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Vertical market strategy and revenue growth for B2B companies.

Get Vertical with Mike McCalley focuses on vertical market strategy for B2B industrial and SaaS companies. McCalley, founder and chief growth officer of The Vertical Solution, interviews executives and growth leaders on sales alignment, demand generation, and market positioning within specific verticals. The show is built for B2B operators who want precise growth strategies, not generic advice.

21 episodes
Channel Brief·Get Vertical with Mike McCalley · 21 episodes
Updated Jul 15, 2026

Leadership and innovation triumph when founders solve real problems

Get Vertical profiles founders, executives, and operators who build sustainable growth by addressing genuine customer pain, cultivating resilient teams, and staying true to core values. Evidence comes from founder origin stories, measurable business outcomes, and leadership philosophy.

Get Vertical argues that sustainable business growth stems from founders and leaders who identify and solve genuine problems, build psychological safety into their teams, and let values drive decisions even under pressure. The channel proves this through detailed founder origin stories (Luke Sigle designing SILO after a failed aid station experience; Rob Peabody recognizing volunteer recruitment inefficiency), measurable turnarounds (Robby Humble driving 20% YoY growth in Q3 cash collections through leading with love), and explicit philosophy statements from CEOs about embedding safety or customer feedback into strategy.

Drawn from Ultra runner Luke Sigle built SILO to solve a … and 3 more →

“How many people are you willing to hurt to make your product? If the answer isn't zero, we've got a problem.”

Wally Steidley, founder of The Safety Sherpa

By the numbers

31%

U.S. employees actively engaged at work per Gallup 2025

50%

percentage of new businesses that fail by year five

20%

percentage of new businesses failing within first year

90%

global B2B buyers facing stalled purchasing processes in 2023

What the channel argues

InsightLuke Sigle conceived SILO at mile 44 of a hundred-mile race when aid station logistics failed.→
DataRobby Humble achieved 20% YoY Q3 cash collections growth through leading with love without new products.→
DataOnly 18% of entrepreneurs successfully launch startups; relationship-building separates survivors from failures.→
Data61% of B2B buyers prefer rep-free buying experiences, forcing sales teams to rethink engagement.→
InsightDrew Flowers built Trailhead Running Supply into top 1% of run specialty stores in under three years by prioritizing community over curation.→

What you'll learn

•Founder success often begins with direct personal friction, not market research. Luke Sigle's SILO and Rob Peabody's VOMO both emerged from problems the founders experienced themselves.
•Leadership engagement directly drives measurable business outcomes. Robby Humble's people-first approach yielded quantifiable Q3 cash collection growth at Penn Warranty.
•Modern B2B buying requires sellers to earn attention before interaction; 61% of buyers want research-only experiences, forcing sales teams to adopt coaching and efficiency models.
•Specialty retail survival depends on community and identity, not product breadth. Niche focus creates leverage in crowded markets when paired with genuine relationship building.
•Safety, values, and culture are not HR initiatives but core business drivers that accelerate both employee retention and customer trust.

What to do about it

→Map the real friction points your customers experience in their workflows or workflows adjacent to your product, then prototype solutions grounded in observed pain.
→Build psychological safety into leadership by committing publicly to zero tolerance for specific harms (safety in operations, fairness in pricing, honesty in marketing) and measure progress visibly.
→Shift sales strategy from rep-led prospecting to rep-less research assets and coaching, recognizing that 61% of B2B buyers prefer to research independently before engagement.

Who and what shows up

Luke Sigle

Ultra runner, founder of SILO

Conceived SILO at mile 44 of Grindstone 100 after fourteen months of prototyping, illustrating how personal friction drives product innovation.

Casey Brown

Engineer at GE, founder of pricing firm

Transitioned from corporate safety-seeking shaped by poverty fears to founding a company that helps businesses price with confidence, demonstrating how personal history informs entrepreneurial mission.

Robby Humble

CEO, Penn Warranty

Drove 20% YoY Q3 cash collections growth through leading with love philosophy that combines nurturing and tough love, proving culture change unlocks measurable financial results.

Rob Peabody

Co-founder and President, VOMO; VP Category Growth, Virtuous

Conceived VOMO in 2015 to digitize volunteer recruitment, spent 50% of his time fundraising throughout its lifecycle, and sold to Virtuous in 2022, exemplifying relationship-intensive startup scaling.

Wally Steidley

Founder, Indigo Compliance and The Safety Sherpa

Built two companies on the conviction that zero workplace injuries should be non-negotiable, and created The Safety Sherpa as a fully mobile-friendly safety training platform prioritizing accessibility.

Questions this channel answers

Q

How do founders know what to build?

By experiencing the problem directly themselves. Luke Sigle was at mile 44 of an ultramarathon when aid station logistics broke down. Rob Peabody saw volunteer recruitment as a digitization opportunity. Genuine friction precedes viable products.

Ultra runner Luke Sigle built SILO to solve a problem no… →
Q

Can leadership culture actually drive measurable business results?

Yes. Robby Humble's leading with love philosophy drove 20% YoY growth in Q3 cash collections at Penn Warranty without new products or additional marketing spend, demonstrating that engagement and psychological safety directly enable performance.

A CEO’s Blueprint for Career Success: Leading with Love … →
Q

What makes a specialty retail business outperform?

Community building, not just product curation. Drew Flowers elevated Trailhead Running Supply into the top 1% nationally by narrowing into trail running and creating genuine community rather than maximizing SKU breadth.

Get Vertical! Going from Idea to the Top 1% in Less Than… →
Q

How should sales teams operate in a rep-free research environment?

By recognizing that 61% of B2B buyers prefer independent research and reframing sales as coaching and structured performance discipline rather than prospecting. Real-time feedback and workflow automation enable teams to operate efficiently and meet rising buyer expectations.

Get Vertical! Growing with Sales for Success →
Q

What determines whether startups survive their first five years?

Only 18% of entrepreneurs successfully launch their startups. Relationship-building with investors and team members is a key differentiator. Rob Peabody spent approximately 50% of his time fundraising throughout VOMO's entire lifecycle, underscoring the capital and relationship intensity of scaling.

The Life of a Start-Up: VOMO →
Topics:Founder problem-solving and origin storiesSales process and buying behavior transformationLeadership culture and team engagementVirtual care and digital business modelsSpecialty retail and niche community building
Themes:Problem discovery as competitive advantageCulture and psychological safety drive measurable growthValues-driven leadership survives disruption

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