Growth Under Pressure

Annie Eaton is the CEO of Futurus, an extended reality (XR/VR) company that started from an Atlanta meetup in 2014 and grew into enterprise training work with customers like Delta, Walmart, and Mars. She shares the cash-flow volatility of project-based services (including layoffs and stalled deals) and how she's building a licensing model to create more predictable recurring revenue. — 🌟 Highligh...

Fractional CFO Darryl Baker shares how taking Insys Therapeutics public in 2013 and scaling its fentanyl sublingual spray product (Subsys) into over $300M in annual revenue by 2015 collided with DOJ scrutiny, leadership fallout, and bankruptcy. He unpacks what helped him lead through broken trust and personal uncertainty, plus the simple weekly discipline he uses with every client: cash position a...

Joe Testouri is an entrepreneur, strategist, and host of the Grappling With Growth podcast who built an AI-focused agency and education business after early hustles, pivots, and a devastating financial scam. His story shows how founders can recover from crisis, adopt AI to scale more efficiently, and stay grounded through discipline, humility, and customer obsession. — 🌟 Highlights Building a bus...

Eric Sheinkop built Music Dealers into the world's largest commercial music provider serving Disney, McDonald's, and Coca-Cola before successfully exiting. He then raised $25M with his wife Judith, a former Coca-Cola executive, to launch Desire Company, now the leading content provider for Target, Walmart, and Best Buy. From discovering McDonald's royalty checks weren't a mistake to coming up $20K...

Jon Caldwell built a brand from zero to a profitable exit after serving in the infantry in Afghanistan. When a 4-month Dragons Den delay created a working capital challenge, he self-funded through a software sales role, hitting 120% of quota while scaling his company. Now the founder of 3Victor, he shares the unconventional path that taught him why disciplined execution beats perfect strategy.  ...

John Olsen built and sold multiple healthcare ventures, including EncompassRx, a specialty pharmacy that reached over $500 million in annual revenue and exited to CVS. He shares how rapid growth nearly collapsed the business under its own weight, and why rebuilding three years of books became the turning point that reshaped his approach to leadership, balance, and financial discipline. 🌟 Highligh...

Eric sits down with his Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach, Roan, a former UFC fighter turned head instructor, to talk about grit that's forged on the mats and carried into business and life. From getting smashed by older training partners in Rio to building a thriving kids program in Alpharetta, he shares how consistency, faith, and community turn dark seasons into growth—and why "pressure makes diamonds....

Rennie Curran transformed from NFL linebacker to leadership coach, teaching executives that natural leadership is a myth. He reveals how serving others, building consistent habits, and "operating at the level of your vision" creates breakthrough moments in business and life. — 🌟 Highlights Challenges leadership perfectionism with servant mindset Operates at vision level before opportunity Builds...

Brett Gelfand built a multimillion-dollar cannabis packaging empire by 25, then nearly lost it all when an entire shipment of containers arrived soaking wet and unsellable. Instead of folding, he pivoted — eventually creating the cannabis industry's first specialized collection agency and a credit-reporting platform now used nationwide. From his early leap from executive assistant to CEO during Co...

Maney Mazloom built EncompassRx from zero to nearly $500 million in annual revenue in just six years. But explosive demand for a new hepatitis C drug nearly sank the company, leaving him checking the mail multiple times a day, just to keep cash flowing and patients supplied. 🌟 Highlights How to scale to $500M without losing control What to do when cash flow lags behind growth Why a co-CEO model c...

A product rushed to market. A hack that compromised 30,000 users. And a founder forced to hit pause before it was too late. In our debut episode, four-time founder Tanner Haas reveals how a string of challenges — from losing money on protein powder sales at 18, to driving Uber to stay afloat, to recovering from a near-fatal beta launch — shaped the disciplined approach that saved his fourth startu...