The CTO Show with Mehmet Gonullu #513 No Excuses, Only Solutions: Derrick Girard on the Founder’s Mindset
In this episode of The CTO Show with Mehmet, Derrick Girard shares his remarkable journey from financial services advisor to tech founder — despite having no technical background. Derrick opens up about scaling his company without a traditional sales team, surviving multiple lawsuits, and ultimately selling his business. His story is one of grit, resilience, and what he calls the FIO (Figure It Out) mindset — a framework every founder and leader can adopt to overcome obstacles and drive success.
🚀 Key Takeaways
• Why excuses are never the solution in entrepreneurship
• How Derrick scaled without a traditional sales team
• The importance of validating an idea in a resistant market
• Lessons from navigating three simultaneous lawsuits
• Why success is “stairs, not an elevator” — and the reality check founders need
• Building a culture of ownership and resilience inside growing teams
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🎧 What You’ll Learn
• Practical strategies for validating and scaling a startup in regulated industries
• How to compartmentalize challenges and stay focused under extreme pressure
• The difference between the victim mindset and the solution mindset
• Why documenting agreements — even with family and friends — is critical for founders
• How to instill the Figure It Out mindset across teams and organizations
👤 About Derrick Girard
Derrick Girard is an entrepreneur, author, and speaker who built and exited a tech company in the highly regulated financial services sector. With no formal background in technology, he relied on persistence, problem-solving, and the FIO mindset to navigate challenges that included investor disputes, lawsuits, and industry resistance. Today, Derrick helps founders and leaders embrace resilience, take ownership, and build solutions-driven cultures. He is also the author of Put to the Test: The FIO Mindset.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrickgirard/
Episode Highlights
• (02:30) Derrick’s unlikely path from finance to tech entrepreneurship
• (05:00) Scaling without a sales team and replacing it with relationship managers
• (07:30) Validating the idea through networks, questions, and conferences
• (11:00) Navigating three lawsuits while scaling the company
• (18:30) Why “success is stairs, not an elevator”
• (23:00) The danger of excuses and the rise of the victim mentality
• (27:00) Applying the FIO mindset to teams and organizations
• (31:00) Reality checks every founder should do before starting up
• (38:00) Redefining entrepreneurship: problem solvers vs. titles
• (44:00) Derrick’s mission today and how to connect with him