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Early stage CEOs get praised for hustle. You say yes. You move fast. You grab every opportunity that shows up. Eric Martell has lived the dark side of that advice. “We were really tempted to say yes to everything in the early days,” he told me. “If you’re trying to say yes to everything, you’re … Read more

Hiring used to be a volume game. You hired more people, accepted some misses, and trusted that the winners would carry the class. Asad Zaman says that math is changing fast. “You need less people,” he told me. “But as you need less people, what seems to be happening is that the need for those … Read more

Most CEOs talk about scaling like it is a company problem. More headcount. More systems. Better execution. Elias Stahl framed it differently, and I think he is right. “You are the cap on the company’s growth,” he told me. “My job is to make sure that none of us stop growing.” That is not motivational … Read more

Every CEO says they are customer obsessed. That sounds right. It also hides a failure mode that shows up once your early product starts working. Trip Adler put it bluntly: “You do want to listen to customers and you want to build based on their feedback. But at the same time, you can get caught … Read more

Every CEO says culture matters. Fewer can articulate how they know it is working. Greg Schott has a test I have not heard many leaders articulate so clearly. He told me his goal was simple. “When we’re done here, whenever people move on, everybody wants to get the band back together.” Not nostalgia. Not perks. … Read more

Every growth story has a moment where momentum slows and effort spikes. The pipeline still looks full. The team is working harder. Revenue keeps inching up. Yet progress feels heavier than it should. I’ve seen this moment dozens of times, and Asher Mathew named it cleanly in our conversation. Early growth carries you through product … Read more

Kim Hansen has a unique approach to scaling companies that sets him apart. As the CEO and co-founder of Cake Equity, he focuses on building businesses that are sustainable, both in terms of financial success and personal well-being. Kim’s journey into entrepreneurship started in a tech incubation agency. He grew that company from the ground … Read more

Ben Borodach has lived on both sides of the venture table. He has raised capital, built companies, advised at the policy level, and now he is modernizing something most founders avoid on purpose: the American tax system. Ben is the CEO of April, the first company in 15 years to build a nationally chartered tax … Read more

Some CEOs build a leadership team the way you assemble an all-star roster. They hire a world-class CPO. Then they land a killer CRO. Then they add a strong marketing lead. On paper, it looks unstoppable. Then the company stalls anyway. Matt Blosl has seen the pattern up close, especially inside private equity backed SaaS … Read more