Beate Chelette – Wild Business Growth Podcast #184: The Growth Architect, Selling to Bill Gates

How do you set your business up to not only scale, not only sell, but sell to a major company with a high profile? This week’s Wild Business Growth Podcast guest, Beate Chelette, has some steps to share. Beate is The Growth Architect. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and your other favorite podcast platforms.

• Episode Summary & Player
• Show Notes
• Wild Business Growth Podcast Summary

Episode 184: Beate Chelette – The Growth Architect, Selling to Bill Gates

Beate Chelette, The Growth Architect, joins the show to share her journey from studying photo design and moving to the US to selling her photography business to Bill Gates. Hear how to make your business sellable, set up systems and processes to scale your business, communicate these to your team, inspire fellow business owners, and the funniest way someone’s mispronounced her name. This episode covers everything from photo design to Bill Gates. Here’s a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:

• How long did Beate study photography before moving to the US
• What made her decide to start her own business
• How do you set up systems and processes to scale your business
• The What’s Next Method
• How do you communicate systems out to your team
• What’s the #1 thing to make your business sellable
• How does Beate inspire her clients as The Growth Architect
• Where’s her dream place to go skiing

Connect with Beate on Instagram and BeateChelette.com.

Enjoy the shoooooow! Check out the show notes below for much more detail.

Show Notes

• Intro & Photography
  • [0:32] Email me at to save time with your high-quality podcast and use it as a business-building tool
  • [0:42] Connect with Beate on Instagram and BeateChelette.com
  • [1:46] Beyoncé
  • [2:15] Jay-Z
  • [2:57] Where does Beate’s passion for photography come from
  • [3:33] Aptitude Test
  • [4:49] What grabbed at Beate’s soul
  • [5:03] Photoshop
  • [6:02] How long did Beate study photography before moving to the US
  • [6:12] Institute of Photo Design in Munich
  • [6:58] ELLE Magazine
  • [7:30] How would Beate summarize this adventure in 3 words
• The Beate Works Story
  • [8:01] Entrepreneurship
  • [8:03] What made Beate decide to start her own business
  • [8:46] What was appealing about going her own route
  • [9:55] Taking that segment out, as instructed
  • [10:31] Meeeeraculous!
  • [10:46] Debt
  • [10:49] How did Beate Works start taking form
  • [11:11] Levi Strauss Germany
  • [12:22] MaxPodcasting
  • [12:40] What photography specialty did Beate Works specialize in
  • [13:08] Ocean Pacific, Mossimo
  • [13:24] Wrangler, BMW, Mercedes-Benz
  • [14:25] What’s an example of a celeb in-home story Beate did
  • [14:55] Picture Perfect Truth
  • [15:00] Amaaaaaaazing
  • [15:30] Helmut Newton, George Hurrell, Douglas Kirkland, Oberto Gili, Nate Berkas, Peter Lindbergh
  • [16:39] Vogue, Hello! Magazine
  • [17:00] Architects, Interior Designers
  • [17:23] Julianne Moore
  • [18:01] Francis For Coppola, Madonna, Seal
  • [18:15] Fax Machine (what’s that)
  • [18:23] Email
  • [18:37] Bidding War
  • [18:51] This is true
  • [19:14] How do you set up systems and processes to scale your business
  • [20:03] CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
    [20:09] FileMaker Pro
  • [20:53] The What’s Next Method
  • [22:23] Zone of Genius
  • [22:56] How do you communicate systems out to your team
  • [23:04] Asana
  • [23:46] YouTube
  • [25:14] What’s the #1 thing to make your business sellable
  • [26:47] Equity
  • [27:34] Phenomenal!
  • [28:21] Let’s go sailing
  • [28:29] At what point did the possibility of Beate selling her business to Bill Gates happen
  • [28:51] Prague, Czech Republic
  • [29:21] Still hungry
  • [30:08] Spider-Man
  • [30:57] IKEA Canal Bike Picture
  • [32:38] Corbis
  • [33:32] How did Beate get in contact with the Bill Gates camp
  • [34:05] Commodity
  • [34:18] Save time with your high-quality podcast. Email me at to bring your podcast to life and use it as a business-building tool

• Inspiration & Creativity: People, Hobbies, and Resources
  • [34:39] How do you be and stay creative
  • [34:54] Podcasts
  • [35:29] Mindset
  • [35:54] Sensory Deprivation
  • [36:15] Zoom
  • [37:19] How does Beate inspire her clients as The Growth Architect
  • [38:00] Screen Time
  • [39:57] Income
  • [40:11] Onions!
  • [40:47] Spider-Man movie with 17 Spider-Men

• Rapid-Fire Q&A
  • [41:08] What’s the funniest way someone has mispronounced Beate
  • [41:28] Mazda Miata
  • [41:42] Piada
  • [41:48] Munich, Germany
  • [42:04] Nuremberg, Germany
  • [42:22] That was easy
  • [42:42] Christkindlmarket
  • [43:02] Glühwein, Spätzle
  • [43:31] Berlin, London
  • [43:42] What’s a quirk Beate has
  • [44:02] Comedy Class
  • [44:26] Vermont Skiing
  • [44:32] Argentina Skiing
  • [45:03] Stratton Mountain, Bromley Mountain
  • [46:07] Jesus, Max
  • [46:18] Connect with Beate on Instagram and BeateChelette.com
  • [46:39] Awwwww thanks, Beate!
  • [47:17] What are Beate’s Final Thoughts
  • [47:46] Follow the Wild Business Growth Podcast and tell a friend about the podcast. And 5 stars on Apple Podcasts & Spotify if you’re feeling super nice
  • [47:58] Check out the Wild Business Growth Podcast on GoodPods, where you can see what your favorite people are listening to
  • [48:00] Connect with me on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn @MaxBranstetter
  • [48:02] Save time with your high-quality podcast. Email me at to bring your podcast to life and use it as a business-building tool
  • Theme music: Freestyle Percussion Magik – “Jungle Tribe” – provided by Jamendo

What is the Wild Business Growth Podcast?

Wild ideas. Wild growth. Every Wednesday morning a new entrepreneur joins the Wild Business Growth Podcast to share the wildly creative and unusual ways they grew their business – and teaches you how to do it, too. Hear the minds behind WordPress, Stacy’s Pita Chips, Drybar, the voice of Bart Simpson, and more wild stories. Hosted by Max Branstetter (that’s me), Founder and Podcast Producer at MaxPodcasting.

How do you start a podcast?

Interested in starting a professional-sounding podcast for your brand, but don’t want to deal with the time commitment of all those behind-the-scenes details? I’ve got you covered. Email me at to save time with your high-quality podcast and use it as a business-building tool.

Thanks for listening to Beate Chelette on the Wild Business Growth Podcast. To hear more Wild stories like this one every Wednesday morning, follow the Wild Business Growth Podcast and tell a friend about it. And go stare at that bicycle canal picture from IKEA with them. Until next time, Let your business Run Wild…and Bring on the Bongos!!