Why would an entrepreneur decide that hiring C-grade students is the way forward?

Today Richard speaks with Aditya Siripragada, founder of Fountane. Fountane is digital product studio and venture lab changing the traditional consulting model, with 125 people across US and India. The company doubled revenue annually for 6 years and won the Inc. Top 5000 award in 2024.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

• The mindset advantage that C-grade students bring to the table (and that A-grade students don't)
• How and why Fountaine moved away from a pure consulting model
• The one-line reframe that helped Aditya see the true opportunity and reinvent the business.
• The two "Ds" that help you discern "founder/market fit" and likely future success.

Resources/sources mentioned:

• The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast(https://xquadrant.com/podcast/)
• Fountane (https://www.fountane.com/)
• Join Rivendell (https://xquadrant.com/rivendell/), our exponential programme for elite CEOs dedicated to transforming themselves, their businesses, and the world.
• Ready for a big leap forward in your own leadership? Elevate your leadership forever with Richard's book "Making time for Strategy: How to be less busy and more successful". Buy your book here: https://xquadrant.com/time/

For full show notes, head to https://xquadrant.com/aditya-siripragada

Do you need to have a super power to be an effective CEO? What happens if you don't? How can you build a pan-continental business with zero experience? And how can you empower your managers to lead effectively?

In this episode Richard speaks with Rebecca Harrison, who has spent the last decade building the African Management Institute (AMI), Africa’s leading provider of business and management learning, supporting 37,000 businesses in 39 African countries, impacting 1.5 million livelihoods and contributing more than $130M to the continent’s economies.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

• What caused Rebecca to pursue a impact business in a sector and market she had almost no experience of, and what she had to learn the hard way.
• Why Rebecca doesn't think she has a particular super power - what she says is important instead -- and a helpful reframe of the topic by Richard
• Rebecca's three hard-won tips on building an effective middle management, even in a hierarchical culture sometimes where often the assumption is that "obedience" than "ownership" is required.

Resources/sources mentioned:

• African Management Institute - https://africanmanagers.com
• The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast (https://xquadrant.com/podcast/)
• Join Rivendell (https://xquadrant.com/rivendell/), our exponential programme for elite CEOs dedicated to transforming themselves, their businesses, and the world.
• Ready for a big leap forward in your own leadership? Elevate your leadership forever with Richard's book "Making time for Strategy: How to be less busy and more successful". Buy your book here: https://xquadrant.com/time/

For full show notes, head to https://xquadrant.com/rebecca-harrison

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

05:36 How to make an impact in Africa

13:05 Align business vision with impactful purpose

16:33 How to enjoy the entrepreneurial journey

18:13 Founder CEO: Care drives progress, not brilliance

26:40 Define management expectations for cultural clarity

34:44 Monthly cash flow and team meetings checklist

38:03 Facing fear, accepting leadership to innovate forward.

How can you build a business that is genuinely global on day one? How do you set up marketing, sales, delivery, recruitment and operations when your local market is not going to be your largest market, and where you want customers to come from anywhere?

Today Richard speaks with Fred Plais, co-founder and CEO of Platform.sh, a leading, VC funded Platform-as-a-service for building, running, scaling web applications.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

The critical early decisions that enabled the business to go global from day 1

Why Platform.sh limits employment to only 12 countries, despite being 100% remote

The process innovations that have allowed Platform.sh to successfully operate a remote-first culture

The big mistake Fred made when needing to accelerate profitability... and what happened

Resources/sources mentioned:

The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast(https://xquadrant.com/podcast/)

Platform.sh (https://platform.sh/)

Join Rivendell (https://xquadrant.com/rivendell/), our exponential programme for elite CEOs dedicated to transforming themselves, their businesses, and the world.

Ready for a big leap forward in your own leadership? Elevate your leadership forever with Richard's book "Making time for Strategy: How to be less busy and more successful". Buy your book here: https://xquadrant.com/time/

For full show notes, head to https://xquadrant.com/fred-plais

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

06:01 Building global businesses

10:14 Finding great talents outside major hubs

13:56 The new remote work paradigm

21:58 Distributed global teams ensure 24/7 customer support.

26:52 Ensuring cultural fit, clear goals, and remote work.

31:24 In-person meetings enhance problem-solving and collaboration.

36:09 Reducing cloud app carbon emissions, efficiently.

41:29 Focus on future strategy, not micromanage tasks.