From Self-Doubt to Entrepreneur: How Salesforce’s Technology Evangelist Found Success in Entrepreneurship After Experiencing Uncertainty

Hello, and welcome to Tuesday's with Morrisey. I'm Adam Morrisey. I'm thrilled to be joined by one of the greatest entrepreneurs and thinkers in East Austin. Scott Britton, co founder to multiple companies including troops, which sold to Salesforce in the last two years. Thanks for coming on the show today, Scott. Awesome. Beyond man. And, well, what are what a, what a flattering, introduction? I appreciate that. I'm beating this East Austin. Also, I say it just takes one to no one. That's right, dude. If you know, you know. So excited to have a conversation with you about some of the stuff you've built lessons you've marred in the cross section that you've seem to focus on, which is consciousness and business. And to lay the foundation for that, I always think it's interesting to know why people would decide to work on the things they do. And are you, you know, you had, you know, some kind of solar printer stuff you are early stage at a couple companies. You cofounded a company that sold what is troops and how do you decide you wanted to work on that versus other things you are exploring? Yeah. Troops was, the last startup that I did, we started the company in two thousand fifteen. The original idea was that, you know, I had been kind of working in sales and business development, and we always thought that, like, data capture was a terrible process as a sales leader yourself. I'm sure you can appreciate the CRM not being updated. And, You know, the the real reason for starting the company was I just wanted to be an entrepreneur. Like, I was just looking for an op a market opportunity, and that that I thought that I could be in a position to build something, that that was a venture scale type business. And, This was a problem that I had experienced myself. And so I I think it was kinda your classic, like, scratch your own itch type scratch your own itch type of business. And, you know, we we came into the market with, like, like, a bunch of hypotheses, and then it was really just through lots of customer conversations. And kind of calibrating that with what was happening from a macro perspective, that helped us create a vision. And that vision was the original vision and idea was, what if it was as easy to update a CRM as sending a text message? And we had this notion that messaging platforms were gonna be the new front end interface for software engagement and interactivity, like, instead of, you know, logging into Salesforce, and logging into Workday and logging into this thing. Like, what if you could just do a lot of those tasks, where you're already working? Which for a lot of people was places like Slack and Microsoft teams. So we effectively built a a really robust platform that plugged into about fifteen systems in the CRM ecosystem and allowed people to to interact with their data so you could, you know, detect changes any of those systems, send them to people. You could add different types of actions where, you know, if somebody needed to do something, they could be alerted, then they could do take the action right then and there. You could kind of customize it all to your unique business processes. And that that ended up being the business. And, No. That was a that was a that was a six and a half year journey before, we ultimately ended up at Salesforce, which was our biggest integration partner. Yeah. Super cool, man. Yeah. I definitely can relate to the pain, especially when you're in a high output environment, you know, logging that feels like carrying a a ton of bricks you know, you said you meant you wanted to be an entrepreneur. You also said it took six and a half years. I'm curious to learn, number one, why you wanted to be an entrepreneur. And then two, how long you thought would take. You know, why I thought I wanted to be an entrepreneur then is a little bit different than what I believe my motives were now. I think, you know, originally, I had a job, my first job was, like, working for a sports agency that represented pro baseball players. And I just found myself, like, just annoyed that, like, I couldn't just do what I wanted. You know what I mean? Like, I just kind of was like, like, I I wanna be able to, like, push the envelope here and as far as I wanna go, and I wanna be able to have an idea and could take action on it and seemed like entrepreneurs, like, that's kind of what you did. I also would say there was an element of status. Right? Like, like, the the social network could just come out the movie, like, you saw this, montage of, like, young people, like, working in a room, and then, like, partying with all these people and, like, making all this money quickly, and that appealed to me. And, Yeah. So I think those were the original, like, ideas that I had around entrepreneurship. I think I think, you know, as I've been on the consciousness journey, what I can see now was there was a huge part of me that felt a sense of deficiency, like a sense of I'm not enough, as a person, and I had an identity I I basically tied an identity to to being successful as a way to kind of invalidate that. Like, that was a strategy that I that my ego came up with to basically disprove that. And so Yeah. I think I think, frankly, the real reason was I had a lot of self worth issues. And if I went out and I did this super hard thing that people thought was important and cool, it meant that, I was worthy. And, you know, it took me a long time to actually see what was going on there. That's what I meant. Appreciate that honesty, and there's a lot I can relate into as well. It is easy to just think that it's an exciting thing to do. And it would be cool. And did anything change? It sounds like it did, like, how do you look at the process of building something after going through that process? Not only you know, the six years it took, which in the grand scheme of things, by the way, isn't that long. But I know three years in it, it feels like a long time. So just to I've realized I didn't answer your first your other question, like, I had this crazy experience where my first real kind of, like, venture startup role, I worked with this company called Single Platform that you know, started and sold for a hundred million dollars in less than three years. And so I had this kind of warped perception of, like, what the startup journey timeline was. And, yeah, I did not think it was gonna be a six and a half year journey. And as I think about building things now, you know, back then, I it was very much this means to an end type thinking. Like, oh, I wanna build something to be successful. Oh, I wanna build something to make a lot of money. And the way that I think about it now is, like, what I wanna spend my time on is what is authentically emerging for me, in a given moment. And so Like, what does that actually look like? I look at I try to be mindful of, like, what are the things in my life, the innate interests where I find myself, like, I can't not do this thing. Like, I'm so, naturally gravitating towards it that, like, it it it almost wants to come out of me. And, more recently, that's been more creative type stuff. It's been more writing, I'm working on a book, podcasting. It's been almost more of a, artistic expression than than a people manager, which is really what an entrepreneur kind of inevitably evolves into. Yeah. Was there anything that surprised you, you know, from, like, after selling the company or, you know, when you look back on, I think about you know, when you're pursuing something, how you look at time or how you look at, you know, something worth investing in? Yeah. I think frankly, the biggest per the biggest the biggest surprise for me is I had this idea about what it would mean to sell a company and how my life would change. And a big part of that component was, is how people would look at me. You know, I, like, thought there's, like, this kinda, like, oh, like, if you sell a company and you start a company and you sell it, like, you there's, like, the status and, like, there was a part of me in my at a certain point in my life that kinda cared about that and had a perception of what that would be. And what I found is people don't really give a shit. Like, nobody really gives a shit, dude. Like, You know, I I'm so humbled all the time by, like, now that I'm kinda moving in this new direction, like, you know, bloggers and, like, people with beginner and Twitter following, like, they don't give me the time of day And, I just assumed that, like, any door would open once you had, kind of done to sell the company thing, and it's just it just really isn't true. And, the humbling the the humbling factor has been has been a good thing. Oh, I totally. And what I think so cool about that, man, is as we change the way we ascribe worth to ourselves, it changed the ways we will look at worth and others. You know, I have a lot of conversations on here about, you know, why is it so important to see the potential in people and as being a leader and such and, like, to not be in evaluating others based on their status really opens you up to be able to do that. Yeah. And I think I think it's you know, it it aligns with kinda how the definition of success evolves, where it's, like, for me, it's, like, you know, I think it I think it's kind of been on this trajectory of, like, What do I have? What do I have done to who I've become? And it's really a way of being is how I think about like, reaching my full potential success. And that way of being, you know, maybe it maybe it results in quote, unquote, like, material worldly success. Maybe it doesn't. That's okay either way because it's the prize is really kinda how you engage the world and how you feel on a on a moment to moment day to day basis. Yeah. I I two things stand out to me there is, one of my favorite quotes is from Emerson It might be a poem for Emerson, but he boils down to how simple a successful life is. I'll I'll just read the whole thing real quick. This is what Emerson says on a meaningful life to laugh often and much to win the respect of intelligent people and children to earn the honest appreciation or to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends to to appreciate beauty to find the best in others to leave the world a better place, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or redeem social condition, to know even that one life has breezed easier because you have lived, this is what it means to have succeeded. I like that. So it just it's amazing to me how simple it is. And Danny Meyer and his book setting the table, which I just saw, like, I I didn't realize he was that old, but they culpin Union Square Cafe in New York, like, forty years ago, which just blows my mind. But in setting the table, he says the most important thing in any transaction is how the other person feels. So I think we've think a lot about, scoring the touchdown or, you know, winning duo or whatever. But, you know, when you hear about, you know, what makes a great leader? It seems a lot of it just comes down to presence. Yeah. I agree. I agree. That's cool, man. I really like that quote. Yeah. I'll I'll get to see after you know, something that comes up all the time that people ask me about is like, you know, people are always like, Hey, I don't know what my thing is. And even sometimes I can relate to this too, there's a lot of people for a lot of them, their their thing isn't necessarily tied to solving a problem that exists in the world. So what do you say to people that are evaluating, like, questions? Like, and I recognize either or questions are typically flawed, but Do you think it's more important to be super passionate about the thing, or is it more important to place an emphasis on who you're dealing it with? Making sure it's people you admire trust and respect. Yeah. That's a really, really interesting question. I think it honestly depends on the person, you know, I know this is kinda like a cop a cop out. But I have some friends that, like, They just like being on the journey, with other people that they love. And I have other friends that they just are super passionate about a particular topic, or area of interest. And, you know, what's what's been fascinating about my own I think we all wrestle with this question of, like, how do we find our deepest purpose in life? And how does that express in our vocation as an example. And what I've my my most updated thinking on this is that When we do the work on the consciousness, to basically kinda, like, untangle lots of this unconscious information and conflicts, the what we came here to do emerges naturally it's more of, like, a, kind of, latent thing that has always been there that gets rediscovered versus something that I gotta go find out there. And I that's not to minimize, like, going out and trying a bunch of things and figuring out what you like and what works for you. But what I've found is that as I've done the kind of inner purification, it almost feels like, oh, this is obvious what I'm here to do. Like, I'm almost it almost feels like I'm a remember, like, a remembrance. And, I just never realized that that was the way, for me until more recently. Yeah. Totally. I've I've read some of your stuff about intuition and obviously had some conversations about it. What is the role to you of intuition and the way you lead, operate, make decisions? Yeah. I think I think intuition, can be defined as just, like, a source of information, a source of intelligence that shows up as an inner knowing. And when when we purify ourselves, I believe that that information comes from a, our divine part of ourselves, our connection to our, the eternal part of our being. And so So that that wants the best for us that can see the totality of things that isn't bound by space or time. And so I believe that, like, we have this inner GPS that says, hey, like, I wanna get you to your highest expression And, like, I see the map. Like, I see the full map, and and it gives us clues and information and tries to communicate that to us in a at a point of presence. And we have you know, we have the opportunity to engage with it or not. And what I found is, yeah, just the more that I have, stepped into trusting that, the better my life seems to get. So it's taken on a more primary. It's it's become a more primary source of information and decision making than it once was. As as I've kind of deepened the trust and experimentation with it. Yeah. Is there any any examples that stand out to you that is, like, have really blown your mind? Like, Wow. I leaned into it. I I got an insight and and something happened. Dude, all the time. All the time. I had I mean, the most formative example was, they're, like, kinda really, like, flipped the script here that really changed my mind was when I was buying my house, here, like, three years ago, I, like, put in an offer on this house. I got beat out by a bunch of other people. The house you're in right now. The house I'm in right now. I got beat out by a bunch of other people. It was like an offer was place that was, like, forty thousand dollars above asking. This was, like, when Austin Real Estate was crazy. I put in a backup offer for the suggestion of my real estate agent, and it turned out that the house the winning offer actually fell through. So I was, like, one of three or four people that had put in a backup offer, and, mine was less than that original asking price. And so my agent asked me, like, hey, do you wanna put in a, like, a new offer? And I had been experimenting with, kind of posing questions to the stillness in my meditations. And I decided to bring the situation to that to that practice. And when that happened, the a number popped into my head that was below the the the winning price by, like, ten thousand dollars. And I told back went back to my agent. I was like, what do I have to lose? Like, I already, like, don't have this house anyways. And I gave him the number, and he's like, that number's not gonna win. You know? Like, the price has already been set by other people. I just don't think you're gonna get this house if that's what you bid. And I was like, well, let's just try this. Like and so I gave him that number and the agent was right. I didn't I didn't have the highest bid, but for some reason, the builders chose May. And it was, which defied conventional logic. Like, they were literally taking less money. And, It was just an incredible example to me of, like, how the universe rewards trust. And how it's trying to help you if you just pay attention and you listen. And so once that happened, I was like, whoa, okay. I'm gonna start to, like, really kinda go deep on this and see what happens. Yeah. Totally man. One of the questions I ask myself, like, are you listening? Very centering centering question. That's an amazing story. It's a that's a really good one. Yeah. I hear you talk about, you know, in this conversation and others, like that. And even the top of your book, because I understand that there's kind of that cross section of consciousness and business. Why is that something you gravitated towards so much Yeah. I think, so the consciousness journey, which I would broadly kind of overlaps with spirituality, which is, like, broadly, like, our relationship to something that is bigger than us and our original kind of coming back to our original essence, which for my belief system is, like, we're all divine beings. We're eternal beings. We're all living in this kind of interconnected, reality. Like, that experience has been the most enriching experience in my life, and it just continues to be that. And I have been in this context of business for, you know, since college for for eighteen years or whatever it's been or fifteen, I don't know, a while. And in the current environment, those two things are very divorced for a lot of people. It's not like people are like, oh, you wanna you wanna be great in business. You wanna be a a change agent, like, go work on your spirituality. Like, that is, like, not the narrative, the predominant narrative in our society. And, I've been on both sides. Like, I've played the games, the hustle culture, the all of the kind of, working outside in to, to create which I the things I wanna see in the world and and the lifestyle that I want. And what I've found in my own exploration of that is that it's actually the work of the consciousness that unlocks our highest potential as as human beings. And so which can be applied in any context. And so I feel real call on my heart to show people like, hey, you can do this business thing, and you can have all the success that you want. And there's actually another way to do it. And it just turns out that that that other way is a lot more enjoyable, a lot more peaceful, and can even result in better outcomes in my experience. And so, Yeah. That that's that's why it's it's it's such a meaningful intersection for me. So, man, I share a lot of that too. I mean, for me, I look at, you know, the, field of business is kind of a rich classroom for what I call motion must be for growth. And you get served all these things that all these opportunities interact with people and, you know, you have demands on your your time and your stress, and it's gonna it really challenges the way you show up. I had a guest a couple months ago named Olivia Fox Cobain, Right now, she's kinda at the forefront of, like, the alternative protein industry, which is kinda interesting, but ten years ago, she wrote, she was like the leading authority on charisma. No kidding. Yep. And I read our book the charisma myth, which, you know, what came out probably eight or ten years ago. I'm Oh, so so surprised when I read it because when I was expecting to read it, it was like, I was like, oh, I'm gonna get all these tools for you to read Walk charismatic. And it was I mean, it wasn't two hundred fifty pages of this, but it was mostly, like, different meditations in mindfulness practices. You could be you could do to, like, purify yourself in your words or break stories. There was one meditation. I remember it was like, you know, imagining, you know, your heart as a garden and going in there and tending to your garden and then imagining other people in your lives parts of the garden and going in and So it was nothing to do with what we would think about as Chris might all had to do with the things we can do to show up differently. I I totally buy that. I totally buy that because the most charismatic people man are the people that are the freest. Like, it's it's really quite simple. Like, they're just internally free. They move through the world with ease, and that is, energy that can be felt. And the way to do that is to kind of clean out the cobwebs on on the inside. Yeah. I have Andrew Horn coming on in a couple weeks. And so I had to quote him as a preview. He said, once I heard him say, you know, if, if somebody is speaking from the heart, you can't look away. Which I think so true and kind of resonates with what you're sharing about the most authentic. And, Martin Scorsese said the same thing about creativity. He said the most creative oh, excuse me. The most personal is the most creative, which I think is a good example. One other story I'll share that I think is pretty interesting because I have a friend who is, like a music DJ based in Berlin and is fairly popular. And, like, sometimes, like, you'll play these shows at, that start at five or six a on. Okay. Crazy. But one time I asked him or asked a a close friend of his, I was like, okay, why does, you like to play these shows at start at six AM? And he said, you know, he believes that music is medicine, and that's when the people are out that need to hear the music the most. I really blew my mind. It's a lot of the way I think about business. Like, there's a lot of people working in the working world that are having really tough experiences. That's right. And you can get a lot of meeting and growth from, the people we work with. Everyone's got that one leader or manager that, like, had changed their life. Is there one that stands out to you? Yeah. Yeah. There was a guy named Kenny Herman, who was really my furt. I guess he was my second boss, but, like, he just really just, like, took me under his wing, man. And, just kinda taught me everything. And the thing that I really liked about him was that He always was about lifting other people up. Like, he wasn't the one that, like, wanted to take credit. He, like, wanted to kinda give everybody else the spotlight and let them shine. And I think that's real that that really kinda taught me a lot about leadership and, like, what great leaders do. Yeah. A couple weeks, Sky, I guess, named Lewis Weisman. He wrote a book called multipliers, which is about exactly that. The best leaders are the ones that, make the people around them better. Like, beyond the genius is the genius maker. How can you unlock that potential for others? My, the one who comes to Maya was kinda my first boss too. I got named Pat Church, out of P PVC. And he was, like, he, like, took me under his name. Also, he helped me get me down to Texas, and he just, like, The guy knew. Like, I could be having an existential crisis and you would have really actionable practical advice. Like, two stories that stand out as he, I was struggling with, a manager a woman manager that was originally from the Philippines. And so, like, culturally, it was very different. And I I just told him that, like, I was having a really tough I'm working with this woman. And he was like, have you ever told her that you don't feel like you're meeting her expectations? As I can know, And he's like, you should try that. So I tried that and then everything changed. She was like, oh, no. I think you're doing a great job. And she's she started giving me books to read and stuff, and we became really good friends. The other thing I remember from him is he would say, you know, sometimes see the big picture is just identifying the next right small action, which I think there's a lot of wisdom in Yeah. Yeah. It's like it's like most problems can be, like, chunked down to, like, a piece, pieces. We've talked a lot about, you know, what a life could look like with, you know, more intentionality, more presence, kind of a letting go of a lot of outcomes and such. Like what's and there's all sorts of practices, you know, to help cultivate those things. And what's one piece of advice you'd give for people looking to invite more curiosity flow into intuition and even maybe fun into their lives? That's a good one. You know, I think I think for me, like, the biggest the biggest growth areas are are come when I see myself or I'm able to notice myself like, disturbed or triggered by life, like, when I'm uncomfortable with something. And so whether that's, like, I'm standing in a coffee line and that takes too long or, like, something doesn't go my way and I'm frustrated or someone interrupts me, like, and I find myself visibly frustrated, like, all of those situations are indicative of some type of, pattern or unresolved emotional experience that is causing that reaction. And for me, like, what I do is I, like, have a note of my phone and I write those down, and I sit with them in meditation. You know, I sit I sit with those experiences, I try to access what is the underlying imprint that is causing that, usually from my past. And I find that when you do that kind of transformation work, like, things like intuition, things like being at ease, like, they're just natural byproducts. Like, it's it's why, like I mean, I call it purification because I believe that we come into this experience actually quite free, quite intuitive. Like, you look at little kids, like, they're just doing whatever feels good. They are completely unobstructed. And then, you know, life happens where we just kind of create these walls. And create these conditionalities and, like, create all of these ideas about the ways that we need to be. And And so it's really much a what I find is that extras those moments help lead us back to our original essence. And, all the goodness is is kind of implicitly there, the more we can move in that direction. Yeah. I think what I'm hearing you say is, like, awareness is the fundamental ingredient. You know, just being aware you know, tracking these things over time and saying, oh, wow. Like, every three weeks or I have this reaction, sometimes it can be that simple. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. I I I do think, like, awareness creates the reality and so work on the awareness. Totally. Yeah. I like your emphasis, like on your stub sack, for instance, like exploring the process of expanding consciousness and human evolution while living a modern western life. Hey, I like the emphasis on reality. One of my mentors has this concept. He calls it rounds round trip spirituality, you have to go up the mountain and then back down the mountain to where the people are. So I applaud you for standing in both worlds. Thank you. Yeah. I think it's a really interesting thing. Like, if you look at, You know, the concept of, like, a householder, is what many people call, like, for most of human history, if you wanted to go to the top of the mountain spiritually, like, you had to become a monk or go into a monastery or, like, really kinda just renunciate everything in your life. And it wasn't until, late eighteen hundreds or early nineteen hundreds that at least in Lots of the yogic traditions that this idea that, no, like, meditation and other technologies to help people get there can be made available to everyone. And so this tradition of of being a worldly person while having a deep spiritual experience is relatively new for for the human experience in many cultures. And, I think we're also trying to figure out how to do it, which is one of the reasons why I just enjoy, you know, talking about it, because it's a it's a It's an unsolved puzzle, and, I'm sure, you know, it'll continue to be like that because everyone's journey is unique. Yeah. It does seem like we're entering a little bit of a reckoning though with, you know, it seems like more people are demanding, you know, more meaning and action and connection in the vocational aspect of their life? No question. I think COVID was a huge catalyst for that. It was the you know, of of all the things COVID did, I think helping people evaluate the meaning that they were getting from what they were doing. It was a was a big one. Yeah. Well, you've been really gracious with your time today, Scott. Before I let you go, are there any reading materials or other content sources you'd recommend for listeners? Yeah. Well, you know, if you like my, stuff, you can find me on Substack. You can just type type my name in, Scott Brittton. Also host a podcast called Evolution FM. Yeah. I think I think as, I actually did I actually have this, thing that I did recently where I created a spiritual library of, like, all of the books I've read over the years and, like, kind of scored them, like, which ones have, I think, are most worthy of a read. And, I'm gonna be putting a link to that on my sub stack. So, yeah, people wanna find kinda the cliff notes on, like, some really impactful books and teachings. You can get my perspective there. Cool. Well, I'll keep an eye out for that, and then we'll update the show notes as soon as it's out so people can find it. Awesome. Thanks, man. Yeah. You too, Scott. Talk soon. Alright. See you. Thank you for listening to Tuesday with Morrisy. If you like the show, let me know share it with a friend, would appreciate that episode, which was Scott Britain. Scott was a leader in the technology world, sold a company into Salesforce, and shared a lot of his lessons, blog. For me, I appreciate the way he shares so honestly and his desire to contribute to the world. Thanks for listening.