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Cut The Tie Podcast with Balki Kodarapu

What happens when a company knows it needs technical leadership but does not need a four hundred thousand dollar CTO sitting in a chair full time?

In this episode of Cut The Tie, Thomas Helfrich sits down with Balki Kodarapu, a fractional CTO who helps founders and CEOs scale engineering teams without overhiring or overbuilding. Balki breaks down why most companies do not fail because of bad code, but because of poor technical leadership decisions made too early or too late.

After spending two decades in engineering and startups, Balki shares how cutting the tie to corporate roles and founder pressure led him to a model that gives companies exactly the leadership they need, when they need it. This is a conversation about clarity, leverage, and building technology that supports the business instead of slowing it down.

About Balki Kodarapu:
Balki Kodarapu is a fractional CTO based in Portland, Oregon with over twenty years of experience in software engineering and startups. He works with early and growth stage companies to professionalize engineering teams, design scalable architecture, and bridge the gap between technical execution and business strategy. Balki specializes in helping founders avoid costly technical mistakes while preparing their companies to scale.

In this episode, Thomas and Balki discuss:

• “A full time CTO is an overkill”
  Why most companies do not need an expensive executive hire to get strong technical leadership.
• Fractional CTOs versus full time executives
  How part time leadership can outperform traditional roles when used strategically.
• The two moments companies actually need a CTO
  Early stage chaos and post product market fit scaling pressure.
• Why engineering teams break down during growth
  The hidden risks in architecture, trust, and communication.
• AI, speed, and modern engineering expectations
  Why engineers must now understand business context to survive.
• From founder empathy to leadership leverage
  How building a startup changed Balki’s approach to guiding teams.
• Trust before transformation
  Why engineers must trust leadership before being asked to do hard things.

Key Takeaways:

• Leadership is not about hours, it is about impact
  Companies need guidance, not bodies in seats.
• Technical debt is often a leadership problem
  Bad decisions usually come from missing context, not bad engineers.
• Business context is no longer optional for engineers
  Speed without understanding breaks companies.
• Fractional leadership reduces risk
  You can professionalize without betting the company.
• Scaling requires timing, not ego
  Knowing when to build and when to wait is the real skill.

Connect with Balki Kodarapu:
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balki/
🌐 Company Website: https://www.yourctoin.us/

Connect with Thomas Helfrich:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/thelfrich
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thelfrich/
🌐 Website: https://www.cutthetie.com
📧 Email: t@instantlyrelevant.com
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Cut The Tie Podcast with Elizabeth Wu

What happens when the people ultimately responsible for a company’s survival are the least informed about its biggest risk?

In this episode of Cut The Tie, Thomas Helfrich sits down with Elizabeth Wu, a lifelong entrepreneur, IT auditor, and inventor who has spent four decades building businesses without ever working for someone else. Elizabeth breaks down why data breaches keep happening, why executives are being fired for failures they never had visibility into, and how the disconnect between IT and leadership has quietly become one of the most dangerous problems in modern organizations.

Elizabeth shares how a forced pivot during COVID led her to invent a new category of cybersecurity visibility designed specifically for executives. What started as solving her own problem has now turned into global conversations with governments, regulators, and enterprises looking to prevent breaches before they happen. This is a conversation about cutting the tie to blind trust, technical intimidation, and boxed-in thinking.

About Elizabeth Wu:
Elizabeth Wu is a serial entrepreneur with over forty years of experience building and scaling businesses. She is the founder of EDD-i, a cybersecurity platform designed to give executives real visibility into the security status of their organizations. With a background in IT auditing and infrastructure, Elizabeth focuses on preventing data breaches by addressing vulnerabilities from the inside out. Her work spans private enterprise, government policy, and international cybersecurity initiatives.

In this episode, Thomas and Elizabeth discuss:

• “The executives never had visibility”
  Why CEOs are being held accountable for IT failures they were never equipped to understand.
• The real reason data breaches keep rising
  How companies focus on perimeter security while leaving internal vulnerabilities exposed.
• Why compliance does not equal security
  The dangerous assumption that certifications automatically mean protection.
• The IT power imbalance inside organizations
  How technical opacity creates fear, dependency, and poor decision making at the executive level.
• Safe Harbor and executive liability
  Why legislation is shifting responsibility and how leaders can protect themselves.

Key Takeaways:

• Visibility is not optional
  Leaders cannot manage or protect what they cannot see.
• Executives are paying the price for ignorance
  One in three CEOs are fired after a breach, even when the root cause sits elsewhere.
• Security must be practical, not theoretical
  Checklists do not stop breaches. Understanding does.
• True innovation solves communication problems
  The biggest gap is not technology, it is language.

Connect with Elizabeth Wu:
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-wu11/
🌐 Company Website: https://www.edd-i.com/

Connect with Thomas Helfrich:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/thelfrich
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thelfrich/
🌐 Website: https://www.cutthetie.com
📧 Email: t@instantlyrelevant.com
🚀 Instantly Relevant: https://instantly

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Cut The Tie Podcast with Michelle Griffin

What happens when founders try to save money by handling HR themselves and end up risking everything they built?

In this episode of Cut The Tie, Thomas Helfrich sits down with Michelle Griffin, founder of Griffin Resources, to unpack one of the most dangerous blind spots in small and midsize businesses. HR mistakes rarely show up as problems at first. They show up later as lawsuits, failed exits, lost talent, and leadership chaos.

Michelle shares how she built a seven figure fractional HR and back office services company by solving the exact problems founders ignore until it is too late. From payroll and compliance to recruiting and SOPs, this conversation is about cutting the tie to doing everything yourself and building a business that can scale, travel, and eventually sell without blowing up.

About Michelle Griffin:
Michelle Griffin is the founder of Griffin Resources, a fractional HR, payroll, and business operations firm serving small to midsize companies across the United States. With a background in industrial organizational psychology and executive HR leadership, Michelle helps founders protect enterprise value, reduce risk, and build scalable people operations. She has built multiple businesses with her husband, all without outside investment, while working remotely and traveling internationally.

In this episode, Thomas and Michelle discuss:

• “You can’t investigate yourself”
  Why founders handling their own HR issues creates legal exposure and credibility problems.
• The hidden cost of DIY HR
  How small mistakes around payroll, classification, and documentation quietly compound.
• The 10 to 15 employee breaking point
  Why trust based hiring stops working once you grow past friends and referrals.
• HR as an investment, not a cost
  How strong people operations protect valuation and make exits cleaner.
• Fractional leadership done right
  Why most companies do not need full time HR but do need real expertise.
• Building a business that runs without you
  Cutting the tie to being the bottleneck so the company can scale.
• Why exits fail during diligence
  How missing handbooks, I-9s, and SOPs can derail acquisitions.

Key Takeaways:

• HR touches everything and the law touches HR
  Ignorance does not protect founders from consequences.
• Doing it yourself is not the same as doing it right
  Especially when emotions and power dynamics are involved.
• The earlier you build structure, the cheaper it is
  Fixing HR after problems surface costs far more.
• Scalable companies are transferable companies
  Clean processes increase value and reduce risk.
• You do not need more control, you need better systems
  Let experts handle what founders should not.

Connect with Michelle Griffin:
🌐 Website: https://griffin-resources.com/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-griffin-phd/

Connect with Thomas Helfrich:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/thelfrich
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thelfrich/
🌐 Website: https://www.cutthetie.com
📧 Email: t@instantlyrelevant.co

Support the show

Serious about LinkedIn Lead Generation? Stop Guessing what to do on LinkedIn and ignite revenue from relevance with Instantly Relevant Lead System