When a bored marketing director at an industrial-shredder manufacturer dared to put oddball demo videos online before YouTube existed, she accidentally invented a playbook for low-cost, high-impact viral marketing. Cathey Armillas - TED coach, CEO and co-founder of Speaker Skills Academy - turned a grassroots idea (watchitshred.com) into a phenomenon that drove roughly 1 million+ visitors in about six weeks, landed the company on David Letterman and international TV, and flipped industry norms on their head.

In this episode, Cathey walks through the exact choices that made the campaign work: treating the product as the hero (shredding torpedoes, VW "hippie bugs," boats), leaning into storytelling with a monthly campaign format, and backing creative content with trade-targeted placements. She also explains the real costs and operational lessons - from lead-triage overload and manufacturing strain to the need for infrastructure to absorb sudden growth - and shares how that run propelled SSI from roughly $17M to $42M in under two years. Cathey closes by connecting those lessons to her current work teaching speakers and leaders how to find and articulate the single idea that moves audiences (her Idea Map).

Key Takeaways:

• Use the product as the story: design campaigns that show transformation (the shredder in action) rather than only listing specs.
• Run small, scrappy experiments with clear business ties - low media spend, high creative conviction - and measure organic impact (search rank, earned media).
• Prepare operations for success: build lead-qualification and fulfillment processes before viral spikes so demand converts instead of overwhelming teams.
• Turn marketing wins into strategic positioning: aim to own the keyword/category (Cathey's team ranked #1 for "shredder") to capture long-term value.
• Distill and deliver your idea: use an Idea Map (Cathey's coaching tool) to create a tight opening, supporting evidence, and a closing that compels action.

Join us with Cathey Armillas as you learn how to turn a single, well-crafted idea into viral reach, measurable revenue, and the infrastructure decisions that scale it sustainably.

🏆𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐏𝐌𝐏? 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐃𝐔𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭!

👉View this Episode's Full Show Notes at ScaleTalesPodcast.com.

© Copyright 2025. Scale Tales is an Equilibria, Inc. podcast. We're dedicated to providing resources to support founders, leaders, and project managers of fast-growing organizations in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Visit our website to learn more.

What happens when innovation collides with integrity in the fast-moving world of digital advertising? For Rich Kahn, CEO and Co-Founder of Anura.io, the answer lay in a problem often overlooked: Ad fraud. From bootstrapping his first online venture in the early days of the internet to building a technology that now protects over 2 million domains worldwide, Rich's journey is a masterclass in resilience, reinvention, and relentless pursuit of quality.

In this episode, Rich shares how he and his wife transformed an early ad network into a cutting-edge fraud detection company after discovering the scale of fraudulent traffic plaguing advertisers. Through rigorous testing, self-funded R&D, and countless iterations, they developed a platform that outperformed industry competitors and became a trusted safeguard for global brands. Along the way, Rich reveals how he personally emailed thousands of LinkedIn contacts to land Anura's first clients, why he chose to scale through relationships rather than paid acquisition, and how disciplined operations, structured processes, and tools like Trainual, Slack, Zoom, and HubSpot now keep his growing team aligned. His story underscores that true scale isn't just about growth - it's about clarity, communication, and culture.

Key Takeaways:

• How Rich identified ad fraud as a billion-dollar blind spot and turned it into a profitable SaaS opportunity.
• The testing process that validated Anura's fraud detection accuracy and gave them market credibility.
• Why proof of concept and customer validation are essential before seeking exponential growth.
• Leadership lessons from scaling with a spouse, building trust-based teams, and fostering a culture of transparency.
• The operational frameworks and daily rituals—like morning huddles and structured onboarding—that keep Anura agile as it expands.

Join us with Rich Kahn as he reveals how discipline, data, and a deep sense of purpose can transform a bootstrapped startup into a trusted global leader in digital fraud prevention.

🏆𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐏𝐌𝐏? 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐃𝐔𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭!

👉View this Episode's Full Show Notes at ScaleTalesPodcast.com.

© Copyright 2025. Scale Tales is an Equilibria, Inc. podcast. We're dedicated to providing resources to support founders, leaders, and project managers of fast-growing organizations in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Visit our website to learn more.

When the business case for inclusion meets political backlash, leaders must decide whether to abandon the work or make it more durable. Julie Kratz, professor at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and CEO of Next Pivot Point, built allyship programs that have directly influenced tens of thousands of people and then watched revenue drop to zero, forcing a hard pivot that reshaped how she teaches, consults, and packages this work.

Behind the headlines, Julie walks us through a practical, measurable model: multi-month cohorts (typically 3–4 months) that combine short skill bursts on cultural intelligence, inclusive language, microaggressions, and bias with an apply and unpack cycle - leaders learn, practice with their teams, then return to reflect in live coaching. Her Amazon case study expanded from one leadership team to multiple cohorts (about 200 leaders so far), and pre/post assessments show roughly a 20–30% lift in participants’ ability to practice these skills; Julie pairs that client work with university teaching, books (including We Want You - An Allyship Guide for People With Power), a podcast, and free resources to scale impact.

• Embed allyship into existing leadership curricula, teach specific skills, require application, then measure knowledge, confidence, and ability with pre/post checks.
• Use a cohort-based apply → practice → debrief loop to increase accountability, psychological safety, and real behavior change.
• Run discreet systemic audits (hiring, promotion, pay-management) as “quiet cleanup” so policy and practice align before public reporting.
• Engage people with power through bridge-building: frame allyship in terms of decision rights, budgets, and operational impact so leaders adopt and codify changes.
• Treat disruption as a long game plan that pivots, protect founder resilience (allow grief, diversify channels such as teaching and books), and maintain the capacity to re-scale when demand returns.

Join us with Julie Kratz as she shows leaders how to turn allyship from talk into measurable leadership practice that strengthens teams, talent pipelines, and long-term organizational resilience.

🏆𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐏𝐌𝐏? 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐃𝐔𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭!

👉View this Episode’s Full Show Notes at ScaleTalesPodcast.com.

© Copyright 2025. Scale Tales is an Equilibria, Inc. podcast. We're dedicated to providing resources to support founders, leaders, and project managers of fast-growing organizations in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Visit our website to learn more.