How a CEO structures a full day running a $100M company from home

Executive overview

Running a $100M company means spending your day on the problems no one else has solved yet. Most decisions are ambiguous, most meetings are draining, and clarity is harder to maintain than energy.

The video walks through a real CEO workday — morning routine to 8pm — showing how intentional scheduling, mid-day resets, and end-of-day reviews make the difference between reactive and effective leadership.

The CEO's job is to handle what everyone else has already failed to solve — protect your energy accordingly.

Morning routine and setup

• Oura Ring sleep check first thing; seven hours is the baseline target
• Everything set up the night before: breakfast measured, water bottle filled, tea kettle ready
• 200+ pushups daily; no shortcuts
• Batch intentional activities — tea, journaling, language learning — before checking any messages

Weekly planning and goal tracking

• Sunday: 1–2 hours with chief of staff to map the week against top priorities
• Monday: write down everything you're looking forward to that week
• Friday: compare what you anticipated vs. what actually happened
• Calendar is colour-coded by type (orange = fun, green = workout, yellow = learning) for a fast visual check on where time is going
• Current CEO priorities at AppSumo: recruiting and partner marketplace — every week is audited against those two

Themed days and meeting structure

• Monday/Tuesday: one-on-ones with the team
• Wednesday/Thursday: priority work — recruiting, strategy alignment
• Check texts, Slack, and Instagram only in the 15-minute window before the first meeting — not first thing in the morning
• Don't check revenue stats on waking; focus on controllable inputs

Navigating a hard day

• Leadership meeting hit a clarity problem mid-session; energy dropped across the room
• Key lesson: if a meeting loses direction, pause it — ask "what are we actually trying to solve?" rather than letting the debate run
• Took a mid-afternoon break (basketball, change of scenery) after back-to-back tough meetings; came back noticeably more productive
• CEO coach call happened to fall right when it was needed — external accountability surfaces things internal reflection misses
• Rule for emotional writing: if you're tired or frustrated, hit pause before sending

End-of-day review

• After the last meeting, go through each meeting and log the key takeaway
• Work with chief of staff to adjust future scheduling based on what worked and what didn't
• Day ended at 8:39pm after starting at 8am — Monday/Tuesday intensity is by design, not accident
• Mistakes are correctable; the goal is fast course correction, not perfection