Your KPIs Are Lying to You: The CEO Metric That Actually Creates Value
The 8-Figure Product CEO
9 figure CEO Lee Benson shares his Most Important Number System that has helped him with 3 exits We dig into the idea of the “Most Important Number”—the single metric that brings focus, alignment, and real execution across the company. Because if your team is tracking 20+ KPIs and still not moving fast enough, the issue usually isn’t effort… it’s clarity. In this episode, you’ll learn: How to identify the one metric that truly drives value in your business How to build the right KPI drivers underneath it (so it’s not just a scoreboard) How strong CEOs create accountability...
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From Scientist to Startup CEO: Dr. Anita Sengupta, Hydroplane, and the Real Path to Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Commercialization
The 8-Figure Product CEO
On this episode of the Apex CEO Podcast, I interview Dr. Anita Sengupta—Founder & CEO of Hydroplane, aerospace engineer, commercial pilot, and USC professor—to unpack what it really takes for a high-level technical professional to make the leap into entrepreneurship. Anita’s career spans the kind of world-class environments most people only dream about—NASA, cutting-edge aerospace programs, and academic research. But building a deep-tech startup is a different game. In this conversation, she breaks down the hard shift from “well-resourced institutions” to starting from zero:...
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Small Business Turnaround Playbook: Inside a Fractional CMO’s Growth System
The 8-Figure Product CEO
Javier Lozano – Founder of Bolder Media Co., fractional CMO designing predictable growth systems for B2B founders. In this episode, we look at small business turnaround through the eyes of a fractional CMO/CRO. I bring Javier into the kind of company I see all the time: doing $5–10M in revenue, good product, but flat growth, weak pipeline, and a marketing “mix” that’s really just random acts of advertising. We talk about: How he spots a real growth story in a stalled business by talking to the team, digging into the numbers, and seeing if the market still cares. Turning random...
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From Zero Revenue to First Plant: How Evrnu Raised $35M in Hard-Tech Capital
The 8-Figure Product CEO
Stacy Flynn, CEO and co-founder of Evrnu, is doing something most founders only talk about: turning cotton garment waste into high-performance, fully recyclable fibers—and building a real business around it. Evrnu has raised about $35M in capital- How? In this episode, we dig into the real story behind that headline number. Stacy walks us through: How she convinced the very first investors to back a textile-to-textile recycling idea long before there was a plant or revenue. Evrnu’s business model—what they actually sell, who pays, and how garment waste turns into a product brand partners...
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Husband and Wife Co-founders Built a 9-Figure Cocktail Brand from Scratch – Carbliss
The 8-Figure Product CEO
On this episode I’m joined by Adam and Amanda Kroener, married co-founders of Carbliss Cocktails—a low-carb, full-flavor RTD cocktail brand that’s grown into a 9-figure business. Adam came out of the cheese industry as a Director of Manufacturing. Amanda stepped in as CFO and now leads the data and IT side of the business. Together, they’ve turned Carbliss into a serious national player in a brutal, crowded category. We cover: The key decisions in the first 24 months that bent the growth curve. How they handled manufacturing issues and tight cash when both inventory and dollars were...
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How to Build a 2026 Budget That Actually Works: Eight Areas Most CEOs Miss
The 8-Figure Product CEO
Most budgets fail before the year even starts. Not because the team didn’t work hard—but because the assumptions were never real. In this episode, I walk through the eight critical areas where mid-market companies blow their budgets, and the exact process I use when coaching CEOs, CFOs, and ownership teams through 2026 planning. This isn’t theory. These are real-world lessons pulled straight from reviewing company budgets this year—where revenue forecasts are overly optimistic, margins are padded, promo calendars are ignored, and SG&A stays untouched while the company continues...
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Fixing a Losing Business: The First 90 Days of a Real Consumer Brand Turnaround
The 8-Figure Product CEO
Your company’s been losing money for two or three years. Forecasts keep promising a rebound that never comes. Sales are flat or down, SG&A is bloated, and leadership is too close to the problem to see the real issues. In this episode, I walk through the exact turnaround framework I use when stepping into a struggling mid-market company. These aren’t theories. These are real wins pulled straight from the trenches—where outside eyes can find 5% in SG&A savings on day one and unlock a path back to break-even. We’ll break down the practical work: renegotiating everything from...
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When Payroll Eats the Business: Inside a Mid-Market Consumer Products Turnaround
The 8-Figure Product CEO
Most turnarounds don’t start with marketing fixes or strategy sessions. They start with a calculator. A few months ago, I stepped into a mid-market consumer products brand doing under $10M a year. From the outside, it looked healthy -- loyal customers, strong reviews, recognizable product. Under the hood, it was bleeding $70,000 every month. The core issue wasn’t mysterious. Payroll alone was sitting at roughly 25% of revenue. At their gross margins, breakeven wasn’t possible. SG&A had quietly swallowed the P&L. This episode breaks down the real math behind why product companies...
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How to Grow Past $10 Million in Sales with a Fractional VP of Sales
The 8-Figure Product CEO
What if you could hire a VP of Sales—without the full-time salary? In this episode, I sat down with Richard Few, Founder of Sales Geek, to talk about how founders scale past $10M using fractional sales leadership. Richard launched Sales Geek in 2017 and built a global sales consultancy—bootstrapped, with $6M in revenue, 15 core staff, and 70+ franchisees worldwide. We unpack how fractional VPs help early-stage businesses fix what’s really blocking growth: no sales systems, unclear messaging, and poor hiring. If you’re a CEO still doing sales yourself—or you’ve hired reps without a...
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How to Turn a Hobby into a Million-Dollar Business
The 8-Figure Product CEO
What would it take to turn your craft into a real business? In this unique episode, Luke coaches Kevin, the founder of Summit Effects, live on how to transform his woodworking passion into a scalable product brand. Kevin’s been running his custom woodshop since 2001, with deep craftsmanship and a strong social media presence—but it hasn’t translated into growth. Luke guides Kevin through a strategic pivot: building a product line that’s shippable, high-margin, and tells a story. Together, they explore new hero products (like custom sushi boards and accessories), walk through...
info_outlineHow to Approach Selling on Amazon in 2021
How are you approaching your selling on Amazon strategy? Have you diversified your channels or are you solely relying on Amazon? Diversifying your channels as a business is very important instead of solely depending on Amazon. It is also important to first focus on differentiating the product before diversifying the channels.
In this episode of the Page One Podcast, Luke Peters interviews Brian Beck, eCommerce expert advisor and author of the Billion Dollar B2B Ecommerce book. He has 20+ years of experience in eCommerce and specializes in creating eCommerce strategies worth hundreds of millions to clients.
Listen in to learn the importance of directing outside traffic to your Amazon site rather than your website at the beginning of your marketing campaign. You will also learn why you need to first differentiate your product rather than selling channels.
Key Takeaways:
- How to succeed by expanding your business to multiple channels and not just rely on Amazon.
- How to increase your visibility on your Amazon site by directing traffic from outside Amazon.
- How Amazon is working to get rid of fake reviews’ sites that negatively affect businesses.
Episode Timeline:
- [1:14] Brian’s background in the eCommerce sector for the last 22 years.
- [2:40] How they help businesses grow with Amazon at Enceiba.
- [4:31] How they help well-established brands navigate Amazon fit into their overall picture.
- [7:26] Why most businesses are shifting to 3P selling on Amazon over 1P.
- [10:42] The importance of expanding your retail and distribution channels without solely relying on Amazon.
- [17:47] How to build your positive reviews using Amazon tools and work to remove the bad ones.
- [24:20] The advantages of directing traffic to your Amazon site to kickstart your marketing campaign.
- [29:15] The different software tools that Enceiba has built to help clients navigate Amazon.
- [34:12] Brian narrates how they helped a certain company transform their Amazon image for the better.
Quotes:
- “At the end of the day, a manufacturer needs to differentiate on product, not on channel.”- Brian [12:47]