In this episode of Founders, Future, host Mishal Saeed sits down with Tracey Abut, Founder and Principal Consultant of Xcelerate Talent, to explore her journey from 20+ years of HR leadership to empowering startup CEOs with tailored talent strategies. Tracey shares how she helps founders build high-performing teams through fractional HR services, organizational design, and M&A integrations, emphasizing the critical gap she identified: companies scaling too fast without foundational HR infrastructure. She also discusses her vision for transforming Xcelerate Talent into a premier consulting firm by partnering with private equity firms to unlock workforce potential during mergers and acquisitions.

Tracey delves into her entrepreneurial challenges, from early client acquisition via LinkedIn outreach to refining her sales process with strategic partnerships. She highlights the importance of solving business problems through people-centric solutions and her goal to "go upstream" by serving Fortune 500 clients. Listeners gain insights into scaling a consulting business, the power of niche expertise in HR, and why Tracey believes fractional HR is the future for growth-stage companies.