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S5 E17 Why Founder-Led Companies Win: Michael Monaghan on the Investment Edge of Visionary Builders
This week on Crunching Your Growth, Phil Masiello sits down with Michael Monaghan, Partner and Portfolio Manager at the Founders 100 ETF (FFF), to talk about what makes founder-led companies different — and why that difference matters to investors, operators, and entrepreneurs alike.
With more than 20 years of experience spanning Goldman Sachs, Sanford Bernstein, UBS, private equity, and his own run as founder and CEO of a defense technology company, Michael brings a rare perspective from both Wall Street and the founder trenches. In this conversation, he shares how his entrepreneurial journey shaped his investment philosophy, why founder-led businesses tend to outperform, and what separates visionary builders from traditional hired executives.
Phil and Michael also explore innovation, capital markets, long-term value creation, and why the companies still led by their original founders may hold a unique edge in today’s economy. It’s a sharp conversation for founders, investors, and anyone interested in what really drives enduring growth.
Scaling isn’t magic, it’s systems. Crunching Your Growth brings you inside the playbooks of founders, operators, and marketers who turned good products into durable businesses. Hosted by Phil Masiello, 4x exit founder, agency CEO, and author, the show unpacks real numbers, real bottlenecks, and the decisions that move needles: sharpening positioning, building demand beyond one channel, turning ops into an advantage, and evolving from founder-doing to team-owning. Expect crisp segments (What Worked, The Stall, The Fix, The System), on-screen frameworks, and case-specific metrics (CAC/LTV, retention, contribution margin) you can copy. If you’re building a consumer brand on DTC, Amazon, or omnichannel retail, Crunching Your Growth is your weekly working session.
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