Upscale Leadership

What Upscale Leadership does

Upscale Leadership is a privately held executive coaching and consulting firm founded in 2017 by Eric McCollom and operated as a sole proprietorship out of Knoxville, Tennessee. The firm delivers services across three pillars: Strategy Deployment, Organizational Development, and Operations Excellence, synthesizing established operating methodologies including EOS/Traction, Scaling Up, Hoshin Kanri, Lean Enterprise, and Six Sigma. Target clients are CEOs, leadership teams, and operations leaders at small, mid-market, and enterprise businesses seeking to improve strategy execution, build high-performing teams, and implement scalable processes. McCollom's positioning rests on his prior track record as President and COO of Red Stag Fulfillment, where he led the company from startup to a profitable, award-winning 3PL enterprise prior to exit.

The business carries no proprietary technology, software product, mobile application, or API. Service delivery is human-led and one-on-one, with engagements scoped and priced through direct contact rather than published rate cards. The go-to-market motion is sales-led and referral-driven, anchored on McCollom's personal brand, his LinkedIn presence, the company website, and client testimonials. The firm does not disclose revenue, headcount beyond a 1-10 range, funding history, partnerships, or third-party integrations, and operates with a deliberately narrow operating footprint consistent with a solo-practitioner professional services model.

Name

Upscale Leadership

Legal name

Eric McCollom

Website

https://upscaleleadership.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Upscale Leadership is a Knoxville-based executive coaching and consulting firm founded by Eric McCollom that helps CEOs, leadership teams, and operations leaders implement EOS, Lean, and Six Sigma methodologies to scale their businesses and execute strategy.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Executive Coaching & Management Consulting

NAICS

Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services (541611)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

C-Suite & Senior Executive Coaching (EDABANAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Executive Leadership & C-Suite Development (EDABAAAA), Talent Management & Leadership Advisory (Succession, Performance, Culture) (BPACAJAH)

Keywords

• Executive coaching services
• EOS implementation consulting
• Leadership development programs
• Lean enterprise transformation
• Strategy deployment consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Knoxville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Executive Coaching & Consulting Services: Professional services revenue generated through one-on-one executive coaching, team coaching, and consulting engagements for business leaders seeking to implement EOS, scale their businesses, and achieve operational excellence. Engagements are likely structured as retainer or project-based arrangements.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Upscale Leadership provides personalized executive coaching and consulting services across three core areas: Strategy Deployment, Organizational Development, and Operations Excellence. The firm helps business leaders implement proven operating systems including EOS/Traction, Scaling Up, Hoshin Kanri, Lean, and Six Sigma to scale their businesses and develop high-performing leadership teams. Services are delivered one-on-one by founder Eric McCollom on a custom engagement basis.

Product overview

Upscale Leadership is a coaching and consulting services company offering executive coaching, EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) implementation, and leadership development programs. The company does not offer a software product or platform. Services include Strategy Deployment, Organizational Development, and Operations Excellence consulting, delivered through personalized coaching engagements rather than a software-as-a-service product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategy Deployment Consulting A coaching engagement that helps business leaders establish a clear and shared vision, develop strategies with aligned objectives, and execute with excellence. Built around implementing proven management operating systems such as EOS/Traction, Scaling Up, and Hoshin Kanri to get leadership teams focused on the most important things and accountable to results. Targeted at CEOs, executive leaders, and business owners across any lifecycle stage.
• Organizational Development Coaching A people-strategy coaching program that helps leaders develop world-class teams by getting the right people in the right seats, building scorecards, defining roles, and improving engagement and retention. Includes a customized Leadership Coaching program covering communication, servant leadership, productivity software training, presentation skills, financial statements, and personality profiles. Targeted at executive teams and department leaders.
• Operations Excellence (Lean Enterprise) Consulting A consulting engagement that helps businesses implement scalable, customer-centric operations using the Lean Enterprise philosophy, including continuous flow, pull systems, standardized work, first-time quality, visual controls, waste elimination, root cause problem solving, and Kaizen. Targeted at operations managers and executives in production and service industries.

Quantifiable outcome

• 70%-90% of organizations fail to realize success from their strategies
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves3 records

Broad incumbents

• FranklinCovey: FranklinCovey is a large leadership and organizational development firm offering executive coaching, training programs, and content. It is comparable on the leadership development and organizational effectiveness services, but at enterprise scale and with proprietary content.
• EOS Worldwide: EOS Worldwide is the franchisor and primary brand behind the Entrepreneurial Operating System that Upscale Leadership implements for clients. It is the closest category-defining incumbent and shares the same EOS Integrator delivery motion at much greater scale.
• Dale Carnegie & Associates: Dale Carnegie is a global training and executive development firm offering leadership, management, and executive coaching services. It overlaps with Upscale Leadership's organizational development pillar and targets similar business leader buyers.
• Strategic Coach: Strategic Coach (Dan Sullivan) is a long-established coaching firm targeting entrepreneurs and CEOs with structured programs and proprietary tools. It serves the same CEO buyer as Upscale Leadership but at far larger scale and with productized offers.
• Vistage Worldwide: Vistage runs CEO peer advisory groups and one-to-one executive coaching for SMB and mid-market leaders. It overlaps with Upscale Leadership on leadership development and CEO advisory, but delivers through group settings and a large bench of chairs/coaches.
• RHR International: RHR International is a leadership advisory firm specializing in executive assessment, development, and coaching for senior leaders. It serves enterprise C-suite buyers with similar services to Upscale Leadership's executive coaching offerings, but at significantly larger scale.

Emerging players

• Predictable Success (Les McKeown): Predictable Success provides coaching, advisory, and training around Les McKeown's Predictable Success framework for scaling businesses. It targets the same mid-market CEO execution pain point that Upscale Leadership addresses with EOS/Lean.
• Tiger 21: Tiger 21 is a peer membership organization for high-net-worth individuals and CEOs focused on wealth preservation and peer learning. Its members overlap with Upscale Leadership's CEO buyer persona and often engage external executive coaches.

Direct peers

• Marshall Goldsmith Partners: Marshall Goldsmith Partners is an executive coaching firm focused on C-suite and senior leader behavioral change and leadership development. It is a direct peer in the C-suite executive coaching category that Eric McCollom's practice addresses.
• Gazelles (Scaling Up): Gazelles (founded by Verne Harnish) trains and certifies Scaling Up coaches who serve growth-stage CEOs on strategy execution and leadership. Upscale Leadership explicitly cites Scaling Up as a methodology, making certified Scaling Up coaches the most direct functional peer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/upscaleleadership

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Upscale Leadership