Fractional Leadership

Ep 39—Neal Miller-Decades of Financial Strategy Across 70 Companies and Still Going

Neil Miller, a partner emeritus at Tech CXO with 19 years at the firm, shares his journey from public accounting through CFO roles at multiple public companies to fractional executive work. He discusses his involvement with 70+ companies including Cloud Sherpas and Boomtown, offering insights on fundraising challenges, the fractional executive model's value during economic uncertainty, and how AI is compressing business cycles while changing capital requirements.

Ep38—Louis Gump-Innovation, Timing, and Leadership: Whether You're an Entrepreneur or Intrapreneur

Lewis Gump, a fractional CEO/COO and author of 'Gorilla Marketing Tactic,' discusses his career building mobile and digital businesses at CNN and The Weather Channel, the critical differences between entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, and how founders can successfully transition into larger organizations post-acquisition. He emphasizes that innovation requires leadership commitment, cultural fit, and the ability to build bridges across diverse teams.

Ep37—Mike Martin: Big Tobacco to Government Contracts: Building Breakthrough Brand Campaigns

Mike Martin, fractional CMO at Tech CXO, discusses his career journey from landscape architecture to advertising, including breakthrough campaigns for the Truth anti-smoking initiative and Monster.com's Super Bowl ads. He shares insights on modern marketing challenges, the role of AI in creative work, and lessons learned from both toxic leadership and successful brand building across hospitality, e-commerce, and government sectors.

Ep36—Ted Stone: Decades of Financial Strategy — Still in the Game and Giving Back

Ted Stone, a 72-year-old career CFO, discusses his transition to fractional CFO work serving multiple clients across diverse industries. He shares detailed stories from three major private equity deals—Velocity Express (a last-mile delivery rollup), an office telephone company spin-out, and Solucent (a healthcare data integration)—while exploring current trends including the silver tsunami of retiring business owners, ESOP structures, and the value of executive peer networks like Executive Forum.

Ep35 — Virginie Glaenzer: Rewriting the Rules: Growth, AI, Community, and the Meaning of Wealth

Virginie Glaenzer, a fractional CMO and author, shares her journey from Paris to Silicon Valley in 1998 with four suitcases and no English, building tech companies through the dot-com era. She discusses AI's transformative impact on business, the shift from scarcity-based to abundance-based thinking, and why future-proof brands must build communities into their DNA rather than treating them as marketing tactics.

Ep 34 - Brantley Fry: Why Connecting People and Process Is Your Secret Weapon

Brantley Fry, partner at Tech CXO's human capital management practice, shares her unconventional career path from environmental lawyer to political state director to HR strategist. She discusses her work on major environmental cases including the TVA coal ash spill and BP oil spill, her role as state director for Senator Doug Jones, and her current focus on helping high-growth companies optimize people operations. The conversation explores M&A communication strategies, non-traditional hiring approaches, and Birmingham's emerging biotech ecosystem.

Ep32 Joe Gruca—From Pink Slip to Pivot: Predictable Sales in Unpredictable Markets

Joe Gruca shares his journey from corporate VP of Sales at Computer Associates to co-founding Higher IQ, an AI-powered interview automation platform, after being laid off in 2008. He discusses pivoting the business model, raising venture capital, successfully exiting, and now helping early-stage tech CEOs as a fractional revenue leader at Tech CXO. The conversation covers sales methodology evolution, startup lessons, and navigating economic uncertainty.

SpeedRun Ep 09 Resource Use for ICP + GTM Plan -Tales from the Sky Lounge

A fractional CTO demonstrates using Claude AI with deep research mode to generate a comprehensive business development and go-to-market plan for his consulting practice. By uploading PDFs of marketing materials, case studies, and service offerings, he prompts the AI to identify ideal customer profiles across four tiers, create multi-channel outreach strategies, and produce detailed execution plans including email templates and event recommendations—all refined through iterative conversation.

Ep30 Bob Brogan—Road Warrior to Business Architect: 40 Years of Transforming Companies

Bob Brogan shares four decades of experience transforming companies across operations, IT consulting, and strategy. From early data warehousing in Canada to leading a $100M exit for a 43-year-old online ordering pioneer, he discusses business cycles, modular design principles, and the transition from tactical execution to strategic leadership. Now managing partner at Tech CXO Great Lakes, he emphasizes paying forward through mentorship, angel investing, and community work including founding the Legacy Guild scholarship program.

Ep29 Teja Yenamandra—Beyond Resumes-The Case for Talent-First, Human-Centered Hiring

Ep28 Michael Weinstein—Tariffs and Economic Uncertainty - How We Got Here & What's Next

Michael Weinstein, a fractional CFO with extensive Wall Street experience, discusses the current economic uncertainty driven by tariff policies, Federal Reserve decisions, and structural market challenges. He explains how tariffs function as a massive tax increase, analyzes the compounding effects of policy uncertainty on corporate investment, and examines the clogged venture capital pipeline. Weinstein draws historical parallels to past economic cycles while noting this situation is unique—a self-inflicted late-cycle shock with no clear playbook.

Ep26 Matt Oess -Coaching Elite Leaders, AI Productivity & The Need for Tech Diplomacy

Ep24 Alan Gold—Sales, Marketing, and AI: How to Survive, Scale, and Avoid Stagnation

Alan Gold, a fractional CMO and sales consultant with 30+ years in technology marketing, discusses the evolving landscape of sales and marketing in the AI era. He covers M&A market dynamics, hiring and developing sales talent, the critical importance of strategy over tactics in marketing, and how companies can break through growth plateaus by finding adjacent markets and refining their differentiation.

Ep22 Bryan Dennstedt—2025 Trends: AI, Venture Capital, and the Future of Work!

Bryan Dennstedt, fractional CTO at Tech CXO and sustainable investing advocate, discusses 2025 technology and business trends with host Todd. They explore venture capital's post-SVB recovery, AI's practical applications and limitations, the evolution of marketing through influencer content and podcasts, and emerging shifts in crypto regulation, intellectual property, and remote work culture.

Ep17 - Kirby Winters — Scout Skills, Leadership Hacks, and Smart Security in the Age of AI

Kirby Winters, fractional CISO at TechCXO, discusses his journey from telecom to cybersecurity consulting, emphasizing leadership lessons from Boy Scouts and entrepreneurship. He covers the evolving threat landscape, social engineering attacks, cyber insurance challenges, and compliance requirements like SOC 2 and CMMC. The conversation explores how AI is amplifying security risks and the growing need for fractional security leadership in small to mid-sized businesses.

Ep16 - Rich Makover—Leadership, Resilience, and Sales Mastery

Rich Makover, a fractional Chief Revenue Officer and executive coach at TechCXO, shares his journey from Penn State lacrosse player to CPA to sales leadership at Avon and beyond. He discusses the value of athletic resilience in sales, the evolution from individual contributor to C-suite executive, and his transition into fractional leadership and executive coaching. The conversation covers sales strategy, team building, leadership development, and helping professionals navigate career transitions.

Ep15 - IT Roundtable: Leadership and Cost Optimization in Challenging Times

Ep12 Katherine Hunter-Blyden: Tips on the Modern Marketing Landscape from a Seasoned Expert

Katherine Hunter-Blyden, a fractional CMO, discusses her career journey from Fortune 500 companies like Ford and Progressive to serving small businesses. She shares insights on modern marketing strategies, the importance of email marketing and content distribution, measuring business growth, and how AI tools are transforming marketing efficiency. The conversation covers practical approaches to brand building, direct response marketing, and the critical differences between marketing at scale versus scrappy startup environments.

Ep 11 - Rob Reesor: Insights, Tips, Tricks and Wisdom from a Tech Veteran

Rob Reesor shares his four-decade technology career journey from early AI expert systems at Intellicorp through pioneering e-commerce at Virtual Vineyards to executive leadership roles across multiple private equity-backed companies. He discusses the evolution of software development, the challenges of technical debt management, building trust with non-technical stakeholders, and navigating acquisitions while emphasizing transparency and team empowerment.

Ep 05 - Jay Kleinman: Winning Strategies From Gridiron Grit to Healthcare Innovation

Jay Kleinman, a 30-year healthcare business development veteran, discusses his journey from playing D1 football at Auburn under Pat Dye to leading commercial strategy for early-stage healthcare companies. He shares frameworks for segmentation, discovery-based selling, and go-to-market planning, emphasizing relationship capital, authentic outreach, and the transformative potential of digital health for elder care populations.

Ep 03 - Jan Heybroek - From Startup to Successful Exit - Lessons from a Healthcare Entrepreneur

Jan Heybroek, partner at TechCXO's exec ops practice, shares his 17-year journey building and selling a medical market research company to a medical education firm in 2021. He discusses M&A negotiation tactics, the importance of transparency during due diligence, post-acquisition integration challenges, and healthcare industry trends including AI's role in diagnostics and the shift toward personalized medicine.

Ep 01 - Maria Goldsholl: Building Authentic Leadership and Culture in Startups

Maria Goldsholl, fractional Chief People Officer at TXO, discusses authentic leadership, building trust-based cultures in startups, and the value of fractional executive services. She emphasizes humility over ego, the importance of going through hard things together to build team resilience, and how transparency and psychological safety drive organizational success.