June 4, 2026 • 23 mins
We talk with Michael Caito about the unglamorous systems that actually scale companies, from writing goals down to building real accountability through managers. We also get candid about what it takes to integrate entrepreneurship with marriage, parenting, health, and a support network that holds up under pressure.
• His early leap into entrepreneurship and building a food delivery business before modern tech
• Why writing goals down and making them visible drives execution
• The three-step cadence of accountability and regular check-ins
• Why managers and team leaders predict company success
• The CEO as the bottleneck and the mindset shift required to grow
• How MAP Consulting’s tools and framework changed his leadership and company trajectory
• Scaling through acquisitions and the Grubhub outcome
• Why work life integration beats chasing “balance”
• The bullseye model: self first, then marriage and family, then business
• Parenting with routines, structure, and consistent cadences
• Three essentials for entrepreneur parents: alignment, plan B, and your village
Michael Caito TEDx "It Takes a Village": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wALh23YHB_k
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Episode Transcript
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(00:16):
Hi everyone, welcome to thejuggling entrepreneurship
podcast.
Today we have an awesome guest.
His name is Michael Keato, um,CEO of MAP Consulting, former
global chairman of EntrepreneursOrganization, and a leader who
has spent decades helpingbusiness scale through
accountability, leadership, andexecution.
(00:37):
After co-founding and growing upRestaurants on the Run into a
multi-million dollar company,Michael went to acquire MAP, the
same company that helpedtransform his own leadership
journey.
Michael, welcome to the show.
Glad to be here.
Thank you very much, Hima.
I gave a little intro about yourfabulous life.
(00:58):
Do you want to add anythingmore?
No, I I think that's it.
Just I I've been an entrepreneursince I was, you know, in my in
college.
But um, you know, outside of allthat, I also am a dad, been
married 25 years, have threeboys 17, 19, 21.
So, you know, you're right, lifeis about juggling and putting
(01:20):
all that together.
And so, you know, my wife and Ihave had to balance that.
So it's been fun though.
Your journey looks extremelyunique.
Like you are an entrepreneur ata very young age.
So how did you um actuallystart?
Well, I, you know, listen, Igrew up in Buffalo, New York.
(01:42):
So for those of you listening,go bills.
Um the and when I was 18, Idecided it was time for a
change.
And I packed up all my clothesinto garbage bags and threw them
in my Camaro, 1979 Camaro, anddrove cross-country to
California, landed in OrangeCounty, and a sure for a little
(02:02):
bit, and then, you know, kind ofgot on my own, rented a room,
and met my best friend, and youknow, the rest is history.
But while I was here, you know,you have to like if when you're
living totally on your own, andwe, you know, I wasn't getting
any support from the familybesides love and emotional
support, but there was nofinancial support.
So what, you know, we worked,you know, I worked and went to
college.
And uh, when I was in college,I'd like to say I was in year
(02:26):
seven of my four-year degree.
So that's a joke for those ofyou listening.
Year seven of my four-yeardegree.
I was like, Yeah, yeah, okay,got it.
Yeah, and you're like, wait, Ithink I have that, right?
And so, you know, I didsomething that I hadn't done
before, which was uh write downmy goals for the next year.
I did this when I was like, itwas, I was 24.
(02:49):
And one of the goals was find anidea for a business.
And I don't know why.
Um at that point in time, I waslike, I want to, you know, I
want to be an entrepreneur.
Part of it was maybe therestaurant chain that I was
working in and growing up in.
They were entrepreneurs.
My mother was an entrepreneur,but I really never thought of
her as an entrepreneur untillater in life when I looked
(03:11):
back.
But right at the right at thattime, I was like, I want to
start a business.
And so I was in the frame ofmind.
And I tell my kids you are whatyou think about.
So think big.
And so I was starting to thinkdifferently.
And then I wrote it down.
And it's funny, like two monthslater, my brother and his best
friend came to me and they werelike, hey, we have this idea for
a business, you know, this fooddelivery company.
(03:33):
And uh, this is 1993.
So think DoorDash.
Right.
And so in college in nine in1993, before the internet,
before mobile technology, westarted a DoorDash type company
with any of the, with, with noneof the technology.
So you ought to get it.
So we got our startingentrepreneurship.
(03:54):
You ought to do that.
I say my my partner had thevision, vision.
My job was to, you know, be theCEO.
We all had specific jobs.
I was the CEO.
My one partner, Matt, was incharge of technology and
marketing, and my other partnerwas in charge of you know, kind
of uh sales and partnerrelationships.
And so we all had our roles, anduh it worked really well.
(04:17):
Awesome.
You said one interesting thing,writing down the goals.
And after you wrote down, youyou got this opportunity.
Um I think in this new tech era,you rarely see people writing
down their goals.
(04:38):
Right.
So how how much do you thinkit's important?
It's the number one thing, it'sthe number one success driver in
any company.
Okay.
There's three steps that youhave to do.
Number one, you gotta you gottaset the goal.
Number two, you gotta write itdown.
And number three, you have tohave a way to to let me say it
this way.
So writing it down, when I saywriting it down, it's gotta be
(04:58):
visible.
Okay.
So however visible means foryou, but you gotta set the goal,
you gotta make it visible, okay,not only to yourself, but to
others.
And then you have to have aregular check-in to make sure
that you're on track for thegoal.
So it's pretty simple.
Okay.
It's that's the single greatestthing that I found that is
that's the single greatestdriver of performance in a
(05:20):
company, which means that you asan individual may not know how
to do that, but you better makesure if you're a CEO that your
managers understand whataccountability means and how to
drive performance of theirpeople.
And it's a very underskilledposition in business right now.
(05:42):
A lot of managers get promoted,leaders get promoted, but they
don't know how to driveperformance of their people.
They may know how to driveperformance of themselves, but
if they can't drive theperformance of their their
people, the company will neverget to the scale that you're
looking to get it to.
That's a very, very interestingpoint.
And this is not the first timeI'm hearing just from you, but
(06:02):
uh from a few otherentrepreneurs where you're
talking about managers andleaders who got promoted.
Um, maybe they are greatindividual contributors, but
when they come to that position,they need to learn the art of
people management andperformance management.
(06:24):
How did you read?
What are some tips that you cangive to the people?
Um, well, listen, I just tobuild on what you said, Gallup
wrote a book, and the subtitleof the book is called It's the
Manager.
And the subtitle of the book iscalled That Managers and Team
Leaders is a single greatestpredictor of future success of a
company.
Okay.
(06:44):
Managers and team leaders arethe future, are the are the
single greatest predictor offuture success of the company.
So we have to make sure that notonly, not only that our managers
have a they have the tool set toknow how to accelerate
performance, but then they haveto have the framework of how to
actually manage their people.
There's two sides to it.
(07:05):
One is there's there's there'ssix things managers need to get
right.
Okay.
And then there's a framework ofaccountability that wraps around
it.
You have to get that right.
That's what we did.
We understand, we understoodthat in order to have an
organization that was performingin scaling, we needed to have
those two things, a framework ofaccountability for our managers
to work within.
(07:26):
And then they needed the toolsto be able to work within that
framework.
When you put those two thingstogether, you get performance.
You, if you have one and not theother, you're not gonna, you're
not gonna get the level ofaccelerated performance that you
are looking for as a CEO.
But it starts with the CEO.
We're the bottleneck.
It starts with us saying, like,I was the bottleneck.
(07:48):
I can get to that story later,but like I needed help.
So it starts with us realizingthat we need to put that
everything, you know, big changeinitiatives like that to start
with the CEO or the founder.
That is awesome.
Do you want to dig in um theconcept that you have just
talked about?
(08:09):
Digging, starting from the CEO.
And also one important thingthat you have mentioned is I
have written in the book.
Is this the book that you werementioning that would be coming
out, or is this the book that Ihave already been released?
This is the book that I'mwriting right now, which is
taking, you know.
Let me get let me back up alittle bit.
Sure.
To kind of give you context onwhy I do what I do right now.
(08:32):
You know, when I was when wewere building that company
restaurants on the run early,you know, I I was an
entrepreneur.
My partners and I wereentrepreneurs.
And as you know, entrepreneurscan put a company on their back
and they can carry that companyup to a certain point.
Because people want to be aroundsome entrepreneurs.
(08:53):
They want to be around leaders,they want something exciting and
passionate that they that theygo to work every day to do.
Um, so that when they come homefrom work, they're still
energized.
So entrepreneurs can do that.
Well, eventually, as you'regrowing your business, it gets
beyond the skill set of you asan entrepreneur.
And or as us as entrepreneurs.
(09:15):
And we had an we had a mentorwho uh looked at me one day and
said, Hey, Michael, if this wasa publicly traded company, we
would fire you as the CEO.
He knew that while I wasequipped as an entrepreneur to
get to a business to hear, yeah,he saw that we were onto
(09:36):
something.
You know, the food delivery, youknow, there was nobody doing it.
And so he knew that we werepotentially on a rocket ship,
but he knew that I needed help.
And when he told me that, I waslike, well, okay.
I went and talked to my peergroups.
I'm in IPO and EO, different CEOfounder groups.
And uh, one of them referred meto this company called MAP, MAP
(09:57):
Consulting.
And I went to this three-dayworkshop that they do, which
still goes on every singlemonth, two classes of CEOs and
executives and middle managersand entrepreneurs.
And I went to this workshop andit was a two and a half day deep
dive on me, you know, mychallenges, my strengths, how it
related to my business, whatpeople, how people saw me, what
(10:19):
I didn't know about myself.
But really, it gave me thesetools that I mentioned earlier.
It gave me the tools I needed tobe a great, you know, manager or
leader, and it gave me theframework to operate within.
And when we put those two thingstogether and I took it back to
my business, that's whereeverything changed.
You know, I went back to thecompany, I hired a coach to help
(10:39):
me coach my executive team, andthen all my managers started
going through the workshop.
And so that is how we grew thebusiness.
And eventually, Grubhub cameknocking after we had bought 10
companies around the country andexpanded our footprint.
You know, we were looking forcapital in the market, Grubhub
saw us, they made us a greatoffer and they took all of our
people.
We had five or six hundred, anduh, some of them are still there
(11:03):
today.
That is a true leadership story.
That is a true leadership story,and I'm so glad that you shared
it because it makes so muchpractical.
Um, it tells, I think, twodimensions of it.
One, nobody knows everything atthe beginning.
They learn, they adapt.
(11:25):
We know nothing.
They are open to learn, they'reopen to adapt and they grow.
And thank you for sharing thathonor story with us.
Absolutely.
That's that's whatentrepreneurism is.
I mean, entrepreneurs that makeit, hey, listen, you've got some
that like they're headstrong oncertain things.
A lot of entrepreneurs areheadstrong.
We all are.
Let's face it, we're starting abusiness, we have a vision.
(11:47):
You know, but the bestentrepreneurs are open to
learning and making mistakes andfalling down and letting their
people fall down, and thenlearning and getting coaching
and mentoring.
It's but um the there's there'sway more in that story for
another day, just you know,basically the the journey of
having to navigate the internetbeing launched and then mobile
technology.
(12:07):
So all that happened while wewere building the business.
So we had to make theadaptations to the business
model and then eventually sellit.
But um, after I took a littlebit of time off, okay, you know,
I would always work withentrepreneurs and talk about,
well, hey, they say, well, howdo you build your business?
And I would talk about, I wouldtalk about these things all the
time, you know, the things thatwe're talking about today.
(12:28):
And I was just saying, you needto go to the map workshop to
learn this stuff.
So after saying that for acouple of years, I circled back
to Matt, the company, and Isaid, and that's it was a
55-year-old business.
And I go, what's your plans forthe next 55 years?
And they're like, we're thinkingabout that right now.
And I'm like, think no more.
And we put a deal together andwe bought the company, and now
(12:50):
we're figuring out how we canscale the business to help more
companies around the world, youknow, do what Matt did for us.
So we're having a ball doing it.
And so that's how it all cametogether.
So I'm the guy that was a clientthat bought the company.
So first though, you're a serialentrepreneur.
And I mean, sorta, like I mean,I started one business and we
(13:15):
played around in otherbusinesses, but um, I'm applying
all the entrepreneuriallearnings to this company, even
though I purchased it.
Yeah.
So yeah.
And it's very, very unique tosee.
I think it tells a lot about youas a person and a leader.
Thank you.
Um, and a visionary that's acompany that taught you
(13:36):
something at the start of yourentrepreneurship journey.
You went back and you believe somuch that those principles work.
You actually bought the companyand you're expanding it.
So yeah, and that's that's good.
And now we're hiring, constantlyhiring um new consultants.
We're gonna be hiring moreconsultants in different parts
of the country.
And I'm doing the book right nowthat is a simple version of what
(13:59):
we teach, you know, so thatpeople can get exposed to these
simple concepts of drivingperformance in a company.
And uh we'll see where it goesfrom there.
So pretty excited about it.
Yeah, we'd love to know moreabout your book.
And uh definitely be in contactand do let us know when your
book is coming out so that wecan let all our audience know
(14:22):
about it.
Love it.
It's great.
We have a uh I I actuallyactually have a a uh in the next
probably 45 days, I'm gonna havelike a field guide version of
the book.
So while the book is in moredetail, I'm gonna have a like a
little bit of a streamlinedversion of it since the book
won't be out till you know nextyear that we can use with our
clients when we're speaking andso on and so forth.
(14:44):
So I'll have to let you knowwhen that starts.
Yeah.
Definitely, we would be soexcited.
And I'm pretty sure most of ouraudience are entrepreneurs who
are looking for some guidance.
So we'll definitely share yourmap company info.
Yeah, we'll do that.
Also, the uh the guide that youwill be publishing.
So let's hop into your otherintegrated dimension of your
(15:07):
life, which is family.
And do tell us how did youjuggle being a serial
entrepreneur and having abeautiful family with three
girls?
Okay, well, number one, I waslucky, you know, because I'm on
two fronts.
I found the greatest wife,that's number one.
But at the same, but but aboutthe same time, you know, we
(15:31):
started our business in college.
Like we weren't married, wedidn't have kids, we didn't have
financial restrictions.
I mean, we were waiting westarted our business during the
day and worked for tips at nightin a restaurant.
So, like we didn't need a lot,so we were just so locked in on
the business.
That was our one thing that wedid.
So that's why I always tellcollege kids when I speak to
(15:53):
them, I'm like, start yourbusiness now.
Start it in college, you've gotnothing to lose, you've got
access to professors forknowledge, you've got access to
capital, and you've got accessto employees.
You know, who do you thinkworked for us?
The people we worked with inrestaurants.
So I tell people to do that.
So knowing that we started it,but then we all got married, we
(16:17):
all started having kids.
And you know, I think the trickto me, the number one thing is
you have to have I needed tohave really good alignment in my
household.
Meaning, my wife knew that wewere a company that we were an
(16:37):
entrepreneur family, you know,and she was gonna raise, she
wanted to raise the children,she could have gotten a job, but
she wanted to raise thechildren, and she knew that I
was an entrepreneur.
And as soon as we got reallygood alignment on what that
meant, I might be working sevendays a week.
I might not be home till late atnight.
Um, that's the first step.
You have to have that.
(16:59):
Once you have that, then I thinkyou can work around the edges
and everything else, and you canfigure out how it integrates.
There's no such thing asbalance, there's integration.
You know, when you're anentrepreneur, you're passionate
about what you do.
And hopefully you're updatingyour spouse on at least the good
stuff from work, not so much thebad and the ugly.
You don't need to stress her outthat much.
(17:19):
But at least in my case.
So once you get good alignmentand your communication lines are
open and you're and you'reregularly communicating, maybe
even having a five-minutemeeting in the morning about the
day, maybe having a weeklyhuddle to like talk about family
business.
The communication is the numberone thing.
And then from there, it's like,how does it all fit together?
(17:41):
Because it doesn't fit all thetime.
It doesn't fit all the time.
Yeah.
I mean, let's be serious here.
There's no such thing asperfect.
Like there's going to be weeksthat I'm there's a crisis and I
have to be more available, youknow.
So um, but again, it startedwith good communication, good
alignment.
And then I had to make sure, orwe had to make sure, that she
had the support network as ourfamily grew.
(18:04):
We needed to make sure she hadwhat she needed in the house so
that we were able to live ourlives.
And, you know, it wasn't likeshe I get home and she's like,
here's the kit, type of thing.
So I guess that's the long wayto say we prioritized our
marriage above everything else.
So and we're still married 25years later.
(18:25):
That's great.
And I think that is verypractical, and the line that
stick to me is we prioritize ourmarriage or anything else.
And that is that is that tellsthe whole story.
So thank you for sharing yourpractical knowledge of it.
Listen, I'm I'm I'm very vocalwith entrepreneurs when I say,
(18:49):
listen, it's like a bullseye.
At the center of the bullseye isyou.
So you better be taking care ofyourself.
And to me, it starts withphysically.
Other people say it starts withemotions, mental, whatever.
To me, yeah, if I feel good, I'mbetter.
I'm in a better headspace.
So make sure you're healthy.
The next ring of that is yourfamily, your marriage and your
(19:10):
family, probably your marriage,then your family.
And for that is the business.
And so if you're the strongeryou are at your core, the
stronger you're gonna be withyour family, the stronger you're
gonna be with your business.
If you neglect you or yourmarriage and family, and you
just say, I'm just gonna go allbusiness, you're gonna start,
there'll be cracks and you'llstart crumbling.
(19:31):
You know, maybe you'reoverweight, maybe you're not
healthy, maybe you have a heartattack, maybe you're going
through a divorce, maybe youdon't really know your kids.
And it just makes you can't runa business that way.
I mean, I know it happens, don'tget me wrong, but it it's like
if you want a full life, you'vegotta work from the inside out,
and you'll be that much better,I promise you, that much better
of a CEO if you feel healthy andyou have a healthy relationship
(19:54):
with your spouse.
Great.
Let's talk about parenting.
Um, how did you chuggle theparenting and entrepreneurship?
And I know we are short of time,but any any suggestions for
parents um who wants to chuggleboth entrepreneurship and
parenthood?
(20:14):
What is important, what theyneed to work on?
You know, it's for me it wasdiscipline, and I don't mean
like like um consequences.
What I meant, of course, thereare consequences, but there's
got to be routines in the house.
You know, it starts with early,when they go to bed, when they
(20:36):
wake up, when they do homework,you know, when is family dinner,
which we were horrible at familydinners um with three boys
playing sports.
But it starts there.
Like, what are the routines youhave in your business?
What's the business?
What are the routines and thestructure you have in your
house?
Not that much different than abusiness.
You know, in a business that'sabout structure and routines and
(20:57):
you know, leading from thefront, it's the same thing, you
know, what knowing that yourkids are watching you, but the
consistency and the disciplineof routines and structure in the
house to me is the mostimportant thing.
And like I said, the bestexample I can give is when you
have a baby, most women or mostfamilies try to get that baby
sleeping through the night asquick as possible.
(21:19):
And, you know, that's a certainstructure and a process they
have to put in place.
But the goal is, hey, can we getthis baby sleeping 12 hours
within 12 weeks?
And it starts there.
It starts right there in mymind, in our experience.
And then continuing to put thestructure and cadences and the
disciplines in place in your inyour home.
Right.
(21:40):
I know we are uptime, but um anylast suggestions to parents who
want to become entrepreneurs?
Any three tips before we wrap upour call?
Three tips.
Uh for parents that want to beentrepreneurs, well.
(22:03):
So the first thing is likeeverybody's gotta be on the same
page that this is what we'regonna do.
Primarily the the spouses, but Imean if the children are over
older, that's gotta be a part ofit too.
So number one is we're on thesame page, we have alignment.
Um that's the most importantthing.
(22:28):
Uh the number two is probablystarting to think about the
contingency contingency plansaround if things don't go
exactly as planned, financially,um, time-wise, business,
anything.
Like, what if things don't goright?
Like what what's our plan B?
(22:49):
And then, of course, who are thepeople that you're surrounding
yourself with?
Who's your village?
I did a TED talk, Dex talkcalled It's a Village.
You can search it on YouTube,just go to YouTube and search
It's a Village, Michael Cato.
And I talk about this.
I talk about in times of crisis,you know, what's what's who's
the village around you?
You know, I'd like to, so thoseare kind of the three things,
(23:12):
you know, we're on, we've got tobe on the same page.
We got to have a plan B.
And who's our village?
Who are the people around us,like-minded people?
And in my TEDx talk, I talkedabout that when we were in
business, and it was like, youknow, I had to find my village
personally, business, andfamily.
Like who's the people that aregonna help us?
So those would be the points I'dgive.
(23:33):
So uh thanks again, Michael, foruh being our guest at the uh
Juggling EntrepreneurshipPodcast.
Thanks for sharing a wise tips,which are very practical.
And I applaud for that.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
Michael Kater, everyone.
Thank you.
Hi everyone, welcome to thejuggling entrepreneurship
podcast.
Today we have an awesome guest.
His name is Michael Keato, um,CEO of MAP Consulting, former
global chairman of EntrepreneursOrganization, and a leader who
has spent decades helpingbusiness scale through
accountability, leadership, andexecution.
(00:37):
After co-founding and growing upRestaurants on the Run into a
multi-million dollar company,Michael went to acquire MAP, the
same company that helpedtransform his own leadership
journey.
Michael, welcome to the show.
Glad to be here.
Thank you very much, Hima.
I gave a little intro about yourfabulous life.
(00:58):
Do you want to add anythingmore?
No, I I think that's it.
Just I I've been an entrepreneursince I was, you know, in my in
college.
But um, you know, outside of allthat, I also am a dad, been
married 25 years, have threeboys 17, 19, 21.
So, you know, you're right, lifeis about juggling and putting
(01:20):
all that together.
And so, you know, my wife and Ihave had to balance that.
So it's been fun though.
Your journey looks extremelyunique.
Like you are an entrepreneur ata very young age.
So how did you um actuallystart?
Well, I, you know, listen, Igrew up in Buffalo, New York.
(01:42):
So for those of you listening,go bills.
Um the and when I was 18, Idecided it was time for a
change.
And I packed up all my clothesinto garbage bags and threw them
in my Camaro, 1979 Camaro, anddrove cross-country to
California, landed in OrangeCounty, and a sure for a little
(02:02):
bit, and then, you know, kind ofgot on my own, rented a room,
and met my best friend, and youknow, the rest is history.
But while I was here, you know,you have to like if when you're
living totally on your own, andwe, you know, I wasn't getting
any support from the familybesides love and emotional
support, but there was nofinancial support.
So what, you know, we worked,you know, I worked and went to
college.
And uh, when I was in college,I'd like to say I was in year
(02:26):
seven of my four-year degree.
So that's a joke for those ofyou listening.
Year seven of my four-yeardegree.
I was like, Yeah, yeah, okay,got it.
Yeah, and you're like, wait, Ithink I have that, right?
And so, you know, I didsomething that I hadn't done
before, which was uh write downmy goals for the next year.
I did this when I was like, itwas, I was 24.
(02:49):
And one of the goals was find anidea for a business.
And I don't know why.
Um at that point in time, I waslike, I want to, you know, I
want to be an entrepreneur.
Part of it was maybe therestaurant chain that I was
working in and growing up in.
They were entrepreneurs.
My mother was an entrepreneur,but I really never thought of
her as an entrepreneur untillater in life when I looked
(03:11):
back.
But right at the right at thattime, I was like, I want to
start a business.
And so I was in the frame ofmind.
And I tell my kids you are whatyou think about.
So think big.
And so I was starting to thinkdifferently.
And then I wrote it down.
And it's funny, like two monthslater, my brother and his best
friend came to me and they werelike, hey, we have this idea for
a business, you know, this fooddelivery company.
(03:33):
And uh, this is 1993.
So think DoorDash.
Right.
And so in college in nine in1993, before the internet,
before mobile technology, westarted a DoorDash type company
with any of the, with, with noneof the technology.
So you ought to get it.
So we got our startingentrepreneurship.
(03:54):
You ought to do that.
I say my my partner had thevision, vision.
My job was to, you know, be theCEO.
We all had specific jobs.
I was the CEO.
My one partner, Matt, was incharge of technology and
marketing, and my other partnerwas in charge of you know, kind
of uh sales and partnerrelationships.
And so we all had our roles, anduh it worked really well.
(04:17):
Awesome.
You said one interesting thing,writing down the goals.
And after you wrote down, youyou got this opportunity.
Um I think in this new tech era,you rarely see people writing
down their goals.
(04:38):
Right.
So how how much do you thinkit's important?
It's the number one thing, it'sthe number one success driver in
any company.
Okay.
There's three steps that youhave to do.
Number one, you gotta you gottaset the goal.
Number two, you gotta write itdown.
And number three, you have tohave a way to to let me say it
this way.
So writing it down, when I saywriting it down, it's gotta be
(04:58):
visible.
Okay.
So however visible means foryou, but you gotta set the goal,
you gotta make it visible, okay,not only to yourself, but to
others.
And then you have to have aregular check-in to make sure
that you're on track for thegoal.
So it's pretty simple.
Okay.
It's that's the single greatestthing that I found that is
that's the single greatestdriver of performance in a
(05:20):
company, which means that you asan individual may not know how
to do that, but you better makesure if you're a CEO that your
managers understand whataccountability means and how to
drive performance of theirpeople.
And it's a very underskilledposition in business right now.
(05:42):
A lot of managers get promoted,leaders get promoted, but they
don't know how to driveperformance of their people.
They may know how to driveperformance of themselves, but
if they can't drive theperformance of their their
people, the company will neverget to the scale that you're
looking to get it to.
That's a very, very interestingpoint.
And this is not the first timeI'm hearing just from you, but
(06:02):
uh from a few otherentrepreneurs where you're
talking about managers andleaders who got promoted.
Um, maybe they are greatindividual contributors, but
when they come to that position,they need to learn the art of
people management andperformance management.
(06:24):
How did you read?
What are some tips that you cangive to the people?
Um, well, listen, I just tobuild on what you said, Gallup
wrote a book, and the subtitleof the book is called It's the
Manager.
And the subtitle of the book iscalled That Managers and Team
Leaders is a single greatestpredictor of future success of a
company.
Okay.
(06:44):
Managers and team leaders arethe future, are the are the
single greatest predictor offuture success of the company.
So we have to make sure that notonly, not only that our managers
have a they have the tool set toknow how to accelerate
performance, but then they haveto have the framework of how to
actually manage their people.
There's two sides to it.
(07:05):
One is there's there's there'ssix things managers need to get
right.
Okay.
And then there's a framework ofaccountability that wraps around
it.
You have to get that right.
That's what we did.
We understand, we understoodthat in order to have an
organization that was performingin scaling, we needed to have
those two things, a framework ofaccountability for our managers
to work within.
(07:26):
And then they needed the toolsto be able to work within that
framework.
When you put those two thingstogether, you get performance.
You, if you have one and not theother, you're not gonna, you're
not gonna get the level ofaccelerated performance that you
are looking for as a CEO.
But it starts with the CEO.
We're the bottleneck.
It starts with us saying, like,I was the bottleneck.
(07:48):
I can get to that story later,but like I needed help.
So it starts with us realizingthat we need to put that
everything, you know, big changeinitiatives like that to start
with the CEO or the founder.
That is awesome.
Do you want to dig in um theconcept that you have just
talked about?
(08:09):
Digging, starting from the CEO.
And also one important thingthat you have mentioned is I
have written in the book.
Is this the book that you werementioning that would be coming
out, or is this the book that Ihave already been released?
This is the book that I'mwriting right now, which is
taking, you know.
Let me get let me back up alittle bit.
Sure.
To kind of give you context onwhy I do what I do right now.
(08:32):
You know, when I was when wewere building that company
restaurants on the run early,you know, I I was an
entrepreneur.
My partners and I wereentrepreneurs.
And as you know, entrepreneurscan put a company on their back
and they can carry that companyup to a certain point.
Because people want to be aroundsome entrepreneurs.
(08:53):
They want to be around leaders,they want something exciting and
passionate that they that theygo to work every day to do.
Um, so that when they come homefrom work, they're still
energized.
So entrepreneurs can do that.
Well, eventually, as you'regrowing your business, it gets
beyond the skill set of you asan entrepreneur.
And or as us as entrepreneurs.
(09:15):
And we had an we had a mentorwho uh looked at me one day and
said, Hey, Michael, if this wasa publicly traded company, we
would fire you as the CEO.
He knew that while I wasequipped as an entrepreneur to
get to a business to hear, yeah,he saw that we were onto
(09:36):
something.
You know, the food delivery, youknow, there was nobody doing it.
And so he knew that we werepotentially on a rocket ship,
but he knew that I needed help.
And when he told me that, I waslike, well, okay.
I went and talked to my peergroups.
I'm in IPO and EO, different CEOfounder groups.
And uh, one of them referred meto this company called MAP, MAP
(09:57):
Consulting.
And I went to this three-dayworkshop that they do, which
still goes on every singlemonth, two classes of CEOs and
executives and middle managersand entrepreneurs.
And I went to this workshop andit was a two and a half day deep
dive on me, you know, mychallenges, my strengths, how it
related to my business, whatpeople, how people saw me, what
(10:19):
I didn't know about myself.
But really, it gave me thesetools that I mentioned earlier.
It gave me the tools I needed tobe a great, you know, manager or
leader, and it gave me theframework to operate within.
And when we put those two thingstogether and I took it back to
my business, that's whereeverything changed.
You know, I went back to thecompany, I hired a coach to help
(10:39):
me coach my executive team, andthen all my managers started
going through the workshop.
And so that is how we grew thebusiness.
And eventually, Grubhub cameknocking after we had bought 10
companies around the country andexpanded our footprint.
You know, we were looking forcapital in the market, Grubhub
saw us, they made us a greatoffer and they took all of our
people.
We had five or six hundred, anduh, some of them are still there
(11:03):
today.
That is a true leadership story.
That is a true leadership story,and I'm so glad that you shared
it because it makes so muchpractical.
Um, it tells, I think, twodimensions of it.
One, nobody knows everything atthe beginning.
They learn, they adapt.
(11:25):
We know nothing.
They are open to learn, they'reopen to adapt and they grow.
And thank you for sharing thathonor story with us.
Absolutely.
That's that's whatentrepreneurism is.
I mean, entrepreneurs that makeit, hey, listen, you've got some
that like they're headstrong oncertain things.
A lot of entrepreneurs areheadstrong.
We all are.
Let's face it, we're starting abusiness, we have a vision.
(11:47):
You know, but the bestentrepreneurs are open to
learning and making mistakes andfalling down and letting their
people fall down, and thenlearning and getting coaching
and mentoring.
It's but um the there's there'sway more in that story for
another day, just you know,basically the the journey of
having to navigate the internetbeing launched and then mobile
technology.
(12:07):
So all that happened while wewere building the business.
So we had to make theadaptations to the business
model and then eventually sellit.
But um, after I took a littlebit of time off, okay, you know,
I would always work withentrepreneurs and talk about,
well, hey, they say, well, howdo you build your business?
And I would talk about, I wouldtalk about these things all the
time, you know, the things thatwe're talking about today.
(12:28):
And I was just saying, you needto go to the map workshop to
learn this stuff.
So after saying that for acouple of years, I circled back
to Matt, the company, and Isaid, and that's it was a
55-year-old business.
And I go, what's your plans forthe next 55 years?
And they're like, we're thinkingabout that right now.
And I'm like, think no more.
And we put a deal together andwe bought the company, and now
(12:50):
we're figuring out how we canscale the business to help more
companies around the world, youknow, do what Matt did for us.
So we're having a ball doing it.
And so that's how it all cametogether.
So I'm the guy that was a clientthat bought the company.
So first though, you're a serialentrepreneur.
And I mean, sorta, like I mean,I started one business and we
(13:15):
played around in otherbusinesses, but um, I'm applying
all the entrepreneuriallearnings to this company, even
though I purchased it.
Yeah.
So yeah.
And it's very, very unique tosee.
I think it tells a lot about youas a person and a leader.
Thank you.
Um, and a visionary that's acompany that taught you
(13:36):
something at the start of yourentrepreneurship journey.
You went back and you believe somuch that those principles work.
You actually bought the companyand you're expanding it.
So yeah, and that's that's good.
And now we're hiring, constantlyhiring um new consultants.
We're gonna be hiring moreconsultants in different parts
of the country.
And I'm doing the book right nowthat is a simple version of what
(13:59):
we teach, you know, so thatpeople can get exposed to these
simple concepts of drivingperformance in a company.
And uh we'll see where it goesfrom there.
So pretty excited about it.
Yeah, we'd love to know moreabout your book.
And uh definitely be in contactand do let us know when your
book is coming out so that wecan let all our audience know
(14:22):
about it.
Love it.
It's great.
We have a uh I I actuallyactually have a a uh in the next
probably 45 days, I'm gonna havelike a field guide version of
the book.
So while the book is in moredetail, I'm gonna have a like a
little bit of a streamlinedversion of it since the book
won't be out till you know nextyear that we can use with our
clients when we're speaking andso on and so forth.
(14:44):
So I'll have to let you knowwhen that starts.
Yeah.
Definitely, we would be soexcited.
And I'm pretty sure most of ouraudience are entrepreneurs who
are looking for some guidance.
So we'll definitely share yourmap company info.
Yeah, we'll do that.
Also, the uh the guide that youwill be publishing.
So let's hop into your otherintegrated dimension of your
(15:07):
life, which is family.
And do tell us how did youjuggle being a serial
entrepreneur and having abeautiful family with three
girls?
Okay, well, number one, I waslucky, you know, because I'm on
two fronts.
I found the greatest wife,that's number one.
But at the same, but but aboutthe same time, you know, we
(15:31):
started our business in college.
Like we weren't married, wedidn't have kids, we didn't have
financial restrictions.
I mean, we were waiting westarted our business during the
day and worked for tips at nightin a restaurant.
So, like we didn't need a lot,so we were just so locked in on
the business.
That was our one thing that wedid.
So that's why I always tellcollege kids when I speak to
(15:53):
them, I'm like, start yourbusiness now.
Start it in college, you've gotnothing to lose, you've got
access to professors forknowledge, you've got access to
capital, and you've got accessto employees.
You know, who do you thinkworked for us?
The people we worked with inrestaurants.
So I tell people to do that.
So knowing that we started it,but then we all got married, we
(16:17):
all started having kids.
And you know, I think the trickto me, the number one thing is
you have to have I needed tohave really good alignment in my
household.
Meaning, my wife knew that wewere a company that we were an
(16:37):
entrepreneur family, you know,and she was gonna raise, she
wanted to raise the children,she could have gotten a job, but
she wanted to raise thechildren, and she knew that I
was an entrepreneur.
And as soon as we got reallygood alignment on what that
meant, I might be working sevendays a week.
I might not be home till late atnight.
Um, that's the first step.
You have to have that.
(16:59):
Once you have that, then I thinkyou can work around the edges
and everything else, and you canfigure out how it integrates.
There's no such thing asbalance, there's integration.
You know, when you're anentrepreneur, you're passionate
about what you do.
And hopefully you're updatingyour spouse on at least the good
stuff from work, not so much thebad and the ugly.
You don't need to stress her outthat much.
(17:19):
But at least in my case.
So once you get good alignmentand your communication lines are
open and you're and you'reregularly communicating, maybe
even having a five-minutemeeting in the morning about the
day, maybe having a weeklyhuddle to like talk about family
business.
The communication is the numberone thing.
And then from there, it's like,how does it all fit together?
(17:41):
Because it doesn't fit all thetime.
It doesn't fit all the time.
Yeah.
I mean, let's be serious here.
There's no such thing asperfect.
Like there's going to be weeksthat I'm there's a crisis and I
have to be more available, youknow.
So um, but again, it startedwith good communication, good
alignment.
And then I had to make sure, orwe had to make sure, that she
had the support network as ourfamily grew.
(18:04):
We needed to make sure she hadwhat she needed in the house so
that we were able to live ourlives.
And, you know, it wasn't likeshe I get home and she's like,
here's the kit, type of thing.
So I guess that's the long wayto say we prioritized our
marriage above everything else.
So and we're still married 25years later.
(18:25):
That's great.
And I think that is verypractical, and the line that
stick to me is we prioritize ourmarriage or anything else.
And that is that is that tellsthe whole story.
So thank you for sharing yourpractical knowledge of it.
Listen, I'm I'm I'm very vocalwith entrepreneurs when I say,
(18:49):
listen, it's like a bullseye.
At the center of the bullseye isyou.
So you better be taking care ofyourself.
And to me, it starts withphysically.
Other people say it starts withemotions, mental, whatever.
To me, yeah, if I feel good, I'mbetter.
I'm in a better headspace.
So make sure you're healthy.
The next ring of that is yourfamily, your marriage and your
(19:10):
family, probably your marriage,then your family.
And for that is the business.
And so if you're the strongeryou are at your core, the
stronger you're gonna be withyour family, the stronger you're
gonna be with your business.
If you neglect you or yourmarriage and family, and you
just say, I'm just gonna go allbusiness, you're gonna start,
there'll be cracks and you'llstart crumbling.
(19:31):
You know, maybe you'reoverweight, maybe you're not
healthy, maybe you have a heartattack, maybe you're going
through a divorce, maybe youdon't really know your kids.
And it just makes you can't runa business that way.
I mean, I know it happens, don'tget me wrong, but it it's like
if you want a full life, you'vegotta work from the inside out,
and you'll be that much better,I promise you, that much better
of a CEO if you feel healthy andyou have a healthy relationship
(19:54):
with your spouse.
Great.
Let's talk about parenting.
Um, how did you chuggle theparenting and entrepreneurship?
And I know we are short of time,but any any suggestions for
parents um who wants to chuggleboth entrepreneurship and
parenthood?
(20:14):
What is important, what theyneed to work on?
You know, it's for me it wasdiscipline, and I don't mean
like like um consequences.
What I meant, of course, thereare consequences, but there's
got to be routines in the house.
You know, it starts with early,when they go to bed, when they
(20:36):
wake up, when they do homework,you know, when is family dinner,
which we were horrible at familydinners um with three boys
playing sports.
But it starts there.
Like, what are the routines youhave in your business?
What's the business?
What are the routines and thestructure you have in your
house?
Not that much different than abusiness.
You know, in a business that'sabout structure and routines and
(20:57):
you know, leading from thefront, it's the same thing, you
know, what knowing that yourkids are watching you, but the
consistency and the disciplineof routines and structure in the
house to me is the mostimportant thing.
And like I said, the bestexample I can give is when you
have a baby, most women or mostfamilies try to get that baby
sleeping through the night asquick as possible.
(21:19):
And, you know, that's a certainstructure and a process they
have to put in place.
But the goal is, hey, can we getthis baby sleeping 12 hours
within 12 weeks?
And it starts there.
It starts right there in mymind, in our experience.
And then continuing to put thestructure and cadences and the
disciplines in place in your inyour home.
Right.
(21:40):
I know we are uptime, but um anylast suggestions to parents who
want to become entrepreneurs?
Any three tips before we wrap upour call?
Three tips.
Uh for parents that want to beentrepreneurs, well.
(22:03):
So the first thing is likeeverybody's gotta be on the same
page that this is what we'regonna do.
Primarily the the spouses, but Imean if the children are over
older, that's gotta be a part ofit too.
So number one is we're on thesame page, we have alignment.
Um that's the most importantthing.
(22:28):
Uh the number two is probablystarting to think about the
contingency contingency plansaround if things don't go
exactly as planned, financially,um, time-wise, business,
anything.
Like, what if things don't goright?
Like what what's our plan B?
(22:49):
And then, of course, who are thepeople that you're surrounding
yourself with?
Who's your village?
I did a TED talk, Dex talkcalled It's a Village.
You can search it on YouTube,just go to YouTube and search
It's a Village, Michael Cato.
And I talk about this.
I talk about in times of crisis,you know, what's what's who's
the village around you?
You know, I'd like to, so thoseare kind of the three things,
(23:12):
you know, we're on, we've got tobe on the same page.
We got to have a plan B.
And who's our village?
Who are the people around us,like-minded people?
And in my TEDx talk, I talkedabout that when we were in
business, and it was like, youknow, I had to find my village
personally, business, andfamily.
Like who's the people that aregonna help us?
So those would be the points I'dgive.
(23:33):
So uh thanks again, Michael, foruh being our guest at the uh
Juggling EntrepreneurshipPodcast.
Thanks for sharing a wise tips,which are very practical.
And I applaud for that.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
Michael Kater, everyone.
Thank you.
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