Follow the Money: Interview with Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director of Tip of the Spear Ventures

I recently went one on one with Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director of Tip of the Spear Ventures.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth? 

Sam: Adam, thank you for having me. How did I get here? Well, in 2012 I founded my private equity firm, Tip of the Spear Ventures. I did so after successfully leading a tech startup to private equity exit. Foundationally, I spent nearly 20-years in the automotive industry, working everything from manufacturing, wholesale distribution, to retail. I also come from big consultancy, having worked at both Deloitte as well as AON’s Change Management practice. At my firm, we have two sides of the house, focusing on venture activities as well as business transformation consulting. The experience, failures, setbacks or challenges that have been most instrumental to my growth, have typically all had a central theme of failure present. I consider myself to be a leader, and as such I am extremely hard on myself. Sometimes hard quantitatively, other times hard qualitatively, but typically and consistently hard… Especially when I fail. I mentioned earlier the tech startup that I led to private equity exit - It was my fifth startup! I realize just how fortunate I was to lead this company to a successful exit - Which is less than 2% of all startups.

Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?

Sam: There are three keys to growing and scaling the businesses that I've worked at, those being strategy, contingency planning, and execution. Being able to architect the strategic plan is just part of it. Being able to identify what might go wrong and contingency plan accordingly is even better. The final success key to growing and scaling a business is execution. I see a lot of leaders who are great at identifying and creating a strategic plan. I see a few who are good at contingency planning. Unfortunately, I see less than 10% that are great at helping execute that strategic plan. Want to grow and scale your business? Learn the principles of execution!

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs and business leaders? 

Sam: Adam, I sit on a Board of Directors for a tech startup. There, the CEO of the organization has three rules - Three rules which I think are best tips applicable to entrepreneurs and business Leaders. They are as follows: (1) No surprises, (2) If you don’t know, find out, and (3) Don’t get mad. Rule #1, no one likes surprises. As a leader, you need to know everything all of the time. So not knowing is no excuse. Avoid surprises. Rule #2 tests the boundaries of subject matter expertise. While you might not know everything, especially all of the time, knowledge is just a few clicks on a keyboard away. If you don't know, then find out. Rule #3, there’s no need to get mad. If you do, you risk destroying your reputation as a leader and making bad decisions. Stay calm, take in the environment, and make your best decisions based on what you know right then and there.

Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader? 

Sam: A few years back I did some work with KornFerry and their Lominger competency modeling. They identified 67 different competencies that could comprise an effective leader. From my perspective, I'll keep it simple by only mentioning two: Purpose and passion. Knowing the “Why ?” associated with purpose is crucial for a leader, and their ability to share that purpose through their passion is what differentiates effective leaders.

Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Sam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level? Leadership is not an event that takes place in a vacuum, a practice training facility, or in isolation. However, it doesn't mean that you can't practice. I see leaders typically not wanting to practice, and it often leads to their demise. Want to be a better leader? Practice being a leader more.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams? 

Sam: When I received my first team leader position, my boss at the time gave me great advice, he said “Sam, anyone can lead people by intimidation or threats of firing them. it takes a real leader to work with everyone and to bring out their best." 

Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing and branding? 

Sam: Adam, I mentioned earlier that at Tip of the Spear Ventures we still conduct consulting engagements. Those consulting engagements are on the topic of business transformation, with a heavy focus on Sales / Business Development. My best tips on the topic of sales, marketing, and branding Is to strategize the initiative, train great people on what to do, let them do it, and then follow up with them to see if results are being achieved. If results are positive, try to figure out how to get even better results. If results are less than optimal, find out what the areas of improvement exist and make modifications accordingly.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received? 

Sam: The single best piece of advice I ever received was to follow the money. In business, as is often the case in life, success is typically associated with money generation and accumulation. if you can identify the money flow, and figure out how to make more money, life becomes much easier.

Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?

Sam: In our consulting practice, we identified four main pillars in our business transformation practice: Strategy, Execution, Cash, and People. We created a series of Success Questions around that last pillar, People, and anyone interested can find it at tipofthespearventures.com. 


Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.

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