Jon Bassford: Fix Your Operations Before You Scale Anything

Most founders outsource sales and marketing first and leave their internal operations a mess. That decision quietly builds a C team, no matter how talented the people are. In this episode, Jon Bassford walks through how he diagnoses operational drag inside nonprofits and startups, why accounts payable is often the first place to look, how psychological safety drives the curious culture behind A teams, and why the newest hire in the room is sometimes the most valuable voice in a meeting. Jon Bassford is a consultant, speaker, and author of The Curious Leader. He works with organizations ranging from global nonprofits to venture-backed startups on operational excellence and leadership development. Chapters: 0:00 Jon Bassford intro 1:04 Working with nonprofits 3:09 Accounts payable as a diagnostic 6:10 CEOs stuck doing bookkeeping 8:55 Breaking the alpha founder mindset 11:10 Building a curious culture 13:52 Psychological safety in practice 17:52 Why hire the newest person first Guest: Jon Bassford