Dominic Monkhouse

About Dominic Monkhouse

Battle-tested strategies for founder-CEOs navigating the chaos between startup and scale-up. Tune in for real frameworks that help you build a leadership team, install an operating cadence, and get your time back.

Publisher

Dominic Monkhouse

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

6 Nov 2025

Latest episode

25 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

16 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   25 Jun 2026

   If Your Business Feels Stuck, You Need To Watch This

   When did you last actually decide what this business is? Not what it does, what it's for, who it's for, and what you're choosing to be the obvious choice for. If you can't remember, it's because you never did. You backed into something that worked, and you've been too busy ever since to stop and choose. Now the revenue you're chasing has outgrown the idea underneath it.Here's the trap: you've got a spreadsheet with next year's numbers in it, and you're calling it a plan. But it isn't. That's just a wish list with a load of cells around it. The spreadsheet isn't the real problem. Underneath it, there's no decision, just momentum masquerading as a plan.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:0:00 - You've Got a Spreadsheet, Not a Plan1:02 - Warning Sign 1: You Can't Describe Your Bullseye Customer2:39 - A Vague Customer Isn't a Marketing Problem—It's a Hole Where Choice Should Be3:05 - What Gets Missed: Your Spreadsheet Is Just the Scoreboard3:38 - Warning Sign 4: Your Leadership Meetings Are Tactics, Never Direction4:21 - Warning Sign 5: Your Leaders Are Still on the Tools5:00 - The Horsepower Gap: The Team That Got You Here vs The Team That Gets You There7:03 - The Real Question You've Been AvoidingBook your seat: https://start.ceo2workshop.com/virtual-ceo📞 Ready to implement the blueprint? Book a call: https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-call?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=dominicmonkhouse&utm_content=o1vtbSC4tb0-desc→ FOLLOW DOMINIC MONKHOUSE:LinkedIn: 👔 https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse/Website: https://www.monkhouseandcompany.comABOUT DOMINIC:I'm a UK-based business coach who helps founder-CEOs scale their companies from 50 to 250 employees. I've scaled two UK tech companies to £30M ARR in five years. Now, my mission is to help 2,000 British companies build systems that scale without the founder at the centre of everything.Your idea got you off the ground. It was never a plan. Go and build one.#FounderCEO #Strategy #Planning #ScalingBusiness

2. 

   11 Jun 2026

   How To Stop Being the Answer to Every Decision in Your Business

   You didn't hire the wrong people. You taught the right ones to bring every decision to you. Every refund, every supplier switch, every holiday request, every hire below your senior team. You answered, so you became the answer. Now, a call that used to take a day takes 3 weeks because it's stuck in a queue behind everything else in your head.You're working harder than you've ever worked. The growth rate's gone backwards. You've got a leadership team on paper and a bottleneck in the mirror.I'm Dominic Monkhouse. I've scaled two firms past £30 million, coached 200+ founder-CEOs, and seen 12 of them through to an exit. Every single one hit this exact wall. In this video, I'm showing you three things: why the decisions keep bouncing back to you, how to get the team to bring you the call instead of the problem, and the one-page four-column framework that tells them exactly which decisions are theirs. Get that right, and you stop being the bottleneck. You start getting your week back.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:0:00 - Why Does Everything Still Come Back to You?1:48 - My Achilles Heel at Rackspace2:17 - The Obvious Fix That Doesn't Work (Delegate More)3:47 - The One-Page, Four-Column Decision Authority Framework5:43 - You Haven't Got the Right People, or Nobody's Grown the Ones You HaveKEY TAKEAWAYS:- You didn't hire the wrong people, you trained them to bring everything to you- They bring problems to you because it's the safest move for them- The obvious fix (delegate more) doesn't work because the real issue is who owns the judgment- Don't bring me the problem—bring me the call you'd make and why- A problem is a question (needs you); a recommendation is a decision (just needs yes or no)- Four-column framework: I Decide | They Decide and Tell Me | They Decide, I'm Consulted | They Just Decide- Move everything that doesn't bet the company out of Column 1- First time someone brings a Column 4 decision, hand it back: "What do you reckon you should do?"- If you can't delegate, it's not a delegation problem—it's a people problem- The right people are like Scott Davies: they straighten pictures in other people's houses without being asked📄 For Founder Decision Rights Framework: https://readytoscale.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-decision-framework-30m-uk🎓 PAID WORKSHOP: Get Your First Protected CEO Day Back in 90 Days- Restructure your diary to create that day- Built for founder-CEOs with 30+ employees- Seats limited for proper Q&A- Three founders said that one day was worth £500k/year to them- One said it would be worth £2.5m of ARRBook your seat: https://start.ceo2workshop.com/virtual-ceo📞 Ready to implement the blueprint? Book a call: https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-call?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=dominicmonkhouse&utm_content=o1vtbSC4tb0-desc→ FOLLOW DOMINIC MONKHOUSE:LinkedIn: 👔 https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse/Website: https://www.monkhouseandcompany.comABOUT DOMINIC:I'm a UK-based business coach who helps founder-CEOs scale their companies from 50 to 250 employees. I've scaled two UK tech companies to £30M ARR in five years. Now, my mission is to help 2,000 British companies build systems that scale without the founder at the centre of everything.Don't bring me the problem. Bring me the call you'd make and why.#FounderCEO #Leadership #Decision-Making #Delegation

3. 

   10 Jun 2026

   You Don't Understand Business Until You Learn These 5 Lessons

   After coaching more than 200 founder-CEOs, I can usually tell in 10 minutes if you're the bottleneck. Not because you're bad at CEO work, but because you've become the place where every decision, every standard, and every bit of context lands.I've scaled two companies to a £30 million run rate. I've lived this stage myself. In this video, I'm showing you five ways you've become the bottleneck and the changes that give you your week back and let your senior team run the business without it wobbling. The fifth one is the one most founders don't see coming. It's also the one quietly costing them their best people.I'm Dominic Monkhouse. I've scaled two UK firms—Rackspace and Peer-1—to £30m ARR in five years. I've coached over 100 founder-CEOs, 12 of whom have had fantastic exits.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:0:00 - Introduction0:42 - "I've Become the Bottleneck"1:11 - The Founders Who Break Through Just Stopped Making Themselves the Operating System1:26 - Bottleneck 1: Every Decision Flows to You2:48 - Bottleneck 2: You're the Quality Control Department4:18 - Bottleneck 3: Your Calendar Is the Company's Operating Rhythm6:06 - Bottleneck 4: All the Context Lives in Your Head7:32 - Bottleneck 5: You Are the Energy Source9:51 - The Five Bottlenecks SummaryTHE FIVE BOTTLENECKS SUMMARY:1. Decisions that flow to you because nobody has a clear authority map2. Standards that depend on you because you've never documented what good looks like3. A calendar that holds the business hostage because your presence became the rhythm4. Context locked in your head that nobody else can access5. A culture that runs on your energy because you haven't built leaders who generate their ownThis is why your senior team still can't run the business. None of these are failures. Every founder at this stage is dealing with versions of them. The ones who break through aren't more talented—they're just willing to be honest about this sooner.How long have you known you're the bottleneck? And what are you waiting for?Twelve months from now, one of two things will be true: either you'll have done this work and the business runs without you in the room, or you'll be in the same Slack threads, the same approvals, the same tired Sunday night, having lost another year of compounding to a problem you already knew you had.📞 Ready to build a moat around your champions? Book a call: https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-call?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=dominicmonkhouse&utm_content=us2C6IOxqEE→ FOLLOW DOMINIC MONKHOUSE:LinkedIn: 👔 https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse/Website: https://www.monkhouseandcompany.comABOUT DOMINIC:I'm a UK-based business coach who helps founder-CEOs scale their companies from 50 to 250 employees. I've scaled two UK tech companies to £30M ARR in five years. Now, my mission is to help 2,000 British companies build systems that scale without the founder at the centre of everything.This is the work behind running a £10m business in two days a week instead of seven.#FounderCEO #Leadership #ScalingBusiness #Bottlenecks

4. 

   13 May 2026

   These 7 Business Books Will Change Your Life Forever

   After more than 10,000 hours coaching founder-CEOs, I've seen what works and what breaks in that 15-250 employee range, especially in no man's land (70-100 people), where every decision bottlenecks with you. In this video, I'm showing you seven books and one principle from each that you can use this week to stop being the bottleneck.WARNING: Don't try to read all seven books this week—that's just another way to stay busy. Pick the one that solves your biggest bottleneck right now and commit to that one principle for the next 90 days. When it's a habit, move to the next.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:0:00 - Are You Building a Business or a Prison?0:54 - Book 1: Multipliers by Liz Wiseman (Stop Being the Genius)2:04 - Book 2: Scaling Up by Verne Harnish (You Can't Scale Heroics)3:15 - Book 3: Big Bet Leadership by John Rossman (One Name, One Owner)4:17 - Book 4: The Geek Way by Andrew McAfee (Hire for Curiosity)5:37 - Book 5: Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish (Decision Quality Beats Speed)6:25 - Book 6: Be Useful by Arnold Schwarzenegger (Contribution vs Acquisition)7:22 - Book 7: Legacy by James Kerr (Leave the Jersey Better)8:24 - Summary: Seven Principles to Stop Being the BottleneckSEVEN PRINCIPLES TO STOP BEING THE BOTTLENECK:1. To build leaders: Become a genius maker2. To stop firefighting: Build systems, not heroics3. To get things done: Assign a single owner (DRI)4. To build a smarter team: Hire for curiosity5. To get your time back: Prioritise decision quality6. To find your focus: Be useful (contribution vs acquisition)7. To build a company that lasts: Create a culture of stewardship📧 Want one email a day to get your time back and stop firefighting? 33 lessons in the description: https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/33-days-of-no-bollocks-business-insights📞 Ready to build a moat around your champions? Book a call: https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-call→ FOLLOW DOMINIC MONKHOUSE:LinkedIn: 👔 https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse/Website: https://www.monkhouseandcompany.comABOUT DOMINIC:I'm a UK-based business coach who helps founder-CEOs scale their companies from 50 to 250 employees. I've scaled two UK tech companies to £30M ARR in five years. Now, my mission is to help 2,000 British companies build systems that scale without the founder at the centre of everything.Stop being the bottleneck. Pick one principle for 90 days.#FounderCEO #Leadership #ScalingBusiness #BookRecommendations

5. 

   30 Apr 2026

   How To Stop Being The Reason Your Business Can't Run Without You

   You've just interviewed another strong head of ops. Great CV, good energy. Three months in, every hard decision still lands on your desk. There's one hire that changes that—and it isn't them. The one hire is the difference between you working 7 days a week and the business actually running without you in every room.If this is you, it doesn't mean you're failing. It means you've hit the stage where functional heads stop working. You keep hiring subordinates when your business now needs a peer. I'm Dominic Monkhouse. In this video, I'm showing you the one hire, the three mistakes founders make before they get it right, and the five questions that tell you whether the person in front of you is actually the one.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:0:00 - You Hired Another Strong Head of Ops, But Every Decision Still Lands on Your Desk0:54 - The Move That Breaks Through: Someone Who Runs the Week1:32 - The Elevate Leader of the 2-Day-a-Week CEO Blueprint1:47 - This Hire Looks Different in Every Business3:05 - What's Your Biggest Gap, and Who Can Cover It Better Than You?3:34 - The Cost of Carrying Both Jobs: Enterprise Value Walking Out the Door4:41 - Three Classic Mistakes When Making This Hire6:40 - Five Questions to Spot the Right One Quickly9:03 - Three Rules for the First 90 DaysKEY TAKEAWAYS:- Functional heads optimise locally—sales hit its number, ops hit its number, the business misses its number- You're not hiring a title—you're hiring another grown-up you can lean on- The cost of being the bottleneck: seven figures of enterprise value walking out the door every quarter- Bigger, not big—hire the person who's just led the transition you're about to make- Five questions: Stage experience, Can they disagree, Think in numbers, Own outcomes, Stretch your team- Don't undermine them in week one, give them one big call in month one, use the two-chair rule- Block 2 hours/week one-to-one for first 6 months—senior doesn't mean psychic📧 Want one email a day to get your time back and stop firefighting? 33 lessons in the description: https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/33-days-of-no-bollocks-business-insights?video=ILVx7NpvkWE📞 Ready to build a moat around your champions? Book a call: https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-call?video=ILVx7NpvkWE→ FOLLOW DOMINIC MONKHOUSE:LinkedIn: 👔 https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse/Website: https://www.monkhouseandcompany.comABOUT DOMINIC:I'm a UK-based business coach who helps founder-CEOs scale their companies from 50 to 250 employees. I've scaled two UK tech companies to £30M ARR in five years. Now, my mission is to help 2,000 British companies build systems that scale without the founder at the centre of everything.You can buy compliance. You can't buy judgment.#FounderCEO #Leadership #Hiring #ScalingBusiness

6. 

   2 Apr 2026

   The 5-Step Framework to Fire Someone Fairly (Without the Guilt)

   After coaching more than 100 founder-CEOs, I've learned this isn't a firing problem—it's a guilt problem. Guilt makes you wait, and the team pays the price in missed deadlines and late nights. In this video, I'm showing you five fairness checks to fire somebody fairly without the guilt and move on cleanly.I'm Dominic Monkhouse. I've scaled two of my own businesses past £30 million and coached over 100 more. In that time, I've learned that firing isn't a failure—it's a necessary part of building a high-performance team. If you don't have a framework, you'll delay, dither, and burn your best people in the process. This framework stops that.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:0:00 - This Isn't a Firing Problem, It's a Guilt Problem1:02 - Step 1: Clarify Before You Blame (Is This Actually Your Fault?)2:00 - Step 2: Have the Accountability Conversation (Strike One)3:49 - Step 3: Do the Final Fairness Check (Strike Two)4:45 - Step 4: Run a Proper PIP (30-90 Days)6:01 - Step 5: If the PIP Fails, Part Ways7:03 - Summary: The Fair Firing FrameworkLEGAL DISCLAIMER:I'm not an HR consultant. This is a leadership framework, not a legal one. Your jurisdiction might have different laws you need to follow. Obviously, talk to your lawyer. This framework is fair—I've used it hundreds of times.THE FAIR FIRING FRAMEWORK SUMMARY:1. Clarify before you blame2. Have the accountability conversation3. Do the final fairness check4. Run a proper PIP5. If all else fails, let them leave with dignityThis isn't about being a hard-ass. It's about protecting your A players. It's about building a culture where performance is the standard, not the exception. It's about freeing you up to do your real job—leading the business, not refereeing.KEY TAKEAWAYS:- This isn't a firing problem—it's a guilt problem- People can't meet expectations you never set- Start from extreme ownership: "This miss might actually be on us as leaders"- Once is a mistake, twice is a pattern- Two strikes is enough data to accept reality📧 Want one email a day to get your time back and stop firefighting? 33 lessons in the description: https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/33-days-of-no-bollocks-business-insights📞 Ready to build a moat around your champions? Book a call: https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-call→ FOLLOW DOMINIC MONKHOUSE:LinkedIn: 👔 https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse/Website: https://www.monkhouseandcompany.comGuilt makes you wait. The team pays the price.#FounderCEO #Leadership #PerformanceManagement #ScalingBusiness

7. 

   2 Apr 2026

   You're Not Ready to Grow Your Business Until You've Fixed This

   Your worst customers aren't just hurting your margins—they're stealing your best people's time. At IT Lab, we were losing £65,000 a month. In 90 days, we got to break even by making one hard change: we stopped treating every customer the same. If you treat everyone the same, your best customers leave first. They don't complain—they just go.I'm Dominic Monkhouse. I've scaled two tech companies past £30 million and coached founder-CEOs for a decade. In this video, I'm showing you three things: the 3P filter to sort customers, the three-tier system so your team knows who gets what service, and how your champions become a moat competitors can't copy.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:0:00 - Your Worst Customers Are Stealing Your Best People's Time0:26 - The 3P Filter: Profit, Patterns, Potential1:21 - How We Sorted 12,500 Customers at Pier-12:14 - Three Lists: Upgrade, Hold Steady, Downgrade2:39 - The Three-Tier System (Equal Treatment Is Lazy)4:13 - The Script to Downgrade Customers Without Drama5:21 - Your Champions Become Your Competitive Moat6:51 - Bring It Together: Monday to Friday Action PlanKEY TAKEAWAYS:- If you treat everyone the same, your best customers leave first- The 3P Filter: Profit (what's left after support), Patterns (how they behave), Potential (where they're going)- Three lists: Upgrade, Hold Steady, Downgrade- Three-tier system: Champions get VIP, Core gets standard, Price Shoppers get minimum- The downgrade script: "To keep prices where they are, we only offer support via email within 48 hours. Telephone support is on the higher plan."- At IT Lab: Put prices up 50%, lost one customer- Your champions become your product team, case studies, and salesforce- Don't go from 12,500 to 25,000 customers—just add 100 champions a year- Equal treatment isn't fair—it's lazy📧 Want one email a day to get your time back and stop firefighting? 33 lessons in the description: https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/33-days-of-no-bollocks-business-insights📞 Ready to build a moat around your champions? Book a call: https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-call→ FOLLOW DOMINIC MONKHOUSE:LinkedIn: 👔 / dominicmonkhouseInstagram: 📷 / dominicmonkhouseWebsite: https://www.monkhouseandcompany.comABOUT DOMINIC:I'm a UK-based business coach who helps founder-CEOs scale their companies from 50 to 250 employees. I've scaled two UK tech companies to £30M ARR in five years. Now, my mission is to help 2,000 British companies build systems that scale without the founder at the centre of everything.Your worst customers are stealing your best people's time.#FounderCEO #CustomerStrategy #ScalingBusiness #Profitability

8. 

   27 Feb 2026

   The 90-Day Plan To Build a Leadership Team That Runs Without You

   Are you the referee for your leadership team? If every issue between your leaders lands on your desk, you're not leading—you're mediating. And that's costing you time and momentum. If you enforce peer-to-peer feedback every week, I can give you a day a week back in 90 days. I'm Dominic Monkhouse. I've scaled two tech companies past £30 million and coached founder-CEOs for a decade. In this video, I'm showing you the 90-day plan to build a leadership team that runs without you, month by month. Month two has one rule that kills gossip in 6 weeks. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Are You the Referee for Your Leadership Team? 0:33 - Month 1: Build Trust (The Three-Legged Stool) 1:41 - Month 2: Use That Trust (Healthy Conflict) 3:13 - Month 3: Build the Rhythm (Weekly 90-Minute Meeting) 4:48 - The Takeaway: Stop Being the Bottleneck KEY TAKEAWAYS: If every issue lands on your desk, you're not leading—you're mediating The three-legged stool of trust: Competence, Care, Character Run the Stinky Fish exercise to surface unspoken issues Trust is currency for healthy conflict, not harmony The No Triangulation Rule kills gossip in 6 weeks Weekly 90-minute meetings: Good news, Scorecard, To-do review, Deep work Use the 5 W's framework (Who, What, When, Way, Why Not) for all actions Withholding feedback is selfish—you're optimising for comfort, not performance Stop accepting fake harmony 📧 Be a better leader in 33 days with one tool a day. Sign up here: https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/33-days-of-no-bollocks-business-insights (https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/33-days-of-no-bollocks-business-insights) 📞 Ready to build a team that runs without you? Book a call: https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-call (https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-call) → FOLLOW DOMINIC MONKHOUSE: LinkedIn: 👔 / linkedin.com/dominicmonkhouse Instagram: 📷 / instagram.com/dominicmonkhouse Website: https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com (https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com/) ABOUT DOMINIC: I'm a UK-based business coach who helps founder-CEOs scale their companies from 50 to 250 employees. I've scaled two UK tech companies to £30M ARR in five years. Now, my mission is to help 2,000 British companies build systems that scale without the founder at the centre of everything. Stop being the bottleneck. #FounderCEO #Leadership #LeadershipTeam #ScalingBusiness

9. 

   12 Feb 2026

   The 7 Stages Every Founder Goes Through (And The One That Breaks Most Businesses)

   There's a hidden pattern every founder hits on the way up. Too small to be big and too big to be small. Around 70 or 80 employees, profit drops, growth stalls, and founders burn out. The game changes—you were playing basketball, and suddenly you're coaching football. I'm Dominic Monkhouse. I've scaled two firms to £30 million in 5 years, written a couple of books, and coached over 100 founder-CEOs, 12 of whom have had fabulous exits. If you know the pattern, you can navigate it and come out the other side stronger. Here are the seven stages of the founder's curve and what it really takes to survive each one. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - The Hidden Pattern Every Founder Hits 0:46 - Stage 1: Startup (Don't Die) 1:29 - Stage 2: Investment (Does Anybody Care?) 2:53 - Stage 3: Liftoff (You're the Bottleneck Now) 2:57 - CTA: Be a Better Leader in 33 Days 3:35 - Stage 3 Continued: Crossing the Desert 5:06 - Stage 4: Validation (The Most Dangerous Stage) 6:02 - Stage 5: Frustration (Too Big to Be Small, Too Small to Be Big) 7:33 - Stage 6: No Man's Land (Profit Drops, Growth Stalls, Founders Burn Out) 8:44 - Stage 7: Growth (The LEO Framework) 10:23 - Decline: Where the Business Slowly Dies (Or You Do) 11:10 - Fix Your Biggest Constraint First KEY TAKEAWAYS: Around 70-80 employees: profit drops, growth stalls, founders burn out Find one ICP, one pain, one route to market at startup Hire every single person up to 50 people yourself—not HR Stage 4 (validation) is the most dangerous because it doesn't feel dangerous Would you enthusiastically rehire your early helpers? If no, that's your problem The LEO Framework: Leverage your time, Enable your leaders, Orchestrate your systems CEO work is 60% of your time (3 days/week)—if not, you're not a CEO Fix your biggest constraint first—not the easiest part to work on 📧 Want to be a better leader in 33 days? Get daily emails with actionable tools—the interview question that reveals missionaries vs mercenaries, how to make meetings optional, the difference between coaches and captains. Real-world advice to build a business that doesn't need you holding its hand. Sign up here: https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/33-days-of-no-bollocks-business-insights (https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/33-days-of-no-bollocks-business-insights) 📞 Ready to identify your biggest constraint? Book a call: https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-call (https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-call) → FOLLOW DOMINIC MONKHOUSE: LinkedIn: 👔 / dominicmonkhouse Instagram: 📷 / dominicmonkhouse Website: https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com (https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com/) ABOUT DOMINIC: I'm a UK-based business coach who helps founder-CEOs scale their companies from 50 to 250 employees. I've scaled two UK tech companies to £30M ARR in five years. Now, my mission is to help 2,000 British companies build systems that scale without the founder at the centre of everything. Until you fix your biggest constraint, nothing else matters. #FounderCEO #ScalingBusiness #NoMansLand #FoundersCurve

10. 

    29 Jan 2026

    10 Business Lessons I Wish I Knew That Made Me £30 Million

    Why do so many CEOs follow “smart” advice and still end up wrecking their companies? I've scaled two tech businesses to £30M ARR and coached over 100 founder-CEOs. I’ve seen the same mistakes sabotage great companies again and again. This episode lays out the 10 hard lessons every founder needs to hear before they blow it all up. 00:00 Why CEOs Follow Smart Advice and Still Wreck Their Companies 00:17 Pay Yourself Properly (Stop Carrying C Players) 01:53 Working With Friends Is Fine (If You're Not a Coward) 02:56 "Fail Fast" Doesn't Mean Fail Stupid 03:56 Revenue Doesn't Solve Everything (Focus Problem) 05:15 Don't Hire Great People and Disappear 06:39 Growth Without Profit Is Just Expensive Chaos 07:42 You Can't Keep Control Forever 08:50 Don't Build a Board Early 10:05 You Don't Need the Biggest Market Now KEY TAKEAWAYS Test assumptions first—fire bullets before cannonballs Growth without profit = chaos. Focus on your economic engine Don’t disappear on your A-players—build a structure that scales One ICP. One problem. One channel. Win your niche before expanding Performance > sentiment—even when working with friends If it doesn’t fit on one page, it’s too complicated to execute 📧 Get the full system in 33 daily emails: https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/ (https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/) 📞 Book a call to find your biggest constraint: https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/ (https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/) » FOLLOW DOMINIC MONKHOUSE LinkedIn – /dominicmonkhouse Instagram – /dominicmonkhouse Website – https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com (https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com/) — ABOUT DOMINIC UK-based business coach helping founder-CEOs scale from 50 to 250 employees. Built Rackspace UK & Peer-1 to £30M ARR in 5 years. 12 clients have exited successfully. Now on a mission to help 2,000 British companies scale systems beyond the founder.

11. 

    16 Jan 2026

    Businesses That Understand This AI Shift Will Own The Next 3 Years

    Are you still waiting for AI to “arrive”? My clients are hiring execs faster than ever using AI tools I helped them build. If you're still waiting — you're already behind. The gap between companies playing with AI and those strategically adopting it is already a chasm. And it’s about to get much, much wider. In this episode, I’m going to show you the AI Adoption Flywheel — the exact framework CEOs are using right now to turn AI experiments into real results, even when most of those experiments flop. I’m Dominic Monkhouse. I scaled Rackspace and Peer-1 to £30M ARR in five years. I’ve coached over 100 founder-CEOs — 12 of whom have exited. What I’ve learned: the first push is critical. This is how you make it. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Are You Still Waiting for AI to Arrive? 01:40 - Where Do You Start? Find Your Single Biggest Constraint 03:21 - The AI Adoption Flywheel Framework 03:37 - Stage 1: Identify Your Constraint 03:50 - Stage 2: Experiment Rapidly 04:16 - Stage 3: Systemise Successful Experiments 04:41 - Stage 4: Amplify Wins and Learn from Failures 05:58 - The Choice: Downward Spiral or Virtuous Cycle? THE GREAT DIVERGENCE Jason Lemkin replaced 10 salespeople with 20 AI agents. Meanwhile, a sales leader I spoke with needs six months for a committee to approve an AI experiment. The software will be obsolete by then. If you don’t start, you can’t win. THE FIRST PUSH Apply AI to your single biggest constraint — not random tasks. Peter, CEO at DataBarracks, built his company’s new MVP over a weekend using AI. No coding background. Now it’s their go-to-market centrepiece. This only works when the CEO leads from the front. THE AI ADOPTION FLYWHEEL IDENTIFY – Find your single biggest constraint EXPERIMENT – Run rapid experiments within that area SYSTEMISE – Turn successful experiments into repeatable systems AMPLIFY – Share wins, learn from failures, spin the flywheel faster THE HUMAN ELEMENT A CEO hired someone with a BA in English lit and high curiosity. That one hire now ships more features than his entire 11-person dev team. The bottleneck isn’t coding — it’s creativity and prompting ability. KEY TAKEAWAYS Jason Lemkin replaced 10 salespeople with 20 AI agents — that’s today, not the future Back 20 experiments knowing 19 may fail — don’t wait six months for approval Use the AI Adoption Flywheel: Identify → Experiment → Systemise → Amplify The bottleneck isn’t tech — it’s human creativity and courage If you don’t own it as CEO, your competitors will own you 📧 Want the full system? I’ve broken down 33 myths that keep founders stuck — in 33 daily emails. https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/ (https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/) 📞 Ready to apply AI to your biggest constraint? Book a call: https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/ (https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/) → Follow Dominic Monkhouse LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dominicmonkhouse (https://www.instagram.com/dominicmonkhouse) Website: https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com (https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com/) AI isn’t coming. It’s here. And if you’re not moving, you’re already behind. #FounderCEO #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #ScalingBusiness #Leadership #SystemsThinking

12. 

    2 Jan 2026

    How To Build A Business You Don’t Need to Escape From (Systems)

    If you think you've built a successful business but can’t take three weeks off... You haven’t built a business — you’ve just got a job with shit holidays. 📧 I’ve broken down 33 myths that keep founders stuck in 33 daily emails: https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/33-days-of-no-bollocks-business-insights (https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/33-days-of-no-bollocks-business-insights) Most founder-CEOs are stuck playing basketball when they should be playing football. The ball always goes through you — every decision, every complaint, every fire to fight. You're the best player, and if you're honest, you probably like that. But you can’t scale that way. I’m Dominic Monkhouse. I scaled Rackspace and Peer-1 to £30M ARR in five years. Now I coach founder-CEOs through the 50–100 employee phase — 12 of whom have exited successfully. In this episode, I’ll show you how to build a Target Operating Model (TOM) that lets you take a real holiday — without your phone ringing every 10 minutes. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Introduction 01:15 - The Basketball vs Football Problem 03:10 - Finding the Real Problem: The Theory of Constraints 04:12 - The Target Operating Model (TOM) 05:28 - Colour It In: The RAG Score Exercise 08:03 - The CEO Can Only Do One Job: Being the CEO THE BASKETBALL VS FOOTBALL PROBLEM Basketball is fast, reactive, and always runs through the best player — you. Football scales: every player knows their role, and the manager stays off the pitch. You need to move from heroics to systems. THE THEORY OF CONSTRAINTS From Eli Goldratt's The Goal: every system has a single bottleneck. Focus there, or you waste effort. It’s usually you. THE TARGET OPERATING MODEL (TOM) Get your team to map the full quote-to-cash process. Who owns what? Where are the gaps? Then RAG score each function — but not by the person who owns it. That’s when honest conversations happen. THE SUPPORT MANAGER’S MOMENT One support manager thought she was failing. But her function was Amber because Marketing and Partners were Red — leading to bad-fit clients. That realisation changed everything. Marketing was owned by the CEO. And the CEO can only own one job: being the CEO. If you want a scalable business, build systems that run without you. If you can’t take week three of holiday without it all falling apart, you’re still the constraint. 📞 Ready to build systems that let you take holidays? Book a call: https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-call?d=45&from=2025-12-29&sid=d29d8a86-bafc-4dbf-8b90-06080a1c32fe (https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-call?d=45&from=2025-12-29&sid=d29d8a86-bafc-4dbf-8b90-06080a1c32fe) → Follow Dominic Monkhouse LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse/) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dominicmonkhouse/ (https://www.instagram.com/dominicmonkhouse/) Website: https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com (https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com/) #FounderCEO #ScalingBusiness #Leadership #SystemsThinking

13. 

    18 Dec 2025

    How to Build a Sales Machine That Doesn’t Rely on You Forever

    Think you can hire your way out of sales? Think again. Most founders try to hand off sales too early, and it kills their momentum. There’s a proven six-phase system that successful founders follow to build a sales machine that scales, and it starts with you staying in the game longer than you'd like. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Introduction: The Six Phases of Founder-Led Sales 00:17 - Phase 1: Finding Product-Market Fit 01:09 - Phase 2: Acquiring Customers 01:31 - Phase 3: The First Sales Hire 03:09 - Phase 4: Making it Predictable 04:23 - Phase 5: Multiple Sales Hires 04:53 - Phase 6: You Still Own the Biggest Deals 07:37 - The Revenue Number Is Still Yours THE SIX PHASES Product-Market Fit Get people to pay real money and narrow down to one ICP, one product, one pain point, one route to market. Customer Acquisition Document your repeatable sales process while you're still the one doing all the selling — don’t hire anyone yet. Hire Your First Salesperson Hire a proven salesperson (not a VP) who’s sold a product like yours to customers like yours — and always hire two. Scale to Four Sellers Keep hiring proven sellers and run the "Michael Jordan playbook" while you remain the sales leader. Hire Your Sales Leader When you have four sellers, bring in a sales leader who’s scaled a business like yours from £1M to £10M ARR. Your New Role: Own the Biggest Deals You’re still doing the signature deals that are 10x your average order value — the revenue number is still yours. 📧 Want the full system? I’ve unpicked 33 myths that keep founders stuck in 33 daily emails — the essence of my book for busy founders who don’t have time to read. Sign up here: https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/33-days-of-no-bollocks-business-insights (https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/33-days-of-no-bollocks-business-insights) 📞 Ready to build a sales machine that actually scales? Book a call: https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-call?d=45&from=2025-12-15 (https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/founder-freedom-call?d=45&from=2025-12-15) → Follow Dominic Monkhouse LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse/) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dominicmonkhouse/ (https://www.instagram.com/dominicmonkhouse/) Website: https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com (https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com/) About Dominic I’m a UK-based business coach who helps founder CEOs scale their companies from 50 to 250 employees. I’ve scaled two UK tech companies to £30M ARR in five years. Now, my mission is to help 2,000 British companies build systems that scale — without the founder at the centre of everything. #FounderCEO #SalesLeadership #ScalingBusiness #FounderLedSales

14. 

    4 Dec 2025

    5 Mistakes Every Founder Makes That Wrecks Their Business

    This founder CEO guide covers the 5 mistakes that kill momentum — clarity of vision, delegation failure, skills gaps, micromanagement, and self-awareness. Essential viewing for UK business leaders scaling their companies. Scaling from 50 to 100 people is where most founders come unstuck. You go from a cosy, know-everyone operation to something bigger, messier, and far less forgiving. The business grows faster than your leadership does, and suddenly the cracks show. Vision gets fuzzy. Delegation collapses. Skills gaps widen. And you, the founder, become the bottleneck you swear you aren't. If you're leading the biggest company you've ever run, odds are you're making the same five mistakes I see in every founder at this stage. None of them are exotic. None of them are special. They're just predictable consequences of growth colliding with a leader who's still operating like it's day one. I'm Dominic Monkhouse. I've scaled two UK tech firms to £30M ARR in five years, and I coach founders wrestling with these exact issues. They all think their problems are unique. They're not. And that's good news — because predictable problems have predictable fixes. In this video, I break down the five bottlenecks that kill momentum between 50 and 100 people — and what you need to do to get out of your own way. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Introduction: The 5 Bottlenecks That Kill Momentum 01:00 - Why You Need to Play to Your Strengths (Not Fix Weaknesses) 02:30 - Mistake #1: Lack of Clarity of Vision (The One-Word Strategy) 04:15 - Case Study: Smart Sourcing's "People" Strategy 06:00 - Mistake #2: Skills Gap (Does Your Team Have What It Takes?) 07:30 - Mistake #3: Delegation Failure (Why "I'll Just Do It Myself" Is Killing You) 09:00 - The Liverpool FC Hiring Strategy: Specialists vs Generalists 10:15 - Mistake #4: Micromanagement (Hoarding Work vs Developing Teams) 12:00 - Mistake #5: Self-Awareness (Do You Know Where You're the Problem?) 14:00 - The Working Genius Framework: Love vs Loathe Exercise 16:00 - Creating Psychological Safety in Your Leadership Team 17:30 - Recap: How These 5 Bottlenecks Interconnect Want more insights like this? Get 33 days of no-bollocks business advice straight to your inbox – completely free. ➡️ https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/33-days-of-no-bollocks-business-insights-735837 (https://join.monkhouseandcompany.com/33-days-of-no-bollocks-business-insights-735837) ABOUT DOMINIC I'm a UK-based business coach helping founder CEOs scale their companies from 50 to 250 employees. I've scaled two UK tech companies to £30M ARR in five years. Now, my mission is to help 2,000 British companies break through the bottlenecks that kill momentum. #FounderCEO #ScalingBusiness #BusinessGrowth #Leadership #Delegation Discover the common pitfalls founders encounter between 50 and 100 employees. This discussion highlights typical bottlenecks that hinder growth and momentum. Learn practical tips and strategies to lead effectively and grow a business that doesn’t depend on you.

15. 

    20 Nov 2025

    I've Made £30M+ In Business, Here's What Will Make You Rich

    I’ve scaled two UK tech companies to £30M ARR in just five years. Not through luck, and not by copying my competitors. I managed it by using simple systems that most founders completely overlook. In this video, I break down the four critical principles that determine whether you scale or stall — and how you can apply them to your business. Customer obsession Why offering brilliant service is the cheapest growth engine you’ll ever build. Talent obsession How to hire brilliant people from pools your competitors don’t even know exist. Small teams The antidote to silos, giving customers a connected team that owns every aspect of that relationship. Culture The values and behaviours that hold your business together even when you’re not looking. If you want to get your business ready to grow — or ready for an exit — let’s talk: https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com (https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com) → Follow Dominic Monkhouse LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dominicmonkhouse (https://www.instagram.com/dominicmonkhouse) Website: https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com (https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com)

16. 

    6 Nov 2025

    How To Sell Your Business For Life-Changing Wealth (In 9 Minutes)

    Two-thirds of founders who sell their business never see all the money they were promised. They get trapped in earn-out hell, working for someone else, in a business they used to own. They die a little every day until eventually, bored and frustrated, they walk away early and lose a fortune. In this episode, I break down why that happens — and how to avoid it. We’ll talk about: • Why chasing a slightly better profit margin is pointless compared to fixing your multiple • The real valuation drivers buyers actually care about • Why your leadership team, not your finances, decides your exit • How to build a company that runs without you, so you can walk away clean If you’re even thinking about selling, watch this before you dust off the calculator. If you want to get your business ready for exit, let’s talk: https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/ (https://book.monkhouseandcompany.com/) → Follow Dominic Monkhouse LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse/) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dominicmonkhouse/ (https://www.instagram.com/dominicmonkhouse/) Website: https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com/ (https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com/)

Contact Dominic Monkhouse

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.