From Designer to CEO. The system is the work.
For first-time CEOs, post-exit founders, and operators in transition. Twenty years from product designer at Nike to PE-backed CEO of a national DTC platform. The system is the work.
In the field · Phoenix The window, the floor, the screen
Three surfaces every operator manages. Get them aligned and the revenue follows. Get them out of sync and you are running theater.
Window
The storefront and the first impression.
Floor
The physical and operational experience.
Screen
The interface where intent becomes revenue.
Why I Went Back to Building After Angel Investing
I was a small angel investor in two funds that did well. Then founders showed me I was prescriptive, not suggestive. So at 46, I went back to building.
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I Don't Have an AI Assistant. I Have an AI Org Chart.
I staff AI agents the way I staff a team: clear roles, one front door, a morning brief, and written rules for what each agent may do alone and what needs my yes.
11 tools, no single view of the customer. So I built a warehouse.
Our data lived in 11 tools. Nobody could see one customer from start to end. So I connected them, one by one, into one cloud warehouse. The numbers on screen are synthetic demo data, not client results.
My First 90 Days as CEO Almost Wrecked Me
Close to 40% of new leaders fail within 18 months, and it usually starts in the first 90 days. I almost became one of them. Here is the mistake I made, and the plan I wish I had run.