EPISODE · Nov 23, 2023 · 48 MIN
Monica Eaton: Resilient Strategies & Ethical Leadership
from Scouting for Growth · host Sabine VdL
On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Monica Eaton, who embodies resilience and strategic foresight. This conversation covers: origin stories and multifaceted skills, tackling ecommerce pitfalls, business strategies and ethical practices, and predicting the future and human capital. KEY TAKEAWAYS Part of being an entrepreneur is deciding who you want to be and who you want to affect, and it becomes a journey of constant trial and error, but the dots never connect in the way you anticipate. My vision with Chargebacks911 was to be the next eBay, and I failed my way to success in international business. I became an expert at chargebacks, not because I loved it, but because it was unavoidable. I started getting calls from the merchant providers that we did business with, even the ones that closed down my account because I had too many chargebacks. They asked me for advice on the challenges they were facing. So, I set up a website to consult. I believe in exposing people from all walks of life to technology, whether they like it or not. I had no interest in computer programming at school. But one of the high schools I attended didn’t offer any arts subjects, so I was forced to take 2 computer programming courses. I found I had an aptitude for it, and I fell in love with it. Any problem you’re solving in business is a combination of reorganising what currently is, creating an environment that encourages looking outside the box, and figuring out the formula for success. BEST MOMENTS ‘It was either lose my business or figure out what the source of the problem was and solve it.’ ‘It feels good to be on the other side and rant at someone about the problems you’re having, but it feels even better to actually help someone.’ ‘Solving problems is a form of art, it’s creative.’ ‘With technology, the impossible is possible; it just takes a little bit longer.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Monica Eaton, a successful entrepreneur since her teenage years, exited her first business before turning 20. This marked the beginning of a multifaceted career, and she is now a key leader in transformative business initiatives. In 2011, she founded Chargebacks911 to address a market gap, and it has since evolved into a high-impact solution for online merchants. Today, Chargebacks911 is an industry frontrunner, known for delivering accountable outcomes. Monica also launched Fi911, providing tech-centric solutions for chargebacks and merchant lifecycle management, aligning with her vision for a seamless and scalable payments industry. 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
In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VdL sits down with Monica Eaton—entrepreneur, strategist, and founder of Chargebacks911—to explore what resilience really looks like when the market doesn’t behave the way you planned. Monica’s story doesn’t follow the tidy arc we like to tell about entrepreneurship. Her original ambition wasn’t to dominate the chargebacks space—it was to build the next eBay. What followed instead was a series of hard lessons, commercial pressure, and forced reinvention. The breakthrough insight? You don’t choose the problem. Sometimes, the problem chooses you. As chargebacks threatened to sink her early business, Monica had two options: walk away or get forensic about the source of failure. She chose the latter. In doing so, she became an expert in a domain she never intended to enter—simply because it was unavoidable. When acquirers and merchant providers began calling for advice, a pattern emerged. A market gap was hiding in plain sight. Chargebacks911 was born not from passion, but from necessity—and scaled through execution. Throughout the conversation, Monica reframes entrepreneurship as an identity choice as much as a commercial one. Growth, she argues, is rarely linear. The dots don’t connect in real time. They connect in hindsight. And the entrepreneurs who endure are those willing to fail their way forward, learning faster than their environment changes. Technology and human capital are central to her worldview. Monica is a vocal advocate for exposing people—early and often—to technology, regardless of background or initial interest. Her own path into tech was accidental, even reluctant. Yet it revealed an aptitude that reshaped her career. The lesson for leaders is clear: capability often hides where comfort zones end. Problem-solving, in Monica’s words, is a form of art. It requires reorganising what already exists, creating psychological safety for unconventional thinking, and then designing systems that actually work at scale. Ethics, accountability, and long-term value creation aren’t constraints—they’re strategic advantages, especially in payments and e-commerce ecosystems where trust is fragile and regulation unforgiving. The episode closes on a future-facing note. With technology, Monica believes, the impossible is rarely impossible—it’s simply delayed. Leaders who understand this don’t chase shortcuts. They build patiently, intentionally, and with the confidence to reframe setbacks as signals. This conversation is for founders, fintech leaders, and enterprise executives navigating complexity, compliance, and constant change. It’s a reminder that sustainable growth doesn’t come from avoiding problems—it comes from choosing to solve the right ones. The real question isn’t what you planned to build. It’s what the market is asking you to become.
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Monica Eaton: Resilient Strategies & Ethical Leadership
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