So few entrepreneurs “go the distance” from startup to IPO.

Most are “promoted to Chairman” at some point by their board of directors, because they fail to scale their personal skills as rapidly as their business.

But I found one.

Martin Babinec is Founder & Former CEO of TriNet, the legendary hypergrowth Professional Employer Organization (PEO) that got its start in Silicon Valley before becoming a global phenomena.

Serving more than 15,000 clients and their 325,000 employees, TriNet is the largest independent cloud-based HR provider leveraging the Professional Employer Organization model.

Martin founded TriNet in 1988, served as CEO until 2008 and Chairman until 2010. Along the way, he raised $130M in 5 rounds of equity financing, completed 6 acquisitions, and grew the PEO industry over two decades.

Today, TriNet is a public company with 3,500 employees, doing $4.5 Billion revenues annually.

I was a TriNet customer, and I simply couldn’t have started my companies without it. Because they handled all of the people part - payroll, benefits, administration, legal - which let me focus on what we did best.

Now, Martin is a leading venture investor in Upstate New York. As Managing Director of UpVentures Capital, he funds early stage technology companies. Portfolio companies include people.ai, Bungee, Carta, BrandYourself, Outmatch, and Drafted.

I asked Martin what made it all possible.

His answer was instantaneous and authentic: core values.

Martin was inspired by Jim Collins and EO & understood the importance of building TriNet based on distinct & authentic core values. They became filters for deciding would you join the company.

He didn’t just write down some core values a the beginning, but he operationalized them thru the interviews, reference checks, Test Drives, and assessments to ensure that poor hires couldn’t slip in.

In this 20-minute conversation, Martin walks you through how to do the same at your company.

Liz Steblay saw it over & over at the large companies she joined.

Now, she’s Founder & President of ProKo Agency, the consulting matchmaker that connects Fortune 500 leaders with pre-vetted consultants who specialize in organizational effectiveness.

ProKo represents high-calibre organizational health consultants, who are deployed to help companies clean up their talent-related messes.

Business is booming.

Liz is also Co-Founder of PICA - Professional Independent Consultants of America, which teaches consultants how to build their career & client base.

She’s well-suited to do it. Liz began her career in Organization Development at Intuit, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Levi Strauss & Co, and Medtronic.

In this 20-min conversation, Liz reveals the talent problems she sees most often, and how to tackle them.

But Chat Razdan is rapidly changing that. 

He’s Founder & CEO of Care+Wear. Based in New York, they combine fashion & function to take people from home to hospital and everywhere in between. 

Their products include scrubs, port access shirts, post surgical bras & a ton more.  The goal is a more human healthcare experience for patients & clinicians everywhere.

Between the aging population and a global pandemic, it’s no wonder business is booming. Investors include MedStartr Ventures and Grape Arbor Venture Capital.

Chat began his career at Goldman Sachs and Kearney. 

In this 20 minute conversation, Chat and I “chat” about how he’s put a Rockstar in every seat of his company.

Whew! I finally finished paying off all my Amazon holiday gifts.

Guess I’m hooked on eCommerce.

Turns out I’m not alone. 

And I have proof…

I just interviewed Dusty Holcomb. He’s CEO of fast-growing Red Stag Fulfillment. 

Based in gorgeous Knoxville, Red Stag is the world-class order fulfillment company designed to unleash scalable growth for eCommerce companies.

In short, they do the picking, packing, storage, shipping, and returns for a ton of eCommerce companies (including the ones you used this past holiday)

And they’ve carved out a unique 3PL niche… Red Stag specializes in large, heavy, bulky products. Think expensive inventory, like those high-end office chairs.

With 1.1 Million feet of warehouse space in Knoxville & Salt Lake City, clearly Red Stag is onto something ‘big.’  They’re backed by leading Private Equity firm Mollenhour Gross.

Prior to his appointment, Dusty was with AAA for many years. He now leads over 500 full-time employees.

I wanted to find out how he’s scaling the company that scales other eCommerce companies.

In this 20-minute conversation, he reveals how to put a Rockstar in every seat.