For Profit Work

The process at Villa that we built was so efficient that it eventually resulted in the entire sales team (including myself) getting laid off. Rival ADU startups started reaching out to our entire team on LinkedIn, and they also asked the sales folks a bit about their process. When every single one of my team members pointed in my direction, I gained overnight validity.

I realized that efficient systems and workflows could not only drive sales but fundamentally reshape how teams operated. What started as an internal process refinement soon turned into a sought-after methodology, and companies began seeking my expertise to implement similar strategies.

Scaled Enablement was formed to support startups, startup teams, nonprofits, and rising executives.

We specialize in primarily Seed - Series B companies, in the backyard homes or prop-tech home improvement space. I was extremely fortunate to ride the acquisition stage with several Atomic and YC portfolio companies, allowing me to spend more time working with nonprofits I love and expanding their impact.

Fill out our intake form and get a 30-minute call that will untangle three months' worth of challenges — now for just $699.

With certain AI tools and agents, the accessibility of building tools boils down to how well you are able to prompt agents, and how well one can integrate them into their workflows. It’s the difference between prompting ChatGPT/Claude, and having prepared drafts waiting for your review once you check your inbox first thing in the morning. I truly believe the value I add to larger companies, but especially sub series b companies will be the integration of such agents into every employee.

I wanted to apply to Villa because after scanning homes for 18 months, I was looking for a new industry to crack into for 3D Scans. I saw two massively growing industries that could benefit from scans, short-term rentals through Airbnb/other platforms and tiny homes/ ADUs.

Villa, an ADU company, builds tiny homes to help address the California housing crisis. I started deep diving into the team and realized how aligned the company was with my goals and personal hobbies.

Villa was one of the companies that looked the most experienced compared to their competitors in the ADU space, and I wanted to give up managing my venture to join a new team and learn from them.

From the first phone screen, I knew that this team was exceptional.

• Akbar K.
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Akbar interviewed me, and I’ve never wanted to talk to someone more in my life again. After that phone call, I was still extremely excited about Villa, but I knew I wanted to do whatever possible to get in touch with him again. Luckily, I got another interview and, eventually, the job.
I knew we would get along perfectly and that the company was a perfect fit. This was one of my first and favorite messages from Akbar.

Akbar was unofficially my manager, and while I was an SDR, we worked together to improve our sales process. I felt confident that if we could dream of something, we could turn it into reality.
Not everything we implemented worked to perfection, but I knew that he would have my back, allowing me to push the boundaries of my creativity. Even if something didn’t apply to Villa, I would think of somewhere that it could be applicable, and this opportunity allowed me to try out TONS of helpful no-code tools. This backing allowed me to solidify my operations skill set.
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Akbar’s last company event

Virtually everyone that I’ve met has had a phenomenal conversation with Akbar. If I’ve referred someone to talk to him, they RAVE about him to me the minute they finish processing the awesomeness. He’s passionate about solving problems, consistently delivers results, and is super talented.
“I just had a great call with Akbar!” - everyone
• Theo C.
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Theo joined the SDR team around two weeks after I did and is the epitome of a team player. He kept our team thriving when we were the SDR duo after three of our SDRs got promoted.
While our SDR team was full of stars, Theo is much more than that. When I was allowed to help with a project, I was torn because I knew that it would be near impossible for just one person to handle the previously split volume between 5 SDRs, but the project was something I was MUCH more interested in. While I never vocalized it to Theo, he affirmed that he’d be able to handle the call volume and that I should take a stab at it.
He made almost 1,000 calls daily for nearly two months. Not a single complaint, and just was willing to help the situation at hand.
While I was given the glamour and praise for helping the team around, Theo was head down, grinding away at the phones. When I would ask him if he needed any help, he would say that he wanted me back as soon as possible. After that quarter was over, we both got promoted together.

It was an awesome day when we both got promoted together, and shortly after we had a company party to celebrate the accomplishments of Q1 2021.
If there’s someone I can count on to get a job done, it’s going to be Theo. He’s one of the hardest working people I’ve had the honor of not just meeting, but working alongside.
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Some of the team praise I got (only possible because of Theo and a supportive team)

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A team photo during the Q1 company party

I started Artius Marketing because of the frustrating process of renting an apartment almost 100 miles away. When moving to Davis, I wanted to view a variety of spots, but I found that none of the rental listings were using technology widely available in the Bay Area.

This was one of my first experiences starting a company, resulting in special relationships, especially with my first intern.

• Samih A. — Samih and I would hang out often, he was my friend and neighbor in Davis, and I often gave him rides to places we couldn’t bike to. He was constantly observing my actions, especially regarding business-related stuff. Samih was my first intern.
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How he got hired
We didn’t have an internship program or any plan to hire anyone. Artius Marketing was predominantly my solo venture; my only partner was for legal help. However, that wasn’t satisfactory enough for Samih, so he found his way.
Whenever I would go out to grab lunch or dinner, I’d photograph a “For Lease/Sale” sign and check those listings out. If they had been on the market for a while, I would call the agents and ask if they wanted to have a 3-D scan for them or if they had any help marketing it.

Samih saw me do this no more than twice — and the next time we went out for something, he ran ahead of me and took a photo of the sign. I laughed and asked what his plan was with it, and he didn’t know, but all he knew was that I took photos of those types of signs.
Over lunch, I shared with him what I did and how I did it. He learned how the photos would be cold leads for me, the scripts I created to close deals, how I used Hubspot and tools like Zapier to automate things, and how I ran my business. After shadowing for the remainder of the day, he asked if he could try out a few calls.
While he wasn’t the best at closing deals, there was no denying how well he marketed Artius. He was our top brand evangelist.
Most of our Davis community had heard of the company without fully understanding what it did, only knowing it was a cool way to market houses. I was OK with that — impressions in a small college town were through the roof. Between October 2018 and Covid’s quarantines, any time I would be seen publicly, I would hear about Artius.
As an intern, Samih taught me and showed me a hustle that left me stunned, time after time. He will likely say he’s learned one or two things from me, but I have learned just as much from him. He is a golden example of someone who won’t give up, a hype man, and a lifelong learner.

I followed Levi. Yea, as crazy as leaving a nice job at Apple seems, I knew that as my manager, Levi would have my best interest in mind for me. He’s a manager I trust and vice versa. I joined the team and started learning as much about cars and car sales as possible since this was a new industry for me.

This was the best decision I made, since it pushed me to explore new industries and allowed me to have the flexibility to get creative for several processes.

For the first two weeks, I was learning and teaching customers about the brand at the same time. Shortly after, I managed a fleet of 40 cars and ensured they were prepared for test drives and alternated frequently. I started college a month or so after joining Tesla, so I went remote.

At Davis, I identified and passed new deals through Salesforce — but I found a few ways to automate this outreach and enabled the team at Stanford to close more deals.

It was my dream to work at Apple since I saw how much one of my mentors enjoyed it many years prior. Also, I mean, it’s Apple. You have the ability to badge into Infinite Loop or Apple Park and work alongside some of the most impactful people in technology.

Working at Apple allowed me to experience world-class sales training. I still use the frameworks and methodologies I learned in almost every aspect of my current daily life. I also had the opportunity to work alongside some phenomenal teammates.

• Levi B. — The manager that taught me what it meant to be a leader. Levi managed teams in a truly unique manner and was a walking MasterClass in leadership. I consider him one of the greatest managers out there. He was the manager who scheduled my first interview at Apple; the rest was history.
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There are two moments at Apple that I remember vividly with Levi.
• After my first week in the store, Levi sat me down and asked what I wanted to achieve, personally and professionally. I explained my goal of wanting to be a Creative, and he listened with immense care, instructed me on what steps I needed to take to get there, and checked in with me throughout my time at Apple to ensure I would be ready for that role. This was significant — he invested a considerable amount of resources in one of the newest employees, and the path to Creative was not simple — but he was supportive from day one.
• This moment made me feel so welcomed, and as a result, I now do that with every employee I’ve managed.
• During an abnormally hectic product launch, every employee looked like they were getting floored. I (rather boldly) asked Levi if he would be able to help us out with a few customers. He very calmly explained that the moment he would start transacting sales, he would lose his ability to manage our team collectively, and customers would view him as a sales rep. However, he could see our team getting flustered, and I saw him go behind the secure steel doors; within a minute; he got additional help from the Small Business team, got two additional store leads to help with issues on the floor, and swapped out folks who needed breaks. Levi found the balance needed to maximize our team’s impact while remaining available for all manager-related adjustments.
• These two points highlight Levi to me — he cares about his people and trusts himself to get the job done without compromising his values.
• It took us 11 months and a non-work event to get a photo together!

1. Brandon I. — My friend, advisor, and supporter, from the first day we met. Brandon and I were in the same onboarding group as product specialists and got to work and learn alongside each other. We later diverged when he took a more technical path toward being a Genius at Apple, and I went towards Creative. Brandon turned out to fix more than just computers.
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There’s one conversation that I will forever be grateful for with Brandon.
• Before we get into that conversation, I want to clarify that there isn’t only one moment where I appreciate Brandon. Throughout knowing him, he’s helped me with my tech issues even as late as 1 am. He’s a great friend, musician, athlete, chef, tech support, and most importantly, consistent.
• Brandon and I would talk about tech for hours on end, but this conversation occurred during a time of tragedy. I was not doing well and had been out of the store for a while.

In February of 2018, after my father’s passing, I was on a break from Apple, and Brandon came to my house and picked me up. It was a quick dap up at my door, followed by a slightly longer hug than usual. Brandon and I hadn’t spoken in around a month, and I had gone through the most traumatic event of my life. As we left my driveway, we drove entirely silent for several minutes.

What followed was a private conversation, but it uncovered a monologue of affirmations and support. In hindsight, he perfected the skills we learned at Apple for that situation.

If it wasn’t for that conversation, I would not be as resilient as I am today. I would not handle failure the way I do now. I would not be a lot of things.

By becoming deeply aware of our mortality, we intensify our experience of every aspect of life. - Robert Greene

• Brandon with my flamethrower 🔥

As one of the best playgrounds for technology, Best Buy was a very natural place where I wanted to work at. I originally applied to fix computers over at the Geek Squad, but when they asked if I would be open to selling on the sales floor, I said yes. I figured it would be simple enough since I loved computers, but I was wrong.

Working at Best Buy pushed the limits of my ambivert-ness, but also led to having some really cool stories with the CEO.

• Peter H. — Peter was my team lead who gave my first performance review. Since it was just a month in, the review was meant more to identify areas where an employee might need coaching. I did not do well. Peter emphatically told me that I had failed my sales quota, and I acted really confused. Peter explained that hiding behind printers when customers would arrive wasn't working out too well for me and then coached me on how to juggle customers. I was a top sales rep shortly after using Peter’s analogy on how to juggle customers.
• Michael H. — Michael was the Apple representative inside of our Best Buy store. I would challenge him daily on the value Apple was providing its customers. Before M1 and M2 Macbooks were a thing, the base MacBook Air provided abysmal performance and display specifications for the sticker price of $1000. Michael coached me on the experience Apple is meant to bring and how the price is just one factor of the total experience. His explanations helped me understand Apple at a level good enough to get a job at Apple Retail.