I lead at the intersection of capital, technology, and ideas.
A mission-based lender's CEO. A builder and seller of companies. A professor and author writing for leaders who carry real weight. Across all of it, the work comes back to one thing — backing small businesses and the people who run them.
CM
financed
lending
New Mexico, Utah
— BodeTree, 2018
A single through-line, three kinds of work.
Capital, technology, and ideas are not separate careers. They are three levers on the same job: making it possible for ordinary people to build durable companies — and to lead honestly while they do it.
I am a CEO, an operator, an educator, and an author. The titles change; the work does not. I put real money behind real founders, build the tools they need to compete, and write for the people who carry the weight of a company on their shoulders.
I have built and exited before, taught the next generation of owners, and stood in front of a national audience to make complicated ideas land in plain language. Every venture since has been built on that discipline.
— The through-line has not changed.
Where the work happens.
Real money, real risk, real consequence — across lending, applied AI, the classroom, and the page.
B:Side Capital
A mission-based lender that has financed more than 5,500 small businesses across four states over roughly 35 years. I own the strategy, the balance sheet, and the team that decides which founders get the capital to keep building.
Main & Machine
Helping small businesses put artificial intelligence to practical work — without the hype and without the six-figure consulting bill. The owners who learn to use these tools well will pull away from the ones who do not.
The Fourth Turning Leader
A body of work about leading through the kind of upheaval history serves up every few generations — and the platform behind the book series of the same name. Upheaval is exactly where leaders are made or broken.
Arizona State University
Teaching management and entrepreneurship at the W. P. Carey School of Business — putting hard-won operating experience in front of the next generation of owners and leaders.
Writing for leaders who carry real weight.
Three books on entrepreneurship, mission, and leading through pressure — with the Fourth Turning Leader series opening a new chapter.
Ideas, in plain language.
Three running columns — applied AI, the crisis era, and the economics of leadership — plus a decade of writing for a national audience.
Putting AI to work
Practical writing on artificial intelligence for small-business owners — the tools, the tradeoffs, and what actually moves the needle. No hype, no jargon.
From the crisis era
Reading the current moment through the lens of the Fourth Turning — current events, upheaval, and what history's recurring crises demand of the leaders living through them.
Leadership & economics
On leading people and reading the economy — how capital, mission, and character meet in the day-to-day work of building durable companies and stronger communities.
A widely-read Forbes column that ranked among the most-read on the site, with regular contributions to The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, and MSNBC's Your Business — a decade of learning to make a complicated idea land in plain language.
Built durable companies. Led honestly. Backed the small.
As CEO of B:Side Capital, I run a mission-based lender that has financed more than 5,500 small businesses across Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah over roughly 35 years. I have led B:Side since 2020, drawing on more than 25 years in and around small business — and I own the strategy, the balance sheet, and the team that decides which founders get the capital to keep building. It is real money, real risk, and real consequence.
I also founded Main & Machine to help small businesses put artificial intelligence to practical work, without the hype and without the six-figure consulting bill. The thesis is straightforward: the owners who learn to use these tools well will pull away from the ones who do not — and most of them need a partner who will build the thing rather than lecture about it.
Upheaval is exactly where leaders are made or broken.
Ideas are the third part of the work. I teach management and entrepreneurship at ASU's W. P. Carey School of Business, and I write for leaders who carry real weight. My latest book, Honor Under Pressure, opens The Fourth Turning Leader series — a body of work about leading through the kind of upheaval history serves up every few generations.
I have built and exited before. Earlier in my career I founded the fintech BodeTree and led it as CEO until its sale in 2018. That decade put me in front of a national audience — a Forbes column among the most-read on the site, and regular contributions to the Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, and MSNBC's Your Business. I learned to make a complicated idea land in plain language, and I have built every venture since on that discipline.
The through line has not changed. I build durable companies, I lead honestly, and I back the small businesses that hold their communities together.
Let's build
something durable.
Capital, applied AI, the lectern, or the page — if your work touches any of it, there's a door below.