My Story
My story started in a skate shop in my hometown of Topeka, Kansas.
My mom owned Square One Skateboards, and I grew up watching her pour everything she had into the business. When it closed she walked away with nothing. I didn't really have words for it back then, but I was watching what happens to the majority of small businesses in America:
They build something, and then one day it ends.
From there, I went deep into the world of helping people sell things, from launching a couple of marketing companies to becoming the CMO and co-founder of United Real Estate. I've helped move hundreds of millions of dollars in assets in my career, everything from distressed properties during the Great Financial Crisis to trophy properties and estates.
A couple years ago, I ran into a statistic that roughly 80% of businesses listed for sale actually never sell.
Millions of owners will try to exit over the next decade, and most of them will end up exactly like my mom did. Not because their businesses aren't valuable, but because nobody ever helped them build a business that works without them, and the traditional selling process just isn't built for them.
This realization put me on the path to helping founders understand what's ahead of them. I became a Certified Exit Planning Advisor via the Exit Planning Institute.
Every founder is eventually at one of two crossroads.
Either they need to fall back in love with their business, or they need to exit it like a hero. We call it Love It or List It.
Some founders just need to fix what's broken, get themselves out of the day-to-day, and remember why they started. Others are done, and they deserve a process that actually pays them for what they built, rather than becoming another statistic.
Today, Diffactory does both. We help founders build more valuable, more sellable companies, and when it's time to go, we run an accelerated sale process that gets verified offers in 60 days instead of letting a listing rot on the market for 18 months.
I'm basically spending my career making sure other founders don't end up where my mom did.
About
Three-time founder. Addict in recovery for over two decades. Black belt. CEPA-certified. Angel investor in 30+ companies. Follower of Christ.
I got sober in my late twenties after years of excess, and I've spent every year since then learning that recovery and business operate on the same framework: show up, do the work, be accountable to someone, and build something you can be proud of.
I don't sell a magic system. I bring experience, accountability, and a plan that works if you work it. The hard part is not learning what I know. The hard part is doing it consistently. That's where I come in.
Focus
There's a big difference between making money and building value. Most founders have built glorified jobs that they can't escape, and they call it a company. It pays well, and it can feel pretty good, but it's not really yours if it falls apart the moment you step away.
I work with family business owners and founder-led companies to fix that.
Exit Planning and Value Acceleration. I'm a Certified Exit Planning Advisor, and I use a process called the Value Acceleration Methodology™. Most businesses are worth less than their owners think. I help founders figure out what their business is actually worth today and what it could be worth, then close the gap. This isn't something you start thinking about when you're ready to sell. It's something you start now, regardless of your timeline. Read more about this in my exit planning essay.
Love or List. Every founder eventually has to decide: fall back in love with what you've built, or get it ready to sell and actually get paid for it. Most founders I meet are stuck somewhere in between. They don't love it anymore, but they haven't built anything a buyer would want. I help them get to one side or the other.
The Process, Not the Person. Owner dependency is a fixable problem, but it's also a painful one. Founder ego, lack of systems, no real delegation. These are the things that keep businesses trapped. I help you see the problems honestly, put real plans in place, and build the kind of company that runs without you being in every meeting and every decision.
Implementation. I don't just tell you what to do. I actually help do the work. Integrations, automations, systems, execution. I'm not the advisor who hands you a binder and leaves. I get in it with you.
Essays
Be The Filament / Origin Story
Burnout / Leadership
Getting Clear / Recovery
What You Believe / Frameworks
The Long Race / Life as a Sport
Selling Your Company / Exit Planning
Skateboards and Startups / Origin Story
What Sparring Teaches You / Life as a Sport
