
Partnership Not Pricing with Firstar's Luke Orszag
From Empowered Owners by Empowered Owners
May 19, 2026 · 17 min · Episode 66
About this episode
Luke Orszag discusses Firstar Precision's challenges and initiatives over the past year, focusing on partnership over pricing and strategic marketing efforts.
Luke Orszag , President of Firstar Precision , returns to Empowered Owners to recap a year he describes as "a tale of two halves." The first six months saw demand almost disappear entirely, then September hit, and everything changed. Firstar spent the rest of the year digging out of the backlog, with workers voluntarily taking on extra hours, training new employees, and showing attitude and effort that stood out more than any previous year. He digs into two major initiatives that defined the year: pursuing defense certification to break into a regulated industry with massive opportunity, and launching a strategic marketing effort focused on building credibility and awareness rather than generic advertising. Luke explains why the certification documentation was far more difficult than expected, but it opened the door to what should become one of Firstar's largest customers. On the marketing side, he shares how Firstar crafted content around knowledge-sharing and expertise, then delivered it directly on LinkedIn to targeted companies and position titles in industries where Firstar wanted to grow. Luke breaks down Firstar's competitive positioning: they don't want to compete on…
People in this episode
Host: Empowered Owners
Guest: Luke Orszag
Topics covered
- partnership
- marketing strategy
- defense certification
- employee development
- business growth
Keywords
- Firstar Precision
- defense certification
- marketing strategy
- employee development
- business growth
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Firstar Precision, LinkedIn, CMMC
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