In this episode of Founders, Future, with host Ammar Elm, we sit down with Mike Malloy, Founder & CEO of Malloy Industries, to explore his journey from bankrupt sunglasses salesman to building a thriving fractional executive marketplace. Mike shares how personal tragedies—losing his mother the same week he learned he’d become a father—forced him to rethink scalability, leading to a model where 400+ vetted fractional executives (COOs, CMOs, CFOs) help $2M–$50M companies grow without full-time overhead. With clients like Convoke and a 365-day "Second Match Free Guarantee," Mike reveals how his "relentlessly generous" approach fuels retention, while Hawaiian shirts and dad jokes break the ice in his high-touch sales process.

Mike dives into the flywheel of supply (fractional talent) vs. demand (CEOs), emphasizing "build in public, not in private" to align solutions with real pain points. He unpacks his 3-call close framework, the power of AI call coaches, and why in-person events—despite their unpredictability—remain his top lead gen channel. For founders, his hard-won advice is gold: "Fall in love with your customers’ problems, not your V1 solution—and always talk to them before building."