In this transformational episode, David Miller, Founder and CEO of Alchemy of Scale, shares how to move from overwhelmed founder to effective leader in stage 4. If you have managers but still feel like everything runs through you, you're frustrated with constant questions, and the team isn't owning results, you won't want to miss it.

You will discover:

- Why having managers doesn't mean you have real leadership

- How to shift from managing people to building systems that create accountability

- What it takes to develop leaders who think and act like owners

This episode is ideal for for Founders, Owners, and CEOs in stage 4 of The Founder's Evolution. Not sure which stage you're in? Find out for free in less than 10 minutes at https://www.scalearchitects.com/founders/quiz

David Miller is a Growth Alchemist who has built, scaled, and exited multiple businesses while guiding others to do the same. He founded PeachCap, a premier investment and finance firm, which he grew to over $10M before exiting. As a global speaker and board member of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), the world’s largest community of seven‑figure business owners, he shares powerful lessons from both success and failure, including how a costly business deal reshaped his views on trust. Through his coaching practice, Alchemy of Scale, David helps founder‑operators break plateaus, build legacy, and transform good companies into great ones.

Want to learn more about David Miller's work at Alchemy of Scale? Check out his website at https://alchemyofscale.com/

Connect with David through his LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-miller-business-coach/

Check out his Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/davidmiller.buzz

Mentioned in this episode:

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Founder's Quiz

Hello, hello and welcome. Welcome once again

to the start, scale and succeed podcast, the only podcast that

grows with you through all seven stages of your journey. As a

founder, I'm your host, Scott Ritzheimer, and if you're one of

those founders who's built a team, you've hired managers, but

you still feel like the company is running almost entirely on

your back. You're not alone, you're not crazy, and especially

those of you who are in what we call the disillusioned leader

stage, because the hard truth is that having managers doesn't

mean that you have a functioning leadership structure. And we're

going to talk about the difference between those two

today, because with me, our guest, has lived this firsthand,

building peach cap from the ground up to over $10 million

before exiting and now helping founder operators to break

through that exact same plateau that he once faced. Our guest

today is David Miller. He's a growth Alchemist who has built

skilled and exited multiple businesses, all while guiding

others to do the same. He founded peach cap, a premier

investment and finance firm, which grew to over $10 million

before exiting and as a global speaker and board member for

Entrepreneurs Organization EO, the world's largest community of

seven figure business owners, he shares powerful lessons from

both success and failure, including how a costly business

deal reshaped his views on trust, and through his coaching

practice, practice, alchemy of scale, David helps founder

operators break those plateaus, build legacy and transform good

companies into great ones. He's here with us today, David,

welcome to the show. Glad to have you here. At one time, a

fellow Atlanta and we were trapping trading some Atlanta

stories here before we got in. But I wonder if we could just

could start with a little bit about peach cap you spent, I

think it was over 15 years there, got past that $10 million

mark, which a lot of our founders would love to do. But

somewhere in that journey, I want to dial in where you had

that moment where you realized you had some managers in place,

but it still wasn't working. What's actually going on there?

Yeah, well, first of all, Scott, thanks for having

me. It's awesome to be here. Thanks for the the kind

introduction. Gosh, so the, yeah, that valley of death that

you referenced, that's a fun, not so fun spot to be in, one of

the biggest areas of learning for me, and I'd say probably one

of my my biggest challenges, was hiring too many people at once,

hiring too many managers, just focused more on growing the

people from a numbers perspective, than focusing on

the cultural depth. So I think, I think making sure you have the

right managers in place is the first, the right people in

place, leaders in place first, and then you can start focusing

on, how do you enhance those qualitative aspects of those

managers so they can be effective?

Yeah, I'm wondering, because I feel like

what it takes to have you know managers, especially the folks

who report to you, is very different along this journey. So

at first you kind of get folks to keep folks away from you.

It's like, hey, go help them. Go handle them. Like, just manage

that for me, so I don't have to deal with it. But then at some

point that shifts, where we don't just need someone to kind

of run interference for us, but we need someone to think as a

leader. How do you see the difference in that? How do you

know? Let's start this. How do you know if your current team

has that?

I think it's I think it starts with you and

starts with the leader. Accountability rolls downhill,

just like the other phrase that we hear and accountability can

roll downhill, but on the juxtaposed phrase of that, so

can weakness, and so can blaming and pointing fingers and not

taking accountability. So having that first as a leader and

understanding that people are going to mimic you and how to

lead the organization is the first and foremost place to

start. And if you're not taking ownership and accountability in

your actions and everything that's going on in your

organization, regardless if you made the decision or not, then

you can you can do nothing but expect that that from your

leaders.

Yeah, I think what often gets overlooked

because, to be frank, it hasn't really happened up to this point

in the organization's history, is founders don't realize the

extent to which their shortcomings and their strengths

are being reproduced. Right? Oftentimes, we just think of it

as like, oh, maybe I'm letting that guy slide, but it stops

there. That's not how it works when that person's leading

others. Why is it so important to really dial in on some of

those weaknesses, and how can we see whether they're affecting

the organization beyond what we initially thought?

Yeah, one of the things that I've identified with

how to best help leaders so they. Can be most impactful in

their position is really identifying those items that are

not time sensitive yet, but are very important. And when looking

at a leader and how they are managing themselves and their

people thereafter, day to day, and on a weekly, monthly basis.

You know, if they can have answers and address those

questions, Hey, what are some strategic things that are that

our company is working on right now that isn't at the forefront

that we have to get it done immediately? How can we go ahead

and start addressing those and talking about them. Then when

they when it actually comes to a head, when it starts to

materialize, then the team's not going to be reactive, and it's

going to be that much easier for your leaders to manage the

issues and the assigns and employees.

Yeah, yeah, that's good. I want to come back

to, so let's say we've got someone. They recognize their

role in this. They're starting to take some accountability for

themselves and enforce some accountability with their team,

but they have just, usually a couple of managers or leaders

who are struggling. And again, I want to come back to this

question like, how do we know if it's the right person in that

role? How do you answer that question?

Well, hopefully that part is done in the hiring

process, making sure that their core values are aligned with the

company core values. And once that is set in place, then it

set all on you and the leader to make sure that you're guiding

them in the direction that the company is going, and just

having though that one on one relationship and really getting

under the getting to the root of the issue as to what their

everyday struggles are, what their frustrations or

misunderstandings are. So it comes down to communication at

the end of the day.

Yeah, it's so important. I want to switch

gears a little bit. There's something that we mentioned in

the intro that I want to unpack. What does trust look like

through all of this? Because I've found that founders are

both very trusting and very not trusting all at the same time,

and sometimes it can be really difficult to walk that road and

know, what does trust actually look like for a founder at this

stage when things are going wrong, what were some of the

lessons you learned around trust? And how do you help

founders with those today?

That is one that's a great question. As far as

trust goes, the way that I see it, trust isn't earned and trust

isn't given. It is managing the balance of the two. So whenever

you're first meeting with someone, you know that that

connection, that intuitive sense that you get with someone you're

you're giving trust there when you're establishing a

relationship, so you're giving something before you've even

received anything, and that's there's vulnerability with that.

So after, after that trust is given, then there's that, that

logical component, right? The How do you, how do you earn

trust over time? And that's a credit and debit system. And if,

if you keep taking, taking, taking, without, without giving,

then that trust is going to go to a negative balance. Just let

just like an ATM, and you're not going to be able to, for lack of

better words, cash out on on getting things done within the

company. So just really Scott, understanding that that trust is

a two way street, and knowing how to intuitively and logically

give and take in an appropriate manner.

Yeah, one of the things that I've found is

that you tend to take, you know, big clear. What would that be?

Debits from? I'll get my debits and credits backwards, but

withdrawals, that's the word I'm looking for from trust, but you

can't necessarily make the same big contributions to trust,

deposits in trust every once in a while. But it's not like some

kind of team Summit is going to is going to build all the trust

you need for the rest of the year. What are the little

important ways that you see great leaders building trust

over time?

Yeah. So that that credit, if you will. How do you?

How do you give How do you? How do you earn trust? Is for for

me, Scott is being vulnerable and really going in and

listening intently, listening when your leaders are talking

and memorializing what they're saying and acknowledging what

they're saying so they know that you understand them, and then

being vulnerable with with your experience and how you're seeing

the situation, and arguably, most importantly, saying when

you don't know something, because there's nothing wrong

with a leader saying, I don't. Know, as opposed to, hey, I have

all the answers. Let's, let's figure this out together,

because I don't know the answer. That's why you have a team. You

know, we're stronger together. So really, just being vulnerable

and in sharing your experience or lack thereof, when, when the

situation calls for.

Yeah, I think that's hard, because there's

this sense that, especially from the earlier stages, that if you

didn't have the answer, no one did. And there's there's just

kind of like it's a little scary to be in that place, and we

don't really want to admit that it's there. What does it cost us

at this level, when we have a team around us who may have

answers that we don't? What does it cost to still rely on being

the guy who has or girl who has all the answers?

Well, I mean, I think you risk being seen as

someone with hubris or bravado or machismo, whatever you want

to call it, and being a genuine and if you're coming across that

way, like you know all the answers. One people are going to

see through that, but two people that's that's a leader that's

leading through fear, as opposed of gaining respect and and

leading through fear. You know, people aren't going to open up,

and they're not going to talk to you, and they're not going to

provide the information from their from their people that are

on the ground every day that had the most important information,

that that feed up so you can make informed decisions.

It's so true, because if you think about it,

when, when the founder had to be in answer mode, right? Have all

the answers. They also had all the inputs, right? You know,

many times they were either there doing it or directly

leading the people who were doing it. But as you start to

hand off more and more responsibility, not just for

doing but for leading and managing, you also lose some of

that experience and those inputs and we can live off of the past

experience for a while, but slowly they'll start to get out

of sync and out of date. And it would be nice if it happened all

at once, but it tends to happen kind of behind the scenes, and

so I love the emphasis here on really working. Did you share

this earlier? But like communicating with your team, so

much comes down to your ability to communicate with your team

and the vulnerability, the vulnerability needed to accept

that.

Yeah, yeah. I agree.

Good, good. Okay, so I've got this question.

I've been dying to get to it, and we're just going to jump in

here now, but it's a question I ask all my guests. I'm

interested to see what you'd have to say. And the question is

this, David, what do you think is the biggest secret that you

wish wasn't a secret at all? What's that one thing you wish

everybody watching or listening today knew?

Well, it's, it's a secret, but it's not a secret.

And the reason I say that is because it's kind of a trite

saying, and it's, it's lead from the heart, and that's easy to

say, but whenever you're in the moment and that and that fear

succumbs you, just like it does every great leader who's

courageous, right? If you're courage, it doesn't mean you

have fear. It just means you're moving through the fear. And

when you're in that fearful situation, when you're

vulnerable, when you're uncertain, when you don't have

complete confidence, then just trusting your inner childlike,

trusting your heart and moving forward altruistically and how

you're speaking, the people are going to see that. And if you

want to gain trust, if you want to gain respect, if you want to

be a strong leader and truly understanding, looking deep

within yourself and knowing what leading from the heart means can

help out a lot, a lot of people.

Yeah, that's good. I love that, David.

There's some folks that are listening that would love more.

They found exactly what they're looking for in today's episode.

Right thing, right time, and they'd love to find more out

about the work that you do, or hear more from you. Where can

they connect with you and learn more?

Easiest way is at davidmiller dot buzz on

Instagram. Either message me there. Look at some of my

leadership reels, grab some bits there and how you might be able

to apply it to your business. And yeah, DM me if you got any

questions. Happy to get back and help out any way I can.

Fantastic, fantastic. David, thank you for

being on the show really was a privilege and honor. Having you

here today, I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation, and for those

of you watching and listening, you know your time and attention

mean the world to us, I hope you got as much out of this

conversation as I know I did, and I cannot wait to see you

next time. Take care.