EPISODE · Aug 2, 2023 · 37 MIN
Benjamin Friedman: The Factional CxO
from Scouting for Growth · host Sabine VdL
On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Benjamin Friedman, who, over a 20+ year career, has navigated the perilous waters of startup finance and operations, riding the bumpy waves of startup growth and guiding his companies through successful M&A transactions, equity raises, and debt financing. To cap it all, Benjamin is a firm advocate for values such as collaboration, optimism, and open communication, and has consistently strived to connect company goals, team initiatives, and individual performance in his roles. KEY TAKEAWAYS At graduate school I’d studied nonprofit management and worked at a nonprofit for a few years and found it was very process driven, we kept talking about what to do but never actually trying things. I’m much more results oriented, so I moved into an e-commerce company which doubled every year and it was an amazing ride. I became addicted to the startup journey. A lot of startups have a unique journey, every founder is an individual, but there are some common themes. Successful startups have founders that are clear on who they are and what they’re trying to accomplish. That might seem easy, but it’s actually very hard work to regularly check in with yourself. The other application is around vision and values; those will remain constant even as the business pivots, evolves, changes and challenges occurring. The final piece is feedback loops, successful founders are constantly seeking advice from advisors, investors, other founders and their team, they’re constantly seeking feedback – they may not act on it every time – new ideas and how to get things done. Align outcomes, results and activities. A lot of people get worked up by working really hard and spending a lot of time and effort but activity alone won’t generate the outcomes that you’re looking for, you have to see what results are coming from that activity and then you have to see if those are affecting the outcomes that you desire. Are you looking at it through industry metrics, internal metrics? You need to be constantly running experiments to see if ‘x’ improves your quality, your efficiency for you or your customers. You have to constantly evaluate your process but aligning your activity results and outcomes is really critical. Bringing in fractional experts can do a number of things; they can help you look holistically across the business and make connections between different functions, how do sales, marketing, finance and product all connect and what are the ways to optimise them collaboratively to grow your business. How have things been done in the past and how can they be applied to your business in order to grow as fast as possible? Cost and risk are considerations as well, by looking at fractional resources you’re mitigating both; you pay people who come in much less than someone doing the job full-time, especially if you don’t know how they’re going to work and how they’ll fit with your team. BEST MOMENTS ‘Being open to other people’s opinions is going to make you stronger on your journey.’ ‘It’s very important to balance strategy and implementation.’ ‘We often think about productivity as running fast, but if you’re not sure of what direction you want to be running, it doesn’t matter how fast you’re going, you're going to be heading in the wrong direction.’ ‘Unsuccessful founders keep doing the same thing their customer needs, successful ones ask “what is it you need now?” and they’ll provide that.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Benjamin Friedman, the mind behind We Build Scale Grow Inc., is a seasoned entrepreneur with over 20 years of leadership in finance and operations. Throughout his career, he's skillfully navigated the entrepreneurial landscape, leading successful M&A transactions for five companies in the last decade. As the founder of Build Scale Grow, Benjamin is committed to helping startups overcome challenges and scale quickly, offering solutions to resolve immediate problems while installing long-term, scalable systems. His work is steeped in experiences from diverse roles, including Chief Operations Officer and Chief Financial Officer, extending to areas such as sales, marketing, people operations, legal, technology, and product. LinkedIn: Benjamin Friedman The company: Build Scale Grow The Book: Scale: Reach Your Peak ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]
What this episode covers
What if startup success isn’t about working harder—but about aligning who you are, what you do, and what actually moves the needle? In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VdL sits down with Benjamin Friedman, founder of Build Scale Grow and a seasoned operator who has spent more than two decades navigating the realities of startup finance, operations, and scale. This is not a romanticised take on entrepreneurship. It’s a grounded, experience-led conversation about what really separates companies that grow from those that simply stay busy. Benjamin’s path into startups was anything but accidental. He began in the nonprofit world, drawn by purpose—but quickly became frustrated by how process-heavy and action-light it was. Too much discussion. Not enough experimentation. That contrast led him into e-commerce, where the company doubled year after year. The pace, the accountability, and the results were addictive. From that point on, he was hooked on the startup journey. A central theme of the conversation is self-awareness. While every startup story is unique, Benjamin sees common patterns among those that succeed. Founders who scale well are clear—painfully clear—about who they are and what they’re trying to achieve. That clarity doesn’t come easily. It requires constant self-checking, reflection, and recalibration. Vision and values, he argues, are the anchors. Products may pivot. Markets may shift. But values should remain constant, especially when things get uncomfortable. Feedback loops are another defining factor. Successful founders actively seek input—from investors, advisors, peers, and their teams. They don’t blindly follow every suggestion, but they stay open. Curiosity, not ego, becomes a competitive advantage. Benjamin also challenges how many teams think about productivity. Activity alone is meaningless if it’s not tied to outcomes. Working harder doesn’t guarantee progress. What matters is the alignment between activities, results, and desired outcomes—and the willingness to run experiments to see what actually improves quality, efficiency, or customer value. Metrics matter, but only when they’re connected to intent. The conversation turns practical when discussing fractional leadership. Bringing in experienced, fractional experts can help startups see the business holistically—connecting sales, marketing, finance, and product in ways early teams often miss. It’s also a smarter way to manage cost and risk. Instead of making expensive full-time hires before you’re ready, fractional resources allow companies to access senior expertise while maintaining flexibility. Underlying everything is a leadership philosophy grounded in optimism, collaboration, and transparency. Benjamin believes alignment isn’t just an operational exercise—it’s cultural. When company goals, team initiatives, and individual performance reinforce each other, execution becomes faster and more resilient. This episode is for founders, operators, and scale-stage leaders who feel busy—but aren’t sure they’re moving in the right direction. It’s a reminder that speed without direction is just noise. Because scaling isn’t about running faster. It’s about knowing where you’re going—and why. And that’s exactly what Scouting for Growth is here to surface.
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Benjamin Friedman: The Factional CxO
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