolios.

I say this because many (maybe even you) feel like their portfolio isn't getting them closer to living the life they want.

Let me show you the difference:

𝗗𝗥𝗔𝗪𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡 𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗢 (𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲)

This is what 99% of advisors will build for you:
→ Philosophy: Accumulate → Store → Withdraw → Deplete
→ Assets: Stocks, bonds, cash in traditional 60/40 allocation
→ Income Strategy: Sell 4% of your portfolio annually
→ Your Role: Passive account holder who delegates everything
→ Crisis Response: Storage depletes faster, no recovery mechanism
→ Tax Strategy: Limited options (capital gains from forced sales)

You're treating your wealth like a storage unit.

Pull from it until it's empty.

𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗢 (𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀)

This is what ultra-wealthy families actually do:
→ Philosophy: Build → Operate → Generate → Reinvest → Scale
→ Assets: Private equity, real estate, active businesses + traditional investments
→ Income Strategy: Generate 6-8% cash flow WITHOUT selling ownership
→ Your Role: Active CEO making strategic decisions and building a team
→ Crisis Response: Business keeps operating, can pivot and adapt
→ Tax Strategy: Multiple optimization levers (depreciation, K-1 losses, qualified dividends)

You're treating wealth like an operating company.

It generates cash flow today.

While growing for tomorrow.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁:
Stop asking: "How much can I safely withdraw at 65?"
Start asking: "How much cash flow does my portfolio generate TODAY?"

Stop "managing" investments once a month.
Start operating like the CEO of a wealth business.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:
They don't know it exists as an option.
They think it's only for ultra-wealthy families.

Their advisor can't teach it (they've never done it).

They're paralyzed by the knowledge gap.

They don't have a roadmap.

Here's the truth...

If you built a $6M portfolio, you ALREADY have the skills to run it like a business.

You just need the right architecture.

The right systems.

The right playbook.

This is exactly what we're teaching in our live workshop on 12/17:
→ How to architect your own Micro Family Office
→ How to transition from Drawdown to Evergreen thinking
→ How to generate cash flow TODAY (not when you're 65)
→ The frameworks ultra-wealthy families use (scaled for $1M-$30M portfolios)

Link to register:  https://dub.sh/mN0g8tK

$1M+ net worth.
$0 portfolio income.
See the problem?

Most high earners have their wealth locked in:
→ Company stock (can't sell without taxes)
→ Primary residence (doesn't pay you)
→ Retirement accounts (can't access for 20 years)
→ Growth stocks (appreciation ≠ cash flow)

You thought hitting $1M+ meant freedom.

Instead, you're still chained to your paycheck.

Because your portfolio architecture doesn't match your goals.

Want to quit your job? 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦-𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴.

Want to retire early? 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸.

Want actual freedom? 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘰.

The ultra-wealthy don't build wealth on stock portfolios.

They build it from assets that paid them... every single month.

Your portfolio needs to work for you.

Not just look good on a spreadsheet.

If you want to build a portfolio like this...

Join our free live workshop on December 17th.

Learn how the ultra-wealthy structure their portfolios as an income-focused system that generates reliable cash flow while preserving your principal.

We'll cover:
→ How to create your investment thesis
→ How to transition from appreciation to income
→ The asset classes ultra-wealthy families actually use
→ Tax-efficient strategies for concentrated stock positions
→ Building your portfolio architecture in 90 days

Learn more and register here: 
https://dub.sh/mN0g8tK

The Vanderbilts and Rockefellers each had $200B+.

96 years later, the Vanderbilts were broke.

The Rockefellers are still worth billions today.

What made the difference?

Not talent. Not luck. Not market timing.

Systems.

Vanderbilts asked → "How can we enjoy our wealth?"
Rockefellers asked → "How can we steward our wealth?"

That single question changed 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴.

Here's what the Rockefellers built that the Vanderbilts didn't:

→ 𝗔 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀.
Not gut feelings. Not hot tips. A written philosophy that guided every decision.

→ 𝗔𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲.
Room 5600 in 1882. Five divisions. Centralized decision-making. Professional infrastructure.

→ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘀.
80% in businesses, dividend stocks, and income real estate. Not mansions and yachts.

→ 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲.
Generation-skipping structures that removed assets from estate taxes permanently.

→ 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴.
Heirs weren't raised to spend. They were trained to compound.

→ 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲.
Protection from taxes, creditors, divorces, and poor individual decisions.

The lesson?

Wealth creation and wealth management are 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴.

You can be brilliant at building a $10M+ portfolio.

And still lose everything if you don't build the systems to protect and grow it.

Most high-earners never learn this.

They hit $5M, $10M, $20M in net worth.

Then wonder why they still feel like beginners when it comes to managing it.

The Vanderbilts had the same problem.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀?

You don't need $100M to build Rockefeller-style systems.

You need the right framework.

That's exactly what we're covering in our live workshop on December 17th.

We'll walk through how to architect your own Micro Family Office—so your wealth outlasts you.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://dub.sh/mN0g8tK

---

Here is what attendees from last months workshop said about it:

𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.

- 𝗠𝗮𝘂𝗿í𝗰𝗶𝗼 𝗛.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥.

- 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘆 𝗪.

𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰.

- 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗪.

Build a micro family office like the Rockefellers

The ultra-wealthy don't have financial advisors - they have Family Offices.

Here's how to build one if you only have a few $M net worth.

Most people think Family Offices are only for billionaires.

They're wrong.

You just need the right-sized version.

Here's the problem...

You built a million-dollar portfolio with blood, sweat, and tears.

Now you've handed it off to an advisor that is managing, on average, 362 other clients.

Your goal:
- grow your wealth
- protect your wealth
- generate cash flow from your wealth

Their goal:
𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘰 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘸-𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦.

See the conflict?

If you want something other than cookie-cutter advice, you 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 take control and step up as the 𝗖𝗘𝗢 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵.

That's where the Micro Family Office comes in.

Same institutional approach as the ultra-wealthy. 

Scaled for the $1M-$30M portfolios of busy professionals.

Here are the 7 core components:

𝟭. 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆
Your Legacy Statement and Investment Thesis. The "why" behind every decision.

𝟮. 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲
Asset allocation blueprint across public equity, private equity, real estate, and preservation.

𝟯. 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹 & 𝗧𝗮𝘅 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
Entity structures that shield wealth and minimizes your effective tax rate.

𝟰. 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀
Standardized workflows for investing, divesting, reporting, and decision-making.

𝟱. 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 & 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮
Dashboards and metrics that show what's working and where to adjust.

𝟲. 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 & 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘀
Fractional specialists (CPA, CTP, attorney) who execute at your direction—not the other way around.

𝟳. 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲
Monthly reviews. Quarterly strategy. Annual planning. You remain CEO.

This isn't about making wealth management a second full-time job.

It's about building infrastructure that puts YOU back in control.

You become the CEO of your wealth—not a passenger in someone else's system.

Want to build yours?

Join my free live workshop on 𝗗𝗲𝗰 𝟭𝟳𝘁𝗵 where I'll walk through the exact blueprint.

𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://dub.sh/mN0g8tK

Here are 3 interesting things I noticed looking into this data:


𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝟭𝟬% 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲-𝗥𝗶𝗰𝗵, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹-𝗥𝗶𝗰𝗵
➤ Total net worth: $1.6M
➤ Investable net worth: $842K
➤ That means 52% is locked in their primary residence.
➤ This doesn't generate the cashflow needed to replace a paycheck.

𝟮. 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗘𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁
➤ Top 10%: 9% in business equity
➤ Top 1%: 41% in business equity
➤ The ultra-wealthy don't just invest differently.
➤ They own differently.

𝟯. 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗙𝗹𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗧𝗶𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝟯𝟭%
➤ This surprised me.
➤ Whether you're top 10%, 5%, or 1%—stocks stay constant.
➤ The difference isn't public markets.
➤ It's private equity, real estate, and business ownership.

The pattern is clear:
➤ Top 10% = Wealth trapped in assets (mainly their house)
➤ Top 1% = Wealth working through systems

If you're in the top 10% but still trading time for money, you likely don't have an income problem.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮.

Want to learn how the top 1% actually structure their portfolios?

I'm hosting a live workshop on 12/17 and breaking down how to architect your own 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲.

Learn more and register here: 
https://dub.sh/mN0g8tK

The middle class is shrinking. - you've heard it a thousand times.

But here's what the headlines won't tell you.

Americans aren't getting poorer.

They're getting richer.

Look at the data.

In 1967, only 13.1% of households earned $100,000+ 

(𝘢𝘥𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯).

By 2022? That number hit 37.5%.

That's a 186% 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲.

The middle-income bracket didn't disappear downward.

It shifted upward.

Here's the uncomfortable truth the media ignores: doom and gloom pays the bills.

"Middle class shrinking" gets clicks.

"Americans are wealthier than ever" doesn't.

Now, I'm not saying everything is perfect.

Housing costs have outpaced income growth.

Healthcare is more expensive.

The wealth you've built requires different strategies than your parents needed.

But if you're reading this, there's a good chance you're part of that 37.5%.

You've climbed out of the middle class.

You've accumulated significant wealth.

And that creates a new problem.

You're brilliant at building wealth.

But managing it requires a completely different playbook.

The strategies that got you here won't optimize what you've built.

This is why you feel like a beginner 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 professional mastery.

You've graduated to a new wealth tier.

But nobody gave you the operating manual.

That's the real knowledge gap.

Not how to make more money.

But how to architect, build, and run your wealth like the top 1% does.

Ready to start managing your wealth like the 1%?

Join me for my upcoming live workshop on Jan 7th.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://dub.sh/mN0g8tK

---

Here is what attendees from last months workshop said about it:

𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.

- 𝗠𝗮𝘂𝗿í𝗰𝗶𝗼 𝗛.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥.

- 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘆 𝗪.

𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰.

- 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗪.

50% of your net worth in company stock isn't a strategy.

It's gambling.

And I see it constantly with tech executives and entrepreneurs.

They crush it building wealth.

Then they make mistake #2 from this list: keeping 50%+ in a single asset.

Here's why this is so dangerous:

Your income already depends on this company.

Your equity depends on this company.

Your career trajectory depends on this company.

That's not diversification.

That's concentration risk on steroids.

My rule of thumb is 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 hold more than 10% in any single asset.

Not because I'm conservative.

Because I'm systematic.

Wealth preservation requires different rules than wealth creation.

Most people figure this out after a market correction.

Smart ones figure it out before.

If you're making more than two of these mistakes right now with your portfolio, I'd love to have you at my upcoming live workshop.

On December 17th, I'll be sharing how to architect your own Micro Family Office so you can protect and grow your wealth like the ultra-wealthy.

We've filled up our last two workshops so if you're interested, grab your spot now - we are ~75% full.

𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲:  https://dub.sh/mN0g8tK

You deal with corporate dysfunction 50 hours a week.

Don't let it infect your portfolio too - let me show you what I mean.

𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲.
Your CPA doesn't talk to your financial advisor. Your attorney works in isolation. Your equity comp specialist has never met your estate planner.
Sound familiar? It's Lumbergh × 8.

𝗧𝗣𝗦 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆.
Scattered account statements. Disconnected spreadsheets. No integration. No visibility.
You're making $500K+ but managing wealth like it's 1999.

𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗮𝘅 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀.
Proactive tax planning? Nope. You find out about opportunities after they've passed.
Costly mistakes that could've been prevented with a simple system.

𝗜𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵-𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘂𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 "𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀."
"We'll get back to you next quarter."
"That's not really our focus."
"Have you talked to Bob about that?"
Meanwhile your equity concentration keeps growing and nobody has a plan.

Here's what drives me crazy:

You're brilliant at your job. You built serious wealth. You think systematically.

But your wealth management looks like a mid-2000s IT department.

🅧 No strategic plan.
🅧 No integrated operations.
🅧 No accountability.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘺𝘴𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬.
Why accept it for your million-dollar portfolio???

The ultra-wealthy figured this out decades ago. 

They run family offices.

☑ Strategic vision.
☑ Coordinated team.
☑ Clear accountability.
☑ Operational cadence.


But you don't need $100M and a full-time CFO to implement this.

You need the right Micro Family Office framework.

I'm hosting a free live workshop to walk through exactly how it works.

No corporate BS. Just a proven system.

As of typing this we have 26 motivated people signed up for our upcoming workshop.

𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽: Jan 7th

𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://dub.sh/mN0g8tK

---

Here is what attendees from last months workshop said about it:

𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.

- 𝗠𝗮𝘂𝗿í𝗰𝗶𝗼 𝗛.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥.

- 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘆 𝗪.

𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰.

- 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗪.

The financial "dead zone" just got bigger.

It used to be $1M-$30M.

Now it's $1M-$50M.

Here's what changed:

Traditional wealth advisors are consolidating clients.

You're one of 363 relationships. 

They don't have time for your complex equity comp questions. 

They don't build custom tax strategies. 

They rebalance your 60/40 and call it a year.

Family offices? 

The barrier to entry keeps rising. 

First it was $30M minimum. 

Now most won't even talk to you under $50M.

So you're stuck in the middle.

Too complex for retail advisors. 

Too "small" for institutional solutions.

This is the Service Desert.

And it's exactly why I built my own Micro Family Office.

Because I needed: 
→ Systematic equity divestiture 
→ Tax-optimized portfolio structure
→ Private deal access 
→ Coordinated CPA/attorney/RIA team 
→ Monthly operating cadence

No wealth advisor was going to build or manage that for me. 

And no family office would take me seriously.

So I learned how Single Family Offices operate and built a lean, tech-powered version for my portfolio.

Now I run my wealth like a business. 

𝗜'𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗘𝗢, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁.

If you're in the $1M-$50M range and feel like you're winging it—you probably are.

The traditional system wasn't built for you.

So build your own.

In a few days, I'm hosting a live workshop on how to architect your own Micro Family Office.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://dub.sh/mN0g8tK

---

Here is what attendees from last months workshop said about it:

𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.

- 𝗠𝗮𝘂𝗿í𝗰𝗶𝗼 𝗛.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥.

- 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘆 𝗪.

𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰.

- 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗪.

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

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

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

LinkedIn Login, Sign in | LinkedIn

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#scalingup #ceo #founder #growth

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And that decision changed their entire valuation trajectory.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#CFOInsights #Leadership #Strategy #Scalingup

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The Battle

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