Gregory ShepardArchitect, GregoryShepard.com · GregoryShepard.com · The Startup Architect | Author of The Startup Lifecycle

Testimonial | Marty Bickford | The Boss Capital Partners

5 Jun 2020 · 3 min

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2:43

In this testimonial, Marty Bickford describes his experience working with Greg Shepard at two companies where they implemented the BOSS System—a simple, repeatable business operating framework. He explains that BOSS provides clear focus, consistency, and a platform for speed and efficiency, enabling teams to avoid common pitfalls such as misguided execution. By defining exactly what needed to be achieved and in what order, BOSS made success repeatable and increased the odds of favorable outcomes. Marty highlights a major challenge: scaling the U.S. business while simultaneously expanding into Canada, Europe, and APAC within a 12‑month window. Using BOSS as the operating platform, the companies established aligned, measurable, and profitable international operations, blending a command‑and‑control structure with local learnings without sacrificing core value or exit potential. He emphasizes that BOSS is not magic but an easy‑to‑understand discipline that keeps leaders focused on what matters most.

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My name is Marty Bickford. I worked with Greg Shepard at 2 companies where we implemented the BOSS System. The BOSS System was a cornerstone of success for those companies, and the principles of BOSS eventually become cornerstones of any successful company. Many founders and business operators learn these principles over time because they see them work, but for many, this is the result of trial and error, failure, and potentially restarts. Learning and adhering to BOSS principles allowed me and my teams to avoid common pitfalls. I see the most common pitfall as misguided execution because we understood— we were able to avoid that because we understood exactly what we needed to achieve and in what order. BOSS also makes success repeatable. We can all get lucky, But solid business operating practices increase your odds of success. BOSS creates focus, consistency, and a platform for speed and efficiency. When you know what will work, what will create value, your actions, all your actions become aligned to that success. We undertook a challenging task. of expanding into international markets. Our business was scaling rapidly in the US, and we decided to expand into Canada, Europe, and APAC all at the same time. Not a simple task to run a scaling business while expanding internationally. BOSS was our platform. We were able to establish international operations within a 12-month period that were all aligned with repeatable processes and the ability to measure and improve. The results were distributed and still profitable operations. We were able to successfully mix command and control structure with native learnings, and that helped us adjust to local conditions in each international location. And we were able to do that while not sacrificing or risking those operations from diverging from the true value of what we were providing. The principles and having the discipline to stick to them ensured that our investments created real exit value. It's not magic. BOSS is easy to understand. What BOSS will do is keep you focused on what's most important.