Making The Grade

The GTM Playbook that works in 2026: Amelia Scott on scaling Culture Amp from $15M to $170M without sales commission

podcast@scalewise.com (Tom Glason, Amelia Scott, ScaleWise) — Thu, 9 Apr 2026 04:00:00 +0000

What does it actually take to build a world-class sales culture?

Amelia Scott knows better than most. She spent nearly seven years at Culture Amp, joining as a senior AE when the business was at $15M ARR and leaving as VP of Global Sales at $170M.

During her tenure, she took the EMEA business from $1.5M to $40M, and learned some hard, invaluable lessons along the way about talent, culture, regional expansion and what revenue leadership actually requires.

Now working as a fractional CRO, Amelia is right at the sharp end of how AI is reshaping the GTM function.

In today’s Making The Grade episode, she shares what she's learned across both sides of that journey, how to build sales teams without a commission structure and where AI is genuinely delivering ROI right now.

📚 Episode Chapters

02:10 - Culture Amp’s scaling journey

08:50 - Scaling without sales commission

11:30 - How to expand into multiple regions

21:00 - The evolving role of the CRO

28:45 - Where AI is adding value & where the gaps are

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Bootstrapping to $45M ARR: Guillaume Moubeche on scaling efficiently without any VC trade-offs

podcast@scalewise.com (Guillaume Moubeche, Tom Glason, ScaleWise) — Thu, 2 Apr 2026 04:00:00 +0000

What does it actually take to build a $45M ARR SaaS business without raising a penny of VC money?

Guillaume Moubeche, Founder of Lemlist, knows better than most. Starting with just €1,000 and rejections from 30 VCs, Guillaume built one of the most recognised outbound sales tools in the world, bootstrapped, community-led, and stubbornly focused on doing fewer things better.

In this Making The Grade episode, Guillaume unpacks the full journey from building in public before it was fashionable, why the constraint of having no money forced the creativity that capital never could have bought, and his refreshingly honest reflections on what didn’t work along the journey.

Plus, we look ahead and discuss what the future of outbound and the SDR realistically looks like in an AI-native world.

📚 Episode Chapters

04:10 - Bootstrapping in a crowded market

06:20 - Repeatability, Community and Content

13:00 - Bootstrapping advantages VC money can’t buy

25:00 - GTM & Hiring lessons from scaling to $45M ARR

37:00 - The future of GTM in an AI-native world

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What Investors Really Look for: Hillel Zidel on the moves and decisions that make or break the One to Ten Million journey

podcast@scalewise.com (Tom Glason, Hillel Zidel, ScaleWise) — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 05:00:00 +0000

What does an investor actually see when they look under the hood of a 1 to 10 Million journey? And what really separates the companies that break through from those that quietly stall?

We’re joined by Hillel Zidel, Managing Director at Kennet Partners, to find out. Kennet Partners invests in founder-led, capital-efficient B2B SaaS companies at precisely the stage where growth either compounds or gets stuck, making Hillel one of the most informed voices on what this journey actually takes.

In this episode, Tom and Hillel dig into the predictors he uses to assess whether a company will scale, the hidden dangers of moving from inbound to outbound too aggressively, and why the "shiny shoe" CRO hire so often ends in disappointment.

This episode is essential listening for any founder or revenue leader navigating the 1 to 10 Million journey.

📚 Episode Chapters:

01:50 - What changes at the 1 to 10 Million stage

05:00 - Predictors of early-stage growth

09:50 - The inbound to outbound danger zone

15:30 - US Expansion: When it actually makes sense

29:30 - What ‘marketable’ looks like today

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Make sure you listen to From Chaos to Predictability: Pete Crosby's Honest Lessons on the One to Ten Million Journey

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From Chaos to Predictability: Pete Crosby's Honest Lessons on the One to Ten Million Journey

podcast@scalewise.com (Pete Crosby, Tom Glason, ScaleWise) — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 05:00:00 +0000

If you're building a venture-backed software startup and trying to navigate the messy, exhilarating, often brutal stretch from $1M to $10M ARR, this episode is essential listening.

In this Making The Grade episode, we’re joined by Pete Crosby, Founder of Revelesco and one of the most experienced revenue coaches in the UK startup ecosystem.

Pete has helped countless founders and CROs find clarity, fix alignment, and scale with real commercial rigour. In this conversation, Pete shares the patterns he sees repeatedly across the companies he works with, and the frameworks he uses to help them break through.

Pete also shares the human side of scaling - why team alignment is the silent killer of otherwise great businesses, what makes a true builder in the one to ten phase, and how the best GTM leaders think about culture, hiring, and diversity.

Whether you're a founder, a CRO, or a revenue leader trying to level up, Pete's insight is the kind of hard-won wisdom you'd normally only access through years of experience.

📚 Episode Chapters

01:40 - The root cause of stalled growth
05:30 - Finding your ICP with discipline
10:30 - The four phases of scaling internationally
18:00 - Defining true predictability
21:30 - Team alignment & hiring diverse teams

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Make sure you listen to Reshaping GTM in the AI Era - Harrison Rose on repeatable GTM and scaling beyond Founder-Led Sales

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Reshaping GTM in the AI Era - Harrison Rose on repeatable GTM and scaling beyond Founder-Led Sales

podcast@scalewise.com (Harrison Rose, Tom Glason, ScaleWise) — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Harrison Rose has lived the journey most founders only see from the outside.

As Co-Founder of Paddle, he helped scale from zero to $100M+ revenue - without the “overnight success” story everyone loves to tell. Now he’s doing it again with GoodFit, turning the market-mapping and ICP systems Paddle built internally into a product built for modern GTM teams.

In this episode, Harrison breaks down the real inflexion points that unlocked Paddle’s growth, why founder-led sales is often misunderstood, and how teams get trapped at $2–3M ARR when “founder privilege” masks the lack of a scalable playbook.

You’ll also hear Harrison’s clear-eyed take on bootstrapping vs VC, and how AI is moving from “more output” to actually making GTM decisions, including the coming tension over who owns the top of funnel: CRO or CMO.

📚 Episode Chapters

05:15 - When to hire experienced Sales Leaders
08:45 - A focus on cold outbound
11:25 - Seeing ICP as a spectrum
19:30 - Building true repeatability
25:15 - Funding & the future of AI

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Make sure you listen to From Inception to Acquisition: Natasha Ratanshi-Stein on scaling Surfboard, stage-fit hiring and the importance of founder-led sales

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From Inception to Acquisition: Natasha Ratanshi-Stein on scaling Surfboard, stage-fit hiring and the importance of founder-led sales

podcast@scalewise.com (Natasha Ratanshi-Stein, Tom Glason, ScaleWise) — Thu, 5 Mar 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Natasha Ratanshi-Stein has seen startups from almost every angle, as a VC, Operator, and Founder. After scaling customer service operations at Bulb, she saw firsthand how broken legacy workforce management tooling really was.

That pain became Surfboard, and in today’s Making The Grade episode, Natasha is refreshingly honest about what founders underestimate in the £1 to £10M ARR journey, and her own journey from inception to an acquisition by Dialpad, which was all sparked by an SDR’s mis-targeted outbound message.

📚 Episode Chapters:

02:00 - Building Surfboard from idea to acquisition
14:40 - Lessons from selling before a finished product
30:15 - Transitioning out of being a Founder
38:00 - Hiring the right Sales Leaders for growth
44:15 - Navigating funding challenges

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Make sure you listen to Ego, Cash & GTM Discipline: Paul Fifield’s unfiltered lessons from building scalable businesses

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Ego, Cash & GTM Discipline: Paul Fifield’s unfiltered lessons from building scalable businesses

podcast@scalewise.com (Tom Glason, Paul Fifield, ScaleWise) — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

What actually breaks a startup between £1m and £10m ARR isn’t usually the thing founders are obsessing over.

In this Making the Grade episode, we’re joined by Paul Fifield - one of the UK’s most experienced go-to-market leaders, and someone who’s lived the full spectrum from predictable revenue playbooks, to rocketship growth, brutal crashes, and the rebuild that follows.

Paul unpacks two defining failures in his career, and the patterns he now sees repeatedly in early-stage SaaS: messy data, woolly ICPs, uncontrolled SDR targeting, false confidence from renewals, and leadership decisions driven by ego rather than fundamentals.

Paul also shares why the GTM playbook is changing fast, what modern CRO capability looks like in 2026, and why AI won’t save teams that haven’t done the foundational work first.

If you’re a founder, CRO, VP Sales, or an Operator trying to help a business graduate from Series A to Series B - this one is a masterclass in what to do, what to avoid, and what to take seriously before the market forces you to.

📚 Episode Chapters

03:04 - Lessons from Failures and Successes
24:04 - The impact of ego in leadership
28:13 - Scaling strategies from $1M to $10M
35:05 - The evolving role of the CRO
41:06 - Leaning into fractional talent as a startup

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Make sure you listen to Designing an AI-first Business - Bethany Ayers on hiring stage-fit leaders & the GTM playbooks that actually work in the AI era

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Designing an AI-first Business - Bethany Ayers on hiring stage-fit leaders & the GTM playbooks that actually work in the AI era

podcast@scalewise.com (Bethany Ayers, ScaleWise, Tom Glason) — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Bethany Ayers isn’t experimenting with AI at the edges of Metomic; she’s using it to redesign how the company operates, with an ambitious goal of becoming an AI-first company.

In this episode of Making the Grade, Bethany Ayers, CEO of Metomic, joins us to unpack what it really means to build an AI-first organisation, and how it impacts hiring decisions, GTM design, and leadership accountability.

Beth shares why her default is now AI before headcount, how Metomic is using AI coworkers to strip out busy work across SDRs, engineering, marketing, and leadership, and why one SDR can now deliver the output of two to three.

But this isn’t an AI hype conversation. Beth is equally candid about the fundamentals that don’t change: why stage-fit exec hiring still breaks scale-ups, why founders step away from sales too early (or not at all), and why clarity on ICP, pipeline targets, and operating rhythm matters more than ever.

If you’re rethinking how to scale with fewer people, higher leverage, and sharper focus, this episode offers a clear, practical blueprint, without pretending the trade-offs don’t exist.

📚 Episode Chapters:

01:50 - Hiring the right Sales Leadership
03:22 - Evolving GTM Strategies
16:45 - The intersection of Product and Sales
22:04 - Leveraging AI in your Sales Team
30:35 - Future of Work: Balancing AI and People
36:10 - Diversity in Leadership

⛳ Mentioned in today’s episode:

Metomic: https://www.metomic.io/

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Make sure you listen to Building for efficient growth - Pavilion’s honest growth journey & the real problem behind the short CRO tenure with Sam Jacobs

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Building for efficient growth - Pavilion’s honest growth journey & the real problem behind the short CRO tenure with Sam Jacobs

podcast@scalewise.com (Sam Jacobs, ScaleWise, Tom Glason) — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Most growth stories celebrate momentum, but very few actually share the behind-the-scenes of what happens when momentum stalls.

In this Making The Grade episode, we’re joined by Sam Jacobs, Founder & CEO of Pavilion - the community built to give in-seat GTM leaders the peers, frameworks, and rooms they need to operate under real pressure.

Sam takes us on a journey from the early days of Revenue Collective dinners to Pavilion’s Covid-era surge. But there’s no skipping the hard bits in this episode. Sam shares the painful consequences of growing too fast, loosening ICP, and chasing scale for growth’s sake.

This is a rare, unfiltered conversation about what happens when your biggest strength gets diluted, and how you rebuild when churn becomes the signal you can’t ignore.

No matter whether you’re a Founder currently building or a GTM Leader facing the various challenges the market throws at you, there’s endless practical advice in this episode, ready for you to apply straight away.

📚 Episode Chapters

01:15 - Pavilion’s origin story
09:23 - Scaling mistakes & lost focus
19:08 - The short CRO tenure
22:20 - Building P&L Fluency for Revenue Leaders
29:00 - Sustainable GTM Strategies
39:34 - Planning for a successful exit

⛳ Mentioned in today’s episode:

Pavilion: https://www.joinpavilion.com/
Intro to P&L Fluency: https://www.joinpavilion.com/pavilion-university/intro-to-pl-fluency

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Make sure you listen to What it really takes to win in the US - Honest lessons from Natalie Johnson

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What it really takes to win in the US - Honest lessons from Natalie Johnson

podcast@scalewise.com (Natalie Johnson, ScaleWise, Tom Glason) — Thu, 5 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

US expansion is one of the fastest ways for a venture-backed SaaS company to accelerate growth…or blow up months of momentum, burn a painful chunk of cash, and leave a trail of “scar tissue” behind.

In this Making the Grade episode, Tom Glason sits down with Natalie Johnson, a seasoned revenue leader who’s lived the 1 to 10 million ARR journey multiple times - across the UK and the US - and now leads revenue at one of Europe’s fastest-scaling AI companies, AutogenAI.

In this episode, Natalie unpacks what actually works when expanding into the US, why outbound still works and why AI is not an IT rollout but an organisational transformation that rewires how modern revenue teams operate.

If you’re scaling through the messy middle and considering the US leap, this one’s packed with battle-tested guidance you can apply immediately.

📚 Episode Chapters

01:15 - Lessons from two scaling journeys
03:12 - US expansion mistakes
16:26 - Navigating the messy middle
26:08 - Autogen AI’s Growth Engine
30:46 - Outbound strategies that actually work
35:34 - Hiring Revenue Leaders in 2026

⛳ Mentioned in today’s episode:

AutogenAI: https://autogenai.com/uk/
Glyphic: https://www.glyphic.ai/

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Make sure you listen to Season 1 Sean Williams - From $60m exit to building an er-defining AI company

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Making The Grade - Season 2 Trailer

podcast@scalewise.com (ScaleWise, Tom Glason) — Tue, 3 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Welcome back to Season 2 of Making The Grade.

This season, we’re digging into what it really takes to scale beyond early traction… the ups and downs of the journey from £1 million to £10 million in ARR… and why so many startups are struggling to make that leap.

Each week, we're joined by experienced Founders, Investors, and senior Go-To-Market leaders to unpack the lessons, trade-offs, and decisions that define the £1m to £10m stage.

We’ll explore how to build effective GTM functions and hire truly stage-fit talent, how AI is reshaping go-to-market, what changes we can expect to see in 2026, and what capital-efficient scaling actually looks like in practice.

All with one core question in mind:

How do you build an enduring B2B SaaS business that scales sustainably, stays capital-efficient, and creates real exit optionality?

Expect honest conversations, hard-won insights, and practical advice you can apply straight away, because scaling can be done differently.

Our first episode of the new season will be dropping on Thursday, February 5th, so make sure you hit subscribe to be notified of when it's ready!

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From CMO to CRO: Florence Broderick on balancing growth with efficiency and the metrics that actually matter

podcast@scalewise.com (Florence Broderick, Tom Glason, ScaleWise) — Thu, 2 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +0000

What does it really take to make the leap from CMO to CRO and to build a revenue function that actually scales?

In the final episode of Season 1, Tom is joined by Florence Broderick, CRO at General Index, to unpack what it actually takes to make the transition to CRO and what founders should know before hiring their first CRO.

Florence shares candid insights from her transition to CRO, why she believes marketing leaders can make exceptional CROs, and how she’s balancing growth with capital efficiency in 2025 and beyond.

If you’re a founder or GTM leader navigating growth right now, you won’t want to miss this episode.

Episode Chapters

02:30 - Flo’s career journey from dreams of big corporates to CRO

08:30 - Managing imposter syndrome in a new role

14:30 - Building her CRO playbook

22:10 - What every CRO should nail in their first 90 days

27:30 - Why ‘rockstar CVs’ often fail

31:45 - The CRO skills that matter most in 2025

38:10 - AI that uses the needle & metrics that matter

46:50 - Getting more women into sales

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From $60m Exit to Building an Era-Defining AI Company: Sean Williams on lessons from a start-up exit to building again with AutogenAI

podcast@scalewise.com (Sean Williams, ScaleWise, Tom Glason) — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

What do you think of when you hear ‘exited Founder’?

Someone travelling the world or sitting on a remote island sipping cocktails?

Today’s Making The Grade guest may change your perspective…

We’re joined by Sean Williams, Co-Founder & CEO of AutogenAI, the AI bid writing software. Before AutogenAI, Sean co-founded Corndell Ltd, which he grew from scratch to 350 people and sold to THI Holdings for $60m.

In this episode, Sean discusses how to build with an exit in mind, why you need to keep control while fundraising and why US expansion isn’t as easy as some Founders might think.

Episode Chapters

02:18 - From bid writer to CEO - Sean’s career journey

08:40 - Post-exit reality & why Sean decided to jump back in the Founder seat

14:36 - Selling a business during Covid

18:57 - More about AutogenAI and the opportunity

23:12 - Fundraising without losing control

27:26 - US expansion do’s & don’ts

29:33 - GTM in the AI-era - what actually works

33:43 - Hiring GTM leaders

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Scaling Lean in a $500B Market: Ed Bartlett on going from zero to one & transitioning out of the CEO seat

podcast@scalewise.com (Ed Bartlett, Tom Glason, ScaleWise) — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

In the start-up ecosystem, there are a few truths that never change - scaling is harder than it looks, over-hiring can kill momentum, and knowing when to hand over the CEO reins might be the hardest call of all.

In this episode,Ed Barltett, Founder & CEO of Hicomply, unpacks how to successfully scale with a lean team and build a GTM engine that actually produces an intent-led pipeline.

Ed breaks down why stage-fit leadership beats vanity headcount and how to plan a smooth CEO transition when the time is right.

If you’re a founder starting to think about what might be next for you, then this is the perfect episode to listen to.

Episode Chapters

02:02 - Ed’s path into Tech
10:40 - Finding your niche in a $500B market
12:44 - Comparing the UK and US markets
17:02 - Staying lean & focusing on speed of execution
19:10 - Building a realistic GTM stack in an AI-driven world
31:58 - Founder transition & handing over the CEO reins
36:47 - Exit prep 101 in 2025 and beyond

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Running Your Own Race: Tom Lavery on going from bootstrapped to venture-backed

podcast@scalewise.com (Tom Lavery, ScaleWise, Tom Glason) — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

What does it take to build a category-defining SaaS company when your biggest competitors have raised 40x more funding than you?

In this episode, Tom Lavery, Founder & CEO of Jiminny, joins us to share how he bootstrapped for years before raising, why staying in control beats chasing hype, and how to layer AI into GTM without over-engineering your stack.

Expect pragmatic tactics for capital-efficient growth, candid lessons from fundraising in a downturn, and a no-BS view on what’s truly changed in sales.

Episode Chapters:

03:34 - Jiminny’s origin story
05:53 - Competing in a category with 40x more capital
09:21 - How to pick your investors & navigating the SaaS recession
17:20 - What’s changed in sales
21:18 - Successfully implementing AI
31:18 - The European ecosystem
33:18 - Slowing down and getting hiring right

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Bootstrapping Agorapulse to over $20M ARR with Emeric Ernoult

podcast@scalewise.com (Emeric Ernoult, Tom Glason, Munya Hoto) — Thu, 4 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Start-up headlines are often dominated by fundraising announcements and the latest valuation.

But the Venture Capital route isn’t the only option or the best to take.

In this episode, we’re joined by Emeric Ernoult, Co-Founder & CEO of Agorapulse, one of Europe’s most successful bootstrapped SaaS Founders.

Emeric is a serial entrepreneur and has seen Agorapulse through several pivots and international expansion, all while bootstrapping.

This often painful journey has come with its fair share of lessons - some of which Emeric shares with us in today’s conversation.

This is definitely not a highlights reel, so if you’re currently going through the trenches or facing a pivot, this episode is one you don’t want to miss.

Episode Chapters

03:37 - Building Agorapulse from the ashes of a previous business
07:20 - The signs to know when it’s time to pivot
13:31 - Bootstrapping vs VC funding - the hard truths
17:44 - Understanding VCs beyond the money
23:25 - The Do’s & Don’ts of international expansion
27:28 - Growth metrics that actually matter
34:07 - How AI is transforming data-driven growth

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The 5 Silent Killers of Go-To-Market with Keji Mustapha

podcast@scalewise.com (Keji Mustapha, Tom Glason, Munya Hoto, ScaleWise) — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Every founder thinks they’re focused on growth. But too often, hidden mistakes in their go-to-market (GTM) strategy quietly erode their chances of success.

In this Making The Grade episode, we’re joined by Keji Mustapha, CMO at Partech, to unpack the 5 Silent Killers of Go-To-Market.

From undefined ICPs and premature scaling, to misaligned leadership and ignoring the voice of the customer, Keji shares practical advice founders can use today to avoid costly mistakes and scale more wisely.

If you’re a founder, operator, or investor looking to understand why so many companies fail to “make the grade” and why their GTM strategy has a lot to answer for, then this episode will be the one for you.

Episode Chapters

01:40 - Keji’s unconventional journey from law to tech and venture capital
05:10 - The day-to-day of a CMO in venture
07:30 - The biggest challenges founders face in 2025
09:15 - The 5 Silent Killers of GTM
15:40 - The misalignment trap
18:50 - Why hiring for shiny logos often backfires
23:45 - How to build customer obsession into your culture
28:00 - Keji’s predictions for GTM
32:40 - What really needs to change to improve startup graduation rates

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Capital-Efficient Growth in 2025: James Bagan’s Playbook for GTM Success

podcast@scalewise.com (James Bagan, ScaleWise, Tom Glason) — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Too many startups hire ahead of demand, invest in the wrong leaders, or scale sales without a clear ICP - all mistakes that can cost millions and kill momentum.

Today’s Making The Grade guest knows exactly how to avoid those pitfalls.

We’re joined by James Bagan, Investor at Frog Capital, Chair and GTM advisor for investors.

James has been on both sides of the scaling journey. He’s built world-class sales functions, turned around broken go-to-market engines, and led multiple exits.

In this episode, James joins Tom to unpack what it really takes to build a GTM engine that lasts. From the shift to capital-efficient growth, to why RevOps is the unsung hero of scaling, to the leadership traits VCs should be hiring for, but so often overlook.

Whether you’re a founder, CRO, or investor, you’ll walk away from this conversation with practical strategies to help you scale sustainably and avoid the most expensive mistakes.

Episode Chapters:

01:30 - James’ unconventional path to multiple exits

05:30 - How GTM has changed: the shift from growth at all costs to sustainable growth

08:40 - The 3 biggest mistakes founders make when building GTM teams

14:30 - Why RevOps is the ultimate GTM alignment tool (and when to hire them)

19:40 - Finding the right fit: fractional vs full-time RevOps teams

22:30 - The underrated traits of top GTM leaders in 2025

29:30 - Leadership stage-fit: the danger of hiring for tomorrow’s problems instead of today’s

35:20 - The number 1 skill every commercial leader must have (hint: it’s not closing deals)

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When it’s time to step down: Robert Newry’s transition from CEO to Chief Explorer at Arctic Shores

podcast@scalewise.com (Robert Newry, Arctic Shores, ScaleWise, Tom Glason) — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Too many founders stay in the CEO seat for too long. Often to the detriment of their company, their teams and themselves.

It’s not about giving up. It’s about knowing when you are no longer the best person to lead the business into its next chapter.

One example of a founder who knew the time was right and made that leap with clarity and intention is today’s Making The Grade guest, Robert Newry.

After 11 years as CEO of Arctic Shores, Robert chose to step aside and take on a brand new role as Chief Explorer, allowing him to focus on the things that energise him most: thought leadership, customer evangelism and rethinking how we assess human potential.

In this conversation, we explore what it really takes to scale a venture-backed company sustainably, and why sometimes the boldest thing a Founder can do is to let go.

Whether you’re a founder thinking about what’s next for you, or you’re currently going through the trenches, fundraising, this episode is packed with lessons on resilience, reinvention and scaling wisely.

Episode Chapters:

01:30 - Robert’s early failures and family roots in entrepreneurship

03:50 - Learning from failure: Hong Kong’s startup mindset

05:30 - The origin story behind Arctic Shores

08:10 - Rethinking psychometrics: uncovering potential beyond the CV

13:00 - Designing AI-resilient hiring tools in the age of ChatGPT

18:00 - Why stepping down as CEO wasn’t a failure — but a growth move

21:00 - Creating the role of Chief Explorer & transitioning out of CEO

36:00 - What founders need to stop doing when they raise capital

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Not a Unicorn? Not a problem. Eyal Malinger & Oren Peleg on building a VC alternative

podcast@scalewise.com (Oren Peleg, Eyal Malinger, Tom Glason) — Thu, 7 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

While VC news often dominates the headlines, more often than not, the VC route isn’t the best fit for a business.

So, what do you do if venture capital isn’t the right path for your start-up?

In today’s Making The Grade episode, we’re unpacking the evolving world of start-up funding and why VC might not be the best fit for every founder or business.

To help us do that, we’re joined by Eyal Malinger and Oren Peleg, the co-founders of Resurge Growth Partners - a new kind of investment firm pioneering a model they call venture equity, blending the best of venture capital and private equity to better serve ambitious, capital-efficient founders.

From investor dynamics and growth expectations to exit strategies and go-to-market missteps, we’ll be challenging the traditional narrative and exploring what alternative paths to scale could look like in 2025 and beyond.

Episode Chapters:

01:30 - From PE & Consulting to building a new investment model

03:30 - The gap between VC expectations and real-world business performance

05:10 - Introducing Venture Equity & the huge opportunity it presents

10:30 - Funding beyond VC & the silent deal killers

18:10 - Lazy marketing, broken models & other founder mistakes

21:30 - The metrics that really matter

30:00 - What it takes to be a successful early-stage founder & what’s really at stake

34:15 - Where to start if you want a successful exit in 2025

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Building for a Smart Exit - Scaling Lessons from Serial Entrepreneur Justin Fitzpatrick

podcast@scalewise.com (Justin Fitzpatrick, Munya Hoto, Tom Glason) — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

What does it really take to graduate from seed to exit in today’s start-up climate?

In our first episode of our Making the Grade Podcast, we’re joined by serial founder and currently CEO of ESG Book, Justin Fitzpatrick, to unpack the real story behind startup growth.

From the messy pivots, M&A strategies, co-founder dynamics, and what it really looks like when you fall off the VC track, Justin shares his first-hand experience of growing and exiting multiple businesses, and leaves us with plenty of practical advice to help you scale more wisely.

Episode Chapters:

02:04 - Justin’s career journey as a serial entrepreneur

04:55 - From scaling pains to pivoting and product-market-fit reality checks

09:42 - Finding the right co-founder

15:15 - Why poor win rates aren’t always a sales problem

17:34 - Building resilience as a CEO

21:41 - M&A lessons from the trenches & what makes an acquisition work

28:40 - Falling off the VC Track & finding alternatives

31:42 - What founders actually need to graduate to the next round

33:54 - Why sustainable growth is smarter growth

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Making The Grade Season Trailer

podcast@scalewise.com (ScaleWise, Tom Glason) — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Investors typically expect 8 out of 10 of the businesses they invest in to fail.

Less than 1 in 100 start-ups manage to achieve funding beyond Series D or an exit.

These humbling stats often leave founders less than optimistic. 😩

So, how can building a successful business feel less like an uphill battle?

And how can you scale a business with actual options to exit in 2025, and beyond?

💥 To help us get answers to all of the above questions, and more, we’re excited to share the upcoming launch of our brand new podcast: Making The Grade.

Every Thursday, you’ll be able to tune in and hear first-hand experiences from Founders, Investors and senior Go-To-Market Leaders as we explore the factors driving the decline in graduation rates.

But we won’t just be discussing the obvious problems at hand.

You’ll be leaving every episode with actionable insights, expert advice and hopefully, feeling a little bit more optimistic about thriving in a competitive market and scaling more wisely.

Our first episode will launch next Thursday, July 31st. But until then, make sure you tune into our season trailer to get a preview of some of the fascinating conversations we had.

Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade?

If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to...

See you again next week!