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Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

CEO Says Running Company Is a Sh*t Sandwich Everyday

Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

Eric Siu and Neil Patel

Business, Marketing, Careers

4.61.4K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2026

⏱️ 21 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For fast, affordable business insurance as low as $29/mo, go to http://nextinsurance.com/ms In this episode, Neil and Eric break down why running a company feels like a sandwich every day, from CEO pressure and people problems to impostor syndrome and nonstop decision making. They compare founder life versus operator life, explain why investing in yourself and your team beats risky financial plays, and discuss why talent hubs like California still matter. The conversation wraps with citizen journalism, newsjacking, and how one viral story proves attention can be earned without massive budgets. Key Takeaways • Running a company means absorbing pressure daily • The best investments are yourself and your people • Long-term focus beats fast money every time Chapters (00:00) CEO pressure sandwich (01:02) Founder vs CEO reality (02:15) Price of great work (05:02) California talent debate (07:12) Investing in yourself (10:28) Laser focus for 10 years (14:00) Citizen journalism rise (19:06) Newsjacking lessons

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:21.2

next figures out what you need. And just like that, you're covered. No phone calls, no headaches.

0:25.3

Just fast, affordable coverage that actually protects you when things go sideways. Don't wait

0:30.2

for a problem to remind you you're uncovered. Policy start as low as $29 a month. Get protected in

0:35.4

minutes at nextinsurance.com slash MS. That's nextinsurance.com slash MS. I was listening to the HubSpot CEO talk and he was just saying that running a company is like a shit sandwich every day. So I would almost say it's more than a shit sandwich because a shit like you had the log in the middle and you have the two breads on the side. I was almost say the two logs are on the outside and the breads in the middle, right? So it's a weird image to think about. But he was just saying that 90% at a time, he's in a bad mood and people keep bringing you shit all the time. They keep dumping shit on you. And literally what you're doing is like, you're the umbrella and your umbrella is just like a shit deflector, okay?

1:26.4

And so he's just like, dude, the whole time at HubSpot, I was paranoid. I've always felt like an imposter. And I'm like, yeah, running company is a shit sandwich every day because everything eventually flows back up to you. And here's the thing, like Neil, I'll just bring it back to you for a second. all of the stuff that you have to look at. If the numbers are off even a little bit,

1:27.9

guess what happens, right?

1:28.7

You start making phone calls.

1:30.0

And then you start to see, oh, my God,

1:31.5

it's... I'll just bring it back to you for a second. All of the stuff that you have to look at, if the numbers are off even a little bit,

1:27.9

guess what happens, right?

1:28.7

You start making phone calls.

1:29.9

And then you start to see, oh, my God, it's not just a can of like worms. It's a whole bowl of worms, right? And then you have to investigate more and more. You start to get more and more frustrated. And so do you agree with that? Running a company is like a shit sandwich every day.

1:42.1

Yeah, because you're saying running a company.

1:44.4

I would say because I'm thinking about it from an entrepreneur's time.

1:47.1

I'm like, it's not actually that bad, but I actually don't run my company. So I don't experience a shit sandwich every single day. There's problems that you always have to solve. No, no, you're totally right. But would you agree that my situation is much better than someone who's a CEO?

2:01.5

Yes, yes, because the main shit that you have to deal with is people problems.

2:06.6

And you don't deal with people problems.

2:08.5

Correct. I don't have to. I have to deal with executives, but we handpick really good

2:13.3

executives. I don't really have too many problems. Now, my CEO and executive team really does deal with a lot of crappy problems each and every single day. But here's the kicker. They usually tell me about them after they're solved. They're like, oh, if you only know what we had to do two weeks ago, I'm like, what? This happened and this, this client and this employee and all this.

2:35.1

Yeah, you instantly shut up.

2:36.0

What are we going to do? They're like, oh, it's all solved. It's all good.

...

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