Founder's Framework

Ninety.io
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Tune in to hear Ninety founder, Mark Abbott, talk with other company leaders and entrepreneurs about key business-building frameworks and concepts. You'll learn strategies for overcoming obstacles, making informed decisions, and reaching your ambitious goals.

  1. Jun 12

    Building Ninety: 10 Years Through the Eyes of Our First FTE — feat. Christine Watts

    Ninety almost didn't get to build the software that now runs thousands of companies. Mark Abbott marks the company's 10-year anniversary with Christine Watts, Ninety's first full-time employee, tracing the journey from a $500-a-month marketing budget and two college-age engineers to a platform used by roughly 4,000 organizations. They get honest about the years when every feature and every blog post needed EOS Worldwide's approval, the "beautiful mess" of bringing technology into a world that resisted it, and the ultimatum that pushed Ninety to build its own Plan B. Christine explains how customer experience became the company's north star without anyone ever formally deciding it, why COVID turned into the unexpected tipping point behind nearly 200% growth, and what a decade of constant role changes taught her about ambiguity, humility, and herself. In this episode: The early years: product-market fit inside the EOS implementer community with almost no marketing Building product under EOS Worldwide's approval, and the tension that came with it COVID 2020 as the tipping point that finally proved the product Customer experience as a core value no one ever formally decided on The "Plan B" ultimatum and navigating the license fight without burning bridges What 10 years and constant role changes taught Christine about leadership and ambiguity About Christine Watts: Christine Watts is Ninety's first full-time employee, joining in January 2017. Over nearly a decade she has led marketing, client success, and product, served as chief of staff, and now serves as Ninety's Head of Professional Services. Connect with Christine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wattschristine/ Mentioned in this episode: "Traction" by Gino Wickman "The Discipline of Market Leaders" by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema Try Ninety free: https://www.ninety.io/ Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week. → Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter → Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter   → Try Ninety free for 30 days!

    1h 3m

  2. May 29

    Why Leadership Is Never Aligned — feat. David Meyer

    Every leadership team thinks they're aligned. David Meyer, founder of Spoke Marketing, has run alignment exercises with over a hundred companies across 17 years, and not once have two leaders written the same answer when asked their company's single most important message. That discovery led David to develop what he calls "thresholds of change": the inflection points where a company's old story stops matching reality, whether driven by new technology, shifting buyer behavior, leadership transitions, or market disruption. In this conversation, Mark and David unpack why alignment breaks down, why emotion (not logic) is the true driver of change, and how founders can use a simple "now, next, later, never" framework to keep their teams pointed in the same direction during turbulent times. Key topics: Why 100% of leadership teams fail the alignment testThresholds of change: recognizing when your brand story no longer fitsThe "now, next, later, never" framework for prioritizationWhy founders get emotionally attached to what got them thereHow throwing more tactics at misalignment makes it worseAbout David Meyer: David Meyer is the founder of Spoke Marketing, a brand strategy and positioning agency he started nearly 18 years ago. With some team members who've worked together for over 30 years, Spoke helps companies figure out not what they want to say, but what their customers want to hear. Their mantra: "You haven't told your story until someone else can tell it." Website: spokemarketing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/admeyer/ Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week. → Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter → Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter   → Try Ninety free for 30 days!

    1h 1m

  3. May 15

    How to Build a Good Life While Building a Company — feat. Charles Lee

    What does it take to build a good life, not just a successful company? In this episode of Founder's Framework, Mark Abbott sits down with Charles Lee, founder of Ideation and author of Design Your Good Life. Charles shares how growing up as the child of immigrant entrepreneurs shaped the way he thinks about work, creativity, and what really matters. In this episode: Why your greatest strength may be the thing you take for grantedHow curiosity helps people move through transitionWhy competence and confidence are not the same thingWhat Kobe Bryant taught Charles about success and familyHow to stay connected to what matters while building something meaningfulIf you're building a company and trying to build a life you're proud of, this conversation is worth your time. Resources: Get Design Your Good Life by Charles Lee: https://www.charlestlee.com/design-your-good-life-book-landing-page#preorder-the-book Subscribe to Mark's Founder's Framework Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3JiAaXT Try Ninety free: https://www.ninety.io/?utm_source=youtube Connect: Follow Charles on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlestlee/ Follow Mark on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/MarkAbbott Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week. → Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter → Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter   → Try Ninety free for 30 days!

    54 min

  4. Apr 24

    Why Your Weekly Meetings Don’t Work

    Mark and Cole unpack a simple but uncomfortable truth: if your weekly meetings aren’t working, your company probably isn’t either. This conversation breaks down why so many teams dread meetings, what’s actually going wrong beneath the surface, and how those patterns reflect deeper issues with alignment, leadership, and discipline. They walk through real scenarios inside leadership teams, from visionaries disrupting focus mid-quarter to teams avoiding the hard conversations that actually move the business forward. At the center of it all is one idea: the weekly meeting is not just a meeting. It’s a signal. And if you learn how to read it, it will tell you exactly what’s working and what’s not inside your company. You’ll Learn: Why most meetings feel like a waste of timeHow misalignment shows up in weekly meetingsThe role of the visionary in breaking or strengthening focusWhy teams avoid the issues that matter mostHow great meetings create clarity, accountability, and momentumHow are your meetings? Take the Rate Our Meetings Quiz to find out Do you like this content? Get our latest book, Meetings Kinda Suck Resources → Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter → Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter → Try Ninety free:  https://www.ninety.io/?utm_source=you… Connect: → Follow Mark on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/MarkAbbott → Follow Cole on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ColeAbbott Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week. → Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter → Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter   → Try Ninety free for 30 days!

    45 min

  5. Mar 20

    The Hidden Cost of Too Many Ideas

    Growth creates options, but it also creates complexity. In this Founder’s Framework episode, Mark Abbott and Cole Abbott unpack why so many companies get stuck doing more instead of doing what matters most. What starts as experimentation, ambition, or a flood of good ideas can quietly turn into friction, confusion, and wasted effort across the business. This conversation is about discipline. It’s about keeping the main thing the main thing, resisting the pull of novelty, and building organizations that value fewer, finer, better decisions over constant motion. You’ll hear: Why too many ideas create drag across teamsHow founders accidentally add complexity to the businessWhy “fewer and finer” is a better operating principleThe difference between projects and programs as companies growIf your company feels busy but not clear, this episode will help you rethink what’s actually moving the business forward. Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week. Resources → Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter → Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter   → Try Ninety free for 30 days! → Stages of Development Quiz Connect: → Follow Mark on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/MarkAbbott → Follow Cole on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ColeAbbott Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week. → Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter → Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter   → Try Ninety free for 30 days!

    38 min

  6. Mar 6

    Should Founders Rebuild for AI? feat. Audra Stanton

    Mark Abbott sits down with Ninety’s head of product, Audra Stanton to discuss how founders should think about AI in their products and operations. As AI becomes part of nearly every business conversation, founders are facing real pressure from investors, customers, and competitors to incorporate it. The question is not whether AI matters. The question is how to approach it thoughtfully without losing focus on what actually makes a company strong. This episode explores the tension between innovation and discipline. It is a conversation about judgment, timing, change management, and keeping humans at the center of the company. They reference examples including Netflix and Blockbuster, Intercom’s decision to lean heavily into AI despite short term pain, and Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology as a reminder that innovation does not always equal product market fit. In this episode: How founders should think about AI in product versus operationsThe fear of being left behind and how to evaluate that riskWhy most companies using AI are not yet seeing meaningful ROIHow to navigate change without losing your core customerIf you are building a company meant to endure, this conversation will help you think more clearly about how and when to evolve. Resources → Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3JiAaXT → Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter: https://www.ninety.io/impact-moments → Try Ninety free:  https://www.ninety.io/?utm_source=you… Connect: → Follow Mark on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/MarkAbbott → Follow Audra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audra-stanton/ Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week. → Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter → Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter   → Try Ninety free for 30 days!

    50 min

  7. Feb 20

    Introducing Impact Moments: A Podcast for the EOS Community

    Mark Abbott sits down with Kris Snyder and Christine Watts to introduce Impact Moments, a new podcast from the team at Ninety, the EOS software platform companies have come to know, love, and trust for the past ten years. This show is all about the real stories that shape culture, build clarity, and test leadership. These are the turning points inside EOS sessions and quarterlies that reveal what teams actually believe. Created for EOS leaders, implementers, and teams, Impact Moments brings to life the moments that challenge alignment and strengthen culture when handled well. Why now? After years of working with more than 18,000 clients, the Ninety team wanted to share what they’ve seen up close. This podcast is a way to share those stories and support the broader EOS community. In this episode: What an “impact moment” looks like in the roomWhy EOS success depends on how teams handle truth and tensionHow storytelling preserves culture and accelerates growthWhat to expect from the new show and who it’s built forIf you're running on EOS or helping others do it well, this is a podcast you’ll want to add to your queue. . Resources → Subscribe to Impact Moments → Explore EOS support at Ninety: https://www.ninety.io/professional-services → Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3JiAaXT → Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter: https://www.ninety.io/impact-moments → Try Ninety free:  https://www.ninety.io/?utm_source=you… Connect: → Follow Mark on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/MarkAbbott → Follow Kris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krsnyder → Follow Christine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinemwatts  Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week. → Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter → Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter   → Try Ninety free for 30 days!

    30 min

  8. Jan 30

    AI Doesn’t Replace Thinking. It Demands It

    AI is changing how we work, but not by replacing people. It’s raising the bar for how we think. In this Founder’s Framework episode, Mark Abbott explores what AI reveals about our habits, clarity, and decision-making. It doesn’t remove the need for good judgment. It makes the gaps more obvious. This isn’t about fear or hype. It’s about learning how to think with AI in the loop and what that means for founders, teams, and culture. You’ll hear: Why founders are still responsible for making hard callsHow clear inputs lead to better AI outputsWhat it takes to build thinking teams in an AI-driven worldIf AI feels destabilizing, it might not be the tech, but what it’s showing us about how we work. Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week. Connect: → Follow Mark on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/MarkAbbott → Follow Cole on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ColeAbbott Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week. → Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter → Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter   → Try Ninety free for 30 days!

    34 min
See All (61)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Tune in to hear Ninety founder, Mark Abbott, talk with other company leaders and entrepreneurs about key business-building frameworks and concepts. You'll learn strategies for overcoming obstacles, making informed decisions, and reaching your ambitious goals.

Information

  • Creator
    Ninety.io
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    61
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Founder's Framework
  • Show Website
    Founder's Framework

You Might Also Like