Aaron Cerrone: Build It Backwards — Define Success Before You Build the Business

This week, Kill Chain takes a step back from cybersecurity for a different kind of conversation. Aaron Cerrone — a 28-year military veteran and former chief of operations at U.S. Strategic Command, longtime entrepreneur, and former University of Nebraska Omaha business instructor — joins the show to talk about what it actually takes to build a business and a life that last.

It's a no-fluff conversation about defining success before you chase it, the myths around "follow your passion," the unglamorous reality of entrepreneurship, why relationships beat the best product, and why your health is the one thing you can't get back.

In this episode:

• Why you should define success first, then reverse-engineer the business
• The fastest way to ruin your passion — and what employers really mean when they want "passionate" people
• The grit it takes (ramen, sleepless nights, and the banker's 30-day ultimatum)
• Bootstrapping vs. chasing the VC, and why the customer is the real win
• Why the smartest person rarely climbs the corporate ladder
• Aaron's two-job recipe for becoming unstoppable in any business
• The hidden cost founders pay with their health

Chapters:
0:00 Cold open
0:20 A different kind of episode
1:24 Meet Aaron: the chameleon
8:56 Define success first
11:14 The passion trap
15:33 Do you have the stomach for it?
20:57 Most people are better off employed
22:47 Bootstrapping vs. chasing the VC
24:15 Everybody sells something
25:15 The two-job recipe for success
33:38 Why the best product doesn't win
46:19 Health is the one thing you can't get back
1:01:30 Do hard things

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