Turning ‘crazy’ into cash

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7 May 2026

Maddie Lambert

Maddie Lambert is a copywriter and editor from Joplin, MO. She graduated from Missouri Southern State University with a Bachelor of Arts in English – literary studies. When she’s not poring over the magazine or lost in the pages of a new novel, you can find Maddie exploring her local bookstores, spending time with her husband, or sharing her latest literary discoveries with fellow book enthusiasts.

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — It seems as if each passing day brings a new set of challenges to commercial bakers. But where challenges lie, there is also room for opportunity. Having the two coexist peacefully drives business growth, and rapid innovation is how businesses stay competitive in today’s commercial landscape.

But what if innovation looked a little different? What if, instead of adding new flavors or formats to a well-known product, bakers did a complete overhaul of their operational model? What if, instead of a dedicated innovation team, every single employee prioritized individually contributing to future-proofing the business? What would this actually look like?

It would start with a single goal.

When Jon McNeill, the current CEO and co-founder of DVx Ventures and former president of Tesla, took that position in 2015, his first goal was to double the business every eight months. There were no playbooks to work from; no other company had achieved that goal at that scale before.

But with critical thinking and strategic product positioning, Tesla’s revenue grew from $2 billion to $20 billion in a little over two years. Over the following 30 months, revenue ramped up from $20 billion to $100 billion.

“The first step was to put simple goals in front of people,” McNeill said during his keynote at the 2026 American Bakers Association’s Annual Convention, held April 19-23 in Colorado Springs, CO. “‘Double the company [revenue] every eight months’ is something that can be translated into the 36 languages that were part of our team. And then we put a caveat on that: Double the revenue every eight months and preserve 30 percent gross margins.”

“We believe [innovation] is the job of everybody, including people on the front lines … We fight off things like too many SKUs, too many formulations, too many changeovers, too many exceptions.” — Jon McNeill | CEO, co-founder | DVx Ventures

While it may not seem like it at first glance, there is some overlap when translating the lessons learned from this endeavor to the commercial baking industry. The company’s completion of this goal relied on identifying the two aspects that mattered most for the business and appointing designated teams to turn those goals into action.

For bakers to see this business bump, it could mean completely restructuring their process, reducing or even eliminating steps the customer doesn’t pay for. Anything that’s not the product or its packaging — purchase orders, scheduling systems, change orders, etc. — is a candidate for elimination.

Seem crazy?

“There’s this really cool thing about the culture at Tesla,” McNeill said. “People don’t say no. They don’t say, ‘That’s crazy.’”

A ‘crazy idea’ for some could be the key to revenue growth for others. McNeill advises taking the base assumption that current workflows operate from and questioning it. Here, on the path less traveled, is where true innovation can thrive.

“At companies like SpaceX or Tesla, there is no innovation team, innovation group or even R&D centers,” McNeill said. “We believe this is the job of everybody, including people on the front lines. It’s not an apartment, everybody owns it … and we fight off things like too many SKUs, too many formulations, too many changeovers, too many exceptions.”

Going against the status quo may seem daunting, destructive or downright impossible. But agility isn’t an option in today’s world. What’s one business’s “that’s crazy” is another’s “challenge accepted.”

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