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When the Consultant Becomes the Client: The Irony of Building Surge

May 15, 2024

As the founder and CEO of Surge, a startup providing fractional C-suite services to other startups, I often find myself in a uniquely ironic position. The very C-level expertise we offer to our clients is precisely what we need for our own business. It’s a situation that has been both humorous and humbling, highlighting the universality of startup challenges.

 

The Birth of Surge

 

Surge began as a passion project, a way for me to provide my expertise in sales and team building to new startups while maintaining a flexible lifestyle. My goal was simple: help others navigate the turbulent waters of starting a business and share my love for selling and building teams. Little did I know, within a few months, Surge would transform from a small side project into a full-blown startup, with demands and complexities that required the very services we offered.

 

The Irony of Needing Our Own Services

 

As Surge grew, it became evident that to sustain and scale our operations, we needed the same C-suite expertise that we provided to our clients.

 

To those of you thinking, “Well, obviously,” remember that I planned on being a one-woman band. Within two months, I had 12 exceptional fractional executives working with me and hundreds of salespeople reaching out to help. I was not only a consultant to my customers from a CRO perspective but also a CEO who needed to scale, market, and sell. It has been a blast so far, and I have the utmost respect for the founders’ journey. I’m just lucky that I have everyone I need within my own company.