Speaking
Herb Cogliano, Speaker on Founder Independence
Herb Cogliano is a founder and executive coach, Certified Scaling Up Coach and CEPA, who speaks to CEO groups, leadership teams and conferences about building a company your leadership team runs, so you choose what comes next.
“If you stepped away for 90 days, would performance hold, or would the business slow down?”
Signature keynote · 30–60 minutes plus Q&A
Founder Independence: From Operator to Architect
Most founders don't want out. They want growth. But as the company expands, complexity multiplies faster than structure, and the founder becomes the operating system. Decisions back up. Escalations stack up. The calendar fills. The business starts to feel like quicksand.
The talk opens with one mirror question: if you stepped away for 90 days, would performance hold, or would the business slow down? Then Herb shows how founders move from operator to architect without disappearing from the business. Strengthen the leadership seats that matter most. Decide who owns which decisions. Set the guardrails that make autonomy safe. The result is faster decisions, fewer escalations, stronger leaders, and a company that's worth more because it no longer depends on the founder to function.
Your audience leaves with:
- A quick read on where the business still routes back to the founder, and the free Founder Independence Diagnostic to put a number on it
- Authority + Guardrails = Safe Autonomy™: how to give the team real decisions with measurable safeguards
- The 1/5 Founder Standard™: four days a week on the business, one day in it, and a 36-month path to get there
More talks
Five more ways in.
Each one stands alone as a keynote or breakout, and each draws on Founder Independence.
Talk 2
Quicksand: Why Growth Can Deepen the Trap
Why a bigger company often depends on its founder more than a smaller one did. Your audience sees the gap between the org chart and the calendar, and names which of the six traps they're in.
Talk 3
Authority Architecture: Who Decides What
Decision rights by function, guardrails that keep the car on the road, and handing over one function at a time: recommend, decide, run.
Talk 4
The 1/5 Founder Standard™: The Shape of a Founder's Week
One day in the business, four days on it, and what each of the four is for: external, strategic, cultural and personal.
Talk 5
Hiring for the Business You're Building
The three engines (revenue, delivery and stability), why one weak seat leaves the business running on two, and hiring for the company you're becoming instead of today's pain. Draws on Brad Smart's Topgrading, Collins and Porras on the BHAG, and Verne Harnish's Scaling Up.
Talk 6
Worth More Without You: The Three Gates and the Four Doors
Same earnings, a different multiple. What makes a business transferable, the Three Gates of readiness (adapted from Chris Snider and the Exit Planning Institute), and the four doors they open: sell, hand off, recapitalize, or architect and scale.
Half-day workshop · 3–4 hours
Build the Architecture
A working session for founders and their leadership teams. We map where decisions still route back to the founder, then build the architecture that makes “performance holds” the default answer.
For leadership offsites, executive team retreats, owner groups and PE-backed leadership teams.
- The mirror question and dependency map. Where work and decisions still route back to the founder.
- The seats that matter most. The one or two leadership seats to strengthen before authority moves.
- Decision rights. Who decides what, by function.
- Guardrails that make autonomy safe. Thresholds for cash, margin, revenue and talent.
- Your first 90 days. A staged plan to move the first function through recommend, decide, run.
Participants leave with: their top three dependency hot spots, a first draft of decision rights, guardrails with thresholds to finalize, and a 90-day plan for the first function.
Formats and logistics
- Formats: keynote, breakout, workshop, panel
- Delivery: in person or virtual
- Length: 30–60 minute keynote; half-day workshop
- Materials: bio, headshot and intro below
- Promotion: I'll share your event with my 11,700+ LinkedIn followers and The Founder Independence Brief newsletter
Who it's for: founder and CEO peer groups, entrepreneurial organizations, and leadership conferences serving growth-stage business owners.
What people say
“Herb is an absolute master when it comes to the Scaling Up methodology. He is incredibly effective at diagnosing and resolving critical issues with a delivery that is warm and soft, yet direct and powerful in purpose.”
“Herb brings the right level of accountability, focus, discipline, and guidance to prevent us from losing sight of our priorities.”
Podcasts
Heard on
The Chris Voss Show, Tech for Founder Podcast, The Best You Interview Series, 360 Leadership Podcast, The Art of Scaling and more.
Listen to the episodes →For event hosts
Bio, intro and headshot
Short bio
Herb Cogliano is the founder and executive coach of Aspire Growth Advisors. He works with founders of $3 million to $50 million companies who want a leadership team that can take them to $100 million. As CEO of his family’s business, Sullivan & Cogliano, he was the person most decisions waited on until he built the team that owned them. He is a two-time founder, a Certified Scaling Up Coach, and a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA), and he speaks to CEO groups and Scaling Up audiences.
60-second introduction
Today’s speaker works with founders who are growing but feel like the business still depends on them for everything that matters. He’s a two-time founder who led his family’s company to three Inc. 5000 appearances and multiple Best Places to Work awards. He’s a Certified Scaling Up Coach, a Certified Exit Planning Advisor, and the author of Founder Independence, with a foreword by Verne Harnish. His work helps founders move from operator to architect: building a company their leadership team runs, so they choose what comes next. Outside work, he’s a black belt in Kenpo Karate, has run three marathons, and finished the Wisconsin Full Ironman. Please welcome Herb Cogliano, presenting Founder Independence: From Operator to Architect.
Request a conversation
When you're ready to choose what comes next, let's talk.
I work with six to eight founders at a time, so each one gets my full attention. The first two conversations are for both of us to decide whether we're a fit.
No pitch. Our first conversation is about your business, whether we work together or not.