🔔🔔 Willie McMahon built, scaled, and sold a 45-person engineering business - then walked away to help other founders do it better 🔔🔔

Willie McMahon, EOS Implementer and former founder of Calyx, joins Business Builders to share how he went from a one-man operation to building and exiting a scaling engineering business - and what he learned along the way.

Starting with no plan, no funding, and no support network, Willie built a calibration and instrumentation business from scratch. What began as a solo operation grew into a 45-person company, navigating cash flow pressure, hiring challenges, and the realities of bootstrapping - before eventually merging and exiting.

But the journey wasn’t smooth. Growth nearly broke the business multiple times. Hiring mistakes, cash constraints, and operational complexity forced hard decisions - including turning down major opportunities that could have destroyed everything.

Willie shares how 90-day execution cycles and relentless problem-solving helped them scale - even before formally discovering EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System).

The conversation dives into what actually drives business success: people, structure, and clarity. Willie explains why most problems are not what they seem, why founders are often the bottleneck, and how systems - not effort - create scalable companies.

He also opens up about the emotional side of building and selling a business: risk, fear, responsibility, and the moment you realise you’re responsible for other people’s livelihoods.

Now working with founders through EOS, Willie helps businesses break through growth ceilings, build stronger cultures, and create structure that enables freedom.

This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, scaling, leadership, and building a business that actually works.

“It's not the person - it's the system around them.”

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:

How Willie built and scaled a business from 1 to 45 people
Why most businesses hit growth ceilings (and how to break through them)
The reality of bootstrapping and managing cash flow
Why hiring “another you” is a mistake
How to think about risk as a founder
Why short-term (90-day) thinking drives long-term growth
The importance of culture and hiring the right people
How to structure a business for scale
Why most problems are systems problems, not people problems
The emotional reality of selling a business
How EOS helps founders gain clarity, control, and freedom
Why you must grow as a person to grow your business

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 - Cold open
00:55 - Introducing Willie McMahon and EOS
02:00 - What calibration and instrumentation actually is
05:00 - Early career and falling into the industry
08:30 - The moment he decided to start his own business
11:00 - First hires and early hiring mistakes
14:30 - “I didn’t need another me”
16:00 - Bootstrapping and surviving on cash flow
18:00 - 90-day targets and early growth
21:00 - Becoming an employer and responsibility for people
23:00 - Turning down a huge opportunity
26:00 - Fear, risk, and decision-making as a founder
30:00 - Discovering EOS and business frameworks
33:00 - Why founders must grow to scale their business
37:00 - Building culture (and the fictional character hiring test)
42:00 - Merging the business and scaling rapidly
46:00 - Managing operations, hiring, and field teams
53:00 - Marketing tactics that actually worked
57:00 - Growth during COVID and scaling challenges
01:01:30 - When growth becomes dangerous
01:04:30 - Selling the business and acquisition process
01:10:00 - Culture vs corporate reality after exit
01:14:30 - Life after exit and losing

🔔🔔 Gowri Subramanian built a $200M global software company over 25 years - without venture capital 🔔🔔

Gowri Subramanian, CEO of Aspire Systems, joins Business Builders to share how he built and scaled a global technology services company from zero to $200M in revenue; entirely bootstrapped.

What started as a group of seven friends with no clear plan or funding became a 4,500-person software and technology services business working with global enterprises across the US, Europe, and beyond. But the journey was slow and difficult. It took years to find product-market fit, pivot away from a non-scaling business model, and reach profitability.

Gowri explains how Aspire evolved from an industrial engineering consultancy into a software product engineering company, a pivot that unlocked growth. Instead of raising venture capital, the company reinvested profits and used debt funding to scale, taking a long-term approach.

Moving from $10M to $100M required one set of capabilities; but, scaling beyond that meant competing with global firms like Accenture, Capgemini, and Infosys. Gowri shares why every stage requires a different company, strategy, and mindset.

The conversation also explores AI and its impact on the software industry. Gowri explains why AI threatens traditional time-and-materials models, while also creating opportunities in legacy modernisation, enterprise transformation, and custom software.

Beyond strategy, this episode dives into leadership, culture, and long-term thinking. Gowri shares why people and open feedback are critical to scaling, and why he’s focused on building a business for the long term - not for exit - including creating impact through philanthropy in India.

This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, scaling, AI disruption, and building something that lasts.

“Business is a rat race - there is no finish line.”

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:

How Gowri built Aspire Systems into a $200M global company
Why the first 7 years of business were the hardest
The importance of pivoting when a business isn’t scaling
How to grow without venture capital
Why scaling from $100M to $200M is so difficult
What changes at each stage of growth
How to compete with global firms like Accenture and Infosys
The real impact of AI on software businesses
Why AI is both a threat and an opportunity
How culture and people drive success
The role of persistence over decades
Why teaching skills creates more impact than charity

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 - Cold open
00:55 - Introducing Gowri Subramanian and Aspire Systems
02:00 - What Aspire Systems does
05:00 - Moving from India to Singapore and Ireland
06:00 - Starting with no plan or funding
09:00 - 7 founders to 3
12:00 - Early business model and pivot
13:30 - Shutting down one business
14:30 - Road to profitability
18:00 - Early ambition
21:30 - Bootstrapping vs VC
22:30 - Growth to $100M
25:30 - Scaling challenges
27:30 - “Business is a rat race”
29:30 - AI and the future
34:30 - Culture and leadership
37:00 - Open feedback
40:00 - Founder mindset
47:30 - Angel investing
50:00 - India’s growth
59:30 - Philanthropy
01:05:00 - Long-term vision

Topics covered:

Entrepreneurship, scaling a business, bootstrapping, venture capital, AI and business, software industry, technology services, leadership, company culture, global expansion, startups, India economy, product engineering, long-term business building, philanthropy, founders

🔔🔔 Laura Dowling, founder of fabÜ, built a business by talking about topics most people avoid; and it changed everything 🔔🔔

Laura Dowling joins Business Builders to share how she turned women’s health - one of the most overlooked and under-discussed areas in healthcare - into a fast-growing brand, a platform, and a movement.

What started as years of frustration working as a pharmacist and seeing women suffer in silence with issues no one was talking about, evolved into a business, a movement, and a platform for education.

Laura explains how she spent over a decade developing formulations before launching fabÜ from her couch, without retail backing or a traditional business plan. By building an audience on Instagram and speaking openly about topics many considered taboo, she created demand first - and the business followed.

Along the way, she uncovered something deeper: women’s health has been historically misunderstood, under-discussed, and often dismissed. From menopause to intimate health, many women simply aren’t given the language, knowledge, or confidence to understand their own bodies.

In this episode, Laura shares how she turned that insight into a brand, a live show, and a bestselling book - all while staying true to her voice and refusing to sanitise the message.

She also opens up about failure, launching without a plan, living with ADHD as a founder, and why building a business doesn’t always follow a straight line.

This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, identity, and the power of saying the things no one else is willing to say.

“People are embarassed to talk about it - but that’s exactly why it matters.”

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:

Why Laura started fabÜ and the problem she saw in women’s health
How she built a business without a traditional plan
The realities of launching a product with no retail backing
Why Instagram played a key role in growing her audience
How taboo topics became her biggest advantage
What women’s health issues are still not being talked about
How to build a brand by being unapologetically yourself
The role of ADHD in her entrepreneurial journey
Why founders should trust instinct over “perfect” market research
How purpose and mission can drive long-term business growth

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 - Cold open
00:55 - Introducing Laura Dowling and fabÜ
02:10 - Launching the business from her couch
05:30 - Preventative health vs “sick care”
08:45 - Building an audience on Instagram
14:00 - ADHD and the entrepreneurial mind
21:00 - Why we don’t talk about women’s health
24:45 - The talk that changed everything
27:30 - Turning taboo into a business
30:15 - Breaking stigma and building a brand
35:30 - Growing without a traditional plan
39:15 - Ask for forgiveness, not permission
43:15 - Trusting instinct over market research
53:00 - Hiring, team building and culture
01:00:00 - Asking for help and final advice

Topics covered:

Entrepreneurship, women’s health, fabÜ, supplements, startup founders, personal branding, Instagram marketing, ADHD and business, health education, building a brand, taboo topics, consumer products.