*Demonstrated success in process improvement.
*Experienced in developing and achieving meaningful objectives and achieving key results.
*Proven operational integrator, providing tactical support to visionary leadership.
*Ability to work independently and collaboratively to pursue short and long-term goals.
*Proven ability to manage departmental P&Ls with demonstrated ability to drive and preserve revenue.
*Demonstrated success in managing multiple direct reports & leading multiple functions.
*Proven ability to be scrappy and creative in a fast-paced work environment with limited resources.
*Experienced in working in disruptive high growth startups.
*Proven ability to use legal analysis for actionable solutions.
*Demonstrated success in removing regulatory hurdles and expediting government processes.
*Proven ability to build coalitions.

R.C. Rondero De Mosier

Just one week away from the launch of LEXTexas, a LegalTech community. Thanks to Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP for providing the space and to my fellow co hosts, Sujith Jose, Matt Darner & Zac Padgett who have all really driven things. Looks like a big crowd already. Particularly to my friends in the legal community, please use the following link to RSVP and I'll approve your attendance. https://luma.com/kmtg9hwd

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

Founder - Candle AI | Unified Intelligence Layer for The Legal Inbox | Backed by The LegalTech Fund

Law Firm Collections Expert | Featured by ABA & ALA | Winner “Best Business of Law App” by Clio | Co-Founder & CEO at CollBox

Partner at Orrick | Tech Company Lawyer | Austin Office Leader

Improving the performance of your business | Lawyer turned operator | Working with you to help your business achieve scale

Legal analysis isn't just a checkbox. It's the secret sauce for high-growth startups that want to scale without crashing.

Most founders treat legal as a hurdle, a cost, or a distraction. That's a mistake.

Legal insights can uncover risks before they blow up. They can spot opportunities that others miss. They can turn compliance from a burden into a competitive advantage.

Think about it.

• When legal is integrated into product development, you avoid costly pivots later.

• When legal understands your business model, they help you structure deals that support scale, not hinder it.

• When legal keeps up with regulation changes, you stay ahead of competitors, not chasing them.

I've seen startups triple their growth by embedding legal analysis into their strategy from day one.

It's not about legal slowing you down. It's about legal helping you move faster, smarter.

If you're serious about scaling, stop treating legal like an afterthought. Make it part of your strategy.

Because at the end of the day, legal isn't the enemy. It's your partner in growth.

Are you ready to integrate legal into your business strategy? Or are you still flying blind?

Tag a founder or exec who needs to hear this, then go build something massive.

Most business leaders think legal analysis is a cost, not a weapon. 
That's a mistake. 

Legal insights can be your secret weapon to beat the competition. 

A legal lens on strategy isn't just about avoiding fines or lawsuits. 
It's about spotting opportunities others miss. 

Think about it. 
When you understand the regulatory landscape deeply, you can move faster, take smarter risks, and navigate roadblocks before they appear. 

Legal analysis can reveal: 
- Hidden market gaps 
- Emerging policy shifts 
- Strategic partnerships with fewer legal hurdles 

I've seen startups pivot their entire growth plan after a fresh legal review. 
Law firm leaders who get this can advise clients on how to scale without tripping over compliance. 

If you ignore legal knowledge, you're flying blind. 
If you leverage it, you gain a clear edge. 

Stop thinking of legal as just risk management. 
Start seeing it as a growth tool. 

Your competitors won't wait. 
Neither should you. 

Are you ready to turn legal analysis into your unfair advantage?

This week I felt like I was going back to the software that started it all. I finally did a review of ChatGPT by OpenAI, the LLM that powers so many A.I. tools out there.

What If Your Next Associate Worked 24/7 Without Complaining? After our first LLM review, I decided it was time to review the LLM that started it all, 

This Week's Review: ChatGPT

OpenAI

Change management in high-growth environments isn't optional. It's survival.

Most leaders think rapid growth means more resources, more team members, more everything. But the real challenge? Managing the chaos.

You can't just throw a "change" at your team and hope for the best. That's a recipe for confusion, resistance, and failure.

Effective change management has three non-negotiables:

1. Clear communication. 
Be transparent about what's changing and why. 

2. Leadership buy-in. 
Leaders need to model the change, not just endorse it from a distance. 

3. Incremental rollout. 
Big changes overwhelm. Break it down into digestible steps.

I've seen chaos turn into clarity when teams are aligned and informed. No magic, just disciplined execution.

If you're scaling fast, your ability to manage change will determine if you thrive or just survive.

Don't wait for resistance to snowball. Prepare your team, lead with purpose, and execute with discipline.

Are you ready to master change in your high-growth environment? Or are you just hoping it happens?

It's time to take control. 
Start today.

Regulatory advocacy isn't just for lobbyists in suits. 

It's your secret weapon to fuel business growth. 

Think about it. Policies shape markets, define barriers, and steer competition. 

If you aren't influencing the rules, someone else is shaping your future, and it's probably not in your favor. 

I've seen high-growth startups and law firms alike squander opportunities because they overlook this. 

They wait until regulations hit and then scramble. 

That's playing defense with your future. 

Instead, influence policy proactively. 

Here's what works:

- Build relationships with regulators before you need them. 
- Speak their language, understand the policy landscape deeply. 
- Leverage data and real-world examples to make your case. 
- Collaborate with industry groups to amplify your voice. 
- Stay ahead of legal and regulatory trends, don't chase them. 

Regulatory advocacy isn't just about compliance. It's about shaping the playing field. 

It gives you a seat at the table where decisions get made. 

And if you're not there, someone else is setting the rules, for better or worse. 

Your competitors? They're already doing this. 

The question is: are you? 

Take control of your growth. Influence policy before it influences you. 

Because in today's world, the winners are those who play the long game. 

Are you in?

Most business leaders don't realize how much they're missing when they ignore legal analysis in their strategic planning.

Legal isn't just about compliance or avoiding lawsuits. It's a strategic tool that can reveal hidden risks, new opportunities, and ways to move faster.

I've seen startups scale faster when they integrated legal insights early, before a deal, during a product launch, or when entering new markets.

Here's what happens when you ignore it:

- You get blindsided by regulatory changes.
- You miss critical contractual leverage.
- You waste time and money fixing preventable issues.

But if you embed legal analysis into your decision-making:

- You spot regulatory shifts before they hit.
- You negotiate better contracts with confidence.
- You build resilient systems that scale seamlessly.

It's about making smarter moves, not just avoiding trouble.

Legal becomes a strategic partner, not an afterthought.

Don't wait for a crisis to see the value. Bring legal into the room from day one.

Your business decisions will never be the same.

Are you ready to rethink your strategy?

High-growth environments are chaos dressed as opportunity. 

If your processes haven't evolved, you're just riding a sinking ship with a fancy bow.

Innovation isn't about adding more layers of bureaucracy or chasing shiny tech. It's about rethinking the fundamentals.

The key isn't working harder, it's working smarter. 

Focus on these game changers:

- Zero-based process design: Build from scratch, question every step. If it doesn't add value, cut it.
- Rapid prototyping: Test new workflows fast. Fail early. Learn quick.
- Data-driven decisions: Use real metrics, not gut feelings. Metrics tell you where bottlenecks hide.
- Empower frontline teams: Those doing the work often see the flaws best. Give them the tools and authority to fix issues.
- Leverage AI and automation: Automate repetitive tasks. Free up human brains for high-value work.

In high-growth stages, process improvement isn't a one-time project. It's a mindset shift.

If you're still relying on "the way we've always done it," you're falling behind. Fast.

Don't wait for a crisis to get serious about process innovation. Lead it now.

Who's already shaking things up? Share your wins. Or your failures, those are the best lessons.

The future belongs to those who adapt faster, not the ones clinging to old habits.

Ready to rethink your approach? Let's make process improvement your secret weapon.

Scaling a law firm isn't about adding more lawyers and hope it all works out. 

That's a trap. 

Real growth comes from operational excellence. 
From processes that scale without breaking a sweat. 
From technology that actually saves time, not wastes it. 

Here's what works: 

1. Standardize your workflows. 
No more reinventing the wheel for every case. Create templates, checklists, and clear protocols. 
Consistency breeds efficiency. 

2. Leverage technology. 
Automate billing, document management, and client onboarding. 
The right tools cut down admin time and reduce errors. 

3. Measure everything. 
Track key metrics. 
Utilization rates, collection times, client satisfaction. 

4. Delegate ruthlessly. 
Your lawyers shouldn't handle admin. 
Invest in support staff, paralegals, and project managers. 

5. Build a culture of continuous improvement. 
Regularly review what works and what doesn't. 
Encourage feedback from everyone. 

Scaling successfully isn't magic. 
It's operational discipline and mindset. 

Anyone still running their firm like it's a boutique? 
You're leaving money on the table. 

Get your operations right, and growth becomes predictable. 

Take control. 
Scale smarter. 
And stop flying blind. 

Are you ready to overhaul your firm's operations? 
Let's talk.

Legal compliance in high-growth, fast-paced environments isn't a nice-to-have anymore. It's a must. 

But chasing deadlines and juggling regulations? That's a recipe for chaos. 

Here's the truth: technology is the game changer. 

Manual processes? Legacy systems? Those days are over. 

Smart legal teams leverage AI, automation, and real-time tracking. 

They use tools that flag compliance issues before they become crises. 

They integrate legal data into business workflows, not just keep it in a vault. 

Think about companies that automate contract reviews, monitor regulatory updates instantly, or have dashboards showing compliance health at a glance. 

That's not just efficiency, it's resilience. 

In a world moving at lightning speed, staying compliant means staying ahead. 

If you're not embracing these tools, you're already falling behind. 

Stop reacting. Start automating. 

Because the moment you rely on manual checks in a high-growth environment, you're playing with fire. 

Are you ready to ditch the chaos and unlock real compliance agility? 

Let's talk about how tech can turn compliance from a headache into a core strength. 

The future favors those who act now. 

Your move.

SXSW is around the corner once again. This year I'm happy to co-host an event for LEX Texas a new legal tech community bringing together lawyers & technologists alike. Big thanks to Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP for providing the space. Be sure to join us. Networking reception to follow. Register interest here: https://luma.com/kmtg9hwd

Join us at SXSW! AI is revolutionizing the legal landscape – moving from experimentation to critical infrastructure. Where are we in the LegalTech AI cycle, and what’s next for law, tech and product innovation?

Candle AI, CollBox, Saber Solutions and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP are hosting a candid panel featuring Colleen Joyce, Leslie Witt, Eric Leventhal and Matt Spiegel. We’ll unpack what’s working in legal AI and how it’s transforming both the legal practice and the companies building tomorrow’s tools.

This event also marks the launch of LEX Texas, a new Austin-based community connecting founders, investors, law firms, attorneys and operators shaping the future of legal innovation.

Networking reception to follow. Register interest here: https://luma.com/kmtg9hwd

#LegalTech #AIBoom #AI #SXSW #Innovation #LEXTexas

Matt Darner
Sujith Jose
R.C. Rondero De Mosier

Law firms and startups often talk about innovation. 
But without solid process improvement, it's just noise. 

The truth? 
Most firms and startups are stuck doing the same thing, over and over. 
They tweak here, optimize there. 
But the core problems? They stay the same. 

Real process improvement isn't about small fixes. 
It's about rewiring how work gets done. 
It's cutting out wasted time, reducing errors, and creating scalable systems. 

Start with these steps: 
1. Identify bottlenecks. 
Where does work slow down? 
Be ruthless. 

2. Map the flow. 
Visualize every step. 
If it's unnecessary, cut it. 

3. Get feedback from the front lines. 
No one knows the pain points better than those doing the work. 

4. Leverage technology. 
AI, automation, workflow tools, use them to eliminate repetitive tasks. 

5. Make continuous improvement part of daily work. 
Process isn't "set it and forget it." 
It's an ongoing journey. 

Too many firms focus on big ideas and forget the small, consistent tweaks that build momentum. 

If you want to scale smoothly, whether in law or startups, start with process. 
Fix the workflow, and growth becomes much easier. 

What's your biggest bottleneck right now? 
Drop it in the comments. 
Let's solve it.

Legal departments aren't just about lawyers hitting deadlines anymore. 
They're becoming powered by operations, tech, and a new mindset. 

Legal ops are transforming the game. 
It's about efficiency, not just legal expertise. 
Streamlining workflows, reducing waste, and making smarter decisions faster. 

Here's the brutal truth: 
If your legal team isn't embracing operational thinking, you're already falling behind. 
Automate routine tasks. 
Use data to drive strategy. 
Align legal goals with business objectives. 

Legal ops aren't a nice-to-have anymore. 
They're the backbone of scalable, future-proof legal departments. 

If your legal team isn't evolving, you're handing your competitors a huge advantage. 
The future demands operational excellence in legal. 

Are you ready to lead that change, or will you be left behind? 
The future belongs to the teams that understand the power of legal operations. 
Don't wait. Make the shift now. 
Your competitors are already doing it. 
And so should you.

Legal firms love to chase the latest tech or flashy tools. 
But the real secret to winning? It's process improvement. 

You don't need a new software. 
You need a new way of thinking. 

Simplicity beats complexity every time. 
Streamline, standardize, eliminate waste. 

Here's what happens when law firms do it right: 

- Faster turnaround times 
- Fewer mistakes 
- Higher client satisfaction 
- More capacity for strategic work 

I've seen it firsthand. 
A mid-sized firm cut billable hours by 20% just by rethinking their workflow. 
No new tools. Just smarter processes. 

Legal efficiency isn't about doing more. 
It's about doing what matters better. 

If your firm isn't improving its processes, you're leaving money and clients on the table. 
It's painful, yes. 
But it's also the fastest way to scale and stay competitive. 

Stop chasing shiny objects. 
Start fixing your processes. 

What's your biggest bottleneck right now? 
Drop a comment or send me a message. 
Let's fix it.

High-growth companies don't just scale because of good ideas. 
They do it by changing how things work, fast, relentless, and often messy. 

If you're not prepared for the chaos of process improvements, you'll hit walls. 
Change isn't a one-time project. It's a constant cycle of breaking, fixing, and relearning. 

Here's what actually works: 

1. Start with a clear why, Everyone needs to know why change matters. 
2. Lead from the front, Leaders must model the new way, not just talk about it. 
3. Involve the team early, People resist what they're not part of shaping. 
4. Make it iterative, Small wins pave the way for bigger shifts. 
5. Communicate relentlessly, Silence breeds rumors. Over-communicate success and setbacks alike. 
6. Hold people accountable, Change sticks when leaders enforce it, not just suggest it. 

If you treat change as a project instead of a culture, you'll stay stuck in the status quo. 
High-growth companies are built on agility. 

Are you ready to stop just growing, and start changing? 
Or are you waiting for the chaos to overtake you? 

The choice is yours. 
Take charge now. 

What's your biggest challenge with process changes? Drop a comment or tag someone who needs to hear this.

Legal analysis is often seen as a checkbox, something to do after making business moves.

That's a mistake.

Integrating legal insights into your strategy isn't just about avoiding risk. It's about gaining an edge.

Think about it.

When you understand the legal landscape deeply, you can spot opportunities others miss.

You can pivot faster, navigate regulations smoothly, and even influence policy before it hits your competitors.

Legal analysis should be part of your decision-making at every stage.

If you're waiting on lawyers to tell you if something's legal, you're already playing catch-up.

Smart companies embed legal thinking early.

They see legal compliance as a strategic tool, not just a cost.

I've seen startups turn legal hurdles into value drivers.

Legal analysis transformed a regulatory challenge into a product advantage.

It's not just about avoiding penalties.

It's about gaining a strategic advantage in a crowded market.

If you're serious about winning, start viewing legal as your secret weapon.

Because if you're not integrating legal insights into your strategy, someone else is.

And they're about to pass you.

Are you ready to turn legal into your competitive edge? 

Or will you keep playing catch-up?

The choice is yours.

Stop thinking of legal as a cost. Start thinking of it as a strategic advantage.

The market's moving fast. Don't get left behind.

Legal insights aren't just for lawyers. They're your secret weapon for growth.

Most founders think compliance and risk management are hurdles. 
But in reality, they're opportunities. 

Understanding legal nuances can reveal new markets, avoid costly mistakes, and accelerate decisions. 

Think of legal guidance as a GPS, 
it points out shortcuts and hazards others miss.

I've seen high-growth startups trip over legal landmines 
because they ignored the details. 

Instead, leverage legal analysis to anticipate regulation shifts, optimize contracts, and craft smarter strategies. 

Your legal team isn't a gatekeeper. 
They're a growth partner, 
if you know how to unlock their insights. 

Don't leave growth to chance. 
Use legal insights as your edge. 

What's one legal insight that changed your business trajectory? 
Drop it below.

High-growth environments don't just happen. They're engineered.
And the secret? Change management that actually works.

Most leaders focus on scaling, new clients, new markets, new products.
But the real challenge? Managing the people side of that growth.

Without a solid change plan, chaos follows.
Teams resist, processes break, and growth stalls.

Here's what works:

1. Communicate relentlessly.
Tell your team why, how, and what's next.
Don't assume they get it.
Repeat. Clarify. Over-communicate.

2. Lead with clarity.
Set expectations early.
Be transparent about what's changing and why.
People need direction, not confusion.

3. Involve your team.
Get feedback.
Make them part of the solution.
Ownership beats compliance.

4. Build momentum in small wins.
Too much change at once kills morale.
Break it down. Celebrate progress.

5. Be adaptable.
Expect resistance.
Adjust your approach.
Stay flexible.

Growth isn't just about hitting numbers.
It's about changing minds and behaviors.

Ignore change management at your peril.
Master it, and your high-growth environment becomes a well-oiled machine.

Are you managing change or just riding the wave?
The choice is yours.

Keep leading. Keep adapting.
And never underestimate the power of good change management.

Your team, your business, will thank you.


Would you like me to craft a shorter version or add a specific example?

After using it for nearly 2 years, it was time to feature the A.I. capabilities of Brevo, my favorite e-mail campaign product.

How many potential clients are waiting for a response in your inbox right now? Today we turn to a review of one of my favorite products to use that is

Open article: This Week's Review: Brevo by R.C. Rondero De Mosier • 6 min read

Most change initiatives fail in high-growth environments.

Not because the idea isn't good enough, but because implementation is chaotic.
You scale fast, and everyone's rushing to keep up.

Here's the truth: You can't wing change management in a high-growth company.

It requires discipline, clarity, and a lot of communication.

Start with these:

1. Define the "why."
People won't buy in unless they see the purpose behind the change.
Be clear, be direct, and make it unavoidable.

2. Involve the front line early.
Those doing the work are your best allies, not your obstacles.
Get their input. Address their concerns.

3. Create a structured plan, not a vague roadmap.
Map out steps, milestones, and metrics.
Make change measurable and accountable.

4. Lead by example.
If leadership isn't aligned or committing, forget about it.
Walk the talk.

5. Communicate constantly.
Don't assume people understand, remember, or feel heard.
Send updates, ask questions, and listen.

6. Be ready to adapt.
In high-growth, plans change fast.
Flexibility is a weapon, not a weakness.

Change management is not a checkbox.
It's a continuous process, especially when you're racing to scale.

Fail to manage it, and your growth stalls or implodes.

Get it right, and you'll transform chaos into your secret weapon.

Are you still winging your change efforts?
Or are you managing them like a pro?

Your move.

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

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

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.

He was a waiter at Red Lobster.

He had $40.

Most people would complain. He built a $6B brand.

Here’s how:

✅ Saw a problem: kids in his neighborhood paying too much for hats.

✅ Took action: taught himself to sew, made hats at home.

✅ Scaled smart: sold locally → hip-hop stars wore FUBU → national attention.

✅ Got creative: turned his living room into a factory, raised money when banks said NO.

✅ Played the long game: built FUBU → became Shark Tank investor → mentors hundreds of startups.

Most people chase attention.
He chased problems that matter.

Critics said it wouldn’t work. He did it anyway.

You don’t need permission. You don’t need hype.
You need clarity, hustle, and persistence.

From $40 → living room hustle → global empire → Shark Tank.
That’s how legends are built

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

Free assessment.
If this helped, save it.

Daymond John

He spent 31 years running Trader Joe’s.
Mastered pricing. Supply chains. Consumer psychology.
But one thing bothered him more than anything else: food waste.

Every year, the U.S. throws away 120 billion pounds of perfectly good food.
Not unsafe. Just didn’t fit profit models.

Millions of families struggle to afford groceries.
Most CEOs see this as “business as usual.”
Doug saw it as broken design.

After retiring, he didn’t join a board. He didn’t consult.
He asked a different question:

💡 What if food waste became the foundation, not a byproduct?
What if access mattered more than margin?

✅ Daily Table is born.
✅ Grocery store built on surplus food.
✅ Affordable meals. Nutritious produce. Dignity first.
✅ No charity branding. No eligibility checks.
✅ Nonprofit by design. Every surplus reinvested in lowering prices.

Critics say it can’t scale. Doug agrees.
It wasn’t meant to dominate. It was meant to fix a failure everyone ignored.

From grocery CEO → noticing waste everywhere → building a store that feeds people, not profits.

If you want to rethink how systems work, look at incentives, not supply.
This is the anti-profit grocery model.

Daily Table

This guy bought one random car dealership.
Turned it into a $5B empire.

No fancy startup.
No venture capital.

Just one smart business move.

Terry Taylor started like most people in the auto industry:

Working inside dealerships.

Climbing the ladder.

But he realized something important:

No matter how hard you work…
You’re still building someone else’s business.

So in 1982, he bought his first dealership in Daytona Beach.

Most people would stop there.

He didn’t.

But the real genius wasn’t buying more dealerships.

It was how he structured them.

Instead of hiring managers, he:

• Gave them 20–25% equity
• Helped finance their buy-in
• Let them run the store

Now managers weren’t employees.

They were owners.

And owners think differently.

They protect profits.
They grow the business.
They care about reputation.

So scaling became easy.

1 dealership → 10 → 50 → 120+ dealerships

Today the network does $5B+ in revenue.

Simple lesson:

People work harder for ownership than salaries.

Build partners.
Not employees

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

Free assessment.

If this helped, save it.

Terry Taylor

Most people think billion-dollar companies start with experts.

Crumbl Cookies started with two tech guys who had never baked a cookie.

In 2017, they noticed something simple:
Cookies were America’s favorite dessert, but the category hadn’t evolved.
So they focused on a few key moves:

▶ Perfected one cookie first
▶ Kept the menu simple (1 classic + 4 rotating flavors)
▶ Turned weekly flavor drops into social media events

That simple strategy turned a 900 sq ft store and $10K into

✅ 800+ locations
✅ 1M cookies sold daily
✅ $1B+ valuation

They didn’t win by doing more.
They won by focusing on the few decisions that drive everything.

That’s true in finance too.

If you want to find your biggest 1% opportunities, go to scalingcfo.io
Take the free assessments and see exactly where to focus first.

Crumbl Cookies

$30,000 → $7 BILLION.
No hype. No fluff. Just strategy.

Dennis Washington was 30, broke, and borrowing $30k from a Caterpillar dealer.

He bought one bulldozer and started doing construction in Montana.

Within 5 years? He was the largest contractor in the state.

But he didn’t stop there.

He asked a simple question:
"Where is everyone running from?"

Then he built a formula:

✅ Buy failing businesses that everyone else ignores.
✅ Fix the basics cut costs, improve management, unlock cash flow.
✅ Use the profits to buy the next one.
✅ Repeat.

First test: a worthless copper mine.
Bought for $15M → $100M profits in 3 years.

Next: a struggling global construction firm, merged it → Washington Group International → sold for $2.6B.

Now? Real estate, aviation, railroads, marine services… a $7B empire all from turning broken things into cash.

Most people run from broken businesses. Dennis Washington built a $7B empire fixing them.

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

Free assessment.
If this helped, save it.

Dennis Washington

LVMH is worth $292.9 billion.

You're worth $10M and stressed about payroll.

Same industry. Completely different money game. Here's why.

I've sat inside dozens of $5M–$50M businesses as a fractional CFO.

The pattern never changes.

Founders confuse 3 separate problems:

❌ "We have a cash flow problem."

No. You have a timing problem. Revenue is fine. Your money is just in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's fixable in 90 days.

❌ "We have a scaling problem."

No. You tried to grow before your operations could hold the weight. Every single time. Growth didn't break you, the lack of systems did.

❌ "We have a fundraising problem."

No. Investors don't fund vision. They fund numbers that prove the vision is real. You don't have a pitch problem. You have a financial story problem.

Now look at the billion-dollar brands:

Inditex built Zara to $193B by selling inventory before the bill came due.

Hermès built $235B by turning scarcity into a balance sheet strategy.

Fast Retailing scaled Uniqlo globally because they built finance infrastructure first.

None of that is luck.
All of it is decisions, financial decisions dressed up as brand decisions.

The difference between them and you isn't capital.

It's that they stopped running on gut feel and built a machine that tells them exactly where every dollar is going, and why.

You don't need a $500K CFO on payroll.

You need 10 hours a month of the right financial brain in the room.

That's the actual arbitrage most $5M–$50M founders are sleeping on.

If your finances are running you instead of the other way around,

Comment "CFO" below and I'll show you exactly where to start.

Samsung wasn’t always a tech giant.

It was a tiny grocery store in 1938.

Lee Byung-Chull had $0. Just noodles, dried fish, and ambition.

Most people would stay small. He built a $720B empire.

Here’s how:

✅ Saw a need. Korea needed industry after the war.

✅ Took action. Trading → textiles → heavy industry.

✅ Bet on the future. Electronics in 1969. First black-and-white TV. Then semiconductors. Then global domination.

✅ Built a culture. Quality over quantity. Meritocracy. Vision.

✅ Played the long game. Critics doubted. Scandals happened. Growth didn’t stop.

From noodles → TVs → semiconductors → Galaxy phones → global tech leader.

Most people chase attention. Samsung chased leverage.

Legends aren’t born. They’re built.

SAMSUNG

He had nothing.
No friends. Barely spoke English. ADHD made school unbearable.

At 16, he dropped out. Taught himself to code. Became obsessed with modifying video games.

At 22, he moved to Canada. New country. No network. Just a laptop and a love for snowboarding.

Started an online snowboard store → it failed.

But the software he built to run it? People wanted it.

💡 Lightbulb moment: Forget snowboards. Sell the software.

✅ Shopify is born.
✅ Made e-commerce simple.
✅ Millions of stores. 175 countries. Even Amazon switched.

From high school dropout → coding every week → building the internet’s mall worth $147B.

If you want to find your biggest 1% opportunities, check out scalingcfo.io
Free assessment.
If this helped, save it.

TOBIAS LÜTKE

Peter Steinberger could have built “cool” software.

He didn’t.

He built useful software.

PDFs were everywhere. Developers were stuck with messy workflows. Peter asked:

What if developers had tools that just worked? That solved real problems, not just looked good on a portfolio?

✅ PSPDFKit → powers PDF apps across mobile & web.
✅ Open-source projects → simplify workflows, save engineers hours.
✅ OpenClaw → personal AI agent that actually helps you code.

Most people chase attention. Peter chases problems.

Critics say niche tools won’t scale. Peter doesn’t care.
He’s not in it for hype. He’s in it for impact.

From engineer → spotting friction everywhere → building tools that make developers’ lives better.

If you want to build something meaningful, solve real problems.
The market rewards results, not ideas.

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

Free assessment.
If this helped, save it.

Peter Steinberger

Most founders don’t fail overnight.

They bleed slowly.
From decisions they ignored.
From processes they never set.
From metrics they refused to measure.

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

But underneath:

➡️ Decisions get delayed → chaos spreads
➡️ Processes depend on you → hero culture burns out
➡️ Metrics are “nice to have” → guesswork rules
➡️ Accountability is optional → everyone points fingers

That’s how scaling dies.

Not from lack of ambition.
From lack of rules.

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

Free assessment.
If this helped, save it.
#scalingup #founders #ceo

Most people saw a ping pong table.

Max Koehler saw a business.

In 2019, he noticed something strange:

Table tennis is one of the most played sports in the world,
but in U.S. cities there were very few places to play regularly.

Most founders would open a traditional club.

Max built PingPod instead.

Small glass studios.
Open 24/7.
Booked entirely through an app.
No staff. No front desk.

But the real genius?

A camera above every table.

Every rally gets recorded.
One tap → instant replay → share on social.

Players created the content.
The content created the marketing.

Clips went viral.
Bookings exploded.

Today PingPod is valued around $40–60M.

All from one simple observation.

The best founders don’t just build products.
They build systems that grow themselves. 🚀

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

Take the free assessments and see exactly where to focus first.

#scalingup #founders #CEO

Max Koehler

99% of founders do this backwards.

They try to scale a business
that no one has proven they want.

Then they try to sell a business
that only works because they exist.

Here’s the real order:

1. Start
Don’t build the product.
Sell it first.

If no one pays, it’s not a business.
It’s a fantasy.

2. Scale
Do less. Better.
One offer. One audience. One channel.

Systemize everything.
If it needs you to survive, it’s not scalable.

3. Sell
Buyers don’t pay for hype.
They pay for predictable cash flow.

Clean books.
Recurring revenue.
Low founder dependency.

Start with proof.
Scale with systems.
Exit with leverage.

That’s how you build something that prints money, not something that prints stress.

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

Free assessment.

If this helped, save it.

$1M revenue feels like winning.

It's actually where most businesses start quietly dying.

The mistakes don't look like mistakes at first.
They look like growth.

❌ Mistake #1: Treating revenue like safety

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

You can do $8M and still run out of money.
Most founders find this out the hard way.

❌ Mistake #2: Hiring for the business you want

Payroll is fixed.
Revenue is variable.

That one gap has quietly killed more $3M–$5M businesses than bad products ever did.

❌ Mistake #3: Fundraising when you're desperate

Investors don't fund need.
They fund leverage.

The moment you need the money is the worst moment to ask for it.

❌ Mistake #4: Confusing a good year with a good model

One great year can hide a broken business for 18 months.

Until the market stops being kind.
And suddenly everything breaks at once.

❌ Mistake #5: Having no one who sees the real picture

Not a bookkeeper.
Not a coach recycling frameworks.

Someone who can look at your numbers and tell you exactly where the growth is hiding — and where the model breaks.

The businesses that make it past $10M, $20M, $50M?

They didn't avoid all of these.

They just caught them early enough to survive.

📌 If you're past $1M and want a fresh set of eyes on your financials, DM me.

On March 12 we ran the first Profitable Business Experience workshop.

At the end, one attendee said I should be teaching this at Harvard. Another wants her whole team in the next one.

The difference between this and every other workshop? Everyone walks out with an AI-generated report from ScalingCFO.io tied to their exact numbers, their constraint, their 90-day plan. Not a workbook. 

A document they can use the same day.

April 16 is the next one. $497.

Full story in the newsletter. Registration at scalingcfo.io/workshop.
#scalingup #CEO #FOUNDER #growth

Why This Is the New Standard for Workshops Ascend & Scale Newsletter | March 2026 On March 12, we ran the first Profitable Business Experience worksho

Open article: The Profitable Business Experience by Cruz Gamboa • 3 min read

Successful 8-figure business. Less than a month of runway.

The brand was real. The customers were loyal. The margins were strong.
And the company had less than 30 days of runway left in the bank.

Nobody did anything obviously wrong. 

A partner ran millions in ads without anyone tracking whether they were actually working. Debt piled up quietly. 

Revenue looked fine, until it didn't. By the time they saw the damage, it was already baked in.

That's the valley of death. And it doesn't announce itself.

It shows up as a debt payment you can't quite cover. A line of credit that gets frozen. Cash advances pulling from your revenue automatically while you're still trying to grow. 

You're doing the right things: cutting costs, finding better channels, getting leaner, but the debt service is eating the oxygen before any of it can breathe.

The scorecard looks ugly. The story underneath is completely different.
If that feels familiar, revenue moving, cash not following, numbers that don't quite add up, you don't have a motivation problem. You have a visibility problem.

Check out this week's newsletter.
#scalingup #ceo #growth #founder

cruzgamboadrive

patagonia-solar-llc

A founder I work with built something most people spend a career chasing. Real customers. Not followers, not vanity metrics, actual people who come ba

Open article: They once crossed the $10M mark but now  had 20 days of runway. by Cruz Gamboa • 5 min read

They once crossed the $10M mark but now  had 20 days of runway.

A founder fired her bookkeeping firm last month.

The firm wasn't wrong. They found real problems -- co-mingled finances, missing cost detail, tax errors, revenue streams lumped together.
But they handed her a list with zero context about what she was actually building.

None of it landed.

That's the difference between a financial audit and a strategic one.

In our Sprint Audit, we didn't touch the numbers first. We fixed the frame. Built her business model. Found the one metric her QuickBooks would never show her. Tracked down the upsell gap quietly bleeding her margin.

By the end she had a revenue target, a profit margin to defend, and an exit number on the whiteboard.

The books weren't her problem. They never are.

Full case study -- plus why we built ScalingCFO in the first place -- in this week's newsletter. 
Link in comments.
#scalingup #eosworld #CEO #founder

A ScalingCFO Newsletter You probably have seen that I launched a new platform called ScalingCFO.io. I'll tell you what ScalingCFO actually is before I

Open article: The Frame Before the Numbers by Cruz Gamboa • 4 min read

"Workshop" has become one of those words that means almost nothing.

I'm running one on April 16th. 

Here's exactly what happens in it.

We're not talking about funnels. 
No breakout rooms. 
Nobody's sharing their vision board.

Here's what we actually do:

I show you the five financial numbers that tell you more about the health of your business than your revenue line ever will. 

You actually figure out what is the cash gap to achieving your ideal revenue target. 

We get clear on your #1 constraint to get there.

Then I walk you through what each of them looks like when something is quietly breakin, before it becomes a 20-days-of-runway conversation.

I've run this with founders doing $1M, $3M, $7M.

The pattern is almost always the same.

The numbers they're watching aren't the ones that matter. The ones that matter, nobody showed them.

That's the whole thing. 

Two hours. Clear picture. You leave knowing exactly what to look at.

$497 for now, going up to $997 starting May. 

If two hours of financial clarity isn't worth that to you, you're not the right fit.
If it is, go here: 

scalingcfo.io/workshop
#scalingup #CEO #founder #growth

I spent 20+ years at GE Capital reviewing companies doing hundreds of millions in revenue.

Revenue was never the story. 

It was just the opening line.

The real question was always what was happening underneath it... the cash timing, the margin after real costs, the debt structure quietly shifting while everyone celebrated the top line number.

Most founders I work with now are doing $1M to $5M. 

Smart people. 
Working hard. 
Revenue going up.

And almost none of them have ever looked at those three things.

Not because they don't care. 

Because nobody showed them where to look. And because past $1M, there is always a fire drill. You keep building. On a foundation you've never actually pressure-tested.

The gap between what you think is happening in your business and what's actually happening has a dollar amount.

Swipe to see the three numbers that tell you what it is.

#scalingup #CEO #GROWTH #founder

Growth is NOT Scaling

I had dinner with a founder last week who has made $100,000 in a single day.

She can't look at her bank account.

Not because the number is always bad. 

Because she doesn't know what it means. No system, no context -- just anxiety every time she opens the app.

That's not a revenue problem. That's a cash culture problem.

At GE Capital during the 2008 crisis, we used one tool to cut through the noise with distressed companies in the Carolinas, a 13-week cash flow forecast. 
Money in, money out, gap to fill. Nothing more.

Her reaction when I showed her: "If you tell me I'm $10K short this week, I can go make $10K."

That's the whole thing.

Most founders are running in reverse: selling hard, spending freely, then checking what's left and wondering why it never adds up. The forecast flips that. You start with cash reality and work backward.

A cash-first culture means you know your number BEFORE the bank tells you.
Weekly. Not quarterly. Not when your accountant sends a report.

The person with the clearest financial picture always wins.

You can't pay bills with sales.
#scalingup #ceo #founder #growth

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