From Founder To CEO

This is our three year anniversary. Yep, three years of of the honor and privilege to be with you week after week. I am so grateful to all of your for your continued support. And, I am grateful to all our Founder guests who have allowed us to peer into their lives and more deeply explore their personal leadership transformation from Founder to CEO.

In celebration of our three year anniversary, I had wanted to attempt to distill all the insights and wisdom that so many of our guests have shared over the years. Truthfully, I struggled with this task.

But, as you will hear in this episode of the podcast, some great colleagues and friends helped me come up with The 3 Questions All Founders Must Answer In Order To Grow. I invite you to share your thoughts about these questions. Send me an email, and I promise to respond. 

Imagine this scene...you are at your favorite big box store and you just bought a TV. The sales person is pressuring you to buy a warranty that is much more than you imagined. Well, Clarence Bethea knows this scene all too well and is changing it. Clarence and his team are changing the warranty world with 25% month-over-month growth.

And, while the company grows, Clarence is also learning to shift his leadership style from a "strong arm" style to one where he is an advocate for thinking through challenging decisions over 24 hours. He also have a novel time for his meetings. Clarence is an inspiration and a grounded Founder who will make you think about more deeply about being a CEO.

Back in January 2017, Dr. Joseph Picken wrote an informative piece that caught my attention. It was titled, "From founder to CEO: An entrepreneur’s roadmap." It appeared in Business Horizons.

As you might imagine, the piece caught my attention and I wanted to make sure we had Dr. Picken on the show to speak more about his research. More specifically, Dr. Picken details the "Eight Hurdles" that Founders must overcome on the journey From Founder To CEO.

It's an interview chock full of insight, wisdom, practical advice, and stories and examples that I know you will relate to.

Ask your self this question, which hurdle do you need to overcome? Email me and let me know your answer.

From Ukraine, to Germany, to New York City, Olga has traveled far for her entrepreneurial dreams. And, she has created a very unique experience for women in a growing number of cities. Turning the traditional dance class into a multimedia experience at major sporting events has brought Olga both success and challenges on the trail from Founder to CEO.

Olga tells a harrowing travel story that led to physical exhaustion, sage advice from her father, and an awakening about the type of CEO she needs to be in order to grow her unique company. Plus, her philosophies around hiring are definitely worth a listen.

I really enjoyed speaking with Olga and I know you'll enjoy this interview.

Imagine having WalMart as your very first customer? Yes, that is what happened to Natasia and her team. Even with that great achievement, the trail from Founder to CEO is riddled with challenges.

No one knows that more than Natasia. Her startup story will inspire you and her leadership lesson will school you. Sometimes we think we are solving one problem, but we end up learning it is a different issue. Natasia shared a very interesting story about hiring, that turns out to be a story about filtering advice from well intentioned stakeholders like...investors.

Plus, you'll learn about how she is using artificial intelligence and gamification to bring survey technologies to the next level. Take a look at the demo on her website and you'll see what I mean.

If you art not aware that a big part of a modern day sales strategy includes affiliate marketing, then this interview may interest you. Robert Glazer shares some key insights about this rather murky marketing world and how he and his company excel at being the good guys in this area.

Plus, Robert talk at length about the time he had to shift 1/3 of his team out of their roles when the company reached about 30 employees. He gets very candid about what he did wrong, how he would do it differently, and what you need to know as a Founder in order to proactively disrupt your team and keep the business growing.

I have coached and interviewed hundreds of founders. There are patterns that emerge in a number of areas. One of those patterns relates to morale.

When you are having a bad week, month, or quarter, you yourself might be feeling a bit discouraged. But, hey, you are the Founder and CEO and that means you are a leader. What do you do when you feel this way and your realize your team is feeling the same way? How do you encourage your team when you are feeling discouraged? Listen to these 7 tips and you'll get through it with great success.

If you are looking for a smart and savvy Founder to give you some personal advice about delegation and the path to scaling your startup, you are in the right place. Jenna is THE boss when it comes to green smoothies and scaling her fast-growth breakfast delivery company, GreenBlender.

In this interview she'll share the 3 questions she asks herself when deciding to delegate one of her responsibilities to a team member. Plus, you'll just love her enthusiastic, can-do personality.

I first learned of Alexander through his candid blog post a few months ago. It was entitled, "The Transition From Founder To CEO." Since Alexander helps small business leaders grow their businesses, I took note of his own sharing on the struggle from Founder to CEO and thought it would be great to have him on the show. He did not disappoint. He's a smart, savvy leader who also shares the struggle many of us have...delegation. Let me know what you think.

Many of you tell me that building and developing your team is your number one challenge as a Founder. There are many tools that can help you with this monumental task. Until Darrin Murriner and his team at Cloverleaf came along, no one really aggregated the enormous amount of information we collect on our teams in a way that is useful. I personally love what the Cloverleaf team is doing. With its dashboard view of your entire team, you'll be able to lead your team with greater ease and more effectiveness.

Darrin is also a veteran Founder. So, what does the leader that is helping other leaders get self-aware know about himself? His background growing up in poverty has shaped him to be a bit more risk averse. How does a risk averse Founder overcome this mindset and grow his startup? Listen and find out what you can do about risk aversion from Darrin's story and tips.