From Founder To CEO

Marc Becker - Co-Founder & CEO - The Tangent Agency

It's not often we hear about fast-growth startups capturing the attention of big brands and big companies like Universal, Fox, Warner Brothers, Sony, NBC, and Legendary Digital. But, Marc Becker and his team have done so and in the process Marc has learned a great deal about the shift from Founder to CEO. In this interview you'll hear Marc discuss the unique dimensions of leading a creative team and how he managed his own expectations about how fast things actually happen when you launch your own company.

Ryan Buckley - Co-founder & CEO - Scripted

Back in February of 2017 I read an very interesting blog entry by a guy named Ryan Buckley. The title read, "On Being the 3rd CEO of the Startup I Started."

Now, truthfully, I had never heard of Ryan before I read his blog post on Medium. But, after reading it, I wanted to learn more about this man who co-founded his startup and became the CEO nine years later. Nine years later? Yes!

In this interview, Ryan not only describes his humble ascent to leading Scripted, but he is also very candid about:

• He feelings about being overlooked by his investors when they looked for a new CEO
• The actions he took to turn the company toward profitability
• How he focuses his team to align them with the needs of his customers

I really enjoyed speaking with Ryan. And, I know you'll enjoy hearing from a fellow Founder whose kind, compassionate, determined, and measured leadership is well worth paying attention to.

Shelley Saxena, Founder & CEO, Sevamob

One of the joys of hosting this podcast is meeting entrepreneurs like Shelley. He combines social entrepreneurship with technology with inspired leadership to have a BIG and growing impact.

You'll hear him talk about:

• The importance of expert hiring when leading an international company
• Moving away from micro-management and into delegation and trust

Seth Price - VP of Industry Relations, Placester

Seth just gets it. He truly understands "The Road to Recognition" which is also the title of his new book. Seth took some time out from his book tour and his work at fast-growing Placester to help you, our community of Founder & CEOs. Seth is a master of personal branding and he shares 4 key steps you can take to build your personal brand. You'll want to take notes.

You might ask, why do I as the Founder & CEO need to pay attention to my personal brand? Seth gets into that and more.

Let me know what you think.

Shaun Buck, Founder & CEO - The Newsletter Pro

Whoever said printing is dead, did not tell Shaun Buck and his fast growing team in Boise Idaho. Shaun has an amazing story. He was a father at age 16, bounced back and forth from several startups for a number of years, and found his expertise as he and his team created the largest print newsletter company in the United States.

If all of that was not interesting enough, Shaun has implemented some great culture enhancing practices in his company that have really helped to keep his team of over 60 be happy and produce great results.

In this interview, you hear him talk about:

• Flex-exits and how they helped fuel his company's success
• Flex-time and flex-lunches that have turned a compliance culture into a high-performing culture

Rami Essaid - Co-founder & CEO - Distil Networks

Rami knows some thing you may not know. Your digital assets are under constant attack from BOTS. These are software applications that runs automated tasks (scripts) over the Internet. And, they can wreak havok on your systems, even if you are a small company with a small website. Rami leads a fast-growth company that is on the front lines of helping to protect your digital platforms. It's a fascinating company and a compelling interview.

Not only does he describe why his service is so needed nowadays, but he also talks candidly about the struggles leading at the speed of growth. You'll hear him discuss:

• Why hiring friends has been such a positive impact on the company.
• What happened when he hired a friend that was not necessarily a good fit.
• His regrets around not surrounding himself with some key advisors early on to help him navigate some of he common growth challenges.

Ryan Berg - Founder & CEO (Executive Director) - Aruna Project

This is a challenging episode to share with you. It's difficult to listen to Ryan Berg's description of the situation he once encountered for the first time. But, it's really important to listen closely to his story and the story of the women he and his team strive to help.

Ryan teaches us so much in this interview.

• How your organization's "why" is vital to its success.
• How you can do good and have a viable business model.
• How being a strategic CEO and empowering others to tackle the issues they are most suited to take care of is important to growth.
• Some important issues to consider when you lead a remote, international team.

David Hassell - Founder & CEO - 15Five

David Hassell and his team have created a simple but elegant technology solution to ensure great communication amongst your team members.

And David is one of those Founding CEOs who practices what he preaches. He uses his own software and it works great for his team, too. David is fairly candid about his own transition from Founder to CEO.

I appreciated his story abut shifting his mindset from "I" to "we" and the profound impact it had on the success of his business and his personal fulfillment. Let me know what you think.

Alain Briancon - Co-Founder & CEO - Kitchology

Listen to Alain and you will smile from his self-deprecating humor and you'll find yourself taking notes on his incredibly experienced insights about all things startups, growth, and product development. In this interview you'll hear him talk about:

• How his team and app are changing lives and saving food from being thrown away
• How listening (and discerning) to a person he met on LinkedIn changed the course of his company
• Why listening to outside advisors is so vital and what happened when he didn't 

You will LOVE the tips that Aaron Levy has to share with you in this episode. Aaron and his team are at the front lines of retaining and developing millennial talent. I asked him to come on the show and share with you the 4 things you can do as a Founder & CEO to develop your millennial high-performing leaders at the same time you are trying to develop yourself. 

Aaron's passion for the topic is contagious. The story he shares for his fourth point is particularly poignant. Let me know what you think.