About Cat
I’ve never been very good at accepting "that’s just how it’s done."
Name
Catalin “Cat” Jansen
Based
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Current
Founder & Chief Executive
Focus
Business · Operations · Security · Technology
Best At
Building · Selling · Fixing · Scaling
Interested In
Executive leadership · Advisory · Strategic projects
Phone
616.970.5610I’m Cat Jansen.
I’m an entrepreneur, operator, salesperson, builder, and occasionally the person in the room asking why we’re still doing something the same way it was done twenty years ago.
My career has been somewhat unconventional.
I started in retail, spent years learning sales, leadership, customer behavior, and what actually motivates people — and eventually left to build something of my own.
That became Regional.
I’m an entrepreneur, operator, and systems-builder with a passion for modernizing industries that have relied on the same processes for too long.
I’m naturally driven, direct, and highly focused on execution. I tend to look at businesses, technology, and operational problems not just for what they are today, but for what they could become with the right systems, people, and vision behind them.
Much of my work has centered around the security industry, where I’ve focused on improving operations, client experience, technology, intelligence, and service delivery. I enjoy taking complex ideas and turning them into practical platforms, processes, and businesses that people can actually use.
I value accountability, loyalty, clear communication, and people who take ownership of their work. My standards are high, including for myself, and I’m rarely satisfied with doing something simply because “that’s how it’s always been done.”
At my core, I’m a builder. I’m most energized when I’m creating something new, solving a problem that does not have an obvious answer, or taking an idea that initially feels overly ambitious and finding a way to make it real.
Outside of the professional side of my life, I’m much more relaxed than people sometimes expect. I value humor, genuine relationships, new experiences, and being around people who are passionate about something of their own.
I’m ambitious about where I’m going, but equally interested in what I can build, improve, and contribute along the way.
I didn’t inherit a company.
I learned by building one.
What started as a security guard operation grew into something much larger. Along the way, I became the salesperson, operator, marketer, strategist, problem-solver, technology builder, trainer, and CEO — sometimes all in the same day.
Building something from scratch teaches you things that are difficult to learn from a job description.
You learn what happens when payroll still has to run when something goes wrong.
You learn what a client actually means when they say something needs to be fixed.
You learn how quickly a great idea can fail without execution.
And you learn that leadership is less about the title than whether people trust you when things become difficult.
I’m a builder
at heart.
The easiest way to understand me is probably this: I like building things.
Businesses. Systems. Technology. Brands. Teams. Processes. Ideas that initially sound slightly unreasonable.
When I encounter something outdated, inefficient, confusing, or unnecessarily difficult, my natural reaction is to start thinking about what the better version should look like.
I move fast.
When I see a problem, I want to understand it, make a decision, test the solution, and improve it.
I have high standards, particularly around execution. Something technically functioning is not always the same thing as something being good.
I notice the details: how something feels, how a customer experiences it, whether a process makes sense to the person expected to use it, and whether the system still works when everything does not go according to plan.
Own the Outcome
Responsibility does not end when something becomes difficult.
Build the System
A good operation cannot depend entirely on one exceptional person.
Say What You Think
Thoughtful disagreement is more useful than comfortable agreement.
Keep Improving
Version one does not have to be perfect. It does have to teach us something.
I’m not interested
in looking perfect.
Entrepreneurship has given me some great wins. It has also humbled me.
I’ve made decisions I would make differently today.
I’ve built things that later needed rebuilding.
I’ve underestimated problems.
I’ve moved faster than the organization around me could realistically move.
And I’ve learned that being responsible for something means owning the parts that went wrong just as much as celebrating the parts that went right.
Those experiences have shaped me just as much as the accomplishments on my résumé.
What is he actually like
to work with?
Before you meet Cat, understand that he is intense, ambitious, and almost constantly thinking about how something could be better. He does not just see businesses, systems, or problems as they are; he instinctively sees what they could become and usually wants to start building that version immediately.
He moves fast, expects competence, and values people who can communicate clearly, follow through, and take ownership. He has very little patience for unnecessary excuses or vague answers. But if he trusts you, he can be extremely loyal, generous, and willing to open doors for you that he did not have to open.
He is a builder by nature. Give him an outdated process, an industry everyone accepts as “just how things are,” or a problem nobody has solved particularly well, and his first instinct is to redesign it. He is comfortable having ideas that sound overly ambitious at first, and stubborn enough to keep working at them until they start looking realistic.
Do not mistake his confidence for a lack of self-awareness. He questions his own ideas, asks for criticism, and will completely change direction when he becomes convinced there is a better approach. What he does not respond well to is criticism without substance. If you disagree with him, bring a reason.
Outside of work, he is considerably more relaxed than people sometimes expect — funny, casual, and genuinely interested in people who are passionate about something of their own. There is a difference between meeting Cat the business owner and actually getting to know Cat the person.
Meet Cat with honesty, curiosity, humor, and something you genuinely care about. You’ll probably find someone considerably more relaxed than the professional profile suggests — but every bit as interested in building something worthwhile.