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Guest: Jaspar Weir, Co-Founder and President of TaskUs
Overview: Most companies don’t fail because of a lack of effort. They fail because they never think BIG enough, never build the right systems, and never commit to the discipline required to scale.
On today’s show, Jaspar Weir shares how he and his co-founder, Bryce Maddock, built TaskUs from a scrappy startup—working out of a spare bedroom with secondhand equipment—to a publicly traded, billion-dollar-plus global enterprise.
This is a conversation about what it really takes: bold thinking, structured execution, hard decisions, and continuous self-improvement.
Start With a Vision That Feels Unrealistic
Jaspar and his co-founder didn’t start with a perfect plan, but they did start with a bold goal.
Early on, they set a 10-year goal to build a billion-dollar company based on a simple assumption about how fast they could grow.
“We said, if we just double revenue every year… we’ll be at a billion dollars in 10 years. People thought we were absolutely crazy.”
They didn’t hit that exact timeline, but the goal created clarity and momentum.
“You throw your hat over the wall … you don’t know how you’re going to get it, but you know you’ve got to go get it.”
Key Takeaway: BIG goals create direction even when the path isn’t clear.
Build Structure Early, Even If It Feels Like Overkill
One of the biggest inflection points in TaskUs’ growth was implementing a structured operating cadence early.
Quarterly planning, goal setting, and leadership alignment became core to how they ran the business, even when they were still small.
“It was probably fully overprocessed when we started… but it was the best thing we ever did.”
At first, it was difficult. Goals were missed, and the team struggled to think beyond the day-to-day.
But over time, they improved:
“You start getting better at the practice of setting goals and understanding what is achievable.”
Eventually, that discipline paid off:
“It’s unbelievable what setting goals can do… if you truly believe it throughout the whole business.”
Key Takeaway: What feels like too much structure early becomes essential as you scale.
Culture Becomes Real When You Measure It
Like many companies, TaskUs believed they had a strong culture early on.
Then they measured it.
The result: an employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) of 4.
“We thought we had this great culture… and we got that survey result back, and it was a 4.”
Instead of ignoring the data, they built a system:
- Measure culture quarterly
- Review employee feedback
- Set specific improvement goals
- Communicate results across the company
Over time, their culture scores rose into the 60s and 70s.
“We made that metric as important as revenue and profit.”
Key Takeaway: Culture isn’t defined by intention. It’s defined by measurement and action.
Make the Hard Calls as the Company Grows
As TaskUs scaled, one of the toughest challenges was people.
“The people to get a business from A to B are typically not the same people for B to C.”
Those decisions are never easy.
“You love them… you truly care… but if they’re not succeeding, you’re holding everybody else back.”
Jaspar emphasizes that moving on from someone can ultimately be the right decision for them as well.
“If they’re not thriving… they’re going to thrive somewhere else.”
Key Takeaway: Growth requires hard decisions and clarity about what the business needs next.
Coaching Accelerates the Learning Curve
Jaspar and his co-founder sought coaching early, not because they were experienced, but because they weren’t.
“We had zero experience… and we were just getting our ass kicked.”
They viewed coaching as a way to accelerate learning and avoid mistakes.
“If you want to be great, talk to people who are great and get coaching.”
They also treated their business like a form of real-world education:
“We needed to treat this like the business school that we never went to.”
And focused on learning from others:
“It’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes.”
Key Takeaway: Coaching shortens the path to growth by compressing time and experience.
Consistency in Execution Drives Scale
While many aspects of the business evolved—team, size, and complexity—the core operating rhythm stayed consistent.
“To this day, we still have more or less the same structure for our strategic planning.”
That consistency created alignment and clarity.
“The practice of getting together… to chart the course of the business is so important.”
Key Takeaway: Consistency in how you operate creates stability as everything else changes.
Final Thought: Why Not You?
For entrepreneurs who feel like their goals are out of reach, Jaspar offers a simple mindset shift:
“Why not us?”
Starting with minimal experience and resources, they built something extraordinary.
“If two kids who literally knew nothing right out of college… can build a business… there is no limit to your vision and what success can become.”
Key Takeaway: The biggest limitation isn’t resources, it’s what you believe is possible.
Listen to the podcast here.
About CEO Coaching International
CEO Coaching International works with CEOs and their leadership teams to achieve extraordinary results quarter after quarter, year after year. Known globally for its success in coaching growth-focused entrepreneurs to meaningful exits, the firm has coached more than 2,000 CEOs and entrepreneurs across 100+ industries and 90 countries. Its coaches—former CEOs, presidents, and executives—have led businesses ranging from startups to over $10 billion, driving double-digit sales and profit growth, many culminating in eight, nine, or ten-figure exits.
Companies that have worked with CEO Coaching International for two years or more have achieved an average revenue CAGR of 22.8%, nearly 2X the U.S. average, and an average EBITDA CAGR of 37.5%, nearly 3X the national benchmark.
Discover how coaching can transform your leadership journey at ceocoachinginternational.com.
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