Mike Potts has been building custom software for middle market companies since 2008 without raising a dollar of outside capital. His firm, Feature23, carries a 95% client success rate in an industry where 70% of projects fail.

In this episode, Mike breaks down exactly why that gap exists and what it costs companies who get it wrong.

We get into the understanding gap, the reason most technology projects fail before a single line of code gets written. We talk about the operational tax, the hidden cost of bad software that never shows up on a balance sheet but shows up everywhere else. And we talk about what actually made Superior Fence and Rail acquirable, and why their technology stack was cited in the transaction as a core driver of value.

Mike also shares his take on the build vs. buy decision, why most mid-market companies default to off-the-shelf solutions that quietly erode their competitive advantage, and the one question every franchise operator should be asking before making any technology investment.

This one is dense. Worth a full listen.

Topics covered:

Why the average software failure rate is still above 70%
The understanding gap and how it kills projects from day one
What Feature23 calls the operational tax and how to spot it
Build vs. buy for franchise operators and when each decision is right
How Fence360 contributed to SFR's acquisition outcome
Why bootstrapping forces better client decisions
The impact mapping framework Mike uses to invert how clients think about technology
AI in the middle market, what's working, what's overhyped, and where the real gains are

Connect with Mike: feature23.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/hackmp/