Episode index
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331 episodes
You started a business to buy your freedom and built a prison instead. A deep dive into Steve’s Founders Bootcamp material on using your why as a filter and building systems that run without you.
Wire $50,000 overseas, open the container, find rags. A deep dive into Steve’s 2026 sourcing guide: exact specs, samples, fair quote comparisons, and brutal financial reality checks.
What if the bottleneck strangling your growth is you? The reluctant-leader trap, and why the order is always strategy, then systems, then scale — from the Founder to Founder Bootcamp.
Are you leading, or did you build a job you can never clock out of? The founder’s burden, working on the business instead of in it, and turning a vague vision into a strategic objective.
Yahoo could have bought Google for $1M and Facebook for $1.1B, then turned down $45B. A deep dive on how founder ego becomes the bottleneck — and the 15-minute weekly habit that fixes your filter.
Google’s founders were told to hire an adult or lose their funding. Why the lone-wolf founder is an expensive myth, and why every great builder from Alexander to Jobs had a mentor.
You spend twelve hours putting out fires and build nothing. How to go from chief firefighter to strategic engineer: systems, position agreements, and why mistakes are intellectual equity.
What does it mean to be mentored by Steve? A deep dive into his 2011 Gallup strengths leadership report, and what that mix of traits demands from a founder being coached.
A revisit of Paul Midler's Poorly Made in China, filtered through a reviewer with 15-plus years of on-the-ground China sourcing experience, covering quality fade and classic price-hike tactics.
A recap of Steve's very first Awesomers episode: his "awesomers versus normies" framework, and how Symo Global, Parsimony, and Empoweri fit together as free support for entrepreneurs.
A deep dive into Parsimony.com's business operating system, covering how it blends classic ERP tools like inventory and CRM with AI, plus a look at Steve Simonson's approach to building the platform.
Steve launches a new series on his Chairman's Circle advisory work, then argues that lean, disciplined founders should welcome a downturn instead of fearing it.
Steve on preventing team conflict through clear, specific delegation, and how a company's stated values can help resolve disputes when they happen anyway.
Steve explains why he's taking a small group of sellers to source in Vietnam instead of China, and why Vietnam is a supplement to Chinese manufacturing, not a replacement.
Steve explains how to write a position agreement for every role on your org chart, even ones you haven't filled yet, so hiring and accountability get clearer as the company grows.
Steve's Founder Foundations series covers building coaching and mentoring systems into a company, from quarterly skills conversations to watching for the Peter Principle in promotions.
Part of the Founder Foundations series: why weekly one-on-ones (BDMs) with your team prevent chaos and turnover, and how to structure them around last week, this week, and personal check-ins.
Steve tackles one of the harder Founder Foundations topics: building a functional org chart for the company you are becoming, not just the one you have, so growth does not depend on you.
Steve, who calls himself a terrible manager, explains how he compensates with a simple systemic approach: three direct reports, clear functional buckets, and everything else built as a system.
Steve opens the management module of Founder Foundations with the E-Myth idea that systems should run the business, not people, and why that took him years to learn.
Two-thirds through Founder Foundations, Steve tackles preparing for financial 'lightning bolts' like lawsuits or recalls, tying finance back to a founder's personal why.
Steve breaks down financial control levers, from accounts receivable to supplier payment terms, and the reporting habits that catch problems before they compound.
Steve explains why undercapitalization, not lack of profit, is what actually kills most businesses, and how a real cash flow statement helps you see it coming.
Steve covers building a company budget as a scoreboard for the business, and why handing budget ownership to your team beats being the sole keeper of every number.
Steve breaks down the P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow statement in plain terms, and why cash flow, not profit on paper, is the number that actually keeps a business alive.
Steve's Founder Foundations series turns to accounting systems: cash versus accrual, the surprise of phantom profit, and why founders eventually outgrow spreadsheets and basic bookkeeping tools.
Part of the Founder Foundations series: why your finance system should work like a scoreboard, not an annual dread. A high-level look at statements, budgets, and reporting founders actually use.
Steve closes the marketing chapter of Founder Foundations, showing how to pull audience, budget, and competitor research into one written strategy document your whole team can use.
Steve argues founders waste too much time perfecting a logo early on. His advice: pick something you like, move fast, and put the real effort into what your brand identity actually means.
Steve explains why the usual "best quality, lowest price" pitch isn't a real differentiator, and how to build brand positioning customers actually believe.