Talentism

Huw coaches founders and their leadership teams to create clarity, attain alignment, and unleash their potential. He has worked with CEOs of VC and PE backed software and technology companies on both growth trajectories and supported them through turnaround or transition.

Huw is a 3-time founder, investor, and speaker turned executive coach. His corporate career centered around his work at Goldman Sachs, Rackspace, and Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund with $160bn under management. While at Bridgewater Associates he was a Senior Management Associate responsible for Portfolio Analytics. In 2016 he acquired and later sold Jungle Disk, a cybersecurity company previously owned by Rackspace. He co-founded CyberFortress, a VC-backed insurtech startup in 2018 (where he also became a Talentism client!). He also co-founded Porthcawl Holdings, a value-driven technology holding company, investing in startups and businesses in the SaaS and bitcoin space.

Huw holds an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Ford Scholar and Baker Scholar, and holds undergraduate and masters degrees in mathematics from Oxford University,

Huw is a proud Welshman who lives with his wife and young son in San Antonio, Texas. He is a board member of the local Entrepreneurs Organization responsible for the Accelerator program, helping budding entrepreneurs scale their businesses to 7-figures. He is also Vice President of Programming for the Harvard Business School Club of San Antonio. His compulsions include identifying gifts in adversity, creating inspiring visions, radical self-discipline, and running 100 mile races in the mountains.

CEO/Founder/Executive Coach

H3.xyz

Do you feel like you’ve achieved everything you’ve set your sights on in your work, yet somehow you still feel unfulfilled?

On the outside you are smiling. But on the inside, you are quietly suffering. Despite all of your success you frequently find yourself wondering "Is this really all there is to life?"

There is a nagging voice in your head telling you that you need to make a change. This voice is getting louder and it's becoming difficult to ignore.

You feel an inner calling. You know there is a bigger impact you want to make or a bigger vision to pursue.

You drift into daydreams about making a change and then quickly snap yourself out of it and back into reality because you fear that if you make a big change it will lead to a cascade of negative impacts in your life.

As a driven go-getter with a full-time job and a family, it feels irresponsible to take time to figure out who you truly are and what you actually want.

If any of this feels familiar, you are in the right place at the right time.

You don't have to wrestle with this alone. I can show you how to take this uncertainty and transform it into clarity.

Founder & CEO

CyberFortress

After Jungle Disk acquired LiveVault, KeepItSafe, Off-site Data Sync in 2021 the combined global business was re-branded CyberFortress in July 2022.

Board Director

Interim CEO

CyberFortress Insurance services was an insurtech startup backed by Greycroft and Live Oak Venture Partners. Founded in 2018 the company was shut down in 2022 and its IP sold to Jungle Disk, LLC. 

——

Ecommerce outages happen - when they do, expect a check from CyberFortress. CyberFortress insurance covers your online sales revenue—paying claims within 24 hours.

We know how hard buying insurance is and how painful making a claim can be. That's why we built a simple policy that you can sign up for in minutes that covers lost revenue due to an unexpected website outage.

CEO & Co-Founder, CyberFortress Insurance Services / CyberFortress, Inc.

Porthcawl Holdings, LLC

Holding company investing in bitcoin, startups building the new bitcoin economy, cybersecurity software and managed IT services companies.

Direct investments:
• Purchased Jungle Disk from Rackspace (announced January 15th, 2016)
• Launched CyberFortress Insurance Services in January 2018.
• Launched Modern Managed IT in Aug 2020

Indirect investments include: 
• Strike (https://strike.me/)
• Unchained Capital (https://unchained.com/)
• Swan Bitcoin (https://www.swanbitcoin.com/)
• Giga Energy (https://www.gigaenergy.com/)
• Battery (https://www.batteryfinance.io/)

Partner & Co-Founder

Jungle Disk

Leading strategy and finance for an amazing team to provide data protection, data backup, and data security services to small businesses everywhere.

Jungle Disk, LLC is the first portfolio company of Porthcawl Holdings.

https://www.jungledisk.com/

Chief Strategy and Financial Officer

Bridgewater Associates

Manager, Portfolio Analytics (Alpha) / Manager, Portfolio Compliance & Reporting

Senior Management Associate

Rackspace Hosting

GM, Jungle Disk

Cloudera

Product Management & Business Development

Bridges Ventures

Sourced, executed and managed portfolio investments for a £115 million venture capital / private equity firm funded by Apax Partners, 3i and Doughty Hanson.

Board observer for:
Insurance Dialogue Limited
Smart Storage Ltd
New Career Skills
The Office Group

Investment Associate

Goldman Sachs

Advised and structured creative solutions for UK and Pan-European corporate clients seeking to manage foreign exchange, interest rate and equity exposures.

Associate, Corporate Derivatives (Investment Banking / FICC)

Helping Ivy League-educated, overachievers find meaning and clarity in their career | Speaker, Clarity Coach, Entrepreneur

Huw Edwards

How many "yes"es have you said this week? 

Even today?

All willing yeses?

No?

Don't get addicted to being needed or being available.

There's really no flex there.

There's actually pride in being unavailable.

It honors your boundaries.

It makes you the most intentional.

It gives you the white space to think, zoom out, and make moves that fulfill you.

A great way to sustain excellence.

3x Founder, Harvard MBA, ex-Bridgewater Associates, Goldman Sachs | Executive Coach | Helping ambitious founders/CEOs unleash their potential and purpose

No alternative text description for this image

It's Thanksgiving day here in the US.

Most people use today to list what they’re grateful for.

But if we’re honest, the things we’re most grateful for are the things that forced us to grow.

The setbacks that sharpened us.

The pressure that exposed us.

The moments we thought would break us, but didn’t.

We're not just thankful for the wins.

We are thankful for the stretch that reveals the better versions of ourselves.

So here’s to the challenges that made you better.

The people who held you to a higher standard.

And the version of you that refused to quit when shit hits the fan.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Your work priorities need your attention. 

But your body needs movement too. 

You need mental fuel to sustain your drive.

Doing something physical will provide your mind with that fuel.

You don't even need to be a fitness freak.

A few minutes' run, a few reps of weight lifting, or a walk is just fine.

Anything that engages your body engages your mind.

An engaged mind never runs out of momentum.

JSESSIONID

LinkedIn

li_at

Talks about #values, #vision, #purpose, #coregift, and #entrepreneurship

The growth mindset teaches us to:

- Keep pushing our limits
- Push through the fatigue
- Rest is a reward at the end

A better approach:

- Make recovery a part of your schedule
- Let your nervous system actually relax
- Use short breaks to reset your mind midday
- Sleep early if you can, and let your subconscious do the processing

Your body needs a breather

Give it space to process, recover, and adapt.

Growth happens in recovery.

Here’s how I think about growth:

- Big picture: If you’re always the best in the room, you’re in the wrong one.

- Plan: Get around people who challenge the way you think.

- Actions: Ask better questions, study their mindset, not just what they do.

- Execution: Ignore sabotage thoughts, show up, learn fast, and apply immediately.

The goal is to become the best versions of ourselves.

Plan on always being in rooms that force you to level up.

I spent years chasing happiness.

Until I realized you don’t chase happiness.

You create the conditions to attract it.

It’ll easily find you doing things that fulfill you.

But if you chase it, it’ll leave you longing, hoping, and frustrated.

In today’s issue, I talked about the idea of the happiness we want vs the happiness we get.

I shared ways to help elite performers naturally attract a happier version of themselves.

Read the newsletter 👇

Ever notice how happiness shows up in the smallest, most random moments? Like when you catch yourself laughing at something dumb and realize, for a sp

The happiness we want vs the happiness we get…

If you only rest when you break down, you're not recovering.

You're actually just repairing. 

And it can take much longer than you expect.

Here are 3 ways to intentionally include recovery into your schedule →

3 ways to effortlessly add rest to your busy schedule

Stop: Trying to get it perfect before you act
Start: Acting a little before you’re ready and let results refine the rest

Stop: Overthinking every move to avoid criticism
Start: Trusting your ability to adapt under pressure

Stop: Saying yes to things just because you can
Start: Saying no to protect your time and energy

Stop: Telling yourself you need more time
Start: Trusting that 80% done is enough to start

Stop: Waiting to feel confident
Start: Moving even when you're unsure

As George S. Patton once said, "A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week."

Trust your training and go ahead with that plan.

The highest level of success isn’t how many people agree with you, but how deeply you agree with yourself.

So let your choices honor you.

You can't please everyone...and that's a good thing.

Feeling nervous doesn't mean something is wrong. 

Most people try to avoid the nerves or try to push them away.

But you can't avoid what's part of the process.

It can be really tough to stay calm when our nerves are all over the place. 

Here are 4 ways you can control anxiety for a happier life →

4 ways to control anxiety

Imagine how greater you'll be if you engage your body as much as you engage your mind.

You're busy. I get it.

But there's value in doing something physical.

Here are simple practices to get you going →

4 practices to keep you physically active

No jokes.

Discipline and mental toughness aside, shit gets hard sometimes.

Sometimes we get exhausted just by the thoughts of things we have to do.

But practicing any of these will create the joy of privilege in all you get to do:

4 ways to create the joy of privilege in all you do

Happiness is controversial.

It’s sporadic. 

It’s not always there, no matter how successful you’ve become. 

But people think being happy all the time means everything’s working.

Nah, sad times will come too. 

It’s all part of the process of living a full life. 

Learning, unlearning, and growing.

Over the weekend, 1,337 readers learned how to attract a more enduring kind of happiness.

Miss the issue?

Find the link in the comments ↓

It's funny how we can be so proud and certain of our plans sometimes.

And the next moment, we’re questioning things that made perfect sense.

It’s just part of being human.

But it can get risky if we’re too fixed on the outcome of things. 

If we get too attached to the validations of success and the impostor feeling of failure.

It becomes a kryptonite for sustaining high performance.

Over the weekend, 1,337 readers learned how to manage the highs and lows of their emotions for greater wins. 

Miss the issue?

Find the link in the comments ↓

Sometimes, things get really hard.

Sometimes, things appear hard.

There's a difference.

The mind has a way of painting small challenges as monsters.

They look so hard even before we get to them.

Almost ripping our hearts with fear and anxiety.

Can be quite draining.

I shared simple steps to make hard things easy to walk through.

Read it here 👇

Some things are hard because they’re genuinely demanding. But most things feel hard because of the state you walk into them with. Some people don’t se

Open article: The art of making hard things easier  by Huw Edwards • 2 min read

Relax.

Live a little more.

Not every part of your day needs to be structured.

Not every part of your routine needs to be tweaked.

Let simple things stay beautifully human.

Think about the days you did something out of the blue, and you really loved it.

That's the fun of spontaneity.

Are you guilty of always trying to make the most of everything?

This newsletter is for you 👇

We have those moments when we feel the need to make the most of everything. People often exhaust themselves from pressure to maximize their routine wi

Open article: Not everything needs to be optimized  by Huw Edwards • 2 min read

People say wins should be celebrated no matter how small.

So what do you mean I shouldn’t take time to enjoy the highs of my wins?

Well, there’s a point here.

It's okay to pause and celebrate wins.

But it’s easy to get caught up in our own results.

Spending too long celebrating success, and too long overthinking failures.

And we don’t realize how much time can pass if nothing puts our emotions in check.

Because the work is still waiting.

In today’s issue, I shared ways to help snap out of the emotional rollercoaster of results.

You don’t want to miss this one.

Read it here 👇

You know that feeling of being unstoppable when you win. But when we lose, we tend to question everything. Most people stay too long in the high of vi

The emotional rollercoaster of results…

People confuse change for distraction.

You're feeling bored with what used to excite you.

You're getting a quiet pull toward something new.

But you’re telling yourself to stay focused.

What if it's not a distraction?

It could mean you've outgrown that interest you're holding onto.

And all you need to feel alive again is to find the courage to explore again.

You just need to be able to differentiate a distraction from a call to evolve.

Read more about it here 👇

Ever felt that quiet restlessness while pursuing your passion? Like it no longer light you up as it used to? You're not alone. And nothing is wrong wi

Open article: Dare to explore your interests... by Huw Edwards • 2 min read

Our mind gets batshit crazy sometimes.

With the racing thoughts of all the hard things we get to do.

But what's even harder is trying to pull off a hard task with that uneasy state of mind.

It's like you're trying to outrun your anxiety and still get the job done.

In my last issue, elite performers learned 5 simple steps to find ease in doing hard things.

A great way to train your mind to tackle situations in your best state.

Miss the issue?

Find the link in the comments ↓

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

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

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

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 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

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

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The Battle

Huw Edwards

Cruz Gamboa

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taplio

The Battle

Huw Edwards

Cruz Gamboa

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Huw Edwards's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreHuw Edwards's LinkedIn Performance