What does it take to build a business for 15 years, and keep expanding your own capacity to lead it?

In this episode of Leadership Capacity, I sit down with Erin Fletter, founder of Sticky Fingers Cooking, to talk about the side of entrepreneurship that rarely makes the highlight reel.

Erin started with three schools and an idea: give children the opportunity to learn how to cook. Fifteen years later, Sticky Fingers Cooking has grown across the country, expanded into franchising, developed its own proprietary technology, published five children's cookbooks, and created opportunities for other entrepreneurs to build businesses of their own.

But getting there wasn't a straight line.

We talk about why perfection can paralyze a founder, the years Erin spent being "the engine" of the business, the pressure of bootstrapping, the moment she nearly sold her wedding ring to make payroll, and why she believes it can take ten years of chaos to truly build a company.

We also explore what changed when Erin's job became less about doing the work herself and more about developing other leaders, creating systems, trusting her team, and helping franchise owners succeed.

And after 15 years of building? Erin shares what she would tell the younger version of herself if they could sit across the table today.

In this conversation:

Why founders can't afford to be everything to everyone
Moving from doing the work to building the people and systems that carry it
What bootstrapping really demands from a founder
Why Sticky Fingers Cooking eventually chose franchising
Building trust across a growing organization
Self-awareness as a leadership responsibility
Creating opportunities for other business owners
What 15 years of entrepreneurship taught Erin about pressure, instinct, and endurance

Leadership Capacity brings experienced executives and founders into conversations about what leadership asks of us as our companies, teams, and responsibilities grow.

00:00 — Preview
00:39 — Meet Erin Fletter: Founder of Sticky Fingers Cooking
01:38 — From Employee to Entrepreneur
03:53 — What Matters Most in the First Year of Business
08:11 — When Building a Business Becomes Leading People
09:39 — Learning to Let Other People Build With You
13:10 — Bootstrapping a Business & Almost Pawning Her Wedding Ring
14:18 — Why Sticky Fingers Cooking Became a Franchise
16:15 — What It Really Takes to Build a Business
19:17 — Why Franchising Became the Path to Growth
22:22 — What Leadership Requires as a Business Scales
24:36 — Developing Franchise Owners as Leaders
28:26 — What Erin Would Tell Herself 15 Years Ago

Sticky Fingers Cooking: https://stickyfingerscooking.com/
Erin Fletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-fletter-74b24454/

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