John St. Pierre built a $55M business, raised $20M in private equity… and was fired from the company he co-founded just six months later.

But instead of walking away, he turned that gut-wrenching moment into the foundation for a new $100M+ business — built patiently, profitably, and on his terms.

This episode is a raw, no-fluff masterclass in scaling smart, protecting your equity, and bouncing back when everything crashes.

Through real-life lessons and battle-tested strategy, John breaks down how to grow without losing control — and why most founders don’t realize they’re vulnerable until it’s too late.

• Getting fired from his own company after raising $20M

• How losing everything led to a $100M comeback

• Building self-financeable growth instead of relying on outside capital

• Creating a 30-year life plan and aligning business decisions to it

• Moving from CEO to Chairperson to unlock true strategic scale

• Why founders must protect their cap table early

• The danger of shiny object syndrome and how he overcame it

• The real cost of burnout and over-scaling

• How to forecast, protect cash, and build margin visibility

• Why “patient ambition” beats hyper-growth every time

My Links

Host: Tyler Martin , Fractional CFO and Business Coach

Having challenges scaling and growing your business? Book a meeting with me:

https://calendly.com/tylermartin/strategy

Link to show notes:

https://thinktyler.com/podcast_episode/power-to-powerless-john-st-pierre/

Podcast: ThinkBusinesswithTyler.com 

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