Before I ever stepped into a boardroom or scaled a company past $17 million in revenue, I learned my most important leadership lessons in the real world — under pressure, in customer-facing environments where expectations were high, margins were thin, and there was no room for excuses.

Those early experiences taught me more about business than any book, course, or keynote ever could.

If you’re a founder trying to build something lasting, there’s a lot you can learn from businesses that live or die by how well they serve people. Here’s what I’ve carried forward into my leadership approach — and what I believe all founders should keep in mind as they grow.

1. Customer Experience Isn’t a Department — It’s the Whole Business

In high-touch service environments, the customer experience begins the second someone walks through the door — and often even before that. It’s shaped by everything: the way they’re greeted, the speed of service, the tone of communication, and how problems are handled.

You don’t get second chances.

It’s the same in startups. Whether you’re building software, managing a team, or selling a product, your brand is your experience. And customer experience isn’t just the job of support or success teams — it’s everyone’s responsibility.

Founders who build loyalty early do so by treating customer interactions like gold. When people feel respected, understood, and taken care of, they stick around. That’s how businesses compound — not through ad spend, but through trust.

2. Build Systems That Can Handle Chaos

No matter what industry you’re in, things go wrong. A client misses a payment. A shipment gets delayed. A teammate quits mid-project. The economy shifts.

The most resilient businesses don’t try to avoid chaos — they build systems to handle it.

In the company’s I have run, I’ve learned to expect the unexpected. That means planning ahead, cross-training teams, simplifying workflows, and being ready to adapt without panic. It also means creating clear escalation paths, having backup options, and empowering people to make real-time decisions.

Startups that survive aren’t necessarily the most innovative — they’re the ones who can stay calm and keep operating when the pressure is on.

3. Operational Grit Beats Polished Strategy

I’ve seen slick pitch decks and brilliant roadmaps fall apart because no one knew how to execute under pressure. And I’ve seen modest, underfunded businesses thrive because the team knew how to grind when it mattered.

Strategy matters. But in a competitive market, grit is what gets you through the messy middle.

As a founder, you need to be the first to roll up your sleeves. When something breaks, fix it. When a client’s unhappy, call them. When a partner bails, find the next one.

At CTS, we didn’t grow by being perfect — we grew by responding faster, listening better, and tightening the bolts where others let things slide. It wasn’t glamorous, but it worked.

4. Every Dollar Counts — Run Lean and Smart

In service-driven businesses, you learn quickly how far a dollar needs to stretch. Costs are tight. Waste is obvious. And inefficiency shows up in the bottom line almost immediately.

That discipline stuck with me.

Even as we grew into a multimillion-dollar company, we ran lean. We didn’t pour money into vanity projects. We didn’t over-hire before the systems were ready. We watched every metric — and every dollar — like it mattered. Because it does.

If you treat your startup’s money like it’s unlimited, you’ll run out of it fast. But if you treat it with discipline, you’ll find room to grow, invest, and scale — without falling off a cliff.

5. People Remember How You Make Them Feel

In any service business, one thing is clear: people don’t just remember what they paid or what product they got — they remember how they felt.

Did they feel respected? Heard? Taken care of?

In your company, that applies to everything — not just customer service. It’s how you onboard new team members. How you respond to investor feedback. How you handle support tickets or social media replies.

Your culture is your vibe, and people feel it in every interaction.

Founders who lead with empathy, listen with intent, and treat people well — inside and outside the company — build organizations that people want to be part of.

Learn from the Frontlines

There’s a reason some of the best operators in the world come from frontline roles — places where pressure is constant, problems are immediate, and every interaction counts.

You don’t need to work in hospitality or retail to get these lessons. But you do need to stay close to your customer, build systems that bend but don’t break, and lead with discipline and heart.

Those are the traits that scale. Those are the habits that last.

So the next time you’re thinking about growth, don’t just ask, “How do we get bigger?” Ask:

• “Are we listening to our customers?”
  
• “Can we handle pressure?”
  
• “Are we building something worth remembering?”
  

If the answer is yes, then you’re already running ahead of the pack.