#358 - Samuel Logan, CEO of Evidencity on when slowing down accelerates growth

This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial wisdom gained through building a data-driven business from scratch. My guest is Samuel Logan, Founder and CEO of Evidencity.  After bootstrapping Evidencity as his fourth venture, Samuel Logan has spent a decade building a company with a profound mission: creating transparency to eliminate modern slavery in global supply chains. His journey began by addressing a critical gap in the market—helping multinational corporations access reliable data about their suppliers in regions where information wasn't available online. What started as a network of people physically retrieving documents in over 80 countries evolved into a sophisticated data platform that now helps uncover hidden networks facilitating forced labor. Samuel's commitment to transparency goes beyond simple compliance, focusing on the 30% of companies truly willing to "lift up the rocks and see what's underneath" their supply chains. And this inspired me, and hence I invited Samuel to my podcast. We explore the counterintuitive decisions that transform good companies into remarkable ones. His approach challenges the "move fast and break things" mentality that dominates the startup world. Samuel reveals why the hardest business choices often aren't about what to do, but about what to stop doing—especially when everyone around you expects the opposite. We discuss why sometimes you need to step back and work "under the hood" of your business rather than racing forward, and how what seems like an obvious path in the market can often be a "mirage." Throughout our conversation, Samuel shares the moments where slowing down actually accelerated his success and why rebuilding foundations allowed him to capitalize on opportunities his competitors couldn't see. Here is a quote that captures one of Samuel's most striking business lessons:  "If we had not made the decision around the data schema that we made, we would today not be in the position that we're in to leverage the AI technology that's in the market. Frankly, we need to leverage that to keep up with the pace at which things are moving right now." By listening to this podcast you will learn: How to recognize when your business needs to take two steps back to ultimately move ten steps forward Why your first hires post-funding should focus on leverage points rather than immediate revenue generation How implementing "user manuals" for leadership creates vulnerability and clarity that transforms team dynamics How to structure pipeline confidence-weighting systems that prevent optimism bias in your forecasting For more information about the guest from this week:  Samuel Logan  Website: Evidencity.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices