Podcast
Not Another CEO Podcast
Hosted by Not Another CEO · EN
Our mission is to bend the curve for Founders and CEOs. At Not Another CEO, we know there’s no formula for running a business. Leadership is forged through unique journeys, real challenges, and hard lessons. Our exclusive content showcases unfiltered stories and practical guidance from those who’ve crawled through the trenches. Our platform offers the largest library of CEO insights and how-to guides, sourced directly from a diverse community of leaders. Find our full video library, detailed playbooks, deep dives, and lessons learned on our Substack here ➡️ https://notanotherceo.substack.com/
29episodes
Episodes
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Backing the outsiders most VCs ignore | Nick Moran - New Stack Ventures - Episode#107
3d ago00:48:46Tap to summarizeMajority founders only start thinking seriously about their next round when they’re already running low on cash. By then, you’re not really raising; you’re begging.On this week’s episode of Not Another CEO, we sit down with Nick Moran, Co-Founder and General Partner at New Stack Ventures. Founded in 2015, New Stack manages close to $100 million and leads pre-seed and seed rounds with a unique mission: backing "The Outsiders," who are ambitious founders building category-defining companies outside the Bay Area and outside the obvious networks. Nick also hosts Full Ratchet, one of the first venture capital podcasts ever made, now closing in on 1,000 episodes. I know how hard it is to stay consistent with a podcast. Doing it for over a decade is a different level.Nick shares his brutal honesty on what it actually takes to build a venture-backed business, why he tells founders to build their next pitch deck the day they close their current round, and how he evaluates the intangibles that traditional VCs completely miss.Key Takeaways:The Next Round Plan (NRP): Why fundraising is a continuous narrative, not a sporadic event. Nick breaks down how to align on business models, track leading indicators over lagging revenue, and build a highly targeted investor list early.Desire Beats Talent: Most VCs look for the "Peyton Mannings" of tech, meaning those who are obvious, expensive, and pedigreed. Nick hunts for the "Tom Bradys," founders with a chip on their shoulder, undeniable ambition, and the drive to beat long odds.Bad News Travels Fast: The ultimate trust-builder between a founder and a VC. Going dark creates anxiety; transparency during a brutal quarter is exactly what inspires an investor to throw you a lifeline.The Power of Being an "Outsider": Building in cities like Charlotte, Nashville, Dallas, or Chicago isn't a disadvantage. When the herd concentrates in the Bay Area, the best, most capital-efficient opportunities are often found where others aren't looking.Where the Smart Money is in AI: The shift from infrastructure to proprietary data. Nick explains why the next massive wave of AI value belongs to domain experts who control the data locked behind enterprise firewalls.Quote of the Show:“Do you want to be great or do you want to be happy?… You better be ready for the big game here because this is not an easy path. We're not going to be happy for the next ten years.” — Nick MoranConnect with Nick:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-moran-a738503/New Stack Ventures: https://www.newstack.com/The Full Ratchet: https://www.youtube.com/@nicholasmoran3095/featuredChapters :00:00 Trailer01:30 Welcome Nick Moran, New Stack Ventures03:54 Why desire is the ultimate founder trait10:02 First impressions and the dating phase of investing15:34 Founder-VC fit is like marriage20:56 The Outsiders thesis and building a national network27:48 Inside the Next Round Plan (NRP)32:20 Communication, bad news should travel fast39:00 What founders misunderstand about the VC side of the table42:10 Where the smart money is moving in AI & Closing thoughts
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The Customer Segments Hiding in Your Own Data | ICP Compilation - Episode#106
2w ago00:27:24Tap to summarizeMost founders know they need an Ideal Customer Profile. Fewer realize how much growth depends on getting it right.In this special compilation episode of Not Another CEO, David brings together lessons from seven founders, CEOs, and investors who all reached the same conclusion: growth accelerates when you're crystal clear about who you serve.The episode explores why broad ICPs slow companies down, leading to weaker messaging, scattered product roadmaps, and unfocused sales efforts. Guests share how they identified their ideal customers, the mistakes they made, and the tough decisions required to stay focused as they scaled.Key TakeawaysAn ICP that only exists in your head isn't an ICP. Write it down and you'll often discover you're targeting multiple markets at once.Segment until it hurts. The best companies define their market so specifically that they can name every company that fits their profile.Your users are not always your customers. Understanding the difference can prevent years of wasted effort.Focus requires sacrifice. Sometimes the right decision is walking away from paying customers who don't fit your long-term vision.The best teams use data, not assumptions, to refine their ICP and identify their highest-value customers.Micro-segmentation is becoming increasingly important. The strongest go-to-market teams don't just define an ICP, they segment within it.Your ICP should influence every part of the company, from product decisions to marketing strategy to hiring plans.Quote of the Episode"If you try to sell to everyone, you really end up selling to no one effectively." - David Politis, Host of Not Another CEO PodcastGuests Featured in This Episode:Marcus Ryu, Co-Founder & Former CEO, Guidewire — LinkedInTom Buiocchi, Former CEO, ServiceChannel — LinkedInCraig Rosenberg, Chief Platform Officer, Scale Venture Partners — LinkedInZach Smith, Co-Founder & Former CEO, Packet — LinkedInMelanie Fellay, Co-Founder & CEO, Spekit — LinkedInSean Henry, Co-Founder & CEO, Stord — LinkedInRohyt Belani, Co-Founder & Former CEO, PhishMe — LinkedInChapters:00:00 - Trailer 00:55 - Why your ICP is probably too broad 05:55 - The exercise that exposes a fake ICP 08:59 - "Segment until it hurts" 14:00 - Why your ICP is actually several smaller ones 17:22 - Your users aren't always your customers 20:08 - The real cost of firing the wrong customers 23:36 - Champions aren't customers 24:59 - Your ICP will change, and that's not failure
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Why Fast-Growing Companies Slow Down | Dan O’Connell - Front - Episode#105
3w ago01:01:06Tap to summarizeMost people assume starting a company is the hardest job in business. Dan O'Connell has learned that taking over one can be even harder.Dan's career has taken him from Google, where he joined when the company was 300 people, to founding TalkIQ before AI was cool, to helping scale Dialpad past $200M in revenue, and now to leading Front as CEO. Not many people have been an executive at a big tech company, a founder, a high growth operator, and a hired CEO. Dan has done all four.Front is a customer operations platform used by more than 9,000 companies to manage customer conversations across support, customer success, account management, and sales.When Dan joined, the company had strong talent, a strong product, and strong customers. But growth had slowed. This episode is about what he did next and what he learned along the way.Takeaways:Focus reaccelerates growth:When Dan joined Front, his first move wasn't a product change or a new hire. It was getting brutally clear on who they serve, where they win, and explicitly what they were not going to do. That intentionality alone reaccelerated growth.Speed is a competitive advantage:Dan introduced speed as a formal company value at Front and it remains polarizing two and a half years later. It doesn't mean reckless. It means faster decision-making, strong opinionated leaders, and fighting friction when it shows up. Any decision is better than no decision.Taking over is harder than starting:You're inheriting history, culture, and legacy inertia and you can't take six months to build trust before making changes. You have to do both at the same time. As Dan puts it, you're flying the plane while rebuilding it.Great leaders stay close to customers:In his first week as CEO, Dan got on customer calls, visited every office, and jumped in the support queue to answer tickets. The same thing he now requires of every executive he hires. The team is always judging you and nothing builds credibility faster than showing you're willing to do the work.Platforms will outlast pure agents: After attending OpenAI's Frontiers Conference, Dan's contrarian take is that pure agent companies solving one workflow may get commoditized by OpenAI and Anthropic over time. His bet is on platforms and Front's position as the entry point for all customer conversations across channels, regardless of how the AI landscape evolves.If you are a founder, operator, or CEO this episode is worth your time.Quote of the Show:"Taking over has been much harder than I thought. And it's usually from the behaviors and people side." — Dan O'Connell, CEO, FrontLinks:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danoconnell/Front: https://front.comChapters:00:00 Trailer01:15 Introduction02:15 The One Thing That Had the Biggest Impact: Focus05:00 Narrowing the ICP07:30 The Operating Machinery That Keeps a Company Focused13:00 Taking Over as a Non-Founder CEO17:15 Flying the Plane While Rebuilding It22:30 Platform vs. AI Agents29:00 Building the Executive Team42:00 The Biggest Challenge47:30 Where Front Is in Three Years49:00 Origin Story: From Southampton to Google to Founding TalkIQ56:00 Two Career-Defining Moments & Advice to His Younger Self
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The Best Deals Aren't the Hottest Deals | Dan Teran - Gutter Capital | Episode #104
Jun 1600:56:25Tap to summarizeMost founders talk about building a company but very few talk about what it actually costs.Dan Teran knows both sides of that story.In this episode, Dan shares how he built Managed by Q from the ground up, scaled a team that included nearly 1,000 frontline workers, gave equity to cleaners and handymen, navigated an acquisition by WeWork, and ultimately made the transition from founder to investor.We talk about the systems behind great culture, why the best founders are usually obsessed with a problem long before they start a company, what most VCs get wrong when evaluating startups, and how AI is changing the economics of company building.Dan is one of the most thoughtful operators and investors I've met, and this conversation is packed with practical lessons for founders at every stage.Takeaways:1. Great cultures are built through systems, not slogans: The strongest company cultures don't come from posters on the wall. They come from who gets hired, who gets promoted, what behaviors get recognized, and what standards leaders reinforce every day.2. The best founders are deeply connected to the problem they're solving: Dan believes the most resilient founders aren't chasing trends; they're solving problems they've experienced firsthand. That personal connection helps them stay committed when things get difficult.3. Success is usually the result of hundreds of small decisions: Managed by Q wasn't built through one breakthrough moment. It was years of learning, adapting, fixing mistakes, and making better decisions over time.4. AI is changing how companies get built: Founders can now test ideas, build products, and reach customers faster than ever before. What once took teams of engineers and millions of dollars can often be done by a handful of people.5. Building something meaningful still requires hard work: Technology may change, but the reality of company building hasn't. Every successful founder eventually faces uncertainty, setbacks, and difficult decisions. Persistence is still the only way through them.Quote of the Show: ”If you're lucky enough to find a problem worth working on, that's where the fulfillment comes from.” - Dan Teran, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Gutter CapitalLinks: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danteran/ Website: https://www.gutter.cc/Chapters:00:00: Trailer01:18: Meet Dan Teran: Founder, Operator, Investor04:45: Building a Culture That Actually Scales11:55: Why Every Employee Received Equity18:15: The Story Behind the WeWork Acquisition25:10: Life After Selling the Company29:00: Starting Gutter Capital39:00: How Dan Evaluates Founders52:20: The Operating Blueprint for Startups
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Your Pipeline Isn’t Broken, Your Strategy Is - Craig Rosenberg - Scale Venture Partners -Episode#103
Jun 900:49:33Tap to summarizeWhy does your pipeline feel broken… when the real problem is your strategy?In this episode, I sat down with my longtime mentor & friend Craig Rosenberg, Chief Platform Officer at Scale Venture Partners. Craig taught me how to build inside sales teams 20 years ago, and he’s still one of the sharpest minds in go-to-market strategy.We break down why most companies are struggling to create pipeline, the power of ruthless micro-segmentation, why the old outbound “spam cannon” is dead, and what actually works right now including smart AI plays and unmistakably human experiences.If you’re a founder or leader frustrated with pipeline, this is the conversation you need.Takeaways:Your Pipeline Isn’t Broken Your Strategy Is: Most companies are going too broad instead of micro-segmenting their ICP on the other hand the winners are ruthlessly micro-segmenting their ICP around homogeneous use cases.Micro-Segmentation Is the New Superpower: Stop fearing you’ll miss pipeline by going narrow. Focus the entire GTM team on a tight subset of accounts with similar needs this unlocks consistent messaging, better win rates, and faster learning cycles.Talk to 10 People a Week in Your ICP: Whether you’re at seed or scaling, executives must get in the weeds. Have real conversations, pitch them, and ask for next steps. Gong calls and outsourced interviews aren’t enough. This is how you validate and refine your story fast.Use AI as a Multiplier, Not a Crutch: Leverage AI for custom market reports, personalised demos at scale, deep account research, and proprietary signals. But the real advantage comes from pairing AI with unmistakably human interactions in a market flooded with AI noise.High-Touch Human Experiences Are Back: Curated dinners, thoughtful direct mail, and once-in-a-lifetime events (like World Cup experiences) outperform digital spam. Buyers can feel when real care and intention went into the interaction.Quote of the Show: ”Because now AI is about to flood the market, is what are those unmistakably human interactions you can have.” - Craig Rosenberg, Chief Platform Office, Scale Venture PartnersLinks:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigrosenberg/ Scale Venture Partners: https://www.scalevp.com/team/craig-rosenbergChapters:00:00: Intro02:45: Why Pipeline Feels Harder Than Ever06:10: The Power of Ruthless ICP Micro-Segmentation10:25: Special Forces Teams for New Market Expansion14:40: What’s Changed in B2B Buying (2026 Reality)19:15: Why the Old Outbound Playbook Is Dead24:50: AI Tactics That Are Actually Working29:40: The Unmistakably Human Differentiator35:20: High-Impact Events & Experiences42:15: Final Advice + How to Stay Ahead
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Better to Be Fast than to be Right - Jessica Lin - Work-Bench - Episode #102
Jun 201:04:07Tap to summarizeMost founders think investors decide after the pitch but this investor says the decision is usually made in the first five minutes.In this episode of Not Another CEO, I sat down with Jess Lin, Co-Founder & General Partner at Work-Bench, for a deep conversation on what actually separates great founders from everyone else.Jess breaks down how investors build conviction in founders within minutes, why product-market fit has become harder than ever, and what most startups misunderstand about growth, fundraising, and becoming truly mission critical. The conversation also explores the emotional side of venture capital, imposter syndrome, building a venture firm, and the realities founders face between Seed and Series A.From founder obsession and investor psychology to career risk and company building, this episode is a candid look into how elite investors think and what founders need to understand to build enduring companies.Takeaways:Investors Often Decide Faster Than Founders Realise: Jess explains that initial conviction about a founder is usually formed within minutes. The rest of the process is often about validating or disproving that instinct.Growth Alone Is No Longer Enough: Fast revenue growth has become table stakes. The real question investors ask now is: Would customers genuinely care if this product disappeared tomorrow?Founder Obsession Matters: The best founders are deeply obsessed with the problem they’re solving. They see something others don’t and cannot stop thinking about it.Venture Capital Is Emotionally Uncertain: Jess shares how difficult it is to know whether you’re actually “good” at investing because feedback loops in venture can take 10+ years.Building a VC Firm Is Like Building a Startup: From branding and hiring to differentiation and operations, venture firms face many of the same challenges founders do when building companies.Quote of the Show:It's better to be fast than to be right. Because if you're fast, if you just have more at bats, you will least be able to course correct. - Jessica Lin, Co-Founder & General Partner at Work-Bench.Links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicalin8Work-Bench: https://www.work-bench.com/Chapters:00:00: Trailer04:12: How investors evaluate founders in the first five minutes09:35: The founder traits that create investor conviction15:08: Why Series A has become much harder20:44: What “mission critical” really means in startups27:10: Product-market fit vs fast growth33:26: Imposter syndrome in venture capital39:41: Career advice, risk & serendipity46:03: Why building a VC firm feels like building a startup53:18: Final lessons for founders and investors
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The Seven Deadly Sins of Founders - Michael Loeb - Loeb.Nyc - Episode #101
May 2601:15:04Tap to summarizeMost founders fail before the market ever gets the chance to beat them the enemy is inside the building.In this episode of Not Another CEO Podcast, David sits down with Michael Loeb, Co-Founder of Synapse Group and founder of Loeb Enterprises, a startup studio and venture collective that has invested in, incubated, and scaled more than 50 companies including five unicorns.Michael shares the hard-earned lessons from 35 years of building: the character flaws that destroy founders before the market ever gets the chance, what separates real entrepreneurial DNA from people who just like the idea of it, why sociopaths concentrate in startups, and why the entrepreneurial class should be funding itself instead of depending on traditional venture capital.Takeaways:1. The character flaws that kill founders are predictable: Michael maps pride, sloth, delusion, and the refusal to listen onto real founder failure stories.2. Entrepreneurship is innate, not learned: Real founders show up early the lemonade stand, the paper route, the video game rental business in college.3. Surrender being an option is a dealbreaker: The moment a founder puts quitting on the table, Michael says the relationship is over.4. Charm is a feature and a warning sign: Sociopaths concentrate in startups because magnetic charm and the ability to make fiction feel real are exactly the qualities that attract early capital.5. The entrepreneurial class is rich enough to fund itself: Michael's Uncharted model is built on a simple premise: founders who have had exits, understand the journey, and can write a $10,000 check should be backing each other not waiting on institutional capital that is fundamentally optimising for something different.Quote of the Show:"When anybody uses those words I'm just going to give up if that is an option, you have no choice. Surrender is not an option. Quitting is not an option. So as soon as that goes on the table, they're done." - Michael Loeb, Founder & CEO, Loeb EnterprisesLinks:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelloeb1/Website: https://loeb.nyc/Ways to Tune In:Substack: https://notanotherceo.substack.com/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NQ9oAB2XKlgWeL8iEQXg0Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/not-another-ceo-podcast/id1751581707YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotAnotherCEOPodcastChapters:00:00 - Trailer03:45 - The seven deadly sins of founders and the pride that bankrupted a $100M business06:36 - Sloth, the founder who quit, and why surrender can never be an option13:35 - How Michael spots real entrepreneurial DNA before writing a check15:43 - The video game rental kid and what genuine founder instinct looks like in college20:00 - Envy and why rent-a-CEOs create a different kind of danger22:00 - The thin line between necessary optimism and dangerous delusion24:53 - Why charm is both a feature and a warning sign26:16 - The founder who refuses to listen31:19 - Why being numeric is a non-negotiable founder requirement34:58 - Founders Backing Founders
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Why CEO's Do It Anyway: Lessons I Learned Talking To 100 Founders - NAC - Episode #100
May 1900:20:06Tap to summarize100 episodes. Over a thousand years of combined CEO experience. Every guest showed up for one reason: to pay it forward.Two years ago I was recording in the corner of my son's bedroom. Everyone said I'd quit after ten episodes.I didn't. And in this episode I went back and pulled the moments that stopped me cold the lessons I keep referencing, the stories that hold up no matter what stage you're at.If you're deep in it right now, this one's for you.Links in the comments. If you enjoy the episode, please like and subscribe on your favorite platforms and share with your network.If you enjoy the episode, please like and subscribe on your favourite platforms and share with your network.TAKEAWAYS1. The best founders are just built different and they know what they signed up for. Chieh Huang's description of entrepreneurship as a broken glass eating competition is the most accurate thing I've heard in 100 episodes.2. The minute you lose hope, it's over. Ryan Simonetti watched Convene go from $220M in revenue and a pre-IPO round in process to zero revenue in less than three weeks. His lesson: optimism isn't soft. It's the one thing that kept Convene alive long enough to become what it is today.3. Layoffs cost more than headcount and founders feel it in ways they don't talk about. Alina Vandenberghe described being hospitalized after Chili Piper had to do layoffs. That vulnerability is exactly what I built this show to surface.4. Every company that wants to survive the AI era will have to refound itself. Shensi Ding walked me through a moment at Merge where a major deal collapsed, morale cratered, and people quit. The refounding wasn't a failure it was the only path to becoming a category leader.5. Most companies don't die of starvation. They die of indigestion. Amish Jani's line is the one I share most with founders I advise. Tight sequencing and disciplined focus are what separate great companies from the ones that almost made it.6. Fish in a pond, not an ocean. Tom Buiocchi's ICP framework is the most actionable thing I've pulled from the show. When you know the names of all the fish in your pond, your entire go-to-market changes.7. The chip on your shoulder is fuel don't waste it. Flint Lane told me he's still trying to prove something to the kids he grew up with. That drive didn't diminish after selling Billtrust for $1.7B it followed him into his next company. 8. AI is fast, but it's not without precedent. Donna Dubinsky has lived through desktop computing, handheld computing, the internet, and now AI. Her perspective that the current shift is significant but not categorically unlike what she's seen before is one of the most grounding things I've heard on the show.9. Being second can be a strategic advantage. Max Junestrand watched the first movers in legal AI burn money on fine tuned models and approaches that didn't pan out. By moving second, Legora could see which paths led nowhere.10. Real conviction is unmistakable. Jess Lin described meeting April Co, founder of Spring Health, years before the company became what it is. The way she said it made clear: she was doing this with or without any investor.TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Introduction02:10 - What this show was always meant to be 03:45 - The broken glass eating competition 05:30 - The cost of layoffs no one talks about 08:00 - The chip on the shoulder that never leaves 09:30 - $220M to zero and keeping hope alive 13:00 - What it means to refound from scratch 15:30 - Most companies don't die of starvation 17:00 - Fish in a pond, not an ocean 19:30 - AI through the eyes of someone who's seen everything 22:00 - The second-mover advantage 24:30 - What real founder conviction sounds like 26:30 - Closing
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How it was game over for Guidewire until it wasn’t - Marcus Ryu - Guidewire - Episode #99
May 1201:14:36Tap to summarizeBuilding software is hard but building a category-defining enterprise company for 20 years is a different game entirely.In this episode of Not Another CEO Podcast, David sits down with Marcus Ryu, Co-Founder and former CEO of Guidewire, the software platform that transformed the insurance industry and grew into a public company generating over $1.5 billion in revenue.Marcus shares the hard-earned lessons from building Guidewire from zero: developing strategic clarity, surviving years-long sales cycles, learning how to sell as a founder, navigating investor pressure, handling lawsuits from incumbents, and sustaining the emotional intensity of being a founder CEO for nearly 20 years.This conversation is a masterclass on company building, resilience, leadership, and the psychological realities behind building enduring businesses.Takeaways:1. Strategic coherence matters more than speed:Marcus explains how Guidewire constantly revisited its assumptions whenever new information appeared maintaining ruthless intellectual honesty around strategy instead of blindly executing.2. Every founder must learn how to sell:Despite not coming from sales, Marcus says learning sales became one of the most valuable skills of his entire career. Great CEOs are constantly persuading customers, employees, investors, and markets.3. Enduring companies require patience:Guidewire’s early sales cycles lasted 1–2 years, and implementations could take another 1–2 years. Marcus shares why building meaningful companies often demands long-term thinking and delayed gratification.4. Capital efficiency creates resilience:Guidewire raised only $29 million throughout its journey to IPO. Marcus discusses how treating every dollar like it could be the last shaped the company’s discipline and culture.5. Intensity without serenity can become dangerous:Looking back, Marcus says he spent years carrying catastrophic pressure and anxiety as a founder. His biggest reflection is learning that great CEOs can be both intensely driven and internally calm at the same time.Quote of the Show:“If you can be intense and serene at the same time, then you really have a superpower.” - Marcus Ryu, Founder & Former CEO, GuidewireChapters:00:00 - Trailer02:10 - The importance of strategic coherence in company building08:45 - Why startups need an enemy and a clear sense of differentiation15:20 - Discovering the broken insurance software market27:20 - Learning sales as a founder CEO31:00 - Getting the first customers & surviving long enterprise sales cycles36:20 - Building Guidewire with extreme capital efficiency43:10 - The pressure modern founders feel to grow at impossible speeds49:40 - Surviving lawsuits and competitive attacks from incumbents58:00 - Transitioning from founder CEO to investor at Battery Ventures01:06:30 - Marcus’s biggest personal reflection after two decades as CEO
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From Sticky Notes on My Door to $1.5B Logistics Disruptor - Itamar Zur - Veho - Episode #98
May 501:09:02Tap to summarizeHe walked back to his apartment and found 50 sticky notes on the door. "Sorry we missed your package." That problem became a $1.5 billion company competing directly with UPS and FedEx.Itamar Zur, Co-Founder and CEO of Veho, shares the full story of building one of the most disruptive logistics companies in America from a business school dorm room to 65 markets, nearly 1,000 employees, tens of thousands of drivers, and over $300 million raised from General Catalyst, SoftBank, and Tiger Global.In this conversation, Itamar opens up about what it really took: obsessing over the Day One customer experience in a way most founders never do, rebuilding the company's values from scratch after 2022 nearly broke everything, and creating a deliberate program to identify and invest in top performers before someone else does.If you're building a company and want to understand what championship-level execution actually looks like from the inside, this episode is worth your time.Takeaways:Obsess Over the Day One Experience: Itamar would send detailed end-of-day reports not just to his buyer but to the CEO, CMO, and CFO of every new customer anyone whose email he could find. By the next call, those buyers weren't asking how things were going. They were asking what other markets Veho could go to. First impressions compound.Values Must Evolve as the Company Evolves: Veho launched with human-first, idealistic values. When the market turned in 2022 and performance management became non-negotiable, those values created internal friction. Itamar rebuilt them from scratch around a championship team mentality. The wrong people left. The right people finally had language for what they had been doing all along.Your 10X People Know They Are 10X Invest in Them Before Someone Else Does: High performers don't complain, don't ask silly questions at all-hands, and quietly deliver results every single day.The Co-Founder Decision Is the Most Important One You Will Make: Two original co-founders left over a fundamental strategic disagreement. Itamar refused to compromise on the vision, finding Fred one person he had met once at a conference changed the entire trajectory of the company.This Is a Marathon Protect the Runner: When the market shifted, the mental and physical toll hit all at once. He now meditates, exercises, sleeps 7–8 hours, and treats it the same way a professional athlete treats training. Everything else depends on it.Quote of the Show: "The way you do anything is the way you do everything." - Itamar Zur, Co-Founder & CEO, VehoLinks: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itamarzur/ Veho Website: https://www.shipveho.com/Chapters: 00:00 – Intro: From a sticky note to a $1.5B logistics company 01:19 – The one thing: obsessing over the Day One customer experience 05:30 – Sending reports to the CEO, CMO, and CFO why it worked 09:45 – The moment of truth: lessons from Procter & Gamble 14:20 – Veho's original values and why they had to change 18:05 – Championship team mentality: rebuilding culture mid-flight 22:40 – How top performers act and why they never speak up 27:15 – The Force Multipliers program: investing in your all-stars 31:50 – Finding Fred: the co-founder story 38:30 – 2022: the year that almost broke everything 46:00 – The coach conversation that changed how he leads 52:00 – Taking care of your body and mind as a founder 58:10 – Advice to his younger self: give yourself time to learn
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