{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Escape Velocity.","title":"Choose Your Hard | Wes Mathews, CEO, Stealth Consulting","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/27297ac5\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2097,"description":"How second-time founder Wes Mathews built conviction, traction, and momentum by deliberately choosing the hard that compounds. | Wes Mathews, Co-Founder & CEO, Stealth.Wes Mathews didn’t build his second company because the first one failed. He built it because success taught him what actually breaks founders.After scaling his first company to $20M+ and exiting, Wes hit a truth many founders quietly face: he fell out of love with his own business. So he did the harder thing—he started again from zero. In this conversation, Wes shares how that reset reshaped how he thinks about sales, leadership, leverage, and growth at the $1–$10M stage.In this episode of Escape Velocity, Wes breaks down the real work of scaling through chaos: why founder-led sales isn’t optional, why ego has to give way to systems, and why chaos isn’t a failure—it’s the tax on growth. He also opens up about choosing the “hard that compounds,” building teams that create capacity instead of burnout, and why business should fuel life—not consume it. In this episode, we jam on: 1. Why founder-led Sales is the unreplicable unlock. What actually breaks momentum when founders step out of sales too early, and why no hire, system, or playbook replaces founder conviction in the market.2. How to avoid ego sabotaging scaling.Why Wes stopped trying to be everywhere, do everything, and “prove” himself and how leverage only shows up once ego steps aside.3. Why chaos isn’t a leadership failure at $1–$10M.How growth creates disorder and what happens when founders design for chaos instead of reacting to it. 4. The trap of “I’ll deal with life later.”How Wes built rules around family, health, and energy and why burning your personal capacity eventually burns your business too.Meet the guest Wes Mathews is the CEO and Co-Founder of Stealth. He’s a founder, operator, and growth strategist who built his previous company, High Level Marketing, from scratch and helped scale it to over $20M before a successful...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/ry9PvFynUiNDR1nS0UB2IjtMCQ_CcHtaFAriKpv8jWA/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8yYjlh/OGExZWIzZGM1NGE2/YWZlOGQ1ZTBlNzk3/YTNhOC5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}