D1 Athlete Built a Startup at 21—The Leadership Framework Behind His Growing Team with Walker Ferguson

His journey combines leadership , innovation and resilience as he navigates the challenges of balancing athletics and business . Walker is passionate about creating tools that empower personal growth and wellness , while sharing his insights on teamwork , focus and building something impactful from the ground up . Walker , I'm so glad you're here , man .

Thanks for being on the show . I appreciate it .

Here is your host , author and leadership and executive coach , Dr William Attaway .

I was team captain of the football team as well as the lacrosse team from sophomore year onward and I really learned how to put myself above others , right or sorry . Put others before myself , right , servant leadership , right .

How can I serve someone and make their life a little bit better and how can I put my teammates before myself to get to the common goal . And that got really instilled at an early age , in high school . And then I was fortunate enough to play football at Wake Forest . When I got to Wake Forest my leadership role was a lot different .

I was a scout team player for my first two years . I wasn't traveling and that's really where a lot of Ascend came in . But through that I kind of had a different role of leadership where I was still serving leadership , but I was no longer the team captain , right . I was no longer the guy that everyone was coming to .

I had more of a minor role where I could help others behind the scenes and build those relationships because I truly do believe you can love , you can serve and you can lead at any level , no matter if you're the team captain or you know your freshman year player on the team , right , you know your freshman year player on the team , right .

So that's kind of like how I like my leadership , like through sports

. And then like for Ascend , you know , that's been a whole whirlwind in itself . So sophomore year , kind of like I said you know wasn't playing right , not traveling , still on scout team , you know things at home weren't great and same with , like the social life , right , and my partner Hampton , the same .

He was going through something very similar at the same time . So from there , you know , we were about this low spot . We were either in the past depression or future anxiety , but we were never in the present moment , right .

So from there , that's when we really learned , like the power of meditation , the power of mindfulness , how to breathe , what gratitude was right .

So we ended up taking a step back and just realized , like you know , we are so blessed and like fortunate right now that we are at the University of Wake Forest , like playing football , Like not many people can say that , and like that's a blessing in and of itself , right .

So kind of my journey kind of like went on a little bit more , just kind of like learning , right , I'm a Christian guy myself , no-transcript , because for me prayer was speaking to God and meditation was listening , right , and Hampton was a little bit different .

He's more of a , he took more of the stoicism approach , right , and we were both teaching each other a lot of things and learning a lot .

Right , we had gotten a free application through a school called Calm , which I'm sure you're familiar with , and we loved how it gave , you know , base meditations , base sleep stories , right , and nobody beats a Matthew McConaughey or an Adam Sklar voice , right . But nothing felt specific for the user . Right For what we were going through when we weren't playing .

Right , not only to reduce stress and anxiety but also to see ourselves achieving on the field . Right To get to where we wanted to be . You know , visualization to achieve a goal . So that's kind of how the idea of Ascend transformed .

And getting back to your original question about leadership , you know I'm a firm believer that you got to find the who before the what , and when you find the bus starts rolling , right . Jim Collins said it best in his book Good to Great , and you know that's what we've been able to do at Ascend .

You know we've added three more people now to the growth team . We hired an intern and we're figuring out some tech things on the tech side of things . But you know , I've learned a lot . I learned how to serve others in a different capacity that wasn't sports and at the end of the day it's like how can we work

together , allow everyone to maximize their strengths , to work towards a common goal ? Right , because that's what life's all about is synergy . So a little bit about me and my story .

It's called all the seven habits of highly effective people , and that's unbelievable . But , like in the last chapter for the seventh habit , he talks about sharpening the salt , right . The spiritual , the mental , the physical and the social and emotional .

And for me , I'm a big planner , so on Sunday I'll write out , kind of like , how I can do that this week and how I can mesh that in , because if I can take care of myself and recharge my batteries , then I'm able to give my energy to my team , I'm able to give my energy to the send , and that comes down to discipline too .

It's just doing the things that nobody wants to do , just embracing the suck . So , yeah , that's what I would say .

Um , and we didn't really think getting on the play store for Android would take that long and you know , to be truthful , it's been a very long time and we're still pushing it on Android . And then from there , yeah , we'll still have it , we'll have a true MVP out on both and then from there , you know we have big dreams and goals .

We want to really get the app to that calm level of an app right , to get our voice actors implement them into the AI , animations , user flow , better homepage , all these new features that we really want to get out in 10 to 12 weeks when the true MVP is out on iOS and Google Play .

And it's just so tough because that's when I've really been tested as a leader too , because it's like I don't know how to do those things right . It's like anything else . If it's like I don't , I don't know how to do those things Right , it's like anything else .

If it's like growth related , sales related , like I can learn , I can spend the time to do it and figure it out , but like I don't know how to code , so that's been really tough and a really tough challenge

just to find the right people to kind of learn and grow , cause we kind of hit the jackpot early on , to be honest , with you , with our developer Colin who , with you , with our developer Colin , who's unbelievable , but he ended up having to resign because he had to go work for Vanguard and they had to non-compete , so we lost a pretty heavy player on the team

. But our hand-to-nose attitude was always like , well , good , we'll figure it out . Right , because it's like with the right team , with the right people , you learn and grow . And right now we're trying to figure out who we can get on the development .

The development team that you know , with our bootstrapped budget , you know can help us grow and get to where we need to go . So I would definitely say the challenge most challenging part , without me blabbing , is definitely the tech side of things to getting the product up . So how ?

They like to do things that nobody else wants to do and they like to go the extra mile . And they're both . They're a little bit weird , kind of like myself , right . So getting those people on the team was like instant , right .

So as soon as we were at that stage , I recruited both of them and we got them going right away because I was like you guys are going to be great on growth . God's so good too , and life is about synergy and who you meet . I reached out to a man named Mark Oldham who is a golf professor .

He's in the golf world , right , and I was reaching out about advice to connect us with some golfers to help spread the word about the app he ended up connecting me with one of his daughters , morgan Lee Oldham , and she ended up becoming our CMO after Hampton I had met with her and talked to called Alpha Sites , which was a knowledge on demand firm , and from

there I really got good at using LinkedIn and like Sales Navigator to find the right people . So , as weird as it sounds , I was able to use like Boolean strings and find like really specific people on LinkedIn , be able to contact with them and then connect with them , send them a note and then try to get them on the phone .

And when we got on the phone , I was able to talk with them and that's how we found our UI UX developer , as well as the other developers we've been talking to . So that's fantastic .

It's like how can we all use our skills and our attributes to get to where we want to go , but keeping the end goal in mind , while we started this thing , right , to not become a billion dollar company , but to help a billion people live happier , healthier lives . And we truly embody that .

And that's why that , when you ask anybody on our team what great means , they'll spit it out for you just like that , because that's the values , right ? And without your values , without your vision , you're never going to get to where you want to go , because everyone's got to be bought in and believe in .

sharing with them during the interview process ?

And then , regarding the tech side of things , we will interview the tech guys with Colin , who is , like I said , resigned , and he'll make sure that they have the base understanding , the base knowledge to be able to do the best job , that they're qualified .

And then from there , me and Hamp will do a behavioral interview and just make sure they meet the team's values and where we're going Because , like I said , if you don't have the right people on the bus , the bus isn't going to move , and we definitely figured that out pretty early on with a couple of employees that we had to let go as well in the first

year .

I'm a firm believer in second , third chances , right , because I like to see the best in people and I truly do believe that a lot of people really do have good hearts and they want to serve others and get to where they want to go .

But we had , you know , one , and we had a one team that we hired for like a marketing company in reels , and you know , we were just getting them like two , three weeks late , like they weren't good quality and it was just we just rushed it . To be honest , we weren't ready to be getting anywhere .

So that one was a little bit easier , just to say , like you know , it really wasn't working out . You know we'll pay you for you know , the reels , but then after that let's kind of just part ways . We don't necessarily need to be doing business together because we definitely don't have clear expectations , and that's a really good learning experience .

So glad it happened to be able to define your expectations upfront and make sure every single team member is on the same page so we all , like I said , can contribute to that common goal , right , and that was definitely a big learning one for me . And then the other employee we had we hired off LinkedIn too .

She definitely promised a lot of things with , you know , getting in the newspaper a lot of like journalism things , pr , like all of these things , and it wasn't being delivered and there was constantly just like I have a migraine . You know I have to do this , I have to do this , x , x .

And you know , I just got to a point where it's like this has happened like 25 times now and it's like it's just this is just a habit , right . It's like how much grace can you give ? Because I'll be the first one to say that like I love giving people grace .

Like if you can't make a meeting , someone comes up with your family , like I get it like a hundred percent like family's , always first in my book , um , but when it's that like that , that was definitely tough .

So that was the first like true conversation that I had to have , like face to face um with him and really just have that tough conversation and just be like . You know , this isn't working

out and now we want to part ways , but , like I said , you know God's so good . It was another learning experience and everything was a blessing because I got to learn and I got to know what I'm looking for in team members in the future , what we are looking for for team members in the future and how we can learn and grow together .

So you know , it was a blessing in disguise , because it was a great learning experience .

Because everyone has something to offer this world and everyone's story is so powerful . So just being able to listen , it's really good .

What's next for you ? What's ?

We're talking with a lot of universities to essentially get into their athletic department where they'll pay us X amount of dollars for all their student-athletes and then they give us all the student-athletes' emails and we give them a free subscription to the app .

And now I feel pretty good about that and the avenues of growth there , especially when we get on android um for monetization as well as just growing organically um through individual subscriptions and on our social media , because they're doing a great job .

And I really do think the sky's the limit , because when you have the right people on the bus and you have the team going , you're obviously not everything's always sunshine and rainbows , but we learn , we adapt , we overcome

and we keep moving forward . So I'm really excited about the future . I think that you know , in the next year we could really scale and close a lot of deals with universities and really get the name out there . But , regarding my future , you know it's going to be Ascend , like all in Ascend . That's my life passion .

And as of right now and you know , I'm sure you know , I'm sure you know I definitely am going to start a couple of other businesses down the line for sure , because I love it . I love seeing something start from nothing and learn and grow and come , see it come to fruition . So , as of right now , it's a sin .

And then I also got into UVA for graduate school . Congrats , masters . I appreciate it .

So how do you stay on top of your game and level up with the new leadership skills that your team , your company , are going to need you to have ?

instance , if I meet with a mentor and we're kind of talking about a scenario and they've been through what I'm going through before , it's like , oh , that didn't work , that's what I was thinking about , Maybe I should do what they're saying , and then that grows . That's the first one . Second one is reading books .

I think reading is so powerful and it's just a recharge . I mean , I love all the books you got .

I could tell you're a big reader Just finding new ways to read books , whether that's spiritual books or that's business books , philosophical books , whatever it may be just reading in general , because our minds are so stimulated , so much with our phones , with TikTok and Instagram Reels , twitter . It's just like dopamine hit , dopamine hit , dopamine hit .

And it's like I never have time to think when I do that . Right , it's being able to constantly remind myself like , hey , I need to read for an hour today and that's my recharge , recharge , along with like meditation , and I'm able to learn and grow from there . Definitely say that .

And then you know , the last one is uh , yeah , just like learning , like podcasts , just network with as many people as I can and just being very open-minded to uh new ways of growing , because at the end of the day , you know , the company's always going to move forward , things are going to change .

So it's like how can , how can we be innovative as possible , learn , adapt ?

What you just described is not just a mindset , but a habitual practice of how you live , constantly learning , constantly seeking to grow , looking for where you can absorb new information that's going to help you grow , and you're very intentional about that . I just want I wanted to call that out and I want to encourage you don't lose that .

That is so important and I see that in the most successful people .

You know college athletics and like student athletes because you know that's who I was , that's my story , that's kind of why we started it . It's just like how best to assist them , dominate that market and then kind of branch out . That was definitely the best piece of advice I got early on from a business perspective .

Just because I did that right , I was kind of all over the place and we weren't seeing growth . And then when I kind of tailored it back then things started going good . So and I you know the mentors are so good Winston , starr , stan and Mike , who really have helped us out every week they just start accelerating in downtown Winston , they're just unbelievable .

And then the best piece of advice I got from like just a mentor as well , I'm like on a personal level was just start now right . It's like people talk about it all the time , but it's like the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step .

It's like you can plan all you want in your life and you can have the best plans , the best ideas ever , but without action you're never going to get anywhere , and vision plus action equals change . My partner , hampton , is very good with vision .

I'm very action-oriented and that's why I feel like we make such a great team and that's going to equal a lot of change in this world where we can help people . So that's kind of like another one of my life philosophies is you know , if I have an idea , if it's something I'm passionate about , it aligns with my purpose , my why ? So ?

I can go for it because you know I got one life , so why not start now ?

So just to keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep going and I think that the walker from a year ago would be very proud of the walker that's here now but definitely cutting back on expenses too for , like some stuff that you know , learning experiences , right .

Same with the psychology of winning . That one was great and it's a lot very interactive , and I'm reading one right now that's a little bit different . I'm called Becoming Supernatural by Joe Dispenza . It's definitely really helping me with my meditation practice and learning about the energy centers and all that good stuff .

But other than that , oh and obviously how to Win Friends and Influence People , that one's unbelievable . One of my favorite books ever . And then Speed of Trust , which is actually written by the son of Stephen R Combe that wrote Seven Habits of Highly Effective People . Definitely recommend that one for team building as well . Great list .

Right and get started , Because if you don't start and you don't have that action , no , you're never going to get to where you want

to go . It's like the old philosopher said I forgot who it was , but he's like . You know , the best time to plant a tree was , like 20 years ago , but the next best day is today . So why not start now ?