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60-Hour Weeks for 25 Years. Then 10 Hours a Week. Then an 8-Figure Exit | Byron Darlison
Description
Byron Darlison founded Rise Vision in 1992 in Toronto and ran it for 30 years without raising a dollar of outside equity. For 25 of those years, by his own admission, the business was unfocused, unpredictable, and running him. In year 25, he hired a Metronomics coach and installed a business operating system. In the 5 years that followed, profits went from break-even to 20% sustained net margins, his work week dropped from 60 hours to under 10, and the business grew to serve organizations in over 100 countries.
In year 30, he sold Rise Vision for an 8-figure exit to a Taiwanese industrial display manufacturer, with no earn-out and no employment clause. His team still runs and grows the business today.
He now coaches a small number of founders privately and serves as Mentorship Chair and Accelerator Coach at Entrepreneurs' Organization Toronto.
In this conversation, we cover:
Why 25 years of hard work without a system produced inconsistent results, and what changed in year 25
What a business operating system actually is, why most founders fail to self-implement one, and why a coach changes everything
How Byron's team internalized the system to the point where the business self-corrected without him
What made Rise Vision attractive enough to sell with no earn-out, no employment clause, and a premium multiple
The owner's outcome framework: why most founders never ask what they actually want from their business
Why the definition of strategy is the word no, and how narrowing to 1 core customer changed everything
The founder's dilemma: why founders who solve every problem are the biggest bottleneck in their business
What the great wealth transfer means for buyers and why many boomer-owned businesses are deeply undervalued
Why Byron says entrepreneurship is less risky than employment, not more, if you are willing to do the work
How AI has allowed Byron to run a 14-agent software development pipeline from his home, solo, at a fraction of traditional cost
Byron's arc is one of the clearest illustrations of what TAFI is now built around: multiple paths to financial independence, and the discipline to pick one and execute it properly.