PODCAST · business
Blunt On Business
by Blunt On Business
Welcome to Blunt On Business: the🚫fluff revenue webinar for serious CEOs.If you're the CEO of a📈 $5-50M B2B company and you're tired of being your team's #1 salesperson, you're in the right place. I'm Rich Laster, a Fractional CRO with 28 years and $500M+ in closed deals.Here, we don't just talk about sales theory. We break down the practical systems and strategic shifts you need to:🏎️Replace chaos with a predictable revenue engine.🧙🏼♂️Fire yourself as the chief sales problem-solver.🧑🏼🚒Build a company that scales without the constant firefighting.Subscribe and hit the bell!
Episodes
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Revenue: the Source of Capital You Can Control
At $5M, $10M, or $20M in revenue, growth begins demanding capital. You need people, technology, marketing, sales capacity, and operational infrastructure. The question is: where does that capital come from?In this episode of Blunt On Business, Rich Laster 🧙🏽♂️ breaks down why revenue can be…
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Vision Without RevOps Is An Expensive Hobby
🏆You can have a great vision, a great product, and a great market opportunity but, it isn't enough! In this episode of Blunt On Business, Rich Laster 🧙🏽♂️ breaks down why growing companies need more than strategy and ambition. They need the Revenue Operations infrastructure to turn vision…
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Your Pipeline Is An Illusion
You can't🚫 expect a serious sales organization if it's run by gut feel, spreadsheets, or what your salespeople 'say' is going to close. In this episode of Blunt On Business, Rich Laster 🧙🏽♂️ breaks down why CRM data quality, and daily pipeline management are critical to building predictable...
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You CAN'T SCALE What You're Still Selling Personally
At $5M, $10M, or $20M in revenue, being the CEO who can close deals feels like an advantage... until you realize your company's growth is still😵💫 dependent on your calendar.In this episode of Blunt On Business, Rich Laster 🧙🏽♂️breaks down why CEO-led selling becomes a hidden revenue...
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The Metrics That Expose Hidden Revenue Leakage
Your company has a revenue leakage problem.💦 For CEOs of $5M to $50M technology and professional services companies, millions can disappear through small operational gaps that never show up as a line called "revenue leakage." 😩Missed expansions, unnecessary discounts, stalled renewals, billing...
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The Difference Between Growth and Controlled Growth
Revenue growth sounds good until the business starts breaking 💔underneath it.For CEOs of $5M to $50M companies, the real challenge is not simply generating more revenue. It is growing at a rate the organization can actually absorb, support, forecast, and profit from.In this episode of Blunt On...
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Why Your Next Hire Should Not Be Another Rainmaker
The instinct is understandable...Revenue slows, the forecast gets📉 shaky, and the first solution that comes to mind is "Let's hire a rainmaker" but, a high-performing salesperson is rarely the solution for a broken revenue system. Without clear positioning, disciplined Revenue Operations,...
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How to Build a Sales Process Your Team Will Actually Use
Most sales processes 📉fail because they were designed for management, not for the salespeople expected to use them!As companies scale from $5M to $50M, CXOs often respond to inconsistent results by adding more CRM fields, more approvals, and more documentation. Instead, you should be improving...
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Why $10M Companies Hit a Revenue Ceiling
Most companies do not stall at $10 million because they run out of opportunities but, because the revenue operations that created early success were never designed to support the next stage of growth.📉The founder becomes the bottleneck, forecasting becomes unreliable, and every new customer adds...
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The Leadership Shift: from Founder to Revenue Architect
Every founder is the engine of💰 growth... 📉until they become the biggest constraint on it.If your company is between $5M and $50M in revenue, the leadership style that got you here is probably preventing you from getting to the 📈next level. High-growth companies don't scale because founders…
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SalesOps: the Missing Layer Between Strategy and Revenue
Most CEOs believe great strategy naturally produces revenue. 🥱It doesn't.Revenue breaks down in the space between strategy and execution, where opportunities stall, forecasts become unreliable, customer handoffs fail, and every department measures success differently. That missing layer is...
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The Cost of Being the Best Salesperson in Your Company
Being the best salesperson in your company feels like an advantage until every major deal, pricing decision, forecast, and customer relationship depends on you. 🥴For CEOs leading $5M to $50M tech and professional services companies, founder-led selling eventually becomes the single biggest...
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BLUNT ON BUSINESS - Season 8 Incoming
We need to go hard at your business' growth, revenue, and scalability if you are to ever see your vision manifest!!!
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Why Most AI Pilots Fail Before They Reach Revenue
Most AI pilots do not fail because the technology is bad.📉They fail because the business case is vague, the data is messy, and nobody owns the path from pilot to revenue.Recent enterprise data shows that more than 90 percent of AI pilots never reach production or measurable ROI because companies...
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What Changes When You Move from $5M to $50M
Most CEOs believe the path from $5M to $50M in revenue is simply doing more of what already works. The reality is that nearly every revenue system, process, metric, and leadership discipline that got you to $5M starts breaking as complexity increases.🌋In this episode of Blunt On Business, Rich...
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What SalesOps Really Does in a Scaling Company
Most CEOs of $5M to $50M companies think SalesOps is CRM administration, reporting, or fixing Salesforce problems. In reality, SalesOps is the operating system that creates💰predictable revenue, scalable execution, and forecast confidence as a company grows.In this episode of Blunt On...
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Why Your Company Has a Founder-Led Sales Problem
Most $5M to $50M tech and professional services companies think founder-led sales is a strength. In reality, it quietly creates operational bottlenecks, weak forecasting, stalled scalability, and investor concern around revenue durability.In this episode of Blunt On Business, Rich Laster breaks...
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Where AI Creates Real ROI in RevOps Today
If you're running a $5M–$50M tech or professional services company and still can't tell whether your AI investment is actually moving revenue, this episode is your wake-up call.1. 🔥 The ROI Reality Check CEOs Can't Afford to Ignore: Research from BCG and PwC confirms 65% of CEOs rank AI as a…
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How to Grow Without Becoming the Bottleneck
Most CEOs do not realize they are the bottleneck until growth starts slowing down.At $5M to $50M in revenue, the systems that helped build the company often become the exact things preventing it from scaling. Founders stay trapped in approvals, deal rescue calls, pricing decisions, hiring loops,...
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The Only 5 Metrics... If You Want Scalable Revenue
Most CEOs track dozens of metrics.🥱Very few use those metrics to actually run the business.In this episode, Rich Laster breaks down the🏗️ CEO Weekly Metrics Framework, the five metrics that determine whether your company is building scalable revenue or just reacting to noise. These are not…
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Early Traction Plus Our Client Experience Flywheel Equals Growth
Most Seed and Series A CEOs think they have a pipeline problem.⛓️💥They don’t. They have a client experience problem that is quietly eroding lifetime value, increasing churn, and making growth feel harder every quarter.📉In this episode, Rich Laster 🧙🏽♂️breaks down why early traction stalls,...
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B2B Sales: Converting Skeptical Buyers
Most high value B2B deals are not lost in the sales conversation. They are lost in the buyer’s internal meeting after the call ends.☠️In this episode, Rich Laster breaks down the Skeptic Conversion Model, a practical framework developed over nearly three decades of selling and advising on complex...
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Season 7 of Blunt On Business is live next Wednesday! In the interim, Rich wanted to share...
📢The podcast goes live every Wednesday at 1pm PT & 4pm ET on YouTube, with the replay distributed on Spotify and major podcast platforms. To evaluate whether your inbound motion is earning the right leads or leaking focus, visit http://RichLaster.com
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E.A.R.N. - Convert Leads Without Compromising Values
Mission driven companies fail because they lack a system for earning the right demand.🎯 In this episode, Rich Laster breaks down the📈 E.A.R.N. Model, a practical framework for converting mission aligned interest into qualified pipeline, closed revenue, and long-term enterprise value. Designed…
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The Messaging Matrix: Alignment w/o Dilution
Most🧑🏻💼 companies do not have a messaging problem… In this episode, Rich Laster introduces the🧙🏻♂️ Messaging Matrix, a practical framework CEO clients use to align how your company speaks to your customers, investors, and talent without collapsing everything into bland, generic language....
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The Narrative Operating Model: From Story To Pipeline
Most CEOs believe their impact story should convert on its own. It does not.🙅🏽♂️ In this episode, Rich Laster breaks down why impact narratives often fail to translate into 📈pipeline, even when the mission is real and the intent is strong. Drawing from Ivy League research and hands on...
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Why “Better” Brands Die: The Value Proposition Clarity Framework
In today’s crowded market, “better” is not a value proposition. It is background noise.📢In this episode, Rich Laster explains why objectively superior products still stall in sales cycles, lose pricing power, and struggle to convince investors. After 27 years in B2B sales and revenue leadership,...
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Mission Is NOT Strategy: The M3 Framework
⚠️Purpose does not scale on its own!In this episode, Rich Laster breaks down a hard truth many purpose led CEOs are confronting right now. A compelling mission is no longer enough to protect runway, defend valuation, or earn investor confidence. Without a clear model and measurable execution,...
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Running Isn’t Scaling: How CEOs Build to Scale
If your company is growing but feels harder 🏋🏾to run every quarter, you may not have a scaling problem. You may have a design problem.In this episode, Rich Laster 🔍breaks down the difference between a business that runs and a business that scales. Drawing on Harvard, Wharton, and B Lab…
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The Strategic Edge: From Product Market Fit to Purpose Market Fit
Most founders are taught that product market fit is the goal. Hit it, scale it, and everything else follows. That advice is incomplete, and for growth stage CEOs, it is increasingly ⚠️dangerous. In this episode, Rich Laster breaks down the critical difference between product market fit and…
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Is Your Message Passing the “So What?” Test
If your messaging is clear to you but unclear to the market, you are paying a hidden tax in every sales, fundraising, and partnership conversation. This episode breaks down the exact discipline behind the “So What?” Test, and shows founders how to create messages that instantly signal relevance…
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CEOs Trash Annual Planning for RevOps That Scale
Most high growth companies do not miss📉 their annual plan because the market changed. They miss because the plan was never grounded in how revenue works. By Q2, the assumptions break, the reforecasting begins, and the CEO becomes the shock absorber for a system that cannot learn fast enough.In...
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How B Corps Scale: The Framework That Protects Impact and Drives Growth
Most B Corps do not fail because their mission is weak. They fail because their mission is not engineered into their strategy and revenue architecture. As soon as growth pressure hits, values drift, product shifts, sales cuts corners, and investors push for compromises that erode trust. This...
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Fractional CRO vs. Full Time CRO: How Scaling CEOs Decide
Choosing between a fractional CRO and a full time CRO is one of the most expensive strategic decisions a Seed or Series A CEO will ever make. In this episode of Blunt on Business, Fractional CRO Rich Laster breaks down the real framework behind that choice and exposes why so many early revenue...
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High-Performing CEO Hack: Turning CRMs into a Revenue Engines
🧠 Your CRM should not be a filing cabinet for deal notes. It should be the operating system that runs your business. In this episode of Blunt on Business, Fractional CRO and revenue architect Rich Laster explains how high performing CEOs transform the CRM from passive software into a strategic...
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From Chasing to Building: How CEOs Create Scalable Revenue
CEO / Founder, your hustle got you here, but it won’t get you to scale.In this episode of Blunt on Business, Fractional CRO and growth strategist Rich Laster breaks down the shift every Seed and Series A founder must make: from chasing deals to building a true Revenue Engine that scales beyond…
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Solving the Wrong Problem? The R.O.O.T.S. To Your Revenue Growth
Your growth problem isn’t sales. It isn’t marketing. It’s misdiagnosis.In this Blunt on Business episode Rich Laster, Fractional CRO, founder, advisor, and 27-year sales leader reveals the hidden art every Seed and Series A CEO must master: diagnosing the real problem before you waste another...
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The "Accidental Sales Manager" Trap: How to Reclaim Your Role as CEO
You built your company by selling its story. But if you’re still the one closing every deal, you’re not leading …you’re limiting growth!In this Blunt on Business episode, Rich Laster, Fractional CRO, 27-year sales veteran, and founder advisor reveals how to fire yourself as your company’s top...
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How to Break the “Warm Pipeline” Illusion: Turning Leads into Real Revenue
Every founder loves to brag about a “warm” pipeline. But here’s the truth: warmth doesn’t pay the bills.In this Blunt on Business episode, Rich Laster, Fractional CRO and 27-year sales veteran, pulls back the curtain on the “Warm Pipeline” illusion that’s draining startup runway and misleading...
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When & How to Hire Sales: The Precision Framework for Founders
Hiring outbound sales talent too early can cost your startup time, money, and momentum.In this episode of Blunt on Business, Fractional CRO Rich Laster (GrowExpand.com) breaks down how to build outbound sales muscle the right way so founders can scale revenue without losing control of their…
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How Trusted Brands Win with Outbound: The Laster Trust Model
Outbound is changing …again!Today’s buyers don’t trust your sequence, your AI-driven personalization, or your “quick intro” messages. What they do trust are brands that show their expertise, respect their time, and lead with transparency from the first touch.In this episode of Blunt on Business,...
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Outbound Wins: The Precision Outreach Framework for Founders
Inbound alone will not carry your startup past Seed.If you are relying on content and waiting for leads to arrive, you are already falling behind. The companies that scale to Series A and beyond integrate targeted founder-led outreach with inbound, creating the velocity and validation investors...
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How To Build A Sales Team That Runs Without You
What separates companies that scale from those that stall? The answer often comes down to one thing: whether the sales organization can operate without the founder. In this episode of Blunt on Business, Rich Laster (Fractional CRO and founder of GrowExpand.com) breaks down exactly how to create a...
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What a Fractional Really Does (And Why Your Startup Probably Needs One)
What does a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer actually do, and why are so many growth-stage companies bringing them on board?In this episode of Blunt on Business, Rich Laster of GrowExpand.com breaks down why the Fractional CRO model is exploding in popularity, what separates it from traditional...
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The Revenue Alignment Triangle: Message, Market, Method
Are your sales slowing down, even though you have a great team and solid tools? The problem is rarely your people or your tech. It is almost always a breakdown in the Revenue Alignment Triangle: Message, Market, and Method. In this episode of Blunt on Business, Rich Laster (Fractional CRO and...
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When to Pivot: Your Offer vs. Your Audience
Every founder reaches the same crossroads: should you pivot your offer or your audience? Make the wrong move, and you burn cash without traction. Make the right one, and you unlock growth. In this episode of Blunt on Business, Rich Laster breaks down why strategy is not just a plan but the...
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AI Fails At Sales
🧙🏾♂️You, great founder, must sell ...not, be easily sold! This video will help you understand exactly where AI belongs in a B2B company. For the article I mention, visit blog.growexpand.com📌 Get Your AI Driven CRM now at RichLaster.com
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The Illusion of Strategy: Stop Confusing Goals with Strategy
Most business leaders have 👀“a plan” but, too often, that plan is just a list of goals and tasks -not a real strategy. In this episode of🎙 Blunt on Business, I break down exactly what strategy is and isn’t, why so many businesses get it wrong, and how the right strategy can become your biggest...
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Weekly Pipeline Rituals: Build Revenue with Precision, Not Chaos
Early-stage companies don’t fail because of lack of ambition🤑, they fail because of lack of discipline.🧘🏾♂️In this episode of🎙 Blunt On Business, Rich Laster breaks down why weekly pipeline rituals are the single most important habit for Seed and Series A founders who are serious about…
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Mis-Prioritizing Leads Is Killing Your Sales Velocity
Your pipeline is full, but your revenue is flat. 👀Sound familiar? In this episode of Blunt On Business, Rich Laster exposes one of the most damaging mistakes early-stage founders make: treating every lead like it matters equally. For Seed and Series A teams chasing real traction…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Welcome to Blunt On Business: the🚫fluff revenue webinar for serious CEOs.If you're the CEO of a📈 $5-50M B2B company and you're tired of being your team's #1 salesperson, you're in the right place. I'm Rich Laster, a Fractional CRO with 28 years and $500M+ in closed deals.Here, we don't just talk about sales theory. We break down the practical systems and strategic shifts you need to:🏎️Replace chaos with a predictable revenue engine.🧙🏼♂️Fire yourself as the chief sales problem-solver.🧑🏼🚒Build a company that scales without the constant firefighting.Subscribe and hit the bell!
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Blunt On Business
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Blunt On Business have?
Blunt On Business currently has 82 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Blunt On Business about?
Welcome to Blunt On Business: the🚫fluff revenue webinar for serious CEOs.If you're the CEO of a📈 $5-50M B2B company and you're tired of being your team's #1 salesperson, you're in the right place. I'm Rich Laster, a Fractional CRO with 28 years and $500M+ in closed deals.Here, we don't just talk...
How often does Blunt On Business release new episodes?
Blunt On Business has 82 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Blunt On Business?
You can listen to Blunt On Business on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Blunt On Business?
Blunt On Business is created and hosted by Blunt On Business.
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