Scaling With Purpose, Not Capital: How Brad Stevens Built Outsource Access

Strategy at Scale

When growth gets real, strategy has to scale with it. In this conversation, we unpack a practical playbook with Brad Stevens—founder of Outsource Access—on turning constraints into capacity, and values into velocity, using a global-talent model anchored in culture, systems, and smart economics.
From bootstrapping through a prior business crunch to building a Philippines-based team of full-time, benefits-backed “teammates,” Brad shares how he identified a durable opportunity, designed for retention and quality, and aligned giving and culture with the UN Sustainable Development Goals—without outside capital.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
• A four-part strategy lens—Promise, Power, Process, Profit—to test opportunities and scale decisions.
• How to create real advantage (preferential inputs, scalable capabilities, and customer “captivity”) that drives pricing power.
• The two-question audit that surfaces hidden bottlenecks and converts them into high-ROI roles and workflows.
• Building “Process” the right way: org design, incentives, operating cadence, and managed offshore teams that improve retention.
• Profit discipline without external funding: pricing, unit economics, FX sensitivity—and why investing in people and tools comes first.
Ultimately, this is a story about reframing work: pairing AI with global talent to free your best people for their highest and best use—and to build a company that scales on purpose.
Let’s dive in with Brad Stevens.

Thanks for listening! This episode is brought to you by Kaihan Krippendorff of Outthinker Networks and Verne Harnish of Scaling Up.