Becker Business Podcast
Host: Scott Becker
Episode: Building Great Businesses: Create Momentum, Overcome Setbacks & Scale with Confidence
Date: January 30, 2026
Guest/Co-host: Molly Gamble (Co-author & VP, Editorial, Becker’s Healthcare)

Episode Overview

In this dynamic episode, Scott Becker and Molly Gamble dive deep into the core principles behind building, scaling, and sustaining great businesses. Using frameworks from their new book "Building Great Businesses," they discuss practical lessons in business growth, the importance of niches, focusing on teams, learning from setbacks, and strategies for scaling with confidence. Audience questions provide additional real-world context, making the conversation relevant for entrepreneurs at every stage.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Genesis and Timing of the Book

[02:54] Scott Becker:

• The book is an evolved, refined version of earlier attempts, incorporating feedback and lessons learned over decades.
• Motivation: "Put a lot of my business and investment thoughts in one place...for reference, discussions, for talking with children, for talking with other people, for other business leaders and so forth."
• Emphasis on business as a major driver of freedom and the economy.
• The writing journey is iterative: “My life is an iteration. I’m an incrementalist versus a visionary and so we incrementally try and improve on what we do.”

2. Iteration, Perfection & Minimum Viable Product

[05:20] Molly Gamble:

• References Scott’s motto, “Perfection is the enemy of good.”
• Importance of launching with a “minimum viable product” and doubling down on what works.
• "Every success that I've ever had in business came down to building great teams of people." [06:41]

3. Niche Focus vs. Generalization

[08:15] Scott Becker:

• Success stems from a clear focus: "At the end of the day, the best businesses know who their ideal customer is, what they're trying to do and the niche they're trying to win in."
• Leaders must ask:
  1. Can you win in this niche?
  2. Is it worth winning?
• Real examples: Becker’s move from surgery center media to hospital & health system media, driving growth by expanding into adjacent, valuable niches.

[11:47] Scott Becker:

• Doubling down and pivoting are vital: "You have to know where your revenue is coming from, then constantly doubling down and tripling down on that area."

4. Teams vs. Strategy: The Right Balance

[14:22] Scott Becker:

• It’s “teams and strategy,” not one over the other.
• Drawing from Jim Collins: If you get the right people, you can pursue many avenues.
• “When I've committed to building great teams, we've had great success. When I've tried to do things without building great teams or do it myself... I'm not a fan of the solopreneur concept.” [15:31]

5. Finding & Keeping "Ride or Dies"

[16:45] Scott Becker:

• Three stages of business leadership:
  1. Solopreneur (doing everything yourself),
  2. Early hires (not necessarily better than you),
  3. Leaders empowered in specific roles—true acceleration happens here.
• "When everything's reliant on the founder... It's an exhausting world to live in. And so you need people around you." [20:52]
• Importance of side-by-side leadership: “It's thrive, thrive in, in side by side versus top down leadership that I think builds lasting or, or significant organizations.” [21:46]

6. Audience Q&A — Hiring and Scaling Teams

[22:28] Scott Becker:

• Hiring is always an "educated guess and trial and error."
• Don’t be too quick to judge; some hires will surprise.
• Sorting out who should stay for the long run is essential, especially with limited resources.
• "It's almost impossible to prejudge who exactly is going to be a great hire. It's very hard to do so... But it is incumbent upon you as a leader to sort that out over time." [24:53]

7. Winning: #1 or Top Three?

[25:48] Scott Becker:

• "If you're first or second in your niche, when things are going great, you do really well... But as importantly, when the economy is poor...the top 1, 2, 3 players, survive and still do okay."

8. Distraction, Focus, and No-New-Ideas Seasons

[27:56] Scott Becker:

• Successful leaders know exactly where the business’s profit and growth come from.
• During execution seasons (“no new ideas”), laser focus is critical: "We can't have everybody in the team constantly coming up with new ideas when we're trying to make sure everything gets executed well."
• Five-phase business cycle: Idea → Product → Revenues → Profits → Scale

9. Product-Market Fit

[32:08] Scott Becker:

• Commercialize early—don’t get stuck in pilot mode or feedback loops.
• "The only thing that really counts is is a customer willing to buy what you're trying to put together and work with or not."
• Real conversations (not just friendly feedback) are the gold standard.

10. Rapid-fire Lessons: "Rules" and Guiding Principles

[36:13] Scott Becker:

• Love your 90 percenters: Focus on what people do well, not the small shortcomings.
• The Greeks Rule: Don’t rely on just one star team member—it's too fragile.
• Gordon Rule: Don’t underpay even if you can—top people will move on.
• Burn the Boats: Not a fan; prefer some hedging until momentum is clear. Then double down.

11. Culture as the Foundation

[39:24] Scott Becker:

• Focus on gratitude, fairness, and creating a good place to work—balanced with accountability.
• "You gotta be pursuing business goals and at the same time treating people really well... creating opportunities for them as well as yourself." [40:18]

12. Scaling & Complexity

[43:50] Scott Becker:

• To scale, you must continually build capable leadership teams—"every CEO needs a police person" (operational leader/COO) to keep quality and accountability high.
• "You can't be watching what the junior colleague is doing... but you can stay close with the 10 top leaders and make sure they're building the teams and the quality teams that they want to build." [45:29]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Scott Becker [05:29]:
  "Whatever you put out is always a starting point. And it's very easy to be embarrassed about what you put out. And then you have to decide, are you going to double down and triple down on it?"

• Scott Becker [16:45]:
  "We talk often about the evolution of a founder or a business leader in three stages... The third generation is when you've hired people and everybody... can do that job better than you were able to do it or could do it. And that's when... things as a business can really accelerate."

• Scott Becker [32:08]:
  "You could get feedback on an idea from a hundred of your friends... but largely that's meaningless. What really counts is, is a customer willing to pay for what you're trying to sell."

• Scott Becker [36:13]:
  "Love your people that do 90% of what they have to do. Well..."

• Scott Becker [40:18]:
  "It's not communism, but everybody's got to do well. Everybody's got to... be treated fairly and creating opportunities for them as well as yourself."

• Scott Becker [45:29]:
  "What you can do is, is be close with the 10 top leaders and make sure they're building the teams and the quality teams that they want to build."

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:54] — Why write the book now?
• [05:20] — Minimum viable product and the perils of perfectionism
• [08:15] — Niche focus and adjacent expansion
• [14:22] — Teams vs. strategy: The real balance
• [16:45] — The evolution of leadership and “ride or dies”
• [22:28] — Audience Q: Finding and retaining top people
• [25:48] — Audience Q: Winning—what does it mean?
• [27:56] — Avoiding distraction and the discipline of “no new ideas” seasons
• [32:08] — Product-market fit: how to really test for it
• [36:13] — Four key rules: 90 percenters, Greeks, Gordon, burn the boats
• [39:24] — Elements of a winning culture
• [43:50] — Leadership structure when scaling and quality controls

Tone and Takeaway

This episode is energetic, pragmatic, and packed with actionable advice. Scott’s approach is humble and iterative—no big ego or “overnight success” narrative. He favors relentless improvement, gratitude, and rigorous focus on what works. Audience questions add tactical depth, and Molly’s probing makes the content accessible and enriched by real examples. Anyone seeking practical frameworks for scaling, overcoming setbacks, and creating a strong, enduring business will find practical value in this episode.