California Spotlight #138
The “Silent Leak” Costing California Founders Thousands Every Quarter
The “Silent Leak” Costing California Founders Thousands Every Quarter
Most service-based businesses in California — tech firms, agencies, legal shops, consultants — are overpaying up to 9% on every contractor invoice or service retainer.
Not because of fraud.
Not because of bad math.
But because they’re not asking one question:
“Are we getting the same rate as your other California clients?”
Vendors—especially software, recruiting, compliance, and niche contractors—use sliding rate cards by region. And California businesses almost always end up paying more.
We reviewed 11 contracts last week across founders in our circle. 8 of them had “regional uplift” language buried in clause 7 or 8. A quiet 6–12% markup, just for having a California address.
Here’s What To Do Today
Pull your last 3 contracts (software, freelance, compliance)
Search for any of these terms:
“regional uplift”,“adjusted rate based on region”,“market alignment fee”If you find it, email your vendor:
“Hey — I noticed a regional adjustment. Can you clarify if this is negotiable or applied to all clients equally?”
In 4 out of 5 cases, vendors quietly remove or reduce the markup—especially when asked directly.
You don’t need a lawyer to make this request. You just need to ask.
🚨 Business Spotlight – July 17
Podcast + Newsletter
Want your business in front of 116K+ founders, operators, and buyers this week?
We’re featuring businesses in our July 17 drop—across our top-ranked podcast and California’s two most-read business newsletters.
Here’s what you get for just $99:
🎙️ A podcast shoutout to a business-savvy audience
📩 A 100-word spotlight with your link + CTA
📣 Distribution to 65K–70K daily openers
We’ve featured brands like Google, Squarespace, and Monday.com.
This week, your business could be next.
✍️ Write With Us: Share What You Know
We're opening up space for one founder, operator, or expert to contribute a written piece to our next edition.
This isn’t a one-line shoutout — it’s a full article published in front of 116K+ business owners, founders, and local operators across California.
Your post will also live permanently on our Substack site (which gets steady long-tail traffic and search visibility).
What’s included:
A published guest piece (up to 500 words)
Your byline, short bio, and a link to your business
A spot in our upcoming email issue
SEO-friendly formatting so it’s easy to find and share later
It’s $250 to reserve the slot. If you'd like to write something valuable for your peers — and be seen by other founders while doing it — this is the space for it.