About

In the Middle is an independent publication by Calvin Quallis, for founders, operators, and people who have spent years building something demanding and are starting to ask harder questions about the life around the work.

The conversation I wanted while I was building was hard to find. Not the generic playbook. Not the optimization. Something more honest about what the work costs and what it leaves you with, from someone who had actually been through it and would still tell you the practical truth.

I built Scotch Porter, a men’s grooming brand, over more than a decade, and sold it at the end of 2025. That is where this comes from. What the work gives you, what it takes, and what you have to rebuild after. I am still inside that question.

The essays are written to be read aloud, and I narrate them in my own voice. You can read the work here or in your inbox, or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

This is not a victory lap, and it is not advice pretending the playbook is the answer. Each piece ends the same way, because it is the truest thing I can tell you: still in the middle.

The work so far: A note from the middle, on the exit that didn’t feel like arriving. What I Cannot Build, on fear with nowhere to go. The Made-Up List, on mornings nobody assigns.

I also take a small number of advisory engagements with founders and operators. If that’s you, write me: calvin@calvinquallis.com.

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More at calvinquallis.com