Betsy Hamm: How She Helped Scale Duck Donuts From 20 to 200 Locations

On this episode of The Corvus Effect®, I sat down with Betsy Hamm, growth strategist, brand builder, keynote speaker, and founder of Lifted Studio. With more than 25 years across hospitality, entertainment, and franchising, Betsy reflects on helping Duck Donuts scale from roughly 20 locations to nearly 200 after joining the company in 2016. Betsy breaks down what fast-growing founder-led businesses need before they can scale: clear goals, stronger systems, defined roles, disciplined priorities, and a leadership team capable of keeping everyone aligned. She also shares what changed when Duck Donuts moved from founder-led ownership to private equity during the COVID era, and how communication and credibility helped her lead through pressure from multiple directions. Along the way, we get into Betsy’s transition into fractional work through Lifted Studio, why meaningful impact takes longer than a quick project, and how founders can become bottlenecks when their companies outgrow the team that originally got them there. We also talk about why the people required at 20 locations may not be the same people needed at 100, and why strong leaders have to balance accountability with trust, relationships, and emotional intelligence. Chapters: 0:00 Coming up 1:04 Introducing Betsy Hamm 02:33 Scaling Duck Donuts From 20 to 200 03:35 Building the Foundation for Growth 06:02 Balancing Growth and Financial Responsibility 07:18 Founder-Led vs. Private Equity 09:04 Leading Through COVID and Supply Chain Pressure 10:49 Keeping Teams Motivated During Crisis 13:41 Keeping Your Identity Beyond the Job 17:24 Why Betsy Hamm Chose Fractional Work 20:19 Why Real Business Impact Takes Time 22:23 Building Credibility With Founders 25:24 Prioritizing What Matters Most 27:44 Why Scaling Changes the Team 29:18 The Leadership Double Bind 31:20 People Skills Make or Break Leaders 34:09 A Message to Betsy Hamm's Daughters 35:39 How to Connect With Betsy Hamm 35:57 Final Advice for Growing Businesses The Corvus Effect® is what happens when a service business stops depending on its founder. If the business runs on you, you’re the bottleneck, you can’t take a real vacation, and it couldn’t be sold without you. This channel is about changing that. ▶ Work with Corvus: https://calendly.com/corvus-solutions... ▶ Take the Vacation Test: https://corvussolutions.co/vacation-t... ▶ Website: https://corvussolutions.co ▶ Contact: [email protected] Hosted by Scott Raven, Business Operations Architect at Corvus Solutions. #TheCorvusEffect #FounderLed #OwnerDependency