Successful companies now have AI-savvy boards
June 4, 2025
By Verne Harnish
Tim Zacharias, president of Cougar USA, was doing all he could to spark the growth of his company, a Houston, Texas-based provider of water-control solutions for commercial clients, including high-rises, hospitals, hotels, and schools in its metro area.
Despite reinvesting in the company and hiring, Cougar USA had gotten stuck at a revenue plateau for several years. “We knew we needed to do something different to see growth,” he says.
After completing Scaling Up’s online assessment to uncover growth opportunities, he began working with Scaling Up Certified Coach Mark Fenner, president and founder of RISE Performance Group.
Under Fenner’s guidance, Cougar USA has more than doubled its revenue since July 2021, from $10.5 million to more than $23 million, while improving bottom-line profits. It has exceeded its original Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) of reaching $20 million by 2026 and set its sights on further growth.
Putting systems in place for hiring
One key step was expanding the team with people who fit the company culture, a challenge despite a steady flow of job applicants. Zacharias and his team redesigned the job interview process to align with Cougar USA’s Core Values: Passionate about our Brand; Committed to our Partners; Reliable, Responsible, Resourceful, and Cougar Family-Oriented.
The company included a competency portion of the interview process and a team lunch to assess culture fit. It also developed scorecards to show how the company evaluates job performance. “It’s been good to have recruiting processes that help us find the right people,” says Zacharias.
As it has built its team, Cougar USA has prioritized retaining “Cougar Believers” aligned with the company’s values and goals. Team members can nominate colleagues who embody them for peer-to-peer bonuses through an internal tool. Cougar USA recognizes team members for their contributions annually through an awards program.
Setting clear financial goals
Working with Fenner, Zacharias and his leadership team utilized the One-Page Strategic Plan to develop their strategy at monthly and quarterly meetings, as well as an annual offsite. “He has taken the Scaling Up tools, made them his own and rallied his team around them,” says Fenner.
They built the strategy around designing their projects in a way that would support their BHAG. By focusing on selling their most profitable products to their ideal customers in bundles—and building the trust that kept those customers coming back—they realized they could achieve their financial goals for the next year, three years, and five years. They implemented 90-day sprints to move quickly toward their goals.
They also prioritized culture building. Putting their own spin on the idea of the Brand Promise, Zacharias and his leadership team developed the Cougar Promise: Commitment, Communication, and Cutting-Edge Technology. “People are starting to identify each other as Cougar Believers and seeing the benefit of having them on the team,” says Zacharias.
Getting the team “on the bus”
To rally the team, Cougar USA established key performance indicators (KPIs) to prioritize gross profit dollars and other metrics that reflected its growth and success. The company shared its progress on a dashboard in NetSuite. “The ultimate outcome is selling more at higher margins,” says Zacharias.
To motivate the team, the company offers everyone a monthly $50 bonus if its gross profit dollars hit the mark. If the team hits the company’s annual goal, everyone gets to “take the bus.”
That’s an internal shorthand for taking an incentive trip, such as a recent one from Houston to Lake Charles, to celebrate at the Golden Nugget Casino. “Where we are above the goal determines how much cash everyone gets to spend on the trip,” explains Zacharias.
Speeding customer payments
When Zacharias listened to the CASH section of Scaling Up on the audiobook version, he found the concept of “growing broke” frightening. He recognized the importance of prevention as the company expanded. Finding a way to close the gap between customers’ payments under its net 30 terms and the strict payment terms of its vendors was a key objective.
To that end, Zacharias and his team focused on implementing ideas to improve cash flow, such as the Power of One. The Power of One illustrates how implementing seemingly small changes, such as submitting invoices to clients earlier, can have a positive impact on cash flow. It also focused on sharing that information with its team so everyone was aligned.
With the entire team now focused on implementing the company’s strategy, Zacharias is optimistic about continuing to scale up in the future. “We’re really building momentum and continuing to push on it,” he says.
