064: Transforming Companies to Outperform their Competition – Karl Maier of Abunden

Background on Karl Maier of Abunden:

Karl Maier has more than three decades of experience growing companies. He has been part of three management teams that grew companies 5X or more in three years. He has developed the Abunden Framework, to not only help companies grow, but also to help the owners, employees, customers, suppliers and families that are touched by these businesses.

At age 17, Karl entered the Rice University on National Merit Scholarship. He graduated with MBA in Info Systems and BA Economics and joined the E&W National Mortgage Banking Consulting Group. After working for several companies and businesses, he joined his family-owned distribution company that he helped grow for 3 years. He founded his own company, which is a dotcom or B2B marketplace for industrial products. He was also a co-founder of his second business called Therapy Track, where he developed Saas platform for major hospitals in 14 states.

Karl is now using his 30+ years of experience in transforming and growing companies. The benefits of his Abunden Framework include improving productivity (up to 20%), reducing turnover (up to 50%), and improving the hiring success rate dramatically.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

[0:45] Karl Maier, the founder of Abunden, has had a lot of experiences in his career, namely investment banking, sales, consulting, and many others.
[2:35] He joined his father’s company, which is a distributor of pipes and valves for oil fields locally and abroad.
[6:16] Karl and his father had some disagreements and difference in opinion about inventories, which is one of the reasons why he left the family business.
[9:49] After Karl left the family company, he started his own company, which is a B2B marketplace for industrial products.
[12:47] He started his second business called Therapy Track.
[17:56] He left the Therapy Track and he transitioned from one job and business to another.
[21:35] He met a CEO of a small company whom he really admired and he really wanted to work with him. He took the CFO position of this small company.
[23:45] He learned that motivating people was the key to help grow this small company.
[28:37] He witnessed the change in leadership in the Mosquito Zone, which was bad for the company. This also made Karl leave the company.
[31:14] Karl knows the importance of creating your own reliable network of people to help you along the way.
[31:58] Karl helped a company with their internal problems by suggesting a once-a-week meeting with the supervisors. At the end of six months there was a positive and surprising turnaround for the company.
[34:03] Building a relationship leads to trust, which is a key component to move the business forward.
[36:37] He helped another company grow and double their sales.
[37:32] “You’ve got to listen to people and coach ‘em.”
[38:00] His advice is that as your business or company grows, everything can break.

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖📚 Favorite Book(s)? Eleven Rings by Phil Jackson
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Work shoes I never saw anywhere else
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Evernote
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Picking the right partners

Key Point from the Interview:

“You’ve got to listen to people and coach ‘em.”