The Breakout CEO

Jeff Holman
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The Breakout CEO podcast brings you candid conversations with scaling CEOs at leadership & strategic inflection points. Each episode is a curated interview that explores the mindset, strategy, and pivotal decisions driving breakthrough success for high-growth companies ($5MM-$50MM+). Jeff Holman is the host of The Breakout CEO podcast and the founder of Intellectual Strategies, where he works closely with CEOs and leadership teams of scaling companies on strategy, governance, and risk during periods of rapid growth. Jeff has spent years inside the decision-making rooms of growth-stage companies, helping leaders navigate moments when complexity increases, tradeoffs become unavoidable, and the cost of misalignment rises. He brings a peer-level perspective shaped by that experience, focusing conversations on the inflection points that materially change a company’s trajectory. The Breakout CEO podcast reflects his approach with candid, operator-level discussions centered on real decisions rather than retrospective storytelling or promotion. Guest Participation - We feature a limited number of CEOs leading scaling companies with meaningful, first-hand breakout moments. If you believe your story would add value for an audience of scaling CEOs, please apply here: https://go.intellectualstrategies.com/ Media & Event Partnerships - For press access, on-site recording, or event collaboration inquiries, please contact us. We record a limited number of on-site conversations at select events with CEOs and founders whose stories align with the podcast’s focus on leadership, strategy, and execution.

  1. 4 DAYS AGO

    50 - How Josh Carr Rebuilt Echo Water Into an $18M Hardware Company

    As AI makes software easier to replicate, Josh Carr argues that durable businesses may increasingly come from harder-to-build physical products and hardware companies. Echo Water effectively restarted from scratch, forcing the company to rebuild customers, products, and operations from the ground up. Josh Carr explains why hardware companies are harder to build but often more defensible than software businesses. The conversation reframes entrepreneurship around experimentation, execution, and identifying opportunities where physical products create durable advantage. Scaling CEOs and founders often default toward software or digital businesses because they scale quickly and require less capital. But the episode raises a strategic tension: If AI makes software easier and cheaper to build, where will real competitive advantage exist? Leaders must decide whether to continue pursuing purely digital products or consider opportunities in physical products and hardware where barriers to entry remain higher. Execution reveals strategy. Real insights about markets and products emerge through experimentation and real customer transactions. Hardware businesses are difficult—but defensible. Manufacturing, supply chains, and product design create operational complexity that discourages fast followers. Early sales validate the direction. The first transaction provides critical proof that the market values the solution. AI may commoditize large parts of software. If building software becomes dramatically easier, competitive advantage may shift toward physical products. Innovation often comes from combining unrelated ideas. Entrepreneurs can generate new opportunities by connecting concepts that previously had nothing to do with each other. Chapter Marker: 00:00 - Intro & guest welcome 01:30 - Car restoration & personal background 04:30 - Business turnaround analogy 07:00 - Visionary founder & early hydrogen water 10:30 - Restarting the company from zero 14:00 - Entrepreneur mindset & first sale excitement 17:30 - Team strategy & “mobbing” workflow 21:00 - Product explanation (hydrogen water tech) 26:30 - Scaling the business to $18M 32:00 - Product design & manufacturing challenges 38:30 - Hardware vs software future trends 45:00 - Business ideas, innovation & entrepreneurship advice Josh Carr https://www.linkedin.com/in/superstar/ CEO, Echo Water Josh Carr rebuilt Echo Water into an $18M hardware and health technology company, focusing on hydrogen water and advanced water filtration systems. His experience spans startups, product design, and scaling physical products.

    1hr 1min

  2. 6 DAYS AGO

    49 - The Cost of Scaling a Marketplace With Misaligned Incentives

    Marketplace businesses look simple on the surface: connect supply and demand and let the network grow. But for CEOs, the real risk isn’t growth — it’s misalignment between stakeholders. In this episode, Paul Roberts, CEO of GoodBite, explains why marketplace startups often fail when incentives between customers, partners, and suppliers drift apart — and why scaling too early can make the problem exponentially worse. “At scale, misalignment becomes the most expensive risk.” Drawing from multiple startups and over $130M raised, Roberts shares how CEOs should validate marketplace alignment before writing code, raising capital, or scaling distribution. Marketplace businesses are attractive to founders because of their potential for rapid scale. But behind the growth narrative is a difficult operational reality: every stakeholder in the marketplace must win at the same time. Paul Roberts, serial entrepreneur and CEO of GoodBite, has spent decades building companies across data science, advertising technology, and marketplaces. In this conversation, he explains why the biggest threat to scaling a marketplace isn’t competition or funding — it’s misaligned incentives between the participants in the ecosystem. Roberts shares how lessons from previous startups shaped the design of GoodBite, a food delivery platform that integrates charitable giving into everyday consumer transactions. By aligning incentives across restaurants, consumers, and nonprofits, the model attempts to solve the structural problems that plague many marketplace platforms. The discussion explores how CEOs should think about validating marketplace ideas, making decisions with incomplete data, building leadership teams, and avoiding structural misalignment that becomes expensive once growth accelerates. Key Takeaways 1. Misalignment becomes exponentially expensive at scale Marketplace businesses often move fast early, but structural misalignment between stakeholders becomes costly once growth accelerates. 2. Growth amplifies problems — it doesn’t solve them Scaling a company with weak foundations only exposes the cracks faster. 3. Marketplace CEOs must validate every side of the ecosystem Successful marketplaces require alignment between suppliers, customers, and platform incentives before scaling. 4. CEOs must act before perfect information exists Decision-making at scale requires recognizing signals early and moving with conviction rather than waiting for perfect data. 5. Leadership is about building the right team, not controlling everything Roberts compares the CEO role to a bench coach — responsible for assembling the right team and enabling them to execute. 00:00 Intro hook: misalignment is the most expensive risk 00:15 Welcome to the show + Paul Roberts intro 00:56 Family, entrepreneurship, and bringing business lessons home 03:13 What a CEO can actually control 04:21 The CEO as a “bench coach” 05:57 Paul’s founder background: adtech, data science, and the SPAC 06:48 Why he built GoodBites: food delivery with charitable giving 08:21 Lessons from past companies: alignment, risk, and pattern recognition 12:26 Entering food delivery without restaurant-industry experience 13:42 The GoodBites elevator pitch 15:00 Why now is the right time to build this marketplace 17:16 The problem with traditional delivery apps for restaurants 19:27 Connecting restaurants, consumers, and charities 21:05 Making giving effortless through everyday orders 23:22 Traction, college ambassadors, and growth goals 25:33 What’s working in the rollout 27:04 Restaurant exclusivity deals and market friction 29:18 How campus ambassadors drive local adoption 30:06 User experience: choosing charities, impact tracking, and verification 32:30 Adoption trends and coverage challenges 35:32 Partnering with larger restaurant groups and franchise owners 37:43 Advice for CEOs scaling marketplace businesses 39:03 Alignment, validation, and building the right foundation 42:05 Five-year vision for GoodBites 43:38 How students, restaurants, and charities can get involved 44:17 Paul’s personal charity picks: Alzheimer’s Foundation and ASPCA 45:20 Outro Paul Roberts is the CEO of GoodBite and a serial entrepreneur who has raised more than $130 million across multiple startups. His experience building marketplace and platform businesses informs his perspective on incentive alignment, ecosystem design, and scaling strategy.

    45 min

  3. 26 MAR

    48 - The Leadership Shift That Took This CEO From Survival to Scale

    What does it take to scale a company in one of the most competitive industries in technology? In this episode of the Breakout CEO Podcast, Jeff Holman sits down with Michael Chaput, CEO of Endsight, to explore the leadership transformation that helped him grow a managed services company to more than $35 million in revenue and 140 employees. Michael shares the lessons he learned after his first company went bankrupt and how those experiences shaped the leadership philosophy that ultimately fueled Endsight’s growth. The conversation dives deep into the realities of the managed services industry, why most firms never scale beyond a handful of employees, and the critical shift leaders must make from survival mode to strategic leadership. Michael also explains how evolving company values, aligning teams around a shared vision, and creating meaningful work environments can unlock both performance and long-term growth. Along the way, he introduces powerful frameworks—from the Predator vs. Prey mindset in leadership to the Becker Rudder principle, which explains how small internal shifts can transform an entire organization. This episode is packed with insights for founders, executives, and leaders who want to build companies that scale while maintaining strong culture and purpose. Key Takeaways Failure can be the foundation of success. Michael’s first company ended in bankruptcy, but the lessons from that experience helped shape Endsight’s long-term growth.The managed services industry is extremely fragmented. In most cities there are hundreds or even thousands of small competitors, making differentiation and scale difficult.Scaling requires letting go. Founders must eventually delegate even the parts of the business they enjoy most in order to grow the organization.Core values must evolve with the business. Early company values can unintentionally create the wrong culture if they aren’t continually reevaluated.Alignment beats perfect strategy. A team united around a shared vision will outperform a group pursuing multiple competing strategies.Purpose drives performance. Employees perform best when they find meaning and play in their work, not just economic incentives.Leadership starts with the inner game. The most powerful changes leaders can make often begin with their own habits, mindset, and philosophy. Michael Chaput is the CEO of Endsight, a leading managed IT services provider serving hundreds of businesses. Under his leadership, the company has grown to more than 140 employees and $35M in annual revenue in a highly competitive industry. Michael is a longtime entrepreneur and leadership thinker who focuses on building organizations rooted in strong values, team alignment, and continuous improvement. Through his work and writing, he explores how leaders can create meaningful work environments while achieving sustained business success. Chapter Markers 00:00 Intro: Inner Game vs Outer Game 00:17 Podcast Intro & Guest Introduction (Mike Chaput) 01:00 Early Career & First Business Failure 02:08 Lessons from Bankruptcy & Resilience 02:12 What Insight Does Today (Managed IT Services) 03:05 Industry Landscape: Small vs Large Players 04:46 Why It’s Rare to Scale in This Industry 07:52 How Mike Got Into Managed Services 10:54 Early Growth & First Competitive Advantage 12:45 Scaling Challenges & Customer Retention 14:06 Growth Ceilings & Leadership Evolution 16:39 Biggest Leadership Learning Moments 18:35 When Core Values Were Wrong 22:00 Redefining Company Values (Respect vs Humor) 26:26 Setting Vision: Thinking Backwards vs Big Goals 28:46 Why Big Goals Create Energy 29:31 The Turning Point: Why Change Was Necessary 30:49 Prey vs Predator Mindset in Leadership 33:09 Sponsor Break + Podcast Context 33:33 Vision & Values as Team Alignment Tools 36:00 Why Alignment Beats “Perfect Strategy” 38:04 Building Team Trust & Leadership Foundations 40:39 How to Actually Create Core Values 44:17 Why Most Company Values Are Weak 45:17 Learning Through Books & Experience 47:02 Diagnosing Problems Through Values 49:06 How Goals Shape Attention & Behavior 51:18 Capital Strategy: Growth vs Exit Decisions 53:00 Future Direction: AI & Business Transformation Resources Mentioned Unreasonable Hospitality — Will GuidaraThe E-Myth Revisited — Michael GerberBuilt to Last — Jim Collins & Jerry PorrasLean / Toyota Production System principlesSAVERS productivity framework

    1hr 19min

  4. 24 MAR

    47 - The Moment CEOs Realize Their Company Is Too Complicated

    Most founders start with a simple idea. Then growth happens — and suddenly the company becomes ten different things at once. In this episode, PodMatch founder Alex Sanfilippo shares the moment he realized his business had become confusing to the market. After launching multiple offerings and expanding quickly, he discovered that customers no longer understood what the company actually did. For CEOs scaling a company, this conversation explores the difficult leadership decision to choose focus over opportunity — and why simplifying the business can be harder than building it. Alex Sanfilippo founded PodMatch to solve a specific problem in the podcasting industry: connecting podcast hosts and guests efficiently. But like many founders in the early growth stage, he began expanding into new products, courses, and services. Over time, the business accumulated multiple brands, offerings, and initiatives. At a podcasting conference, a simple audience question exposed the problem: people didn’t understand what he actually did. That moment forced a strategic reset. In this conversation, Alex walks through the realization that his company had become too complex, the discipline required to say no to good opportunities, and how narrowing the company’s focus ultimately strengthened the business. He also discusses the emotional side of building a company — including the pressure of being a “frontline founder,” the importance of founder communities, and the role of a single operating metric in guiding business decisions. Key Takeaways1. Confusion in the market is often a signal of strategic driftWhen customers can’t clearly describe what your company does, the business may have expanded beyond its core value proposition. 2. Early founder enthusiasm often creates complexityMany founders say yes to every opportunity during early growth, which can slowly turn a focused company into a scattered one. 3. Saying no is one of the hardest CEO decisionsMaintaining focus requires the discipline to reject good ideas that do not reinforce the company’s core offering. 4. Founder isolation can distort decision-makingSeeking feedback from other founders helped Alex reframe difficult challenges and regain perspective during plateau moments. 5. Every business needs a single operational metricAt PodMatch, the key signal of company health became the number of interviews successfully completed on the platform. 00:00 Intro Hook – Being Known for Something 00:14 Podcast Introduction 01:00 Alex’s Personal Brand & Minimalist Setup 04:55 Early Career & Discovering Podcasting 10:02 The Idea Behind PodMatch 15:05 Building a Platform for Podcasters 20:05 The Importance of Relationships in Business 25:10 From Founder to CEO Mindset 30:00 Lessons From Growing a Startup 35:05 Community Building in Podcasting 40:00 Personal Growth & Leadership Insights 45:05 Final Advice for Entrepreneurs 48:42 Outro Guest Information: Alex Sanfilippo Founder & CEO — PodMatch Website: https://podmatch.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexsanfilippo/

    49 min

  5. 19 MAR

    46 - The Real Cost of Executive Misalignment in Scaling Companies

    Most CEOs don’t notice executive misalignment when it starts. They notice it when they’re spending 70–80% of their time on people problems. In this Advisory Insight episode, Robert White breaks down the hidden cost of leadership misalignment — and why it almost always traces back to a failure to clearly define and enforce purpose, vision, and values. Episode Description Executive misalignment rarely announces itself as a strategy issue. It shows up as turnover, compensation tension, leadership drama, and endless “people problems.” But as Robert White explains, those are presenting problems — not root causes. In this focused conversation, Robert unpacks the structural mistake scaling CEOs make: assuming alignment exists because purpose, vision, and values have been written down — without rigorously enforcing them. He explains why leaders often choose to be liked instead of respected, why that erodes standards over time, and how CEOs can diagnose whether their executive team truly “gets it, wants it, and is capable.” This episode is not about leadership philosophy. It’s about decision discipline — and the cost of tolerating drift. Key Takeaways People problems are often alignment problems.When CEOs spend most of their time managing interpersonal friction, it’s usually a signal that purpose, vision, and values aren’t operationally enforced.Alignment requires enforcement, not slogans.Posting values on a wall is not the same as building shared ownership around them.Leaders often avoid enforcing standards to stay liked.The tradeoff between being liked and being respected quietly drives misalignment.“Get it, want it, capable” is a powerful diagnostic lens.Evaluating executives against these three dimensions reveals where misalignment truly lives.Commitment determines whether alignment survives pressure.Without visible, consistent enforcement from the CEO, standards erode over time. Episode Highlights 00:00 Intro – Leadership mistakes CEOs make with people 00:18 Welcome to the Breakout CEO Podcast 00:49 Advisory Insights series explained 01:06 Episode topic: executive leadership misalignment 01:33 Robert White’s early life challenges and turning point 03:04 Transforming income and becoming president of Mind Dynamics 03:35 Building a global training company 04:33 Losing a $30M business and rebuilding 05:31 Working with small and mid-sized growth companies 06:06 The framework: Focus, Alignment, and Commitment 07:23 Why most business goals should focus on the next 90 days 08:24 The real meaning of leadership alignment 08:53 Alignment to purpose, vision, and values 10:29 Enforcing alignment when values are violated 11:29 Why many CEOs feel alone 12:33 Choosing respect over being liked as a leader 13:02 Lessons from the Ritz-Carlton founder 13:51 How leaders recognize misalignment in their teams 14:35 The real problem behind constant people issues 15:01 The “Get It, Want It, Capacity” framework for evaluating leaders 16:44 Why leadership teams need facilitated alignment sessions 17:36 Preparing your leadership team for alignment work 18:11 Start with evaluating your own leadership 19:04 Tools CEOs can use to understand themselves better 20:23 Lessons from Stephen Covey’s *7 Habits* 21:45 How leaders get trapped in their own stories 22:10 When deeper personal work is needed for leadership growth 22:55 Learning leadership lessons through failure 24:11 Why experienced mentors accelerate CEO growth 24:59 How to connect with Robert White Guest & Host InformationRobert White Founder, Extraordinary People Website: https://www.extraordinarypeople.com/ Robert White has founded and scaled multiple training organizations globally and now works with growth-stage companies to help leadership teams align around purpose, vision, and values — and enforce them under pressure. Host: Jeff Holman The Breakout CEO Podcast

    28 min

  6. 18 MAR

    45 - The Moment a CEO Must Choose Between Control and Scale

    Most scaling CEOs say they want growth. Fewer are willing to confront the moment when growth requires them to give up control. In this Advisory Insight episode, Ral West breaks down the recurring pattern she sees: founders who want scale but continue operating as if the business would “die without me.” That tension — between control and trust — is where companies either plateau or accelerate. Episode Description After building and exiting a multi–eight-figure travel company that operated its own charter airline for 25 years, Ral West now advises entrepreneurs on how to step out of day-to-day operations without losing performance. This conversation centers on a specific leadership inflection point: the realization that “I’m holding my company back.” Ral explains why delegation is not just about workload relief, but about redesigning culture, transparency, and accountability. From open-book management to clearly defined cultural boundaries, she outlines what changes when a CEO shifts from operator to architect — and why the transition rarely happens overnight. For scaling CEOs, this episode reframes control not as strength, but as a potential growth constraint. Key Takeaways Control eventually becomes a bottleneck.When a CEO insists on being indispensable, scale slows — even if revenue is still growing.The real shift is psychological before it is structural.The turning point is the realization: “I’m holding my company back.”Transparency accelerates alignment.Sharing financials and teaching teams how the business works increases ownership and decision quality.Culture requires enforcement, not slogans.Accountability only works when consequences are real and consistent.The transition out of operations takes time.Moving from operator to architect can take years of intentional system-building and mindset change. Chapter Markers00:00 Intro – Welcome to the Breakout CEO Podcast 00:30 Raoul West’s background as a serial entrepreneur 01:14 Why experienced CEOs become coaches 02:11 The challenge of letting go as an entrepreneur 03:37 Using leverage and building a team 05:22 Founder mentality vs scalable leadership 06:15 Building company culture and leadership frameworks 08:40 Open-book management and teaching teams financials 11:05 Incentivizing teams and creating alignment 11:51 Scaling the business from zero 13:00 Starting a Hawaii travel business from Alaska 13:30 Launching a charter airline to save the business 14:17 Scaling to eight-figure revenue and selling to Alaska Airlines 15:11 The long process of stepping out of daily operations 16:10 Why leaders must start before everything is perfect 17:08 Taking action and overcoming fear 18:19 How to get real buy-in from your leadership team 20:12 When team members aren’t aligned 21:03 Enforcing culture and accountability 22:16 Why financial transparency builds team ownership 23:06 Advice for entrepreneurs who feel stuck 24:34 Learning from mentors and advisors 25:40 How to connect with Raoul West 26:23 Final thoughts on helping entrepreneurs regain freedom

    23 min

  7. 17 MAR

    44 - The warning signs CEOs are scaling complexity instead of structure

    The warning signs CEOs are scaling complexity instead of structure Scaling doesn’t fail because of ambition. It fails because of misalignment. Many founders believe they’re building for growth — launching new services, expanding markets, hiring faster. But without structure underneath that growth, complexity compounds. What feels like momentum becomes chaos. What looks like opportunity becomes bottleneck. In this episode, Derek Fredrickson explains why “you can scale structure, you cannot scale complexity,” and how CEOs can recognize when growth is landing back on their own shoulders instead of being absorbed by the business. Episode Description As companies move from multiple six figures into multiple seven or eight figures, leadership misalignment becomes predictable. Visionary founders generate ideas. Teams try to execute. Without an operator to translate vision into structure, the organization zigzags. Derek Fredrickson, Founder of The COO Solution, shares patterns he repeatedly sees in scaling businesses: founders subconsciously blocking growth because the backend can’t support it, teams lacking clarity around ownership, and CEOs mistaking busyness for progress. He outlines the structural shift required to move from founder-led execution to operator-driven accountability — and why installing a true second-in-command is not a hire, but a leadership inflection point. Key Takeaways 1. You can scale structure — not complexity. Growth without process creates misalignment. Structure absorbs expansion; complexity amplifies friction. 2. Founders are not wired to create structure. Vision and execution require different cognitive wiring. Misalignment often begins at the top. 3. Growth lands on the founder when systems aren’t ready. If the backend can’t handle scale, CEOs subconsciously resist growth because it increases their personal burden. 4. Installing a COO is a leadership shift, not a transactional hire. True operational alignment requires redefining lanes, ownership, and accountability. 5. The “how” determines whether growth compounds or collapses. New products and expansion are the “what.” Scale depends on how execution is structured. Episode Highlights00:00 Intro – Welcome to the Breakout CEO Podcast 00:12 Derek Fredrickson joins from Paris 00:43 Advisory Insights series and episode topic 01:10 Executive leadership misalignment in scaling companies 02:18 Derek’s background and the COO Solution 03:30 Why founders get stuck in the day-to-day 04:12 The “new level, new devil” concept in business growth 05:05 Founder vs operator roles in scaling a business 06:00 Empowering teams vs hiring a second-in-command 06:59 The “Make it up, make it real, make it recur” framework 08:22 Process-driven vs person-driven companies 09:44 Scaling chaos vs scaling structure 10:18 Starting with the North Star vision 11:22 Trusting the COO to execute the plan 12:17 Case study – engineering firm transformation 13:11 The problem with “drive-by delegation” 14:30 Building accountability and execution systems 14:59 Project tracking with color-coded progress (green/yellow/red) 17:14 Revenue growth and the power of unplugged vacations 18:13 How successful COOs think differently 18:42 Understanding CEO vs COO wiring (Kolbe assessment) 20:02 The COO as the business “air traffic controller” 21:20 Signals of leadership misalignment 21:54 Why numbers and KPIs reveal alignment issues 23:40 Building a culture of accountability 24:35 The feeling of true leadership alignment 26:10 Why founders subconsciously block growth 27:53 Structure first, then scale 28:49 Focus on the “how,” not just the “what” 29:49 Final advice for scaling CEOs 30:56 Where to find Derek and the COO Solution Guest & Host Information Derek Fredrickson Founder, The COO Solution Derek Fredrickson is a former COO turned advisor to scaling founders. He works with multiple seven- and eight-figure companies to install operational structure, clarify executive roles, and realign leadership teams so growth doesn’t collapse under complexity. The COO Solution The COO Solution provides a done-for-you fractional COO model for founder-led businesses. The firm helps CEOs step out of day-to-day execution by building accountability systems, KPI dashboards, and operational structure designed to absorb scale. Website: https://thecoosolution.com Jeff Holman Host, The Breakout CEO Podcast

    33 min

  8. 16 MAR

    43 - Advisory Insights: Finding and Fixing Executive Leadership Misalignment in a Scaling Business

    In this episode, Jeff Holman sets the stage for a new Breakout CEO format: Advisory Insights, a short series of episodes where experienced operators and advisors share the patterns they see inside scaling companies. The theme for this series is executive leadership misalignment — a problem that rarely shows up as a dramatic conflict, but instead builds slowly through small signals inside the business. Drawing on experiences from his legal career and his work with founders and scaling companies, Jeff explains how misalignment often begins quietly: teams executing toward different objectives, leaders saying they support a direction but resisting the actions required to achieve it, or organizations where meetings happen but real progress stalls. As Jeff points out: “They stall because the team quietly gets misaligned.” The episode also previews the three advisor conversations in the series and the different lenses they bring to the problem: Structural alignment between CEOs and operatorsValues alignment across leadership teamsCultural alignment that creates genuine buy-in Before those conversations begin, Jeff challenges listeners to identify the signals of misalignment already present in their own businesses — the ones leaders often notice but delay addressing. Transcript Segment Summary 00:20 — Advisory insights series introduction 01:05 — Why scaling companies stall 02:40 — Signals of leadership misalignment 03:20 — Law firm misalignment story 05:05 — Client partnership misalignment case 07:30 — Advisor series preview 08:00 — Derek Fredrickson episode preview 09:50 — Robert White episode preview 12:00 — Ral West episode preview 13:20 — Connecting the three perspectives 14:10 — CEO action steps to diagnose alignment 17:45 — Subscribe and episode close Jeff Holman is the host of the Breakout CEO Podcast and a legal advisor who works closely with founders and scaling companies. His perspective comes from observing recurring leadership challenges inside growing organizations and helping CEOs navigate structural and strategic issues.

    18 min
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About

The Breakout CEO podcast brings you candid conversations with scaling CEOs at leadership & strategic inflection points. Each episode is a curated interview that explores the mindset, strategy, and pivotal decisions driving breakthrough success for high-growth companies ($5MM-$50MM+). Jeff Holman is the host of The Breakout CEO podcast and the founder of Intellectual Strategies, where he works closely with CEOs and leadership teams of scaling companies on strategy, governance, and risk during periods of rapid growth. Jeff has spent years inside the decision-making rooms of growth-stage companies, helping leaders navigate moments when complexity increases, tradeoffs become unavoidable, and the cost of misalignment rises. He brings a peer-level perspective shaped by that experience, focusing conversations on the inflection points that materially change a company’s trajectory. The Breakout CEO podcast reflects his approach with candid, operator-level discussions centered on real decisions rather than retrospective storytelling or promotion. Guest Participation - We feature a limited number of CEOs leading scaling companies with meaningful, first-hand breakout moments. If you believe your story would add value for an audience of scaling CEOs, please apply here: https://go.intellectualstrategies.com/ Media & Event Partnerships - For press access, on-site recording, or event collaboration inquiries, please contact us. We record a limited number of on-site conversations at select events with CEOs and founders whose stories align with the podcast’s focus on leadership, strategy, and execution.

Information

  • Creator
    Jeff Holman
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    50
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 Intellectual Strategies
  • Show Website
    The Breakout CEO