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Why Listen:
Today's interview is a different story than I've heard before. Because Justin didn't found a company, he was working at a company called Intuit, getting a lot of experience in product innovation. He was contacted by a company right when he was starting his entrepreneurial journey about having the possibility of him taking over as CEO. It's a path that I haven't heard of a lot. He's done well at tripling the size of this company in those two years. Even though at that time the pandemic started and he lost a third of his revenue overnight. I love this conversation. Keep an ear out for when he talks about it. He took action while on active duty, earning his MBA and volunteering so that when he got out of the military, his resume had mostly non-military items, which was an impressive idea. I learned a lot from Justin; he seems like a natural coach, and I'm personally looking forward to keeping in contact with him and continuing to learn from his example of leadership.
About Justin:
Justin Wells is the CEO at Interlaced.io. It's a 50-person IT services company in San Diego. They provide premium IT managed services, essentially enterprise-grade IT programs and fractional IT departments with Apple Cloud and networking expertise. Justin started at the Naval Academy, after which he served in the Navy for ten years as a Naval Aviator. He earned his MBA from UC San Diego, focusing on innovation strategy, business development, and growth partnership. Interlaced.io was founded in 2009. Justin took over as CEO two years ago, tripling the company's size over that time through organic growth and a recent acquisition.
Selected Resources:
Justin’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justintwells/
Interlaced.io: https://interlaced.io/
Books:
The Trillion Dollar Coach by Bill Campbell: https://www.amazon.com/Trillion-Dollar-Coach-Leadership-Playbook/dp/0062839268
The infinite Game by Simon Snek: https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Game-Simon-Sinek/dp/073521350X
Time Stamps:
Justin’s background [3:08]
Include non-military bullets on your resume [6:55]
Getting interested in innovation [8:56]
Be passionate to stand out [11:50]
Design for delight [12:56]
Becoming the CEO [14:37]
Bake in serendipity [17:41]
There’s always a fear of change [22:10]
The role of patience and trusting your intuition [26:34]
Have the courage to be yourself [29:23]
Partner with your clients [32:24]
It all starts with the right foundation [37:20]
Justin’s parting advice [40:48]