From Zero to a Billion: Strategies for Growth, Transformation, and Scale
Every business goes through distinct stages—survival, expansion, and scale. But what does it really take to navigate each phase successfully? In this insightful panel, three executives will share their firsthand experiences at different stages of their business lifecycle, revealing the key challenges, strategic pivots, and critical decisions that shaped their company’s trajectory. From securing early customers and capital, to professionalizing operations and managing acquisitions, to scaling amidst market shifts and unexpected crises, this session will provide real-world lessons on activating growth levers, optimizing leadership, and balancing risk and reward.
Moderator:
Co-founder, Net Health
CEO, CoSage
Growth oriented technology executive and board member with 20+ years of experience in PE backed companies and angel/VC funded start-ups. Served as President of Net Health for two decades, author of the book Refounder: How Transformational Leaders Take What's Broken and Make it Better (Per Capita, 2021)
Panelists:
Chair & CEO
#1 Cochran
Rob Cochran, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, #1 Cochran Rob Cochran is a second-generation owner of #1 Cochran, the nation’s 39th largest dealer group. Founded in 1965, the company today operates 36 franchises representing 20 brands. Widely recognized as an industry innovator, Rob was among the first dealers in the U.S. to offer a transparent, customer-centric buying experience both online and in-store. Among his myriad professional affiliations, Rob is Vice Chair of the National Automobile Dealers Association and a Board member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
Co-Founder & CEO
Diamond Kinetics
C.J. Handron is the Co-Founder and CEO of Diamond Kinetics, a market leader in sports technology specifically focused on youth athlete development and engagement. C.J. leads the strategic direction and market development for the company, including its investment and partnership with Major League Baseball. Prior to founding Diamond Kinetics, C.J. led the University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute’s technology incubator, PantherlabWorks.
CEO
Kloopify
Former supply chain executive at a Fortune 500 chemical company, current CEO of Kloopify.com - a sustainable procurement SAAS solution providing data, analytics, and visibility into the environmental impact of every purchase.
Daniela is a procurement and supply chain executive with years of experience working closely with CEOs, CPOs, Business Unit Leaders, and other senior leaders in the chemical industry to transform and digitize global supply chains. During the pandemic, procurement departments were identified as the drivers of sustainability within companies yet they lacked the data, technology, and skillset to achieve the company’s goals. From her experience in managing supplier sustainability data in spreadsheets, Daniela saw procurement’s need for innovation. Daniela and her cofounder began building Kloopify to empower procurement. Daniela's work with Kloopify established her as an innovator in the field, where she recently won 'The Innovation Award' from the Future Insights Network.
Formerly at DuPont, Daniela was the Global Risk Management Leader who created, developed, and implemented a Risk Management organization for the $4.0 billion Electronics and Imaging (E&I) Business Unit. She led the warehousing, barge, tank & transloading categories through the second largest merger in history, the DOW and DuPont merger, and in 2019 was named a 30 under 30 Supply Chain Star by the Institute of Supply Chain Management.