At 18, Chris didn’t think he was launching a company.
He just wanted new rims for his Mustang.
The kind that made you feel like you were starring in your own version of The Fast and the Furious. So he called a wholesaler, pretended to buy for a customer, brought $460 cash to Miami, and drove off with the wheels.
But the real story began two years later.
Flat broke, behind on rent, and out of options, a friend asked: “Why don’t you sell your wheels on eBay?”
Chris saw those same rims selling for $1,000.
In that moment, his Mustang flex became a business insight. Arbitrage. Wholesaler access. High-demand product. That eBay listing didn’t just make him money—it triggered a mental switch.
And that switch is where true founders are born.
Chris didn’t follow a roadmap. He wasn’t backed or attempting to start a company.
But he was obsessed with learning.
He dove into marketing. Zig Ziglar. Dan Kennedy. Copywriting. Dreamweaver. Photoshop. He built websites. Wrote sales letters. Launched info products. Fixed his own credit—and wrote a book teaching others how to do it.
Every problem he faced became a prompt: “Can I figure this out myself?”
That mindset built a career, not from one big win, but a hundred small, scrappy, iterative experiments.
“Problems are secret calls to adventure,” Chris says.
The best founders answer them.
His first SaaS product, Call Loop, was a one-way messaging tool. But it wasn’t meeting the need. He wanted something more human and flexible. Customers wanted it too.
Chris built Salesmsg—a two-way SMS platform that integrates with CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce.
It’s built for connecting, not blasting.
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Speed to lead: Answer a new inquiry in seconds, not hours
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Confirmations: Reduce no-shows with a well-timed text.
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AI booking agents: Qualify leads, answer questions, and schedule demos through chat.
Instead of just selling software, Chris focused on building a philosophy:
“Conversations are good for business.”
The practical part is how Chris runs his team.
He’s focused on removing friction.
At Salesmsg, he created a living doc called the friction list for team members to log annoyances, inefficiencies, or unnecessary tasks.
One example: A team member was manually processing tickets—a repetitive workflow no one had questioned. Chris asked them to record their screen.
“I’m not here to oversee every detail,” he told them. “I’m here to find what we can automate.”
The result? They cut 7 hours a week from that process, allowing the employee to focus on more impactful work.
This process repeats across the organization:
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Support reps flag unclear Confluence workflows.
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Engineers document inefficiencies in product flows.
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Founders and execs submit screen recordings to analyze workflows.
It’s grounded in one principle: Kaizen—ongoing enhancement.
“Everything should improve a bit each week,” Chris says. “Even if it’s just 1%.”
Chris doesn’t view AI as a bolt-on. He sees it as the next evolution of the easy button.
Customers want outcomes, not features.
Salesmsg now includes AI agents that do more than respond:
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Qualify leads using custom prompts.
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Book meetings in Calendly or HubSpot.
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Reschedule, follow up, answer FAQs–all via text, 24/7
It’s not just automation. It’s compound leverage.
As internal documentation grew bloated, Chris used the same approach inside the company. Instead of searching Confluence manually, he’s layering AI agents on top of internal knowledge—so team members can ask questions and get immediate answers.
AI is enhancing clarity, not just capacity.
Chris’s company is bootstrapped, profitable, and remote. That means culture isn’t just an HR slide–it’s an essential framework.
Here’s how they construct it:
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Friction list: Constantly evolving, always prioritized
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Documentation: Record first, then refine.
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Roleplay with ChatGPT: Chris prototypes new sales flows by simulating scenarios with AI
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Principle-based autonomy: Set clear direction, then allow the team to find solutions.
He’s not trying to manage every detail. He’s trying to build a team that addresses issues before they escalate.
Chris raised $90K for an earlier venture, and that small amount created pressure he found uncomfortable.
Salesmsg was built uniquely.
The result?
He’s in control. His team is lean. His product is loved. And his customers pay real money–not just “waitlist interest.”
“There’s a lot of room between a lifestyle business and a unicorn,” he says. “You don’t have to give up control to build something significant.”
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Make your problems your syllabus. Don’t avoid issues–use them to learn more quickly than your competitors.
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Build a friction list today. One doc. One rule: If it sucks, log it. Improve weekly.
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Use AI to remove steps, not add noise. Easy button > feature list.
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Document and delegate. A Loom video can save hours for your team.
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Raise capital when you want to, not when you have to. Optionality is a superpower. Don’t give it away lightly.
“Problems are secret calls to adventure.” — Chris Brisson
If you’re a founder, start listening closely. Your next product, strategy, or breakthrough might be hidden inside the pain you’re ignoring.
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