Speaking Up Your Game, LLC

Helped 250+ busy professionals grow their careers, their income and their influence in the workplace by increasing their confidence, skills and credibility when speaking and presenting.  

We offer 4 services:  1) 1:1 Coaching,  2) Team Workshops,  3) Cohort Coaching and 4) Our Signature Online Course to help business professionals and teams maximize their impact with communication.  

We've developed a UNIQUE process for helping you understand the REAL reasons you get nervous and how to transform those nerves into confidence and excitement.

We've developed a 4 PART FORMULA to help you drive more VALUE when you speak and present - to your organization, clients and customers when you speak and present thereby helping you win more business, serve more people, make more money and grow your impact.

We've coached since 2018 and early in our days were rated as one of Thumbtack's Top Professional Public Speaking Coaches for 2019, 2020 and 2021 with 40+ 5 star reviews.

Founder & Business Speaking Coach

Trend Wise Insights, LLC

We help small & medium size businesses leverage their existing data for more actionable insights to grow revenue and margin.  Small businesses have lots of data, but often, it requires a savvy skillset to know how to leverage to bring insights and action 

Examples:  
1) Marketing Analytics - we help ensure Google Analytics is capturing your web traffic data properly to gain more insights to know where you customers are coming from.  H
2) Customer Analytics - discover your best customers so you lean in and grow their accounts.  We also help you uncover who is 'at risk' of churning and why so you can course correct and retain revenue.
3) Sales Analytics - understanding the bottlenecks in your sales process can unlock greater revenue growth.

Chief Insights Guy

Amyris

Lead the analytics and insights team to support our growth with scalable action from insights for 9 different Shopify stores, Klaviyo accounts and Google Analytics accounts.

Lead DTC data platform build project across 9 brands to ingest, transform, join and standardize data to create automated PowerBI dashboards, integrating data from Google Analytics, DTC store and ESP.  

Facilitate the migration and transition for all Ecommerce brands to implementing and adopting Google Analytics 4.

Director, Analytics

Coca-Cola Bottling Company UNITED, Inc.

Primarily responsible for creating scaled and commercialized solutions to help us grow top line revenue and margin by leveraging data.   Includes product recommendation engines, customer clustering, churn modeling, reporting and feedback solutions.

Manager - Outlet Execution and Insights

Key responsibility is ensuring quality advanced analytics and machine learning to transfer outputs to action within the organization.  Build initiatives from pilot to long-term, sustainable processes across channels of Coke United’s business.  
* Winners of 2017 Data Analytics Business Impact Award from the Technology Association of Georgia for implementation of a product recommendation engine.
* Finalist of 2019 Data Analytics Business Impact Award from the Technology Association of Georgia for predictive ordering solution implementation.

Go-to-Market Innovation Manager

Coca-Cola Refreshments

Leverage business analytics to determine, implement and steward the strategies (presenting results) that help Coca-Cola prospect and retain more local market Food Service and Retail Customers.
- Recommended, implemented and commercialized key improvements to customer retention strategy resulting in greater retention of customers as well as increased revenue and profit.  
- Implemented performance management changes for inside sales team that drove 19% improvement in increased productivity for obtaining new business leads.
- Responsible for new data discovery and analysis which led to new recommendations, performance management routines and process improvements that resulted in increased revenue as well as faster customer onboarding for new accounts.
- Led pilot program through design, creation and implementation for a sales support role for new customer onboarding resulting in 20% improvement in sales performance for front-line sales team.
- Led division in content creation of supplemental training materials to improve front line sales effectiveness.
- Completed Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Training following completion of 2 projects delivering over $5M in revenue over 2 years.

Manager, Strategic Initiatives

Primary responsibilities included:
- Conducted comprehensive analysis and provided insights surrounding business performance and key company initiatives for Coca-Cola's national retail customers (WalMart, Kroger, Walgreens, etc)
- Created and developed innovate business solution to enhance performance management routines and solve for gaps in business performance
- Supported development of company annual business plan by providing key analyses

Business Analysis Manager - National Retail Sales

- Delivered analysis and insights surrounding internal and competitive strategies, initiatives and products, creating actionable insights for senior leaders.
- Developed actionable scorecards, reports and routines to drive profitable business growth
- Initiator of providing solutions for new methods of data collection and reporting that create time-efficiencies which are easily analyzed and reported to organization leaders for faster decision making.

Business Analyst, Marketplace, Competitive and Business Intelligence

Primarily responsible for maintaining and growing retail accounts.  Grew volume 14% and profit 9% in 4 months by understanding customer goals, leveraging great customer service and building client relationships.

Market Development Manager

Marcus & Millichap

Compensated as an investment real estate broker, selling over $90M in commercial real estate.  Built and maintained relationships with private and institutional commercial real estate investors.  Leveraged financial analysis, market analysis and DCF Modeling to underwrite commercial property portfolio values.

Investment Sales Broker

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA

Invested time in students to help grow their leadership, character and faith through mentoring and speaking.  Responsible for fundraising salary and ministry budget through personal donations.

Campus Staff

Generating ROI from better insights from data. Growing your Confidence and Credibility at Work through Better Speaking and Presenting.

I run two businesses:  1) helping professionals grow their confidence and skills when it comes to communication and speaking in business.  2) helping small businesses leverage their existing data to gain clarity and take impactful action thru actionable reports, insights and dashboards.  

Speaking Up Your Game started 6+ years ago and now helped over 500+ workplace professionals.  Today, we have a customizable 1:1 process as well as a digital online course focused on helping busy professionals get the critical elements of communication right to advance their careers.

Trend Wise Insights uses data & analytics to improve revenue and profit.  Experienced in leading collaborative business environments to affect change.  Seasoned in financial planning, statistics, performing advanced analytics and driving actionable insights for positive business outcomes.  Project management experience in commercializing analytic solutions, utilizing Six Sigma and driving business change.

Cooper Camak

If people aren't engaging when you speak... 
here's the harsh truth (& the solution).

You're not garnering their attention.

It's not their fault.
It's not 'the culture's' fault.
It's not 'smartphone's' fault.
It's not 'virtual meetings' fault.

It's yours.

If you're frustrated at that, here's the quick solution.

𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 from the outset of speaking and presenting at work.

1) 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗨𝗘 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸.

- Make it RELEVANT for the audience.
- Make it CLEAR in your message  

After coaching 300+ people 1:1, I can tell you the kicker is being RELEVANT.  Most people present to be 'clear' but never tie their message to what matters to the audience.

2) 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆.

People have to know at the outset 'what's in it for them' by listening and engaging your presentation.  

- Give CONTEXT - Why are we here?
- Give the TOPIC - "today we'll discuss..."
- Give the SO WHAT- "... so that..."

The 3rd part is the critical point.  What is the VALUE people will walk away with from your presentation or conversation. 

3) 𝗔𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸, 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 "𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲..."

It has to connect to something they care about.
If it doesn't, they'll disengage.

And yes, you can use the "This matters because..."  When you do, watch people reengage... they'll look up from their phones and laptops.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
If we haven't met, my name's Cooper, and I help busy professionals grow their speaking confidence & skills so they can have the impact they want at work.

If that's of interest to you, you should +Follow my content. 👆

JSESSIONID

li_at

Sales Navigator

Talks about #data, #speaking, #analytics, #publicspeaking, and #confidentspeaking

Building Confident & Credible Communicators at Work | Communication & Speaking Coach | Workshop Facilitator | Speaker | Former Coca-Cola Analytics & Insights

The 6 key books that will make you a stronger, more confident communicator & presenter at work.

My name's Cooper Camak, and after a 20 year corporate career, I now help busy professionals grow their workplace communication skills.

I've read 20+ books on speaking and presenting...
Coached over 300 people 1:1 in the last 7 years...
Done workshops for 250 in 2025.

Here are the critical 6 (ok... bonus makes 7) you need to Up Your Game!

𝗜𝗳 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗱-𝗵𝗼𝗰 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘀… 
Think Faster, Talk Smarter — Matt Abrahams 
A go-to guide for staying composed, thinking on your feet and speaking confidently. 
Link: https://lnkd.in/efhbmWT5

𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗸-𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻… 
Simply Said — Jay Sullivan 
A practical handbook for shifting from self-focused talking to audience-focused impact. 
Link: https://lnkd.in/ecXjuERn

𝗪𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝗯𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀… 
Smart Brevity — VandeHei, Allen & Schwartz 
Learn how to cut the fluff & deliver clarity that lands. 
Link: https://lnkd.in/e8NR4HeJ

𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿… 
Talk Like TED — Carmine Gallo 
A breakdown of memorable world-class talks — and how to build your own. 
Link: https://lnkd.in/e5ePKKMr

𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲… 
Communicating for a Change — Andy Stanley & Lane Jones 
A simple structure for talks that move people to action. 
Link: https://lnkd.in/eBbv5Gxr

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮, 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿… 
Effective Data Storytelling — Brent Dykes 
Because numbers only persuade when you turn them into a story people care about. 
Link: https://a.co/d/5hGzXes

𝗕𝗢𝗡𝗨𝗦
𝗦𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘀, 𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸… 
Rewire Your Anxious Brain — Pittman & Karle (2 PHDs) 
It explains your amygdala's role… and gives you tools to calm your body & your brain. 
Link: https://a.co/d/hu8O6n4

Don't have time for 6 books?  (Most of us don't!)  You should check out our website.

If this was helpful, give it a 👍or💡.  If you want others to have great communication, hit ♻️ report.

Lecturer Stanford University Graduate School of Business | Think Fast Talk Smart podcast host

Exec|Comm, LLC

Carmine Gallo, author, The Bezos Blueprint and Talk Like TED. Harvard instructor. Keynote speaker. Communication coach

Author of Effective Data Storytelling | Founder + Chief Data Storyteller at AnalyticsHero, LLC | Forbes Contributor

If presentation nerves at work is something you struggle with, here's 3 harsh realities (and their solution). 

When you're struggling with 'speaking confidence' at work... 3 things you need to know that people won't tell you.

1️⃣ You’re making it about you.

While the spotlight feels scary, what's happening is your mind is turning inward to 'what are they going to think of me?' 

The cure... shifting your focus to adding value & serving your audience.

2️⃣ What you’re feeling is called 'reputation risk'.

You’re not afraid of speaking… you’re afraid of what people think of you. Good news... that’s 100% normal! The cure... shocker... focus on serving them vs 'looking good to them'.

3️⃣ You don’t have a repeatable game plan.

We all feel nerves when you don't have a checklist to do something that matters. So then, you feel the nerves and the anxiety of 'how you'll look'. A repeatable game plan fixes that. 

A great game plan also delivers VALUE to your audience. When that happens, it gives your brain a reason to relax.

If this is you... I give away our confidence formula for free, and you DON'T have to like, follow or comment on this post to get it! 

I'll email it to you for free. Just hit the 1st Featured Posts in my profile to get it emailed to your inbox.

If you want OTHERs to have more confidence speaking at work, you should give it a 👍 or 💡. Heck, you can even repost it.

- - - - - - - - -
If we haven't met, I'm Cooper. I help busy professionals speak and present confidently and credibly at work so they sleep better the night before their biggest presentations.

Strategy & Finance Executive | Scaling Impact-Driven Companies Beyond $10M | Strategic CFO | Certified Scaling Up Advisor

Scaling Founders Beyond $10M with Strategy, Financial Clarity, and Leadership Expansion

Most companies stall not because of lack of effort—
but because the founder has outgrown the systems, strategies, and financial models that once worked.

At Ascend Growth Ventures, we partner with CEOs of $3M–$10M companies to implement Scaling Up, strengthen financial infrastructure, and elevate leadership teams—building businesses that scale profitably and predictably, without burning out the founder.

By integrating Scaling Up, Exponential Organizations, and CFO-level financial insights, we deliver a complete, battle-tested system for sustainable, high-performance growth.

🔹 We Work With CEOs Who Want To:
✔️ Scale revenue and profits without chaos
✔️ Build self-managing leadership teams
✔️ Unlock hidden cash flow and improve financial decision-making
✔️ Sharpen their strategy for exponential growth
✔️ Prepare for capital raises, acquisitions, or exits

🔹 Our Core Focus Areas:
  * Strategic Scaling Up Implementation

  * Financial Strategy & Cash Optimization

  * Leadership Team Development

  * Systems for Predictable Growth

  * Valuation Prep and Exit Strategy

✅ Why Work With Me?
25+ years of experience scaling businesses from the inside out:
➡️ Regional CFO, GE Gas Power (LATAM, +1.5GW record year)
➡️ Strategic finance and underwriting leadership at GE Capital
➡️ Business/project development for 8-figure ventures
➡️ Trusted advisor to founders scaling past $10M and beyond

✅ Industries We Specialize In:
✔️ Clean Energy & Decarbonization
✔️ Industrial Goods & B2B Services
✔️ Impact-Driven Companies
✔️ Scaling Coaching & Consulting Firms

🧠 If You're Ready to Scale Intelligently and Sustainably

Let's have a strategic conversation about where you are—and where you can go.

Easiest way to work with me?

Book a private power hour call and let's create your vision.
https://calendly.com/cruzagamboa/90-min-power-hour

Cruz Gamboa

Some companies don’t stall because of strategy.
They stall because of perception.

You can have the right model, metrics, and playbook—
and still struggle to scale
because trust isn’t in the culture.

We think scaling is about systems, KPIs, and offers.
But it’s really about energy, alignment, and belief.

Teams don’t reject initiatives.
They reject inconsistency.
They sense when the leader says one thing
and embodies another.

Every interaction in a growing company is a mirror—
it reflects the culture that’s actually being built.

Before you refine your next OKR,
refine your presence.

Because the best strategy in the world can’t fix a trust gap.

➡️ People follow clarity before they follow goals.
➡️ Integrity scales faster than intensity.


#leadership #scalingup #growth #trust #mindset

The market tells stories. Your financials & metrics tell truth.

In 2001, Amazon's stock cratered from $113 to $6.

Wall Street declared it dead.

Let's be clear: that had to be terrifying. Even for Bezos.

Watching 95% of your valuation evaporate. Hearing the whispers. Feeling the pressure from every direction.

But here's what separated him from founders who fold in those moments, he kept coming back to his dashboard:

Customer acquisition costs...improving. 

Fulfillment efficiency...improving. 

Contribution margin per unit...improving. 

Defect rates...declining.

The stock price reflected fear. 

The operating metrics reflected reality.

Confidence isn't the absence of fear. It's choosing to trust what you can measure over what you can't control.

This is Financial Intelligence: knowing which numbers actually predict your future, especially when everything around you is screaming that you're losing.

Watch the video. Bezos is calm. 

Not because he wasn't scared, but because he had clarity.

He knew exactly what was true inside his business.

That's how you survive what looks like a reversal, and come out the other side stronger.

That's how $6 becomes $1.7 trillion.

So here's my question for you:

What would it be worth to have that kind of clarity the next time everything feels like it's falling apart?

To know—not hope, not guess—that you're on the right track?

That's the game worth playing.

Check out comments for details

#founder #growth #ceo #scalingup

Helping Founders Break the $10M Ceiling | Strategy, Cash Flow & Leadership Systems | Scaling CFO

𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.

Hamdi Ulukaya didn’t just build a yogurt brand, he redefined an industry.

No investors. No marketing budget. Just purpose, grit, and belief.

In 2005, he saw an ad.
An abandoned Kraft yogurt factory.

Everyone saw a money pit.
He saw possibility.

He didn’t have the money.
So he took a loan.

Bought the factory.
Kept 5 employees who believed when no one else did.

No income.
No sales.
No marketing.
Just faith, and a recipe from home.

Two years later, in 2007, Chobani was born.

No ads. Just bold packaging and pure taste.

Retailers hesitated.
But the people loved it.

Within 5 years, #1 yogurt in America.

Over $1B in sales.
The giants, Dannon, Yoplait, couldn’t catch up.

He stayed private.
Gave 10% of the company to his employees.

Hired refugees.
Put people before profit.

When asked why, he said:

👉 “Business is the strongest force for good, if it puts people first.”

From a shepherd in Turkey…
To a billionaire who still walks the factory floors.

Lesson?
You don’t need investors.
You need integrity.
You don’t need luck.
You need courage.

Because the dream still works, if you do.

Loved this story. Let me know your comments. 

What problem in your business keeps calling for your most creative energy?

#CEO  #FOUNDER #GROWTH #SCALINGUP

Two friends, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.

One dropped out.
One got rejected from med school.
But both wanted to build something.

First idea: bagels.
Too expensive.
So they pivot to ice cream.

No experience. No investors.
Just a $5 correspondence course from Penn State.
$2.50 each.

They find an abandoned gas station in Vermont.
Borrow $12,000.
Do the renovation themselves.

Ben can’t even taste properly, a condition called anosmia.
So he focuses on texture.
Big chunks. Wild swirls. Bold flavours.

What others saw as a weakness became their edge.

Within months, lines formed outside the door.
Free Cone Day became a tradition.
Word spread fast.

Few years later, they launched Cherry Garcia.
The brand took off across the country.
Soon, Ben & Jerry’s was making over $500M a year.

All from $12,000 and a $5 course.

Lesson?
You don’t need the perfect start.
You need creativity, courage, and the guts to turn constraints into leverage.

#scalingup #ceo #founder #growth

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁.

Steve Jobs said it best, the greatest people are self-managing.

They don’t need direction. They are the direction.

When you’re scaling, this is the difference between speed and stagnation.

You can’t build a $10M company micromanaging every move.
You build it by surrounding yourself with people who:

➡️ See the problem before you do.
➡️ Fix it without asking.
➡️ Then tell you how they made it better.

That’s who scales companies.
Not followers.
Not “yes” people.
Builders.

If you have to keep pushing your team to move, 
you don’t have a scaling problem,
you have a people problem.

The truth?
The best teams don’t need managing.
They need mission.

Hire those who act like owners.
Give them the target.
Then get the hell out of their way.

That’s how you scale.
That’s how you win.

#scalingup #ceo #founder #growth

He built a dating site that generated exactly zero activity.
No users. No traction. No revenue.

Most leaders call that a failed model.
I call it an early audit.

Three ex-PayPal employees launched “Tune In Hook Up,” expecting market fit.
What they got was silence.
Operational cost? Rising.
User acquisition? Non-existent.
ROI? Negative from day one.

But here’s what mattered:
They reviewed the data instead of reacting to the emotion.

They noticed users trying to upload videos
Not for dating, but for everyday moments.
Unintended behaviour, but real demand.

So they executed the smartest financial move any early-stage team can make:
A low-cost pivot.

Same infrastructure.
Same upload system.
Zero additional burn.
Just a shift in positioning:
Share any video.

And that decision changed their entire valuation trajectory.

Users scaled exponentially.
Cost per acquisition plummeted.
Engagement skyrocketed.
Suddenly, they weren’t running a dating site…
They were running the internet’s first true video platform.

By 2006, their risk profile had flipped
High growth. High virality.
And high legal exposure.

Enter Google.
They offered $1.65B in stock for a business that still had no established monetisation engine.
From a financial lens?
That’s called derisking the future.

Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim accepted.
Smart move.
They transferred operational liability…
And secured generational wealth.

Today, YouTube contributes over $40B in yearly ad revenue
and sits at a valuation north of $500B.

All from a product that started as a complete miss 
until the data told a different story.

Lesson:
You don’t scale perfection.
You scale what the market proves it wants.
Listen to the numbers, not the narratives.
And never underestimate the ROI of a well-timed pivot.

#CFOInsights #Leadership #Strategy #Scalingup

He sold garbage bags at 12.
Not for fun.
To buy basketball shoes his parents couldn’t afford.

At 25, he was broke.
Sleeping on the floor.
Sharing a three-bedroom apartment with six guys.

Then one day, he got fired.
His boss told him
“You’re not cut out for this business.”

That hurt.
But instead of arguing,
He used the commission money from his last deal…
to start his own company.

MicroSolutions.
A small computer consulting business.
No degree. No investors. No fancy office.
Just pure hustle.

He made calls. Closed deals. Got rejected. Repeated.
Slowly, it worked.
Clients came in. Revenue grew.
Then, in 1990, he sold it for $6 million.

Most people would stop there.
Mark didn’t.

He bet everything on a new idea:
Streaming sports on the internet.
Way before the world was ready.

That company? Broadcast.com
In 1999, Yahoo bought it for $5.7 billion.
He became a billionaire overnight.

From selling garbage bags to selling a billion-dollar vision.
From sleeping on the floor to owning the floor on Shark Tank.

Mark Cuban didn’t just build companies.
He built proof, that hustle beats pedigree every single time.

Lesson:
You don’t need permission to start.
You don’t need approval to build.
You just need belief and the courage to act when no one bets on you.

#entrepreneurship #founders #startuplife #scalingup #markcuban #successstory

She sold her engagement ring for $10,000.
Ten years later, Vicky Tsai built a $500M skincare empire.

Most people call that crazy.
I call it commitment.

She walked away from a six-figure job…
Moved back into her childhood bedroom at 30…
Got rejected for 18 months straight…
And kept going anyway.

1,000 units.
Her last $5,000.
No safety net. No backup plan.

Month one? $2,000 in sales.
Most people quit here.
Vicky didn’t.

She packed every order by hand.
Wrote thank-you notes to strangers.
Built trust one customer at a time.

Then the internet found her.
Demand exploded.
Sephora called.
And the bedroom startup became one of the fastest-growing skincare brands in America.

In 2019, Unilever bought Tatcha for $500 million.
The $10,000 ring she sold?
It turned into 50,000x.

Lesson?
You don’t need permission.
You need conviction.
And the courage to burn Plan B. 

#ceo #founder #growth #scalingup

She was 20. A housewife. No experience. No degree.

Just a dream, and a recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

Everyone said it would fail.
“Cookies? That’s not a business.”

Banks said no.Experts laughed.

The market was ruled by Oreos and Chips Ahoy.

But Debbi Fields didn’t care.
She took a $50,000 loan with her husband.

Rented a small store in Palo Alto.

Rent: $800/month.
Failure wasn’t an option.

Opening day:
By noon, not a single sale.
She panicked. Grabbed a tray.
Walked outside.
“Try one. They’re free.”

That one line changed everything.
Crowds formed.

They sold out by evening.

She baked fresh every 2 hours.
Never sold day-old cookies.
If they sat too long, she gave them away.

Advisors hated it.
Customers LOVED it.

Year one: $200,000 in sales.
Then store #2.
Then San Francisco.
Then malls.
Then the world.

By the 1990s:

➡ 600+ stores
➡ $500M in annual sales
➡ And a new category: premium cookies

All from one woman who ignored logic and trusted her gut.

The takeaway:
If everyone says your idea is crazy,
you might just be onto something.

#scalingup #founder #growth #ceo

He got fired.
The company he built said, “We don’t need you anymore.”
Everyone forgot him.

But Steve Jobs didn’t stop.

He poured tens of millions into a failing company called Pixar.
Everyone thought he was crazy.
Most would have quit.

12 years later… that gamble sold for $7.4 BILLION.

Here’s the thing:

👉 He wasn’t chasing money. He was chasing vision.
👉 He embraced risk when others ran from it.
👉 He bet on what he believed in, even when the world said no.

Most people quit right before the payoff.
The real winners? They push through when it’s hardest.
They see opportunity where others see failure.

If you want massive results, you need to do what most won’t.
Step past comfort. Step past doubt. Step past fear.

Because the biggest payoffs live just beyond the point where almost everyone quits.

#scalingup  #growth #ceo

Steve Jobs

He built pole barns to pay for college.

Decades later, John Menard Jr. built Menards, an $18B home improvement empire.

Most people call that luck.

I call it financial discipline.

He opened a small lumber yard in 1964…

Kept prices rock-bottom by building his own factories…

And built every store with cash, not debt.

No investors. No loans. No noise.

While others chased speed and Wall Street, John chose control.

He knew his margins by product line. He tracked cash flow like a pilot tracks altitude. He made the numbers his single source of truth.

Store by store. State by state. Slow, steady, unstoppable.

When 2008 hit, he didn't scramble; he expanded.

Today?

340+ Menards stores. $13B+ revenue. 3rd third-largest home-improvement chain in America. Still 100% private.

The lesson?

You don't need to grow fast. You need to grow right.

That means: 
→ Knowing your profit margins by service line 
→ Tracking cash flow weekly, not just at tax time 
→ Building systems so the business works, not just you

Financial clarity isn't about being a "numbers person."
It's about building simple, repeatable habits that let you scale with confidence.

Have the courage to own every decision, starting with your numbers.
#founder #growth #businessmindset #financialclarity #scalingup

Most people think success comes from working harder, dreaming bigger, or thinking smarter.

Here's the truth: none of that matters if you don't act.

In one simple test, a $50 bill was up for grabs. 

Everyone wanted it. 
Everyone talked about it. 
Everyone wished they had it…

Except Debbie.

She stood up. She walked forward. She took it.

That's it. 

That's the difference between winners and everyone else.

While everyone else burns time and money chasing online strategies that become less effective every day…

The smartest entrepreneurs thriving in 2025 are walking away from their screens and adding an extra 7-figures through live events.

Real humans. In-person communities. High-profit partnerships.

The ultimate advantage in the age of AI isn't replacing humanity with efficiency; it's experiences that are deep, connective, transformative, and profitable.

Getting face-to-face with your ideal clients AND peers is the most consistent solution to the Trust Recession.

I'll be at Event Profit Engine in Austin (December 10-12)...and I still have 4 discounted tickets.

If you're ready to get clarity on the financial blind spots keeping you from scaling, this is your moment.

Don't sit in the room wishing. 

Be Debbie.

P.S. Stop waiting for perfect timing. The money, the deal, the break… it's waiting for the first person who moves. Will it be you? DM me AUSTIN for ticket details.
#scalingup #CEO #founder #growth

Most founders don't fail because of competition.
 They fail because of the blind spots they never see coming.

Cash looks fine… until it doesn't. Revenue grows… but profit disappears. You hire fast… and spend months fixing mistakes. You work harder… but scale refuses to unlock.

I spent 20+ years at GE Capital navigating these exact challenges at a corporate level.

Closing an $800M+ power plant deal? That taught me cash flow precision. Managing international transactions? That revealed the profit leaks most miss. Building high-performance teams? That showed me the cost of hiring fast vs. hiring right.

Those frameworks didn't just help me lead deals—they gave me the blueprint for scalable growth.

Now I help founders apply these same battle-tested systems to their businesses.

The 7 blind spots in this carousel? They're the ones holding 90% of founders back from predictable, profitable scale.

If you want to go deeper… Download my free ebook in the comments. 

Fix the blind spots. Scale with clarity. Build a business that runs like a pro—because you learned from one.
#scalingup #founder #ceo #growth

7 Blind Spots

𝗛𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿.

Most founders know Pinterest.

Almost no one knows Paul Sciarra, the guy who paid early salaries out of his own pocket, skipped taking income, and carried the company when no one else believed.

He wasn’t a “supporter.”
He was the architecture.

And then the quiet part of startup life happened.
Not a blow-up.
Not a fight.
Just… inches.

One meeting he wasn’t invited to.
One decision he didn’t have visibility into.
One board conversation that happened without him.

By the time Pinterest crossed millions of users and raised over $100M…
Paul was out.

He walked away with ~$15M.
Not nothing.
But painful when your original idea becomes a $25B enterprise.

This isn’t a story about betrayal.
It’s a story about leadership, governance, and identity.

𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗱𝗮𝘆.
They lose it when:
 • they stop owning the financial strategy
 • they delegate governance without understanding it
 • they avoid hard conversations
 • they let investors define the path
 • they disconnect from the role of architect

You can build something extraordinary…
and still get written out of your own success if you don’t stay in the seat you were meant to own.

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 $𝟯𝗠–$𝟭𝟬𝗠 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻.
The product works.
The company has traction.
Teams are growing.

 But governance, capital strategy, and leadership identity aren’t keeping pace.
That’s the real risk.

𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻:
Your idea can change the world,  but only if you stay in the role of architect as it scales.

Own your equity.
Protect your seat.
Upgrade your thinking.
Build with intention.
The threat isn’t being pushed out.
The threat is drifting out of your power.

𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:
 Are you building like the founder…
 or leading like the architect?

#ceo #founder #scalingup #growth

He was dropped at an orphanage at seven.
No food. No money. No choice.

By 14, he was on a factory floor, making metal frames.
One wrong move crushed part of his finger. Permanent injury.

Most people would quit. Most people would settle.
He didn’t.

He watched. He learned.
Every machine. Every process. Every decision.
Night classes. Every penny saved. Knowledge accumulation.

At 26, he opened a tiny eyewear shop in the Italian Alps.
Nothing fancy. No connections. Just him, a few employees, and an obsession with understanding the craft end-to-end.

Most competitors sold parts. He had a different idea: make complete frames. Control the product. Own the market.

By the 1980s, he was making designer frames for fashion houses.
By 1995, he bought LensCrafters—suddenly he controlled both the product and the retail.

Then came Ray-Ban.
Everyone said he overpaid $640 million for a dying brand.
He didn’t see risk. He saw opportunity.

Ray-Ban wasn’t just glasses anymore.
Movies. Celebrities. Fashion statements.
Value multiplied. Brand exploded.

He kept buying. Oakley. Sunglass Hut. Prada. Versace. Chanel. Pearle Vision.
Vertical integration? Check. Market dominance? Check. Monopoly? Almost.

When he died in 2022, Leonardo Del Vecchio had $25.8 billion.
One orphan. One factory worker. One relentless learner.

Lesson:
You don’t need luck. You need mastery, observation, and relentless execution.
Start small. Learn everything. Then own the ecosystem.

#ceo #scalingup #growth #founder

They emailed eBay 200 times.
eBay ignored every single one.
Most people would’ve given up.

But Marc, Oliver, and Alexander Samwer weren’t “most people.”

They cloned eBay.
Launched it in Germany.
Executed with speed and perfection.
Within months… eBay bought it back for $43 MILLION.

Then the brothers doubled down.
They built Rocket Internet, the company that turned cloning into a billion-dollar machine.

They copied.
They improved.
They scaled.
And they sold again, and again, and again.

Here’s the truth:

👉 They weren’t chasing approval, they were chasing execution at scale.
👉 They didn’t wait to be discovered, they created their own leverage.
👉 They mastered the one principle most founders overlook:
Doing it better beats doing it first.

Critics called them “copycats.”
But behind the noise, the Samwer brothers built an empire worth billions.

Most people stop when they hear “no.”
The one who succeed?
They push when it’s uncomfortable.
They build when others hesitate.
They turn rejection into momentum.

If you want outsized results, do what most won’t:
Step past comfort.
Step past doubt.
Step past fear.

Because the biggest payoffs live right beyond the point where almost everyone quits.

#scalingup #growth #ceo #bostonfounders

Mastermind Scaling Dinner 

This past Wednesday night in Boston, twelve leaders got uncomfortably honest about their real constraints.

No pitch decks. No surface-level networking. 

Just the Hero's Journey framework and one question: 

"What's actually stopping you from scaling?"

Three principles guided the conversation:

🪞 Your Business is a Mirror 

The bottleneck in your business is a reflection of a constraint in your leadership. 

Stop fixing symptoms. Fix the leader, and the business scales.

🐉 Constraints are Your Greatest Leverage

 Your biggest constraint is not a problem—it's the dragon guarding your next treasure. 

The right constraint, once identified and solved, unlocks massive, non-linear growth.

⚖️ Not All Success Has the Same Price

 You can build a company that breaks you, or one that fulfills you. 

Alignment + Clarity = Sustainable Success.

🎯 What showed up:

Estate planning. Cybersecurity. Medical devices. Food distribution. Banking. Fractional sales leadership. IT services. M&A law. Green infrastructure. Urban revitalization. Job search acceleration.

Different industries. Same truth: Every business grows until it hits a constraint, then grows no further.

The magic wasn't in solving everything in one night. 

It was in naming the real constraint out loud - not the sanitized version we tell at networking events, but the 2am version that keeps us up.

Some constraints were about capital. Others about people, partnerships, or positioning. A few were about letting go of what got them here to embrace what gets them there.

🤝 The vulnerability created immediate value: Real partnerships forming. 

Actual introductions being made. Problems being reframed. Resources being shared.

Thank you to Adrian Mendoza and the Mendoza Ventures team for hosting us.

And to everyone who showed up: Marco A. Schiavo , Geoffry Gilton, Joshua Sigsworth, PT, DPT, Dominic Endicott, Jacques Cohen, Maud Dentico, Vasant Narayan, Raffi Yardemian, CSL, Paul Smith, Alex Khalarian, and Sam "Butch" Nigro.

This is what happens when you build community around truth instead of transactions.

The Mastermind dinner happens monthly ( but we are taking a break in December). If you're a founder or executive in Boston or Greater Boston working on something real and willing to get honest about your constraints, let's talk.

We are going to start hosting Metro West dinners as well. More to come.

P.S. - Curious about finding the constraint for your business? Drop a comment or DM.

Most founders don’t fail because they’re lazy.
They fail because their goals are small.

Small goals keep you grinding.
Big goals force you to rebuild the system.

When you raise the target to 10x, everything changes:
your strategy, your thinking, your standards, your circle.

You stop playing in the crowded middle
and start operating where very few people dare to go.

10x isn’t harder.

It’s cleaner. 
It’s clearer. 
It’s smarter.

Stop playing safe. Start playing big.

I learned this lesson the hard way.

I wanted to grow my LinkedIn presence to 100K in a year.
I had 2k followers. 

A few people said that it would take years and that I was unrealistic.

Maybe they would have been right - if I'd believed them

I tried anyway. 
I took a course to learn from others who were ahead of me.
I showed up here every day.
Continuously improved my content (and my mindset)
Hired people to help me.

Did I accomplish my goal?
NO. 

I am still at 72k followers today, a year into that challenge.
But I am still grateful for the results. 

Can you imagine what would have happened if I had played small?
I may be at 15K followers at best. 

And that's the whole point. 

Even if you miss the 10X mark, it beats linear thinking. 

This same principle is why I help founders identify the 7 financial blind spots killing their scale - because small thinking about money keeps you grinding, while 10x financial clarity forces you to rebuild the system.

Want to apply 10x thinking to your finances? 

I've identified the 7 blind spots most founders miss. 

Download the guide; link is in the comments. 

#founder #ceo #growth #scalingup

10X Thinking = 10 X Results

He bought a bankrupt textile factory for $15 million.
Forty years later, Bernard Arnault built a $500B luxury empire.

Most people call that impossible.
I call it vision.

He didn’t invent anything.
He didn’t design a product.
He didn’t chase trends.
He just saw what others couldn’t.

Buried inside that dying company was a forgotten gem: Christian Dior.
Everyone overlooked it.
Arnault didn’t.

He sold everything except Dior.
Bet the house on one iconic brand.
And rebuilt from zero.

Then he made an even crazier move
He went after LVMH.
Louis Vuitton. Moët. Hennessy.
The crown jewels of French luxury.

The elite hated it.
The media mocked it.
It was the most hostile takeover France had ever seen.
Arnault didn’t blink.

He bought the shares quietly.
Took control boldly.
And turned LVMH into a global machine.

One acquisition at a time.
Fendi. Tiffany. Givenchy. Sephora.
Dozens of brands reborn under one ruthless strategy:

Let creators dream.
But keep the business razor sharp.

While tech giants chased disruption…
Arnault chased timelessness.

While others discounted…
He raised value.

In 2023, he became the richest man on Earth.
Quiet. Precise. Unshakeable.
He outplayed every tech titan without writing a single line of code.

Lesson?
You don’t need to invent.
You need to see the hidden gem
And have the courage to bet everything on it.

#entrepreneur #growth #businessstrategy #founder #scalingup

𝗛𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘀.
𝗛𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Back in the early 2000s, Jon Oringer wasn’t building empires, he was just trying to find affordable stock photos for his tiny online business.

But what he found instead… was an opportunity.

Stock images back then cost $300+ per photo, a luxury small creators couldn’t afford.

So Jon did something different:

▶ Bought a camera
▶ Took 100 photos a day
▶ Built his own website
▶ Uploaded 30,000 photos
▶ Charged $49/month for unlimited downloads

That’s how Shutterstock was born.

No fancy investors. No marketing team.

Just a subscription model, executed brilliantly.

He wasn’t selling images,
he was selling convenience, freedom, and access.

And the best part?

Every sale cost him nothing to reproduce.Pure passive income.

By the time Shutterstock went public in 2012,
Jon still owned 55% of it.

His net worth crossed $1 billion,
built from a camera, a simple website, and consistency.

That’s not luck.
That’s vision meeting execution.

Because the smartest entrepreneurs don’t wait for an opportunity,
they create it by solving a problem once
and selling the solution over and over again.

𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧:

Stop chasing “new.”
Find one problem.

Solve it better than anyone else.
Then systemize, scale, and sleep while your solution works for you.

#Entrepreneurship #ceo #BusinessModel #founder #scalingup

taplio

The Battle

Cooper Camak

Cruz Gamboa

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreCooper Camak's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreCruz Gamboa's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Cooper Camak

Cruz Gamboa

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Cooper Camak's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreCruz Gamboa's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreCooper Camak's LinkedIn Performance