Kat Cole
CEO, AG1. On 4 shows, 7 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
executiveoperatorinvestor@KatColeATL ↗LinkedIn ↗drinkag1.com ↗Wikipedia ↗Instagram ↗
Kat Cole is the Chief Executive Officer and Board Director of AG1. She previously served as President of Cinnabon and President and COO of North America for Focus Brands.
4shows
7appearances
46statements
7resolved
4supported
2contradicted
57%fully supported
10said about them ↓ Everything Kat Cole said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Kat Cole hid in Hooters bathroom stalls to eavesdrop on candid feedback
“When I worked for Hooters and I was running the training department, so I was a, I don't know, a twenty-four-year-old director of training. For the corporate office, and when I would lead these workshops for managers and for franchisees, whenever we would go o…”
Cole: Cinnabon forfeited millions in EBITDA to restore franchisee trust
“We killed the initiative. We walked away from millions, millions in EBITDA. It was devastating for the company and the budget, but it was the only option to preserve the relationship with my franchisees”
Cole: Restoring broken trust outweighs the risk of emboldening stakeholders
“The biggest problem was repairing the trust, and I would rather err on the side of creating a little bit of a demanding monster on a basis of trust than be so cautious that I don't feed their demands that, that I don't fully repair the trust.”
Cole: Grocery CPG products do not cannibalize mall or airport franchise sales
“And the reality is that, you know, the first is more often true that these channels are completely separate of each other. Someone's impulse in a mall or an airport is not compromised by if they buy Cinnabon cereal at the grocery store.”
Leaders should initially assume all incoming critical feedback is entirely correct
“Whenever you're criticized, assume first it's correct. Just allow yourself. The opportunity to assume that something in how you're being judged or being given, you know, negative feedback is correct. And one of two things will occur as a result. Either, A, you…”
External leaders succeed because they are unburdened by historical sunk costs
“When a real hotshot does come in to take over a company or a team. They aren't burdened by the company's wins and losses. They don't feel saddled by sunk costs. They don't feel a sense of loyalty to a series of initiatives that maybe should be the very things …”
Cole: Roark Capital are the unquestionable kings of private equity franchising
“Because they were early investors in franchising and now You know, the kings, the unquestionable kings from a private equity perspective”
AG1 bootstrapped to $160 million in revenue before raising outside capital
“When I joined we were doing, at the end of that year, we did around a hundred and sixty million. It's the only time we've revealed revenue numbers.
[3960] Jeff Berman: All direct to consumer.
[3961] Kat Cole: One product.
[3962] Jeff Berman: Yep.
[3962] Ka…”
Hypergrowth companies often outgrow exceptional employees within two years
“Someone who was amazing for two years in a role, which might represent five years at a slower growing company, it might be time. It might be time for them to be in a different role or to no longer be with the company.”
Cole: When criticized, assume first that the criticism is correct
“Anytime, it's one of my favorite pieces of advice, anytime you are criticized, assume first it's correct. Just allow yourself to digest that, and then respond. And either you will reaffirm that the criticism is not correct, and you can focus more on the why an…”
Kat Cole: Ambition pulls toward a title, while drive propels from behind
“Ambition to me feels like going towards something like I'm going to be X. Drive is a force behind me propelling me in a direction.”
Cole: Managers need confidential human reflection to process feedback data
“There is still an element of confidential reflection that's needed for a manager to process what they're seeing, even if you give them really great data.”
Kat Cole: You cannot AI your way out of mommy issues
“You know, something that a Marlowe or any of these companies that are breaking it down into its parts and getting feedback, at some point it requires a human touch, like a one-on-one.
You can't AI your way to like your issues with your mom.”
Kat Cole: Pairing Human Coaching with Data Is the Right Approach Long-Term
“That's what's interesting about
Marlowe are platforms like it where they're pairing together the human coaching element with the data-driven feedback, the process orientation, and that is scaring away some companies and it's scaring away some investors, but I …”
Cole: Providing coaching at all levels boosts internal promotions and retention
“Getting people coaches at all levels increases the likelihood that some of your talent moves up from within, and you don't have to go find it externally. And then the retention is higher, and the cultural knowledge is higher, and they're all, it shouldn't be e…”
Employee feedback frequency should scale directly with the rate of organizational change
“The less change, the less often you need to ask. The more change, the more often you need to ask. So if there's a lot of shit going on, it's a made my day difficult every day, and every day there's change. If it's, you know, a little more spread out, you can d…”
Kat Cole: Feedback tools require cultural alignment and manager ego removal to work
“If you put in this feedback bot magnet, some MMDD log, Made My Day Difficult log, there must be an accompanying alignment around anyone who is in charge of receiving and acting on the feedback around the attitude, the culture, the removal of ego to the extent …”
Kat Cole: The upside of believing in people outweighs occasional letdowns
“The upside of believing in people is so high. And, not but, and some will let us down. And the frequency that I'm let down is so low compared to the frequency that I'm proven right in people's potential, and so it just feels like this tax. It's like a single d…”
Kat Cole: Gratitude Can Blind Leaders to the Need for Change
“Sometimes we can be so humble, so grateful for what we have, that we forget that we have the right, and in the case of being a leader or a parent, the responsibility of To work toward something better. And so I am an intense gratitudist and lead with gratitude…”
Kat Cole: Disappointment from default trust is only a single-digit tax
“The frequency that I'm let down is so low compared to the frequency that I'm proven right in people's potential, and so it just feels like this tax. It's like a single digit percentage tax that is a small price to pay for getting all the upside that comes from…”
Cole: Internal Promotions Give Former Peers Excuses to Resist Standards
“And so all of a sudden when someone is plucked out of the peer group to be a leader, then everything that you have done not perfectly becomes an excuse for others to not do it perfectly.”
Cole: Cinnabon launched Minibons in 7,000 Burger King locations
“Just a few months later, we had the opportunity to put an even more optically competitive product, a minibon, in 7000 Burger Kings. And when I went to the franchisees now with better systems and better communication to tell them about this opportunity, while t…”
Kat Cole: Assume criticism is correct before responding
“Anytime you are criticized, assume first it's correct. Just allow yourself to digest that, and then respond. And either you will You will reaffirm that the criticism is not correct, and you can focus more on the why and a productive relationship, or you realiz…”
The other half of the tape: Kat Cole's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 9 times in 5 episodes across the shows. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Shane Parrish 6Alex Lieberman 2Greg Isenberg 1
Statements about Kat Cole, by other people (1)
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
the Knowledge Project 6
Founder's Journal 2
the Startup Ideas Podcast 1
2026 3 mentions in 1 episode
2024 2 mentions in 1 episode
2022 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode
2021 2 mentions in 1 episode
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Kat's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KNOWLEDGE PROJECTLEDGER | CEO, AG1 | 4 | 20 | 0% 0/2 | full record on the Knowledge Project → |
 MASTERS OF SCALELEDGER | CEO, AG1 | 1 | 13 | 75% 3/4 | full record on Masters of Scale → |
| STARTUP IDEASLEDGER | CEO, AG1 | 1 | 11 | 100% 1/1 | full record on the Startup Ideas Podcast → |
| FOUNDER'S JOURNALLEDGER | CEO, AG1 | 1 | 2 | — | full record on Founder's Journal → |