Happy Monday, folks!

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Each week you’ll find…

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events: SF, Nashville + a new perk for the Guild

• Feature Content: Make Generosity Your Entrepreneurial Compass

• Heavenly Hustlers: 8 folks. From Gluten Free Flour to an Uber Competitor

• Highlights: This Accounting Method Helps You Make Money

[read time: ~8.5 min | word count 1,845]

News / Updates

• 🚨🚨🚨 ICYMI: We recently launched the Faithful Steward. A free, private newsletter for Catholic investors to discover Catholic-run ventures raising money. A deal flow newsletter. It’s totally free. Sign up today. Builders, submit your deck here.

• 🎸 In Nashville? We’re hosting a hangout tomorrow night, sponsored by Lucid Private Offices.

• 🌉 In SF? We’re hosting a hangout after the Ascension Mass at Star of the Sea on May 14th. Details TBD, but sign up here to get notified.

• 🤠 In Houston? There will be an event the week of May 13th. Stay tuned for details.

• 🤖 We’re launching a new CF Guild perk. An AI bot that will answer questions from all of the CF content, and it will be able to help you meet other members of the Guild who can help you. To gain access, you’ll need to be a member of the CF Guild, so sign up today.

Make Generosity Your Entrepreneurial Compass

As entrepreneurs, it is easy to measure success by the bottom line, the growth rate, or the market share. But for the Catholic business owner, those are secondary markers. The real question is whether your work is ordered to God.

At the center of this vocation is a radical call to generosity. It is the key that unlocks our identity as stewards rather than masters.

Stewardship Over Ownership

If God has blessed your business with more than your family and your enterprise need to live well, that surplus is not just a cushion for comfort — consider it a sacred trust. The mindset should really be that this is His. Thinking “how should I give away my things” would be the incorrect framing. All of it belongs to God in the first place.

“In his use of things man should regard the external goods he legitimately owns not merely as exclusive to himself but common to others also, in the sense that they can benefit others as well as himself. The ownership of any property makes its holder a steward of Providence, with the task of making it fruitful and communicating its benefits to others, first of all his family.” — (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2404).

When we realize we are merely stewards, the temptation to stack up more and more dissipates. We begin to see our capital as a tool for the Kingdom.

The Entrepreneurial Fiat

To live this vocation well, your business plan must begin with a fiat. Like Mary, our response to God’s provision should be a total surrender of our professional path.

“Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.” — (Luke 1:38).

This “yes” is not just a spiritual sentiment; it has to be practical. It must shape our time, our plans, and our use of money. You cannot follow God with your work while remaining closed-fisted.

Honoring God with Everything Over and Above

Scripture and Tradition are incredibly direct when it comes to how we handle the “extra.” The question is not, “How much can I keep?” but rather, “How can I honor the Giver with what remains?”

“But, when what necessity demands has been supplied, and one’s standing fairly taken thought for, it becomes a duty to give to the indigent out of what remains over. “Of that which remaineth, give alms.” — (Rerum Novarum, 22).

“Furthermore, a person’s superfluous income, that is, income which he does not need to sustain life fittingly and with dignity, is not left wholly to his own free determination. Rather, the Sacred Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church constantly declare in the most explicit language that the rich are bound by a very grave precept to practice almsgiving, beneficence, and munificence.” — (Quadragesimo Anno, 50).

We see this pattern throughout the Gospels. Martha “welcomed him into her home” (Luke 10:38). Mary sat at his feet and listened. Jesus “loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (John 11:5). And Joseph of Arimathea gave Jesus his own tomb, where he was “laid… in his own new tomb” (Matthew 27:60). These were people who made room for the Lord through the sharing of their home, their space, and their property.

A Mission, Not Just a Business

When we lead with a generous heart, our work takes on a mission-shaped purpose. We are not just building something for ourselves. We are building something that can serve God, serve the Church, and serve people in need. This is a direct imitation of Christ’s life of service.

That is what Catholic entrepreneurship looks like: faithful stewardship and open hands. Not a life focused on accumulation.

The Cheerful Giver

Ultimately, the goal is a heart that belongs entirely to God (because that’s what we’d have in Heaven). When we stop being selfish with our surplus, the grind of entrepreneurship becomes a joyful act of service.

Be generous toward God. When you do, your career can blossom into a path to holiness and a vehicle for delivering His will on Earth.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🚲 Patrick McFarland and Davide Thompson are co-founders of CARI, a campus-based alternative to DoorDash that helps employ students. This is a little bit of an over-simplification, but that’s the way I understand it. They are based in Nashville.

• 👩 Anna Saucier & Megan Gephar run Apostolic Fruit. Helping Catholic women lead healthy organizations. They run some really interesting retreats called Rest Boldly.

• 💼 Mark Mastroianni is building an app to help board members bring up the most critical things, and to help executives integrate the 12 levels of humility from St. Benedict. He’s generally doing a lot of things. A bit of a hustler. Based in the Indianapolis area.

• 🚗 Ryan Kreager is the CTO & Co-Founder of Rides2U. A high-trust ride-hailing network that only employs the people you’d feel comfortable giving your daughter a ride home at 1 in the morning. They do schedule ahead and have much better economics. He’s based in the South Bend area.

• 👻 Daniel Urdaneta recently launched a ghostwriting agency. He’s focused on serving Catholics, and he’s based in Argentina.

• 🍞 Emmett Ackerlund is commercializing his sister’s gluten-free flour recipe. Guy is sharp. Based out of NYC. I’m already on the waitlist for my wife’s gluten allergy.

  Share

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Thank you to Catholic Owned for helping us find some of these folks each week. Get listed today!

Highlight: An Ultra-Short Explanation of How to Use the Profit First Method

Many of the founders I encounter don’t take profit first. They have all their money in one bank account, making it hard to visualize how much burn you have left.

I get it. That’s what I used to do. Until I heard about the profit-first method of accounting. I’m not going to explain the whole thing, but will give you my version of it so you can (hopefully) be convinced to get the book and implement it and save yourself a lot of headache.

Instead of 1 bank account, you’ll have 5. Income, Owner’s Comp, Tax, OpEx, and Profit.

When you get paid, it goes to the income account.

Then, on a periodical basis (maybe once or twice a week), you’ll ‘balance’ the accounts.

Depending on your business, you’ll put x% into each account from your income account, leaving it with the minimum needed (I just keep $100 in it).

It might look like this. 10,000 comes into the income. 15% ($1,500) goes to profit, 20% ($2,000) goes to tax, 30% ($3,000) goes to OpEx, and the remaining 35% ($3,500) goes to Owner’s Comp.

At the end of the quarter, you can pay yourself a ‘bonus’ from the profit account. Usually, let’s say 50-75% of the value of the profit account.

The other key benefit here is that you’re ‘forced’ to make your company run on the allocated OpEx account, rather than forgoing your own compensation for the sake of the company.

This creates more discipline on spending, and will also help light a fire under your butt to get more sales.

Again, this is super ‘not official’ — this is just my read on it. But I’m confident a LOT of you would benefit from reading this book and implementing something similar to ensure you are actually making money rather than just scraping by.

Here is the link to the book.

Here is a huge list of various resources that we have complied overtime: The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

Feel free to bookmark it as we’ll continue to update it. And if you have suggestions on what to add, ping us (even if you want to promote your own stuff).

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Thank God it’s Monday!

We get to serve God today. Just like every day!

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Today you’ll find…

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• Upcoming Events in Nashville & Wausau, WI

• Feature Content: Small Crosses

• Heavenly Hustlers: 8 Folks to Know

• Highlight: A Book Rec to Help You Find Product-Market Fit

[read time: ~5 min | word count 1,146]

News / Updates

• We launched a NEW free newsletter. If you’re a Catholic investor and want to get deal flow of Catholic-owned businesses that are raising, sign up today.
  If you’re a builder seeking funding, submit your deck today.

• Our next Nashville meetup is happening on the 28th of April. Register here.

• Don’t forget about the last Saturday of the month CF meetup in Wausau, WI - sign up here.

• If you’d like to host a meetup for Catholic business owners in your area, please reach out, and we’ll help you organize and promote it. admin@catholicfounders.com

• And finally, remember, if you know a Catholic who wants to start a business, send them my way. We are looking to invest heavily in helping Catholics refine their ideas, launch their businesses, and get to their first million in revenue.

Small Crosses

Going to keep it ultra-short this week.

Running a business is hard. Sometimes, the hardest part is when things become repetitive and monotonous. Sending out DMs, doing the admin work, and doing the sales calls.

Whenever you encounter that feeling, here is a tip for you.

View each task you have to do as a small cross. You can choose to willingly pick up that cross and sanctify your work. Regardless if you’re doing a client visit, doing cold calls, or replying to customer requests. Each of these small things is a small cross to pick up willingly.

Personally, I’ve found this framing helpful because it is no longer about ‘powering through’ so that I can pay the bills and keep the business growing. It’s about sanctifying my work. About walking alongside Jesus as He carries The Cross to Calvary.

It’s no longer about you. Do it for Jesus!

PS: Shout out to Rob Hays for this visualization that he shared at our Dallas dinner.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🧑‍⚖️ Cyrus Johnson is an independent business lawyer helping investors on the buy side as well as helping founders on the receiving end. He’s also got some really interesting AI projects in the legal space. Based in the Dallas area.

• 💨 Blaise Carney is building Fumus Et Ratio. A club to help Catholic grow in friendship and virtue as well as discuss edifying topics, while smoking premium cigars. Based in Ave Maria, Florida.

• 🚧 Tom Becher is the owner of Vitruvius Construction. They have a special focus on residential remodels, making homes beautiful. Given that he’s also involved in Thomas Aquinas College, I bet he’s pretty awesome. Based out of the Santa Paula area.

• 👣 Mike Meaney is the Co-Founder of One Small Step, a mental health platform to connect with peers when professionals are offline. Menlo Park-based.

• 💰 Joshua Elkington is the founder of investment firm Axial. They focus on partnering with early-stage life sciences founders and inventors. He’s based in the SF Bay Area.

• 👨‍💻 Jin Kuan and Leon Schwarzer are building Bicameral. A tech platform that helps developers build the right tech that has not already been stated as conflicting in some random memo or forgotten Slack message. It helps developers embrace the social nature of the act. Jin is SF-based and Leon is NYC-Based.

• 🥷 Vincent Casey is building something in stealth so I can’t tell you much about it, or I might have to… you know what. He’s also based in the SF area.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Thank you to Catholic Owned for helping us find some of these folks each week. Get listed today!

Share

Highlight: Figure Out If People Want Your Product Before You Build It

For this week’s highlight, we’re going to talk about a book. The Mom Test, by Rob Fitzpatrick.

This book is for anyone trying to figure out what product to sell and who to sell it to.

Entrepreneurs who are trying to do something novel have to be aware that there may not be a market for that thing. When you start a lawn mowing or window cleaning business, you know it can work because there are dozens of them in even a small city. But with a new product, it may not actually be something the market wants. Or if it is, it may not look exactly like you envision it.

This is when you need to do product market fit testing. ie: talk to a LOT of customers in a specific type of way, to find out what problem they have, and if you can make a product that will solve said problem.

Notice how the problem is what matters. Not the idea or invention. Ideas and inventions are only as valuable as the problem they solve and for how many people they solve said problem.

So, if you’re embarking on your entrepreneurial journey, read this book so that you can learn how to speak with your potential customers and figure out if there is demand for it, without spending a ton of money.

Here is a huge list of various resources that we have complied overtime: The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

Feel free to bookmark it as we’ll continue to update it. And if you have suggestions on what to add, ping us (even if you want to promote your own stuff).

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Hey everyone, welcome back to another Saintly CEO Monday newsletter! The place you go on Mondays, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Thank you for coming back week after week. Shoutout to our biggest fan, Andreas Widmer.

I was just on his podcast last week, and he told me it’s one of the few newsletters he reads each week. If that isn’t the best endorsement I could ask for, I don’t know what is. Thank you all for reading each week.

Today we’ll be talking about pacing. Timing. Speed.

But first, some events/announcements.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events

• Feature Content:

[read time: ~6.5 min | word count 1,392]

News / Updates

• The YCP Conference was amazing. Stay tuned for more info.

• The dinner in Dallas was also amazing! You’ll see pictures at some point.

• Our next Nashville meetup is happening on the 28th of April (tentatively). Register here.

• We are likely hosting a Columbus meetup in early May. Reach out if you want to influence the mission.

• And finally, remember if you know a Catholic who wants to start a business, send them my way. We are looking to invest heavily in helping Catholics refine their ideas, launch their businesses, and get to their first million in revenue.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

We're building the largest network of Catholic biz owners in the world.

It's for any Catholic biz owner who believes they are called to be an instrument of God's will in the world. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Curious? --> "What is the Catholic Founders Guild"

You Don’t Always Have to Go Fast

I’m writing this from a Tex-Mex spot in Dallas. I’ve been in Dallas since Wednesday, and the schedule has been relentless: I did the Beatidudes podcast Thursday. Had a few meetings Friday. Recorded three episodes at the YCP conference on Saturday. Somehow kept my own businesses running. And to top it all off, tonight, I’m hosting a Catholic Founders Dinner at Rob Hays’ home.

Why am I giving you a play-by-play? Because these last six months have been an all-out sprint. If you asked my closest friends, they’d say I’m stretched thin. Some might say burned out (I wouldn’t say that).

This pace has forced me to ask myself… How hard should I push? Should I cut everything else out to go all-in on one thing? Should I be dissatisfied with our growth to date?

Endless questions.

Despite the black hole of questions I could ask myself, it started to make some sense once I considered a few of the characteristics of God.

A Theological Framework for Pace

To find peace, I had to recall a few fundamental truths:

• God exists outside of time. He isn’t stressed by some arbitrary quarterly deadline.

• God doesn’t have a rigid timeline. He isn’t checking a watch to see if you hit a specific objective by age 30 or 50. He doesn’t care about you getting on Forbes 30 under 30.

• God wants your presence. He desires your love in the present moment, not your anxiety about the future. Anxiety about the future is a lack of trust in God.

• God honors duty. He calls us to fulfill our obligations to our families and our health, not neglect them for the sake of making more money.

When I internalized these, I realized I don’t have to push to an inhuman level. God asks me to work hard, but He does not ask me to ignore the natural signals of stress or burnout. Those act as traffic signals for me. Telling me to go faster, slow down, or stop.

Re-Ordering the Mission

This shift in perspective is already changing my behavior. I am learning to turn down anything that doesn’t serve my primary missions. I’ve categorized them by the Level of Duty:

1. Justice (The Business): My clients have paid for a service. In justice, they deserve what they paid for. This stays at the top of the list.

2. Mission (Catholic Founders): This is a calling. It gets as much time as I can spare to keep the weekly and monthly momentum alive.

3. Legacy (My Dad’s Business): While I’m helping this grow, it isn’t urgent in the same way. I’ve found peace in the fact that I won’t work on it as intensely right now; it’s a slower build.

Hire Catholic Offshore Talent
We help you find vetted Catholic offshore talent to help your business grow. 

$500 upon hire and $500 if you're still happy in 30 days. 

Email us your needs -> hire in days -> admin@catholicfounders.com 

How to Evaluate Your Own Pace

If sprinting is crushing you, or you’re worried you’re not going fast enough, consider these four filters:

1. Type of Venture

If you are building a venture-scaled business, your investors expect a ludicrous pace. In winner-take-all markets, success often requires being first. If you have chosen this path, acknowledge it and buckle up, buttercup. That’s the nature of the beast.

2. The Manufactured Rush

Alex Hormozi points out that most “rush” is manufactured. Unless you are competing for the first-ever smartphone users, your pace probably doesn’t matter as much as you think. Growing a service company or a local business doesn’t require you to go crazy fast. Most of the time, the pressure is just our own impatience.

I would add that in some cases, rushing can hurt your business growth. Rush can lead to bad customer experiences, which slows down the compounding machine of customer satisfaction.

3. Your Season of Life

In the same way you cannot control when or where you were born (I’ve talked about this a lot) you cannot simply change your state of life. If you are married with children, you cannot abandon them for the sake of advancing your venture. That would be a violation of your primary vocation. Your season of life dictates, to an extent, what pace you can have while still fulfilling your family obligations. Accept the constraint; it is a gift, not a curse.

4. The Timing of Your Calling

Some founders aren’t ready to build their great work until their 50s; others start at 18. Daniel Ek talks about Founder-Fit. A lot of investors also consider this when evaluating a founder. Some people are uniquely qualified, by skills, life experiences, and/or personality, to build specific businesses or types of business. Don’t rush a door that hasn’t opened yet.

All In Versus Part Time Build

Before we wrap up, I also want to address going all in on your venture versus building your way out. Using prudence, it’s up to you to understand if God is calling you to take the leap and trust in Him. Or if you should build your way out of your job.

As my friend Joseph Henry recently reminded me, Slow and Steady wins the race.

Just because some of the famous entrepreneurs, whom many of us undoubtedly look up to, went all in and made it work, doesn’t mean that’s what we are called to do.

Conclusion

God has a pace for you. There is no universal rulebook, only the specific call He has placed on your life.

But here’s the thing. You will only be able to hear the instructions He gives you if you take the time to reflect on your circumstances rather than just sprinting through them. Your circumstances are often how God speaks to you. He gives you hints, you just have to look for them.

Push hard, but push within the boundaries of the life God gave you.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Highlights

If you want the full list of resources, you can get them here: The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

Feel free to bookmark it as we’ll continue to update it. And if you have suggestions on what to add, ping us (even if you want to promote your own stuff).

Today’s Highlights Are…

Being skipped. Only so much time to do it.

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Happy Easter!

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday… I mean, most Mondays, and some Wednesdays, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Obviously, I’m late with this newsletter. Being back in Wisconsin for Easter, I decided to make the most of the limited time I had with family. After all, I’ll never get those moments back.

Today will be short.

I’m writing this at 11 at night and don’t yet know how I’m going to connect the resurrection to entrepreneurship, but I place it in the hands of the Holy Spirit to guide me.

Because that’s the case, let me stall a bit with some VERY important reminders and announcements.

• I’ll be at the YCP Conference this weekend in Dallas. If you’d like to do an interview with me there, let me know.

• This Sunday, we are hosting an event in Dallas for Catholic Founders. If you’d like to attend, register. We only have about 2 spots left.

• Our next Nashville meetup is happening on the 28th of April (tentatively). Register here.

• And finally, remember if you know a Catholic who wants to start a business, send them my way. We are looking to invest heavily in helping Catholics refine their ideas, launch their businesses, and get to their first million in revenue.

Okay, let’s get into it.

The Resurrection and Entrepreneurship

Suffering and Conviction.

Those are the two main things to reflect on from the resurrection as Catholic Founders.

Suffering.

Another way of saying this is sacrifice. Jesus suffered and sacrificed, ultimately sacrificing Himself, so that a greater good might be achieved: the salvation of humanity.

How often do we face suffering and complain about it? How often do we wish our business were a little easier to build and to scale?

If you’re anything like me, a lot. More than I care to admit, if I’m being frank.

But this is the point. If it were super easy, everyone would do it. If we only want an easy life without the hard work, what does that say about our character?

We suffer in order to achieve something greater.

So next time you’re feeling that suffering in your business, remember the crucifixion that led to the salvation of humanity. Think about the weight of that. Compare your cross to the one Jesus carried. I’m sure you can manage just fine.

If you’re a Catholic looking to start a business but don’t know where to start, reach out. We are launching our success-based coaching program for Catholics looking to start their businesses.

No cost up-front. Only pay if you actually make money. We only have space for a few of these to start with, so reach out today and book an intro call here.

Conviction.

If you’re celebrating Easter, that means you believe in the truth of what the resurrection means. The death and resurrection mean that what Jesus said is true. That He is God, and that He died so that we may have eternal life.

We celebrate because we have conviction that Jesus truly conquered death, proving all of those statements.

How can knowing this not give us a steadfast, immovable conviction that running our businesses in alignment with our Faith is worth it? That doing this will bring more people to know Him, and lead to our own eternal reward?

We are not just building businesses out here. We are the hands of God in the world. Carrying out His will using the co-creative abilities that He gave us. There are souls on the line.

So, where is your conviction about your faith in God when the times get hard or seem uncertain? When deciding how to conduct your business, where is your conviction about your faith?

Conclusion.

Let’s get after it this Easter season with full confidence in God that the suffering is worth it, and the conviction that we were called to be entrepreneurs so that we can bring others to know God.

God Bless and Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

[read time: ~5 min | word count 1,133]

Good morning, everyone!

It’s Monday of Holy Week. Traditionally referred to as Fig Monday. We’ll get into that!

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. We’re on a mission to bring you a bit of tactical advice or encouragement each Monday to start your week off well.

Today, I’m going to keep things very brief given my current schedule and my desire for you to have only one thing to focus on this week as we wrap up Lent.

First, some quick announcements.

• We’re hosting a dinner in Dallas on April 12th. Apply to attend

• If you’re in central Wisconsin (Wausau area), join the last Saturday meetup

• We might be hosting a meetup in Columbus, OH soon - reach out if interested

• Raj Bhakta is speaking at a Fides event on Thursday April 9th in NYC. Register to attend (CF is co-sponsoring)

• Sponsors! We need some! Reach out admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

We're building the largest network of Catholic biz owners in the world.

It's for any Catholic biz owner who believes they are called to be an instrument of God's will in the world. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Curious? --> "What is the Catholic Founders Guild"

Fig Trees and Entrepreneurs

Okay, let’s start with why today is called Fig Monday. It’s quite simple. On this day, certain liturgical traditions have the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree that had no fruit (despite it not being the season for figs), here it is. Matthew 21: 18-22

[18] In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry. [19] And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. [20] When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” [21] Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. [22] Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”

A lot has been said about what this message means for us generally as followers of Christ. But let’s focus on what it means for entrepreneurs.

The key elements to focus on are. (1) The tree had leafs on it but no fruit (alive but no fruit). (2) The consequences of being fruitless was to wither and die in the end despite a long life of growth to produce leafs. (3) We can do the same works if we have genuine faith.

As entrepreneurs, we have been given a lot of skills. We have the willingness to take risk, the capacity to work hard, and the creative ability to create things of value.

We are a tree growing and providing shade with our leafs. But the species of tree that we are is called to bear a multitude of fruit. Think back to the parable of the good and faithful steward. His dedicated work returned 5 additional talents to the 5 he had been given (Matt. 25:14-30). There is also the example of the seed that fell on good ground and produced up to one hundred fold wheat (Matt. 13:8).

Are we not exceedingly blessed by our work ethic, ability to manage and motivate people, our ability to sell, the list goes on.

We must ask ourselves, what is the fruit we are yielding. The fruit cannot be simply financial. The true fruit we are called to yield is eternal fruit that brings others to God. So what are we doing?

Are people drawn to Catholocism because of our actions? Are we leaving bread crumbs for people to pick up along the way to give them a little taste of the Faith?

For any of this to be possible, we need to recognize the gifts we were given, and we need to nourish the seeds of faith in our hearts. Giving sufficient water and sunlight through prayer, the sacraments, scripture, and contemplation.

St. Thomas Aquinas comments further on the example of the fig tree, taken from this passage and from the parable of the fig tree in Luke (13:6-9). He says (paraphrased), the fig tree is outwardly promising (leafy) through profession of faith and law, yet inwardly unfruitful in charity and good works, facing divine judgment after a period of merciful patience.

On one hand you have the judgement side of that to avoid. On the other hand, consider how motivating it can be for us to lean into what we already know and profess about the faith. Allowing it to produce a great amount of fruit in our lives and the lives of those around us.

Remember, even if you’re just starting out as an entrepreneur and don’t have that many employees, you will likely have many people reporting to you one day. If you stick with it, and apply virtue to how you run your business, you are likely to continue growing. As you grow, will those fundamental pillars be in place allowing you to be a truly positive influence on all of those around you. Employees and customers alike?

I know we’ve discussed this idea in some way shape or form but this matters. This isn’t just a nice to have option we can pursue. God specifically gave us these skills to help carry out His will in the world. Will you view it as a weight on your shoulders, or will you see this as the opportunity to go on the adventure of a lifetime?

Will you see it as a way to gain financial success and notoriety, or will you see it as an opportunity to bring hundreds, even thousands along with you on this journey home; this journey to heaven?

Will you be barren and cursed or will you bear fruit and be blessed?

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

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We help you find vetted Catholic offshore talent to help your business grow. 

$500 upon hire and $500 if you're still happy in 30 days. 

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Don’t forget about The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide. Bookmark for future reference.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

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Another Monday! Another week is upon us. Another opportunity to carry out God’s will in the world!

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. We’re on a mission to bring you a bit of tactical advice or encouragement each Monday to start your week off well.

Today we’re talking about…

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events: Nashville, Dallas, YCP, and NYC events

• Feature Content: Prepare to Observe Holy Week

• Heavenly Hustlers: From Catholic AI to St. Joseph Socks

• Highlights: Read Leaving a Legacy, by Johann Kurtz

[read time: ~5.5 min | word count 1,239]

News / Events

• Tomorrow I’m hosting a hangout for Catholic entrepreneurs in Nashville. If you’d like to attend, register here. We only have 2 spots left.

• If you’re in NYC, don’t miss the Fides Entrepreneurship event with Tim Busch, the businessman and philanthropist known for his involvement in the wine and hospitality business.

• I’ll be at the YCP conference, HMU if you’d like to link up there.

• We have a couple of spots open for our Dallas dinner on the 12th of April. Register if you’re interested.

• We’re looking for sponsors to help fund this project. If you’re interested, drop us an email, admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

We're building the largest network of Catholic biz owners in the world.

It's for any Catholic biz owner who believes they are called to be an instrument of God's will in the world. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Curious? --> "What is the Catholic Founders Guild"

Prepare to Observe Holy Week

Holy week starts next Sunday. Hard to believe that we’re already coming to the end of Lent. But here we are.

Maybe your Lent was great. Maybe it was mediocre. Maybe you gave up entirely. Regardless of how it went, there is always the chance to end well. How to end well can be an art in itself. But as business owners, there is one thing in particular that we can do to end well.

Observe Holy Week by taking off of work.

I’m not asking you to take the entire week off. But I am asking you to truly observe Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Saturday. Take those days off, for you and your team (ideally paid leave if you can afford it).

Be uncompromising about Good Friday. Make it a day of no work. Set aside your day to pray and contemplate Jesus’ death on the cross. What does it mean for you? What is the weight of this sacrifice? How can you imitate Jesus’ example towards your employees? If you take none of this other advice, at least take this.

On Holy Thursday, consider doing something to serve your employees. Maybe make them lunch, then take the rest of the day off. If any of your team are not Catholic, invite them to the Holy Thursday mass and washing of the feet service.

On Holy Saturday, continue to observe the mourning of the death of Jesus. Place yourself in the shoes of the Apostles. Allow the silence to stew inside of you. Don’t play any music. Don’t respond to emails. Just leave work aside. Speak to God in this silence. Consider His sacrifice for you. No matter how much you want to pick up work and keep things moving. Let it be.

Our natural state as entrepreneurs is to work. It’s the default setting. But it’s not all that we are. We are given an intellect and a will to overcome these natural tendencies. Let’s make use of these faculties to be with God. To be with our family.

Of course, you should also invite your employees to the Easter Vigil / Sunday mass. This is a particularly great time for them to come and hopefully, witness many catechumens entering the faith. Perhaps it will inspire them, too.

It goes without saying, but really make sure to enter into Easter Sunday. Be present with your family. If you don’t already have some, consider establishing an Easter family tradition.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

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Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• ✨ Peter Cooney and his brother Thomas are building Acutis. A general-purpose AI guided by Church teaching/morality. In other words, it won’t suggest that abortion is fine and good.

• 🕊️ Dan DeMatte co-founded Damascus with the purpose of creating a generation of Catholics who are capable of living out their faith. Really fascinating project.

• 🔨 John-Michael Pauzé runs JMR Contracting, doing renovation projects.

• 🧦 Scott Williams, creator of SockReligious, is now growing Catholic Concepts. A group that will help Catholic orgs create and sell merch as the printer for others.

• 🎥 Frankie Garcia is the founder and CEO of Kalorama Studios. A production agency focused on visual storytelling for trade associations, think tanks & corporations. Love to see a firm like this picking with and sticking with a niche.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Thank you to Catholic Owned for helping us find some of these folks each week. Get listed today!

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Highlights

In case you missed it, we changed this section to focus on one or two key things we want to highlight each week. For the full list of resources, check it out here 👇

The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

Feel free to bookmark it as we’ll continue to update it. And if you have suggestions on what to add, ping us (even if you want to promote your own stuff).

Today’s highlight is a book.

Leaving a Legacy by Johann Kurtz

You’ve probably heard me mention this at least once, but it bears worth repeating. His book contains, what I think, is the key to saving Western/Christian living at least in the US.

We had the opportunity to have him on the podcast in January (listen here). If you listen to/read this book, I’ll make time to call you and discuss your opinions on implementing it.

If you’ve already read it and are on board with what he’s doing, I’d highly recommend checking out the thing he’s building called The Hancock Club (DM me, and I can put you in touch to learn more). The first chapter is launching in Texas.

I’m hoping the next one will be in Tennessee.

In case you have not picked up on it yet, I really like what Johann has written. I think it’s a huge solution to many of the problems we’re facing. As business owners, we play a crucial role in shaping the future around us. Both locally and nationally. Integrating the principles in his book can help us do that. The premise is one of building enterprises that direct capital and create family bonds and continuity that are hard to break, thus leading to a stronger society as a whole.

Looking forward to discussing this with you once you’ve read it.

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Happy Monday Y’all!

Welcome back to Saintly CEO - the newsletter Catholic Founders puts out (almost every) Monday. We are on a mission to help Catholics launch and grow their business with intros, coaching, a network, and accountability.

Reach out if you’re looking for support as you start your business. Transparently, we are still trying to figure out how to charge for these services, so you may end up getting a lot of free help.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events

• Feature Content:

• Heavenly Hustlers

• Highlights

[read time: ~5.5 min | word count 1,239]

News / Updates

• Last week we sponsored the Fides event in SF (check out the highlight) - Shoutout to Luca for pulling that together

• On March 24th, Derek McMonagle is presenting to the Guild on how to hack your temperament when doing business development. Join the guild to attend.

• Next week we’re meeting up in Nashville (join us!)

• March 28th the Wausau monthly meetup is happening

• April 12th, we’re meeting up in Dallas (stay tuned for link)

• We’re looking for sponsors for this project and our dinners — reach out if you're open to exploring this (admin@catholicfounders.com)

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

We're building the largest network of Catholic biz owners in the world.

It's for any Catholic biz owner who believes they are called to be an instrument of God's will in the world. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Curious? --> "What is the Catholic Founders Guild"

Business Presents Opportunities to Practice Mercy

Last weekend, I attended a half-day retreat hosted by our local YCP. The topic, Mercy.

The most striking thing the priest said in his talks - which seems obvious in retrospect - was that in Heaven we are united with God. If we are united with God, that means everyone in Heaven is also united with God. Meaning we are united with each other. Meaning… we cannot have any grudges in our hearts against our fellow man.

Yet, how often on earth do we harbor those thoughts of resentment, even if it’s just a little bit?

As a business owner, I think this is a huge area for me personally to work on, and I would imagine for others as well.

How often do we have a customer acting crazy and challenging us? Maybe a competitor is doing something we wish we had thought of. There are countless possible examples.

My question is (to myself and to you), have we forgiven these people? Have we offered mercy to them? Not in a condescending way to implicate them in some sort of crime against us. But in our hearts, have we accepted the wrong and let it go?

After all, we desire our fellow man to be in heaven one day. So why not start with forgiving them while we’re still in this life?

So, if you’ve got some beef left in your heart for a client or supplier that hasn’t always treated you well, this is your sign to let it go. Offer them forgiveness in your heart. Desire their good. Desire that they and you may one day be united in Heaven for all eternity.

Once this behavior becomes a habit, you’ll likely start treating people better in the moment. You’ll have more patience. And your peace of mind will benefit.

One final thing to consider is the way mercy can affect the receiver’s heart. If you have an employee who has stolen or someone who has committed a grave wrong against you. Offering them forgiveness can move them emotionally. It can have a transformative impact on their heart.

Just think of all the stories you’ve heard of a victim forgiving their aggressor. The more grave the offense, the more moving the story. I myself have been brought to tears many times in hearing these stories (I am a bit of a softie). There is a reason for this.

Considering this, recognize that one day - perhaps even now - you might find yourself in a position to offer mercy towards someone who has committed an offense. You have a chance to be like the king who forgave his servant who owed 10,000 talents. Take advantage of that opportunity to imitate God’s mercy towards us by forgiving them. Release them from their ‘debt’ - hopefully it will affect a change in their heart.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

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$500 upon hire and $500 if you're still happy in 30 days. 

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Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 👨‍🎨 Matthew Kilmurry is the CEO of Intrinsic Digital Brands. A digital brand holding company.

• 💼 Alex Ziolkowski is building… can’t tell you yet. It’s in stealth, but you should connect with him. He’s also a CF Guild Member.

• 📐 Ryan Huseman runs Forté Structural Engineering out of Amarillo, Texas. I met Ryan through SENT recently, and we’re having him on the pod soon to tell his story.

• ⚙️ Chris Greco is the Co-Founder of Goodlight AI where they use AI to help create a more complete picture of customers for retail shops. He’s based out of Kansas City. I also met him through SENT recently.

• 👔 Clint Branam runs Catholic Men’s Shop. They sell various menswear accesories, but primarily some slick neck ties. He’s based in the DC Area.

• 🐭 Trevor Britton works in marketing and websites, with a specialty of making custom animations. Based out of Iowa City, he’s a recent addition to the Catholic Founders Guild.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Share

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Become a sponsor today --> Admin@CatholicFounders.com 

Highlights

In case you missed it, we changed this section to focus on one or two key things we want to highlight each week. For the full list of resources check it out here 👇

The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

Feel free to bookmark it as we’ll continue to update it. And if you have suggestions on what to add, ping us (even if you want to promote your own stuff).

Today we only have one highlight.

Desync.ai — A Sales Tool for Selling to Catholics

This is a product that contains various datasets of Catholics. So, if you’re trying to reaceh Notre Dame alum, people who work at parishes, or beyond, check out this product.

A while back Mark stayed at my house for a bit and I got to see how this product works. It’s in its early days, but if you’re trying to sell to value aligned customers, this is a really great tool.

And, it’s pretty affordable. Would recommend checking it out.

Mark did give me a code for this community if you guys use it you’ll get $25 of free spend (250 credits). I don’t make anything off of you using this, he just did it as a gift to the community.

Just shoot me a DM/reply to this email for the code. Don’t want AI bots scraping this post for it.

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Hey you!

Notice how I didn’t say everyone? Well, that’s because despite this being a 1:N relationship, this post - and every post - is written for you.

Welcome back to the Saintly CEO. To say I appreciate you reading this is an understatement. After all, I’m literally obsessed with Catholic entrepreneurship, and to know that you are also into it makes me happy!

Today, we’re going to do things a little differently (do I have your attention now?)

1. I’m going to give you some updates / news (same old same old)

2. Then I’m going to highlight one specific thing that has stuck in my brain from a recent podcast episode (shorter than usual)

3. And then… drum roll please… I’m going to give you a little bit longer version of Heavenly Hustlers. More profiles and more detail. You could say, it’s going to be YUGE

At any rate, if you do enjoy today’s format - please do be a good fellow (or las) and let me know. Because, you know, it can get a little lonely writing into a void.

Oh an psst! As a reminder, the reason you should read this newsletter is that it’ll help you become a saint because of your business, not despite it.

[read time: ~9 min | word count 2,047]

News / Updates

• There is a kickass event for Catholic founders happening in SF this week — join if you’re around (and text your SF Catholic entrepreneur friends - we need to stick together) - Attend (yes, we are one of the sponsors)

• We’re looking to launch a monthly meetup in Columbus, Dallas, Nashville, and Austin - if you’re in those areas, get in touch to be involved.

• WE NEED MONEY! 🤣 This project isn’t free to run — if you’d like to support our mission AND make money (I know, give money to make money, such a concept), reach out to sponsor the podcast and newsletter (or maybe just one, who knows, depends on what you like). Email admin@catholicfounders.com to get in front of hundreds of Catholic business owners.

• We’re hosting a dinner in Dallas on March 12th. If you want to join (or sponsor) hit me up. VERY limited space.

• Nashville dinner/meetup: We are aiming tentatively for March 24th. DM me or email me to get on the list.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

We're building the largest network of Catholic biz owners in the world.

It's for any Catholic biz owner who believes they are called to be an instrument of God's will in the world. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Curious? --> "What is the Catholic Founders Guild"

The Unexpected ROI of Radical Presence

A few weeks ago, Dr. Daniel Tataje came on the pod(check it out here). He relayed something he does with his employees that struck me deeply.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve actually witnessed this in real life when I met him at the SENT Summit in 2024.

He becomes fully present with the person he’s speaking with. As if you’re the only person in the world. When I experienced this, it was obvious that he was busy with something else prior to that. But when I put out my hand to introduce myself, he set it aside instantly and looked me in the eye.

That year’s summit had a lot of conversations and key moments, but that specific interaction was the most memorable for me.

What he does with his employees is a bit further. He tells them that they matter and that the world is incomplete if they don’t use their gifts.

In his clinics (he runs a large dental group in Madison, Wisconsin), he gets every employee to develop this same skill for each of their patients. When they are with a patient, they are a gift to that patient, and that patient is a gift to them.

Those two people are not anywhere else. They exist ini this moment. Not in the future and not in the past. Because the present moment is the only one they have, they focus on realizing the weight of it.

Through doing this, their clinics have grown like crazy because their patients know they are going to be well cared for. They also have incredible retention of talent compared to others in the space because, again, they are cared for.

The crux, humans enjoy being treated as if they have infinite dignity because they are created in the image and likeness of God. It just clicks.

Pro Tip of the Day: Recognize that each person you encounter is a gift, and treat them like it’s true. You’ll be returning the favor.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

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$500 upon hire and $500 if you're still happy in 30 days. 

Email us your needs -> hire in days -> admin@catholicfounders.com 

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🤖 Nhan Dinh is the Founder and CEO of Seller Labs, based in Alpharetta, Georgia, where he builds AI-forward software for Amazon sellers. I got to meet him last weekend at the BuildWithChrist.AI event, where he was leading a table. He also has 9 kids (so yeah, he’s super Catholic). In the past he scaled his own e-commerce venture to an impressive $11M in annual revenue. Now, he focuses his talents on simplifying complex software architectures and integrating agentic AI to help sellers automate growth. He’s also very involved in his local parish. Someone we can look up to.

• 🎥 John Blanford is a filmmaker and entrepreneur who co-founded Pastime Pictures, based in Atlanta, Georgia, a production company dedicated to crafting timeless stories that inspire and offer moral virtues. John is currently producing projects that elevate the human spirit, including the "Great Battles for Boys" series and the feature film Monster Summer starring Mel Gibson. A unique aspect of his journey is his commitment to the intrinsic creative value of every crew member—a philosophy reflected in his company's name, which subtly honors his and his co-founder's humble roots as Production Assistants. I also need to note that I think he has one of the coolest websites/landing pages I’ve ever seen.

• 🪚 Chris Czarka is the President and Founder of Ellington Custom Cabinetry LLC, based in Nashville, Tennessee, where he leads a family-owned custom cabinetry business. Obviously, this is dear to my heart as the son of a cabinet maker. Their focus is to create functional art for the heart of the home. What’s really fun is that he actually has an educational background in Philosophy. I wonder how much that influences how he runs the cabinet business. The story of how he started his own cabinetry business is pretty fascinating. We hope to tell it soon here on the pod.

• 🎻 Alex Wolaver studied at Juilliard and also co-founded ManAlive Studios, a production company specializing in high-end music and television content. He and his five siblings, as part of the acclaimed Annie Moses Band, create faith-based media—including the Emmy-nominated PBS special The Art of the Love Song and the Catholic children’s series The Wonderful World of Benjamin Cello—aimed at restoring beauty and spiritual integrity to modern entertainment. They run Packard Playhouse, a theatre in Columbia, TN that puts on some incredible productions. Alex is notable for his family’s collective conversion to the Catholic Church in 2013, a powerful journey sparked by their deep study of the arts, sacramental theology, and the writings of Pope Benedict XVI.

• 🏋️‍♂️ David Joniak is an Air Force veteran and seasoned fitness leader who founded Rescue Coffee + Fitness, based in Nashville, a mission-driven hybrid gym and coffeehouse concept. Drawing on over 16 years of managing top brands like Orangetheory and TITLE Boxing, David's venture combines functional strength training with specialty coffee to foster community. A remarkable aspect of this business is its central commitment to fighting child trafficking, with 10% of all proceeds and 100% of donations going directly to organizations that rescue local children. He’s joined by Stephen Hill in this endeavor.

• 🕵️‍♂️ Stephen Hill is an insurance advisor and Assistant General Agent at Nelson Insurance Advisors based in Woodstock, Georgia. His specialty is helping business owners and self-employed professionals maximize tax deductions and retirement benefits. Stephen and David are doing some incredible work to end Child Trafficking. If you’re interested in helping, reach out today.

• 🔍 Pedro Cadena is the co-founder of Servorum, a specialized recruiting firm based in Monterrey, dedicated to connecting Catholic business owners with values-aligned candidates across the globe. Pedro was a seminarian in the past, but after doing some work with my firm, he decided to launch his own thing. He’s doing some amazing work helping companies hire great talent offshore.

• 🚀 Jimmy Coleman is many things! Among them, he’s the Chief Growth Officer at Arimathea, Founder of X Cathedra, and a recent podcast guest of ours (in case you hadn’t noticed these past two weeks). You already know about Arimathea from the pod we did with Daniel Catone (or at least I hope you do). On top of all this, he’s the President of the SENT chapter for Charlotte. In the past, he ran over 50 miles carrying a flag that said “Eat my Flesh” — if he’s not a winner, I don’t know who is. Jimmy is a joy to our Catholic entrepreneur community. You should reach out to him if you’re looking for help getting more leads.

• ☕ Matt Johnson, Colm Kirwan, Clay Campbell, and Chris Coyne are building Gloria Patri coffee. An unapologetically Catholic coffee brand. They are based out of the Nashville area (you might be noticing a pattern with this week’s profiles). Their goal is to create Transcendental Goods, to inspire daily prayer. I also need to say, the video on their home page literally gave me goosebumps without even having the sound on. Well done!

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Thank you to Catholic Owned for helping us find some of these folks each week. Get listed today!

Share

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Become a sponsor today --> Admin@CatholicFounders.com 

Highlight(s):

In case you missed last issue, we are changing the “Misc. Resources” (super original name) to be called Highlight(s) (even more original, amirite?)

Instead of a large list of resources, we’re just going to highlight one or two interesting things. Get the full list of resources here: The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

Feel free to bookmark it as we’ll continue to update it (we just added several events). And if you have suggestions on what to add, ping us (even if you want to promote your own stuff).

How Catholics Should Approach Layoffs in the Age of AI (CF Guild Discussion)

This Tuesday (tomorrow), March 10th, the Catholic Founders Guild is getting together (at 1 pm CT) to discuss how we should approach layoffs in the age of AI. There has been a lot of discourse about this since Jack Dorsey laid off 40% of Block.

As Catholic business owners, we know we have a responsibility to our employees because they have families to care for. So we’ll be discussing this. If you’re a member of the Guild, join us. If you’re not, consider joining us really fast to get added. You can do so by upgrading to paid here.

Fio — Catholic Spotify (App)

Fio just released audiobooks on their platform. So, now they have a ton of Catholic audiobooks for you as you journey through Lent. I just had the chance to hang out with Will Hickl in person yesterday as he’s visiting Nashville. He’s also a member of our Catholic Founders Guild. So be sure to check out Fio.

My favorite thing about their model is that they have decided to pay their creators a LOT more than Spotify does, because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Excited to see where these guys keep going.

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Happy First Monday of Lent! I hope everyone is off to a good start to the season. A season of letting go and offering up each part of our lives, to whatever God puts in front of us. So we may accept the battles at hand, rather than seek out a battle we’d feel comfortable with.

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Each week you’ll find…

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Updates

• Feature Content:

• Heavenly Hustlers

• (New!) Weekly Highlights

[read time: ~6 min | word count 1,386]

News / Updates

• Don’t miss our ‘breaking the founder bottleneck’ event this Tuesday (tomorrow). Exclusively for our Catholic Founders Guild members.

• We are starting a recurring monthly meetup in Wausau, WI — If you’re based there, check out the event link here.

• Come to the free BuildWithChrist.AI event in Atlanta on March 7th

• We’ll be hosting a dinner in Nashville, Dallas, Houston, and Austin in the not too distant future — stay tuned for details, and reach out to help organize.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

We're building the largest network of Catholic biz owners in the world.

It's for any Catholic biz owner who believes they are called to be an instrument of God's will in the world. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Curious? --> "What is the Catholic Founders Guild"

Empty Me, Fill Me, Use Me: A Guide to Networking

This past Saturday, one of the first things I did was open the Hallow app to listen to day 4 of the Pray 40 challenge. It was an interview with Mother Olga. Let’s just say, I didn’t plan on crying at 6 am on a Saturday morning.

The story is very moving, but one phrase she mentioned really stood out to me.

Empty Me, Fill Me, Use Me — this is a prayer she has when she’s invited to events or speaking opportunities. She intentionally sets aside her agenda and asks God to set her agenda for her.

I immediately imagined seeing someone like her at a big conference or event, right there with all the really important people. The people we all want to speak with and pitch. The people we want to “connect” with.

But in my mind, she would be with the important people, precisely because she had no agenda. Or rather, her agenda is driven by the Holy Spirit. If your agenda is that of the Holy Spirit, how much easier it would be to go up to those people you want to meet with total confidence.

The confidence comes from detachment to your own will — and confidence in God’s will.

I think there is a lesson here — both in networking and generally in business.

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The Choice

We fundamentally have two options in business. Our will or God’s will.

Reason has a role to play in performing God’s will, but what must happen first is intentionally relinquishing our will. So God can take over. Once we have made this prayer our own — Empty Me, Fill Me, Use Me — we can then begin down God’s highway.

Using This In Networking

With networking, instead of thinking how you can get something out of the event or meet someone, ask God to guide you to the people you need to meet — for your benefit or theirs.

Then tune into Holy Spirit FM — listen for and feel when the Spirit is calling you to walk up to someone — Empty Me, Fill Me, Use Me.

A huge part of this is noticing things. Noticing people — noticing our feelings — noticing when something just seems like the right thing to do.

Try this next time you’re in a situation that involves networking.

Using This In Business

In business generally, when making our short and long term plans, let’s practice the same thing — Empty Me, Fill Me, Use Me — surely this will lead to a better outcome. Better meaning, more in alignment with God’s will.

The Saintly CEO

Finally, imagine one of the holiest people you know. How do they carry themselves in situations like these? If you’ve not seen them in such a situation, imagine how they would behave.

Are they gunning to ‘connect’ with someone to achieve their agenda or do they flow more naturally?

You might be thinking — sure but the holiest people I know don’t run a business.

So what?

Why can’t you have the same holy characteristics as them while running a business? Why can’t the holiest person you know be a business owner? Perhaps if you take this idea of holiness seriously, you can become the holiest person others know — while still being a business owner.

Empty Me, Fill Me, Use Me — Let us make this our refrain each day. May it be the beginning of our commitment to doing God’s will rather than our own.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

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These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🥃 Raj Bhakta is the Founder of Whistle Pig Whiskey. He made headlines recently because he purchased the Green Mountain College and is giving it away to a worthy cause that 1) promotes the Catholic Faith and 2) preserves Western tradition. Could be you?

• 👰🤵‍♂️ Matt Brooks is the Founder of The Marriage Group. A Catholic marriage pre-canna course (and more).

• 🎥 Sonny Varela is the Founder & Executive Producer of Scope & Sequence. A video & creative agency that works with mission driven orgs.

• 🇺🇸 Matthew Peterson is the Co-Founder and GP at New Founding. A VC firm that is focused on investing in “The America You Want to Live In.” (Love that!)

• 📊 David Brecount is the founder of US Digital Partners. A marketing agency that works across design and analytics.

• 💰 Stephen Hepburn and Tim Hepburn are building Drexel & Co. Financial Planning. Gotta love a family duo (I know I do).

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Thank you to Catholic Owned for helping us find some of these folks each week. Get listed today!

Share

Highlight(s) (NEW NAME — who dis?)

We are going to change this section up a bit. In the past we had a list of various resources + some content we’ve been liking lately. But we are going to focus on highlighting one or two things each time now.

If you want the full list of resources, you can get them here: The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

Feel free to bookmark it as we’ll continue to update it. And if you have suggestions on what to add, ping us (even if you want to promote your own stuff).

Today’s Highlights Are…

Build With Christ (Event)

March 7th, 2026 at Phase Events, Alpharetta, GA

Watch professional teams build software for Adopt a Family. While there, get free coaching on how to use AI so you can upskill yourself.

The event is free to attend, but requires registration. There is also a virtual component for those who cannot make it in person.

Also, please note if you’re attending, they also offer free, professional childcare.

You can learn more about the event on the recent promo we did with one of the organizers, Michael Lyons.

Eliminate Owner Dependency (Event)

February 24th (Tomorrow) the Catholic Founders Guild is hosting our monthly expert call with Susan Fennema.

She’s an expert at helping business owners create and implement systesm so their busienss is not a prison.

This is a virtual event that is only open to paying members of the Catholic Founders Guild. If you’d like to join, you can do so here for $100 a year or $10 a month.

That’s all folks! See you next time — and don’t forget, you were created to create!

~Silas Mähner

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

PSA: Lent starts on Wednesday. (Hopefully, you knew this already.) Be sure to get your Ash in Church (sorry, I had to).

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Each week you’ll find…

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Updates

• Feature Content:

• Heavenly Hustlers

• Misc Resources

[read time: ~6 min | word count 1,295]

News / Updates

• Lent starts on Wednesday — be sure to get your ashes and to prepare, in order to make a good Lent.

• Keep an eye out — we’re releasing the podcast tomorrow instead of Thursday, because it contains some good advice about doing Lent well. AND it’s our first episode with a priest. Hyped for that.

• We’re planning to host a dinner/hangout in Nashville soon — reach out if you’re interested (if you’re local or planning to drive/fly in)

• If you’d like to host a meetup/dinner in your area, reach out — admin@catholicfounders.com

• Get your company in front of hundreds of Catholic biz owners by becoming a sponsor of the show — admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today
In my experience, the best way to improve yourself, is to go full emersion. Surround yourself with Catholic Founders who know their calling is to be instruments of God's will in the world. 

Through the content, community, and networking, you'll become a better Catholic business owner. 

Join a community of aspiring saints -- who also happen to be business owners. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Curious? --> "What is the Catholic Founders Guild"

How Lent Can Transform The Lows Of Business Into A Hand Delivered Gift From God

If you’re paying any attention to your faith, I’m sure you’ve heard plenty of advice on the three pillars of Lent: Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving. I won’t focus on those today.

Instead, let’s take the next 40 days to do one thing in our businesses, and let’s do it really well.

We’re going to offer up all the ‘lows’ of business to God.

In business, even when things are going great, there are challenges (things suck). It’s the nature of the beast. Our first instinct is to fix the business by getting rid of those problems, but we actually come closer to God by accepting them. There is nothing wrong with improving your processes so you don’t face the same issues tomorrow, but while you have them, don’t let them get you worked up.

Each challenge is an opportunity to trust God — to trust that ‘this bad news is not the end of my world.’ Let’s be real, if your soul is in a state of grace, no news is truly consequential.

If you started your business for the right reasons, you aren’t doing this for easy money or recognition. A Catholic Founder runs their business because they recognize they’ve been given a talent(s) and they had better not bury it in the sand.

The mystical part is that God is bringing us closer to Him through the business itself; we are answering His call. If we believe this, how can we not praise Him for the challenges He sends our way?

In most cases, we have no idea why He sent a specific challenge or what He is preparing us for. It doesn’t matter. What matters is accepting it as coming directly from the hands of God.

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We help you find vetted Catholic offshore talent to help your business grow. 

$500 upon hire and $500 if you're still happy in 30 days. 

Email us your needs -> hire in days -> admin@catholicfounders.com 

The Benefits of This Approach:

• Lower Stress: If you’re not worrying (because you trust in God) you’ll have a lot less stress.

• A New Perspective: You’ll see each challenge as a gift from God.

• Constant Prayer: You’ll think about God more often because each challenge makes Him present in your workday.

• Business Clarity: You’ll identify your bottlenecks quickly (nothing shouts “problem” like pain).

• Personal Calm: You’ll become more composed in other areas of life by mastering your response to professional friction.

Ultimately, practicing this acceptance is how we learn to say ‘yes’ to our cross.

By embracing our unique cross, we walk in unity with Christ as He carried The Cross (which bore the weight of the entire world’s sins). The more we unite our lives with His Passion, the more like Him we become. We grow in true love. True love is fundamentally about sacrifice — as proven by the ultimate sacrifice of His only-begotten Son.

3 Tips for Your Lenten Journey:

To wrap up, use these 3 tips to help you do this as you embark on your Lenten journey.

1. Journal for 5 Minutes Each Morning: Every morning, write down (in your own words — speak from the heart here) a commitment to accept anything you receive that day as a gift from God. Commit to bearing it all patiently and with gratitude.

2. Gift or Curse. You Decide: When bad news hits your desk, recognize that God is personally delivering you a gift. Whether that gift appears positive or negative depends entirely on your disposition toward it.

3. The Evening Audit: Before bed, review how you responded to those gifts. Where did you succeed? Where did you fail? Offer it all to God. Use this as an opportunity for humility. To recognize how reliant you are on Him for literally everything.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

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If you'd like to get your business in front of hundreds of other Catholic business owners, reach out to sponsor this project (prices as low as $50 per issue). 
Email us to inquire: admin@catholicfounders.com 

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 💼 Dan Fuerst runs Briefcase Marketing. Helping Catholic-run organizations launch websites and Google/Meta ads that inspire people to take action. Owner of Briefcase Marketing

• 🧔‍♂️ Tony Vasinda and Michael Marchand co-founded Catholic Balm Co. In case you’re interested in some of the story behind them, starting this co, check out this article. (PS: if you know them, intro me so I can get one or both of them on the pod.)

• ☕ Brian and Trisha Galvan run St. Benedict Coffee Company and are restarting their biz out of a food truck at the University Catholic Center at the University of Texas in Austin (learn more here).

• ✝️ Matt Zerrusen is the founder of Newman Ministry. Based in the Dallas area.

• 🧮 Gabriel Malavolti is the CEO of Tavola Group. A holistic accounting, tax, and business advisory services firm.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Thank you to Catholic Owned for helping us find some of these folks each week. Get listed today!

Share

Get in front of 100s of Catholic Business Owners
Become a sponsor today --> Admin@CatholicFounders.com 

Misc. Resources:

Groups:

• Join the Catholic Founders Guild (peer group) $10/month or $100/year

• Join We Are Catholic on Vinly — It’s free, and there are a ton of great folks there.

• Apply to become a member of SENT

• Fides Entrepreneurship Group

• Check out Catholic Owned

Events:

• Fides Entrepreneurship’s future events (NYC)

• Upcoming DOMINUS Lab Events

Content:

• Check out last week’s episode, where I explain the key lesson that Mozart’s life has for us as Catholic entrepreneurs.

• Here is the episode of Founders that spawned that idea.

Services:

• Hire Catholic Offshore Talent: admin@catholicfounders.com

• [Become a sponsor today AND support the show while doing]

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Welcome back for part 3 of 3 on why you’re called to build community.

It’s important to read Part 1 on the theology (the WHY) behind this idea — and Part 2 focuses on your parish and your neighborhood. Would recommend reading that too, but not critical before jumping into today’s post.

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Each week you’ll find…

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Updates

• Feature Content: Build Community In Your Business, and Within Your Industry

• Heavenly Hustlers

• Misc Resources

[read time: ~7.5 min | word count 1,648]

News / Updates

• We’re planning to host a dinner/hangout in Nashville soon — reach out if you’re interested (if you’re local or planning to drive/fly in)

• If you’d like to host a meetup / dinner in your area, reach out — admin@catholicfounders.com

• Get your company in front of hundreds of Catholic biz owners by becoming a sponsor of the show — admin@catholicfounders.com

• Please! Check out last week’s episode of the podcast with Dr. Daniel Tataje!!! His story is one that should inspire all of us with a few ways we can learn to be saints in business. Please listen to it and reach out to him if you’re looking for advice on growing your biz.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

We're building the largest network of Catholic biz owners in the world.

It's for any Catholic biz owner who believes they are called to be an instrument of God's will in the world. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Curious? --> "What is the Catholic Founders Guild"

Build Your Business Community

Alright! So far, we’ve covered community building in the Family, the Parish, and the Neighborhood. Now, let’s talk about building community in your business and with other business owners.

Your business is not just a way to make money. It’s an engine of community.

You have employees, customers, suppliers, and then the general public that interface with your business (especially relevant for brick and mortar).

What are you to do with this engine?

Number 1: Build Community for/with Your Employees.

Your employees are more than your employees. They are humans with human desires and needs. They want to feel a sense of belonging at work. This doesn’t always mean a warm and fuzzy work culture with beanbags and free lunches. In most cases, that’s actually not it. People want to be respected at work. They want to know their workmates and boss have their back. They want to be part of a bigger mission. They want to have opportunities to grow and be challenged. You can create that through how you treat your employees.

You can also help them foster friendships with each other.

Consider hosting events for your team outside of a work context. Volunteering for a community project, going to mass together, hosting a picnic, lunches, etc. Ways for them to be around each other, outside of the work context helps them to develop friendships. When this happens, they start to understand each other better and have more empathy for their co-worker in times of need or challenge.

This also helps with employee retention and recruiting (it becomes its own gravitational pull, keeping people there and bringing new folks into orbit).

Number 2: Build community with other business owners.

This relates to business owners in your industry, your local geography, and with other Catholic business owners.

Within Your Industry:

Developing a strong community with your industry peers helps with collaboration/partnerships, learning for you, helping each other out if needed, etc. And one last key thing is — the ability to shape the industry. If you can influence these others to act a certain way, say within a framework of Christian morals, couldn’t you imagine the entire industry trending in a certain way? Thus leading to better outcomes for all of your customers (aka, many humans).

In Your Local Geography:

Especially if you’re a brick-and-mortar, but even if you’re not, you live in a place. You’re surrounded by other business owners who have a vested interest in the success of the community. Why not host breakfast gatherings, dinners, or even just 1:1 coffee chats with them? You never know when the time may come for you, as a local community of business owners may come to help influence a city board meeting or maybe get approval for some community project y’all want to fund.

Especially if you’re in an area with high foot traffic, y’all together could do a lot to beautify the space, even just through how you decorate and maintain your shops.

With other Catholic Business Owners:

This may not seem obvious to you, but that’s okay, because I’m literally obsessed with this topic.

We as Catholics, who also run/own businesses, believe (know) ourselves to have the morally correct position on many matters (because the Church possesses the fullness of the truth). If we actually believe that, why wouldn’t we be involved in influencing the world around us towards that gold standard — truth?

If you’re serious about doing that, you’re going to want to have allies who also understand these same things. Other Catholic business owners who will put in a call, donate money, or offer their assets for your use. If you’ve got enough of you, you can achieve a lot of things.

On top of this, it gives you the opportunity to learn how other Catholic business owners are integrating their faith into their work. Or working through a tough challenge. This matters because we do not approach our challenges in the same way that a secular entrepreneur would. We know there is eternity behind each decision.

To build this community:

• Host general meetups

• Go to mass together

• Meet with them 1:1

• Rally behind their projects

• Join the Catholic Founders Guild (yes, it’s a plug - but it’s great, I promise)

Through doing this well, we can retake society for God. Much more easily than we can alone.

Unity for Good:

I must point out that the purpose of this coordination and collaboration is to operate in unity — in the same way the Trinity has perfect unity, we aim to imitate that. However, we must resist the urge to do things that just benefit us at the expense of others. None of this works unless we are acting in a morally acceptable way.

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$500 upon hire and $500 if you're still happy in 30 days. 

Email us your needs -> hire in days -> admin@catholicfounders.com 

The Bottom Line

At the end of all this, there are two key reasons to build community in business as we’ve laid out today.

1. To have influence so that you can organize this group of people to do things that are good for society. If you want to build a project for the community (say a mural) wouldn’t it be a lot easier to make that happen if you have dozens of employees willing to help out with time, as well as other influential business owners willing to pitch in financially and politically in your area?

2. To create a foundation of friendship, which is the soil upon which conversion can begin. Without this deeper, more than transactional relationship, you cannot invite people to mass. They cannot see what you’re about enough to get curious. The opportunities for sowing are just fewer when you’re just another transaction during their day.

Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s get to work.

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🍻 Thor Cheston is the owner of Right Proper Brewing out of DC. Shoutout to SENT Ventures for the recent highlight to help me discover him.

• 🧔‍♂️ Tony Vasinda is the co-owner of Catholic Balm Co. (They have some great beard balm, soap, and other men’s hygine products).

• 🤖 Alejandro Laplana is the founder and CEO of Shokworks, Inc. Founding Partner of Austin AI Lab. And an investor in many other companies. If you’re interested in where AI is headed practically, and want some strategic advice, I’d highly recommend reaching out to him.

• 💸 Eric Jones is the President of Workforce PayHub Inc and owner of Your Financial Solutions, Inc. Based out of the Detroit area.

• 🌐 Carson Weber is the Founder and CEO of On Fire Media, where they do digital marketing and website development.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Thank you to Catholic Owned for helping us find some of these folks each week. Get listed today!

Share

Get in front of 100s of Catholic Business Owners
Become a sponsor today --> Admin@CatholicFounders.com 

Misc. Resources:

Groups:

• Join the Catholic Founders Guild (peer group) $10/month or $100/year

• Join We Are Catholic on Vinly — It’s free and there are a ton of great folks there.

• Apply to become a member of SENT

• Fides Entrepreneurship Group

• Join DOMINUS Lab (kind of like Catholic YC)

• Check out Catholic Owned

Events:

• Fides Entrepreneurship’s future events (NYC)

• Upcoming DOMINUS Lab Events

Content:

• Last week’s guest beat PE firms offers to buy out dentist offices, even tho he had a lower offer. Learn why. (Yes, this is a very YouTube-esque title, but this is one of the best guests we’ve ever had on).

• I really enjoyed this episode of the Catholic Gentleman (The Husband’s Authority (4 Ways Men Are Called to Protect Their Families)

Services:

• Hire Catholic Offshore Talent: admin@catholicfounders.com

• [Become a sponsor today AND support the show while doing]

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Happy Monday folks! We’re back with part II of our community buildign series. If you missed last week’s please read it first for the context.

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Each week you’ll find…

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Updates

• Feature Content:

• Heavenly Hustlers

• Misc Resources

[read time: ~6 min | word count 1,183]

News / Updates

• If you’d like to to host a Catholic Founders meetup in your area, reach out so we can help organize it, provide the materials, and cover some of the refreshments. admin@catholicfounders.com - Subject line: CF MEETUP

• For Guild Members, if you missed last week’s call with Ryan Cruz, check it out. He covered how to fill up your pipeline using Content, Outreach, and Paid Ads. It was well-attended. If you’re not a Guild member, consider upgrading today to watch the recording and attend future events (we host 2 per month).

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

We're building the largest network of Catholic biz owners in the world.

It's for any Catholic biz owner who believes they are called to be an instrument of God's will in the world. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Curious? --> "What is the Catholic Founders Guild"

Building Community At Your Parish & In Your Neighborhood

Last week, we explored the theology of community, and building it for your family. But once the family is in order, where do we go next?

The Parish and your Neighborhood.

In America, most parishes have been decaying for decades. We are in a period of rebuilding. However, without a large staff of clergy, rebuilding is in our hands. We need to pick up our tools and start building.

Embracing this mentality is a counter to the consumerism behavior that our society promotes currently.

The good news, getting started doing this, is actually super easy.

Community Building In The Pews:

• Invite: When was the last time you invited a family from the parish over for dinner?

• Connect: Have you had coffee with a fellow business owner from your church?

• Organize: Start a rosary group or a simple study. These things require almost no effort, but they create communion. You can’t love a community you don’t actually know.

Community Building In Your Actual Neighborhood:

Most of us forget that our neighbors, like, actual neighbors, are our mission field. And by extension your street and entire neighborhood. How many of us know our neighbors to any serious degree?

Here are some ways to build community in your neighborhood.

• Host Dinners: Invite neighbors over for dinner to get to know them.

• Organize Outings: Invite several of your neighbors to a local event or museum to spend time together.

• Host a Block Party: This is a tad more work but a great way to light up the neighborhood and build shared community.

• Maintain Your Yard: This may seem silly, but simply creating a beautiful space has an effect on the community. How many folks will make their yard nicer when they see you putting in the effort.

There are many benefits to this including a safer community, people you can rely on, friends for your children, and increasing your network. But the most critical component to this is, through having exposure to your life, they have the opportunity to be touched by Christ through you — assuming you’re living your faith.

If you have a brick-and-mortar location, the same applies to that neighborhood as well. Even if it’s in an industrial park, there are ways to build community and welcome that exposure to your way of life. You could host a taco truck on Tuesdays drawing in more local employees etc. There are a lot of things you can do with physical locations — if you need ideas, reach out and we’ll chat.

To reiterate, none of this is done as a ‘scheme’ to convert people. This is done because it ultimately benefits our society. But, if we are living out our faith in practice, it will create the opportunities to invite people further into the faith. To invite them to mass and more.

Next week, we’ll wrap this up by covering how you build community within your business and among other Catholic business owners.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Offshore Talent
We help you find vetted Catholic offshore talent to help your business grow. 

$500 upon hire and $500 if you're still happy in 30 days. 

Email us your needs -> hire in days -> admin@catholicfounders.com 

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• ✍️ Keaton Tucker hasn’t launched anything yet but keep an eye on him. He’s working on something pretty fascinating.

• 🚗 Zuhair Madanat runs Auto Glass Experts in North Carolina. He’s grown the business rapidly and takes a very human-centric approach to how he runs the business. He credits God for everything. A very inspiring figure.

• 📚 Pat Neve is a fellow podcaster, substacker, and author, who just today, released a book called Save Your Parish. Check it out on Amazon today. We’ll likely have him on the show soon to discuss this idea.

• 💸 Dan Hamlet runs 360 Integrated Financial. Which he started after deciding he wanted to focus on Faith-Integrated investing. He even has a book on it.

• ⚡️ Stephen Filippo and his wife run JMJ Power. An org that helps churches and schools save money on their electric bill. He also runs a real estate outfit.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Thank you to Catholic Owned for helping us find some of these folks each week. Get listed today!

Share

Get in front of 100s of Catholic Business Owners
Become a sponsor today --> Admin@CatholicFounders.com 

Misc. Resources:

Groups:

• Join the Catholic Founders Guild (peer group) $10/month or $100/year

• Join We Are Catholic on Vinly — It’s free and there are a ton of great folks there.

• Apply to become a member of SENT

• Fides Entrepreneurship Group

• Join DOMINUS Lab (kind of like Catholic YC)

• Check out Catholic Owned

Events:

• Fides Entrepreneurship’s future events (NYC)

• Upcoming DOMINUS Lab Events

Content:

• If you didn’t see it, read last week’s Saintly CEO, check it out so you understand the context of today’s post.

• Check out last week’s episode with Federico Chavez-Torres on taking back magnificent as Catholics.

• I’ve recently been really enjoying the Cost of Glory Podcast on the lives of ancient Romans and Greeks by Alex Petkas.

• Check out the Founders podcast episode on Harry Snyder - the founder of In-N-Out Burger. There are a lot of lessons in there I think we as Catholics should apply to how we run our businesses.

Services:

• Hire Catholic Offshore Talent: admin@catholicfounders.com

• [Become a sponsor today AND support the show while doing]

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Happy Monday folks! Last Monday of January — can’t believe it’s already been a month. I hope your New Year’s goals are making good progress!

Today, we are kicking off a three-part series on community building. First, we discuss the ‘theology’ of community building and our responsibility to do so — along with the first community we need to focus on building: our family.

In the coming weeks, we’ll cover building up our parish, local, and business communities.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Updates

• Feature Content:

• Heavenly Hustlers

• Misc Resources

[read time: ~6 min | word count 1,343]

News / Updates

• We’re looking for partners to help us host local Catholic Founders hang-outs. If you’d like to become a host, reach out to admin@catholicfounders.com with the subject line “HOSTING HELP” and we’ll be in touch.

• We’re looking for anchor sponsors to help us fund this work — if you’d like to get in front of hundreds of Catholic business owners each week, reach out to admin@catholicfounders.com for more information.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today

We're building the largest network of Catholic biz owners in the world.

It's for any Catholic biz owner who believes they are called to be an instrument of God's will in the world. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

Curious? --> "What is the Catholic Founders Guild"

The Theology of Community and How to Build it For Your Family (Part 1)

If we want to take the culture back for God, big solutions are important. But we should first look at the foundational solutions that we can all affect.

Society is built on the family. Period. The family is the first natural community — a direct reflection of the Holy Trinity. In the root of the word “community,” we find communion. A togetherness. A shared life.

But look around. Most of us in the US are living in a state of severe isolation. Depression is at an all-time high, and it’s no mystery why. Man is a social creature. We weren’t designed to grind in a vacuum. Our perfect “end state” is perfect communion with God and the Saints in heaven. If that’s the goal, we have to start practicing that rhythm here on earth.

As Catholic founders, we have a specific duty of stewardship. But where do we start?

It starts with your family.

This sounds obvious, but many of us get it backward. We treat our vocation to marriage as something we “fit in” around our career. That is a disordered life.

It’s not about a “magic number” of hours spent at home. It’s about building a life that allows you, your spouse, and your children to orbit your faith. God is at the center, you and the family are scheduling your entire week around The Faith.

Faith and family aren’t a ball you kick down the field every so often to feel like you’re making progress. They are the point.

The Strategy:

1. Witness to the ‘Forced’ Community: In a sense, God ‘forced’ your extended family into your life. You didn’t choose them, but you are called to minister to them. You don’t need to go to a foreign land to be a missionary — start with your cousins and siblings.
   The point of this is to truly be there for your family. If you don’t know what is going on in their lives, how can you help them? If you don’t have a true connection, how will they feel comfortable coming to you in those times of need?
   All of us have family who need to hear the Gospel — how do we expect to do that without even spending time with them?

2. Cultivate Future Allies: Your job as a father isn’t an 18-year project. It’s a multi-generational legacy. You should be looking for other families who share your values now, so your children grow up surrounded by potential spouses and business partners who actually care about the Faith.
   Some see this as cold-hearted and old school, but is it really? Or is it just common sense? What parent doesn’t want their children to be surrounded by others who will help them, inspire them, and above all, encourage them to live out their Faith?
   Along these lines, check out this book, Leaving a Legacy. We recently interviewed the author.

Start This Week! (Challenge)

Look at your calendar. Do God and family get the ‘first fruits’ of your time? Or does your work force your family to ‘fit in?’ Pick one routine this week to move God and family back to the center. It can be something as small as an immovable block for morning prayer. Maybe you decide to listen to the readings of the day while sitting down with the family for breakfast.

There are plenty of things like this where you can show your priorities through your time. You show your love to God by doing this, and you show how to live to your children.

Next week, we’re going to talk about community building in our Parish and in our local community (town/city/neighborhood). Stay tuned for that.

Until then, God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Hire Catholic Offshore Talent
We help you find vetted Catholic offshore talent to help your business grow. 

$500 upon hire and $500 if you're still happy in 30 days. 

Email us your needs -> hire in days -> admin@catholicfounders.com 

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🔍 Mark Evgenev is building Desync AI. A data extraction tool that can help you find values-aligned customers (among other things). I met Mark the other day, and one of his goals is to make people smile more. It’s simple but profound. He said our generation doesn’t smile enough, and I agree. Let’s all be more like Mark.

• 🤵‍♂️ Chris Cottrell is co-founder and CEO of Shepherd’s Clothing, as well as the owner and co-CEO of Rite-a-Way Garage Doors and Gates, and Managing Partner at Verde Peak Partners (buying small businesses in Arizona, responsibly). (Chris, if you’re reading this, let’s get you on the pod)

• 🤳 Seamus Harvey is an expert marketer and is also building a personal training biz on the side. Follow for inspo on how to market well.

• ✝️ Sean Murray is building Catholicsm Rocks (Catholic Stickers)

• ⚙️ Matthew Longo is building CRMs for Non-Profits.

• 🏘️ Daniel Egan (past pod guest) has been doing side hustles forever, but recently just set out on his own in earnest. He’s building a consulting firm for PE firms that roll up home services businesses. He’s also the creator of the Angelus Bell Chrome extension.

Thank you to Catholic Owned for helping us find some of these folks each week. Get listed today!

Share

Get in front of 100s of Catholic Business Owners
Become a sponsor today --> Admin@CatholicFounders.com 

Misc. Resources:

Groups:

• Join the Catholic Founders Guild (peer group) $10/month or $100/year

• Join We Are Catholic on Vinly — It’s free, and there are a ton of great folks there.

• Apply to become a member of SENT

• Fides Entrepreneurship Group

• Join DOMINUS Lab (kind of like Catholic YC)

Events:

• Fides Entrepreneurship’s future events (NYC)

• Upcoming DOMINUS Lab Events

Content:

• Our episode with is still one of my favorites to date. Check it out if you care about Family Legacy at all. Perhaps you think we shouldn’t focus on it — all the more reason to hear a Catholic’s take on it.

• A throwback: #17 with on the moral importance of truth in marketing. Classic episode.
  

Services:

• Hire Catholic Offshore Talent: admin@catholicfounders.com

• [Become a sponsor today AND support the show while doing]

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Happy Monday folks! Welcome to another issue of The Saintly CEO. Today is short again (skipping Heavenly Hustlers). This time my excuse is, I actually did a good job of observing the Sabbath and just punched this out in the wee hours of the night. I hope you don’t mind the brevity this week. Soon I will be back into a somewhat normal schedule after we find our long term place in Nashville and client work dies down a bit.

If you’re new here:
The Saintly CEO is a newsletter that comes out every Monday morning with the intention of helping you learn how to run your business like a Saint — or rather, how to become a Saint through running your business.

If you believe that you’re called to be an instrument of God’s will in the world, and you’re a business owner, this is probably going to be one of your favorite corners of the interet — nay it will!

[read time: ~6.5 min | word count 1,422]

The Eye-Contact ROI: Why Treating People as a Gift is Your Best Growth Strategy

I recently recorded a podcast with Daniel Tataje of Mercy Dental. Out of the many pieces of wisdom he shared, one has really been stuck in my mind these past few days. He teaches every person on his team to look every patient in the eye and treat them, quite literally, as a gift.

It sounds simple, but I wanted to dig into what that actually means and why it’s so transformative for a business.

It’s Not a Tactic

First, we have to be clear: this is not a tactic you do for the sole purpose of benefitting your business. We don’t do this to make more money or for our own benefit. We do it because it’s the right thing to do — it is a truly Christ-like behavior.

To do this consistently, it has to be part of who you are — a fundamental belief rather than just a habit. You have to recognize intellectually that the person in front of you is a gift, created specifically by God, and there is no other person like them. When that is front and center in your mind, a certain type of communication happens beyond any words that are said. Deep down, they know they’re being respected.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today
Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. 

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. 

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

The Customer: Building on Dignity

When you recognize that a customer is infinitely loved by God and is a gift to you at that moment — because their time isn’t being spent with anyone else — it hits you in a certain way.

The impact is tangible. They enjoy the experience, they want to come back, and they tell their friends. But why? It’s because the beginning of a relationship is being formed. That’s all business is: relationships between people.

Customers will recognize that something is different about your business compared to the place that only cares about money, or the place where the employee hates their job and wants to leave every second of the day. You’ll even find they give you more deference; if there’s a dispute, they might go easier on you because they appreciate the relationship.

The Upward Spiral: Leading Your Team

The real question is: how do you get your employees to begin this “upwardly spiraling” positive effect?

It starts with you. You must look each employee in the eye and recognize that they, too, are a gift to you and to all of humanity. Employees will do what you do. If you have that level of respect in the interview phase, top talent will be drawn to you. You might not have the biggest salary or the best benefits, but you can offer something that is free and rare: true respect.

Imagine the impact on someone’s life when you help them recognize their own significance. Nowadays, so many people do not feel any level of importance. When you treat them with dignity, you gain more trust, more deference for your leadership, and a team that is willing to put in the hard hours because they respect the fact that you respect them.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent
In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. 

Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. 

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). 

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. 

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. 

To get started reach out to admin@catholicfounders.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started. 

The Bottom Line

When it is the core belief of every employee that each person has value, they can’t help but lift each other up. This breeds a workplace where people actually want to be, dramatically lowering the cost of employee acquisition because your people become your best recruiters.

Let’s recap the benefits of this behavior:

• Customer Loyalty & Referrals: People don’t just buy; they become advocates. They tell their friends and leave the kind of Google reviews that money can’t buy.

• Customer Deference: When a mistake happens (and it will), customers who feel respected are far more likely to be patient and forgiving.

• Talent Attraction: You win the “war for talent” not by outbidding on salary, but by offering a culture of significance that high-performers crave.

• Operational Efficiency: Trust leads to better follow-through. When employees respect you, they follow instructions more closely and work harder when the pressure is on.

• A Self-Sustaining Culture: This creates a workplace that uplift itself. Employees treat each other—and your customers—with the same dignity you show them, creating a reinforcing loop of growth.

And let’s not forget the merit we store up eternally when we make this behavior core to our every day life.

I don’t see how it’s possible not to have benefits from this behavior. But a final reminder: none of this is possible if it doesn’t stem from a true belief in individual dignity. You will see the benefits, but you must not do it for the benefits. Do it because each person is a gift from God, and they deserve infinite respect.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

Check back next week… hopefully by then we will be resuming the HH section…I think?

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Share

Become a Sponsor! Get your message in front of hundreds of Catholic business owners! Reach out today —> Admin@CatholicFounders.com 

Misc. Resources:

Content:

• If you care about building a family legacy (or if you’re against it) please listen to our episode with Johann Kurtz from last week. He’s the creator of the Becoming Nobel substack and the author of Leaving a Legacy: Inheritance, Charity, & Thousand-Year Families. This episode has a lot of gold in it.

• I’ve been loving the Cost of Glory Podcast recenetly to help me get educated on the classics. Not entirely related to business but does teach me a lot about being a great leader.

Groups:

• Join the Catholic Founders Guild (peer group) $10/month or $100/year

• Join We Are Catholic on Vinly — It’s free and there are a ton of great folks there.

• Apply to become a member of SENT

• Fides Entrepreneurship Group

• Join DOMINUS Lab (tons of resources to help build 1000 Christian Startups)

Events:

• Fides Entrepreneurship’s future events (NYC)

• Upcoming DOMINUS Lab Events

Services:

• OFFSHORE TALENT: Hire a Catholic Virtual Assistant through ParacleteVA (email us: dearcfpod@gmail.com)

• [Become a sponsor today AND support the show while doing]

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Hey folks. Keeping this ultra short because I just moved to Nashville last weekend and I’ve been a tad occupied getting set up 😅 (hopefully you can forgive me)

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Each week you’ll find… (well… not this week XD)

CF News/Updates | Tactical Advice to Run Your Biz Like a Saint | Other Catholic Biz Owners For You to Meet (Heavenly Hustlers) | And Some Misc. Resources

[read time: ~4 min | word count 897]

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today
Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. 

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. 

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

The Correct Pursuit of Ambition

During my drive to Nashville last weekend, I decided to binge The Cost of Glory podcast (~20 episodes), which explores the lives of Greek and Roman heroes through the lens of Plutarch. Listening to the sagas of men like Gaius Marius, Pyrrhus, and Eumenes, I couldn’t help but notice: these were men of immense talent and “virtue.” But most of them simply didn’t know when enough was enough. They crossed the line one way or the next and it led to their demise. In some cases to the demise of their progeny.

They pursued personal greatness as an end in itself. However, the more power they tasted, the more they hungered for, eventually leading to ruin. They weren’t striving for country or legacy; they were striving for themselves.

Naturally, I began to reflect on my own ambitions. How far can one go without crossing that line? Wouldn’t I be different?

This is the wrong question to start with, though. It’s not about how far you can go; it’s about the intention from the start.

Audacious ambition is only properly ordered when we do it for God with complete and utter resignation to His will.

The Roman heroes failed because their perspective was fundamentally selfish.

Our goal cannot be to build a monument to our own names. It must be to glorify God through using all the skills and gifts that He has given us. Our life, our station in life, our skills, etc. — all of these are from God.

Having ambition in this way is then a fulfillment of the call to be good stewards. We work diligently with all our might, but we accept the outcome.

Certainly, we can strive for a certain vision of where our efforts might lead. This is done best when we aim for a vision that is in line with God’s. But even if we don’t have that discernment, we can pursue this grand ambition with full resignation to God’s will. Because ultimately, we know He will direct the outcome.

Doing this is the path through which we come closer to Him. The same way you develop a bond with someone that you work with for years, you develop an even deeper bond with God through a lifetime of commitment to His will.

The next time you contemplate your goals, ask yourself: “Am I pursuing this for my own glory, or for the glory of God?”

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

SPONSOR Catholic Founders!
We are currently filling out our sponsorship spots for 2026 -- if you'd like to get in front of Catholic business owners around America, please reach out: admin@catholicfounders.com 

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent
In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. 

Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. 

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). 

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. 

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. 

To get started reach out to admin@catholicfounders.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started. 

Misc. Resources:

Groups:

• Join the Catholic Founders Guild (peer group) $10/month or $100/year

• Join We Are Catholic on Vinly — It’s free and there are a ton of great folks there.

• Apply to become a member of SENT

• Fides Entrepreneurship Group

• Join DOMINUS Lab (tons of resources to help build 1000 Christian Startups)

Events:

• Fides Entrepreneurship’s future events (NYC)

• Upcoming DOMINUS Lab Events

Content:

• A reflection on our need for personal transformation of heart (a pod)

• Jamie Baxter on having detachment while running a successful business (episode 44)

Services:

• OFFSHORE TALENT: Hire a Catholic Virtual Assistant through ParacleteVA (email us: admin@catholicfounders.com)

• [Become a sponsor today AND support the show while doing]

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Happy New Year Everyone!

This is the first issue of Saintly CEO for the year! Saturday, we shared our key lessons from 2025. Yesterday, we published a Sunday Special with Jamie Baxter, founder of Exodus 90. Tomorrow we have a surprise for you. And Thursday, we’ll have another episode as well. Lots of content to get the year started off (don’t expect this much content going forward).

Today, as always, the Saintly CEO newsletter helps you learn how to run your business like a saint. Each week you’ll find…

Tactical Advice & a List of Catholic Biz Owners (Heavenly Hustlers)

[read time: ~8.5 min | word count 1,886]

News / Updates

• 🍝 In 2026, we aim to host 12 dinners around the country for Catholic Founders. If you’d like to help make this happen in your city, reach out. We only need ~12 Catholic business owners, a space, and some food.

• 👀 Keep an eye out for a special surprise tomorrow.

• Sponsorships: We are looking for 3 anchor sponsors to support the show in 2026 — reach out to learn more admin@catholicfounders.com

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today
Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. 

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. 

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

The Foundation of a Saintly CEO: Why Personal Transformation Must Come First

The mission of Catholic Founders is simple: to give you the tools and frameworks to carry out God’s will through your work as business owners (to help you learn how to run your business like a saint).

But here is the hard truth we have to face as we head into 2026: You cannot carry out God’s will in the world if you aren’t consistently choosing His will over your own.

Because of our fallen nature, that choice is a constant battle. In fact, without God’s grace, it’s an impossible one.

The Binary Choice

Life, at its core, is a series of binary decisions: God’s will or my will.

We know how “my will” turned out for Lucifer. We know how it turned out for Adam. And if we’re being honest, we’ve all seen the wreckage in our own lives and businesses when we let our ego take the driver’s seat.

Logically, we know we are better off when we align with Him. So why is it so hard?

It’s hard because we haven’t undergone the personal transformation necessary to make that choice secondary nature.

Hire Talent That Actually Shares Your Mission with Verso Jobs.
Verso Jobs has built a gamified, data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values.

Their team understands your needs, goes out to qualified candidates, tests them through the gamified application. Then presents you with candidates who truly share your mission. 

If you’re a Catholic or conservative organization looking to cut through the fog, reach out to Verso Jobs to help you today. 

Whether you’re hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom.

Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights. ⛰️

Knowing the Mind of the Father

You can’t choose God’s will if you don’t actually know what it is.

Think about your closest friends. You know their likes, their dislikes, and how they’d react in a certain situation because you’ve logged the hours with them. You’ve listened to them.

If you think one hour at Mass on Sunday is enough to “know” the Creator of the Universe well enough to let Him direct your cap table, your hiring decisions, and your family life, you’re mistaken.

One hour on Sundays might be enough to know of Him, but it’s not enough to know Him. If you believe God is the one who holds the blueprint for your best possible life, you should be a lot more motivated to build up a strong rapport with Him.

Your 2026 Mandate

As we start this new year, I’m urging you to make a commitment to your own heart first.

None of the grand objectives you have for your business (no matter how noble they are) will reach their full potential unless you allow God to transform you from the inside out.

Sure, you can do some good things on your own strength. But imagine what’s possible when you’re actually operating in total alignment with the Will that created you. Just imagine how much further He will take you.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent
In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. 

Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. 

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). 

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. 

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. 

To get started reach out to admin@catholicfounders.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started. 

Tactical Steps for Transformation

Transformation doesn’t happen by accident; it happens through discipline. Here are a few ways to start:

• Immerse in the Word: Start Bible in a Year or Catechism in a Year on Hallow. A few minutes a day can substantially elevate your understanding of your faith and the scripture.

• Understand the Gospel: Listen to the Logical Bible Study Podcast. It breaks down the daily Gospel reading so you actually understand the literal meaning of the text.

• Practice Silence: Set aside 15 minutes every morning in total silence. Don’t ask for anything. Don’t run through your to-do list. Just sit with your mind fixed on God and listen.

• Seek Guidance: Start monthly spiritual direction. You hire coaches and experts in your business; why not have a spiritual coach? (find a spiritual director)

• Go to the Source: Attend Daily Mass when possible. Don’t just show up — really focus on the mystery of the Eucharist and ask Him to teach you His ways.

• Daily Bread: Read from the My Daily Bread book. It takes about five minutes, but you can read slowly, to soak it in.

• Study the Pros: Read the lives of the saints. We know they figured out personal transformation; their lives are great examples for us.

• The Power of Prayer: Pray the Rosary daily and meditate on the mysteries (learn how here).

• The Angelus: Pray it at 6 AM, Noon, and 6 PM religiously. It’s a physical and mental reset that reminds you why you’re doing what you’re doing (try this Chrome extension to remind you).

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today
We have a peer group of around 70 Catholic business owners who are truly dedicated to being instruments of God's will in the world -- through their businesses. 

If you want to journey with us, to figure out the unique way that God is calling each of us to be His instrument, join today by upgrading to a paid subscription of this Substack (click "upgrade to paid"). It's affordable so that anyone can join. 

Once you sign up, check your email for next steps and the screening process to make sure you're a good fit. 

Subscribe now

Heavenly Hustlers

Each week, we highlight a few other Catholic business owners (Heavenly Hustlers) so you can discover and make new friends in the Catholic entrepreneurship world. Check back every week for more.

• Adeline Rodriguez is the founder of Holy Trinity Home Care Agency based out of New Jersey, bringing faith and prayer into the home health care industry.

• James Reichert and some colleagues are building Cana.Wedding — a Catholic alternative to wedding planning sites like The Knot where the sacrament is front and center.

• Joe Roberts runs Frassati Designs — a web design and design-driven marketing company. Aside from this, Joe has a good number of other ideas and side hustles. Good person to bounce ideas off of.

• John Paul Makilya is the Founder and CEO of BaRIZI (Insta). They’re bringing color to your home at an affordable rate. I got to see his shop in the Westfield World Trade Center last month, and it’s amazing. Highly recommend checking it out if you’re in NYC. Second location coming soon.

• JP Gschwind is the CEO of SKUsafe. An AI-powered formulation tool that helps the food and bev space manage R&D properly.

• Brian Schardt is the co-founder of twitter famous Autopilot (the company behind the Nancy Pelosi stock tracker account). They’re tech hooks up to your brokerage account so you can trade like a politician.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Share

Big thanks to Catholic Owned for helping us identify some of these Heavenly Hustlers each week. Support other Catholic Owned businesses today! — Get listed today!

Become a Sponsor! Get your message in front of hundreds of Catholic business owners! Reach out today —> Admin@CatholicFounders.com 

Resources:

Groups:

• Join the Catholic Founders Guild (peer group) $10/month or $100/year

• Join We Are Catholic on Vinly — It’s free, and there are a ton of great folks there.

• Apply to become a member of SENT (monthly small groups of highly successful Catholic CEOs and Founders guided by a professional facilitator)

• Fides Entrepreneurship Group

• Join DOMINUS Lab (tons of resources to help build 1000 Christian Startups)

Events:

• Fides Entrepreneurship’s future events (NYC) (hosting in-person dinners and talk series in NYC for Catholic business owners)

• Upcoming DOMINUS Lab Events

Content:

• If you’ve not heard it yet, check out the Sunday Special with Jamie Baxter, founder of Exodus 90 on having detachment while running a successful enterprise.

• Planning to launch a business in 2026? Check out these 9 principles to consider.

• The episode we did with Jeff Carron is packed full of value. Check it out (bonus: his story is really cool).

• PLEASE read this book Leaving a Legacy: Inheritance, Charity, & Thousand-Year Families by Johann Kurtz — It is one of the most impactful books I have read in a long time. (PS: we’ll have an interview with him coming out soon).

Services:

• HIRING: Looking to hire top talent that is also bought into your mission and values? Give the guys at Verso Jobs a shout. Joe and his team are incredible at filling jobs accurately and fast. And they won’t break the bank.

• OFFSHORE TALENT: Hire a Catholic Virtual Assistant through ParacleteVA (email us: dearcfpod@gmail.com)

• [Become a sponsor today AND support the show while doing]

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

If you have not already, please PLEASE fill out our annual reader/listeners survey. It will help us improve as we head into 2026! God Bless you and thank you for your support in 2025. 

Take The 2025 Readers Survey

If you’re at all like me, I have a feeling you’re wondering where the heck this year went. Only two and a half weeks left for this year.

Today will be our last Saintly CEO post of the year since we have Christmas next week, and I’m in the middle of moving to Nashville. Plus, I need a bit of time to decompress and think about what next year looks like for Catholic Founders.

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Each week you’ll find…

CF News/Updates | Tactical Advice to Run Your Biz Like a Saint | Other Catholic Biz Owners For You to Meet (Heavenly Hustlers) | And Some Misc. Resources

[read time: ~13 min | word count 2,766]

News / Updates

• 🍝 Tomorrow we’re hosting a private dinner in NYC for Catholic Biz owners. We are at capacity, but if you are really cool and want to attend, reach out to me directly, and I’ll see if we can make it happen.

• 🤠 I’m moving to Nashville in January! If you’re based in Nashville, please reach out. I’m looking to make new friends as we get established in what we hope will be our forever city.

• 🛑 Last issue of Saintly CEO this year. We’ll be back in January.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today
Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. 

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. 

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

19 End of Year Practices: Spiritual, Personal, Business, Relationships, & Financial

The year is ending. Instead of just stumbling along into the new year, let’s bring some intentionality to it. Here are some of the practices I like to do at the end/start of a new year, and some that others have shared with me over the years.

Phase I: Personal & Spiritual Reflection

#1 Review Your Year

Do an annual review. You could do this as a blog post recapping the key events and lessons. You might consider doing a podcast-style discussion with you and your wife or your business partners.

This is the basis for the year, so you can reflect and learn from the year.

Keep in mind, this is helpful on the business front, but it’s also good on the personal side. Your future generations will appreciate it.

#2 Conduct an Energy Audit

For founders, it’s important to understand yourself. Review your past year of activities. Which events gave you energy? Which drained you? Which do you regret?

This requires honesty. Look at your calendar and identify the moments that lit you up versus the ones that dragged you down. Adjust accordingly in the coming year.

#3 Consider Where You Need to Grow Spiritually

The end of the year is a good time to review your spiritual life. Which practices did you lose throughout the year? Which area of your life do you feel is lacking or decaying?

Pray about this and commit to fixing it. Ideally, do this through spiritual direction.

#4 Take Note of the Themes From The Year

Spend time in prayer and contemplation, seeking God’s guidance, while reflecting on the year. Eventually, a theme will likely emerge. This theme could be the thing you struggled with, or the thing you did well. It will teach you something and help you decide what to focus on in the new year.

Just be sure to pray for an open heart to hear God’s guidance.

#5 Consider a Silent Retreat

Silence is going to be critical to identifying the key lessons from the year. I’d highly recommend at least a weekend silent retreat. Time in silence is how we hear God. He’s always speaking to us, but often, we are not listening.

This age-old practice is age-old for a reason.

Hire Talent That Actually Shares Your Mission with Verso Jobs.
Verso Jobs has built a gamified, data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values.

Their team understands your needs, goes out to qualified candidates, tests them through the gamified application. Then presents you with candidates who truly share your mission. 

If you’re a Catholic or conservative organization looking to cut through the fog, reach out to Verso Jobs to help you today. 

Whether you’re hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom.

Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights. ⛰️

Phase II: Business Health & Strategy

#6 Evaluate Strategic Risk

Are you, or one of your team, a key person that, if hit by a bus tomorrow, could really hurt the business? You have families who rely on you, and you have some plans in place should this happen. Find ways to reduce this risk.

Do you have one client who makes up most of your business? Consider diversifying by landing other similar clients.

#7 Review Your Key Constraints

A business grows through identifying the key constraint and removing that constraint. Identify your business bottlenecks and make plans to fix them.

If you don’t identify the constraint, you might be optimizing the wrong part of the business. Is it operations? Sales? Talent? Find the choke point and focus your efforts there.

#8 Conduct a Client Review

Which clients did you make the most money with? Which ones gave you the most headaches? And which were the easiest?

Determine this so you can find more of the good clients in the coming year, and find a way to release the bad clients. Most people never stop to recognize this, and they keep servicing clients that drain their resources. Fire the bottom 10% to make room for the top 10%.

#9 Check for Vision Drift

Identify if the vision for your team has drifted. Either focusing on the wrong things, or just in need of a reminder as to why we do what we do.

Remember, vision drift is actually natural. As the leader, you need to keep the team focused on the vision.

Phase III: Financial Stewardship

#10 Perform a Financial Review

Did you have lifestyle creep? Do you have a strong handle on the profitability of your business?

Are there areas you can reduce the cost of doing business? Is there room for negotiating down the products you have to procure? Dig into the P&L and see where the leaks are. It’s easy to ignore the small expenses when revenue is flowing, but they add up.

#11 Review Tax Allocations

Are there any last-minute contributions you can make to tax-deferred accounts to reduce the tax burden?

Review this with your CPA before the ball drops. There is often money left on the table simply because founders forget to maximize their tax-advantaged accounts or make necessary capital purchases before year-end.

#12 Conduct a Full Asset Review

It’s worth reviewing your assets at the end of the year: Physical, financial, and digital. Were your assets put to good use in the past year? How could they be used better in the coming year?

Are you giving enough to charity? Do you have a digital presence that needs deletion or updating (I update my personal website at least once a year). Ensure your assets are working for you, not gathering dust.

Phase IV: Relationships & Legacy

#13 Write an Ethical Will

I’ve heard of upper-class families, or big-time business executives, writing an annual Ethical Will. It’s similar to a normal will, but focused on addressing the key leaders in the business or the family.

It shares what lessons were learned from the year, what to avoid in the coming year, and other exhortations like that. I personally like the idea of writing a letter to all my future generations with the lessons and exhortations that would follow from those lessons so my future children and grandchildren can read at will.

#14 Hold a Family Meeting

Meet with your family to discuss the year. It’s especially important to include your children so they can reflect on their year and develop the habit for themselves.

Ask them what they want to focus on in the coming year. This helps them create a culture of goal setting and achievement. This would be a great time to talk about the 100-year goal for the family and how we can advance that goal this year.

#15 Do Relationship Maintenance

You may have key friends that you have not spoken with in a long time. This time of year is a good time to either host a party for them to attend (or plan for one later in the year) or to reach out to them directly.

Catch up with them over a phone call. Maintaining relationships and social capital is important for your business, your family, and your ability to carry out projects in the community.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent
In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. 

Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. 

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). 

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. 

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. 

To get started reach out to admin@catholicfounders.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started. 

Phase V: Planning for the Year Ahead

#16 Hold a Leadership Meeting

Just as you meet with your family, the same thing should be true for your business. Meet with all relevant members of the team to discuss the goals for the coming year.

Some would say this is only meant for leaders, but I honestly think that a lot of these discussions should include your employees, even to the lowest level, so they have a sense of ownership in the company.

#17 Set a Motto For the Coming Year

Based on your reflections, you may have an idea of where you ought to focus in the coming year. Make that your theme. For example, I recall dubbing 2024, the year of Focus (it was).

Importantly, you must find a way to recall this theme throughout the year for maximum effectiveness. Without reminding yourself of the theme or motto, you’ll likely find yourself drifting (although the act of committing to a theme tends to give you a decent subconscious guidance system).

#18 Identify the “One Thing”

Identify the most important thing for you to focus on in the coming 12 months. Similar to the bottleneck question, what is the key thing you can do in the coming 12 months, day in and day out, to drive your business forward?

It’s effectively the 20% of things that help produce 80% of the results. Whatever that is, focus on that and say no to the distractions that detract from that vision. Be it new ideas or small, insignificant product lines.

#19 Set Goals For the Coming Year

This may sound silly and basic, well, it is. Yet, many people do not do a goal-setting exercise. But doing so is critical. People who publicly state their goals are far more likely to achieve them (I forget the exact stats).

So make your goals, and state them publicly. Even if no one checks in on you, it will still help you achieve them.

One time, I stated on Twitter I was going to run 400 miles in a year. By March, I had done something like 15 miles. But because I had a public thread on Twitter, I ended up getting ahead of schedule by mid-year. Then finished the goal sometime in December.

This has been a relatively extensive list. I assume some will resonate with you more than others. Pick the ones that do and do them well. Please prioritize the spiritual ones! I cannot emphasize this enough.

Thank you so much for reading. God bless you! Blessed Advent, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today! 
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Don't wait! We have an incredible community of business owners across many verticals. Agency, Tech, Retail, Professional Services, etc. 

Join your tribe of 50+ Catholic business owners who, like you, believe their life and business is meant to be an instrument of God's will in the world. 

To join, click upgrade to paid today. Once you upgrade, you'll get an email with next steps to book a call with me and go from there. 

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Heavenly Hustlers

Looking to meet other ambitious Catholic business owners? You’re in the right place.

Meet today’s Heavenly Hustlers.

• 📈 Brendan Hickey is the founder of FounderGrow. He helps founders grow their sales/revenue. He’s got some solid experience — definitely reach out if you’re looking to grow revenue. Brendan recently joined the Catholic Founders Guild (you should too!)

• 📊 Josh Garbuio is the Co-Founder of Leo. An AI tool to help you with your digital marketing needs.

• 👕 Jack Ogle is the Co-Founder of Racct, Inc. A platform that allows you to list products for sale with one picture. They are betting big on the fact that Gen Z likes to buy second-hand.

• 🎥 Myles Vosylius is a film producer based in Canada, in the process of developing a new film. Reach out to him if you’re at all interested in helping fund his work. Check out his site.

• 🧴 Maria Tweed is the owner of Dr. Sylma. Currently a skincare brand (soon to be more). She’s a recent joiner of the Catholic Founders Guild as well!

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Share

Big thanks to Catholic Owned for helping us identify some of these Heavenly Hustlers each week. Support other Catholic Owned businesses today! — Get listed today!

Become a Sponsor! Get your message in front of hundreds of Catholic business owners! Reach out today —> Admin@CatholicFounders.com 

Misc. Resources:

• Groups:

  • Join the Catholic Founders Guild (peer group) $10/month or $100/year

  • Join We Are Catholic on Vinly — It’s free, and there are a ton of great folks there.

  • Apply to become a member of SENT

  • Fides Entrepreneurship Group

  • Join DOMINUS Lab (tons of resources to help build 1000 Christian Startups)

• Events:

  • Fides Entrepreneurship’s future events (NYC)

  • Upcoming DOMINUS Lab Events

• Content:

  • Here is our recent episode with 9 principles to consider when starting a business.

  • Check out our recent episode with Matthew Harvey Sanders — the man behind the Catholic ChatGPT.

  • I really liked this recent episode of Hormozi on a variety of topics — including sales and talent.

  • I re-listened to an old episode of Founders on the large family dynasties. Check it out.

  • Please, please consider getting this book, “Leaving a Legacy” by Johann Kurtz. We’ll be releasing an episode with him soon, but this book is really good for anyone who cares about doing God’s will in this world and being a true steward.

• Services:

  • HIRING: Looking to hire top talent that is also bought into your mission and values? Give the guys at Verso Jobs a shout. Joe and his team are incredible at filling jobs accurately and fast. And they won’t break the bank.

  • OFFSHORE TALENT: Hire a Catholic Virtual Assistant through ParacleteVA (email us: dearcfpod@gmail.com)

  • [Become a sponsor today AND support the show while doing]

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Hey folks — Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception (don’t forget to go to Mass today)!

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Each week you’ll find…

CF News/Updates | Tactical Advice to Run Your Biz Like a Saint | Other Catholic Biz Owners For You to Meet (Heavenly Hustlers) | And Some Misc. Resources

[read time: ~7 min | word count 1,533]

News / Updates

• We are hosting a dinner for Catholic founders in New York City on December 16th. We are tight on space, so reach out to me if you’d like to attend.

• ❗❗❗If you’ve not already, please do us a favor and fill out the end-of-year survey. It will help us improve this project massively as we head into 2026. Best part, it only takes about 7 minutes.

  Take Our Readers Survey

• I’ll be in Kansas City on January 9th. If you’re there and are interested in doing a Catholic Founders dinner, please let me know. I am not planning on it unless we get a decent response, since I’m aiming to visit some friends and clients that day.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today
Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. 

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. 

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

The Entrepreneur’s Advocate: Why We Need Mary in Our Business

As business owners, we face fires, fatigue, and uncertainty almost daily.

Today, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, I want to write briefly on why we ought to turn to Mary amidst the chaos.

For those unfamiliar, this Feast celebrates the conception of Mary without Original Sin. In a singular act of grace, God granted Mary redemption at the very moment of her conception so she would enter the world stainless. This prepared her to be the God-bearer, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Mother of God.

It is fitting that the woman who brought Jesus into the world would be pure, but her role didn’t end there.

If you are less familiar with the mysteries of Mary, I highly encourage you to go deeper—they are truly profound. Consider checking out the works of St. Louis de Montfort or The Glories of Mary by St. Alphonsus Liguori.

But for today, let’s focus on applying these mysteries to the life of an entrepreneur.

Hire Talent That Actually Shares Your Mission with Verso Jobs.
Verso Jobs has built a gamified, data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values.

Their team understands your needs, goes out to qualified candidates, tests them through the gamified application. Then presents you with candidates who truly share your mission. 

If you’re a Catholic or conservative organization looking to cut through the fog, reach out to Verso Jobs to help you today. 

Whether you’re hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom.

Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights. ⛰️

1. Turn to Mary for trust in the Lord.

Mary’s “Yes” to the angel was the supreme “Yes” of eternity. Without it, the story of redemption would look very different.

This wasn’t easy for her. She knew the weight of what she faced. Yet, she chose to actively set aside her fears and fully trust in God. She did the same during her Son’s Passion and death. Having knowledge of the plan didn’t make the experience less painful, yet she trusted the Lord and kept her faith.

When we face a payroll crisis or a market shift, we must ask for her intercession to have that same radical trust. Regardless of the challenge, her example can help us trust in the Lord.

2. Turn to Mary for guidance in your decisions.

Mary’s entire life was dedicated to carrying out the will of God. It was pre-ordained in a way (check my theology on that). So, why not turn to her when making decisions in our business?

She desires the will of God. She can help us desire the will of God as well. Her example can help us align with God’s will for our own lives and businesses, in big and small matters.

3. Turn to Mary in times of need.

Mary is the Mother of Jesus. What Son would allow the request of His mother to fall on deaf ears? We are certainly in good hands when we ask Mary to intercede for us.

A quick tip: Be specific. A friend once taught me to be precise with what you want and why you want it when you pray. He is adamant about this method of prayer. He’s also much wiser than me, so I trust him.

4. Turn to Mary for long-suffering.

Mary watched the torture and death of her Son—a Son she knew possessed no stain of sin. Beyond the emotional pain, she witnessed, perhaps, the greatest act of injustice.

When we face challenges, uncertainty, or the temptation to give up, let us turn to Mary for the strength to endure. She is the ultimate example of entering into suffering so that we can eventually enter into the glory of Christ.

5. Turn to Mary for wisdom.

I learned something profound from Steve Auth’s explanation of the painting Virgin Annunciate by Antonello da Messina. In the image, Mary isn’t simply accepting the angel’s message in blind docility. She is depicted deep in study and contemplation.

It is likely she had some idea of what was happening and what the prophecies meant.

If Mary, at a young age, had the wisdom to recognize the gravity of her situation, let’s ask for that same wisdom in our ventures. We need the grace to know the true weight of the situations we are in and the wisdom to act accordingly.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent
In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. 

Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. 

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). 

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. 

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. 

To get started reach out to admin@catholicfounders.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started. 

Honestly, I could write forever about Mary, but we’ll stop there.

From my own experience, the best way to engage Mary is through the Rosary and by frequently praying the Memorare. Through these habits, we gain the support of the Mother of God.

Have a blessed Feast, everyone! I’m confident that if you enter into this practice, Mary will guide your business in ways you have never known.

God Bless and Happy Building.

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

No heavenly hustlers today — if you know someone who is though, please nominate them (or yourself if you’ve not yet been listed). 👇

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Become a Sponsor! Get your message in front of hundreds of Catholic business owners! Reach out today —> Admin@CatholicFounders.com 

Misc. Resources:

• Groups:

  • Join the Catholic Founders Guild (peer group) $10/month or $100/year

  • Join We Are Catholic on Vinly — It’s free and there are a ton of great folks there.

  • Apply to become a member of SENT

  • Fides Entrepreneurship Group

  • Join DOMINUS Lab (tons of resources to help build 1000 Christian Startups)

• Events:

  • We’re Hosting a Dinner for Catholic Founders in NYC on the 16th. Reach out if you’d like to attend, as we have limited space.

  • Fides Entrepreneurship’s future events (NYC) (I’ll be at the Christmas party tomorrow)

  • Upcoming DOMINUS Lab Events

• Content:

  • Last week’s episode with Matthew Harvey Sanders, the creator of Magisterium AI, has been a hit so far. Check it out if you want to hear from, perhaps, the leading Catholic voice in AI.

• Services:

  • HIRING: Looking to hire top talent that is also bought into your mission and values? Give the guys at Verso Jobs a shout. Joe and his team are incredible at filling jobs accurately and fast. And they won’t break the bank.

  • OFFSHORE TALENT: Hire a Catholic Virtual Assistant through ParacleteVA (email us: admin@catholicfounders.com)

  • [Become a sponsor today AND support the show while doing]

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

IMPORTANT: 🚨 We just sent out our 2025 readers survey. If you have not already, please fill it out here to help us improve Catholic Founders in 2026.

Take the 2025 Readers Survey

Happy start of the new liturgical year. If you’re like me, this is always a fun time to break out the purple ties.

Welcome back to The Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Each week you’ll find…

Catholic Founders Events + News | Tips to Become a Saintly CEO | ~5 Heavenly Hustlers | + Several Misc. Resources

[read time: ~9 min | word count 1,968]

News / Updates

• 📆 On Tuesday, December 16th, in NYC, we are hosting a dinner for Catholic entrepreneurs. Location TBD. If you’d like to attend, register here.

• 📝 This morning (before this email), we sent out the 2025 Readers Survey. Please fill it out to help us improve Catholic Founders as we head into 2026.

• 📈 Help us hit our goal of 10 more paid subscribers by the end of the year by joining The Catholic Founders Guild today.

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today
Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. 

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. 

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

7 Considerations About Almsgiving

As Advent begins, we turn our attention to prayer, penance, and almsgiving. Inspired by Nathan Crankfield’s recent episode and with Giving Tuesday tomorrow, we will focus specifically on almsgiving (charitable giving). Here are seven key considerations for the Catholic Founder when giving.

Hire Talent That Actually Shares Your Mission with Verso Jobs.
Verso Jobs has built a gamified, data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values.

Their team understands your needs, goes out to qualified candidates, tests them through the gamified application. Then presents you with candidates who truly share your mission. 

If you’re a Catholic or conservative organization looking to cut through the fog, reach out to Verso Jobs to help you today. 

Whether you’re hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom.

Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights. ⛰️

1. Consider the nature of our possessions.

God is the one who grants us everything we have—our life, our skills, our interests, and financial success. To the extent we are involved, it is merely as a cooperator. This truth calls us to embrace the role of steward, not owner, of our possessions. With this perspective, the money is not truly ours, making it easier to give generously to those in need and to the Church.

We have covered this a lot in past issues and episodes of the podcast so I’ll leave it there. If you’d like more on this, check out the episode with Daniel Catone.

2. Consider detachment from money.

As Catholic entrepreneurs, I’m sure we have all spent some time thinking about or discussing the story of the rich man and the eye of the needle.

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Matthew 6:24

We should not presume that we are detached from love of money. In order to continue to mortify the desire to possess money, we need to force ourselves to give alms. We must to give to a point where it hurts. If it doesn’t hurt a little, we are not approaching our threshold. If it doesn’t hurt, we are remaining in the comfort zone of giving.

Seeking comfort is what starts us down the road of desiring luxury and excess. Hence the need to mortify the desire for comfort early in our life — before we have great excess.

See giving as a way to practice mortification in this realm.

3. Consider what the Church Fathers said about almsgiving.

• St. Cyprian, St. Basil, and St. Ambrose viewed the wealthy as God’s dispensers.

• St. Augustine taught that a portion of income is a ‘debt’ to Christ’s treasury, as what we receive from Christ far outweighs what we can ever return.

• St. Thomas Aquinas stated that, according to the precept of charity, the wealthy are bound under pain of sin if they neglect their responsibility to give to the poor.

4. Giving is a way to execute the works of mercy.

While cutting a check is one way to give, we should use the call to almsgiving as an opportunity to actively execute the works of mercy. Rather than sending money to a faceless nonprofit, consider buying and distributing the goods to those in need yourself.

If you need a refresher on the corporal works of mercy (as I did) here they are.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent
In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. 

Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. 

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). 

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. 

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. 

To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started. 

5. Giving properly can transform hearts.

When we give individually, we are not only practicing subsidiarity, but we are also giving God a chance to transform the hearts of both the giver and the recipient.

Contrast the impact of a meal received from a nonprofit employee in an official vest with that of an individual ministering to the needy directly. Getting to know the downtrodden personally, asking what is needed, and providing it.

This personal encounter is what makes the gift powerful—it is hard for a recipient to feel the full impact when receiving from a faceless, taxpayer-funded organization versus an individual who gave their own time and money.

Additionally, as givers, this personalized approach to charity provides an opportunity for conversion of our own hearts and a strong dose of humility. By supporting the downtrodden, we can recall our own smallness and dependence on God.

6. Giving is practicing justice, to our communities and to The Church.

A precept of the Church is to provide for the needs of The Church. We receive ‘services’ from The Church in the form of mass, confession, spiritual direction, etc. It is unjust for us not to give sufficiently so that The Church, and her ministers can be provided for.

7. Giving generously is a way to trust in God.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, giving generously — to the point where it hurts a little — is a way to truly trust in God.

When we withhold out of fear that we won’t have enough, we are telling God, “I don’t trust in you to provide for me.”

But this is nonsense. Jesus taught us to ask for our daily bread and told us the parable of the lilies of the field, assuring us God will provide. Giving generously is a way to intentionally place our trust in Him.

However, this isn’t natural. It must be practiced. And to perfect it, we need to ask for the grace to fully trust in Him above all things.

I saved this for last because our entire life comes down to one choice: God’s Will or My Will. Giving generously is a chance to practice choosing God’s Will.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Launch Your Podcast — Build Trust With Customers
Trying to bring in more leads? Launching a podcast might be the best move you haven’t made yet.

Saint Kolbe Studios helps Catholic entrepreneurs launch professional, mission-aligned podcasts that build trust and increase leads.

Their team walks with you every step of the way, from strategy and recording to branding and editing, so you can launch your podcast in under 90 days.

Get 20% off all services for the rest of 2025 because you listen to Catholic Founders. Just mention Catholic Founders when you reach out.

158 million people listen to podcasts every month, and that’s just in the US! Your ideal customer may already be listening to a competitor’s podcast.

Visit saintkolbestudios.com to get started.

Heavenly Hustlers

Looking to meet other ambitious Catholic business owners? You’re in the right place.

Meet today’s Heavenly Hustlers.

• 📊 Jacob Cremers is building Beans. A way to make data analysis simple and accessible. Think Figma but for data viz.

• 🔬 Joshua Pineault is the Co-Founder of Keystone Therapeutics. A biotech company with the goal of treating rare types of cancer. He has a fascinating personal story as to why he got into biotech. I’d reach out to him to learn more about it.

• ⚙️ Mark Powers is the CEO and Owner at Trinity Technologies, selling semiconductor components.

• 💰 Neil Ahlsten is at 1Flourish Ventures. A VC fund run by faith-based investors.

• 🔍 Peter Cetale is building Sourcerer, a platform utilizing AI to improve transparency in the supply chain/procurement process.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Share

Big thanks to Catholic Owned for helping us identify some of these Heavenly Hustlers each week. Support other Catholic Owned businesses today! — Get listed today!

Become a Sponsor! Get your message in front of hundreds of Catholic business owners! Reach out today —> Admin@CatholicFounders.com 

Misc. Resources:

• Groups:

  • Join the Catholic Founders Guild (peer group) $10/month or $100/year

  • Join We Are Catholic on Vinly — It’s free and there are a ton of great folks there.

  • Apply to become a member of SENT

  • Fides Entrepreneurship Group

  • Join DOMINUS Lab (tons of resources to help build 1000 Christian Startups)

• Events:

  • We’re hosting a dinner for Catholic Founders on December 16th in NYC. Register here to attend.

  • Fides Entrepreneurship’s future events (NYC) (I’ll be attending the one with Rob Kaczmark on Dec 4th. Let’s link up if you’re there).

  • Upcoming DOMINUS Lab Events

• Content:

  • We had an amazing episode with Mike Parrott recently — If you missed it, I’d highly recommend checking it out.

  • On a similar topic, we had a Catholic Founders Guild call to discuss family legacy and how to approach leaving money to your children. It was really eye-opening. To get access, upgrade to a paid membership today.

  • I recently heard about this book, Leaving a Legacy, by (creator of the Substack). Have not read it yet, but heard great things about it, and it also fits nicely with this recent theme of legacy.

• Services:

  • HIRING: Looking to hire top talent that is also bought into your mission and values? Give the guys at Verso Jobs a shout. Joe and his team are incredible at filling jobs accurately and fast. And they won’t break the bank.

  • OFFSHORE TALENT: Hire a Catholic Virtual Assistant through ParacleteVA (email us: dearcfpod@gmail.com)

  • [Become a sponsor today AND support the show while doing]

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Welcome back to another edition of Saintly CEO.

As always, start your week off with some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Today we have,

1. News/Updates

2. Feature Content (building a connected workplace)

3. Heavenly Hustlers

4. Miscellaneous resources

Why should you read? Reading this content will help you transform your business so that you can become an instrument of God’s will in the world—guaranteed.

[read time: ~7 min | word count 1,488]

News / Updates

• In SF, this week, Thursday (the 20th), there is a gathering of Catholic founders and investors. I’ll be there. I hope to see you too. Sign up here.

• In NYC, on December 16th, we’re hosting our Catholic Founders dinner. Location TBD, and total space available TBD. We could use help pulling this together, so if you have a location or can help sponsor, please reach out. Register here.

• Members of the Catholic Founders Guild met up in Texas (Houston and DFW) during Raffaele’s recent visit to the US (join the guild to see pics).

Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today
Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory. 

Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining. 

With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time. 

Join today for $100 a year or $10 a month.

The 4-Step Blueprint to Follow St. Thomas Aquinas’ Business Advice

In today’s world, many people are not engaged at work. A 2017 Gallup Poll shows around 85% of workers globally are disengaged.

Are you surprised?

Corporate culture treats everyone like a number, and HR does a great job at taking the human out of human resources.

Well, according to St. Thomas Aquinas’ teachings on man’s unity of soul and body in his actions, we can derive some principles that guide how we run our teams — while solving this engagement problem. I’m no Thomist, but I’ll do my best to explain this simply.

A thing is good when it operates in the service of the intended end (goal). When that end is distorted, so is its good.

In the context of human work, our work should bring good to others in the world in order to connect us with God as co-operators in his creation. So, when we bake a loaf of bread with the intention of providing nourishment for our fellow man, we can do it properly.

If we bake the bread only for the purpose of making money, we are not fully connecting to our divine calling.

Stop – think about that a bit.

If you only hired your team as a means to make you money, you’re unable to fulfill the proper end of human work. But, if your company has a mission that is connected to producing a good in the world, they can unite their work, through intention, to the divine calling (at least that’s how I understand this).

Note: This stems from Question 76 in Part I of the Summa.

The best part, when you’re able to create this type of workplace, you’ll also get more productivity out of your team.

To help you do this, we’ve created the D.A.R.E. Framework (not to be confused with the don’t do drugs program). This is a simple, four-part mechanism rooted in timeless Church wisdom — to rebuild your culture, reduce attrition, and align your business with the ethical principles that deliver true, lasting growth.

Hire Talent That Actually Shares Your Mission with Verso Jobs.
Verso Jobs has built a gamified, data-driven job platform to help you hire people who actually share your mission and values.

Their team understands your needs, goes out to qualified candidates, tests them through the gamified application. Then presents you with candidates who truly share your mission. 

If you’re a Catholic or conservative organization looking to cut through the fog, reach out to Verso Jobs to help you today. 

Whether you’re hiring for your startup, school, parish, or nonprofit — Verso makes it easy to find mission-aligned talent ready to build the Kingdom.

Visit versojobs.com or book a demo to get started — To the heights. ⛰️

The Disaster You’re Paying For: Why Disconnected Labor is Crushing Your Bottom Line

Modern workplaces operate on a lie: that your people are interchangeable commodities. This error — the very thing Laborem Exercens warns us about — is crushing your profit and your mission.

When work becomes mere drudgery, severed from the worker’s inner life, you get:

• Ethical Voids: Decisions based on profit, not people.

• Sky-High Attrition: The best workers leave looking for meaning.

• Low Morale: Employees are “coasting” instead of innovating.

Disconnection is not inevitable. It’s a structure you must dismantle. The Church has always envisioned work as redemptive. As a business owner, you are called to reform these toxic structures and unlock the human potential God put in your staff.

Your Solution: The D.A.R.E. Blueprint

D.A.R.E. is a guide for reconnecting the person to their God-given potential. No complex manual needed. These are the four steps to ensure your business promotes the common good and drives performance.

D – Dignity

• The Mandate: Honor every worker as imago Dei (made in the image of God).

• The Principle: Work honors God’s gifts and talents, redeeming through union with Christ.

• Your Ultimate Takeaway: View employees as ends, not means. This is your competitive advantage.

A – Autonomy

• The Mandate: Empower decision-making and professional growth.

• The Principle: Workers must share in decisions affecting their lives, exercising freedom responsibly.

• Your Ultimate Takeaway: Don’t micromanage. Instill ownership to spark creativity and personal responsibility.

R – Rest

• The Mandate: Balance toil with rest for body and soul.

• The Principle: Work must respect human limits, including Sabbath-like pauses.

• Your Ultimate Takeaway: You must prevent burnout. Prioritize spiritual and physical well-being over constant, frantic productivity.

E – Engagement

• The Mandate: Link every task to community impact and purpose.

• The Principle: Labor serves the common good, building solidarity in a “living community.”

• Your Ultimate Takeaway: Connect daily tasks to real, visible impact, transforming your business into true service.

Hire Catholic Overseas Talent
In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses. 

Often they’re treated as second class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss. 

So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon). 

With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward. 

How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days. 

To get started reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for and we’ll get started. 

How to Put D.A.R.E. into Action: Tactical Implementation

Apply D.A.R.E. step-by-step. Don’t try to change everything at once. Start small: pilot just one tactic from each letter this quarter.

D – Dignity: Treat Workers as Partners in Creation

• Needs-Based Pay: Aim to pay people what they need for their families. Doing so requires trust between employer and employee, and offers them respect for the work they are doing. This may be challenging for some companies with tight margins, but work your way into it, even if that means increasing your prices.

• Individual Recognition: Take the time to recognize the value each employee brings to contribute towards the company’s mission. This is not primarily about financial outcomes. Whatever you spend time recognizing will get more attention from the rest of the team.

• Human-Focused Hiring: When hiring, make an effort to understand the candidate’s natural skills and long-term career goals. When a role comes naturally they do better work. When their work moves them closer to their own long-term goals, they accomplish more.

A – Autonomy: Enable Free and Responsible Agents

• Train and Release: Don’t hold on to decisions that you can give to your team. Put in the requisite energy to train them so they can have autonomy in their role. It speaks to their soul and it helps you focus on even higher-value items.

• Family First: Allow employees the flexibility to meet their family commitments. Family always comes first so find a way to make it work. If they don’t have the ability to attend these duties, they, or their family will come to resent you – eventually leading them to quit.

• Front-line Feedback: Learn from your team what they are seeing. Not only will this help you stay connected to the work yourself, it helps you make better decisions. If Jensen Huang, CEO of a $4.6 trillion business does this, I’m pretty sure you should consider this. (As an aside, it should also lead to better products)

R – Rest: Integrate Pauses to Restore the Whole Person

• Observe Holy Days: On Sundays and Holy Days, offer a paid day off. It’s for you to worship and celebrate respectively. God comes first. No ifs ands or buts about it.

• Scheduled Rest: Regardless if the work is hands-on or mostly mental, having scheduled rest throughout the day prevents your team from burnout. It is also a great reset to ‘slow down’ so they are not making poor decisions.

• Check-In on Your Team: From time to time, you should ask your team how they are doing. Sometimes, you’ll notice, but in case you don’t, make it a habit. Their well-being is more important than your bottom line.

• Integrate Prayer: Starting the day and meetings with prayer, taking time during the day for the angelus, and other occasions is a great way to rest throughout the day in a way that connects us with our Creator frequently.

E – Engagement: Make Work a Service to Others

• Impact Storytelling: Ensure your team understands the impact their work has on the community broadly, as well as on each customer individually. On a regular basis, you can share stats about how many people the work has impacted. The same way you’d share updates on your financials.

• Local Supply Chains: Do what you can to bring your supply chain as local as possible and communicate it to the team. This way you deepen the ties with the community.

• Support Local Charities: If you have any excess or wasted product, give it away to those in need. These programs are done at large companies to make their brand more palatable, but you should be doing them even on a small scale because it’s the right thing to do.

Final D.A.R.E. Checklist: Your Monthly Audit

Do this review every 30 days:

• D: Are you respecting every worker’s dignity through fair treatment, or doing the bare minimum?

• A: Do your employees have ownership, or are they simply order-takers?

• R: Do your policies integrate rest to ensure a rightly-ordered life?

• E: Is your work benefitting the community (and do your employees know it)?

If you can say yes to all of these, you’re building a workplace in line with St. Thomas Aquinas’ teachings on connected work.

Take Action This Week

You have the blueprint. Don’t let this be another interesting article you forget.

Test D.A.R.E. this week. Pick one tactic to implement this week. Set a reminder each week to review the outcome and pick which area/tactic to focus on in the coming week.

Please remember, we are not called to build businesses so that we can enrich ourselves. We are called to build businesses that operate in unity with the way God made us. These are some simple tactics to lean into that calling.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Launch Your Podcast — Build Trust With Customers
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Heavenly Hustlers

Meet today’s Heavenly Hustlers (other ambitious Catholic business owners building for God).

• 🏋️‍♂️ Chris Coll is building up his Catholic 1:1 personal fitness training company — based up in Canada (so I bet his plan involves hockey… eh?)

• 💰 Francisco J. Lara is a teacher at the Busch School of Business at CUA and runs and co-runs a family office investing in a pretty unique way. Reach out to him, especially if you’re interested in the search fund model.

• 🛠️ David Michael Phelps is the President at Harmel Academy of the Trades in Michigan. He’s bringing back the trades! Let’s gooo!

• 🌮 Rogelio Romano, a fellow parishioner at St. Mary’s in Wausau, runs El Tequila Salsa. A restaurant serving authentic Mexican cuisine. I’ll comment, Rogelio has an incredible story of overcoming adversity and is a living example of generosity.

• 🔍 Adam Gross is a fellow headhunter, also in the sustainability space (mostly alternative fuels). Solid fellow out of Des Moines.

• 🎥 Matheus Bazzo is building, boldly, lumine.tv. A project using media to help create a Catholic culture in society. I was heavily skeptical before meeting him, but seeing the scale of what he’s built so far, was truly inspiring.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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Big thanks to Catholic Owned for helping us identify some of these Heavenly Hustlers each week. Support other Catholic Owned businesses today! — Get listed today!

Become a Sponsor! Get your message in front of hundreds of Catholic business owners! Reach out today —> Admin@CatholicFounders.com 

Misc. Resources:

• Groups:

  • Join the Catholic Founders Guild (peer group) $10/month or $100/year

  • Join We Are Catholic on Vinly — It’s free and there are a ton of great folks there.

  • Apply to become a member of SENT

  • Fides Entrepreneurship Group (NYC-Based)

  • Join DOMINUS Lab (tons of resources to help build 1000 Christian Startups)

• Events:

  • SF meetup, Nov 20th (Title: Catholic Tech Fellowship: Sainthood, Heterodoxy, and Obsession in Silicon Valley)

  • NYC Catholic Founders meetup, Dec 16

  • Fides Entrepreneurship’s future events (NYC)

• Content:

  • The episode with Jeff Schiefelbein plays well into what we said today. Plus Jeff is a fun person to hang out with.

  • I personally got a LOT of value/enjoyment out of the following podcast episodes:

    • My First Million: How Alex Hormozi Gets Other People to Build His $100m Empire

    • Zero To One from How to Take Over The World (only available to his paid subscribers — super worth it btw)

    • The Catholic Gentleman had a banger episode on the questions to ask before you get married and how to approach them.

• Services:

  • HIRING: Looking to hire top talent that is also bought into your mission and values? Give the guys at Verso Jobs a shout. Joe and his team are incredible at filling jobs accurately and fast. And they won’t break the bank.

  • DONE-FOR-YOU PODCAST PRODUCTION: If you want to build trust with future customers, reach out to Saint Kolbe Studios to help you launch a professional podcast. They help from start to finish.

  • OFFSHORE TALENT: Hire a Catholic Virtual Assistant through ParacleteVA (email us: dearcfpod@gmail.com)

  • [Become a sponsor today AND support the show while doing]

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