Chris Taylor on Losing $2M, Layoffs, and Building Actionable | GrowthTales Episode #26
From selling devil sticks at age 11 to building a $2M software platform that taught him some of his toughest lessons, Chris Taylor's entrepreneurial journey is a masterclass in resilience and product-market fit. In this episode of GrowthTales, Chris shares the raw truth about rebuilding Actionable into a thriving behavior change technology serving 1,800+ programs across 5 countries. What You'll Learn: → Why Chris spent $2M building software nobody wanted (and the brutal lesson that followed) → How to avoid "building the whole city" before validating your product → The reality of going from 62 employees to 4 and rebuilding from scratch → Why being 12 years early to a market means 9+ years of hard grind → Content marketing strategies that drive real B2B SaaS growth (insight reports with 80,000+ data points) → How to find your ideal customer profile and why hyper-focus drives growth → The 3-lens framework for integrating AI without adding noise → How to balance entrepreneurship with family life (two kids, a dog, and writing a book) Key Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction to Chris Taylor & Actionable 1:25 - First business at age 11: Manufacturing devil sticks 3:19 - The origin story: From franchise failure to building Actionable 5:23 - The $2M mistake: Building software without proper validation 11:05 - How to attract B2B customers when they don't congregate 15:08 - Balancing growth, speaking, and writing a book with family 16:43 - Biggest challenge: Business partner went to jail mid-fundraise 20:33 - Being 12 years early to a market: The macro lesson 22:09 - What founders love about the entrepreneurial journey 25:40 - AI strategy: 3 lenses for thoughtful integration About Actionable: Actionable is behavior change technology trusted by consultants, coaches, and organizations in 5 countries and 1,800+ programs. They provide training companies with tools, data analytics, and insights to prove impact and measure learning program ROI—solving a problem the industry has talked about for 60 years. About Chris Taylor: Chris has been an entrepreneur since age 11. He's obsessed with closing the knowing-doing gap and helping organizations turn training investments into measurable behavior change. Chris focuses on serving founder-led boutique training companies doing $500K-$5M annually. --- READY TO SCALE YOUR BUSINESS? ConnectCPA helps growing businesses streamline their financial operations with tech-driven, human-led cloud accounting services. From bookkeeping and payroll to controllership, tech advisory, and tax - we bring structure, insight, and peace of mind so you can move forward with clarity and confidence. Trusted by 1,000+ businesses across Canada and the USA | 2x Xero Accounting Partner of the Year | 5x Globe & Mail Top Growing Companies 👉 Book a free intro call: https://www.connectcpa.ca/contact --- ABOUT GROWTHTALES & CONNECTCPA: GrowthTales brings you real conversations with founders, CEOs, and entrepreneurs who are building and scaling businesses. Hosted by Mike Pinkus from ConnectCPA, we explore the challenges, wins, and lessons learned on the path to sustainable growth. ConnectCPA is one of the pioneers of Cloud Accounting with a passionate team of 100+ accounting experts, CPAs, and technology enthusiasts. We act as an extension of your team - optimizing your processes, automating your workflows, and providing clear financial insights so you have more time to focus on running your business. Connect with us: Website: https://www.connectcpa.ca LinkedIn: / connectcpa-chartered-accountants Subscribe for more founder stories: / @connectcpa --- GUEST LINKS: Actionable: https://actionable.co/ Chris Taylor on LinkedIn: / chrisjrtaylor --- #Entrepreneurship #StartupJourney #SaaS #BusinessGrowth #FounderStories #ProductMarketFit #B2BSales #ContentMarketing #LearningAndDevelopment #TrainingROI #BehaviorChange #ScalingBusiness #StartupLessons #BootstrappedStartup #CanadianBusiness