Tom Vazzo

And I view Homeboy as a small business, as a small family-run business. It has that dynamic. It's a sort of... grassroots-based, founder. I took over for the founder, that type of thing. And then at different levels, as we went from $10 million to $20 million and $30 million, you've got to bring more skill sets in and you've got to grow the team. I'm very proud of the fact that

So as a summary of how to do this, the key lesson is, it's not any great insight, is hiring the people, getting the right people in place and developing the people. Two-thirds of our management team now are former clients. Think about that. They were in our program, coming in, out of prison, no clothes, no food, no anything.

So as a summary of how to do this, the key lesson is, it's not any great insight, is hiring the people, getting the right people in place and developing the people. Two-thirds of our management team now are former clients. Think about that. They were in our program, coming in, out of prison, no clothes, no food, no anything.

So as a summary of how to do this, the key lesson is, it's not any great insight, is hiring the people, getting the right people in place and developing the people. Two-thirds of our management team now are former clients. Think about that. They were in our program, coming in, out of prison, no clothes, no food, no anything.

And we've helped them heal. Mm-hmm. help them become resilient, and then they just blossom in terms of their ability to be the next generation of mentors, to be the next generation of business leaders. People who run our cafe and our bakery, they're all former gang members, right? And they all lived in that lifestyle.

And we've helped them heal. Mm-hmm. help them become resilient, and then they just blossom in terms of their ability to be the next generation of mentors, to be the next generation of business leaders. People who run our cafe and our bakery, they're all former gang members, right? And they all lived in that lifestyle.

And we've helped them heal. Mm-hmm. help them become resilient, and then they just blossom in terms of their ability to be the next generation of mentors, to be the next generation of business leaders. People who run our cafe and our bakery, they're all former gang members, right? And they all lived in that lifestyle.

They have this natural leadership skills, but they didn't have the managerial skills. Then it's bringing a lot of trainings that teach them the managerial side of this. To me, it's always been about to scale an organization, you need two things. You need funding and you need people. Will people scale with you?

They have this natural leadership skills, but they didn't have the managerial skills. Then it's bringing a lot of trainings that teach them the managerial side of this. To me, it's always been about to scale an organization, you need two things. You need funding and you need people. Will people scale with you?

They have this natural leadership skills, but they didn't have the managerial skills. Then it's bringing a lot of trainings that teach them the managerial side of this. To me, it's always been about to scale an organization, you need two things. You need funding and you need people. Will people scale with you?

A lot of times when I see other organizations that don't succeed is because they didn't put enough time on the people side. That the entrepreneur, the leader did almost everything themselves, didn't spend the time to teach the next generation and to move the next generation along and then thereby not having a shared vision.

A lot of times when I see other organizations that don't succeed is because they didn't put enough time on the people side. That the entrepreneur, the leader did almost everything themselves, didn't spend the time to teach the next generation and to move the next generation along and then thereby not having a shared vision.

A lot of times when I see other organizations that don't succeed is because they didn't put enough time on the people side. That the entrepreneur, the leader did almost everything themselves, didn't spend the time to teach the next generation and to move the next generation along and then thereby not having a shared vision.

So it's really about developing people and bringing in outside trainers to make that happen as well.

So it's really about developing people and bringing in outside trainers to make that happen as well.

So it's really about developing people and bringing in outside trainers to make that happen as well.

Yeah, two. One I'll do quickly and the other I'll spend more time on. I had a mentor early on in my business career. And he said, Tom, show the organization you know how to make money. So my point is, understand the finances. Take a finance course. You don't have to be a financial expert. You don't have to be an accountant. Just understand the numbers of a business. I mean, that's the entry fee.

Yeah, two. One I'll do quickly and the other I'll spend more time on. I had a mentor early on in my business career. And he said, Tom, show the organization you know how to make money. So my point is, understand the finances. Take a finance course. You don't have to be a financial expert. You don't have to be an accountant. Just understand the numbers of a business. I mean, that's the entry fee.

Yeah, two. One I'll do quickly and the other I'll spend more time on. I had a mentor early on in my business career. And he said, Tom, show the organization you know how to make money. So my point is, understand the finances. Take a finance course. You don't have to be a financial expert. You don't have to be an accountant. Just understand the numbers of a business. I mean, that's the entry fee.

And then the other is, to be a great leader, is listen. Just listen. You don't always have to have the answer. You don't always have to rule the room. You don't always have to sort of do it. If you want to build a culture and have people kind of take the responsibility and run with it, listen. And I'm older now. It's easy for me to say. But also the dynamic.