Scaling With People

Gwenevere Crary
  • 5.0 (27)
  • MANAGEMENT
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Tired of spinning your startup wheels but never gaining traction? Buckle up, founders and CEOs, because this podcast is your rocket fuel to profitability! Every week, we ignite explosive conversations with bold-faced founders, brainy experts, and even a few out-of-this-world vendors. Get ready to crack the code on growth, master employee engagement, and blast through your scaling goals. We’re talking real-world strategies, actionable tips, and perspectives that’ll make your business do a cosmic dance. So, strap in and prepare for lift-off!

  1. 5D AGO

    Lean Marketing Wins with Mark Donnigan

    Send us Fan Mail If marketing feels like a never-ending list of things to do while sales still feels harder than it should, this is why. Most founders don’t have a marketing problem—they have a focus problem. In this episode, we break down how small, focused marketing teams consistently outperform bloated departments by staying close to the buyer and prioritizing impact over activity. You’ll learn what your first marketing hire should actually look like, why founder-led sales is still your strongest early advantage, and how to know when your messaging is finally working. We also dig into how AI is changing marketing—and why the advantage is shifting toward people who can combine strategy with real human judgment. Support the show

    33 min

  2. MAR 18

    How To Build Trust With Benefits That Fit Your People with Oksana Lukash

    Send a text Ping pong tables do not build trust and wellness stipends do not fix a broken culture. We get real about the messy intersection of employee benefits, wellness, culture, and retention, and why the “perks” playbook fails when it is copied from companies with totally different people, pay realities, and business goals. I sit down with Oksana Lukash, a seasoned chief people officer and leadership advisor, to unpack what actually makes a culture scalable. We talk about culture starting on day one, showing up in every decision and every conversation, and why leaders have to be honest about expectations so the right talent self-selects in. We also dig into the hidden damage of “culture subtraction” hires and why protecting team dynamics is not soft, it is financial. Then we shift into practical employee benefits strategy: working with a strong benefits broker, using utilization data, running short pulse surveys, and designing coverage around your real workforce demographics. We explore why meeting basic needs through compensation comes before any wellness program, and how high-impact benefits like fertility or adoption support can beat the ROI of many traditional retention tactics. We also highlight the underused lever that changes everything: ongoing benefits education, so employees can confidently use tools like HSA, FSA, dependent care, and retirement plans. If you’re a founder, HR leader, or operator trying to scale without burning people out, this is a playbook you can use immediately. Subscribe, share this with a builder who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest question about benefits, culture, or trust. Support the show

    36 min

  3. MAR 11

    Growth Without Breaking: Scaling Smarter With AI And People with Adnan Eddie Bin-mahfouz

    Send us Fan Mail Growth doesn’t stall because you need “more sales.” It stalls because your systems are fuzzy, your budget isn’t built for a ramp, and your hires are sized for the wrong game. We sit down with Adnan Eddie Bin Mahfouz—former CEO of a five‑company group and author of The Art of Business Development in the Age of AI—to map a cleaner path from chaos to compounding growth, especially for small and mid-sized teams. We start by drawing a clear line between small and medium businesses so expectations match reality. Eddie’s core premise lands fast: hire to grow, not to maintain. We unpack why overhiring from Fortune 500 environments backfires without the tools and budgets those leaders expect, and how underhiring managers while demanding VP outcomes breeds failure. Then we get practical with growth budgeting: carve profit ahead of time, plan multi-quarter investments, and pace for your industry’s sales cycle so new roles have runway to deliver. You’ll hear how onboarding—both for employees and customers—becomes the quiet engine of retention, time to value, and expansion when it’s documented, owned, and measured. From there we get tactical with AI. Keep the human edge where it matters—qualification, discovery, trust, negotiation—and let AI take the grind: cadence messaging, social touches, first-draft personalization, and follow-ups. Eddie shows how teams can win back six to eight hours a week and redirect that time toward live conversations and revenue moments. We close with the mindset shift founders need: step out of the weeds, read the P&L, coach through KPIs, and model growth by staying close to customers. Subcontract specialists when full-time hires are premature, and build a culture that values ownership over control and systems over heroics. If this conversation gives you a new lens on scale, subscribe, share it with a builder who needs it, and leave a quick review. Want people strategy and AI systems that keep up with your growth? Visit guidetohr.com and let’s talk. Support the show

    30 min

  4. MAR 4

    AI, Sales, And The Human Edge with Sean Meenan

    Send us Fan Mail Support the show

    28 min

  5. FEB 25

    Scale Faster With Intentional Systems with Matt Granados

    Send us Fan Mail Growth gets noisy when speed outruns structure. We invited Matt Granados, CEO of Life Pulse, to show how to turn that noise into a rhythm teams can sustain. Instead of glorifying grind, Matt reframes productivity as alignment: purpose tied to goals, people equipped with simple systems, and performance measured by outcomes, not seat time. The result is a path from high output at a breaking pace to high output at a sustainable pace—optimal performance. We dig into weekly reverse planning, a lightweight framework that reduces overwhelm by handling the 80 percent you can control while leaving margin for the 20 percent you can’t. Matt explains why scheduling every minute backfires, how to reset plans when new variables hit, and why planning is more valuable than the plan. We talk through the 100-80-100 hiring rule—bringing on people who can deliver 100 percent of responsibilities at 80 percent of their ability—so growth, hiccups, and innovation don’t push the team into the red. We also confront symptom chasing with a simple root cause method: ask “why” five times until the real blocker shows up. The people side takes center stage. Personal life does bleed into work, and leaders are often the last to know. Matt shares how equipping individuals—rather than shoulding on them—transforms performance. We explore leading with explanation instead of defense to build trust and clarity, plus the “unsell” step in interviews that sets honest expectations and attracts the right talent for fast-changing environments. And yes, we tackle AI head-on: if a tool 5x’s output with quality, reward it. Optimize for results, not optics. If you’re ready to scale without burning out your team, this conversation delivers practical systems you can use next week. Subscribe for more bold, unfiltered strategies, share this with someone building something big, and tell us: what’s the first productivity myth you’re dropping? Support the show

    27 min

  6. FEB 18

    Hiring Across Borders Without Losing Momentum with Matthew Hellrung

    Send us Fan Mail Compliance doesn’t have to slow you down. We sat with immigration attorney and founder Matthew Hellrung to map out how smart teams turn visas, I‑9s, and global mobility into a talent advantage while staying out of audit crosshairs. If you’re recruiting engineers, data scientists, or AI specialists, the numbers are clear: a huge share of the best graduates need sponsorship. We walk through the policy choices that keep your funnel open, your people informed, and your risk controlled. Matthew explains what the latest enforcement push really means for companies, including ICE’s expanded I‑9 audits and how fines stack up. You’ll hear when E‑Verify helps, when it hurts, and how to decide based on your workforce and contracts. We dig into the biggest “oops” moments that burn startups—like inconsistent sponsorship decisions that look discriminatory, sloppy document storage, and untracked location moves that break H‑1B terms. Then we offer practical fixes: a simple, public immigration policy; internal ownership with HR enablement; and direct access to counsel to cut anxiety and speed decisions. We also hit the realities of a borderless workplace. From social media vetting at consulates to stricter travel screening, we flag issues leaders should address before trips and transfers. If you send U.S. employees abroad, we outline visitor vs. work activities, the rise of digital nomad visas, and how to avoid triggering substantial presence and tax exposure. To close, Matthew shares a founder lesson—delegate and elevate—so you can focus on the few moves only you can make for the business. If this helped you think clearer about hiring across borders, tap follow, share it with a builder who needs it, and leave a quick review so more founders can find these playbooks. Support the show

    32 min

  7. FEB 11

    Jet Fuel For Smarter Growth with Kathryn Strachan

    Send us Fan Mail Growth isn’t a mystery; it’s a system. We sit down with award-winning fractional CMO and bestselling author Kathryn Strachan to unpack the moves that turn scattered marketing efforts into a commercial engine that compounds. From the mindset shift that frees founders from bottlenecking their teams to the exact sequence for building demand and then layering sales, Kathryn shares a clear, proven path to scale. We start with the hardest habit to break: doing everything yourself. Kathryn explains how she stepped out of the weeds, hired senior operators, and aligned teams around outcomes instead of tactics. Then we go deep on foundations—positioning, ICP clarity, and validated messaging—so every tactic has a purpose. She walks through the first levers she pulls inside a company: rebuild the website as a true conversion hub and run a spend audit to stop wasting money on channels that don’t move pipeline. The result is a tighter story, a cleaner funnel, and a budget that works harder. Kathryn also challenges a common startup reflex: hiring sales before marketing. Her approach flips the order. Keep founder-led sales while a fractional marketing leader builds brand, content, and credibility that drive inbound. Six months later, add sales to convert that momentum and amplify with targeted outbound. We explore how personal branding fuels trust at scale, why technical founders struggle with commercial storytelling, and how a visible leader can win enterprise attention without a giant ad budget. Finally, we tackle the 2025 reality: AI is the new search. If your brand isn’t cited across the web, AI won’t surface you. Kathryn outlines a practical strategy to expand your digital footprint—third-party features, consistent expert content, and multi-channel visibility—so you become “pickable” by AI systems and human buyers alike. It’s a candid, no-fluff masterclass in scaling smarter. If this conversation sparked ideas, share it with someone building something big, subscribe for more bold, practical strategies, and tell us: what lever will you pull first? Support the show

    28 min

  8. FEB 4

    Reading Signals In A Noisy Market with Daniel Nikic

    Send us Fan Mail Markets aren’t just noisy; they’re rewiring in real time. We sit down with global investment researcher Daniel Nikic to decode what founders should actually track, how to turn headlines into decisions, and why the most resilient companies pick problems that will matter for the next five to ten years. If you’ve felt overwhelmed by AI hype, shifting supply chains, and choppy investor sentiment, this is your field guide to clarity. We start with the investor lens: what problem are you solving and how durable is it? Daniel shares how he reads signals from trade flows, raw goods, and energy dynamics to spot second-order effects before they hit revenue. From Detroit’s auto halo to fertilizer shocks tied to war, he shows how “faraway” events change your cost structure and demand curves. The playbook is simple and sharp: track a few leading indicators that map to your model, define thresholds, and pre-decide your moves so you act fast when the line gets crossed. AI takes center stage as leverage, not oracle. Daniel frames today’s tools as junior analysts that excel at scraping, summarizing, and formatting secondary research. The win is speed; the risk is unexamined bias and hallucinations. We dig into human-in-the-loop workflows, practical use cases for founders (market mapping, interview synthesis, competitor baselines), and why experience turns data into insight. Expect clear guidance on when to trust the model, when to audit, and how to keep outputs actionable. We also hit the founder operating system: persistence through rejection, pivoting without drama, and reputation as a compounding asset. With limited resources, you’ll hear how to use free pilots and testimonials to compress trust and lower CAC. On the macro map, Daniel spotlights the Middle East’s surge in entrepreneurship and LP capital, along with America’s ongoing edge in innovation. Looking ahead, we explore a bold trendline: smaller teams powered by AI, building faster with tighter focus and sharper distribution. Enjoy the conversation. If it sparks an idea, share it with a builder who needs it, and subscribe for more unfiltered, practical strategies. Got a takeaway or a challenge to our view? Drop us a note—we’d love to hear your signal. Support the show

    26 min
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5
out of 5
27 Ratings

About

Tired of spinning your startup wheels but never gaining traction? Buckle up, founders and CEOs, because this podcast is your rocket fuel to profitability! Every week, we ignite explosive conversations with bold-faced founders, brainy experts, and even a few out-of-this-world vendors. Get ready to crack the code on growth, master employee engagement, and blast through your scaling goals. We’re talking real-world strategies, actionable tips, and perspectives that’ll make your business do a cosmic dance. So, strap in and prepare for lift-off!

Information

  • Creator
    Gwenevere Crary
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    126
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Scaling With People
  • Show Website
    Scaling With People