Together We Build: EO Members on the Inc. 5000 Share What Really Drives Extraordinary Growth

November 18, 2025

Published in:

Business Strategy & Growth

A large group of successful entrepreneurs poses on a beautiful stairwell. — Photo by Entrepreneurs' Organization

As the 2025 Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) invites founders to rally behind the theme "Together We Build," EO reflects on its long-held value that resonates with that theme: Together We Grow. In EO, growth is never a solo journey. It’s a shared experience shaped by trust, curiosity, and the strength inherent in our connected community of entrepreneurs.

EO members commit to each other's success and well-being, with experience sharing central to the EO mindset. As we share past triumphs and failures, and the facets of entrepreneurship that fueled them, we lift each other higher and to greater success.

Each year, EO is proud of its members who gain acknowledgement for achieving extraordinary growth on the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing, privately held companies. In the spirit of building better together, EO asked some of its 212 members on the Inc. 5000 list to share their experience around growing their companies.

In the spirit of GEW, we’re honored to share their reflections, which remind us that when we grow together, we can build better, together.

Shift Your Mindset to Enable Growth

Growth can be uncomfortable. Letting go of familiar or even beloved systems, tasks, people, or clients that got your business to where it is—but won’t necessarily get you where you’re going—can be a challenge. It can feel unnerving. But when nothing changes, nothing changes. We asked EO members on the Inc. 5000 about their methods to achieving extraordinary growth.

What mindset shift most accelerated your company’s growth?

“We shifted from ‘We need to win every deal’ to ‘We need to win the right deals.’ Early on, we said yes to everything. Later, we realized that disciplined focus builds better service, healthier culture, and scalable economics. When we committed to serving the clients who believe what we believe — proactive risk management, deep partnership, shared success — the flywheel spun faster than we imagined.” – Robert Rochelle, EO San Antonio, partner at Steward Risk, No. 179 on the 2025 Inc. 5000

“The idea that I could be the bottleneck. As a founder, look at yourself often, because you could be the bottleneck that is inhibiting growth! Learning to delegate is critical but knowing how to deploy oversight is monumental.” – Wendy Sachs, EO Philadelphia, CEO, Philadelphia Nanny Network, No. 1,974 on the 2025 Inc. 5000

“Learning to relentlessly avoid working in the business so I could focus on the business. That shift from operator to architect changed everything.”

– Troy Marino, EO Orange County

“Learning to relentlessly avoid working in the business so I could focus on working on the business. For too long, I was buried in day-to-day operations, thinking productivity equaled progress. The real breakthrough came when I started building systems, delegating responsibilities, and stepping back to design how the business runs instead of running it myself. That shift from operator to architect changed everything.” – Troy Marino, EO Orange County, CEO of Elevate Cycling, No. 395 on the 2025 Inc. 5000

“Don’t make decisions from a place of need. If you can get to a place where you internalize that you don’t need anything, you can make decisions from a place of high power rather than high need.” – Jeff Socha, EO Austin, CEO of Socha Capital, No. 627 on the 2025 Inc. 5000

Acknowledge Hindsight

Hindsight is 20/20, as the saying goes. When you reflect on what worked well during past efforts (and what didn’t!), you gain perspective that can help guide others in their quest to grow and improve.

What would you tell your pre-Inc.5000-self about what really matters in growth?

“Growth isn’t a finish line; it’s a pulse. Every year, I remind myself that excellence is an energy—not a destination. It’s not about giant leaps or shiny metrics; it’s about consistent, incremental improvement. The small daily commitments to quality, integrity, and joy compound into something extraordinary over time.” – Noelle McInerney, EO Chicago, founder of Ladidadi XM, No. 818 on the 2025 Inc. 5000

“Stay in the game and let compounding do its work. Improving is a collection of mistakes.”

– Jake “EJ” Celler, EO Nashville

“Stay in the game and let compounding do its work. Improving is a collection of mistakes. It’s impossible to live in a world of improvement if you got everything right the first time. A tough year isn't a reflection of you; it's a reflection of the activities that you chose to do.” – Jake “EJ” Celler, EO Nashville, co-founder of Secure-Centric, No. 452 on the 2025 Inc. 5000

“I’d tell myself that real growth comes from building bulletproof systems and hiring people who can execute them fast. Early on, I thought growth meant working harder and doing more myself. What actually moves the needle is documenting every process, refining it until it’s airtight, and surrounding yourself with people who can run it better than you can. When your systems and team are strong, growth stops being chaotic and starts becoming predictable.” – Troy Marino

“Things break along the way, not because the process was wrong or inadequate, but because with each stage of growth, old operations have to be shed and new ones created to accommodate the new capacity.” – Wendy Sachs

“Focus less on chasing growth, and more on building something worth growing. Growth isn’t about headcount or revenue milestones — it’s about depth of value. Every quarter we obsessed over what would make our clients’ lives better: faster response times, smarter analytics, better conversations. When the mission is clear, momentum happens naturally. Growth becomes the outcome, not the goal.” – Robert Rochelle

Leaders Love to Learn

Entrepreneurs who become members of EO have another critical value in common: a Thirst for Learning. What is life, after all, but one learning opportunity after another? As they reflect on the extraordinary growth their companies achieved to be ranked in the 2025 Inc. 5000, we asked,

What lesson did growth teach you about yourself as a leader?

“Leading isn't about solving problems it’s about setting others up powerfully to solve the problems for you.” – Jake “EJ” Celler

“Leadership isn’t defined by how you steer in smooth waters—it’s how you show up in the storm. Growth taught me that letting go isn’t losing control—it’s gaining perspective.”

– Noelle McInerney, EO Chicago

“Leadership is less about having the answers and more about creating the conditions for others to find them. Growth forced me to let go of control, trust my team, and replace perfection with progress. I learned that my real job isn’t to direct — it’s to align. And when people feel trusted with responsibility, they rise to the challenge every time.” – Robert Rochelle

“I have to put as much or more energy into developing my team than anything else.” – Jeff Socha

“Leadership isn’t defined by how you steer in smooth waters—it’s how you show up in the storm. The last few years have tested every founder muscle I have, but they’ve also reaffirmed that I’m surrounded by an extraordinary team who believe in our mission as deeply as I do. At Ladidadi, our ethos has always been about joy, authenticity, and purpose. That foundation allowed me to let go of the day-to-day and lean into strategy, vision, and trust. Growth taught me that letting go isn’t losing control—it’s gaining perspective.” – Noelle McInerney

Believe in Possibility

Finally, we asked these growth-focused members,

If your company’s story taught one lesson to other entrepreneurs, what would it be?

“The bigger you think, the bigger the opportunity becomes. You don’t need everything figured out, you just need to think bigger and keep moving forward.” – Troy Marino

“Go for it. Believe it is possible. Most of what we have accomplished is by believing it was possible, asking for the opportunity, and then figuring it out with our backs against the wall.” – Jeff Socha

By Anne-Wallis Droter, EO Staff Writer