GROW by Good Combinator

Your 18-month Practice Founder plan: the final capstone. In Lesson 8.8 of GROW Course 8 (FDE Practice Founder), Doug Liles works through it with you. An 18-month plan that turns everything in the track into an operating roadmap. What you'll take away - The capstone brief - The 18-month arc - Milestones Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (7:34) The capstone brief (15:08) The 18-month a...

The founder's hiring loop for building a practice that runs without you. In Lesson 8.7 of GROW Course 8 (FDE Practice Founder), Doug Liles works through it with you. A founder-level hiring loop that builds a bench, not just a hire. What you'll take away - Hiring as a founder - The loop - Bench building Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (6:30) Hiring as a founder (13:01) The loop...

The founder-layer partner agreement that protects the practice. In Lesson 8.6 of GROW Course 8 (FDE Practice Founder), Doug Liles works through it with you. The agreement terms a founder needs before scaling on partners. What you'll take away - Why it matters - Key terms - Protecting the practice Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (6:41) Why it matters (13:23) Key terms (20:04) Protec...

FDE practice unit economics and the 5-Line Tile. In Lesson 8.5 of GROW Course 8 (FDE Practice Founder), Doug Liles works through it with you. A one-tile model that tells you whether the practice actually makes money. What you'll take away - Why unit economics - The 5-Line Tile - Reading the tile Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (6:17) Why unit economics (12:35) The 5-Line Tile (18:5...

Thought leadership as compounding distribution for an FDE practice. In Lesson 8.4 of GROW Course 8 (FDE Practice Founder), Doug Liles works through it with you. A thought-leadership engine that compounds into inbound demand. What you'll take away - Distribution as an asset - The content engine - Cadence Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (5:41) Distribution as an asset (11:23) The con...

The discovery-to-signed-pilot funnel for FDE services. In Lesson 8.3 of GROW Course 8 (FDE Practice Founder), Doug Liles works through it with you. A funnel that turns conversations into signed pilots predictably. What you'll take away - The funnel - Discovery - Proposal Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (7:44) The funnel (15:28) Discovery (23:12) Proposal (30:56) Objection handling...

Price the FDE engagement with conformance pillars, not day rates. In Lesson 8.2 of GROW Course 8 (FDE Practice Founder), Doug Liles works through it with you. Pricing models that capture value instead of selling hours. What you'll take away - Why not day rates - Pricing models - Conformance pillars Chapters (0:00:00) Cold open & the promise (0:08:36) Why not day rates (0:17:13) Pricing mod...

From senior FDE to Practice CEO: the founder identity shift. In Lesson 8.1 of GROW Course 8 (FDE Practice Founder), Doug Liles works through it with you. The identity shift required to run a practice instead of a great engagement. What you'll take away - Operator vs. CEO - The identity shift - The Founder P&L Index Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (7:20) Operator vs. CEO (14:41)...

Systemize it all into an FDE Practice Playbook. In Lesson 7.8 of GROW Course 7 (Practice Management), Doug Liles works through it with you. A practice playbook that captures how your practice runs without you in the room. What you'll take away - The capstone brief - Codifying cadence - Codifying coaching Chapters (0:00:00) Cold open & the promise (0:08:56) The capstone brief (0:17:52) Codi...

The Senior IC vs. Manager fork and how to architect the choice. In Lesson 7.7 of GROW Course 7 (Practice Management), Doug Liles works through it with you. A framework for making the IC-vs-manager decision deliberately. What you'll take away - The fork - Senior IC path - Manager path Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (5:19) The fork (10:38) Senior IC path (15:57) Manager path (21:16)...

The SCRIPT playbook for the difficult conversations FDEs avoid. In Lesson 7.6 of GROW Course 7 (Practice Management), Doug Liles works through it with you. A named structure for the conversations that decide whether a practice is healthy. What you'll take away - Why FDEs avoid them - The SCRIPT structure - Running the conversation Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (6:49) Why FDEs avo...

Practice-wide eval hygiene and how knowledge compounds across pods. In Lesson 7.5 of GROW Course 7 (Practice Management), Doug Liles works through it with you. Eval practices that make the whole practice better, not just one project. What you'll take away - Why practice-wide - Shared gold sets - Compounding knowledge Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (8:23) Why practice-wide (16:47)...

The Manager-of-FDEs cadence and the Pod-of-Pods architecture. In Lesson 7.4 of GROW Course 7 (Practice Management), Doug Liles works through it with you. An operating cadence for running multiple FDE pods at once. What you'll take away - Manager-of-FDEs - The cadence - Pod-of-Pods Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (6:46) Manager-of-FDEs (13:33) The cadence (20:19) Pod-of-Pods (27:06)...

A 4-loop, 5-signal interview that hires FDEs who survive Adopt, not just demo. In Lesson 7.3 of GROW Course 7 (Practice Management), Doug Liles works through it with you. An interview structure that predicts Day-2 performance, not demo polish. What you'll take away - What to hire for - The 4 loops - The 5 signals Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (6:38) What to hire for (13:16) The 4...

Tell, Show, Guide, Sponsor: coach FDEs without stealing their decisions. In Lesson 7.2 of GROW Course 7 (Practice Management), Doug Liles works through it with you. A four-stage coaching ladder and a test that stops you from stealing decisions. What you'll take away - Why coaching scales - Tell - Show Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (5:39) Why coaching scales (11:18) Tell (16:57) S...

The Senior FDE Rule and the 5-axis Multiplier Index that proves you're not a bottleneck. In Lesson 7.1 of GROW Course 7 (Practice Management), Doug Liles works through it with you. A measurable definition of 'senior' that is about multiplication, not heroics. What you'll take away - The Senior FDE Rule - The Multiplier Index - The 5 axes Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise...

Build a Joint Pilot Plan: the Course 6 capstone. In Lesson 6.8 of GROW Course 6 (Partnership Ecosystem), Doug Liles works through it with you. A complete Joint Pilot Plan that ties the partnership method together. What you'll take away - The capstone brief - The JVP recap - The pilot plan Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (6:23) The capstone brief (12:47) The JVP recap (19:10) The pi...

The 5-role pod model for running partnerships without heroics. In Lesson 6.7 of GROW Course 6 (Partnership Ecosystem), Doug Liles works through it with you. A pod structure that makes partnership delivery repeatable. What you'll take away - Why a pod - The 5 roles - Cadence Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (6:30) Why a pod (13:00) The 5 roles (19:30) Cadence (26:01) Handoffs (32:31)...

The Discover-Design-Deliver-Develop engagement cycle for partners. In Lesson 6.6 of GROW Course 6 (Partnership Ecosystem), Doug Liles works through it with you. A repeatable four-phase cycle for running a partner engagement. What you'll take away - The cycle - Discover - Design Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (6:17) The cycle (12:34) Discover (18:51) Design (25:08) Deliver (31:25)...

GTM-SMSA alignment: strategy, marketing, sales, adoption on one page. In Lesson 6.5 of GROW Course 6 (Partnership Ecosystem), Doug Liles works through it with you. A one-page alignment that keeps the SMSA pipeline coherent. What you'll take away - The SMSA pipeline - Strategy - Marketing Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (6:47) The SMSA pipeline (13:35) Strategy (20:23) Marketing (27...

The 4-stage partner ladder from registered to core. In Lesson 6.4 of GROW Course 6 (Partnership Ecosystem), Doug Liles works through it with you. A ladder that turns a new partner into a core one on purpose, not by luck. What you'll take away - The 4 stages - Registered - Active Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (5:38) The 4 stages (11:16) Registered (16:54) Active (22:32) Strategic...

Design a Joint Value Proposition that survives contact with two sales teams. In Lesson 6.3 of GROW Course 6 (Partnership Ecosystem), Doug Liles works through it with you. A JVP canvas that both sides will actually sell. What you'll take away - What a JVP is - The canvas - Aligning incentives Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (5:45) What a JVP is (11:31) The canvas (17:17) Aligning in...

Qualify partners with the 5-pillar SCOPE rubric, not optimism. In Lesson 6.2 of GROW Course 6 (Partnership Ecosystem), Doug Liles works through it with you. A qualification rubric that filters partners before you spend a quarter on them. What you'll take away - Why qualify - The 5 pillars - Scoring a partner Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the promise (6:54) Why qualify (13:48) The 5 pillars (...

Co-selling vs. co-building: the 4-axis classifier that ends the logo-slide meeting. In Lesson 6.1 of GROW Course 6 (Partnership Ecosystem), Doug Liles works through it with you. A deterministic classifier that tells you what kind of partnership you actually have. What you'll take away - The logo-slide problem - Co-selling vs. co-building - The 4-axis classifier Chapters (0:00) Cold open &...

Same architecture, different constraint envelope: the Vertical Translation Studio. In Lesson 5.8 of GROW Course 5 (Vertical Specialization), Doug Liles works through it with you. A studio method for porting one FDE pattern across regulated verticals. What you'll take away - Architectural intent stays - The constraint envelope changes - The Translation Studio Chapters (0:00) Cold open & the...