TONY: Hey, everyone, this is Tony. Before we start today's conversation, I want to give you a quick heads up. At the very end of this episode, I'm going to share a piece of music that's very close to my heart. My newest hit song. If you've ever seen those four words on every coin and every dollar in the US, hearing them on a song gives them a whole new weight. So stick around to the very end. I can't wait for you to hear it.
Welcome back to the podcast. Now, entrepreneurs today are moving faster than ever, but speed without direction can be fatal to a business. That's why I'm excited about today's conversation. Scott Kelly is a business accelerator investor and founder of Black Dog Venture Partners, where he's helped launch, fund and scale companies across tech, consumer goods, entertainment and beyond. He's worked with hundreds of founders, and he's seen exactly why some companies break through while others get stuck. Very interesting, isn't it?
Today's episode is about growth intelligence. It's the ability to see opportunities earlier, fix bottlenecks faster, and build the right investor relationships before you need them. So guys, if you're trying to scale, pitch or raise capital, this conversation can possibly save you months and months of mistakes and give you clarity on your next steps. I've said enough. Let's jump into it. Let's begin. Let's go. Bring them on.
Hi, Scott. Welcome to the Tony D'Urso show.
SCOTT: Thanks, Tony. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
TONY: The honor is mine. I'm really looking forward to learning about how to scale with speed. Uh, I've been blessed by hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people at the top of their category who have shared during the interview a lot of information that I've actually used myself to grow my own show to like over fifty million downloads now. In eleven years. So I'm looking always looking forward to learning more. And this is. This is just a great time to look at scaling with speed.

INTERVIEW – PART 1 (VENTURE DEVELOPMENT & SCALING)
TONY: But just before I jump into that, can we get a little bit more on your backstory? How did it all start for you, Scott, and what led you into venture development and acceleration?
SCOTT: Sure, Tony. Yeah, I've been a deal guy for thirty-five plus years. I started working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange while I was in college, and after college I moved to San Francisco, uh, worked as an investment banker taking technology companies public. I did that from eighty-six to ninety-three. Ninety-three. In the midst of the dot com boom, I, I became a founder for the first time, and I lost my first of three internet companies that I funded, grew and exited between ninety-three and two thousand.
Two thousand. I tell people I had my first unsuccessful retirement. When I moved from San Francisco to Arizona, after about six months of realizing I could not play golf enough to be entertained, I started another business and it was a music and entertainment and ran that business for six years until I sold that. Um, and that's why I launched Black Dog Venture Partners. And basically what was happening, Tony, is a lot of later stage venture capital investors were sending me the companies that were too early for them.
So we worked with these technology founders since the mid two thousand to help them fund, scale, grow and exit their business. And we've been fortunate to help companies raise five billion dollars in capital, thirty exits in addition to myself. Uh, we've built an investor network of thirteen thousand investors. I've done some form of transaction with, uh, over that time period. And, uh, and like I said, we've had a really good run in terms of helping entrepreneurs.
Um, moved to Florida three years ago. And what I tell everybody, it was my second unsuccessful retirement. I, uh, decided to come back to the East Coast from being in California and Arizona. And, you know, I fell in love with the ecosystem here in Florida. And I do that to this day.
TONY: Absolutely amazing. I'm thinking with some of that. And while you're saying this, I'm thinking you've helped so many investors. I'm thinking, are you able to summarize what separates companies that actually scale from the ones that just don't? And it's a very long question. You could probably spend the rest of the year answering that and giving lectures, but kind of want to understand that, because then we're going to dive into that quite a bit.
SCOTT: Well, I think scaling really comes down to obviously trying things, seeing what doesn't work and fixing that along the way. I find sometimes entrepreneurs, they get stuck on a particular thesis or a business model, regardless of whether or not the market's telling them that's what they should focus on. So I think one of the keys to scale is having the ability to adapt to the business environment, ability to adapt to the consumer and the ability to adapt to technology, which is probably very important in today's age. So I think the ability to scale has a lot to do with a lot of learning about the market, learning about your customer and then pivoting accordingly.
TONY: I got you very, very interesting here. Once again, we're speaking with Scott Kelly. We're talking about scaling with speed. This is what every entrepreneur must know before scaling, pitching or seeking investment. You're going to find him at BlackDogVenturePartners.com that's BlackDogVenturePartners.com. And we may give you another URL in just a little bit.
And I'm thinking of this and I'm thinking, you know, I've seen I've been in the corporate world, I've been in the entrepreneur world. I've seen I've seen focus on making money only. I've seen focus on just get the product out the door. I've seen so many things. I've seen so many failures in a way, and I've seen great successes in home runs with just literally nothing. Just ideas on paper and I've seen huge money. I don't even know how to categorize everything that I've seen.
But apparently, and you know, a lot of entrepreneurs seem to focus on the wrong metrics early on. They're not looking at the right thing. I mean, social media should not or or your favorite AI chats should not be the ones telling you what to focus on. A computer or an AI is only as good as the information put in. Remember that folks.
So Scott, what should people what should entrepreneurs really be focusing on? What do you think they should be measuring?
SCOTT: Well, as an investor, you know, obviously the most key metric attraction is sales and revenue and hopefully even profits. And I think after that it's really building a successful funnel, meaning that you have enough of shots at the plate, so to speak, enough, enough people, a large enough market, a good funnel of potential people to go after.
And, you know, those are the metrics from an investor standpoint. At the end of the day, it's what are you doing now to generate revenue and what do you have established to bring in future revenue? And I think those are some of the key metrics that, from an investor standpoint, are very important.
You know, unfortunately, you know, and you mentioned social media, some entrepreneurs like to lead on social media metrics. You know, they have millions of Instagram followers or Twitter followers. You know, unless you can convert that those metrics mean little. I'm a big believer that, um, you know, during the nineties when I was running internet companies, I used to say I did two things with the internet. I sold the product or service, or I captured the data file, an email address so I could sell a product or service. And back then. And it still applies today. The rest is really just flying baloney as far as I'm concerned.
TONY: Totally understand. And you know, when I look at this as, uh, if I pull back and look at this world, let's call it a world, the entrepreneur, the business world. First of all, everything that you're seeing, even everything that you're seeing, if you're watching this on video, everything that you see, wherever you're listening from, everything came from an entrepreneur, someone with an idea to put something out there. And your phone, your computer, your vehicle, everything came from an entrepreneur. We have to remember that, folks.
And with that, and one of the things that I teach when I go on stage and talk is and what started me off was eight steps that I developed, which I call the vision map. And step seven of eight. Step seven is the one where you focus on income, because before that it's what are you selling? Why are you selling it? What are you what's your product? I mean, there's important key questions that are so key.
You know, you're nodding here. You're totally, you know, sinking with this. There's things that we have to focus on way before. Did we make money? Did we sell anything? It's. Do people even like what you want? I've been through. And you're smiling right now. And I've seen people forming companies with what they think is a product that nobody else thinks is a product or service. Nobody else is really interested in that. So I think and I love your take on that, on really dialing in that product or service that's important. You know, you did your internet company, one of the things was gathering emails so you could sell something, but you still sold something that you knew somehow was valuable. I like to kind of take it up just a little high level before we dive in. Further, deeper dive.
SCOTT: Yeah. You know, it's interesting you say that because you know, from and again, I see literally hundreds of pitch decks from would be entrepreneurs looking to raise capital. And you mentioned, you know, having something, something they wanted to accomplish before they went to sell something. And in the investor world, you have to have a solution that's worth solving.
And, you know, I was thinking about an example many years ago. I was taught economics and entrepreneurship during Covid at a University of Phoenix, and I told them this great story about a company called Juicero. And you can Google this. There's a really interesting they're raised one hundred and twenty million dollars from some of the smartest investors in Silicon Valley. Their product was a thousand dollars to twelve hundred dollars juicer that could make juice in under three minutes, using a phone as an app. They put out a video showing how this twelve hundred dollars juicer can make juice in ninety and three minutes.
And everyone could probably guess what happened. Somebody put up a YouTube video with their one hundred dollars blender making juice in a couple of minutes. They didn't solve a problem. That company lost one hundred and twenty million dollars and went bankrupt in under two years. So before you go out and sell something, you do have to have a real problem you're solving and at a price point that people are willing to pay for it.
TONY: I find it hard to believe. And I'm going to tell you a little short story. I find it so hard to believe that anyone would put money into that one hundred and twenty million dollars. Wow. Absolutely amazing.
You know, when the internet first came into awareness, let's call it around two thousand or so, I had a patent and I was offered a ten million dollars. Literally. We'll give you Tony. We'll give you ten million dollars, but you have to have a website. You didn't have a product, didn't have anything. It was just. And it just didn't seem right to me. And I never took that deal. Don't ask me why, but that's just a different story. But it just shows how sometimes it's just not connected reality with funds, you know?
SCOTT: And again, I've seen drawings generate millions of dollars.
TONY: Sure. I'm sure you have. So bring it back down. You mentioned pitch decks and stuff. So what do these investors, what are they looking for? You know, you know, I want to sell my business or I'm looking to raise capital. What is it that that they go through my deck and they go to that page? What is that?
SCOTT: Well, I tell entrepreneurs, they really have to answer a handful of key questions to really get investor interest. And the first one I touched on before. What's the problem you're trying to solve? And is it a problem for a lot of people? And is it a problem worth solving? Number one, that gives you scale. But then what is your solution and why is it better? Is it faster? Is it cheaper? What makes your solution your product, your solution, the solution to that problem for all these people?
After that, how do you make money and how are you going to find customers? Investors want to know, you know, what's your revenue model? Is it a subscription model? Are you selling a product? What are your potential margins? Who is your ultimate customer is going to be? And then your team. You know, I deal with a lot of early stage entrepreneurs and who may not have a product yet, who may not have sales. So the team and the ability to execute on idea is very important.
And then you need to know your competition. And one of the things that I hear way too often is I don't have any competition. And when I hear that, I almost shut down completely in the conversation because I tell everybody, you know, the pencil is competition to the computer.
And then they're going to want to know your exit strategy. How are you going to get out of this business? Because as an investor, putting money in is the easy part. Getting money out, uh, is the difficult part. And the vast majority, in fact, seventy five percent of companies that raise venture capital money lose it all, you know? So you have to understand those key factors, because then you're talking to the investor with the things that are important to them. And that's a a return on their capital and a return of their capital.

SPONSOR BREAK – MONARCH
TONY: Before we move on, I want to pause on something that Scott just highlighted. And it's subtle, but it matters. A lot of founders think acceleration is about doing more outreach, more tools, more hustle. But what Scott's really pointing to is clarity before speed. Knowing where you're actually standing before deciding where to push next. That applies to business, and honestly, it applies just as much to your personal life. Because if you don't have a clear picture of what's happening behind the scenes, you end up reacting instead of planning.
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And now back to this great conversation with Scott.

INTERVIEW – PART 2 (COMPETITION & PITCHING)

TONY: I'm thinking of competition and a lot of the businesses that I've seen. Not that it's all the businesses, but just a lot of what I've seen that are raising money. It's usually something that's not been done before, obviously, or there's little or no competition. And to me that's always been something very strong. I once helped to raise some funds back in the year two thousand for to start a company. And the big premise was, we're going to do something with this new company that's not done right now, that nobody does. It just doesn't exist. And so we're going to be the first. And that was the carrot that brought in, you know, millions of dollars to get it going.
So. But today is it that easy to say, oh nobody's doing this. You've got that blender selling for twelve hundred dollars to make a smoothie in three minutes. But you can't say nobody's doing this before because there's hundreds if not thousands of different blenders out there. So how do you set yourself apart with whatever you're doing? Because I would think with a little looking somebody is probably doing something similar to what you're doing, even though you may say it's unique. So how do you how do you kind of make your separate yourself to be. And, and obviously this and this was this the, the thesis of this interview is the ability to scale, you know, having a good idea if two companies have both have a very good similar idea, then it's first mover advantage, then it's the first person to get a product of any version out there.
SCOTT: You know, I think there's a lot to be said to let you know. Use a Microsoft model, put out the version one, and let the market tell you what you have to fix, and then, you know, write while you're driving that race car, paint and put the wheels on simultaneously. And I think that is a real key term because, you know, the reality is you've got you've got Uber, you've got Lyft, you've got McDonald's, you've got Burger King. You know, they are in fact selling very similar products. But you know, they they're taking different paths to grow and different paths to scale. And I think that is in some cases when there is competition and there always is some competition either existing or imminent, your ability to scale and go to market could be the key differentiator.
TONY: So competition is one thing of if your product scale is available, how unique it is, and so forth. What about raising capital? When I when I was involved in this a couple decades ago, you know, for small amounts of money, you went after angels, you went to friends and family. There were people calling rounds or C rounds. So but some entrepreneurs and business people may be making mistakes in that. So what are some of the key mistakes and how should we be raising capital?
SCOTT: Well, I think the biggest mistake is pitching the wrong investor and not doing your research on the investors you want to pursue, because raising capital is much like any other sales function. You have to build a funnel of qualified investors. And what I mean by that is that if you are an early stage pre-revenue a company, look for investors that invest in early stage pre-revenue companies, not later stage. If you are a software company, don't build a list of biotech investors. So you have to be really have to understand that, um, to build a proper funnel.
And entrepreneurs come to me all the time. They say, well, when I should start, you know, building this network of investors. And I tell them six to twelve months before you raise capital because it's not just about having email addresses and LinkedIn profiles. It's about having relationships with these investors. I've been doing this for thirty years. These investors I know, you know, I have a relationship with them and that takes time. You have to nurture those relationships.
But then but the biggest mistake is honestly and quite frankly, it's probably happened at least two or three times. While we're on this conversation today, somebody has sent me a LinkedIn DM direct message with a pitch deck who I've never met before or I've never spoken to before. That is almost a one hundred percent possibility of getting it deleted and ignored. So I think that's one of the biggest mistakes, is not preparing your funnel and your relationships.
The other big mistake is not being prepared. Basically, there's two things. Three things that happen when you pitch an investor. One, they say yes. If they say yes, that means they want more information to go through due diligence. You better be ready. If you don't have a deal room that has your intellectual property, your staff, staff and executive resumes, your pro formas, all of those things, they're going to move on to something else. They have too many other companies to talk to.
You know, if you get no, then that means you didn't give them enough information or the right information. But in some cases, it's not yet. And that's where it becomes really important is even if you get a no, ask them, can they keep you up to date on my progress? Because sometimes it's a timing mechanism for the investor. And there may be some things you did do down the line that gets them interested, or they may have the ability to invest because a lot of venture capital firms, they are either doing one of two things. They're either investing in companies or they're raising capital for their next fund. A lot of them, if they're raising capital for the next fund, that's what they're concentrating on, not talking to entrepreneurs. So those are two of the two biggest things, is build a real, qualified network of relationships that meet your stage and your industry and be ready, be prepared.
TONY: I like that, I like that there are parallels to that with even with podcasting, where I'll get this huge long, almost like a proforma or whatever, you know, saying, here I am, get me on your show. It's like, wait a second. Whoa, whoa, not so fast. There's a thousand other people that have done the same thing.
Very interesting. And in terms of scaling fast if to accelerate our growth. Scott, what are like some of the first couple things that we should really focus on or, you know, and really make sure we engage it and go after.
SCOTT: Well, I think the first thing you need to do, especially if you're a new startup, you're probably a solopreneur, or maybe you have one co-founder. And I think and I deal with a lot of technical founders, and you have to really ask yourself the hard question. I'm really good at developing a technology. Can I sell, can I market? And if you can't, make sure you build people around you that can. That's first of all, build a team around you. And that could be advisors that could be staff, that could be consultants or, you know, employees that you bring on. Bring in people that can sell first and then really go to talk to your potential customers, get feedback on what they're looking for even before you go out there and selling, you know, maybe do some focus groups, do some surveys, find out what they're willing to pay for this product, what their pain points are, and then that tells you exactly how to pursue them.
And then scaling really just comes down to, you know, looking at all opportunities pragmatically, whether it's doing podcasts, whether it's speaking, whether it's using social media, paid advertising, whatever the case is. But again, as I mentioned in the beginning, be willing to pivot. Be willing to change. You know, some of the greatest companies that we have today were in a totally different line of business when they got started, and the scaling didn't happen until they listened to the market and made the appropriate changes.
TONY: Interesting. You know, I've seen companies take investor money and do things that you just shake your head and you would never, ever authorize, you would never do. You're like, oh no, why are they doing this? This is wrong. And you know, you got to watch what you say. But I've seen some, some really bad ways to be kind. Where do you see founders waste the most time as well as time? Time and money during scaling.
SCOTT: You know, that's a it really depends on the company and maybe the industry. I find in all frankness. The irony is I help companies raise capital and get in front of investors. I think investors should spend less time doing that and more time building successful business, because the reality is, traction is the thing that's going to attract investors not having the best pitch deck or the best presentation. So, um, investors want to invest in entrepreneurs that are building a business. Obviously they want in order to get that capital, you have to present effectively. But there's a lot of press around raising capital. It's unfortunate because there are literally millions of businesses that are building great, scalable businesses without raising any capital whatsoever. So I think sometimes it gets the press, but it doesn't always get the result.
TONY: Totally. And you mentioned this earlier about the team. And I want to kind of focus in on that. What should founders look for when they're building that that core team? And what roles do you think? What do you find are really more important than most people think are important?
SCOTT: You know, I think some of the ones that are really important are the ones you would think. Important. Um, obviously sales and marketing, you know, accounting, legal, finance. You need. Obviously you need someone to bring in the money through sales, and you need someone to. Manage the capital through finance and accounting. I think one thing that's really overlooked is. Having adequate legal counsel, uh, a lot of companies go out there and, you know, we'll use something they found on the internet or something someone sent them, and then they get caught in a very bad situation. So I think that's important. Not necessarily a team member, but someone you should have on, on, on counsel or an advisor.
But the thing is, as I mentioned before, these founders have to look at themselves pragmatically and ask themselves two very important questions. One, what am I really good at? And two, and probably, I, I think, the most important one. What am I really bad at? And they have to be honest about that. A lot of entrepreneurs think, okay, I can take a course on marketing and sales or, or I can wing it. That's where money gets wasted. And so I think the reality is you have to build a team around your strengths and weaknesses as a founder.

SPONSOR BREAK – SCALAR
TONY: Now, before we continue, I want to underline something Scott just made very clear. And this is where a lot of companies quietly get stuck. Growth doesn't stall because founders lack ambition. It stalls because answers get fragmented. Data lives in too many places. Decisions depend on too many handoffs. And by the time clarity shows up, the opportunity has already passed.
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And now let's get back to this great conversation with Scott.

INTERVIEW – PART 3 (ACCOUNTABILITY & GOVERNANCE)
TONY: Now, this next comment slash question is only based on my own experience, which means literally nothing. You've dealt with thirteen thousand investors. I just have a couple of experiences, but those experiences still are powerful. Where I see as part of the last question as well, money incorrectly spent incorrectly went somewhere that you would never do. And even if it's a small company, I feel one of the roles that are important is not an oversight, but someone that can approve and has to approve any expenditure over a certain amount of money, any annual expenditure. You just can't say, oh, it's only twenty thousand dollars a month, I'm the CEO, and I’m going to sign this. Wait a second. That's one hundred. You know, twenty a year or whatever. There's got to be some accountability. And I've seen, you know, the loose cannon type CEOs and I feel depending on the size of your of your company, someone has to be there to approve where an expense becomes a little bit too high. And it really needs scrutiny because I've seen this. Just be polite. I've seen some bad wastes.
SCOTT: Right. Well, and I agree, and there's two ways to, you know, compensate for that one, myself and others that I work with. They we may allocate X amount of money as an investment, but it's based on entrances based on certain timelines. So I think as investors you need to make sure you put the money in and get exactly what you're paying for. So part of that would be bringing in the money in tranches as the company reaches a certain milestones. And one of those milestones could be, you know, an accounting review every quarter. Uh, so I think that so there is some investor solutions to that problem.
And then the reality is from a business standpoint and a founder standpoint, you know, that's where your board comes in. You know, we have to bring in people that are going to hold you accountable on an ongoing basis. And so I think there's that is a problem. It has always been a problem since, you know, the beginning of anyone giving money for anything. But the reality is that those are the two solutions, one from the investor side. And then having good corporate governance, you know, from the founders table, it makes good sense, makes good sense.
TONY: And we kind of talked about this a little bit here and there in this conversation. And it's what we talked about competition and being the only person in the space. How do you have any advice for the entrepreneur, for the business person, for the new company or what have you? How can they stand out as a serious player in the space? Because that's really key to the sales, to the longevity, to the marketing is they're here. They're for real. I've seen brand new companies come out on the market. It's like, whoa! And they get big really fast because you can tell that they're serious. So let's kind of dive into that a little bit.
SCOTT: I think it comes down to be really being focused on the first thing you can sell and the first thing you can sell at scale. You know, I used Amazon as an example all the time with entrepreneurs. You know, Amazon has is a massive conglomerate of all different kind of business units. But it got started selling books and they got really good at selling books, billions of books. And they were able to have a very specific product, very specific vertical, and they learned all the things they had to learn to scale and build the other pieces of the business. So start with something that you can easily manage and easily sell and easily develop. I think sometimes entrepreneurs try to get involved in too many things at once. You know, they try to operate with a company of thousands, with a staff of dozens. And I think it's really important to focus on the key product and then add to it, as opposed to trying to solve all problems simultaneously.
TONY: It's easier said than done sometimes, but you're absolutely, completely right, I totally agree. Yes, absolutely. And while you're saying this, I'm thinking about Scott. I don't even know how to how to even talk about this anymore because the world changes so fast. When I was growing up, companies were doing twenty fifteen twenty year strategy meetings. A hundred years ago, people were getting together in boardrooms thinking, what are we going to do twenty five years from now? What's our strategy? I mean, these are long, long term. And that's very important for any business. You got to know where you're going to be in the next couple of years, no matter what.
But that said, Scott, and everyone knows this. Now you can become a millionaire in twenty four hours. It's just the right thing that you put out the right way, and it just moves so fast. So even to ask you about a trend or a shift in the marketplace is does it even have any meaning with the fast pace that we're in? But yet we want to grow. We want to scale with speed. So give it your best shot. Give us a good, thoughtful review of what's going to shape things. What do we have to look for? What do you think's going to be more impactful than we may think so in the future?
SCOTT: Well, obviously we're in the day of, you know, a new generation in developing companies and developing businesses with artificial intelligence. You know, someone asked me, is AI the equivalent of the internet? And I told them AI is the equivalent of the light bulb. It's that game changing. You know, companies now are building businesses not with thousands or hundreds of staff and developers and millions and millions of dollars. They're doing it with a handful of people managing AI development agents, and they're able to go to market in literally days, not weeks, years and months.
And I think that's changing the landscape of how to build a business, that's changing the landscape of how to invest in a business. You know, I had an entrepreneur come to me, and I wanted to raise five million dollars to build a software platform. Their goal was to have an MVP in twenty four months. And I told them, that's a dinosaur. You're telling me how to put horseshoes on a horse. That's old technology. Come to me with, okay? Be a lovable. We built this company using the best technology that is now available and got a product that we could sell. And now we're selling it. And we've done that in weeks or months. Not years or decades. And I think that is we're probably one of the greatest development errors, I think in in one hundred years easily. And I think entrepreneurs have to take advantage of that because that's what investors are looking at.
TONY: And there's so many places that could go with that. And I'm thinking it's not even possible to tell where one should even focus a new company on a physical product, or an electronic, or a digital product, or a service. It's just too hard to tell. I've seen companies with a physical product. You mentioned one billions. I've seen multiple billionaires with physical products and then also with digital products. So it doesn't seem like anyone is more financially sound than the other. It seems it's a matter of what really hits the public needs at that time. That again, back to the competition. Not a lot of people or very few or I say people companies are doing it. It seems like it's a bigger market because of the demand. And maybe our new technology that's going on will create new demands as well.
SCOTT: Absolutely. And you know, as you mentioned before, this competition conversation, if you have two companies, you know, going into the same market, in the same industries, and one is using a development roadmap that was three years old and once developing a development romance at three months old. I'm picking the latter, not the former.
TONY: Totally. Okay, here's going to be the toughest question I've asked. The toughest question, Scott, is all right, someone's just listened to this interview. Listening. Still listening. Present time to this interview. When they finish listening aside, you know, if you're driving, you know, make sure you're safe and all that. What's the one thing that they should be doing that? What's their takeaway? That they should really go back to their office and take a look and focus to make sure they're doing what's what is that thing?
SCOTT: I think there's the as I mentioned before, they have to embrace technology in developing whatever their product or service is. You know, that could be AI that could be robotics that could be any number of things. But embrace technology because it impacts everything we do. Whether you're building a software program or you're launching a potato chip company, uh, technology is going to really give you that edge. So embrace technology.
And if I was going to add some other things, is build the proper team from the bottom and from the top. You know, we're in an age where you can you can get a lot of things done far less than you could before. And I'll tell. And entrepreneurs have to understand, they have they have to spend their time solving the million dollar problems, not the twenty dollar problems. And I'll give you a quick story about that. I was at my very first job out of college. I was a retail stockbroker, and I went from New York to Lafayette, Louisiana, and I'm in my cubicle licking envelopes and putting stamps on them. And my boss came to me and goes, what are you doing? I go, I'm sending out some information to clients. And he goes, okay, that again, there's a while back that's a five dollar an hour job, Scott, we're paying you. We're paying you five hundred dollar an hour jobs. Find someone who does that for five dollars an hour. And I think those are the things that entrepreneurs have to realize that leaning into technology and focus on your core competencies and bring others to to cover the rest.
TONY: I like that, that's very good. I'm going to think more about that before we wrap up the conversation. I want to come back to something Scott's been reinforcing throughout this interview. Growth isn't just about strategy. It's about deciding to move forward even when the outcome isn't guaranteed. Every meaningful business starts with uncertainty. No playbook, no safety net, just a conviction that what you're building matters enough to take the leap. That moment right before you commit is where most entrepreneurs hesitate, and it's also where the right tools can make the difference between stalling out and moving ahead with confidence.

SPONSOR BREAK – SHOPIFY
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And. Before we continue, I just want to take a moment to thank you for being here. Thank you for your time and attention truly mattered to me, and I appreciate you choosing to spend part of your day with the Tony D'Urso show. If today's conversation is giving you something to think about, I invite you to follow the show and share it with someone who might benefit. That simple act helps these discussions reach more entrepreneurs and leaders who care about building something meaningful. And if you're not already receiving my Elite Entrepreneurs newsletter, you're welcome to join us a couple times a month. I share insights from conversations like this, along with practical ideas you can apply on your own journey. It's free, thoughtful, and designed to help you move forward with clarity and purpose. You'll find it at Tony O. And if you'd like to explore another creative side of what I do, you can hear my music anytime at Tony O. Music.
All right, let's continue.




INTERVIEW – PART 4 (CONFIDENCE & HUMILITY)
TONY: Now we're talking about scaling with speed. We're talking about things that every entrepreneur has to know about scaling, pitching or seeking investment. What else should we be telling people about to focus? Um, before we wrap this up, what else is important that we may not have talked about or may not have talked enough about?
SCOTT: I think as a founder, you have to have confidence in humility. You have you have to have the confidence because you're going to hear a lot of no's. Being an entrepreneur on the investor standpoint, you will hear literally hundreds of people tell you no. So you have to have the confidence to keep going in that. But within all those nos, you have to have the humility to ask for advice, seek counsel, and ask what you can do differently. And I think if you do those two things, your learning curve gets very thin and your success curve can go dramatically.
TONY: Now I. I'm speaking myopically here of just what I've observed. You've spoken to thirteen thousand investors. And I'm just thinking with when I've worked with companies or helped raise, you know, funding for to get things started up. It was always based on the CEO or the key founder knows built develop. There's usually uh, it's usually almost an ego thing of I built, I built this or my father or my grandfather or my family built this and it's strong and it's very strong willed, which is important to grow a business. But in that is not the there's no the humbleness doesn't seem to always be there. I've run into a lot of strong willed individuals. No, you've got to get through this. You know what exactly what I'm talking about. Yet somewhere that line has to be to really be successful, to really grow up there because public aren't going to invest or buy a product knowing that that sort of stuff is going on that way. They're buying, I think, on the person and that it's a good product. Um. You're shaking. You're nodding your head quite a bit. What? What? Can you comment on that?
SCOTT: I agree. You know, there is a difference between confidence and being cocky. You know, confidence builds trust. Cocky and cocky doesn't always build trust. And at the end of the day, people are going to invest in founders they trust, and they're going to buy their products or service from companies they trust. And you have to have that confidence that builds that trust, not the cockiness that reduces that trust.

CLOSING MESSAGE
TONY: I appreciate that so much. Once again this is Scott Kelly. We're talking about scaling with speed. Guys this is what you and every entrepreneur and every business person needs to know to scale, to pitch, to seek investment. Please go to Black Dog Venture Partners, black Dog Venture Partners.com. Check out Scott, see what he's got. He might be able to help you take care of things. Scott, you gave good advice. Good information. You have a wealth of information. You just shared a little bit. And I hope that, uh, more people check you out and get more help on what they need. I appreciated it very much.
SCOTT: Thanks. I appreciate the time.
TONY: So great to have you on. Thank you sir. All right. Well there you go guys. Now, if you like this, please share this with your friends. Tell them about Scott and Black Dog Venture Partners. What he's been through. He understands investment, he understands scaling and companies. He understands this whole world very, very well. He's been through it a lot of times. So use his experience, find out find out more and see how that might be able to help your company. And guys, wherever you're getting this, please follow the show. It's free and it helps to bring in more amazing guests to you. All right, let's use this and let's help you move on your journey to success. Thanks. Remember, just take action. Success awaits those who persevere and remain steadfast despite the odds. So good seats do good deeds and I'll see you on the next episode.

SONG INTRO & LYRICS – “IN GOD WE TRUST”
TONY: And before we close today's episode, I want to share something special with you. Something I mentioned at the start of the show. This is my brand new song, inspired by four powerful words printed on every US coin and every dollar. You've seen these words your entire life, but when you hear them as a song, they carry a whole new meaning. It's called In God We Trust. Here it is.
(Music plays)
Walking by a bus stop, not even a book Feeling everything is just plain old stuck A dime on the ground, I held it to the light What it said restored my sight
In God we trust, the words shine true Guiding my steps and all I do Through trials and storms, I find my place In God we trust, amazing grace
I took the next bus, though my pocket had no fare I told the driver my life with a humble prayer He gave a smile and said, "Go on, son" I knew then that my hope had begun
In God we trust, the words shine true Guiding my steps and all I do Through trials and storms, I find my place In God we trust, amazing grace
I found a diner with a crowd at the door and asked the kind lady if I could do more She smiled and said, "You can stay if you try" With the dime in my hand, I whispered on high
When the road feels heavy and hope runs thin That coin reminds me where faith begins One small coin, yeah, the truth so wide In God we trust, forever my guide
In God we trust, the words shine true guiding my steps and all I do through trials and storms, I find my place In God we trust, amazing grace forever we sing, in God we trust forever we sing, in God we trust


FINAL CLOSING / SIGN-OFF
TONY: And that is in God. We Trust, the song that truly came to me as a gift from God. I hope you enjoy it and I'd love to hear your feedback. Thank you for listening and thank you for spending this time with me today. I hope this episode and this song gives you something meaningful to take with you. And by the way, this song is part of my very first album, which is now out. If you want to hear more of the new music, visit Tony. That's Tony.