CEO Stories with Jonathan Herps

You’re not lazy and you’re not doing it wrong. You’re just scaling on top of a system that’s already tangled, and this episode shows you exactly where to look and what to fix.

In this episode, Jonathan sits down with Myles Henaghan, founder of Wires Uncrossed, to delve into the intricacies of software delivery systems. Myles shares his journey from experiencing recurring challenges in tech teams to developing the Hierarchy of Engineering Needs, a framework designed to systematically identify and address constraints in software delivery. 

They discuss the importance of understanding your system's bottlenecks, the value of open-sourcing methodologies, and how to maintain balance between professional ambitions and personal life. 

Whether you're a business owner feeling stuck or a tech leader aiming for scalable growth, this conversation offers actionable insights to help you move forward.

In this episode of Stories of Scale with Jonathan Herps, you’ll discover:

• How to spot when your delivery problems aren’t about headcount or effort but about tangled systems, misalignment, and invisible constraints (01:07)
• Why giving away your frameworks earns credibility, attracts self-qualified buyers, and helps you grow even when you’re not in the room (04:36)
• A flexible structure to manage your business, team, visibility, and life without dropping the ball or pretending you can do it all (06:17)
• How even high-functioning teams can crash if they lose sight of commercial realities (12:07)
• How to rewire your mindset for sustained growth (15:51)
• What healthy leadership teams really look like (17:20)
• How to use AI without multiplying chaos, especially when quality controls are weak or missing (24:07)
• Focusing on the most important constraint today and keeping momentum without chasing perfection (30:44)

Key takeaways for CEOs and business owners:

• More people ≠ more output. If your team’s velocity is dropping as headcount grows, you’ve likely got a system constraint problem, not a talent one.
• Don’t hoard your IP. Leverage it. Open-sourcing your frameworks builds authority, accelerates trust, and magnetises the right-fit clients who are already sold on your thinking.
• Your calendar reflects your leadership priorities. A simple, daily 4-bucket system (Grow, Run, Connect, Home) can help you make smarter trade-offs and stay intentional instead of reactive.
• Great leadership teams disagree often, with respect. Tension, challenge, and banter are healthy signs. If nobody's pushing back, you may be playing it too safe.
• AI amplifies your system, for better or worse. Without solid quality controls, AI tools will just help your team produce more of the wrong thing, faster. Focus on flow before fuel.

Tune in to gain a fresh perspective on scaling your business through effective software delivery strategies. 

CONNECT WITH JONATHAN HERPS

Website: www.scaleupos.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanherps

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@jonathanherps

Email: [email protected] 

🚀 Ready to Elevate Your Business?

If you’re interested, here are 3 ways I can help you right now: 

1. Subscribe to our podcast
Get actionable strategies to run a more efficient business from someone who built & exited 3 multi-million $ companies.
Click Here to listen & subscribe now! 

2. Download our free CEO Dashboard template 
Build a step-by-step business plan for consistent growth. 
Click Here to download.

3. Book a 20-min Business Growth Call
Map out a growth plan for your business and identify your biggest bottleneck & leave with a clear action plan. — Click Here

people in your team. If you're still tolerating average performers, avoiding tough conversations, or hoping culture will fix itself, this conversation is your wake-up call.

In this episode, Jonathan Herps walks through a practical playbook that every CEO should be using (but probably isn’t).

Drawing from nearly a decade working alongside scaling CEOs, he breaks down what it really takes to build a team of A players, how to assess your people with clarity not emotion, and why quarterly talent reviews are the leadership muscle your business is starving for.

You’ll also hear firsthand from Paul, a founder navigating real leadership landmines, all about global teams, toxic high performers, wrongful dismissal threats, and all the headaches CEOs are too exhausted to talk about publicly.

In this episode of Stories of Scale with Jonathan Herps, you’ll discover:

• How to build a team of 90% A players (00:48)
• How quarterly reviews drive faster growth and keeps your business ahead of performance problems before they snowball (08:25)
• Handling team dependencies that undermine performance (12:04)
• 8 questions that tell you who to coach and who to let go (15:12)
• How to exit team members with clarity and compassion (21:00)
• How to apply values in day-to-day leadership (34:03)

Key takeaways for CEOs and business owners:

• Adopt a quarterly talent review rhythm. Regular assessments create accountability, surface blind spots, and keep your team aligned with growth.
• Use values as your ultimate filter. Skills can be trained, but misaligned values will always cost you more in the long run.
• Know who to coach and who to exit. A simple decision framework removes the guesswork and helps you lead with clarity, not emotion.
• Build an A player culture by design, not default. Your growth depends on your people. Systematise how you assess, develop, and upgrade your team.

This is for the business owner who’s scaling, but stalled. Someone who knows they’ve got dead weight, but doesn’t know what to do. Someone who suspects the real bottleneck isn’t strategy, but people.

CONNECT WITH JONATHAN HERPS

Website: www.scaleupos.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanherps

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@jonathanherps

Email: [email protected] 

🚀 Ready to Elevate Your Business?

If you’re interested, here are 3 ways I can help you right now: 

1. Subscribe to our podcast
Get actionable strategies to run a more efficient business from someone who built & exited 3 multi-million $ companies.
Click Here to listen & subscribe now! 

2. Download our free CEO Dashboard template 
Build a step-by-step business plan for consistent growth. 
Click Here to download.

3. Book a 20-min Business Growth Call
Map out a growth plan for your business and identify your biggest bottleneck & leave with a clear action plan. — Click Here

If your calendar looks like a game of Tetris, you're not running your business. It's running you.

In this episode, Jonathan gets brutally honest about a hard truth that most CEOs don’t want to admit: your calendar is a mirror. And what does it reflect? That’s what’s either scaling your business or strangling it.

You’ll hear the story of Jane, a sharp agency founder who went from 70-hour weeks and pure chaos to real leadership clarity after one game-changing shift.

This isn’t about productivity hacks. It’s about the one leadership structure that separates scattered founders from strategic CEOs.

In this episode of Stories of Scale with Jonathan Herps, you’ll discover:

• Why your calendar is the clearest reflection of your leadership (00:01)
• How a lack of structure creates bottlenecks, weakens delegation, and keeps CEOs trapped in execution instead of strategy (01:28)
• A simple, actionable framework that unlocks 8–12 hours a week and builds space for deep work, strategy, and scaling (02:04)

Key takeaways for CEOs and business owners:

• Your calendar is a mirror. If there’s no time to lead, your business can’t grow.
• Most CEOs aren’t out of time. They’re out of structure.
• Reclaiming just a few hours of strategic time each week can unlock exponential results.
• Leadership lives in deep work, delegation, and deliberate thinking time, not back-to-back meetings.
• A self-managing business starts with a calendar that reflects clarity, not chaos.

No fluff, no gimmicks. Just a sharp lens on what’s really holding most business owners back (and what you can do about it). 

FREE RESOURCE

Send a direct message to Jonathan at [email protected] with the word “FOCUS” for the CEO Time Reclaim Template 

CONNECT WITH JONATHAN HERPS

Website: www.scaleupos.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanherps

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@jonathanherps

Email: [email protected] 

🚀 Ready to Elevate Your Business?

If you’re interested, here are 3 ways I can help you right now: 

1. Subscribe to our podcast
Get actionable strategies to run a more efficient business from someone who built & exited 3 multi-million $ companies.
Click Here to listen & subscribe now! 

2. Download our free CEO Dashboard template 
Build a step-by-step business plan for consistent growth. 
Click Here to download.

3. Book a 20-min Business Growth Call
Map out a growth plan for your business and identify your biggest bottleneck & leave with a clear action plan. — Click Here

If you’re tired of doing everything yourself, stuck in decision loops, and feel like real growth is always just out of reach, this conversation will hit home. 

Antony Dutton took over a business he knew nothing about, built rock-solid leadership rhythms, empowered his team, and scaled a system that now runs without him. No hustle, no magic bullet. Just clear, repeatable growth, built with intention.

When Antony bought Provender, he knew next to nothing about vending. Today, it’s a thriving national brand redefining workplace food and beverage. This episode is a front-row seat to the mindset, decisions, and hard-won wisdom of a CEO who’s scaled a legacy business into something modern, lean, and growth-ready.

You’ll hear honest stories about failure, innovation, and what it really takes to step back from the day-to-day without the wheels falling off.

In this episode of Stories of Scale with Jonathan Herps, you’ll discover:

• Redefining a traditional business into a modern, scalable growth machine (01:50)
• Systems and tech that give franchise partners real-time visibility and accountability and how centralised data fuels smarter decisions without bottlenecking the CEO (06:01)
• Why innovation only works when it solves real pain (09:02)
• Why structured team rhythms are the CEO’s secret weapon to escaping day-to-day chaos (11:11)
• A wake-up call about control, supply chains, and the price of procrastination, plus why acting fast on people problems is essential (15:04)
• Empowering people while aligning business growth with their personal goals (21:09)

Key takeaways for CEOs and business owners:

• Invest in rhythm and structure. Regular leadership rhythms free up mental space to think long-term and lead strategically.
• Act fast on people decisions. Delaying tough calls around team fit or performance only drags growth down.
• Build trust before scale. A team that trusts each other (and you) will thrive even when you’re not in the room.
• Leverage tech to empower, not control. Smart use of data and systems gives your people autonomy while keeping the business on track.
• Your team is your growth engine. Success isn’t about doing more yourself; it’s about building a team that can grow the business even without you.

If you’re feeling stuck, stretched thin, or unsure how to scale without losing control, this one’s for you.

CONNECT WITH JONATHAN HERPS

Website: www.scaleupos.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanherps

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@jonathanherps

Email: [email protected] 

🚀 Ready to Elevate Your Business?

If you’re interested, here are 3 ways I can help you right now: 

1. Subscribe to our podcast
Get actionable strategies to run a more efficient business from someone who built & exited 3 multi-million $ companies.
Click Here to listen & subscribe now! 

2. Download our free CEO Dashboard template 
Build a step-by-step business plan for consistent growth. 
Click Here to download.

3. Book a 20-min Business Growth Call
Map out a growth plan for your business and identify your biggest bottleneck & leave with a clear action plan. — Click Here

What if the reason you're stuck isn't a strategy problem, but a structure one?

In this episode, Jonathan shares Helder’s powerful transformation, from overwhelmed founder to hands-off CEO of a wildly profitable, self-managing business.

You’ll learn the 5 practical shifts that helped Helder get out of daily firefighting, scale his team, and take real holidays (without things falling apart). Plus, Jonathan breaks down how to turn cash from a stressor into a strategic weapon so you can scale without fear.

If you’re wanting more freedom without sacrificing growth, this episode lays out the roadmap for you.

In this episode of Stories of Scale with Jonathan Herps, you’ll discover:

• The CEO bottleneck trap and how to escape it (00:24)
• 5 powerful shifts to rebuild your role and empower your team (01:02)
• How Helder’s profit, time off, and leadership soared within 12 months (02:34)
• The 3 cash flow fixes that turned financial fear into strategic power (03:04)
• Why a “boring” business is the real flex (04:06)

Key takeaways for CEOs and business owners:

• You can’t scale if you’re still the fixer. Build the team that solves problems without you.
• Profit grows when systems run the day-to-day and you stay focused on strategy.
• Cash gives you options. Make it predictable, not panic-inducing.

FREE RESOURCE

Email Jonathan at [email protected] for the 10x Business Growth blueprint

CONNECT WITH JONATHAN HERPS

Website: www.scaleupos.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanherps

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@jonathanherps

Email: [email protected] 

🚀 Ready to Elevate Your Business?

If you’re interested, here are 3 ways I can help you right now: 

1. Subscribe to our podcast
Get actionable strategies to run a more efficient business from someone who built & exited 3 multi-million $ companies.
Click Here to listen & subscribe now! 

2. Download our free CEO Dashboard template 
Build a step-by-step business plan for consistent growth. 
Click Here to download.

3. Book a 20-min Business Growth Call
Map out a growth plan for your business and identify your biggest bottleneck & leave with a clear action plan. — Click Here

You don’t need more hustle. You need fewer distractions, deeper focus, and the courage to back yourself before the path is clear. 

In this episode, you’ll hear how one founder broke through the chaos, built momentum from zero, and learned to lead with clarity, even when the cash was tight, the team was growing fast, and the pressure was on.

Jonathan Herps sits down with Daniel McDuall, the founder and CEO of Squizify, a food safety platform that’s quietly shaking up global QSR operations. From humble beginnings in New Zealand to landing multimillion-dollar contracts with global brands, Daniel shares the gritty truth about scaling without losing your mind (or your people).

This one’s a real-world look at what it takes to move from founder to focused CEO and why thinking bigger starts with narrowing your focus.

In this episode of Stories of Scale with Jonathan Herps, you’ll discover:

• Validating your business idea before building (01:55)
• How staying narrowly focused can lead to global expansion (07:15)
• How to align and scale your team using rhythm, culture, and trust (10:51)
• The habits, routines, and boundaries that keep CEOs healthy, clear-headed, and able to lead under pressure (12:44)
• Planning for growth without risking everything and avoiding hiring mistakes that silently kill momentum (19:45) 
• How to build a high-performance leadership team and the two behaviours that matter more than resumes (26:57)
• How to think big, push past fear, and stay focused on what actually moves your business forward (30:24)

Key takeaways for CEOs and business owners:

• Great culture doesn’t just happen. It’s modelled, reinforced, and lived at the top.
• You don’t need to do more to grow. You need to go deeper on what actually matters.
• If your calendar has no time for you, your business is already paying the price.
• There’s no such thing as a perfect hire — only faster decisions after the wrong ones.
• Fundraising never really ends. Be ready before you need it.

Daniel doesn’t sugarcoat the journey but he shows us how the right mindset and structure can turn the chaos of scaling into something sustainable, powerful, and even joyful.

Ready to build smarter, lead stronger, and scale with sanity? Tune in. 

CONNECT WITH JONATHAN HERPS

Website: www.scaleupos.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanherps

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@jonathanherps

Email: [email protected] 

🚀 Ready to Elevate Your Business?

If you’re interested, here are 3 ways I can help you right now: 

1. Subscribe to our podcast
Get actionable strategies to run a more efficient business from someone who built & exited 3 multi-million $ companies.
Click Here to listen & subscribe now! 

2. Download our free CEO Dashboard template 
Build a step-by-step business plan for consistent growth. 
Click Here to download.

3. Book a 20-min Business Growth Call
Map out a growth plan for your business and identify your biggest bottleneck & leave with a clear action plan. — Click Here

If you’re still making decisions based on monthly reports, you’re already too late. 

In this episode, Jonathan reveals how leading CEOs get ahead by focusing on the right metrics that shape the future, not just report the past.

You’ll discover the power of leading KPIs, why setting bare ass minimums (BAMs) creates unstoppable business momentum, and how to leverage content consumption to build trust and accelerate your sales pipeline. Plus, you’ll learn how identifying your A-players boosts team performance and culture.

Whether you're chasing revenue, growing your team, or building a stronger leadership strategy, this episode shows you how to lead with the data that actually drives growth, not just the numbers that tell you what has already happened.

In this episode of Stories of Scale with Jonathan Herps, you’ll discover:

• Why lagging KPIs keep you stuck reacting to the past instead of shaping the future (00:54)
• What “bare ass minimums” (BAMs) are, and how they build business momentum (01:44)
• How content consumption accelerates your sales cycle and builds brand trust (03:28)
• Why every leader needs both leading and lagging KPIs (06:47)
• How defining your A-players will improve your team’s productivity and culture (07:48)

Key takeaways for CEOs and business owners:

• If you’re only measuring results, you’re already behind.
• Leading KPIs create influence; lagging KPIs only confirm outcomes.
• Setting clear bare ass minimums keeps your team focused on the right daily actions.
• People are your #1 asset - track how many A-players you have on your leadership team.
• AI tools like ChatGPT can speed up KPI definition and team alignment.

CONNECT WITH JONATHAN HERPS

Website: www.scaleupos.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanherps

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@jonathanherps

Email: [email protected] 

🚀 Ready to Elevate Your Business?

If you’re interested, here are 3 ways I can help you right now: 

1. Subscribe to our podcast
Get actionable strategies to run a more efficient business from someone who built & exited 3 multi-million $ companies.
Click Here to listen & subscribe now! 

2. Download our free CEO Dashboard template 
Build a step-by-step business plan for consistent growth. 
Click Here to download.

3. Book a 20-min Business Growth Call
Map out a growth plan for your business and identify your biggest bottleneck & leave with a clear action plan. — Click Here

Scaling a business isn’t about working harder. It’s about working smarter — by focusing your time on what actually drives growth.

In this episode, Jonathan Herps reveals the overlooked leadership habit that’s holding most founders back: doing work they shouldn’t be doing.

You’ll learn how to identify the highest-value activities only you should own as a founder or CEO, and what to delegate, automate, or stop entirely.

Jonathan shares how a simple framework, inspired by a fellow coach and refined through years of mentoring business leaders, helps CEOs shift from firefighting to future-proofing their business. He also gets personal, sharing how designing his own lifestyle business has allowed him to lead with clarity while still making it home every afternoon for school pick-up.

Whether you’re stuck in low-impact tasks or struggling to empower your leadership team, this episode will show you how to focus on what moves the needle, and let go of everything else.

In this episode of Stories of Scale with Jonathan Herps, you’ll discover:

• Designing KPIs that actually drive business growth (01:32)
• Why CEOs need to build businesses that serve their life, not the other way around (02:44)
• Focusing on high-impact work and not wasting time on low-value tasks (04:36)
• How delegation unlocks real scale (05:59)
• How consistently sharing value builds trust over time (06:59)

Key takeaways for CEOs and business owners:

• Focus beats busyness. You’re not paid to do everything. You’re paid to drive the outcomes that matter most.
• Delegate the drain. Free up your time by handing off tasks that aren’t in your zone of genius.
• Clarity scales teams. Clear KPIs and role definitions unlock accountability and performance.
• Design for life, not just business. Build a company that supports your personal priorities, not one that steals them.
• Consistency compounds. Play the long game by showing up, adding value, and letting your expertise do the marketing for you.

If you’re ready to stop drowning in low-impact work and start scaling like a real CEO, this episode is for you. 

CONNECT WITH JONATHAN HERPS

Website: www.scaleupos.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanherps

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@jonathanherps

Email: [email protected] 

🚀 Ready to Elevate Your Business?

If you’re interested, here are 3 ways I can help you right now: 

1. Subscribe to our podcast
Get actionable strategies to run a more efficient business from someone who built & exited 3 multi-million $ companies.
Click Here to listen & subscribe now! 

2. Download our free CEO Dashboard template 
Build a step-by-step business plan for consistent growth. 
Click Here to download.

3. Book a 20-min Business Growth Call
Map out a growth plan for your business and identify your biggest bottleneck & leave with a clear action plan. — Click Here

Most frustrated founders are chasing the wrong numbers. They're buried in dashboards, juggling KPIs, and wondering why growth still feels like a grind. 

In this episode, you’ll learn how seasoned CEOs scale faster by simplifying what they measure, and how choosing the right North Star metric creates the focus, alignment, and momentum your business has been missing. 

If growth feels scattered, this is the clarity you didn’t know you needed. 

In this episode of Stories of Scale with Jonathan Herps, you’ll discover:

• The role of a single guiding metric and why it beats tracking X different KPIs (01:04)
• CEOs reveal what they actually track to drive sales, profit, and operational control (02:58)
• Why client longevity is Jonathan’s most powerful metric (04:37)

Key takeaways for CEOs and business owners:

• The wrong metrics can create noise; the right one creates clarity
• Strategy is choosing what not to track
• Aligning your team starts with aligning your definition of “winning”
• Longevity is the most underused signal of leadership effectiveness

Running a company without a clear, unifying metric is like sailing without a compass. You might move, but never in the right direction.

CONNECT WITH JONATHAN HERPS

Website: www.scaleupos.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanherps

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@jonathanherps

Email: [email protected] 

🚀 Ready to Elevate Your Business?

If you’re interested, here are 3 ways I can help you right now: 

1. Subscribe to our podcast
Get actionable strategies to run a more efficient business from someone who built & exited 3 multi-million $ companies.
Click Here to listen & subscribe now! 

2. Download our free CEO Dashboard template 
Build a step-by-step business plan for consistent growth. 
Click Here to download.

3. Book a 20-min Business Growth Call
Map out a growth plan for your business and identify your biggest bottleneck & leave with a clear action plan. — Click Here

Most business owners don’t hit a ceiling because they lack drive, they hit it because the old playbook no longer works.

In this episode, Renee Francis, founder of The Bubble Co. and Take3, shares her brutally honest journey from a dining table startup to running two agencies across different time zones. We break down how to get rid of rigid old systems, build a team that actually wants to be there, and why your biggest mistakes are your best business mentors if you let them be. Plus, Renee drops some truth bombs about leadership, resilience, hiring disasters (and how to fix them), and the real reason your business needs a network that's smarter than you are.

You’ll learn how to lead without micromanaging, hire without regret, and grow without clinging to outdated systems. Renee shares hard-won lessons CEOs often learn too late, including the one mindset shift that could change how you lead forever..

In this episode of Stories of Scale with Jonathan Herps, you’ll discover:

• Turning corporate frustration into a flexible business that scales without the 9-5 trap (01:22)
• Managing time, energy, and two businesses without losing your edge (06:40)
• CEO mindset mantras to survive the chaos and lead with calm (16:37)
• The hidden leadership trap that destroys team trust (20:13)
• Tools and resources that actually move the needle (23:17)
• The value of staying in the game even when business gets hard (26:44)

Key takeaways for CEOs and business owners:

• Your business model should fit your life, not the other way around. You can design flexible, scalable systems that support your real lifestyle goals.
• The best growth lessons come from your worst mistakes — if you let them. Failures aren't signs to quit. They're crash courses in what your business truly needs.
• Leadership isn't about stepping back. It's about stepping up with your team. True leaders don’t abdicate responsibility. They communicate clearly, lead visibly, and take ownership whether things go right or wrong.
• Progress over perfection. The CEOs who win are the ones who keep moving, adjusting, and staying in the game when others tap out.

This episode will challenge how you think about leadership, growth, and success, and leave you with real strategies you can start using right now. 

CONNECT WITH JONATHAN HERPS

Website: www.scaleupos.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanherps

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@jonathanherps

Email: [email protected] 

🚀 Ready to Elevate Your Business?

If you’re interested, here are 3 ways I can help you right now: 

1. Subscribe to our podcast
Get actionable strategies to run a more efficient business from someone who built & exited 3 multi-million $ companies.
Click Here to listen & subscribe now! 

2. Download our free CEO Dashboard template 
Build a step-by-step business plan for consistent growth. 
Click Here to download.

3. Book a 20-min Business Growth Call
Map out a growth plan for your business and identify your biggest bottleneck & leave with a clear action plan. — Click Here