A confession.
Then a story.
Then you decide.
I’ve been in that room. Probably a few dozen versions of the room you’re in right now.
Not as a consultant watching from the outside. As someone who’s felt what’s actually at stake.
Let me start with the part I don’t put in my bio.
In 2011, I filed bankruptcy.
I tell people that because I think it matters. Not as a comeback story — I’m not interested in selling you a redemption arc. I tell you because when a founder sits across from me and says “I don’t know if we’re going to make payroll,” I don’t have to imagine what that feels like. I know the specific weight of it. I know what it does to a marriage, to a morning, to the way you answer when someone asks how you’re doing.
I know what’s at stake. That’s the only reason I can be trusted to tell you the truth about what I see.
Twenty years across the table from founders.
I’ve spent two decades sitting across from founders running companies between $3M and $20M — watching the same patterns play out in their businesses and in their lives, regardless of industry, geography, or how good the product is.
The founder who can’t let go. The sales team that can’t run without the founder in the room. The company that grew fast and then stalled — and nobody quite knows why. The marriage that’s quietly paying the price for a business that demands everything.
I’ve been in enough of those rooms — and enough of those conversations at 11pm when the laptop finally closes — to know what’s actually happening versus what looks like it’s happening.
What I figured out, the hard way and then again by watching founders repeat it: the problem is almost never the market, the product, or the team. The problem lives closer to home than that.
I built RevHeat because I believe sales is a system, not a personality.
Most companies treat sales like it’s magic — catch lightning in a bottle, hire a rainmaker, hope for the best. I’ve watched that approach fail in every industry I’ve touched. Tree service. Software. Media. Manufacturing. Doesn’t matter.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s tree service or software… it’s all the same.”
That’s what a client said to me in a working session. He was right. The patterns are universal. The solutions are buildable. And 75% of what makes a sales organization work can be ascribed to a specific, repeatable process — not a personality you can’t clone.
I work with founders to build that process. Not hand them a playbook and wish them luck. We build it together, we install it in their team, and we stay until it runs without us.
“We deliver it 85% ready… not ‘go do it, good luck.’”
That’s the line I’ve said on every client call for years. It’s the thing that makes this different from consulting. We don’t write recommendations. We build what works and make sure it actually runs.
A few things I believe that most people in my field won’t say out loud.
B2B is still human.
Business-to-business is just a different form of business-to-consumer. You’re still selling to a person with fears, ambitions, and a spouse who has opinions. Treat it like a transaction and you’ll lose. Treat it like a relationship and you’ll build something durable.
The founder is usually the bottleneck.
Not the team. Not the market. The person who built the thing is often the reason it can’t grow past a certain point. Seeing that clearly is the hardest and most valuable thing a founder can do.
Advice without execution is expensive.
I’ve watched founders spend $50,000 on a consulting engagement and walk away with a deck they never opened again. I’m not interested in being part of that pattern. What I care about is what’s different on Monday morning.
It’s more important to be understood than to sound smart.
I learned this the hard way. The smartest thing in the room rarely wins. The clearest thing in the room does. That’s how I try to communicate — here, on stage, and in every client session.
The playbook most founders are following is broken.
Not because the people who wrote it were wrong. Because the world changed, the rules changed, and nobody updated the document. That’s what I do — figure out what’s actually true now, and help founders build around reality instead of mythology.
Here’s where we might intersect.
Work Together Directly
I work with a small number of founders at a time. If your company is between $3M and $20M in revenue and you’re tired of recycled advice from people who’ve never been in a room with a real customer — let’s have a real conversation.
Hear Me Speak
I speak to founder communities, sales organizations, and leadership teams. If you’re planning an event and want someone who won’t read slides at your audience — I’d be glad to talk.
Start With the Podcast
Broken Playbook is a weekly show for founders over 40 who are done with business content that treats them like beginners. It’s the fastest way to hear how I think before deciding if any of this is for you.
The short version, for people in a hurry.
- Founder of RevHeat — a revenue advisory firm for growth-stage companies
- 20 years advising founders and sales organizations
- Personally influenced $1B+ in revenue across client engagements
- Host of Broken Playbook (weekly podcast)
- Featured in Forbes, keynote stages, and top industry podcasts
- Works with companies doing $3M–$20M in revenue
If something I said made you think — “finally, someone who gets it” — let’s talk.
I respond to every inquiry personally. Not a VA. Not an assistant. Me. Because if we’re going to work together, I want to know who you are first.