Pam Boston joined SugarShot as CFO in 2021, and today she is CEO. Tina Grintjes joined in 2019 to build the Client Success organization and now leads Operations. In the two years since SugarShot joined Treeline, the business has nearly doubled revenue, and the two of them have been figuring out how to grow that fast without becoming a different company. We asked them how it went.

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How did you get to where you are today?

Pam: My journey wasn’t exactly a straight line. My educational background is in both IT and finance. I started as a programmer and system designer at a young organization that had spun off from the IT department of a large telecommunications company. It was growing quickly, and I moved through various roles until I landed in a position that sat between the developers and the end users, essentially a translator for both sides. That was really the catalyst for the types of jobs I've sought throughout my career.

In 2020, as the workplace was changing and remote work opportunities exploded, I decided to casually explore possibilities across the country. I had a very specific list of what I wanted and was in no particular hurry. Mid-2021 I learned that SugarShot was seeking a CFO. SugarShot was just over three years old at the time, growing, had a very cool LA vibe, and offered a CFO position in a technology company. Boxes checked. Meeting the founders and the team sealed the deal for me, and luckily, they agreed.

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What's the common thread through all the stops on your CV?

Pam: I'm always drawn to a challenge. To continue to build something and make it better.

Tina: People, relationships, and growth. I've always been drawn to building strong relationships, solving hard problems, and creating the structure that allows teams and organizations to scale without losing what made them successful in the first place. I joined SugarShot in 2019 to build Client Success, and as the company grew, my role grew with it into Service Delivery and broader Operations. That's allowed me to stay very close to our clients while also helping build the teams behind the experience we deliver.

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What makes SugarShot special?

Pam: I realize a lot of CEOs say the people at the company are what make it great. We really mean that! I'm so proud that we have employees who have been with us since the beginning, since the companies that eventually merged to form SugarShot. That's commitment we don't take lightly. While we want our customers to feel special, we feel the same about our employees. Whether it's a virtual happy hour or a beach party with our families in LA, we really enjoy being together, and we want to succeed together.

Tina: Caring about the client isn't isolated to Client Success here. It exists throughout the organization, from leadership to the people delivering the work every day. When something needs attention, people step in because they care about the outcome, not simply because it falls within their job description. A competitor could copy our tools, our technology, our processes, even our service offerings. What's much harder to copy is culture: the ownership, collaboration, and genuine investment our people have in client outcomes. That's built over years.

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What would a client say about you that you'd never say about yourselves?

Tina: Probably that we care more than they expected an IT partner to care. Internally, we're often focused on where we can improve. Our clients tend to notice the responsiveness, transparency, and commitment more than we give ourselves credit for.

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And what are you proudest of?

Pam: The way SugarShot has been able to grow and change without our clients feeling the pain or distance that's so commonly associated with this type of expansion.

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What were you most nervous about when you were telling clients about the acquisition?

Tina: Protecting the trust we had built. Acquisitions naturally create uncertainty, and I wanted our clients to hear directly from us what was changing and, just as importantly, what wasn't. My biggest concern was making sure they knew the relationships and the team they trusted weren't going away.

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What did clients say when they heard the news?

Tina: The response was overwhelmingly positive. There were naturally questions at first, but the conversations quickly shifted toward what this could mean for them and what additional capabilities we could bring. Once clients understood that SugarShot wasn't disappearing, but gaining more resources and expertise around it, there was a lot of excitement about what could come next.

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What can you do for a client now that you couldn't a year ago?

Tina: Historically, our conversations were primarily around managed IT, security, and technology operations. Today, through Treeline, we can have much broader conversations around AI, compliance, cloud infrastructure, and more. We can grow alongside our clients in ways we simply couldn’t before.

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What has the partnership made possible?

Pam: SugarShot has doubled the size of our business since we joined Treeline. Think about that: formed in 2018 from two companies that existed for up to ten years before that, and in two years we've doubled. Treeline has given us not only the resources, but the encouragement, to really run head first into opportunities we might not have looked twice at in the past. There are customers we wouldn't have partnered with without Treeline challenging us, and there are customers Treeline wouldn't have partnered with without SugarShot's unique vibe and ability to really get to know their needs and work collaboratively to solve real business challenges.

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What's it like building alongside another CEO?

Pam: Peter is a visionary. He challenges me to think outside of how we've operated in the past, and to really support our team as we ask them to level up with us. And while he's busy thinking of how to turn our industry on its side, he's still managed to find time to get to know every one of us at SugarShot. He joins not only our business meetings but our social outings as well. This is not a beat-you-over-the-head, top-down organization. Everyone, from me to the newest employee, is encouraged to bring ideas.

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Where do you see this team in three years?

Pam: Is it too ambitious to say that I know we will be wildly successful? Technology is changing faster than ever before, so the definition of success is naturally fluid as well. We have such a powerful and dedicated team, from executive leadership to the design engineers to the front line team delivering service, that we're confidently staying one step ahead, and will continue setting the bar for what excellence looks like in solving our customers' business needs.

Tina: I see us being recognized as much more than a managed services provider. I see us becoming the strategic technology partner organizations turn to as they navigate AI, cybersecurity, compliance, and an increasingly complex technology landscape. Technology will continue to change incredibly quickly, and our responsibility is to make sure our teams evolve just as quickly, so our clients don't have to navigate that change alone.

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What would you want another founder in your exact position to know?

Pam: When I meet with founders and talk about my experience with Treeline, I get really excited to share it. I'm not known at work for being indirect, and the same holds true here… I want them to walk away from that conversation knowing that, while we've all heard promises of sunshine and rainbows in the past, Treeline is the real deal. They stand by the promise to work and build something amazing together. Your voice will be heard, and your experience is respected and matters.

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For peers thinking about how to grow while staying true to their identity, what would you tell them?

Pam: You can change without giving up your core values. Don't lose sight of the passion you had when you first started in this business – for your employees, for your customers, and for making impactful change.

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Any advice on what not to do?

Pam: Don't blink! You have to constantly interact with your peers, vendors, employees, and clients, and filter out the best from all of them. And be willing to give back as much as you're getting.

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Any last words?

Tina: Growth has never been the goal by itself. The goal is to build an organization that clients trust, employees are proud to be part of, and that continues evolving alongside the businesses we serve. If we continue doing those things well, the growth follows.

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