The Growth Focus Podcast

Every founder I talk to is using AI to grow faster. Almost none of them are asking what AI is quietly costing them. This week I sat down with Travis McGregor, CEO of SLC Digital, who's built and exited one company already and is now building a second around mobile SIM security. Travis put his finger on something I see constantly working with MSP owners and B2B tech founders: AI isn't the problem....

Most tech founders are still running lead generation the hard way — cold outreach, event booths they hope will pay off, a sales team grinding through the funnel. Drew Allgeier has a different problem. He has more leads than his salespeople can handle, an 80% close rate, and Fortune 1000 clients including ConAgra, Tyson, and Cornerstone Building brands on his books. None of that came from cold call...

Most founders think growth stalls because they're not selling enough. Sean Miles built RGX — a two-sided marketplace for enterprise asset disposition — landed AT&T as a client, tripled revenue, then deliberately hit the brakes. Not because things weren't working. Because they were working too well, and the infrastructure underneath couldn't hold the weight. That decision — to flatline intentio...

There is a gap that sits quietly inside most tech products. It is not a feature gap or a funding gap. It is the gap between the user you pitched and the user who actually shows up. Courtney Poulos has been a real estate broker for over two decades. She runs Acme Real Estate in Los Angeles and Acme Florida in Orlando. She has also become one of the most honest and direct testers of PropTech product...

Most IT services companies trying to grow through partnerships hit the same wall. The partners are on board, the reseller agreements are signed, and nothing moves. Missy Trumpler, CEO of Agile AI Labs, built her growth engine almost entirely through IT services channel partnerships -- and she knows exactly why most of them fail. The answer is not a better partner programme. It is not better sales...

WeWork changed the industry. Then it nearly destroyed it. Alex Passler spent 30 years inside Regus, CBRE, and WeWork — and left to build the thing they all got wrong. WeWork changed the flexible workspace industry forever. It made co-working a household concept, built community into the office, and grew faster than almost any real estate business in history. Then it collapsed. Alex Passler watched...

Richard Branson has millions of personal followers. Virgin has hundreds of thousands. That gap is not a coincidence — and it is sitting between most founders and the growth they want right now. Richard Branson's personal following dwarfs his company's. Alex Whitelaw noticed that gap and built his business around it. In this episode, Gary Lafferty sits down with Alex — former construction operation...

Most businesses are jumping between 15 open tabs, uploading their most sensitive data into three different AI platforms, and wondering why nothing sticks. Mark Heynen built Knapsack to solve exactly that — private, compliant AI agents for financial services, running on your machine, leaving no trace. Mark is a five-time founder with two exits. His most recent company before Knapsack was Payjoy, a...

Most growth problems aren't growth problems. They're positioning problems sitting one layer underneath. Michael Baer, fractional CMO at Tech CXO with nearly 40 years of experience, on why strategy without story always breaks. Most businesses that hit a growth ceiling don't have a lead generation problem. They have a story problem. If your pipeline is inconsistent, your website sounds like everyone...

One MSP lost his two biggest clients on the same day. No contracts in place. 60% of turnover gone before the month was out. This is the kind of moment that should never be a surprise - but for most MSP owners, it is. Ian Luckett co-founded the MSP Growth Hub alongside Stuart Warwick. They work with over 50 MSP businesses across the UK, coaching founders and their senior teams on what it actually t...

Most tech leaders are not struggling because they cannot buy technology. They are struggling because the buying process is rigged for vendor outcomes, not business outcomes. In this episode, Dean Gartelos breaks down how to silence the noise, run a client-requirements-first selection process, and often uncover 10 to 30 percent savings without trading down on capability. IN THIS EPISODE Dean explai...

Is your technology slowing your business down - and you don't even know it yet? If your CEO or CFO is still "owning" the IT decisions and the wheels are starting to come off, this episode is for you. In this episode What happens when your business outgrows the person running its technology? For most mid-sized companies, the answer is chaos - misaligned tools, wasted money, manual processes eating...

If you are a tech founder saying we need more leads, this episode cuts straight through the noise and shows what is usually hiding underneath that sentence: weak positioning, fuzzy ICP, and a pipeline you cannot see clearly enough to manage. Alan Gold, Partner at TechCXO, lays out a practical way to diagnose stalled growth, sharpen your story, and stop wasting money on activity that looks busy but...

You do not often hear a tech founder talk about AI like an economist, a builder, and a realist all at once. Nishantha went from economics and law to self-taught coding, then built an early AI platform in maritime and learned the hard lesson most founders dodge: the market does not care how smart your product is. This conversation gets into what actually creates growth in tech right now, why deep c...

In this podcast epidsode, Gary Lafferty and Margee Moore discuss the challenges and strategies for competing with AI in storytelling and content creation. They emphasize the importance of personal engagement and practical tactics for creating meaningful content that resonates with audiences. Takeaways Competing with AI requires a unique personal touch in storytelling. Recording short videos can ef...

In this episode of the Growth Focus Podcast, host Gary Lafferty speaks with Nadav Schnall, CEO and co-founder of ProSentry, about founder-led growth and the integration of AI in building management. They discuss Nadav's background in real estate, the challenges of scaling a tech startup, and the importance of educating clients about technology adoption. Nadav shares insights on effective growth ch...

In this episode of the Growth Focus Podcast, host Gary Lafferty speaks with Haiphie Hua, the Head of Strategic Partnerships at CodeCloud. They discuss the importance of storytelling in business, the role of strategic partnerships in growth, common mistakes in e-commerce setups, and the impact of AI on business operations. Haiphie shares insights from her journey in performance marketing and emphas...

In this episode of the Growth Focus Podcast, host Gary Lafferty speaks with entrepreneur John LeRoy about his journey in building Realay, a referral application aimed at improving the real estate industry. They discuss the myth of 'if they build it, they will come,' the importance of advisory boards for bootstrap companies, and the challenges of user adoption in the real estate sector. John shares...

In this episode of the Growth Focus podcast, host Gary Lafferty interviews Holly Mack, a fractional CMO and marketing leader for tech companies. They discuss the common marketing mistakes made by tech founders, the importance of having a clear marketing strategy, and the foundational work needed for successful marketing. Holly shares insights on effective marketing strategies, the significance of...

What if your hiring bottleneck isn’t a talent shortage but a decision-making problem? Macie Fellows unpacks the biggest hiring mistakes growth-focused companies make and explains how blending AI with human expertise creates faster, smarter, and more reliable hiring outcomes. Full Description In this episode, Gary sits down with Macie Fellows of Axiom Path and Cognified to explore the challenges co...

What does it really take to grow a tech consulting studio 10x in two years? KD reveals the strategy behind his rise and why most founders approach sales and UX completely wrong. Short Description This episode dives into KD’s journey from UX leader to founder, exploring how he built a fast-growing design studio through word-of-mouth, smart sales conversations, and AI-powered delivery. Full Descript...

In this episode of the Growth Focus podcast, host Gary Lafferty speaks with Rick Schott, an experienced executive in the SaaS and startup space. They discuss the challenges founders face when trying to grow their businesses, particularly when hitting growth plateaus. Rick shares insights on the importance of hiring the right team, creating a clear vision for the future, and leveraging AI to optimi...

Summary In this episode of the Growth Focus Podcast, host Gary Lafferty speaks with Will Mazola, COO of Graytitude, about the importance of strategic partnerships in business growth, the nuances of mainframe modernization, and the launch of a new AI product. Will shares his journey from staffing and consulting to leading tech businesses, emphasizing the significance of relationships and the lesson...

In this episode of the Growth Focus Podcast, host Gary Lafferty speaks with Biju Ashokan, founder and CEO of Radius Agent, about building a fast-growing tech company without relying on cold outreach. They discuss the importance of white labeling, the unique value proposition of Radius, and effective growth strategies. Biju shares insights on the significance of having the right team, the role of f...

What happens when a former Uber engineering leader takes on real estate? You get Radius Agent - an AI-powered platform transforming how agents grow, close, and scale. In this episode of The Growth Focus Podcast, I sit down with Biju Ashokan, Co-Founder and CEO of Radius Agent, to talk about building a tech-driven real estate platform, leading through uncertainty, and why his team is betting big on...