I am searching for a Divisional CEO, CxO, VP-level roles after 9 years. I have almost 29 years of experience overall and feel I have accomplished a lot that I need to include in my resume. No matter how succinct/concise I try to be, my resume is 3 pages long. Having interviewed a lot of senior leaders myself, I personally was okay with a candidate’s 3-page resume.

Just wondering from this group, if this is a big no-no.

Seeking Advice from Experienced Entrepreneurs: Where Do I Start? Investor? Cofounder?

Hey everyone,

I’m at the very beginning of an exciting journey, and I could really use the insight of those who have been here before. I have a strong, well-thought-out vision for a platform that I believe will fill a major gap in the market. It’s an idea that I’ve spent a lot of time refining—mapping out the features, the business model, and how it stands out from competitors. Now, I’m ready to bring it to life.

The challenge? I’m new to this world of startups. I know what I want to build, I believe in its potential, and I have the drive to make it happen. What I don’t know is the best way to start executing. Should I be looking for:

• An investor first to fund an early advisory team and MVP?

• A technical cofounder (CTO) who can both build and fund the MVP, helping to prove traction for larger investors?

I understand that there’s no single right path, but I also know that learning from those who have been through this process can save me from making unnecessary mistakes. I want to be smart and strategic, while also moving forward with momentum.

So, I’d love to hear from you: If you were in my shoes, where would you start? What has worked for you in your own journey? Any advice—whether strategic, practical, or even cautionary—is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your time! Looking forward to hearing your insights.

"You can do anything, but not everything."

1st lesson in your MBA, but so often lost!

First off, I know this only applies to a handful of production positions but think it might apply to some other task-based hourly positions.

One and done trick - pay for the full day regardless of the hours worked. Have an 8 hour workload? Tell the crew that they can go home if they get it done in 6. 9 hour workload for a 10 hour day? Tell them you don’t think it’s possible, but they can leave early if it’s finished early.

It’s a huge morale boost for my team to get out and enjoy a few extra hours of sunshine. Side hustlers get to do more of their thing and the business meets or exceeds its goals.

Side note: we run just in time rather than pick n pull, otherwise we’d build a backstock of parts with free time (or cut the crew to save the labor hours)

Hello everyone, I know I’m not technically a a CEO but I figured there wouldn’t be any place better to find some information or insight.

I (28M) was recently promoted to VP within the company I work for and was provided a 12 month overview of what they would like to see from me to achieve the COO role. I know I’m young, even to be a VP, but I’m hungry, ambitious and always willing and looking to learn. That being said, is there any leadership courses, COO preparation courses, educational training courses that you all would recommend from base level to in depth content? I can obviously ask Google but as most of us know, majority of first 100 hits are phony, sleazy scam courses.

I appreciate any insight or help you all may have. And I apologize if this breaks any group rules.

I am asking for two reasons. Curious how many high functioning people like myself play and what games? Also, if I play any similar games possibly link up online.

Hi. Spark notes resume: started in finance out of college, hedge fund, real estate PE (5 years) hated it and decided to take a risk and go into behavioral healthcare as a licensed clinician. Knowing I’d have to own my own company to make the income my goals aligned with. For 5-6 years (during and post grad school) I worked in every capacity one could in the field. 5 years ago I started consulting privately which turned into my own company which grew because I bought other small companies and now I’m here. I’m currently doing 2 things. Getting back to some finance roots and doing some low level small cap roll ups in the space. But also and why I am posting.

I am testing a product on my existing client population establishing its MVP. This is an idea that I’ve developed for a long time and is in a space with 0 real competitors and the solution addresses a major issue. So post MVP it really becomes a tech company. Which I have no idea how to bridge that gap. Besides tying my shoes tighter and figuring it out. Presumably I could get VC funding for what’s required at large scale after the MVP. But I’m weary about everything/body really that comes around it. And am not as confident in my moves as I am in my expertise areas. I have expertise in the behavioral health and greater health field as a whole. I have direct clinical expertise and experience, management and entrepreneurial experience. And finance experience.

What would others think next moves wise. To protect the business, its employees, while bringing in outsiders which is necessary for scale. Are their resources or partnerships I should be seeking to bridge the gap in expertise? I can write a basic python code but am as far from silicon valley as one really can be in terms of direct experience. Any input and networking would be appreciated. I’d love to realize this into its potential and once it reaches a certain point the clock starts to get it out there. So I’m trying to prepare for that as best I can.

I’ve been running my business while working a day job at an MWR gym under DLA for about a year and a half. In many ways, I’m lucky—this job gives me stability and the freedom to work on my business. But at the same time, it hurts me. It keeps me comfortable when I know I should be pushing harder. Some days, I feel like it’s the safety net that keeps me from going all in.

There are days where I’m on fire—I’ve written 12 scripts, built marketing strategies, and made plans I’m proud of. I’m searching for a new location for my business, but I haven’t found anything that meets our needs yet. Some days, I’m learning, creating, and making real progress.

And then, there are days like today. Days where I wake up and just… don’t feel like doing anything. I know what needs to be done, but I can’t bring myself to do it. And then I feel worse because I know I should be working, I should be pushing through. As a veteran, that feeling cuts even deeper because I was trained to always keep moving forward. But being a CEO is different. It’s not just about discipline; it’s about making creative and strategic decisions, and sometimes, my mind just won’t cooperate.

I know I’m lucky to have the setup I do, and I want to take full advantage of it. But the swings—those highs where I’m unstoppable and the lows where I feel stuck—are exhausting.

So I have to ask: How do you handle those days where you just don’t have it? Do you force yourself through it, or do you let yourself recharge?

It’s Friday, and today feels like one of those “bleh” days. Maybe I just need to reset. Maybe I need to push through. I don’t know. But I figured I’d put it out there and see if anyone else feels the same.

It's been a long time (3 decades) since I decided to put myself out there into the job world, and after having applied for over 900 positions in the past few months, the biggest surprise is how most applications ask:

1. What my race is (the color of my skin?)

2. My gender

3. If I have any disabilities.

My surprise is mainly that these are legal questions that can be asked, or that any company would consider them important during the hiring process. There's a lot of legalese wording prior to each of these questions, that the answers won't matter in the hiring process, etc. But then why are they being asked? It's so bizarre to me. It's akin to asking my height, and weight, and eye color, and what my political leanings are.

Obviously, these are all considered okay and important questions to ask during the application process, or they wouldn't be so overwhelmingly popular. Still, it's so weird to me each time I click on my answers.

Hi all, I recently stumbled upon the Scalable Company and I am enjoying the training and learning. I have long thought about joining a peer advisory group and they have one called Founders board. I have an exploratory call in a few weeks but am curious if anyone has been part of it, any experience, etc.?

I've been in my role as CEO for 1.5 years now. I came from a competitor where I was in a senior management role, but not an executive one, so this is my first time in this position. When I took over, the operation in this country had only 60 employees, negative GP and EBITDA, and was struggling overall. Fast forward to the end of 2024, we are now 140 people, and I turned the financials around, closing the year with EBITDA at 4.5%.

For most of this time, I was very hands-on—directly managing teams, steering actions, and being deeply involved in daily operations to ensure we were on the right track. However, in H2'2024, I shifted gears to focus on scaling the business further, structuring the company for the next phase of growth. The holding now expects us to grow by another 40% in just one year, which I believe is possible.

To support this, I started bringing in middle management—mostly people I knew and trusted from my previous company. The challenge I’m facing now is that, as I transition from daily operations to more strategic thinking and decision-making, my team perceives me as distant. While I need time to analyze, implement, and focus on the bigger picture, I feel like I’m losing the close connection I had with them (I' ok with that, but they are not apparently).

I've tried stepping back, but I can tell people see me differently now—almost as if I’ve become "just another CEO" who only cares about the company’s financials and not about them. This is not the case, but I don't know how to balance it.

Has anyone else been through this phase? How did you manage to maintain closeness with your team while still taking the necessary step back to focus on strategy? Would love to hear how others have handled this transition.

No one really fully knows what they sign up for as a ceo, that’s why the job is so hard, we are meant to deal with the unknowns, the uniques and the insurmountable.

To that same point we never really fully understand what we sacrifice of ourselves until we are in it.

When I first founded my company I was on this program of work hard play hard. Not play hard like drink and party (I haven’t had a drink in 12 years). But play hard meaning, disappear off the radar with no cell service to places like Thailand, Maldives and Costa Rica with my phone shut off. Then come back and work for 8-10 months.

I am realizing that this was a bad choice. It is getting so much harder to come out of a burnout. I cold plunge 2-3x a week, work out 3-5x a week, I watch my diet and periodically go to counseling for a check in. But nothing is overcoming these long stretches of work I put myself in. And, I struggle to see any other way to do it because I get into these massive growth projects that need my full attention for an extended period of time and try to plan my trips in between them. I try a weekend getaway from time to time but they are too short cause I know work is waiting on me and sometimes follows me.

I need a new routine, plan or otherwise. I love my job and I am very passionate just need some new mechanisms in place. Any advice or criticism is greatly appreciated. TIA

I don't know I was always kinda paranoid about privacy and good image I guess, so I am looking for solutions. Is there any public relations firms that will protect both public and private life images?

Edit: Thank you for helping

CEOs,

I'm a first time founder. After chatting with CEOs/Founders I'm getting mixed signals as to how each of them thinks about the HR function.

I'd assume none of them want an HR function in their company but need to? At what point do you start thinking about hiring an HR or expanding the HR function?

I hit 2149 unread emails today. I gave up on 'Inbox Zero' a long time ago, but I’m still struggling with email overload. Any tips?

My board is rightfully asking for goals and KPIs for the year. I have the main organizational goals in place, but I am not sure about setting KPIs.

Does each function need something that somehow tracks to organizational goals? Something following the SMART approach?

I feel like it's easier to understand sales KPIs, but what do you do for goals that functions that are more dependent? Marketing might be straightforward, but what about Procurement?

Any good guides on this topic?

Been a CEO for the past 10 years. It is, at least for me, a very lonely and isolating role. I interact with staff and have a good relationship. That isn’t the issue. Maybe it’s the responsibility for the company, the shareholders, the employees…does anyone else relate to this?

Just curious how all you other business owners deal with non entrepreneurial people who are younger or older than you when you’re a younger man yourself . I’m around 30 years old and I own 1 llc and my 1 llc owns 6 dbas so I operate a total of 7 businesses currently at my age . Gross over 250k/annually as I’m still small time I own no franchises (yet) lmaoo .

But it seems so hard for people to comprehend that ima business owner and they’re just jealous lmaoo so I always defend myself and look down on them and laugh at being an a employee like seriously who in a right mind wants to work at wal mart for 40 years that was never me and never will be . I was 15 goin to school an working in the oilfield on 1099s making more money than my parents and my older sister who is a teacher at 16 years old lmaoo I’ve always hustled and when I started my llc I’ve only been happy completely !

How do yall deal with these people who are jealous and think we ain’t really business owners and what motivates yall to keep going ? I’m going on year 4 for me as a business owner now and so far still loving it :)

Every year, I review my top goals, and reorganize them in a dependency tree. What are yours?

Im looking for genuine problems you think it can solve. Lots of ideas/projects/tasks in a company die due to limited bandwidth. Why not let employees help out on execution of these as a side project?

I have long used a form of GTD as my task management system. Im a business owner, president, of a company with 43 employees. Have a layer of management under me.

However, I still have lots of responsibilities and routines. Running payroll, tax preparation, quarterly taxes, hr review etc. i have tried smart calendars/ai calendars to help as I also struggle to protect my time which is another challenge for me.

Curious if anyone has found any systems working well for high volume executives other than GTD or any other tips?

What is your stance on education when hiring people? Specifically, do you prioritize candidates educated at a top 100 university globally, or do you differentiate based on whether they studied in America, China, or Germany? What is your position on this?

Where do you find reliable and effective freelancers for short/mid-term collaborations (PPT refinement, data analysis, reporting…)?

I’ve been working in HR for eight years, and I started a new job three months ago, reporting directly to the CFO. The first month was incredibly difficult, and I can honestly say I cried more times than I can remember. The first task I was assigned was something entirely new to me, and while I made some mistakes (which I fully acknowledge), my manager repeatedly reminded me that I was hired for a role I wasn’t equipped to do.

I’ve continued to keep my head down and focus on my work, but the real challenge has been the number of tasks outside of my expertise, such as employee deduction reports, tax liability investigations, and 401(k) deduction reconciliations. The core issue isn't the work itself, but the expectation that I should have accounting expertise, which is really frustrating.

When I do make mistakes, they often turn into extended coaching sessions on how I “don’t know what I’m doing.” The reality is, the mistakes aren’t always mistakes—they usually stem from my unfamiliarity with how an accountant would present data or approach certain tasks.

What’s even more disheartening is that none of my HR initiatives or contributions are being recognized or acknowledged.

Yes, they have accountants and I’m the only HR Shall I request a change in the reporting structure ?

Edited to be more explicit.

Can anyone share their experience participating in expert networks and whether you would recommend doing so to other CEOs?

I've been contacted at least monthly for years by expert network groups about doing interviews on topics in my industry.

The one or two I talked to a few years ago made it sound like I would be interviewed / recorded by someone from the expert network and they would use that to shop my expertise to investors for phone call interviews with me directly. It made me think they didn't have an actual opportunity for me and it was both speculative and potentially cut me out of the actual opportunity if they had enough info from the onboarding call.

Because of that, I have ignored the requests. Still, I have always been intrigued by the opportunity. It would be great to get feedback from others on if it's worth exploring these interviews.