The Breakout CEO

What does it really take to sell a SaaS business successfully?

In this episode of The Breakout CEO, Jeff Holman sits down with Andrew Gazdecki, founder of Acquire.com (formerly MicroAcquire) to unpack what founders need to know about buying, scaling, and exiting online businesses.

Andrew has helped thousands of founders sell SaaS companies, ecommerce brands, mobile apps, and digital businesses. In this conversation, he shares real stories from the trenches including a $2M SaaS exit by an 83-year-old founder and a $12M cross-border acquisition involving a Japanese buyer and big-bank financing.

This is not a theory. It’s what actually happens when founders decide to exit.

If you’re a SaaS founder, tech CEO, or entrepreneur thinking about growth, acquisition, or exit, this episode will challenge how you think about ownership and opportunity.

Listen through to the end for Andrew’s advice on persistence, patience, and why the hard parts of entrepreneurship are not a surprise. They’re the price of admission.

🎧 Subscribe to The Breakout CEO for weekly conversations with founders who’ve been through the hard parts and came out stronger.

Check out Andrew's work at https://acquire.com/.

Say hello to Andrew!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acquiredotcom

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acquiredotcom/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/agazdecki/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/acquiredotcom/

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What does it really take to break through as a CEO when the pressure is highest, and the path forward isn’t clear?

In this episode of The Breakout CEO Podcast, I sit down with Nikky Kho @NikkyKho , an entrepreneur, AI pioneer, and lifelong learner for a wide-ranging conversation on the breakout moments that shape leaders at the highest levels.

Nikky’s journey is anything but conventional. Over a 25-year career, he built a company from zero to over $100 million in revenue, endured massive setbacks including crushing debt and public controversy, and reinvented himself at multiple stages most recently at the intersection of AI, entrepreneurship, and personal growth.

He also shares deeply personal stories from trekking to Everest Base Camp to rebuild businesses after major losses and the leadership principles that carried him through those moments.

This episode is for CEOs, founders, and operators who know that growth isn’t just about strategy; it’s about who you become when things get hard.

🎧 If you’ve ever questioned whether the struggle is worth it, this conversation will meet you right where you are.

Check out Nikky's work at https://nikkykho.com/.

Check out this bonus gift from Nikky to our listeners: https://realaidynamics.com/thankyouYPO/

Say hello to Nikky!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NickKhoOfficial/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkykho/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholaskho/

Twitter: https://x.com/nickkhoofficial

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What does it really take to move from founder control to strategic optionality?

In this episode of The Breakout CEO podcast, Jeff Holman sits down with Heather Griffith Barber, founder of Queen of Wraps, to unpack the real decisions behind building a company that buyers take seriously.

Heather shares her 18-year journey growing a business from a scrappy family operation into a multi-company platform that ultimately attracted an unsolicited private equity offer. Along the way, she breaks down the choices most founders never think about early enough; location strategy, loss of leaders, customer lifetime value, and the leadership shift required when a business starts to outgrow its founder.

This conversation goes beyond tactics. It’s also about how women founders and CEOs build institutional credibility, create leverage, and design businesses that don’t depend on them to survive.

You’ll hear:

1. Why “location” became a growth accelerator not a vanity move
2. How treating the core product as a loss leader unlocked long-term customer value
3. What happens when a founder steps back and the business gets stronger
4. How Heather navigated personal inflection points while maintaining long-term strategic focus
5. Why strategic optionality, not growth at all costs, ultimately led to a successful exit

This episode is especially relevant for:

1. Woman founders scaling beyond the early hustle
2. CEOs thinking about governance, leverage, and exit readiness
3. Entrepreneurs building lifestyle businesses that still want real optionality
4. Operators curious about what private equity actually looks for in founder-led companies

Heather now focuses on helping more women founders gain confidence, knowledge, and long-term financial independence through entrepreneurship and exits, so success like this becomes normal, not novel.

Listen in to hear what it really takes to build a business that works with or without you.

Check out Heather's work at https://www.heathergriffithbarber.com/ and https://www.buy-scale-sell.com/.

Say hello to Heather!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathergriffithbarber/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buy_scale_sell/

Think you'd be a great guest on the show? Apply https://go.intellectualstrategies.com/

Scaling a business does not usually break because of strategy.

It breaks because the CEO is carrying too much.

In this episode of The Breakout CEO podcast, host Jeff Holman sits down with Corinne Morahan, founder and CEO of Grid + Glam, to talk about burnout, boundaries, and the leadership shift that changed how she built her business.

Corinne shares her journey from Wall Street to entrepreneurship, why she burned out more than once, and how getting her home organized unexpectedly reshaped the way she led. What started as a local home organization business grew into a luxury concierge move service and a multi-million dollar company serving high performing clients. They also dig into one of the most pivotal moments in Corinne’s growth as a CEO. Hiring a full-time operator, stepping out of the day to day, and learning to take calculated risks instead of trying to do everything herself.

In this episode, you will hear about:

1. Burnout and why it keeps showing up for founders
2. Organization as a leadership skill, not a personality trait
3. Building and pricing a high-end service business
4. The risk and relief of stepping out of daily operations
5. Why calculated risks matter more than bold ones

If you are a CEO, founder, or business owner feeling stretched thin, this episode will help you rethink where your time, energy, and attention are actually going.

Check out Corinne's work at https://www.gridandglam.com/

Say hello to Corinne!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gridandglam

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gridandglam/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gridandglam/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/corinneam/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinnemorahan/

Scaling doesn’t fail because of strategy, capital, or product. It fails because of a leadership weakness almost every founder carries into growth.

Impatience.

In this episode of The Breakout CEO podcast, Jeff Holman sits down with David Sluss, Professor at ESSEC Business School and advisor to scaling CEOs, to unpack how impatience quietly undermines leadership as companies grow.

David explains why the habits that help founders win early start to work against them at scale. Speed becomes pressured. Intensity becomes reactivity. And impatience erodes trust long before leaders realize it’s happening.

They explore:

1. Why growth is rarely linear and why expecting it to be creates panic
2. How impatience blocks performance, collaboration, and creativity
3. Why patience is not softness but a leadership multiplier
4. The shift from transactional leadership to belonging-based relationships
5. What it really means to “build the plane while flying it”

David introduces the concept of proactive patience and shows how leaders who master it scale people, not just products.

If you are leading a growing company and feel stretched between urgency and sustainability, this conversation will help you identify the leadership weakness holding scale back and how to turn it into strength.

Check out David's work HERE.

Say hello to David!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-m-sluss-phd/

Think you'd be a great guest on the show? Apply HERE.

In this episode of The Breakout CEO podcast, Jeff Holman sits down with Leah Brown, former corporate lawyer turned mediator and founder of The WayFinders Group, to explore what really breaks inside fast-growing companies and how CEOs can address it before it slows everything down.

Leah shares what she’s seen firsthand inside boardrooms and leadership teams when growth outpaces relationships; communication breaks down, and conflict goes unaddressed. Rather than focusing on legal risk or surface-level fixes, she explains why curiosity, empathy, and early intervention are some of the most underutilized leadership tools available to scaling CEOs.

If you’re scaling fast and feeling friction beneath the surface, this episode will help you think differently about leadership, communication, and what it really takes to build a resilient organization.

🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear real examples, practical frameworks, and insights you can apply immediately as a scaling CEO.

Check out Leah's work at https://www.thewayfindersgroup.com/.

Say hello to Leah!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leahtalks_/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahbrown-frsa/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thewayfindersgroup/

In this episode of The Breakout CEO Podcast, I sit down with Steve Smith, a veteran business coach with more than 45 years of experience in manufacturing, corporate leadership, and executive coaching. Steve breaks down what he’s learned from big companies and small companies, and why scaling smart always comes down to the same three factors: capacity, funding, and alignment.

If you’ve ever felt the tension between growing fast and keeping your team, systems, and strategy intact, this conversation is packed with practical insight. Steve shares why big companies often make the same mistakes small CEOs make, what really happens when leaders stop listening to frontline employees, and how shiny-object decisions derail even the most successful founders.

We also dig into Steve’s personal story, from decades in consumer manufacturing (including a stint in the casket industry), to buying into a coaching franchise during the 2008 recession, to rebuilding from scratch when that franchise collapsed. His journey is a masterclass in resilience, clarity, and long-game thinking for entrepreneurs and growth-minded CEOs.

If you're a CEO navigating growth, experiencing capacity strain, or trying to decide whether your business is truly ready for its next stage, this episode will give you the strategic clarity and operational reality check you’ve been looking for.

Check out Steve's work at https://www.growthsourcecoaching.com/.

Say hello to Steve! 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gsccoach/  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachstevejsmith/

In this episode of The Breakout CEO Podcast, Jeff Holman sits down with Dr. Noah St. John, bestselling author of Power Habits and the creator behind the Zero Friction Framework. Together, they unpack why so many CEOs hit income ceilings, stall out after early wins, and unknowingly sabotage their own growth. They discuss the concept of 'Power Habits' and how understanding the unconscious habits of successful individuals can lead to significant breakthroughs in business.

Dr. St. John shares his personal journey from struggling with poverty to helping clients collectively add over $3 billion in revenue. He breaks down the mindset shifts and unconscious habits behind those breakthroughs.

If you’re a scaling CEO or founder navigating pressure, growth bottlenecks, or the loneliness at the top, this episode gives you a map to your next breakout moment.

Check out Dr. Noah's work at https://noahstjohn.com/.

Say hello to Dr. Noah!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drnoahstjohn

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noahstjohn/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noahstjohn/

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In this episode of the Breakout CEO podcast, host Jeff Holman interviews Jerry Brazie, an entrepreneur with a remarkable journey from poverty to success. Jerry shares his experiences growing up in a challenging environment, the lessons learned from his family, and the importance of accountability and responsibility in business. He emphasizes the value of community and mentorship, discussing how his involvement in peer-to-peer groups has shaped his perspective and helped him navigate the complexities of entrepreneurship. Jerry also highlights the significance of cash flow, profitability, and the need to view the government as a potential obstacle for business owners.

Throughout the conversation, he offers practical advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, encouraging them to focus on their strengths and seek support from others in their journey.

Check out Jerry's work at https://thekronosgroup.org/.

Say hello to Jerry! 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jerry.brazie.2025/  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jerrybrazie/  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerrybrazie/

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In this episode of The Breakout CEO Podcast, host Jeff Holman sits down with Dr. Natasha Todorovic-Cowan, author of Making Change Work and expert in Spiral Dynamics, to unpack the real challenges CEOs face when leading through rapid change. Natasha shares her own story of navigating unexpected disruption early in her career and explains why adaptability, human behavior, and cognitive bias awareness are mission-critical for modern leadership.

Natasha breaks down the mechanics of spiraling, how teams up-spiral into resilience or down-spiral into burnout and how CEOs can build cultures that respond faster, align better, and perform at higher levels. The conversation highlights lessons from companies like Kodak and the importance of fostering a culture that encourages growth and adaptability.

If you’re a CEO leading a fast-growth SaaS, ecommerce, tech, or B2B company, this conversation gives you practical frameworks to navigate complexity with clarity, courage, and congruence.

Check out Natasha's work at https://spiraldynamics.org/.

Say hello to Natasha!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/natasha.todorovic.92/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spiraldynamics/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-natasha-todorovic-cowan-mba-a5470719/

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