Growing a Franchise
Preservan founder Ty McBride explains how emerging franchisors can grow from doing it all to leading a system that thrives by hiring around weaknesses and staying close to franchisees.
Every franchise brand starts with one person doing everything. But as Preservan founder Ty McBride explains, there’s a crucial shift that separates a passionate founder from a capable franchisor — the ability to establish systems and create a culture that supports franchisees long after the founder steps back from day-to-day operations.
“Building a team and framing that up, there’s so much there,” McBride told GoodSpark Franchise Growth Accelerator CEO Charles Internicola on a recent “Building a Franchise Brand” podcast. “Things move very fast, and it's hard to keep up with what the right team structure is — how you're going to do that, how you're going to afford that and all of those pieces. But having the right people — both as employees or partners in the business, or just people I can talk to — that is what helps us support our franchisees and what is allowing us to grow.”
The first step, McBride says, is to evaluate yourself honestly. “When you’re an early-stage brand, you have to understand what your superpower is—the thing that you bring to the business—and then start looking to hire where you’re weak,” he said.
McBride loves being the face of the brand, speaking about the mission and building relationships. So his first hires filled in where he lacked energy: office operations, technical support and compliance. “I’m always trying to fill the gaps of my weaknesses with people who bring a lot of strength to that space,” he said.
While some founders rush to remove themselves from the sales process, McBride believes being founder-led is an advantage. “There’s so much bad advice out there about ‘don’t be founder-led’ — like taking your face off the website,” he said. “We realized we want to stay founder-led.”
Preservan partners with brokers who align with the brand’s values and rely on personal relationships to connect with franchise candidates. McBride is still involved in most franchise sales calls. This frees him up to cast a vision for Preservan, not just as a business, but as a movement.
McBride says the heart of a franchisor’s job isn’t just awarding new locations — it’s ensuring the success of existing ones. “Revenue has to come at the franchise level because all this trickles down to us,” he said. “So we have to be focused on driving revenue for our franchisees.”
Preservan maintains constant communication with its owners through weekly cohorts, technical training sessions and monthly check-ins. Given the age of the franchise and how new most franchisees are, McBride says they try to stay close to everybody.
This closeness not only drives performance but shapes the brand’s culture. “We have as a value part of our culture that we are going to be very close in relationship with our franchisees,” he said. “I want to know everything I can about their business.”
Strong communication within the franchise system is a safeguard for culture. Preservan’s open chats and peer-to-peer relationships have helped build a supportive network where franchisees learn from one another.
“They’re helping one another out,” McBride said. “It lightens the load on us at the franchisor level, because they ask each other a lot of questions, and they ask top performers. It really starts to establish a culture for the long term.”
McBride admits that building “franchise intelligence” is an ongoing process. Early on, he learned by reading franchising textbooks, attending conferences — even the wrong ones — and surrounding himself with people who had done it before.
“I’m always happy to be the dumbest person in the room,” he said. “That’s how I built my understanding of the franchise industry.”
Being around leaders in the franchise industry, or even others who are roughly at the same stage as you are, can offer a wealth of valuable perspectives.
Franchising is not like selling cars. You're asking people to leave their lives and follow you and your business.
“You should take it very seriously and fully accept that some will not make it," McBride said. "It’s both the most rewarding and most scary thing I have ever done."
Becoming a franchisor isn’t just about handing off work; it’s about changing how you lead. It means building a team you can trust, creating systems that help franchisees succeed and building a culture that lasts.
Watch the full podcast above or on YouTube.
Learn more at goodsparkfranchise.com.
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