You built the company. Now everything runs through you.
I built and sold TCM Security. Now I help other founders build a company that can grow, sell, or run without them.
Running everything yourself works a lot longer than people expect. Then it stops working, usually right when things are finally going well. I help you get the business off your back before you hit that wall.
I started TCM from nothing and we grew it into an eight-figure business by turning training, consulting, certs, community, and content into one engine. We reached more than a million students before I sold it in 2025. Most of the founders I work with are walking some version of that same road.
with no outside capital
and sold with TCM
and still growing
School alumnus
In the beginning, you are the business.
You close the deals and you explain the product. You make the hires, approve the spend, and carry the growth on your back. It works fine right up until the company gets too big for any one person to be the engine. That's where most founder-led businesses stall out and it's where I'm most useful.
Founders usually call when...
What they're actually paying for...
I already made the expensive mistakes. You get to skip a few of them.
Built, not borrowedHere's exactly how the assessment works.
No mystery and no endless discovery calls. You apply, I read it myself, and if we're a fit we get to work. It starts with the Founder Scaling Assessment, which is the fastest way to find out whether I can actually help you.
You apply
I read every application myself. If I think I can help, you'll hear from me inside two business days. If I'm not the right fit, I'll tell you that fast too so you're not left wondering.
You send the real picture first
Before we talk, you send me the honest version. The numbers, what's working, what's stuck. I go through it ahead of time so we don't burn the session getting me up to speed.
We do the work, live
A working session, usually two to three hours, where we go straight at the bottleneck. Real feedback, real decisions, no slide deck. This is the part you can't get from a course or a podcast.
You walk away with a plan
You get a short written scorecard of where you've become the bottleneck, the few things actually capping growth, and a 90-day plan in priority order. It's yours to keep and run with, whether or not we ever talk again.
We decide what's next
Then we decide together whether ongoing advisory makes sense. If it doesn't, you still walk away with everything above. No retainer trap, no pressure.
Most advisors study businesses. I've built them.
The VC, PE, and consulting world is full of smart people who can analyze a company. Almost none of them have had to actually run one.
I have. I've made payroll when it was tight. I've made great hires and a few I'd like to have back. I've shipped products that took off and products that flopped. I built an audience, created a cert, ran a services team, sold the company, and then started over from scratch with Insight Recon.
A good consultant will map your org chart, benchmark your numbers, and hand you a deck. That's genuinely useful. It also stops right where the hard part starts.
I can tell you what breaks when the founder is the glue holding it all together, because I've been that glue. I can tell you which fires are actually fires and which ones just feel that way at 11pm. And I can tell you what the month payroll is tight feels like when you still have to make the call.
That's the difference. It comes from running the thing rather than reading about it.
I spent years buying books and hiring advisors hoping for a shortcut. A few were worth it. Most weren't (I've got a bookshelf that proves it). What I eventually figured out is that scaling problems are rarely as unique as they feel from the inside. The assessment exists to find the handful of things actually holding you back so you can stop guessing where your time should go.
Where I create the most value.
I'm most useful when the problem is tangled up in a few things at once: growth, positioning, distribution, product, the team, and your own judgment as a founder.
Getting past founder-led sales, founder-led delivery, and founder-led everything else.
Training companies, cert programs, creator brands, online learning. The exact path I walked and sold.
Cybersecurity, SaaS, AI, and technical products that need someone who can turn the tech into something people actually buy.
Messaging, pricing, packaging, and figuring out who you're really for.
Who to hire and when, how to hold people to it, and how to get the company running without you in every room.
What buyers actually care about, what drives your number up, and how to come out of diligence in one piece.
What an assessment actually turns up.
A founder came to me wanting to sell his company for a number I was fairly sure the market wouldn't pay.
The business itself was in good shape. High margin, growing fast, profitable since the beginning. The problem was everything around it. Revenue ran almost entirely through his personal brand, his business finances were tangled up with his personal ones, and nobody had ever put a real valuation on the company.
So we ran it the way a buyer would. His target turned out to be reachable, just not this year and not from the kind of buyer he was talking to. He walked away with an honest valuation range, a list of what actually stood between him and his number, and a 90-day plan to start closing that gap.
He's working the plan now. Whether he ends up selling or not, the company is worth more than it was.
Shared with permission. Details changed to keep the client anonymous.
Who this is for, and who it isn't.
Read this part honestly. The clearer the fit, the more useful the work, and the faster I can tell you whether I can help.
This is for you if
This is not for you if
I'm keeping this small on purpose.
I'm not trying to fill a calendar. Right now this is a small, private group of founders. Deep work, no public client list, and that's on purpose.
The people I take on get real attention. I only keep going past the assessment when I actually think the work will change where you end up. If you want a high-volume coach with a waitlist and a group chat, that's not me. If you want a handful of sharp, honest sessions with someone who built and sold the thing you're building, that's the whole point.
What it costs, and what comes after.
Most founders start with the assessment. If you've got one specific problem instead of a whole business to look at, the working session is the smaller way in. What happens after either one depends on what the work needs.
What we review
What you walk away with
Pick one
What you walk away with
Tell me what you're building.
I read every one of these myself. If I think I can help, I'll get back to you. If I'm not the right fit, I'll tell you that too.
Best when there's real traction, real complexity, and a decision that matters. Solo founders are welcome.
No assistant doing intake. No junior team. You deal with me.
If it's not something I can actually help with, I won't waste your time or mine.
For hosts, bookers, and press.
Everything you'd normally have to email me for. Grab what you need, and reach me at press@heathadams.com for bookings.
Short bio
Heath Adams, known online as The Cyber Mentor, is an ethical hacker, educator, and Army veteran. He founded and sold TCM Security, a cybersecurity training and services company he bootstrapped to an eight-figure exit, and has taught cybersecurity to more than a million students. He now builds software and advises founders on scaling and selling their companies.
Long bio
Heath Adams, known online as The Cyber Mentor, is an ethical hacker, educator, and entrepreneur. An Army veteran, he founded and served as CEO of TCM Security, a cybersecurity services and training company he bootstrapped from nothing to an eight-figure exit with no outside capital.
Adams has taught cybersecurity to more than a million students across YouTube, Udemy, and TCM Academy, and holds certifications including the CISSP, OSCP, and PNPT. He holds an MBA and appears in the documentary Midnight in the War Room.
Today he builds software and advises founders on scaling, selling, and getting out of their own way. He writes The Heath Adams Letter weekly for more than 25,000 subscribers.
What I can talk about
Selected appearances
Speaking
NYPD Cyber Intelligence and Counterterrorism Conference, US Cyber Games, H@cktivitycon, ChannelPro, YASCON, CarolinaCon, and BSides Charleston, Charlotte, and RDU.