The Cort Brady Podcast

We think building a business is hard because of the strategy, the cash flow, the team—but the real weight? It’s building while life keeps breaking. In today’s episode, I share stories of founders battling grief, depression, cancer, disability, and mental illness—all while scaling companies.

This episode is a tribute to the one-third of founders going through something unthinkably hard right now… and a reminder that you’re not alone. I’ll share what helped me during my darkest season—losing my daughter, my dad, 40% of my team, and my biggest client—all in the same quarter.

Whether you’re the one going through it, or walking alongside someone who is—this one’s for you.

I sat next to a quiet guy on a flight. Looked like a normal dude.

An hour in, I glanced at his phone and saw he was listening to Traction—a book usually meant for companies doing $500K to $1.5M in revenue.

I tapped him:

“Are you listening to Traction?”

He said yeah—and we ended up talking the whole flight.

Turns out, he’s doing $850 million in revenue with 2,500 employees.

And yet… he’s still reading the basics.

Here’s what I learned from that conversation:

• Why billion-dollar founders master the fundamentals

• The 50x rule he uses to stress test every system

• Why boring, unsexy operations are what actually scale companies

• How Chick-fil-A proves the power of franchisable thinking

• And why building a $100M company might be easier than a $10M one

This one hit me hard—and I hope it helps you build with the right mindset too.

Most companies write down values they never live. Enron did too—and it helped destroy $74 billion in wealth. In this episode, I share how I’m guiding a high-growth CEO through building real, enforceable values—not just fluff. If you want a culture that scales, you can’t fake this.

You don’t have a knowledge problem—you have an action problem.

In this episode, I share a lesson I learned the hard way: all the books, podcasts, and mentorship in the world mean nothing if they don’t change your behavior.

I walk through a daily 3-step framework I learned from high-performance coach Craig Manning—used by NBA champions, Olympians, and elite entrepreneurs—to turn learning into action.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by input and underwhelmed by results, this is your reset button.

Most founders are stuck optimizing what should be deleted.

In today’s episode, I share the mindset shift that changed everything for me:

Don’t fix the symptom—eliminate the cause.

From customer service teams to toxic cultures, retention bonuses to redundant meetings, I walk through five real examples where I wasted months trying to improve broken systems… only to realize those problems shouldn’t have existed in the first place.

If you’ve ever asked:

• “Why is this still so hard?”

• “Why isn’t my team getting better?”

• “Why do we keep having the same problems?”

This episode will give you the lens to zoom out and start solving problems upstream.

Got a DM from a founder building booking software—and he asked what advice I’d give. My answer? Get the order right.

Because if you take the right action at the wrong time, it can kill your company. I’ve lived this.

In today’s episode, I break down the exact phases every startup goes through—from $0 to $1M+—and what your real goal should be at each stage:

• Why early-stage founders MUST focus on selling (but not for revenue)

• The truth about product feedback and false positives

• What to do when you’re at $100K, $500K, or $1M in revenue

• When it’s actually time to scale your team, systems, and strategy

Most startups die because they scale before they’re ready. Let’s make sure that’s not you.

Subscribe for daily episodes on how to build a self-scaling business by getting your people, product, and playbook in the right order.

After a few great hires or a key promotion, founders often feel an intoxicating sense of freedom—finally out of the weeds, finally scaling. But when the honeymoon ends and the new hire drops the ball, most founders either snap back into control mode or let chaos reign.

In this episode, I break down what actually causes that breakdown—and the 5-step system we install to prevent it. From 1:1 mentorship to performance scoreboards, onboarding cadences to cultural buy-in—this is how you stay out of the weeds without losing control.

Whether you’re hiring your first manager or trying to scale without burning out, this one’s for you.

Being the hero feels noble. You’re stepping in, fixing the problem, protecting your team. But beneath the surface, you’ve built a story where you’re the savior, your team is helpless, and the customer is the villain.

This is how you stay essential—and how your business stays small.

In this episode, I share the moment I realized my need to be needed was holding my company back. You’ll hear the Wells Fargo story, the turning point with my coach, and how I stopped being the hero and started building them instead.

If you’re the one everyone runs to… you might be the bottleneck.

Anxiety makes us worse at thinking. Which is unfortunate… because being a founder is full of reasons to panic.

In this episode, I break down the science of stress and the real reason clarity matters. I share stories, mental models, and systems that help me stay calm—even when things go sideways.

This isn’t about pretending everything’s fine. It’s about building a brain that still works when it’s not.

In the early days, you scale on the backs of rock stars—those rare people who thrive in chaos and don’t need a map. But what got you from $0 to $3M will absolutely stall you at $5M.

This episode is about the turning point every founder faces:

You either evolve from talent-driven execution to systems-driven scale—or you burn out trying to hire your way out of the mess.

You’ll learn:

• Why great people without great systems will cap your growth

• How Nick Saban built a dynasty not just with talent, but with process

• The 3 stages of scaling every company must go through

• And how to tell if your early team can evolve—or if it’s time to make hard decisions

If you keep saying, “I just need one more great hire,” this episode is your wake-up call.