How Neil Patel Scaled NP Digital Past $100M (And What Most Founders Get Wrong)

When you hear Neil Patel — digital marketing entrepreneur and co-founder of NP Digital — talk about building companies, one theme keeps coming back: focus beats diversification.

In a recent interview on the Success Story Podcast, Patel dismantled one of the most common pieces of entrepreneurial advice: “diversify, diversify, diversify.”

“One of the worst pieces of advice people get when starting out is to diversify,” Patel said. “The thought leaders everyone admires made their money on one thing. Only after they built that asset did they branch out.”

The Trillionaire That Never Was

Patel illustrated his point with Bill Gates. By diversifying too early — selling Microsoft stock and following Warren Buffett’s playbook — Gates gave up what could have been history’s first trillion-dollar fortune.

Instead, Steve Ballmer, who simply held onto Microsoft and avoided massive diversification, has a higher net worth today than Gates.

The lesson for founders? Focus creates wealth; diversification preserves it.

Scaling Through Stages: Why the Same Founder Can’t Always Lead

Patel’s own journey scaling NP Digital to over $100M+ in revenue and more than 1,000 employees highlights another critical truth: different stages of growth require different leadership.

“The person who’s great from zero to $10M usually isn’t the person from $10M to $100M, and rarely from $100M to $1B,” Patel explained .

In NP Digital’s case:

• Patel’s co-founder led until ~$18M.
• Then a president was brought in to scale further.
• Eventually, they hired a seasoned executive from a competitor (iProspect) to aim for $1B.

The insight: founders must evolve their leadership team as the company evolves.

Hiring: The Most Underrated Growth Strategy

If Patel had to pick one biggest lesson from his career, it wouldn’t be about SEO or even focus. It would be hiring.

Patel stresses a counterintuitive but powerful hiring filter:

• Look for people who’ve worked at multiple competitors.
• Confirm they’ve been promoted repeatedly at those companies.

Why? Promotions prove not just competence, but consistent value creation.

“A lot of executives look great on paper or in interviews,” Patel warned. “But if someone has been promoted three, four, five times at a competitor, that’s proof they know how to scale.”

This approach has allowed NP Digital to leapfrog competitors by bringing in battle-tested talent with playbooks already proven in the field.

The Founder’s Dilemma: Builder vs. Manager

Interestingly, Patel admits he’s not a natural manager.

Despite building NP Digital into a nine-figure business, Patel insists he thrives best as an individual contributor and brand builder, not a CMO overseeing 300+ marketers.

His reflection echoes a broader entrepreneurial truth:

• Founders often excel at creating and innovating.
• Scaling, however, requires different skill sets and personalities.

Understanding — and accepting — this difference may be one of the most underrated founder superpowers.

Key Takeaways for Entrepreneurs

Neil Patel’s $0-to-$100M journey offers a roadmap for wantrepreneurs and founders alike:

• Focus first, diversify later. Your first big win should come from relentless focus, not scattered pursuits.
• Match leadership to the stage. The CEO that gets you to $10M isn’t always the one who gets you to $100M.
• Hire for proof, not potential. Repeated promotions at competitors are the clearest sign of scalable talent.
• Know your strengths. Not every founder is a manager — and that’s okay.

As Patel puts it, the right hires — at the right time — can be the true growth engine of your business.