Mark and Cole unpack a simple but uncomfortable truth: if your weekly meetings aren’t working, your company probably isn’t either.

This conversation breaks down why so many teams dread meetings, what’s actually going wrong beneath the surface, and how those patterns reflect deeper issues with alignment, leadership, and discipline.

They walk through real scenarios inside leadership teams, from visionaries disrupting focus mid-quarter to teams avoiding the hard conversations that actually move the business forward.

At the center of it all is one idea: the weekly meeting is not just a meeting. It’s a signal. And if you learn how to read it, it will tell you exactly what’s working and what’s not inside your company.

You’ll Learn:

• Why most meetings feel like a waste of time
• How misalignment shows up in weekly meetings
• The role of the visionary in breaking or strengthening focus
• Why teams avoid the issues that matter most
• How great meetings create clarity, accountability, and momentum

How are your meetings? Take the Rate Our Meetings Quiz to find out

Do you like this content? Get our latest book, Meetings Kinda Suck

Resources
→ Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter
→ Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter
→ Try Ninety free: https://www.ninety.io/?utm_source=you…

Connect:

→ Follow Mark on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/MarkAbbott
→ Follow Cole on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ColeAbbott

Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week.
→ Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter

→ Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter

→ Try Ninety free for 30 days!

Growth creates options, but it also creates complexity.

In this Founder’s Framework episode, Mark Abbott and Cole Abbott unpack why so many companies get stuck doing more instead of doing what matters most. What starts as experimentation, ambition, or a flood of good ideas can quietly turn into friction, confusion, and wasted effort across the business.

This conversation is about discipline. It’s about keeping the main thing the main thing, resisting the pull of novelty, and building organizations that value fewer, finer, better decisions over constant motion.

You’ll hear:

• Why too many ideas create drag across teams
• How founders accidentally add complexity to the business
• Why “fewer and finer” is a better operating principle
• The difference between projects and programs as companies grow

If your company feels busy but not clear, this episode will help you rethink what’s actually moving the business forward.

Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week.

Resources

→ Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter

→ Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter

→ Try Ninety free for 30 days!

→ Stages of Development Quiz

Connect:
→ Follow Mark on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/MarkAbbott
→ Follow Cole on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ColeAbbott

Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week.
→ Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter

→ Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter

→ Try Ninety free for 30 days!

Mark Abbott sits down with Ninety’s head of product, Audra Stanton to discuss how founders should think about AI in their products and operations.

As AI becomes part of nearly every business conversation, founders are facing real pressure from investors, customers, and competitors to incorporate it. The question is not whether AI matters. The question is how to approach it thoughtfully without losing focus on what actually makes a company strong.

This episode explores the tension between innovation and discipline. It is a conversation about judgment, timing, change management, and keeping humans at the center of the company.

They reference examples including Netflix and Blockbuster, Intercom’s decision to lean heavily into AI despite short term pain, and Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology as a reminder that innovation does not always equal product market fit.

In this episode:

• How founders should think about AI in product versus operations
• The fear of being left behind and how to evaluate that risk
• Why most companies using AI are not yet seeing meaningful ROI
• How to navigate change without losing your core customer

If you are building a company meant to endure, this conversation will help you think more clearly about how and when to evolve.

Resources
→ Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3JiAaXT
→ Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter: https://www.ninety.io/impact-moments
→ Try Ninety free: https://www.ninety.io/?utm_source=you…

Connect:
→ Follow Mark on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/MarkAbbott
→ Follow Audra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audra-stanton/

Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week.
→ Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter

→ Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter

→ Try Ninety free for 30 days!

Mark Abbott sits down with Kris Snyder and Christine Watts to introduce Impact Moments, a new podcast from the team at Ninety, the EOS software platform companies have come to know, love, and trust for the past ten years.

This show is all about the real stories that shape culture, build clarity, and test leadership. These are the turning points inside EOS sessions and quarterlies that reveal what teams actually believe.

Created for EOS leaders, implementers, and teams, Impact Moments brings to life the moments that challenge alignment and strengthen culture when handled well.

Why now?
After years of working with more than 18,000 clients, the Ninety team wanted to share what they’ve seen up close. This podcast is a way to share those stories and support the broader EOS community.

In this episode:

• What an “impact moment” looks like in the room
• Why EOS success depends on how teams handle truth and tension
• How storytelling preserves culture and accelerates growth
• What to expect from the new show and who it’s built for

If you're running on EOS or helping others do it well, this is a podcast you’ll want to add to your queue. .

Resources
→ Subscribe to Impact Moments
→ Explore EOS support at Ninety: https://www.ninety.io/professional-services
→ Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3JiAaXT
→ Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter: https://www.ninety.io/impact-moments
→ Try Ninety free: https://www.ninety.io/?utm_source=you…

Connect:
→ Follow Mark on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/MarkAbbott
→ Follow Kris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krsnyder
→ Follow Christine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinemwatts

Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week.
→ Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter

→ Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter

→ Try Ninety free for 30 days!

AI is changing how we work, but not by replacing people. It’s raising the bar for how we think.

In this Founder’s Framework episode, Mark Abbott explores what AI reveals about our habits, clarity, and decision-making. It doesn’t remove the need for good judgment. It makes the gaps more obvious.

This isn’t about fear or hype. It’s about learning how to think with AI in the loop and what that means for founders, teams, and culture.

You’ll hear:

• Why founders are still responsible for making hard calls
• How clear inputs lead to better AI outputs
• What it takes to build thinking teams in an AI-driven world

If AI feels destabilizing, it might not be the tech, but what it’s showing us about how we work.

Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week.

Connect:

→ Follow Mark on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/MarkAbbott

→ Follow Cole on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ColeAbbott

Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week.
→ Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter

→ Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter

→ Try Ninety free for 30 days!

What happens when growth slows and leaders are forced to make decisions they hoped they could avoid?

In this episode, Mark Abbott reflects on the hard lessons of 2025, a year that forced difficult decisions, exposed cultural misalignment, and pushed leadership maturity to the forefront. From navigating high care versus high performance to making one-way door decisions under pressure, this conversation breaks down what founders must confront when uncertainty reveals what is really happening inside the company.

You’ll hear:

-Why ambiguity strains teams more than most founders expect
-What “succeed or escalate” looks like in real leadership moments
-Why accountability, ownership, and meeting size matter more as you scale

Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week.

Connect:

→ Follow Mark on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/MarkAbbott

→ Follow Cole on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ColeAbbott

Resources:
→ Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3JiAaXT

Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week.
→ Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter

→ Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter

→ Try Ninety free for 30 days!

What does it take to build a brand that actually scales?

In this episode, Mark Abbott talks with Jed Morley, founder of Backstory Branding and author of Building a Brand That Scales. They dive deep into the role founders play in shaping brand and culture, and why alignment across both is non-negotiable if you want to build something that lasts.

Jed shares how Nike first sparked his obsession with branding, why most founders delay the hard brand work for too long, and how he helps companies turn insight into real, compounding impact.

You’ll hear:

• Why a brand is not your logo and what it actually is
• How founder alignment drives both culture and brand
• The questions leaders must answer to attract like-minded talent

Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every week.

Connect:
→ Follow Jed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jedmorley/
→ Follow Mark on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/MarkAbbott

Resources:
→ Learn more about Backstory Branding: https://www.backstorybranding.com/
→ Read Building a Brand That Scales: https://www.backstorybranding.com/books/building-a-brand-that-scales
→ Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3JiAaXT

Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week.
→ Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter

→ Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter

→ Try Ninety free for 30 days!

What does it take to turn a five-acre crop into a national brand?

In this episode, Mark Abbott talks with Jessie and Adrian Capote of J&C Tropicals, a third-generation family business built on their father’s vision and grit. They open up about the near-collapse that nearly ended it all, the decisions that turned things around, and how they’ve evolved from surviving to leading with clarity, culture, and structure.

You’ll hear:

• How their father’s hustle created a produce legacy
• What it took to rebuild after hitting rock bottom
• How generational leadership keeps the company strong

Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every week.

Connect:

→ Follow Jessie on LinkedIn: : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessiecapote/
→Follow Adrian on LinkedIn: : https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriancapote/

→ Follow Mark on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/MarkAbbott

Subscribe for more founder-first insight every week.

Resources:
→ Learn more about J&C Tropicals: https://www.jctropicals.us/
→ Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3JiAaXT

Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week.
→ Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter

→ Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter

→ Try Ninety free for 30 days!