Sunny Ray talks with Robert Manasseh, founder of InFocus Brands, a portfolio of companies built around operational excellence in fundraising, marketing, branding, and distribution. Robert traces his path from starting a landscaping and property management business at 13 to help fund college and med school, through a filmmaking career in California built on direct pitching and lean crews, to surviving 9/11 while working near the World Trade Center. He explains how sports and servant leadership shaped his approach to building teams, why storytelling matters more than logos when raising capital, and why he rejects the fake it till you make it startup mantra. He shares hard lessons from his biggest failure, his third company, and how that taught him to build repeatable systems now applied across InFocus Brands. The conversation closes on AI, which Robert calls a powerful but overhyped tool that only amplifies systems that already exist, and on the legacy he wants InFocus Brands to leave: always getting it right for clients rather than being right.
A serial founder turned systems builder explains why storytelling, honesty, and real systems beat AI hype and fake it till you make it fundraising.
What is the elevator pitch on InFocus Brands?
InFocus Brands is a portfolio of companies built around operational excellence in fundraising, go to market acceleration, marketing, branding, content creation, distribution, and finance. It is a one stop shop for business needs from startup launch to exit, built on experiences from around the globe.
What pushed you into entrepreneurship at 13 with your landscaping business?
I knew I wanted to go to college and eventually med school as the first in my family, and we could not afford that, so I had to make my own money. I also saw that people managing apartments in New York City did not always have the skill set or time to do it well, so I had a need I could fill.
What did managing your friends as employees teach you that no business school could?
At that age you are answering not just to staff and clients but to your staff's parents. I went in wanting to be a leader out front, but I realized I loved servant leadership, being a resource for my team, and developing people. That has driven me ever since, more than any book could teach.
How did having an office in the World Trade Center during 9/11 change your relationship with risk and time?
It made me double down on the idea that relationships and teams you build are not throwaways. As a native New Yorker, you already feel yesterday is too late, but losing friends validated that nothing is promised. Now we take more swings, do due diligence, dive in, and pivot in real time instead of waiting.
What is the biggest mistake founders make before coming to you for help?
Most true pre-revenue startups should find a pilot client first, because the moment someone pays you, your business has to change and systems can form. Without a system you have just created a job for yourself. Most founders also fail to tell their story, so investors who do not understand their world either glaze over or clash with them.
Where does AI genuinely help founders, and where does it create a false sense of progress?
AI is a tool, not a solution, and it tends to validate whatever you tell it even when it makes no sense. If you already know your system in detail, AI speeds it up, but if you do not have a system, AI cannot build one for you. I have seen clients generate hundreds of leads a day with AI but have no system to close them.
What is the legacy you want InFocus Brands to leave behind?
That we always sought the right answers for our clients' needs, not what we thought was right, but what the market, their brand, and their team actually needed. Our mission since day one has been getting it right for clients rather than being right ourselves.
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