Secrets to Thriving in Fortune 500 Territory

Mike Pinkus: Over the last 10 years at ConnectCPA, we've had the privilege of witnessing the incredible journeys of over a thousand businesses. We've been there for the thrilling highs and daunting lows of entrepreneurship. We've celebrated wild successes and monumental exits, and we've also stood by businesses as they've navigated the stormy seas, facing roadblocks and challenges that every entrepreneur encounters in their day-to-day grind. Join us as we dive deep into the stories of these resilient individuals who dared to dream, who persevered, and who were a testament to the power of entrepreneurship. This is their journey, their lessons, and their triumphs. Welcome to GrowthTales. I'm your host, Mike Pinkus, co-founder of ConnectCPA.

Mike Pinkus: Today we have Derek Ryder, the founder of Media One Creative and Media One Group. Media One is a different type of creative agency with the expertise to bring big ideas to life. Derek and his team have helped the likes of Fortune 500 companies with everything from brand campaigns, Netflix features, and beyond. Since inception, Derek and the team have achieved some major accolades, from being one of America's fastest growing companies, features in Financial Times, to being on the Global Mail’s fastest growing companies in Canada. And if Derek wasn't busy enough, they've also established offices in Burbank, London, and Toronto. Derek, what a background, what a pedigree, and thank you for joining me.

Derek Rider: Well, thank you, Mike. That's a heck of an introduction. I appreciate it.

Mike Pinkus: You know what? You have so much in your bio on LinkedIn, and from the time we've known each other, it's like, I didn't even know what to focus on. But there's more to that. You've been on the 30 Under 30 list and all this other stuff, but I'm like, you know what? We'll get to the core of what you do, and, uh, hopefully it gives credence to what you've built so far.

Derek Rider: Well, very kind. Glad to be here. Thanks for inviting me.

Mike Pinkus: Yeah, thanks so much. And, uh, I think I'm gonna dive right in, Derek, and ask you the first question that I've always been curious about, which is, why did you start a media company?

Derek Rider: So, that's a great question. I'd like to say it was a strategic decision, but it kind of happened a bit by accident. So, um, the quick story is, I was still in school at the time. I was studying at what's now called Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto, and I was taking courses towards my degree in journalism and broadcast journalism, with documentary as a focus. So, I was actually early days starting my career at what was then Business News Network and now  Bloomberg, and working there. I was kind of posted at the Toronto Stock Exchange.

And one day, I had the pleasure of meeting a CEO of a pretty major bank here in Canada. And how the conversation kind of went was, you know, he had asked me, he's like, "So, you know, what's this like? Are you excited about this?" He was really very kind and kind of took a shining on me, I guess. And I said, "You know what? To be honest, this isn't really what I expected to do." And we had this moment of a real conversation—not like, "How are you?" "Fine." You know, it was a real, real conversation. And he said, "Well, what do you want to do?"

And some voice inside me said, "I want to be an entrepreneur." So that's what I said. And then a crazier voice inside me said, "And you'll be my first client." I don't know where I had that bravado. I don't know where that actually came from. But long story short, and much to his executive assistant's chagrin—I called that poor woman so many times after he was kind enough to give me his card, which routed me to his administrative staff.

But fast forward two months later, they became a client—and have been a client, actually, to this day. So it just goes to show, it's like, you know, sometimes you don't choose your path, you're just kind of ready for things when they happen. And I think that there's a lot of truth to that. So I kind of made it known to the universe that I was looking for something or to do something different. And my goodness, I was probably 20 years old at the time, and here we are, you know, 15 years later and doing some really crazy things. So, no, it wasn't that I knew I was gonna be an entrepreneur—it just kind of happened. But then I got addicted to it, and I just love it.

Mike Pinkus: Wow. What I'm really curious about is, you mentioned, like, in your head you’re like, "I want to be an entrepreneur." What I’m curious about was, have you always been a creative person? Like, getting into agencies and creative and working with big companies—you normally have to have more of that side of your brain that’s creative, building things. Which one came first? Meaning, did you want to become an ent—did you always know you wanted to become an entrepreneur? And did you always have a creative side, or is that just the business that kind of ignited or came about you once you already knew you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

Derek Rider: Gotcha. I would say that kind of passion for entrepreneurship has always, you know, been inside. I didn't really know what I was gonna get involved with, but I knew I was going to be in business in some way or form. And so those early conversations kind of steered me that way. But I do think that I enjoy the creative process quite a bit.

And I, at least personally, I'm not a believer that you need to have a specific type of education or background to be, say, creative. I think creative ideas come from anywhere. But it does take a certain type of individual to unlock creativity in, let's just call it, a boring industry. Or, you know, it's easy to make a spot for a certain type of company exciting. It's hard to make a TV commercial exciting for, let's just say, a less known brand or maybe a more B2B brand.

So, I don't know which one comes first. I just think that it takes a certain type of creative—and we're fortunate to have many hired that do this—that can look at, let's just say, not a household name, right, and be able to make it feel like one. And that is a tough thing to do, but that's something that we've kind of figured out over the years in terms of bringing the same kind of creative excitement that you'd expect from a Disney or a Nike—who also happen to be clients—but to be able to do it for a lesser-known brand, that’s where I think the secret sauce really is.

Mike Pinkus: Yeah, that’s awesome. And you mentioned some pretty big names there, and I’m curious about—we work with a lot of SMBs—and Derek, you’ve worked with some very large companies, Fortune 500 companies and beyond. I’m curious, what is the playbook for making a sale to a larger entity as opposed to, like, SMB? Because I’m curious—like, I’d imagine it’s, it’s a more—I wouldn’t say a more challenging process, but definitely a different process in order to bring on a larger company. How is that different?

Derek Rider: So I think there's a few things in the sales process to a larger entity—certainly a Fortune 500 company. Probably the biggest difference between positioning an offering to a Fortune 500 versus an SMB is understanding how matrixed an organization of that size can be.

When you're working with an SMB, you're often working with the decision-maker. You might be working for the founder or the president, right? There's one person, or a very small handful of people, that are considered. Whereas the larger the company you deal with, a lot of these decisions—while they may want to work with a company in your industry—it's put out to RFP. And you're fighting other multinational companies, and everybody’s really good at that game. So, not to say that it isn’t difficult to win business in the smaller business space, but it is pretty cutthroat at the largest companies in the world.

So knowing that you cannot just influence one person, but you have to influence multiple decision-makers, is probably the best advice. When I speak to other entrepreneurs or early-stage founders, it's really—know that it might take six months, it might take a year. It will not be a quick decision. And, you know, as my father always told me—though he wasn’t a business person, he worked in consulting for many years—he said, "Court the client, not the project."

So really just look long term. It’s like, okay, what could happen if we actually secured this business? So let’s take the time it takes to really understand them. And that’s another thing that I think people jump on really quick—like, “I have this product” or “this service” or “this offering,” everyone’s gonna love it. It’s like, well, probably not actually. And they probably have something that does something like that already.

So really understanding their pain points and not focusing on what you believe to be the only decision-maker, but looking at the circle of influence around that individual—particularly in matrixed organizations or organizations that are heavily reliant on procurement—really understanding how that all works is critical to making any sales significance to a large company.

Mike Pinkus: Yeah, and that’s very good advice. And I’m actually curious as well—for people that have only dealt with SMBs and they want to move upstream—do you remember that first really big sale you had? I imagine you thought you were the biggest underdog in the world. You’re mentioning these RFPs are against juggernauts. How did you get that first one? Like, Media One now is a brand today, you’re working with all these big companies, you’ve been on Growth List—but that first sale, Derek, what did you do to pull the rabbit out of the hat with the first, call it, large Fortune 500 company?

Derek Rider: Oh, yeah. Well, everybody remembers their first. So I would say—well, it was many years ago now—it was a very large, probably the world’s largest accounting firm, and it was to manage a great program. I can speak about it now because it’s been many years, but EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year program.

Mike Pinkus: Oh, wow.

Derek Rider: It was a major and super exciting thing. As a young entrepreneur myself, you know, if I put back the clock and had the opportunity to just do it again—and just do it, never mind be paid to do it—I probably would. I look at it as my, you know, I feel like it's almost like an MBA from having the pleasure of interviewing, over four years, 800 entrepreneurs. I personally met and interviewed them, kind of like you’re interviewing me today. So that was an education for me, and many have become friends to this day.

But why I bring it up is, you know, that was an RFP, and as with any sort of request for proposal, we were up against some of the biggest top companies in the country—and the incumbent, who had the client for over 20 years. So I think there were something like 140 companies that applied, down to 60, down to 30, interviews with ten, second interviews with five—

Mike Pinkus: Oh my God.

Derek Rider: Down to three, down to two. And when we got down to two, it was us and the incumbent that had this account for 20 years. So, you know, we didn’t know what our chances were. And they were probably, at the end of it, a coin flip, really. But we just brought different ideas. Like, I think we re-envisioned the program, we looked at it in a different way, brought some new thinking.

And I remember fondly—he’s become a bit of a friend and a mentor—but one of the partners at that company had called me after we secured the business and just said, “So, you won it?” I said, “Yeah.” He goes, “Don’t screw this up.”

Mike Pinkus: Well, you know who voted for you?

Derek Rider: Yeah. That’s right, that’s right.

So it was, I think, what—you know, it's fun to celebrate those wins and kind of look back. But I remember many of these really significant assignments being just moments of growth—I think for the company, but also for me personally and professionally. Like, okay, they’ve taken a chance on us. Because I don't think we think about it enough, but when a—when a CMO or a CEO entrusts us with their business, it's a bit of a leap of faith.

So I just always remind myself of that—that trust we need to respect, and we need to do whatever needs to be done to satisfy that customer, because they’re taking a bet. And if it’s a big contract and you’re not—you know, what's the old phrase? “Nobody gets fired for hiring Big Blue,” right?

Mike Pinkus: Mm-hmm.

Derek Rider: You know, when you are a smaller business, you have to fight a little bit scrappier, you have to push a little bit harder. But man, does it feel good when it comes together. Because I think in any business around the world, you know, small companies and midsize companies—with the way technology is and the way that everything’s democratized—you can go after the big fish and do really big and important work. Just never forget that the work has to be at that same level as if you were a multinational. So get ready to work your butt off.

Mike Pinkus: So what was that feeling after you landed it? Was it a feeling of, “Wow, we’ve got confidence that we can do this again?” Or did it shift straight to operations and go, “We better not screw this up”?

Derek Rider: Well, there was the night of champagne and celebration—yeah—but then Monday came, and we were like, whoa, we've gotta do this thing. And it was a very galvanizing—like, it was an amazing experience, to be honest. And we made many friends that we have to this day through that program.

It was just—it was, again, beyond it being a great moment for the company, for me it was an education. Like, I'm like, hold on a second, I'm going to meet some of Canada’s top entrepreneurs, coast to coast. Like, you know, we won it from Vancouver to Halifax. So just imagine, as a pretty young entrepreneur at the time, being able to meet people that I aspired to be like—these captains of industry, these incredible men and women building biotechnology companies, and, my goodness, like manufacturing, pharma—every sector.

So it was so, so cool. And I think I just enjoyed the journey. And we grew from that. It kind of was the early days of our growth because, to execute it, we needed to ramp up our team across the country. So, I think in the course of one year we hired about 300 people—not full-time, but contractually. And that started what has now become our creators team, as we call it, of 7,200 people around the world.

So, even though we’re up against some very large publicly traded companies, we’re a private company, but we have an army of people that is probably near the level of execution, talent, and scale around the world as some of the biggest companies that compete with us—except we don't carry their overhead, right? So when you're a big brand and you're like, “Well, hang on a second—so they've got, like, 30+ Emmys and Oscars, they’ve got 7,000 people in 72 countries, but they’re still a small privately owned business or mid-size privately owned business?” Yes.

When you're a buyer, you're like, “Hang on, so I can get the value without paying for the water fountain in downtown New York.” So I think with a lot of clients looking at real efficiency—like, yes, I want to bring on expertise and I have different agencies for different things—but when it comes to video and content, that’s where we’re just like, let’s be the world’s best at that.

And there are all sorts of stories I could tell of taking on different pieces of work that were slightly outside of our core focus. And it took me this long—and I’m still figuring it out and have to remind myself—to stick to your knitting. Do the thing that you do better than anybody else in the world, and you can get the world’s best work. If you start expanding and don’t keep that focus very narrow as an SME, I think you’ll lose your way a little bit. And we did.

I think part of my learning and education has been just trying to keep that sphere sharp and be very clear about what you do well. And also, saying no to certain work can expand other work. That was a lesson I learned this year where it’s just like, “Hey, can you do this?” I’m like, “Nope.” And everyone listens a little bit more intently when you say no. Everyone is going to say yes, but if you’re like, “We actually don’t do that work—hey, we have a partner, or we know somebody, or I can give you a recommendation—but if it’s this work, yes, that’s what we do.”

I think that’s another thing that can help really scale. And I learned that lesson from the founder of Steam Whistle Brewery—do one thing really, really well. And yes, they did.

Mike Pinkus: Yeah. And it seems like, judging by what you're saying now—like saying no to certain things—that your focus has been operations. And I’ve always wondered about the operations. You’ve got this big network of possible people to deploy on projects. How difficult is it to plan these bigger engagements—your staffing requirements, what type of creatives and talent you need—in order to get it done? Because this is a deadline-driven business, a quality-driven business.

How does Media One go about its planning when you execute such a large agreement? Is there a room where you get in with your executive team and you’re like, “Alright, let's map this out. How many people do we need? What are our milestones?” Like, how do you go about that? What does that process look like?

Derek Rider: That's a great question. So, um, there is a bit of a war room established in terms of like, okay, what are we trying to do? It usually starts with, “What’s the immediate—what’s the next three months look like? What’s actually on the docket in the next 90 days?” Let’s get that right. But whilst we're doing that, let's think of the next nine months. You know, where do we need to bolster? Where are we weak? Where are our clients strong?

I think one of the hardest things to do as an agency—or really any service-providing company—is to figure out what your customer really needs. Like yes, they've asked for X, Y, Z, but what are they really asking for? There's always a bit of subtext. There's always something that they're dealing with in their own organization that—the quicker you can figure that piece out, or at least get an understanding of where they're headed or what they’re missing—the better.

We try to resource very closely with our clients. So we’ll say, “Okay, look, here is the network that we have. Here are the people that we think we're gonna put on these different components. But what do you need? Where are you strong? Where are you weak?” And I don't know if everyone has that conversation with their clients, but it certainly helps us.

At the beginning of every engagement—especially a significant one or a multi-year one—we’ll ask the question of our client leader and say, “Do you need us to hire in a particular region?” And I’ve learned that from working with some very large clients. And they’ll be like, “Yes, actually, yes please—can you put somebody in Spain?” Or, “Yes, actually, you know what, we need more help in London,” whatever it might be.

But ask that question, because the resourcing part—at least in our business—I like to compare it to construction. Where, you know, if you find any construction company, they don’t have a whole bunch of people at headquarters, but they’ll have thousands of trades that can build condos or bridges—whatever it might be.

And that’s kind of the film and TV world, or the advertising world. A lot of people don’t know this, but when you watch any movie—when you watch a movie and they roll the credits—all of those people, even the biggest films in the world, the biggest blockbuster AAA hits, most of the people on that list are freelancers. Or they’re full-time for a production company or an edit house or a color correction place. But they’re brought on—it’s a very gig economy industry.

Derek Rider: Um, similar—I like to make the comparison to construction. So if a client comes to us and says, “Hey, build me that condo,” or “Can you kind of architect an idea?” Again, we are in marketing and advertising—build me a campaign, help me tell my brand story around the world. I think it’s table stakes to have the people to be able to do it. I think the magic is in right-sizing the team that’s actually operating the day-to-day, because that’s where a lot of money and time and resources tend to be wasted, in fact.

So the theory that I have is: if you keep the management team fairly lean in terms of the operational, day-to-day management of those accounts, but then you have the resources—and frankly, more of the money at the end of the day—to invest in the productions… We call it having more of the money “show up on screen.” Clients really appreciate that.

But you do have to figure out that resourcing as closely as possible with a client, because some of them have tremendous marketing organizations and very sophisticated XYZ, and others are smaller, and they need more of that from you. So as early as you can have those conversations—I think in any significant client-agency partnership, we use the word "partnership"—it really is that. Like, what do you need from us? What can we give you? And also the power of saying no to the things that you don't do well—or just being honest with what you do well and what you can maybe support them with, but not internally.

Mike Pinkus: Yeah. And I think that’s some really, really strategic advice. Because like you said—gig economy—if you hired all these people full-time, you’re experiencing churn up the wazoo of people coming, people going…

Derek Rider: Yeah. I'll give you one example. So, something I never quite understood in our industry—where we come from in advertising and production, video production—is that many, many production companies out there, they sign directors almost like an exclusive talent. So somebody that would direct and shoot the film or direct the director of photography to shoot the film or the TV commercial, they’ll retain them. They’ll pay them monthly—a certain amount of money—to keep them on, almost like a talent agency or a representation firm for an actor or actress, right?

But I never understood that. I mean, if a TV commercial or a particular requirement has a very different look or feel, and you have a roster of like 10, 20, 30 signed directors—no matter what, you're stuck. You're stuck connecting that to somebody you have on the bench.

My thought is, okay, well, if we kept ourselves open to all of the directors in the world and didn’t retain them—but paid them well for their time when needed, as needed—I can purpose-match the correct person, right?

So I totally stole this idea, by the way. This is how the Navy SEALs work. I read this incredible piece when I was studying at Harvard Business School, and they talked about teaming. It’s what the Navy SEALs do. They have an army, but when they call in the SEALs, it’s the exact right five or six people for the exact right mission.

And that’s the way I look at project resourcing when it comes to winning an assignment. And the flexibility is only allowed if you are a nimble company with a large resource base that you can tap into—because you can pull this person and that person. “I need this person for 20 hours,” which is different than, “I only have this person, and I must use up their time against XYZ level of deliverables across a certain amount of customers.”

So it's not a perfect science, and it doesn’t work every time. But the flexibility of being able to pull people in and out and have the exact right person doing the exact right task within a project—when that’s working, it’s a beautiful thing. And the clients love it because they know they’re getting the right expert rather than the person available.

Mike Pinkus: Yeah, and that seems like—it not only seems like a great model, but it seems like you’ve given a lot of thought to that model. And Derek, I’m going to ask you a question now that—I’ve gotta ask you the hard stuff, because sure, all these accolades, scaling a business into millions in revenue—and obviously no entrepreneurial journey goes without war wounds. I’ve never met one that’s been around as long as you have that hasn’t gone through ups and downs.

I’m not asking for full war stories, but I’m curious—what have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve experienced in growing Media One?

Derek Rider: Well, that’s a good question. And you’re absolutely right. So I kind of came up with a few other folks, and you always kind of connect yourself to your peers. There were a few other entrepreneurs that took a different path, but that were kind of the same age. So we all kind of compare ourselves to folks that are in—I’ll call it the same cohort, right?

And our thought was to stay private, which we have to this day. And I think that that was a challenge to some degree, because we had these incredible opportunities, really big accounts, but we were forcing ourselves to do it from a profitable standpoint. Like, we probably could have gotten even bigger, even faster, but we were limited by the resources that we had at our disposal in terms of being a private, self-funded enterprise.

So I think that got us early in our journey—and this is years ago now—but we were on this kind of crazy growth trajectory. And talk about a lesson learned—we had some interesting private equity folks swimming around. The sharks, as I call them. And I know there are great people in private equity, but we had signed term sheets, wire transfers ready to go, and we were scaling and hiring and building as if we were going to have that. And we did. I mean, it was all ready to go.

So I bring that up as a lesson learned because—it’s not real until the wire comes through. All of this happened in and around the time of COVID. And I mean, none of us could have predicted that. So here we are—we were going to have a partner, a minor partner in the PE space. Long story short, we were expecting all of these things to happen.

The lesson there, of course—that didn’t happen. And we were then over-resourced. So we had to really look at that. Like, okay, this isn’t going to happen, right? We’ve got to buckle down. We’ve got to contract a little bit here. We’ve got to do the right thing.

I’m very pleased to share that we actually didn’t lose one person from our full-time core team. We stayed the course. And I’m like, you know what? If we’ve got to take on a bit of debt, we’ll take on a bit of debt. We’ll do what needs to be done to protect our people, because we want them there when the work comes back or when this investor comes back—whatever it might be.

But the lesson there was—it’s not done until it’s done. And, you know, there’s a bit of a honeymoon phase when folks are talking and there’s excitement around investment and all the things. When the going gets good, everyone’s on board. The question is—who’s around when the going gets tough? And I think that’s—any entrepreneur that’s been through a cycle or two and kind of seen things contract and expand will understand what I mean by that.

It’s, you know, when things are tough—that’s when I really pay attention to who’s showing up. Like in my own teams, and my team’s teams, etc.—okay, that was a tough thing, but who stood in? Who jumped up? Who put their hand up—“Hey, I can take over that,” “Let me cover for so and so.”

I think that’s where you really can identify your future leaders as well—in those times of tumultuousness. And that was a crazy time for any business, but certainly a more crazy time if you’re ramping up, expecting a pretty sizable investment—and then it just goes dark because everyone’s like, “Yeah, you know what? Let’s just hang on and wait for this thing to pass.”

So that’s a pretty good and big lesson that I learned: it’s not done until it’s done.

Mike Pinkus: Wow. Yeah, and I think a lot of entrepreneurs can resonate with that—especially during the high-flying times, where there were high valuations, deals closing quickly. And then COVID changed the world. And even though I’d say things started to peak out in 2021-ish, there was already a mixed bag of deals not going through. Huge deals were happening, but other things were not happening. And now—high interest rates, inflation, etc.

Which leads me to my next question: what’s next for Media One? What’s next for Derek? We are living in a crazy world right now with hyperinflation. Lots of firings have happened over the last year—you see it every day on BetaKit, on the news. What’s next for you guys? Any big plans ahead? How are you navigating these waters? What’s up for the next little bit?

Derek Rider: Sure. Yeah. So, um, I think—so again, kind of steadying ourselves in that moment—it really came down to sticking to our knitting. We made some changes. We operationally moved things around a little bit and said, “Okay, let’s really focus on our core offering,” and that’s what we’ve done. So, in the years following, that’s really grown.

I spoke earlier about saying no—and there was some pretty tantalizing, high-revenue, decent-margin business that we were starting to actually say no to, which confused some of our customers. But then some of our customers took notice, like, “Why no?” Like, “Hmm. Hang on. Something’s different here.”

So I think, when I look forward to our 2030 target—which is, we’re on a system called Entrepreneurial Operating System, or EOS—I swear by it. It’s great for companies in the $2 to $50 million revenue range. And we’ll probably grow out of that system at some point. But for the time being, when I look at 2030, we’ll probably be doing about $100 million in services revenue.

And the thought is, can we get there privately? Because that’s important to me—to have the flexibility to experiment.

So, in the next couple of years, you’ll probably hear from us in some acquisitions that we’re going to announce—where we’re leading and growing the business internationally in a few different pockets, where our clients have asked, “Hey, can you be in this market or that market?” And that’s what I mean about partnership. Like, when you’re having those conversations with your client and they’re like, “Hey, we’re doing this over the next couple years, but we’d really like you to have some support in this area geographically”—that’s when I feel like we’re finally “at the table,” so to speak, and really having thoughtful, partner-kind of conversations with our customer base.

So I think there’s some M&A. We want to grow our business further in the States and in Europe, in the Asia Pacific region—and just focus again on content worth creating. That’s what we’re about: making stories, creating films and videos that connect as much with the heart as the mind, and also deliver return on investment for our clients.

So if we can find more companies—independents like us, actually—that believe in that vision and want to continue to have the ability to operate their business as if it’s their own business, but they want to join, call it, the Media One group—this kind of collective that’s building momentum—give us a call. We are trying to build something different.

And I think keeping things private, being able to have a long view, looking at a client and investing in it—that’s important to me personally and professionally. But that’s where I think I see the puck going, to steal a Canadian expression.

So, M&A, but seriously focusing on that niche of content—and even more niche: video content—for the world’s biggest and best brands. And then it’ll be a bit of a flywheel. Working with the best brands will attract the best people, which will attract the best opportunities. I think that is possible with a narrow and focused niche. It becomes difficult if we broaden the offering too far.

So I feel like that’s the thing I always bring back to myself. I just say, “Okay, remember what you’re trying to do here. Remember where we’re trying to head.” And when I give myself that, it helps me keep the focus narrow, which allows us to do quite a bit in that field and in that space.

Mike Pinkus: Yeah, I think that’s an awesome perspective. The fact that you're looking out to 2030—having a long-term time horizon, rather than going and completely revolutionizing a company in 50 days. You hear about all these quick fixes to operations of like, “Oh, we’re going narrow. Let’s get it done in 90 days.” That’s… it’s—

Derek Rider: I've never—well, listen, I have some great friends in tech that may actually be able to pull that off, but I think, you know, we've been going at this for a little under 15 years, and I just turned 35. So it's like—

Mike Pinkus: Wow.

Derek Rider: We've got time. We've got time.

Mike Pinkus: Still young. Still young. Lots of time to—

Derek Rider: Losing a bit of hair, but still young.

Mike Pinkus: You and I both, but still young. Well, Derek, I don't want to hold you any longer, but I really, really do appreciate you hopping on. I know you're busy, and it's great to actually catch up and hear about just the origin story of where you've come from. So thanks for joining me.

Derek Rider: Oh, it's been my pleasure, Mike. And yeah, I think, you know, for what it's worth, I love that you're doing this. Like, it's so great and exciting to hear from other entrepreneurs and hear their story. So thanks for having me, but also excited to keep listening and keep watching. So thanks for doing this.

Mike Pinkus: Yeah, I appreciate it. Look, it's been 10 years of working with some of the fastest growing companies across the country, and we're like, we should document this. And although I don't have the media pedigree of Media One, we figure it's a good place to start. So thanks again, Derek.

Derek Rider: You're very welcome, and thank you.

Mike Pinkus: Alright. I was Derek Rider, CEO and founder of Media One Group. Derek managed his skilled company from a small media player to a multi-million-dollar company working with the likes of some of the best Fortune 500 companies.

A key takeaway from the conversation with Derek is: so many founders get caught up with a sole focus on top-line revenue. It was the challenges of cash management and market swings over the years that taught Derek that a focus on profit ensures you're "default alive" at all times.

That's it for today. Until next time, keep scaling up and breaking barriers.