I started Owner Institute because I was frustrated.

I’d finally set my main company up to run without me after years of work. In January, I stepped down as CEO and was doing some coaching for other small businesses.

But I soon found myself frustrated with the experience. I loved the coaching but the structure of the industry terrible.

Let me explain.

The Coaching Catch-22

For seven years, I've been doing volunteer coaching with business owners. Great people, real problems, genuine need for help. But when I thought about turning it into a real business, the math didn't work.

Here's the problem: To make coaching worth my time, I'd have to charge serious money. But the owners who need the most help – the ones at $1-5 million who are drowning in day-to-day operations – can't afford serious money.

So what happens? Either you charge what smaller businesses can afford (and work for peanuts), or you charge what you're worth (and only help people with larger businesses).

Then there's the scheduling nightmare. Try getting five entrepreneurs to show up consistently for group coaching. It's like herding cats with ADHD.

The Methodology Gap

The other thing that drove me crazy was the disconnect between planning methodologies and actual help.

Don't get me wrong – EOS, Scaling Up, all those systems are fine. They'll teach you how to run a meeting. They'll give you frameworks for setting goals. But they won't teach you how to actually hire better, or fix your marketing, or manage cash flow.

It's like having a cookbook that tells you to "make dinner" but doesn't include any actual recipes.

I'd spent years in EO and YPO, collecting tactics and techniques from successful business owners. But all this knowledge was scattered everywhere. You'd learn something about employee reviews at one event, pick up a cash flow trick at another, maybe get a hiring tip from a random conversation.

Meanwhile, business owners are out there making the same mistakes I made 15 years ago because nobody's put all this stuff in one place.

The Access Problem

Here's what really got to me: Almost every business needs coaching. I have a coach. Most successful owners I know have coaches or boards or some form of outside perspective.

But coaching is high-friction. People know they need help, but they don't want to commit to a relationship. They might need help for 3-6 months, but then they worry about how to get out gracefully.

It's like knowing you need to go to the gym but not wanting to sign a contract.

The Light Bulb Moment

Then I started playing with the new AI models – ChatGPT o3, Claude , Gemini. These things were getting scary good.

I realized I could use AI to do in hours what used to take months of research. I could synthesize all those best practices I'd been collecting for years. I could create something that gave business owners the knowledge they needed without the high cost or relationship commitment they dreaded.

Most importantly, I could make it affordable for smaller businesses.

What I Wish I'd Had

When I was growing my business from zero to $35 million, I would have killed for something that could:

I spent years making expensive mistakes that could have been avoided. I wasted time on the wrong priorities. I learned things the hard way that others had already figured out.

The Vision

What if we could democratize business knowledge? What if every owner could have access to the best practices that usually only get shared in expensive mastermind groups?

What if instead of hoping you'd stumble across the right advice at the right time, you could get exactly what you needed when you needed it?

That's what I'm building with OwnerRx. Not because the world needs another business app, but because business owners need better access to the knowledge that already exists.

I'm building the tool I wish I'd had when I was figuring everything out the hard way.

If you're interested in being part of the beta test later this summer, you can join the waitlist. No commitment, no high-pressure sales calls. Just early access to something that might actually help.

Because business ownership is hard enough without having to reinvent every wheel.

Check Out Owner Institute

Want to learn more about building real owner independence and wealth? Check out our programs at ownerinstitute.com.