How Great CEOs and COOs Scale Companies Beyond Millions

Getting a business to its first few million dollars in revenue is one challenge. Scaling beyond that is an entirely different game.

At the early stages, founders can often grow through hustle, relationships, and sheer determination. But as the company expands, that same founder-driven approach can eventually become a constraint. Decisions pile up, employees wait for direction, and the entrepreneur becomes the person everyone depends on.

In a recent episode of Build It to Billions, I sat down with Cameron Herold, founder of the COO Alliance and former COO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, to discuss what entrepreneurs need to do differently when they want to scale beyond themselves.

Cameron knows the challenge firsthand. During his time at 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, he helped the company grow from roughly $2 million to more than $100 million in annual revenue. His experience offers several important lessons for entrepreneurs building businesses they eventually want to scale—or sell.

The Founder Can Become the Bottleneck

One of the biggest transitions entrepreneurs face is moving from doing the work to building the people who do the work.

In the beginning, being involved in everything can actually be an advantage. You know the customers, understand the product, and can make decisions quickly.

But that model becomes increasingly difficult as the organization grows.

If every major decision still requires the founder's approval, the business hasn't truly scaled. Instead of building an organization, you've created a larger job for yourself.

That's where delegation becomes essential.

The mistake is waiting until you're completely overwhelmed before delegating. Cameron's experience suggests entrepreneurs should begin developing leaders and transferring responsibility before they reach their ceiling of complexity.

A Strong CEO/COO Partnership Changes the Game

For many entrepreneurs, one of the most important hires they can make is a strong second-in-command.

The CEO may naturally gravitate toward vision, relationships, opportunities, and big ideas. A great COO can complement those strengths by creating accountability, building systems, managing people, and turning ideas into execution.

Think of it like a real estate development.

The visionary might identify the opportunity, assemble the capital, and imagine what the finished project could become. But someone still needs to coordinate contractors, budgets, timelines, permits, and execution.

Great companies need both.

The key isn't simply hiring someone with the title of COO. It's finding someone whose abilities complement the CEO and then creating enough trust for that person to actually lead.

Give Your Team a Vision They Can See

Cameron is also well known for his concept of creating a Vivid Vision—a detailed picture of what the company will look, feel, and operate like several years into the future.

Many companies have mission statements.

Far fewer have a future that employees can actually visualize.

Where are you going?

What kind of customers will you serve?

What will your culture feel like?

What will employees say about working there?

What will customers say about doing business with you?

A clear vision creates alignment. Instead of employees constantly asking the founder what they should do, they can make decisions based on where the organization is heading.

That becomes increasingly important as the company grows.

Develop Your Leaders, Not Just Yourself

Entrepreneurs spend enormous amounts of money improving themselves. We attend conferences, join masterminds, hire coaches, listen to podcasts, and read books.

But eventually, company growth depends on developing the people around us.

If the CEO keeps growing while the leadership team doesn't, the gap becomes another bottleneck.

Cameron's approach emphasizes investing in leadership skills that remain fundamentally human: communication, coaching, accountability, decision-making, culture, and developing other people.

AI may dramatically improve productivity, but technology doesn't eliminate the need for great leadership.

In many ways, it makes leadership even more important.

Build the Business Like You'll Eventually Exit

Even if you aren't planning to sell your company anytime soon, building it as though you could sell it creates a healthier business.

Ask yourself:

Could this company operate successfully without me?

If the answer is no, you may own a valuable business—but a buyer may see significant founder dependency.

Reducing that dependency means building repeatable systems, strengthening leadership, documenting processes, diversifying relationships, and creating predictable revenue.

Cameron also encourages entrepreneurs to search for the hidden "Rembrandts in the attic" inside their companies—assets or opportunities whose value hasn't yet been fully recognized.

That might be intellectual property, customer relationships, proprietary processes, data, recurring revenue, brand equity, or an overlooked business division.

Finding and developing those assets can potentially increase enterprise value long before an exit occurs.

Stewardship Changes the Goal

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from our conversation is that scaling shouldn't simply be about making the number bigger.

Building a great company gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop people, create jobs, serve customers, build wealth, and ultimately make a greater impact.

As Cameron put it during our conversation, "We're all walking each other home."

That's a powerful perspective for entrepreneurs.

The goal isn't to build an organization where everything depends on you. The goal is to develop people, systems, and leadership capable of carrying the vision forward.

Because ultimately, scaling from millions toward billions isn't about working harder.

It's about building something that can grow beyond you.