In this episode of Executive Connect, Melissa Aarskaug sits down with Preston Zeller, growth architect, venture studio founder, and builder at the intersection of tech, AI, faith, and community. Preston shares what separates real growth from lucky timing, which metrics actually matter when evaluating long-term business health, and why so many founders misjudge the complexity of marketing. He also talks about using AI as a revenue multiplier, why storytelling is still one of the most powerful business skills, and what led him to build Psalm Log, a faith-based technology product designed to help people feel less isolated and more connected to Scripture.

This episode is for founders, marketers, operators, and leaders who want to build something meaningful, not just bigger. Press play before growth becomes the only thing you worship.

Chapters:
(0:33) When impact matters more than scale
(2:06) Real growth versus lucky timing
(5:01) Metrics that show business health
(8:08) Building marketing from scratch
(11:31) Why leaders misread marketing
(16:09) AI as a revenue multiplier
(20:57) Storytelling that moves people
(27:21) Why he built faith-based tech
(33:17) Building community in isolated times
(39:22) Staying grounded in uncertainty
(44:56) Redefining success beyond money
(50:13) Where to connect and explore

Preston

(0:00) Oh, you know, I go back to the Bible verse that says, what does it, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? (0:06) And there’s a lot of people I think hurtling towards gaining the world at all costs. (0:10) And I’ve been around that a lot.

(0:12) You know, I think for me, it’s my documentary is so far is the thing I’m like most proud of. (0:20) And that quite frankly, wasn’t something that like fed my family. (0:25) It was a passion product, made some money on it, but not, not like I’m going to go, you know, retire or, you know, anything like that.

Melissa

(0:33) Most conversations about tech growth sound the same, more users, more revenue, faster scale. (0:41) But what happens when growth isn’t the goal impact is. (0:46) Today’s guest has helped shake tech companies to hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, build AI driven growth engines and launch products that actually move the needle.

(0:57) And then he’s asked a completely different question. (1:02) What if technology could steward people, not just monetize them? (1:08) Preston Zeller is a growth architect who’s driven gross revenue across startups and high growth tech companies up to $300 million in ARR.

(1:20) He’s built marketing functions from scratch, pioneered companies, revenue operations and consistently delivered measurable results. (1:29) Now that it was venture studio Zeller Haas and projects like Psalm logs, Preston is exploring the intersection of faith community and technology, building products designed not to just scale, but to serve. (1:44) This isn’t about designing systems that honor both.

(1:48) So let’s talk about it today. (1:50) Welcome Preston.

Preston

(1:52) Hello, Melissa. (1:53) Thank you for having me on to have a conversation with you. (1:57) I appreciate it.

Melissa

(1:58) Two of my favorite subjects. (1:59) This is going to be fun. (2:01) Faith in tech.

(2:02) It can’t get better this morning, this Saturday morning. (2:06) Now you’ve scaled revenue across multiple companies. (2:10) What separates the real growth from temporary spikes?

Preston

(2:14) Yeah. (2:15) I mean, I, I’ve seen multiple times where I think people are right place, right time. (2:22) And so you have to understand why you’re getting that growth, right?

(2:26) You could hit a, okay, like 2020 was a great example, 2020, 2021, you know, that initial burst of, you know money that went into the economy, you know, and everyone felt that combined with the, you know, ZURP policy those things, I think made a lot of businesses, maybe feel like they were more successful than they would have been, which is not a bad thing to have benefited from that necessarily. (2:59) But understanding why you did, you know, it’s like, why were people coming to you in the first place? (3:05) Why were they staying?

(3:06) Why were they leaving? (3:08) Some of those kinds of questions. (3:10) So I, you know, I’m very much the way my brain works.

(3:13) I’m very much in the creative abstract space, but then also in the deeply analytical side. (3:21) And so data pipelines and business intelligence and all that kind of stuff. (3:24) And so how do you, how do you combine that to understand the nuts and bolts about why your business works?

(3:32) You know, unit economics, right? (3:33) Things like that. (3:36) There, if you can break most businesses down to a fundamental level to see depending on whether you’re B2B, B2C or combination of both to understand why they work.

(3:48) And so that’s really what I’ve sought to do in the businesses that I go into is to understand those metrics and go, okay, like where’s the bottleneck? (3:58) And every business is going to have one of those. (4:00) And I think the challenge for a lot of business owners or operators is they’re used to maybe for a while throwing different strategies at the wall and some of them do stick.

(4:12) And maybe it does get you to a certain ARR, but at a certain point when that stops working, you go, Oh, you got to get to a deeper strategy than just strategy roulette, if you will. (4:27) We need, we need to have some more thought behind this. (4:30) So that’s, that’s a lot of where I’ve come into companies that are already growing.

(4:36) And then, and then need to figure out how you, how you burst through some plateau or what, you know, what do you double down on, you know, what do you stop doing? (4:45) So yeah.

Melissa

(4:46) Ready to lead smarter and invest wiser on the executive connect podcast. (4:52) We unpack executive strategies for wealth and influence. (4:56) Hit the subscribe button now.

(4:59) Don’t just watch act. (5:01) No. (5:01) And I think that’s so true.

(5:02) When you start a business in your founder, you just get going, you do everything. (5:08) You just focus on the mission to drive revenue, get more customers. (5:12) And, and so to your point, a lot of time, these metrics, you know, we don’t fully look at regularly until it’s either, Oh no, or oops, I wish I would’ve thought of that.

(5:22) So what metrics matter most when evaluating longterm health?

Preston

(5:27) Yeah. (5:28) I mean, I think that’s going to depend of course, on if you’re bootstrapped versus if you’re went out and got a bunch of funding, right? (5:35) I mean if you look at even public companies now, or let’s look at some of the big AI companies, they have massive longterm bets and they can run in the red for a long time because they keep going, getting, you know, funding rounds.

(5:51) But I think if, if you look at, of course, then let’s say bootstrapped that’s, that’s a more probably realistic example for most people. (6:00) Easy one is just like, what is your CAC to LTV ratio? (6:05) So how much are you getting a customer for and what is their lifetime value over how long?

(6:11) Also, what’s your CAC payback period is super important. (6:16) And on a sophisticated level, you could do that by channel paid advertising is probably the most, you know, looked at one there cause it’s one of the easier ones to track through that. (6:30) But yeah, I think just that CAC LTV is hugely important.

(6:35) And then also understanding maybe what’s leaking out of there. (6:39) So of course your monthly churn annual churn is, is huge there why people are turning. (6:46) But yeah, I would just go back to that, that ratio to understand like really how are the, how are those things working out?

(6:55) The other one is like a gross revenue retention, net revenue retention as well. (7:00) And seeing, you know, understanding what benchmarks you want to be out there. (7:05) And if you’re not there, why?

(7:08) Cause I think ultimately it’s not just, Hey, the better we understand these things, the more we can grow the business. (7:15) But most entrepreneurs want to sell at some point. (7:20) Maybe that’s in 30 years and you’re like, I don’t ever want to start something again.

(7:25) But usually that’s part of your roadmap. (7:28) Well, what’s an investor going to look at? (7:30) They’re going to boil your company down to some figures.

(7:35) You know, yes, there are the, the soft things, the culture, what is the mode around the business? (7:41) And, but you know, is it a viable, you know, business to purchase and the better you understand those things, not only does that make you a better business owner or operator, but it also makes you better able to understand the value of what you have. (7:59) And if that value is lacking, okay, well, where do you go, you know, work on improving that as well?

Melissa

(8:05) Yeah. (8:05) And I love that. (8:06) Cause I think let’s talk about starting from zero.

(8:08) I think a lot of times we talk about, you know, the, the uptick or when we get there, but I think, you know, you’ve built mark marketing to functions from scratch, from nothing. (8:20) What’s the first thing most teams get wrong when they’re doing this?

Preston

(8:24) Well, I think increasingly nowadays there’s, so there’s this term I’ve been coming across as like a GTM engineer. (8:31) So go to market engineer. (8:33) But the point there being that data has become, you know, it’s like a new called the new gold oftentimes.

(8:42) Right. (8:42) But it’s become even more important. (8:45) And so it’s like, okay, not only how do you call the data?

(8:49) How do you analyze that data? (8:52) How do you ensure the integrity of it? (8:55) You know, there’s the garbage in garbage out saying, but the where you’re getting data everywhere from market research to, you know, your, your business metrics, right.

(9:06) It could be all the different revenue points or the traffic or the you know, product usage, those kinds of things. (9:14) I think that’s becoming more and more important. (9:17) And so I’ve noticed this in myself as I’ve evolved and other, you know, kind of high performing people, but that they oftentimes tend to have a really good grasp on how to get that data, right.

(9:27) And where to use it and how to actually communicate the value of it to other stakeholders. (9:32) Cause not everyone’s going to have that mindset, of course. (9:35) In order to help, you know, drive where, where you’re investing in and all that kind of stuff.

(9:42) So like sort of first things first is going, Hey, what, what exists currently? (9:47) Like why have people bought from you? (9:50) It’s amazing actually how many people may have customers, but they’ve never really asked them like, why did you buy from us?

(9:57) Especially maybe if you’re a really high ticket item and maybe you were able to get like some initial customers through your network. (10:04) And then, you know, they referred some people, right. (10:07) But you know, oftentimes in that case, they’re not just buying from you cause they know you, you know, maybe you get one or two like that, but you’re solving a real problem.

(10:17) Well, the way you think about how you’re solving that problem versus like how they think about the service you’re offering might be two different things. (10:26) And so those things also you know, that psychology will impact, of course, how you then communicate that to the broader market and the different kinds of people as well. (10:35) So, I mean, so to, to sum up, you know, kind of everything I’m saying and your original the answer to your original question, what, what is currently going on, right?

(10:45) And what have you not mined out of that existing situation? (10:48) And then it becomes clear to lay out what it, what you, what kind of plan you can put into place to get, you know, near term wins. (10:58) And then of course, working towards some bigger picture goal that is going to set you up for again, like an acquisition fun round funding, raise that kind of thing.

Melissa

(11:09) Now, where do founders, it made me think as you were saying that often employees that are leading deems and founders to your point, don’t understand why customers, I would agree with that. (11:21) I think that’s so spot on, but where do you think founders and business leaders misjudge the complexity of marketing?

Preston

(11:31) Yeah. (11:31) Well, I think the fact that it is complex, I have been, I think most anyone who’s worked any amount of time in marketing has been told, just make the thing go viral. (11:44) And you’re always like, yeah, if I knew that I would not be sitting here with you.

(11:48) If I knew how to do that on a dime. (11:51) Okay. (11:52) So that’s of course evolved.

(11:54) What is just like, you gotta have good market research, right? (11:58) I mean, a little bit to what I was talking about a moment ago understanding what are your customers actually care about? (12:03) What are the customer segments, right?

(12:05) I mean, you could, you could be doing really good paid marketing for instance, right? (12:11) And it’s spot on, but the targeting is off. (12:16) So your ads are getting delivered to the wrong people and they may be clicking on it, but it’s like the bottom of the barrel that your segment, right?

(12:24) So you’re not, you’re not hitting hitting the people who have the real pain point who are willing to pay. (12:29) And more importantly, you’re hitting the people who that pain isn’t enough for them to actually open their wallet. (12:38) So in terms of how you combine all the digital aspects of those things and what your short term versus long-term plays are, and then where do you need to be showing up in person events?

(12:51) You know, what kind of influencer stuff are you doing? (12:54) But I think one of the biggest shifts I’ve seen is the neat, like the, the craving for immediacy in the, in the past years, especially I think once 2022 hit, there was a wake up call for a lot of businesses. (13:06) Interest rates started going up.

(13:08) So the cost of money started going up. (13:11) And the economy as a whole started to get, you know, I’d say a handbrake got pulled on the economy and people were like, whoa, okay, we’re in a, we’re in a different time period now. (13:20) And then, uh, I think a lot of people went into survival because their growth did not persist the same way they thought it would.

(13:28) And so they’re like, okay, well, let’s just chuck money at paid advertising or let’s chuck money at this, you know, uh, paid partnership or whatever the case is. (13:37) And ignoring the longer term things, which I understand if you don’t have cash coming in, that’s, um, a number one, but ignoring the longer term, you know, partnerships, the longer term organic plays, um, you know, getting out from behind the logo and being a face like you guys are. (13:57) Right.

(13:57) And like you do. (13:59) Um, so the authenticity you’re building over time and especially now, I think that’s even more part of the moat is, um, your ability to, um, to, to stand out from AI content, those kinds of things. (14:15) So there’s always going to be a long-term investment, short-term investment in the payoff of those things.

(14:21) But I think the pendulum just went so far back to short-term, uh, gains that all the long-term stuff got shelved and marketing just became this like, um, you know, slot machine type deal versus a real strategic component. (14:38) And the last thing I’ll say there’s the biggest complaint that, uh, marketing leaders will have is that there’s an antiquated view of marketing. (14:46) It’s just this like, you know, a creative outlet and they may not have a, a seat at the table to help dictate why a strategy happens or not.

(14:59) And so when a strategy is dictated, even if it is a CMO and it doesn’t work and their voice isn’t heard, um, they’ll get, you know, the rap for it, which is also why a lot of people have burned out of marketing over the past few years. (15:13) They’re just like, this is the, the purpose here has gotten so off the rails.

Melissa

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(15:56) And you know, it’s, it’s interesting. (15:57) I would agree. (15:58) I think there’s a lot to focus on and you know, AI is one of the key things to support that right now and really leveraging AI as a revenue multiplier.

(16:09) So you were early in the AI driven revenue operation strategy. (16:16) So what does that truly do for organizations to add leverage to their business?

Preston

(16:24) Yeah. (16:24) I mean, AI is you know, that’s of course an umbrella of things that that can be done, right? (16:30) I mean, the most obvious thing people did was, Oh, let’s do, you know, our content operations.

(16:36) What can we kind of streamline there? (16:38) And that could be one aspect. (16:41) So, you know, one of the things we did was put in, and this was like kind of AI driven, the insights from that were AI driven.

(16:51) We had terrible in my last company, we had terrible churn mitigation. (16:56) And so that’s a combination of voluntary and involuntary churn, right? (17:03) Involuntary is the you know, credit cards failing, that kind of thing, which you could have a service that replaces expired cards.

(17:13) You’re working with the card companies to replace those. (17:17) But then also on for the voluntary churn, having really pointed upsells downsells when people are going to cancel, there’s actually a psychological effect when people go and click on a cancel button and a SAS software, and you just reiterate to them you know, sort of the benefits that they’ll be losing, they’ll, they’ll not cancel. (17:43) I mean, you will save people right there, but when people do cancel and let’s say you’re offering them like hefty discounts, they’re clearly so far past the point of like, of getting them back.

(17:58) If they don’t take like an 80, 90% off, they’re just done with you. (18:03) But so you got to take that data set and actually find the, the com, the combination of the cancellation reason and the commentary they give will get, will provide you insight to go, what do we need to fix? (18:20) I mean, that’s, that’s a, I think a kind of basic data set that you could run through whatever LLM you want and get that insight back.

(18:32) So if you’re not addressing those issues, you’re, you’re truly missing out. (18:39) The other one is an example of, for AI is just internal workflows. (18:46) So again, in my last company, one of the things we did was it was a billing workflow.

(18:50) We were, this is in one of our products. (18:52) We didn’t have the, we couldn’t justify going and investing in like a enterprise billing platform yet for our contracts. (19:02) And there were multiple people involved in the billing of that.

(19:05) And so that was actually, it was more just a straight N8N workflow. (19:10) And so if someone isn’t familiar with that, you can go look that up, but N8N and, and that would run and notify people. (19:18) And it was between Stripe and Salesforce and, and all that kind of stuff.

(19:22) But that was just an efficiency gain. (19:25) Beyond that though, the way you start to then equip your teams with insights about the market, I think can be huge. (19:33) And so another one we did there was just monitoring social on an ongoing basis and having it summarize thematically what people are talking about and whether Reddit, YouTube, those kinds of places to help us understand what are the, what are the emerging concerns in the market?

(19:50) What do we need to create content around? (19:52) Also, where do we need to be in those conversations actively? (19:58) So, I mean, those are, those are some examples we’ve used, of course, like vibe coding tools to create other kinds of internal tools as well.

(20:08) I mean, we built out a full CPQ that saved us a ton of money without having to go buy a buy one. (20:14) So.

Melissa

(20:15) Well, yeah, it’s, it’s definitely interesting times, leveraging AI and your tool choice to shrink your workloads is really key. (20:25) I think there’s so many benefits to using them, whether you like it or don’t like it. (20:29) I think picking one that works and sticking with it.

(20:32) I know I’ve been trying multiple different tools myself right now for creative purposes. (20:37) And you know, the interesting thing is just picking one and sticking to it. (20:42) It starts to learn you better than being split across multiple ones.

(20:47) I’m finding is working better for me. (20:49) And maybe that’s just for me, but I want to talk a little bit about creative thinking and filmmaking. (20:57) You’re also a documentary filmmaker, which I think is so fascinating.

(21:02) Tell me a little bit about storytelling and how that shaped how you build your companies.

Preston

(21:08) Yeah. (21:09) I mean, storytelling by nature requires you to connect to like the, the human element to some degree. (21:16) Right.

(21:16) I mean, there’s you know, one of my favorite things to go back to is the eight sequence structure in films. (21:25) It has a very predictable way of functioning. (21:31) I believe it’s eight, eight sequences, but yeah, eight sequence structure.

(21:38) So the point there being is there, there are like beats you can hit on when you’re storytelling that people will connect with. (21:47) And I really honed in on this in film school, of course. (21:52) And then, and then refined over time and certain kinds of you know, filmmaking endeavors and videos for companies.

(22:00) But I think the point there is we’re all, we’re all storytelling to some degree, right? (22:04) You’re in sales, which we’re kind of, we’re all in sales and one, one matter or another, how do you communicate your story, your value in a way that other people are going to feel like they know, like, and trust you, which is who we do business with oftentimes. (22:25) And that, you know, of course, in a filmmaking aspect, there’s, there’s a very direct tangible correlation there.

(22:34) You know, you have to write a good story. (22:35) Otherwise someone’s not going to sit there and watch it. (22:38) But when you’re going to look at a bunch of data and understand like where, you know, kind of back to our earlier conversation, where are my customers customers coming from?

(22:49) What are their challenges? (22:50) What, what are the stories I’m writing about the, the customer profiles or the ideal customer profiles? (22:58) They all have a backstory of how they got to where they are.

(23:04) And I think somewhere in there is just curiosity too. (23:08) And so instead of going, Hey, what we can often tend to do is to just talk about the, the features and the values of the things we provide, the services we provide without understanding where the person’s coming from and how you fit into their story. (23:26) And so I think all that has just made me a more empathetic person, which I think is a kind of a key part of being like longterm successful.

(23:39) It’s just that empathy. (23:40) I mean, if you want to do it and have kind of ethics built built into it as well and not just railroad people for money. (23:48) But yeah, I think the, I think storytelling is an under, it’s an undervalued skillset that can be applied a lot of different ways ultimately.

Melissa

(23:58) No, I absolutely agree. (23:59) I think some of the best presentations I’ve watched are the best keynote speeches where they were storytelling the entire time and they had me on the edge of my seat wondering what’s going to happen next. (24:12) And so, you know, how can founders sharpen their storytelling skills?

(24:18) Any suggestions for those who are sitting here thinking I’m a terrible storyteller?

Preston

(24:24) Yeah. (24:24) Um, you know, one of those just, can you tell a short story and I mean like in under two minutes, kids will force you to do this, but tell a short story that is captivating where there’s a clear character arc, a transformation, even, even analyzing your favorite shows that I, you know, just do some basic studying and actually about how, like the, the what are the best stories? (24:52) How are they written in filmmaking even?

(24:56) But I think a very practical one, someone listening may be going through right now as you’re making a pitch deck or a presentation deck. (25:02) And I think we’ve all seen it and probably done it too, where your tendency is to load the deck with all sorts of stuff. (25:10) And I, and you know, this is sort of a busy slide and there’s all these rules about the size of fonts and whatnot.

(25:16) I love just putting like a simple image on every slide I do in a presentation and storytelling around that. (25:25) I mean, (25:25) I think that should could be an easy challenge to anyone here is that whatever (25:31) visual assistive tool you’re using, (25:34) like a slide deck when you’re doing a presentation or whatnot especially if it’s (25:39) topical and you’re at like a conference or whatever, (25:44) minimizing those slides and focusing instead on the sort of impact or the, (25:51) the, (25:52) that slide being a visual cue to help you tell your story better is, (25:58) it says a lot more about you as a speaker versus using it as this fallback to (26:03) let me read off the slide kind of, kind of deal. (26:05) But again, I would just go look at storytelling principles in filmmaking because the one thing I’ll say there too is filmmaking is an interesting endeavor because you often, especially in studio films, you often only have one chance to go make your money back and the leading edge indicator is that first weekend.

(26:28) This is why they all say first weekend box office results. (26:31) So imagine for two, three, four or five years, you know, tens or hundreds of millions of dollars and it hinges on one weekend. (26:40) So that’s and your story, your script, which is foundational to the movie of course, better be really good.

(26:50) That’s suffered a lot in recent years. (26:52) I think most people know, but yeah, anyways, no, I agree.

Melissa

(26:57) I think it’s a telltale if the people aren’t showing up the first weekend, the movie opens, right. (27:02) And I’ve seen a couple of those and we’ve seen a lot of them that blew up the first weekend and just hard to get in. (27:09) Now your work has shifted to faith based technology.

(27:16) Talk to us a little bit about what sparks that change in your career.

Preston

(27:21) Yeah. (27:21) And so I’ve been, um, I’ve been a Christian most of my life, but I mean, I grew up in a household that, you know, reinforced that eventually after college and film school, I took accountability for that and own my, you know, conversion to following Christ. (27:39) And that, I, I’ve, that has been a guidepost of course, for me, and all the different jobs I’ve worked in.

(27:48) And I’ve worked in the secular world for the most part. (27:49) I mean, I have not even, not even for the most part, it’s just been my career. (27:55) And I’ve always asked myself like, I, you know, these things I know, how do I use them for a greater purpose?

(28:01) Not just, you know, I don’t know, growing whatever software company I’ve been in that environment multiple times already. (28:10) Um, interesting, but it just doesn’t speak to some deeper calling in me. (28:14) So about, um, you know, January last year, I was coming off of a sort of failed business purchase.

(28:23) It was close to going through, didn’t go through. (28:25) And, but I learned a lot about, I was developing with AI and just learning how to, to productize it. (28:35) And this notion of journaling with AI came about and I didn’t want to address broad scope journaling.

(28:43) I looked at the problem that I’m more familiar with, which is Christians keeping reflective journals, prayer journals, and really the fact that, um, anyone who’s done that for an amount of time, they just accumulate notebooks to stack up somewhere and they never go read them. (28:58) I’m like, that’s, that’s like a true trove of information that’s reflective in nature. (29:06) And nothing’s being done with it.

(29:08) And you’re been using the same kind of information though, in a business context to help find patterns and trends and all that kind of stuff. (29:17) Well, if I could do that for someone to, in essence, kind of map measure spiritual growth, that could be a fascinating endeavor and topic to tackle. (29:27) Also very difficult.

(29:29) And so it started out as journaling. (29:32) And after, so I think we had a, we had kind of like a beta launch in August last year, did some more research and actually commissioned a study and really found that the issue people are having is between Sundays or between pastoral appointments or just in general, it was this desire to find answers in the Bible and not knowing where to go. (29:55) Um, and even if you do find something, you’re like, Oh, this doesn’t really speak to my situation.

(30:02) And that’s what I realized that Psalm was actually solving a much bigger problem of helping people connect the dots in a more personalized fashion. (30:12) Um, and with what scripture has to say. (30:15) And so that that’s where it evolved into a place to get 24 seven personalized biblical advice, like a life coach, you know, and, and as an assistive tool, not as a replacement, um, a way to help you continually kind of reflect and, and bridge the gap.

(30:35) And, and I think the reality is Melissa that like for, for Christians, there are people who are, um, obstinate about technology in it, which is fine. (30:46) That’s just part of the laggard market in the whole grand scheme of things. (30:51) Um, it’s a tool, it’s a tool that can be used for good or bad, just like money can just like a spoon can just like a rifle can, you know, it’s like all these things are tools and it’s already, they’re already being used.

(31:05) They’re already being used and published in some way. (31:07) So I’m like, okay, I’d rather be at the forefront of creating something like that as a believer, myself as someone who has a good understanding of theology and technology and all these weird skills that I’ve been wondering, uh, how do they all mix together? (31:22) I’d rather be at the forefront of that than taking a backseat and letting someone who doesn’t line up with my beliefs dictate how these things are created, which is going to happen anyways.

Melissa

(31:34) Yeah. (31:35) You know, it’s interesting. (31:37) Um, kind of tying this back to AI, you know, I’ve also kind of grew, grew, grew up in a faith based home and, um, as an adult re-baptized myself out of choice as an adult.

(31:51) And so I’ve been reading the Bible, going to church for, you know, a lot of my life, most of my life. (31:57) But I would say my relationship with the Bible and my faith has, has actually strengthened since technology, since I’ve been able to leverage AI and technology, because I can unpack things differently, um, with myself and the Bible versus the way others may unpack it. (32:18) So I think it’s a beautiful thing as well right now is leveraging, you know, I might go to church tomorrow and our pastor is going to speak and I may see things completely different and leveraging different tools to, you know, give my thoughts back and, and pull out different scripture.

(32:38) It’s been very helpful to me in my professional life and my personal life and tying things back to, uh, being a servant leader and how do I serve my staff? (32:49) How do I serve my company and my children and my country? (32:53) And, you know, in a world where so much is so transactional, a lot of fear, a lot of people are anxious.

(33:02) A lot of people, you know, are trying to find their thing, their purpose. (33:07) I find for me a lot of that has been found through technology and faith. (33:13) And funny enough, uh, here we are talking about faith today.

(33:17) And so I want to talk a little bit about some log serves a massive global community. (33:26) What does building a community require that grows the growth charge really doesn’t show like, what does it require to build an actual community these days?

Preston

(33:37) Yeah. (33:37) And I’ll, I’ll say to some logs still like early in that phase too. (33:41) So we’re, we’re, we are serving the global community of Christians in the sense that like there are Christians basically everywhere.

(33:48) Um, I see people on our app and our website from just 40, 50 plus countries. (33:56) Um, but yeah, I mean I think it in prior, um, um, prior roles where we’re working on building community, uh, you have to engage with people there. (34:12) I mean at the end of the day, uh, stir up conversation.

(34:15) I mean we’re, we are just because people are in a, say some community you have doesn’t mean you’re the only community. (34:23) Um, it also means that they’re probably distracted by like, you know, lots of other things. (34:29) So, I mean, what kind of value are you, you know, providing there?

(34:33) And also what, in what ways are you bringing people together to better themselves beyond just like your product? (34:40) And I think that’s, that’s where it can get lost is like, Oh, these people are here just to serve my product. (34:46) Like, well, you know, this should be, I think more, uh, a little deeper than that.

(34:54) And, and so having, having someone I think dedicated to what, (34:58) at least one may, may have a staff of people, (35:01) depending on the size of your community, dedicated to that, um, (35:04) who can bring them together, whether it’s challenges, whether that’s in, you know, (35:09) highlighting customers and, you know, (35:11) webinars because you’re going to have a range of people who are in your (35:15) community from they’re just starting and they’re kind of figuring things out to (35:19) people who are veterans. (35:20) How do you, how do you cross pollinate that experience?

(35:24) So it’s not just, um, people don’t feel isolated. (35:29) And I’ll say this one thing about, you know, finish your thought, finish your thought. (35:33) Yeah.

(35:34) That’s what, that’s one thing about Solomog I’ll say too, is, um, it’s part of what it’s meant to address is the isolation problem that we have today. (35:44) Uh, it’s not, it’s not just in the, and I would classify that two ways. (35:47) Like you’d be isolated in terms of your, uh, your social group, friends, whatever could be your family.

(35:55) They’re not going to like any kind of change of mind you have about whatever it is. (36:01) And so you’re kind of isolated in that way or you’re isolated just physically. (36:06) Right.

(36:07) Um, so the, this isn’t built in yet, but it is part of the goal is to be able to proactively get people into, into groups, faith-based groups. (36:16) So whether that’s grief share, you’re going through a death, celebrate recovery, you’re struggling with addiction, um, those types of things in church ultimately, if that’s, if that’s where you’re headed towards. (36:29) Um, but yeah, the addressing the isolation is a big one.

Melissa

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(37:16) Just visit www.summitven.com forward slash executive connect. (37:26) Yeah. (37:27) And I, you know, it’s, it’s hard to engage with audiences right now.

(37:32) I think to your point, you know, when there’s intimacy amongst relationships and people feel connected and understood whatever they’re going through, they’re more likely to plug in to communities, right? (37:45) Versus just, (37:46) I don’t know about you Preston, (37:48) but I get hundreds of emails about newsletters and things and like it’s like (37:53) I’m overloaded anymore with emails and data and, (37:58) and so, (37:59) but when somebody takes a minute and can empathize with maybe something I’m going (38:04) through or they’ve noticed something in my life, you know, (38:08) we align as we align in our dialogue and our discussion and we see we become (38:14) heard and seen and people want to tell their story. (38:18) They want to be heard and seen. (38:20) But to your point, often when we’re growing and scaling our life and changing things to your point, people don’t like that.

(38:30) So if people are trying to stop drinking or they are changing a drug habit and all their friends are doing drugs and drinking, it’s hard to escape that environment because you’re getting peer pressure to drink and to do things. (38:44) And so really finding a community, you know, that can understand what it’s like to have to struggle with that is really key. (38:53) And so you, we really have to talk about replacing the habit of drinking with the habit of maybe exercising or replacing the habit of Friday night happy hour with going out and playing pickleball.

(39:05) And so having a community to do that is really so key. (39:08) So thank you for, you know, growing that, building that and giving people a safe place to land. (39:17) I want to talk a little bit about, I love this about you.

(39:22) You know, you thrive in uncertain environments, tough environments which I identify with that. (39:30) That’s been my entire career. (39:32) You know, when people say, how did you know?

(39:34) I’m like, I don’t know. (39:35) None of us really know. (39:37) Do we?

(39:38) So talk to me a little bit about, you know, thriving and uncertain environments. (39:45) What mindsets help leaders stay grounded, kind of going through, you know, I’m just going to call it the suck of uncertainty.

Preston

(39:56) Yeah. (39:58) So I think the sort of condition that speaks most to that is like imposter syndrome, you know, where you go, I don’t deserve to be here. (40:08) Um, I, the thing that has really, uh, comforted me in those, in those, uh, situations is going, God put me here and I would not be here unless God had a reason for me to be here.

(40:23) And there’s doors. (40:26) I think I’ve beat down in my life where no one was knocking or no one was answering my knock. (40:32) And then I started banging on the door like harder.

(40:36) And then I took a battering Ram and went through the door and then I got thrown back out the other side and it all turned out to be a, this thing that I shouldn’t have been involved with to begin with. (40:48) Um, and, and that’s where I think this, that’s this like flow of life where knowing that I, I’m not, I’m not going to know everything, but I can ask God and endow me with the wisdom to be able to navigate situations. (41:03) And also the people that I think you might tend to venerate is like, wow, they gotta be like, they gotta have it all together.

(41:10) I haven’t found that to be the case. (41:12) I’ve met so many people, especially like higher up, the higher you go or you go, there is nothing innately special here other than maybe even their, their risk tolerance being higher there. (41:26) Yes.

(41:26) They may have sometimes better decision-making or surrounded by people who are great at, you know, executing on things for them. (41:34) But I don’t, I wouldn’t put anyone on a pedestal to say, um, they are so much better than me and have it all figured out in a way that is just beyond me. (41:44) I think you’re, it’s, it’s almost like you’re creating this excuse.

(41:49) And so if you find yourself in this circumstance of the room, that is the unknown, you have to be okay with also failing too. (41:58) And I think that’s, that goes back to maybe how you were raised, maybe societally, I don’t, I don’t know, you know, could be a variety of things there, but failure is going to happen. (42:07) Like, and you do not want to be like the guy who has all the answers in the room either.

(42:13) Um, that, yeah.

Melissa

(42:15) And to your point, I think, you know, income social media, and we all want to put our happy lives out there and the successes out there to be celebrated and back to your community discussion. (42:28) But the real truth is, you know, I look at my mentors and I look, and I, I know what they’ve been through to get where they got. (42:38) And then once they get where they had intended to be, now they got to protect their turf.

(42:44) And now they got to, you know, give back and lead people they’re responsible for more. (42:49) And so, you know, the responsibility is real, but you know, I don’t, I can’t put the quote. (42:54) Um, I forget who said this quote, but you know, not until you walk a mile in another shoes, you really understand where they’ve been.

(43:02) And to your point, you know, why we’re all here on earth, there’s going to be a lot of struggle. (43:07) There’s going to be a lot of toughness. (43:09) There’s going to be, you know, people we don’t jive with people that are, you know, have done us wrong or, you know, all the negativity, but I think it’s up to us to lean into those times and realize through struggle comes strength, whether you want it, whether you want to be stronger.

(43:29) Um, I find, you know, everything that I have struggled through, God has replaced it with something bigger and better than what I even imagined. (43:39) And it’s really how we look at it. (43:41) And it’s up to us to talk about it.

(43:44) So I want to talk about venture studios with purpose. (43:47) So Zeller Haas is structured as a venture studio rather than a traditional startup. (43:55) So talk to me a little bit about why you chose that model.

Preston

(43:59) Yeah. (43:59) And really the, the notion there is that as I come up with new products and there, a lot of them are, you know, around this realm of productivity, you know, but, um, um, the, I wanted a way to like incubate and launch products and sort of seed them out there, um, in a way that wasn’t limiting to one company because I may have lots of different ideas. (44:25) I may acquire a company, whatever the case may be.

(44:27) Um, I haven’t, I haven’t acquired any yet, but, um, just this notion that I’m great. (44:35) I I’m always bursting with ideas and I want to be able to explore those and not be limited by them. (44:41) So, um, that’s really Zeller Haas is like a, you know, it’s a holding company for me to incubate all those ideas and, and, uh, have different products out there.

Meliissa

(44:53) Now let’s talk a little bit about redefining success. (44:56) Um, I wrote a book last year about redefining success. (44:59) So I’d love to get your perspective as we zoom out and we look at, I mean, there’s a lot there that you’ve done.

(45:10) Um, and how can we tie in, um, all the pieces on where you are today when you zoom out, how are you defining success now?

Preston

(45:23) Yeah. (45:23) I, you know, I go back to the Bible verse that says, what does it, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul, you know? (45:30) And there’s a lot of people, I think hurtling towards gaining the world at all costs.

(45:35) Um, and I’ve been around that a lot, you know, I think for me, it’s, my documentary is so far is the thing I’m like most proud of. (45:46) And that quite frankly, wasn’t something that like fed my family, it was, it was a passion product, made some money on it, but not, not like, I’m going to go, you know, retire or, you know, anything like that. (45:59) So, and, and the satisfaction there was in knowing like the reach it had, but also I was just looking at a Facebook post the other day that was random because you know, I’ll get like Google alerts.

(46:12) Um, some company, uh, it was, it was some organization out in like Virginia. (46:18) They were doing a multi-night screening of that documentary to provide a space for people to come in, watch it and paint with my documentary as the backdrop that is so wild to me. (46:31) Um, and those, I’ve seen those things multiple times.

(46:35) Uh, where someone’s just screening it and they’re using it as this conversational topic. (46:39) So being able to serve people to, um, find a better, um, you know, I think grow personal development, being able to stir people to do that. (46:50) Um, of course, being a believer, my goal is to get people to Christ, when people for Christ, um, ultimately we’re all, we came in this world naked, we’re going out naked.

(47:01) He ain’t bringing any of your stuff with you. (47:04) So, you know, what’s the, what’s the real truth in this world? (47:08) And are we justifying ourselves by all of our works here or by the work of Christ?

(47:13) That is most important to me. (47:15) And so through my work, yes, I want people to grow and develop them and better themselves, but I also want to get, get them to know Jesus. (47:25) And, and so, um, I try to be witness, be a good example wherever I’m at.

(47:33) And, and then hopefully I can make products that are just helping people in their business. (47:39) So I’m a good steward of my resources, um, or helping people in their personal life. (47:44) And, and then beyond that, I mean, I think that’s, that’s it for me.

(47:49) And then my family, of course, um, my family, my community. (47:52) But if I think if you start with just the notion of money is the thing that we’re all going to worship, man, that’s, it’s not going to turn you into a good person. (48:04) I’ll tell you that.

Melissa

(48:06) I love that. (48:07) I want to ask you kind of, um, one final question, get your final thoughts and share the best way to connect with you. (48:15) So we’ve talked about a lot today, a lot of, we’ve unpacked a lot now, what do you hope your world leaves behind?

(48:27) Your work, not your world.

Preston

(48:29) Yeah. (48:29) I mean, I would like my work to leave behind that. (48:34) A it was a reflection of, especially through Psalm log, the ability to, um, truly integrate modern tools with faith in a way that honors our faith, but also, um, gets people further along in their faith journey and helps people come to Jesus.

(48:54) I think that’s really important. (48:56) And beyond that, the ability to give a like super abundantly, uh, I would love to continue to, to be able to do that. (49:04) It’s part of the ultimate goal of these things is to be able to have a, you know, pretty sizable foundation that’s able to invest money and share that money, um, with, uh, all types of different organizations, human trafficking is one I’m really passionate about, um, giving to, uh, missions.

(49:23) So, um, yeah, being, and I don’t want, in many ways, I don’t want my name to be known on buildings. (49:29) I don’t want any of that to happen. (49:31) Even the giving and all that kind of stuff, just that the people who knew me personally, especially, you know, had a good impression there.

(49:40) So.

Melissa

(49:41) I love that. (49:42) I think, you know, one of my personal missions and motto and really why I started this podcast is I often want to leave people better than I found them. (49:53) And however that may be, um, is up to God and, um, and however long it may be is really up to him.

(50:02) And so thank you so much for being here. (50:06) Any final thoughts? (50:07) And please share what is the best way for our listeners to connect with you and learn more about your good work.

Preston

(50:13) Yeah. (50:13) So Psalm log, um, I’d encourage you to just go try it. (50:16) Even if you’re not Christian, like go try it.

(50:18) Um, you can try it for free on psalmlog.com and then, uh, the documentary is available on most major streaming platforms. (50:28) Um, certainly Amazon prime, apple, apple TV, um, YouTube, uh, and other ones. (50:34) So you can check that out.

(50:36) I’m on LinkedIn from, you know, really active and, uh, yeah, you can hit me up there and I’d love to hear from you.

Melissa

(50:45) Thank you so much for being here today. (50:47) That’s the executive connect podcast.