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

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.

Huw Edwards

10 years sober. No notes. 

PS Happy St David’s Day. 

#NoRegrets #BestDecisionEver

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

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There are two versions of people when they encounter discomfort.

The version that:

- Back out of a big decision
- Slow down
- Second-guesses everything
- Keep waiting to feel ready

And the version that:

- Show up anyway
- Have the uncomfortable conversation
- Trust their training, experience, and abilities.
- Act a little before they feel ready

Discomfort is not a threat. 

Don’t let your brain confuse expansion for danger.

Stay long enough to experience the transformation.

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Read newsletter 

Read the newsletter here: http://newsletter.h3.xyz/

You either view life as:

I have to:

1. Lead another meeting
2. Show up for the team
3. Call that client
4. Pick up the kids

OR

I get to:

1. Guide people who trust my leadership
2. Elevate my team
3. Build valuable relationships that scale the business 
4. Spend time with my favorite humans 

The first approach will drain you before you even get started. 

The second approach opens you up to a deeper level of presence and purpose in everything you do.

I had trained for it.

And still, I was scared.

I was thinking about this the other day, as I geared up for Leadville again last August.

For context, Leadville is one of those races where everything, and I mean everything, hurts.

A 100-mile race. After 25 miles, you're still a quarter of the way through, and the real pain hasn't even begun.

And honestly, as I prepared, the nerves hit me.

I remember at about 3 a.m. on the day of my 2024 race, I was standing in the dark and cold, feeling unsure all of a sudden.

I thought, "Do I really want to do this? Could I just... not start?"

It was tempting to avoid it, but I pushed through and completed the race in good time.

And last year, that rush of uneasiness came back, but I did not back down.

I reminded myself that I’ve earned it, and I trained for it.

The race didn't quite go as planned, but I walked away with lessons to prepare me for this year.

No regrets.

I realized feeling nervous isn't a sign of weakness.

It's part of the process of doing something big, bold, scary, yet so thrilling and exciting.

And when the nerves show up again as I prepare for this year, I won't fight them.

That's what I want. I need it to hurt earlier.

That's the whole goal in a way.

Because I care.

Not just about the win.

I care about the struggles, the curveballs, and the lessons that come with the experience.

It’s okay to feel nervous.

Being a best friend, a parent, a CEO, a partner, a gym rat, a business ally, launching a startup, leading a project, and still doing self-care and so on at the same time is so dope.

Except we can't really carry all these things at the same time.

Balance is an illusion.

Chasing it comes with a weight that makes one more miserable than fulfilled.

There's a better approach to doing all of these without losing yourself or burning bridges.

I talked about it in detail in my recent newsletter.

You can read it here 👇👇

You've probably told yourself one or more times that you just need to find balance. Balance between being a CEO, business partner, parent, and best fr

The illusion of balance

Somewhere along the line...

Something happened. 

The more self-focused success becomes, the less alive it feels.

And the more numb you get.

The more numb you get, the more stuck you feel.
Somewhere along the line...

Something happened. 

The more self-focused success becomes, the less alive it feels.

And the more numb you get.

The more numb you get, the more stuck you feel.

Because, somewhere along the line, it stopped being about the impact of the work and became more about you. 

So you’ve lost touch with why you fell in love with your craft in the first place.

Find your way back to your why.

Beyond you.

You’ll feel alive again.
Because, somewhere along the line, it stopped being about the impact of the work and became more about you. 

So you’ve lost touch with why you fell in love with your craft in the first place.

Find your way back to your why.

Beyond you.

You’ll feel alive again.

3 resources to help you say no more.

1. TED Talk: The Art of Saying No by Kenny Nguyen
https://lnkd.in/gvjGfrjF

2. Book: The Power of Saying No by Dr. Vanessa Patrick
https://lnkd.in/gd3vMPPz

3. Podcast: How to Say No – We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle
https://lnkd.in/g7GGrYZs

Every yes is a step away from freedom.

Make it worth the while.

You can't explain it.

But you just knew.

To walk away from that deal.

To hire or not hire that person.

To start that project...

There's always that inner voice that tells us to do or not to do something.

Sometimes, we ignore it, and it backfires.

Other times, we're glad we listened to our intuition.

If only people trusted their instincts much more than external validation or waiting for proof.

Imagine how many mistakes would have been avoided.

Over the weekend, I explored the concept of pattern recognition that makes our intuition an ally for a happier life.

1,280 readers had a good read.

Miss the issue?

Find the link in the comments ↓

How you narrate a moment of discomfort changes how you experience it.

Don’t focus on the pain, focus on the potential.

Find an advantage to get you going.

There’s always one.

Leverage it.

The stress doesn’t disappear, but when it has a purpose, you’re in control.

Life wires us to explore...to find out.

To be more, do more, chase more, win more, learn more, and keep evolving.

But life is not what you're really exploring.

It's you.

Some people get stuck exploring what works.

It's not their fault.

They just:

- Lack patience and self-trust
- Don't trust their conviction to act
- Pay attention to what everyone else is saying
- Hold onto things that made them successful

Exploring you demands:

- Patience to say no to good opportunities, and yes to long-term value
- You sit tight and trust your conviction
- Pay deaf ears to what the hell people have to say
- A f*ck-fear mindset to reinvent yourself

Don't be afraid to explore yourself. 

There's so much more you're yet to find out about you.

P.S: My view...

Would you choose your life again?

The responsibilities, pressure, decisions, mistakes, and wins.

All of it.

Yes?

It’s great that you never let go of what it is you really want, even as you grow into greater success.

No?

You may have lost your power of autonomy.

And your success doesn't entirely feel like yours anymore.

In today’s issue, I explored the thin line between “I have to” and “I choose to”.

Quite a good read that uncovers how to sustain the love for your craft yesterday, today, tomorrow, and ever.

A life you don’t grow to hate.

Read the newsletter here 👇

There’s something elite performers tend to experience as they become more successful. At the beginning, everything is a choice. Then the path, risks, 

Open article: The power of autonomy   by Huw Edwards • 2 min read

Give people ownership.

Let people still see themselves in what they do before, during, and after they work with you.

Let them bring themselves to the performance.

Your structure should be flexible enough to let them keep the joy of being their authentic self.

There's a thin line between discipline and squashing the flame that makes people feel great.

The autonomy to choose is key to sustaining high performance.

Over the weekend, I shared practices to avoid losing yourself to external pressure as you achieve greater success.

Miss the issue?

Find the link in the comments ↓

Have a good read.

Care about what you care about per time, without feeling guilty.

What's the worst that can happen anyway?

You'll be surprised that there's nothing to worry about.

But to think you can handle every area of life at the same time already creates a problem.

Life is in seasons.

Something has to give sometimes.

You just need to be able to make these necessary tradeoffs without throwing away other things or burning bridges.

Over the weekend, I explored the illusion of balance and how to embrace the seasons of life for a more sustainable success.

You sure want to read this.

Find the link in the comments ↓

3 resources to keep you in love with your work regardless of life’s distractions:

1. TED Talk: My year of saying yes to everything by Shonda Rhime
https://lnkd.in/gA4buvjd

2. TED Talk: The Puzzle of Motivation by Daniel Pink
https://lnkd.in/gAdQiAP3

3. TED Talk: Your insecurities aren't what you think by Adam Grant
https://lnkd.in/gMmbi6_J

You already know.

The question is whether you trust what you feel.

Your intuition can play out as a quiet read you've earned through experience.

But most people have subconsciously silenced their instincts by over-relying on logic, validation, and proof before taking action.

And the more you can't trust your intuition, the more fragile your confidence becomes.

It's only a matter of time before you begin to feel like you've lost your spark.

I explored the grace of intuition as a big flex for greater success.

Read about it here 👇

You know that feeling when something looks good but doesn't feel good? Those shiny opportunities that your gut tells you not to engage. Or those you f

The grace of intuition

Being ambitious is great.

But be honest…

Do your current goals excite you?

Or are they just a logical move?

Most people burn out from chasing goals that slowly disconnect them from themselves.

Your goals can't just be ambitious.

Make them personal.

It's more thrilling.

I explored a different way to think about ambition in today's issue.

A good read for people who care about high performance.

Read it here 👇

You know how planning and working on a goal takes your focus, energy, and more. It's more like you're choosing how you spend your time. Most people qu

Open article: You set the goal, then it shapes you... by Huw Edwards • 2 min read

What are you becoming through the suffering?

Two things happen when you set a goal.

You nail it or miss it.

If you win it, you savor the excitement.

And if you miss, you're not self-sabotaging.

You know you still got paid with more discipline, courage, self-trust, and a lot more from the experience.

The journey and what you've become so far will fuel you to try again.

So no matter how hard it is, you'll find your way back up.

If you feel empty when you hit a goal or linger in the weight of missing it, your goal was probably very ambitious.

But it lacked a personal meaning to draw happiness or strength for what’s to come. 

Over the weekend, 1,283 readers learned 4 great steps to filter ambitious goals for a happier experience.

Miss the issue?

Find the link in the comments ↓

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

I spent 25 years inside the machine.

GE Capital. GE Vernova. NBCUniversal. Unilever. Structured finance, capital markets, project finance across Latin America. I was the CFO who sat across from banks, governments, and Fortune 500 boards and made the numbers make sense. I closed an $800 million power plant deal. I managed capital market teams and hundred-million-dollar sales budgets. I built financial models that moved real money in real markets.

I was good at it. For a long time, that was enough.

Then it wasn't.

I stayed almost eight years past the moment I knew I was done. Eight years of golden handcuffs, institutional momentum, and not having a single person in my corner who could help me think through what leaving actually looked like -- financially, strategically, personally.

When I finally left, I made mistakes. I jumped into a startup that looked great on paper and had no financial foundation underneath it. I learned the hard way that passion without financial intelligence is just expensive optimism. Then I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars learning the things corporate never taught me -- how to sell, how to communicate with conviction, how to walk into a room and make people feel what I knew to be true about their business.

That education nearly broke me. And it turned me into something rare: a former Fortune 500 CFO who can read your financials like a surgeon reads an MRI and sit across from you like a partner who actually gives a damn.

That's what I do now.

I work with a small number of founders and executives -- people who've already built something substantial and want a strategic partner with real financial depth. Not a coach. Not a consultant recycling frameworks. Not a bookkeeper calling themselves a fractional CFO. Someone who's been in the rooms, closed the deals, read the balance sheets, and came out the other side with a clear point of view about what actually matters.

If you're a founder past $1M who can feel that the way you got here won't get you to the next level, I can show you exactly where the growth is hiding and where the model breaks.

If you're an executive who knows you're meant for something bigger than the title on your business card, I've been where you are. I made the leap. I can help you think through yours.

I don't work with everyone. I'm selective about who I take on because the work only works when both sides are all in.

One conversation is all it takes to know if we're the right fit.

Cruz Gamboa

McDonald’s didn’t win because the food was amazing.

They won because nothing was left to chance.

400°, not 375°.
2 minutes 50 seconds, not 3.
Two pickles. Always two.
Golden outside. Fluffy inside.
If you have time to lean, you have time to clean.

That’s not micromanagement.
That’s scale.

69M customers a day don’t tolerate creativity.
They tolerate consistency.

Ray Kroc didn’t build a burger company.
He built a machine that produces the same outcome, every time, anywhere in the world.

Most businesses fail because:

➡️ The standard lives in the founder’s head
➡️ Quality depends on “good people”
➡️ Execution changes with mood, energy, or talent

McDonald’s removed all three.

They turned judgment into instructions.
Talent into training.
Excellence into a checklist.

If your business needs you present to run well,
you don’t own a business.

You own a job.

Scale happens when systems are so tight that average people produce elite outcomes.

#scalingup #growth #ceo #founder

Your P&L Is Hiding the Real Problem.

Most founders check 3 things:

Revenue.
Profit.
Growth rate.

Then they relax.

That’s the mistake.

Because your P&L is a scoreboard.

Not a diagnosis.

And scoreboards don’t tell you why you’re winning,
or why you’re about to lose.

Here’s what it’s not showing you 👇

If revenue is growing but cash is tight…

You don’t have a profit problem.
You have a cash flow problem.

If sales are strong but margins are shrinking…

You don’t have a demand problem.
You have a pricing or delivery problem.

If profit exists but stress keeps increasing…

You don’t have a money problem.
You have an operational problem.

Most businesses don’t collapse overnight.

They erode slowly:

➡️ Slightly rising CAC
➡️ Slightly lower margins
➡️ Slightly higher payroll
➡️ Slightly longer collections

Small leaks.

Compounded monthly.

And because the P&L still “looks fine,”
no one panics.

Until they should have.

Here’s what real operators track:

✓ Gross margin trends
✓ Cash runway (in months) 
✓ Revenue per employee
✓ CAC payback period
✓ Churn rate

Those numbers tell you where the fire is starting.

Revenue is vanity.
Profit is sanity.
Cash flow is survival.

Read your P&L.

But interrogate it harder.

Because the businesses that scale aren’t the ones with the best revenue.

They’re the ones who catch problems before they show up on the bottom line.

Former GE Capital Executive | I help founders and executives see what their financials aren’t telling them.

Your financial reports are perfect.

Clean P&L.
Accurate balance sheet.
Cash flow that ties out.

Yet decisions still feel slow, reactive, or unclear.

That’s because reports don’t create leverage.
Interpretation does.

Most founders read numbers like history.
High-performing operators read them like instructions.

Every metric should force a decision:
→ double down
→ fix fast
→ kill it

If nothing changes after reviewing your numbers,
you didn’t review them, you admired them.

This cheat sheet breaks down:

➡️ The questions that actually matter
➡️ The metrics that lie
➡️ And how to spot 1% changes that unlock outsized results

Save this before your next finance review.

cruzgamboadrive

patagonia-solar-llc

Most founders don’t go bankrupt overnight.

They bleed slowly.
From numbers they refused to look at.

Revenue looks good.
Growth feels exciting.
Ego feels validated.

But:

➡️ Cash flow is tight
➡️ Margins are thin
➡️ One client controls everything
➡️ Burn rate is “we’ll figure it out”

That’s how businesses die.

Not from lack of ambition.
From lack of financial discipline.

Here’s the cheat sheet I wish every founder read earlier.

Ignore red flags early → pay the price later.

If you want to find your biggest 1% opportunities,
check out scalingcfo.io

Free assessment.

If this helped, save it.

Most people would’ve quit.
They didn’t.

➡️ 2003.

Waco, Texas.
No hype.
No capital.
No backup plan.

Chip and Joanna Gaines quit stable jobs to flip houses.

They slept on air mattresses.
Made $300 in some months.
Maxed credit cards.
Half-finished renovations.
Joanna pregnant.
Chip doing the labor himself.

Friends kept asking the same question losers ask winners early:
“When are you getting a real job?”

Here’s the part most people misunderstand.

They weren’t building houses.
They were building taste.
A repeatable look.
A clear point of view.
Something people could recognize without a logo.

While others chased bigger markets,
they stayed small.
Cheap.
Ignored.

That was the advantage.

A local producer didn’t care about their revenue.
He cared about their authenticity.

How they treated clients.
How they worked together.
How real it felt.

➡️ 2013.

HGTV launched Fixer Upper.

By season two:

5M viewers per episode.
#1 show on the network.

Then they did what confused everyone.

At the peak…
They walked away.

Because TV was attention.
Not leverage.

So they built Magnolia.
A shop.
A restaurant.
A platform.

They stayed in Waco.
Lower costs.
Total control.
The town became the moat.

Today:
1.2M+ visitors every year.
$750M+ valuation.

Lesson:

Don’t chase scale.
Earn trust first.
Don’t compete where everyone goes.
Dominate where no one is looking.

That’s how you turn $300 months
into a generational business.

#scalingup #growth #ceo #founder

Founder Stories

Uber didn’t scale by starting cheap.
It scaled by starting premium.

Black cars.
Polished drivers.
A reference point that said: 
this is what great looks like.

That first price wasn’t about revenue.
It was about positioning.

Once the market believed Uber = quality,
they introduced UberX.

Lower cost.
Same app.
Same brand trust.

Now scaling was easy, because value was already proven.

This is the Scaling Up lesson most founders miss:

➡️ Use a premium offer to validate demand
➡️ Anchor perception at the top
➡️ Expand down the price ladder without breaking trust

Luxury sets the ceiling.
Access fills the volume.

Start cheap and you fight on price forever.

Start premium and you control how, and when, you scale.
#scalingup #growth #ceo #founder

Some people launch snacks.
Some create global empires from leftovers.

Arch West did the second.

➡️ 1960s. Disneyland.

Casa de Fritos. Tons of stale tortillas. Wasted daily.
A small vendor saw opportunity.
“Cut them into triangles. Fry them. Add some seasoning.”

No PR. No hype. No flashy launch.

Just execution.
Just obsession.
Just seeing value where others saw trash.

1966 → Plain Doritos, national launch.
1972 → Nacho Cheese.
From leftover tortillas → multibillion-dollar snack empire.

Scaling lesson:

Opportunities are everywhere. Most ignore them.
Those who see the leverage, execute relentlessly, and scale turn accidents into legends.

Some people chase attention.
Some quietly turn scraps into billions.

#scalingup #ceo #founder #businesslessons

Doritos

The most successful people I know believe in themselves… almost to the point of delusion.

Look at Sam Altman:

→ Ran Y Combinator → scaled Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox
→ Learned one truth: distribution + technology = unfair advantage
→ Built OpenAI → ChatGPT hit 100M users faster than any product in history

Here’s what most entrepreneurs miss:

You don’t scale by working harder.
You scale by stacking leverage.
Capital, talent, technology, timing.

All amplified when you believe early and commit fully.

Sam didn’t just launch a product.
He built the platform the future rides on.
Multi-billion-dollar partnerships. Global adoption. AGI-level ambition.

Scaling up is seeing the future before everyone else does and forcing reality to catch up.

The formula is simple:

1️⃣ Recognize leverage early
2️⃣ Commit fully, almost to the point of delusion
3️⃣ Stack capital, talent, and distribution
4️⃣ Let results justify belief later

Stop waiting for perfect conditions.
Stack your leverage.
Scale now.

#scalingup #growth #ceo #founder

Some people build loud brands.
Some build legendary ones in silence.

Michele Ferrero did the second.

➡️ 1924. Alba, Italy.

A small pastry shop. Almost bankrupt.
A father gone too soon.
A 24-year-old forced to take responsibility.

No press.
No hype.
No spotlight.

Just obsession.

He worked like an alchemist.
Formulas locked away.
Factories run with discipline.
Focus so sharp it scared distractions away.

1964 → Nutella
1968 → Kinder Chocolate
1974 → Kinder Surprise

Not just chocolate.
An experience.

A chocolatier quietly became one of the world’s largest toy creators.

But the real genius wasn’t just the products.
It was the culture.

➡️ No interviews
➡️ No politics
➡️ No yachts
➡️ No show-off wealth

Instead:

✓ Free buses for employees
✓ Above-average wages
✓ Summer camps for kids
✓ Generations of families hired together

He built belonging before it became a leadership buzzword.

Michele understood something many still miss:

Loyalty isn’t bought with bonuses.
It’s earned through care.

Iconic products don’t come from marketing noise.

They come from:

➡️ Absolute focus
➡️ Strategic silence
➡️ Obsession with the user experience

➡️ 2015. Monte Carlo.

He passed away at 89.
He left behind €23 billion.
And brands the world grew up with.

Proof that you don’t need to chase attention
to build something unforgettable.

Sometimes, the quiet builders win the longest.
#scalingup #ceo #founder

Growing companies don’t stall because of the market.

They stall because the CEO doesn’t scale.

Here are the real 3 mistakes:

1.⁠ ⁠The Founder Stays the Hero

You’re still:

➡️ Approving everything
➡️ Solving every problem
➡️ Closing every big deal
➡️ Fixing every fire

You built the business by being the best operator.

But scaling requires becoming the best architect.

If you’re still the hero, you’re the bottleneck.

2.⁠ ⁠No One Owns the Outcomes

Titles don’t equal accountability.

If revenue drops, who owns it?
If churn spikes, who owns it?
If margins shrink, who owns it?

If the answer isn’t ONE name, you don’t have ownership.

You have collaboration theater.

3.⁠ ⁠They Confuse Activity with Leverage

More hires.
More meetings.
More tools.
More initiatives.

But no single constraint identified.

Scaling is constraint removal.

Find the bottleneck.
Attack it.
Repeat.

That’s it.

Growth doesn’t require more effort.

It requires:

➡️ Better structure
➡️ Clear ownership
➡️ Founder evolution

Most businesses don’t hit a ceiling.

The founder does.
#scaling #CEO #growth #founders

Most “profitable” companies are one bad month away from dying.

Here’s why.

Profit is an opinion.
Cash is oxygen.

You can look profitable on paper and still miss payroll.
I’ve seen businesses doing 7 figures collapse because one client paid late.

Revenue doesn’t matter if:

• It’s delayed
• It’s unpredictable
• It’s already spent in your head

Growth makes this worse.

You hire early.
Lock in fixed costs.
Sign long-term tools.
Upgrade lifestyle.

Now your burn is permanent…
…but your income isn’t.

That’s the trap.

Another hard truth:
If the founder steps away and sales stop, you don’t have a business.
You have a high-stress job with employees.

Margins won’t save you.
Busy won’t save you.
Brand won’t save you.

Only cash flow will.

Simple rules that keep companies alive:

• Collect faster than you spend
• Keep fixed costs boring
• Build 3–6 months of runway
• Systems before scaling
• Liquidity before vanity growth

The strongest businesses aren’t the loudest.

They’re the ones that can survive a bad month without panicking.

That’s real leverage.

Most founders try to grow profit by chasing more revenue.

That’s backwards.

Profit doesn’t come from “more.”
It comes from better.

Here are the 5 levers that increase profit faster than revenue:

1. Pricing

If you’re scared to raise prices, you’re undercharging.
A 5% price increase beats a 30% increase in leads. Every time.

2. Costs

This isn’t about cutting coffee.
It’s about killing anything that doesn’t move revenue or retention.

3. Capacity

Your team isn’t maxed out.
Your systems are broken.
Fix utilization before hiring another person.

4. Customer Mix

Some customers cost you money.
Fire them.
Double down on the ones that pay, stay, and refer.

5. Operating Leverage

Build it once. Sell it many times.
Processes, automation, and repeatability are profit multipliers.

Here’s the truth:

Revenue feeds the ego.
Profit buys freedom.

Stop asking, “How do we grow faster?”
Start asking, “Which lever moves profit today?”

Founders who get this don’t need motivation.
They need systems.

Save this.
You’ll need it when growth starts hurting.

#scalingup #growth #ceo #founder

Your business is bleeding cash.
And you probably can’t tell me exactly where.

I know because I ask founders this one question all the time:

“What’s the ONE constraint holding back your growth right now?”

Most can’t answer it.

They give me three answers.
They say “hiring.”
Or “marketing.”
Or “we just need more leads.”

That’s not clarity.
That’s guessing with confidence.

The scary part isn’t that a constraint exists.
Every business has one.

The scary part is running a company for years without knowing what it is.

Last month, a $3M founder told me his margins were “pretty healthy.”

So I asked him to break it down by service line.

Long pause.

He couldn’t.

Turns out ~40% of his revenue was barely breaking even.
He’d been feeding his best people to his worst clients for two years.

He’s not dumb.
He’s sharp.
He’s just never been forced to look at the numbers that actually matter.

So I built something.

12 questions.
3 minutes.

It won’t fix your business.
But it will show you exactly where the money is walking out the door while you’re busy chasing the next deal.

Pricing gaps.
Forecasting blind spots.
Team financial literacy.
Working capital readiness.

The difference between a $3M business that stays stuck
and one that cleanly moves to $5M and beyond.

Fair warning:
Most founders score lower than they expect.

That’s the point.

Take it free here: scalingcfo.io/assessments
No email wall.
No credit card.
No funnel gymnastics.

Just 12 questions and a mirror.

You might not love what you see.
But you’ll stop guessing.

#ceo #founder #growth #scalingup

Stop treating video like content.

That’s why it’s not making you money.

I was in Austin and went to Aleric Heck’s “Video Authority” book launch at Self Publishing.com.

I expected marketing fluff.
I got a mental reset.

Aleric built Ad Outreach into an 8-figure company from a college dorm.

No VC babysitters.
No Silicon Valley permission.
Just execution.

Here’s the mistake I see founders make with video:

They post to be seen.
Not to be useful.

Views become the goal.
Virality becomes the metric.
Sales become the mystery.

Aleric’s framework is the opposite:

If someone doesn’t buy from you, they should still feel stupid NOT to follow you.

Give so much value that:

➡️ They trust you
➡️ They respect you
➡️ They assume you’re expensive

Counterintuitive part?

The more you give away, the more you make.

Because trust compounds faster than attention.

This is leverage.

You record once.
It sells for you while you sleep.
While you work.
While you scale.

But only if you do it right.

Here is one of the pearls I took away from his talk...

One test Aleric shared wrecked most “AI content strategies”:

In the lecture, he talked about a split-test they ran at his firm:

✓ Full AI videos
✓ Talking head
✓ AI hook + real human

The winner? Hybrid. By a landslide.

Full AI lost.

Why?

AI gets attention.
Humans get trust.
Trust gets money.

Tools multiply.
They don’t replace.

Your face.
Your voice.
Your thinking.

That’s the asset.

If you’re a coach, consultant, or expert business doing $1M–$10M and video isn’t part of your growth system…

You’re choosing slow growth.

Not because video is magic.
Because leverage is.

Read Video Authority.
It’s not theory.
It’s a playbook.

Congrats on the launch, Aleric Heck.🔥🤝

If you want the exact framework behind this, not opinions, not theory,
Aleric put the full system in Video Authority.

👉 https://lnkd.in/eN7v7eqi

#sclaing #founder #ceo #growth

What’s one AI tool you wish existed, But still doesn’t?

Share your thoughts!

I will share more in about a week.

Best

Cruz

#scalingup #growth #ceo

graphical user interface, text, application

Power of One Cash Flow Hack!

“1% changes that multiply profits”

Most businesses chase “big moves.”
The real winners? They obsess over tiny tweaks that stack.

➡️ Increase Revenue

✓ +1% Price → Big EBIT jump
✓ +1% Volume → More cash in the bank
✓ Upsell/Cross-sell → Little effort, huge gain

➡️ Cut Costs

✓ -1% COGS → Direct profit hit
✓ Trim overhead → Kill inefficiency
✓ Better processes → Faster & cheaper

➡️ Optimize Capital

✓ Collect faster → Cash now
✓ Reduce inventory → Liquidity unlocked
✓ Extend payables → Stronger cash position

➡️ Track & Multiply

✓ Measure every 1% → See compounding magic
✓ 1% here, 1% there → exponential growth

Truth: 

Small tweaks everywhere > chasing “big moves.”

👉 If you want to see where your biggest 1% opportunities are, check out scalingcfo.io

Take the free assessments and find out exactly where to focus first.

“Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.”

This becomes painfully true when you start scaling.

In the early days, doing everything feels productive.
At scale, it becomes dangerous.

Most founders don’t break while starting.
They break while growing.

Jobs understood that scale isn’t about adding more.
It’s about removing friction.

➡️ Fewer priorities = faster execution

➡️ Clear principles = consistent decisions without micromanagement

➡️ Simplicity = systems that don’t collapse under growth

➡️ High standards = quality that survives volume

➡️ Speed = mistakes fixed early, not amplified later

➡️ Strong teams = decisions made without the founder in every room

Scaling fails when founders try to stay involved in everything.

It succeeds when decision-making becomes repeatable.

The real work of scale is subtraction.
Less noise.
Less ego.
Less unnecessary complexity.

This is exactly what I help founders with, turning chaos into clear systems so the business can grow without burning you out.

If you’re scaling and feel stuck in the middle,
DM me “SCALE” and I’ll walk you through how to simplify, delegate, and grow with clarity.

I keep having the same conversation.

Founder calls me. Revenue is up -- sometimes way up. 

But they're taking home less than when the business was half the size. 

They hired the consultants. They wrote the plan. They pushed harder on sales. And somehow the business keeps snapping back to the same number like a rubber band.

After sitting across from enough of these founders, I started seeing the pattern. It comes down to three things nobody wants to talk about -- and none of them have anything to do with selling more.

I broke it all down in this week's newsletter.
#scalingup #founders #growth #CEO

I talk to a lot of founders. Like, a LOT. And something keeps coming up that I can't ignore anymore. Almost every conversation -- doesn't matter what 

Open article: The 3 things nobody tells you about getting stuck by Cruz Gamboa • 5 min read

The 3 things nobody tells you about getting stuck

The trillion-dollar scoreboard isn’t just impressive.

It’s a warning. ⚠️

AI is no longer a feature.
It’s infrastructure.

Distribution beats product.
Platforms compress margins.
Specialisation scales faster than breadth.

And the giants NVIDIA, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Apple aren’t just companies anymore.

They’re rails.

If you’re a $1M–$10M founder, here’s the real play:

➡️ Build on top of giants, don’t compete with them.
➡️ Own your audience, don’t rent it.
➡️ Go narrow, dominate a micro-niche.
➡️ Push recurring revenue.
➡️ Move faster than anyone with a board meeting.

The economy is consolidating at the top.

But execution speed is still decentralised.

That’s your edge.

If you're building between $1–$10M and want to scale intelligently, not just aggressively

Come to the workshop → https://lnkd.in/efBiFQRg

Most founders don’t have a growth problem.
They have a focus problem.

Their dashboards are full.
Their results are not.

Tracking more KPIs doesn’t make you smarter.

It just gives you more ways to avoid the hard decision.

Here’s how serious founders think about metrics:

If a number doesn’t change what you do this week,
it doesn’t belong on your dashboard.

That’s why the only startup metrics that actually matter answer 4 questions:

1. Is demand growing?
2. Are customers staying?
3. Are they paying more over time?
4. Are we running out of cash before we figure it out?

Everything else is noise.

The best operators I’ve seen track 5–7 metrics max.
They review them weekly.
And they tie each metric to a clear action.

Everyone tracks KPIs.
Very few track the right ones.

If you want to find your biggest 1% opportunities,
check out scalingcfo.io.

Free assessment.

If this helped, save it.

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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

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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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