Building people > building companies

What’s Happening In My World

I used to think no one cared about what I was actually doing day to day. I assumed subscribers (you) only wanted the clean takeaways, not my day to day. But the consistent ask in responses has been the opposite - “what do you actually do?”

In May, I sold Pneuma. That exit pushed me into a season I didn’t expect: a blend of consulting and capital. That became Karteria.

Karteria has two sides to it.
• The capital side: I invest in or lend to small, local, operator-led companies.
• The consulting side: I work directly with founders and leadership teams to diagnose what’s not working, fix it, and build operating systems that actually hold.

Neither arm is glamorous. Both are hands-on. And the work looks far more like coaching and problem-solving than anything you’d see in a pitch deck.

Here’s the weekly rhythm I’ve built for myself.

Every Monday and Tuesday, I sit in on leadership team meetings for the portfolio companies. My job isn’t to play founder for them. My job is to frame the week, challenge fuzzy thinking, expose blind spots, and force clarity around the numbers that actually matter. For many of these companies. I’ve been in their exact shoes, and not too long ago. Hindsight is 20/20 for me, and hopefully that can help them leap over some future problems.

After that, the rest of the week is spent helping the teams solve the biggest problems blocking progress. Sometimes it’s structure. Sometimes it’s accountability. Sometimes it’s decisions they’ve avoided for months.

In short, I help build great companies. But the longer I do this (not just Karteria, business in general), the clearer it gets that the real lever isn’t the strategy, or the systems, or the capital. It’s the people.

That’s the throughline of my work. Everything else is downstream. Below is a little more on the topic and how I’ve addressed it tactically, and strategically, over the years.

The Part of the Business We Pretend Isn’t the Business

Strip away the financials, the KPIs, the systems, the tactics, the dashboards. What’s left?

People - Every great business has great people behind it, pushing things forward.

Now zoom in again. Strip away the job title and what’s left?

A person with their own goals. And most of the time, those goals have nothing to do with “grow this company forever.” I actually worry when someone tells me that’s their life plan. It usually isn’t true, and even if it is, it’s often unhealthy.

Back at Pneuma, I tried to hire people who dreamed big. I never cared if their dream was inside or outside the company. What mattered was that their ambition was real. My job was to connect their personal goals to the business goals in a way that made sense.

One example: someone on the team wanted a new car. Knew the model, the color, the cost. I also wanted him to win in his role. So I built a comp structure that rewarded the exact behaviors the business needed, which eventually put the car within reach.

My win turned into his win. His win reinforced the behaviors the company needed. Both sides moved forward.

But here’s the part most founders miss: I only knew that he wanted a new car because I threw the traditional 1:1 playbook out the window.

Most 1:1s are glorified handholding sessions. Managers check the box, employees pretend to need a half hour of reassurance, and both leave having wasted time that could’ve gone into real work.

A great, motivated employee doesn’t need a weekly touchbase to be told to finish their tasks. They need clarity, autonomy, and the space to execute.

So what is a 1:1 for?

Knowing your people.

A typical 1:1 for me started with any of the following simple questions:
• How’s your day?
• What made you smile this morning?
• What’s on your mind?
• What’s worrying you?

Over time, I could walk into a room, look at someone, and say “Your energy’s off. What’s going on?” And nine times out of ten, they’d tell me something real.

My role became: know them better than they know themselves, support them deeply, and use the business to move them forward.

Train the Business Around Their Goals, Not Just Yours

When you onboard someone, ask three questions:

• What are your goals for your life?
• What’s your plan to get there?
• What challenges do you expect?

Document everything. Revisit it every time you meet. If the goals change, adjust. If they stay the same, measure progress. And when they hit a milestone, celebrate it like a Super Bowl win. Then ask what’s next.

The point is not to create a warm, fuzzy culture. The point is alignment. When people believe their goals move forward alongside the company’s goals, performance changes.

Bonus: with leadership teams, get them to share their life goals with one another. Teams self-correct when they know what matters to the person next to them. If someone is dead set on buying a new car, their counterpart will gladly pick up slack or cover a gap if it helps make that happen.

People don’t become accountable when you enforce accountability. They become accountable when the mission of the business moves them closer to the life they want.

You can find a short guide on 1:1s here. I’ll add more over time.

Full list of resources here.