Why most entrepreneurs will never become CEOs artwork
CEO: Behind the Scenes

Why most entrepreneurs will never become CEOs

  • S1E30
  • 1:08:11
  • October 9th 2025

The journey from founder to true CEO is statistically nearly impossible – 97 percent of businesses fail within 10 years. In this episode, Brandon Dawson, Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman of Cardone Ventures and 10X Health System, reveals what separates the rare few who break through to build nine-figure companies.

Dawson discusses the critical distinction between founders and CEOs, the three questions that expose fake experts and why execution always matters. Having built two multimillion-dollar companies from the ground up in just 60 months, he shares the belief-action-results framework and leadership evolution that determines whether businesses stagnate or scale beyond US$25 million.

Packed with insights on entrepreneurial intuition versus executive awareness, confidence versus ego and the depression trap catching 80 percent founders post-exit, this conversation delivers brutal honesty about what it takes to become a real CEO.

Listen now to discover where you sit on the founder-to-CEO spectrum and what you must do differently to break through.

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Website: https://cardoneventures.com/

CEO: Behind the Scenes

It's easy to forget that behind the title of CEO lies a human. In CEO Behind the Scenes, a podcast from The CEO Magazine, we want to explore the human behind the company and the figure behind the figurehead role as CEOs share their journeys with us.

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