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Get Vertical with Mike McCalley

Get Vertical with Mike McCalley logo

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

Growth happens when founders solve their own problems first

Get Vertical documents how founders build businesses by starting with personal pain, then scaling through culture, relationships, and disciplined sales. Each episode offers a concrete origin story and measurable outcome.

Get Vertical's core argument is that durable business growth roots in founders solving real problems they have lived experience with, then scaling through people-first leadership and disciplined execution. The channel proves this through founder origin stories paired with measurable outcomes: Luke Sigle built SILO after a frustrating aid station at mile 44 of a 100-mile race; Wally Steidley launched The Safety Sherpa around a conviction that zero workplace injuries should be non-negotiable; Rob Peabody conceived VOMO after recognizing volunteer recruitment could be digitized. Every founder featured began with a personal frustration, not a market projection.

Drawn from Ultra runner Luke Sigle built SILO after a cha… and 2 more →

“I need to take some steps to building. What would I build to help runners, to make that part of the race easier?”

Luke Sigle, founder of SILO, at mile 44 of Grindstone 100

By the numbers

18%

of entrepreneurs successfully launch their startups

31%

of U.S. employees actively engaged at work, Gallup 2025

61%

of B2B buyers prefer rep-free buying experience, Gartner 2025

90%

of global B2B buyers experienced stalled processes in 2023

What the channel argues

InsightLuke Sigle's SILO emerged from 14 months of prototyping after a single frustrating aid station experience.→
DataOnly 31% of U.S. employees are actively engaged at work, per Gallup's 2025 data, creating performance risk.→
DataRobby Humble's leading-with-love approach drove 20% YoY growth in Q3 cash collections without new products.→
Data61% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free buying experience, requiring sales teams to rethink engagement strategy.→
InsightTrailhead Running Supply reached top 1% of run specialty stores nationally in under three years through niche focus and community building.→
Data90% of global B2B buyers experienced stalled purchasing processes in 2023 due to economic headwinds.→

What you'll learn

•Personal frustration and lived experience are stronger entrepreneurial signals than market analysis alone.
•Culture and psychological safety drive measurable performance gains, not just engagement scores.
•Modern B2B sales require understanding buyer independence and automation, not traditional relationship-building as primary lever.
•Scaling requires knowing when to delegate to subject-matter experts rather than optimizing everything yourself.
•Community and niche focus create defensible market position in commodity-heavy sectors like retail.

What to do about it

→Audit your founding problem: does it rest on personal pain you solved, or external market research? If the latter, test the solution yourself first.
→Map your sales process against buyer behavior: 61% want rep-free experience, so design for self-serve research and proposal automation, not early handoffs.
→Build psychological safety into leadership: surface problems early through trust so teams resolve issues faster and leadership can respond with data, not surprises.

Who and what shows up

Luke Sigle

Ultra runner, founder of SILO

Prototyped a new product for 14 months after a single frustrating aid station experience, exemplifying founder problem-solving.

Robby Humble

CEO, Penn Warranty

Demonstrated that leading with love, combining nurturing and tough love, drove 20% YoY growth in Q3 cash collections.

Wally Steidley

Founder, Indigo Compliance and The Safety Sherpa

Built two companies around the conviction that zero workplace injuries should be non-negotiable, with The Safety Sherpa designed as the world's first fully mobile-friendly safety training platform.

Rob Peabody

Co-founder and President of VOMO, VP of Category Growth with Virtuous

Spent approximately 50% of his time fundraising throughout VOMO's lifecycle before its acquisition by Virtuous in 2022.

Trisha Hendrickson

Founder and CEO, Moxie360 Marketing

Built 35-year marketing career into a 14-person agency by balancing AI innovation with human relationships and prioritizing internal audiences.

Questions this channel answers

Q

What actually separates founders who succeed from the 82% who fail?

Relationship-building with investors and team members, combined with willingness to spend significant time fundraising. Rob Peabody spent approximately 50% of his time fundraising throughout VOMO's lifecycle before acquisition by Virtuous in 2022.

The Life of a Start-Up: VOMO →
Q

How do leaders re-engage disengaged workforces and drive growth simultaneously?

Through leading with love, a philosophy combining nurturing and tough love that creates psychological safety. Robby Humble's approach at Penn Warranty drove 20% YoY growth in Q3 cash collections without new products or marketing.

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

How should sales teams adapt to buyers who research independently and prefer rep-free buying?

Shift focus from early relationship-building to automating error-free proposals, streamlined workflows, and real-time feedback loops. Understanding customer lifetime value and distinguishing cost of acquisition from cost of ownership becomes critical.

Get Vertical! Growing with Sales for Success →
Q

What allows a specialty retail business to reach top 1% in a saturated market?

Narrowing into a specific niche creates market leverage rather than limitation, paired with community building and authentic experience over product curation alone.

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

How can AI enhance marketing without eroding customer connection?

Treat AI as a tool that scales efficiency while prioritizing human relationships and internal audiences; employees are often a company's most influential marketers.

Scaling Smarter: Leadership Lessons from Moxie360 Market… →
Topics:Founder origin stories and problem-solvingSales methodology and buyer behaviorLeadership culture and employee engagementRemote and virtual service deliverySpecialty retail and community building
Themes:Founder problem-solving as sustainable competitive advantageCulture and people leadership drive measurable business outcomesSales and buyer behavior have structurally shifted; process must follow

Industry context

Founder-led problem-solving and strong organizational culture are increasingly recognized as drivers of measurable business outcomes and competitive advantage across industries.

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