Chris Hunter

Well, everyone had told me at the beginning, like, make sure you understand the exit. How do you guys separate in the future? And being naive, 25 year olds, I think we just blew past that. Hey, we're friends. Who cares? It'll all work out. And quite frankly, like I assumed I was kind of the connection point. Right. I brought the two guys together.

Well, everyone had told me at the beginning, like, make sure you understand the exit. How do you guys separate in the future? And being naive, 25 year olds, I think we just blew past that. Hey, we're friends. Who cares? It'll all work out. And quite frankly, like I assumed I was kind of the connection point. Right. I brought the two guys together.

I assumed I would always kind of be in the majority with one of them, and it wasn't really a big deal. And so we just set up LegalZoom documents that were very basic, and it was kind of like majority rules. And in retrospect, I learned that we should have spent more time thinking that through. We were not thinking big picture long term. Things change, people change, lives change.

I assumed I would always kind of be in the majority with one of them, and it wasn't really a big deal. And so we just set up LegalZoom documents that were very basic, and it was kind of like majority rules. And in retrospect, I learned that we should have spent more time thinking that through. We were not thinking big picture long term. Things change, people change, lives change.

I mean, mine sure did, right? I was 25 at that time. In my 30s, I got married. I have three kids now. Life was very different. And that ended up coming back to bite me. So it was kind of like, let's just divide and conquer, right? Let's not, I have a different mentality than you instead of aligning or whatever.

I mean, mine sure did, right? I was 25 at that time. In my 30s, I got married. I have three kids now. Life was very different. And that ended up coming back to bite me. So it was kind of like, let's just divide and conquer, right? Let's not, I have a different mentality than you instead of aligning or whatever.

Hashing through that, you do what you want in your world and I'll do what I want in my world. And we brought in the business coach when the company got bigger and he identified that that was a significant threat to the business quickly. He said, you guys have a three-headed monster with no real hierarchy. And if you can't figure this out, you're going to sink the business.

Hashing through that, you do what you want in your world and I'll do what I want in my world. And we brought in the business coach when the company got bigger and he identified that that was a significant threat to the business quickly. He said, you guys have a three-headed monster with no real hierarchy. And if you can't figure this out, you're going to sink the business.

And it was too big for us to sink at that time.

And it was too big for us to sink at that time.

Yeah, it's all challenging, like you said, but it's just in different ways. And I think for me, that early stage of 1 million to 10 million is challenging, but it's a lot of fun because you're celebrating a lot of wins often, right? And you're trying new things and you're able to be scrappy and atypical in your approach and things like that. But it's difficult, right? Because it really matters.

Yeah, it's all challenging, like you said, but it's just in different ways. And I think for me, that early stage of 1 million to 10 million is challenging, but it's a lot of fun because you're celebrating a lot of wins often, right? And you're trying new things and you're able to be scrappy and atypical in your approach and things like that. But it's difficult, right? Because it really matters.

I mean, we were... uh at fusion we were almost out of business for the first two years consistently right month over month there were times where we didn't take salaries and so those are different challenges than when we went into hyper growth when we grew from eight to a hundred and 150 plus in two years like those are different challenges those challenges are like how do you keep your

I mean, we were... uh at fusion we were almost out of business for the first two years consistently right month over month there were times where we didn't take salaries and so those are different challenges than when we went into hyper growth when we grew from eight to a hundred and 150 plus in two years like those are different challenges those challenges are like how do you keep your

materials coming in? How do you keep inventory? How do you scale fast enough to support this kind of growth? And then Acquia, I would say it's been a little bit different as we went through that phase of going from 10 to 50 plus. You're really putting in

materials coming in? How do you keep inventory? How do you scale fast enough to support this kind of growth? And then Acquia, I would say it's been a little bit different as we went through that phase of going from 10 to 50 plus. You're really putting in

more infrastructure and more systems and to be quite honest that's not what i love to do and so it was really important for me to have a team that did love to do that and uh i still get it's funny i still get frustrated with some of the systems that are in place i'm like who cares just you know whatever and they're like no this is the process can you please follow it so they have to hold me accountable do you feel like your gift is like you're the the resident rainmaker like bringing in connections and relationships

more infrastructure and more systems and to be quite honest that's not what i love to do and so it was really important for me to have a team that did love to do that and uh i still get it's funny i still get frustrated with some of the systems that are in place i'm like who cares just you know whatever and they're like no this is the process can you please follow it so they have to hold me accountable do you feel like your gift is like you're the the resident rainmaker like bringing in connections and relationships

Yeah, I think every founder and CEO are going to have a different skill set. And that's something I didn't realize as a kid, I thought like the the role of founder or CEO was very well defined. It's not right. And and so understanding where I add the most value has been really important to me.

Yeah, I think every founder and CEO are going to have a different skill set. And that's something I didn't realize as a kid, I thought like the the role of founder or CEO was very well defined. It's not right. And and so understanding where I add the most value has been really important to me.