Our co-founder Lael Bryant recently sat down with Greg Cummings on the Power100 PowerChat to talk about something most business conversations skip: what happens after you build a company, sell it, and then have to figure out what comes next. It’s a 30-minute conversation about exits, fulfillment, and why he chose to start over in an industry most people wouldn’t expect.

We’re sharing it here because the answer to “why does a company exist” usually tells you more about how they’ll treat you than any list of services. If you’re considering trusting a contractor with your outdoor space, it’s a fair thing to want to know.

Key Takeaways

  • Values First: Aligning business goals with personal values is what makes a company last, not just what makes it profitable.
  • The Exit Is Emotional: Selling a company you built has a personal cost most founders aren’t prepared for.
  • Finding What’s Missing: Identifying the gap in your own career is what points you toward work that actually fulfills you.
  • Experience Carries Over: Lessons from one industry can drive real innovation in another.

Building and Selling a Company

Before Zion Outdoors, Lael was the owner and President of one of the nation’s largest privately held real-estate title research firms. In 2021, that company was acquired by a Fortune 800 company.

On paper, that’s the ending most entrepreneurs work toward. In the conversation with Greg, Lael talks about the part that doesn’t make it into the press release, the emotional weight of handing over something you built, and how unprepared most founders are for how that actually feels.

That experience shaped how we run things now. Building a company to sell and building a company to last lead to very different daily decisions.

Finding What Was Missing

About halfway through the conversation, the discussion turns to what came next: recognizing what had been missing, and deciding to build something different because of it.

For Lael, that meant looking for work where the result was tangible, where you could stand in a backyard at the end of a project and see exactly what your team created for a family. Title research is essential work, but it isn’t something a homeowner walks out onto every morning with a cup of coffee.

That’s the thread that led to Zion Outdoors, founded in 2023 with co-founder Jordan Winar, one of the country’s leading experts in concrete resurfacing and cementitious overlays, with hands-on experience across nearly 30,000 projects. Lael brought the operational side. Jordan brought decades of craft. The combination is the company.

Why This Shapes How We Work

The takeaway Lael keeps coming back to is aligning business goals with personal values. In practice, for us, that looks like a few specific things:

We invested in developing our own systems rather than reselling someone else’s, which is why Gem-Scape™ and Cap-Stone™ exist and why both have won national awards.

We put our money behind our work with a lifetime guarantee rather than a vague promise, because a guarantee should be specific enough to hold us to.

And we give back through Walkways for Warriors™, donating a walkway to a deserving veteran every quarter.

None of that is complicated. It’s just what happens when you decide upfront what kind of company you want to be.

Watch the Full Conversation

The full 30-minute PowerChat with Greg Cummings covers Lael’s background, the exit, and the decision to start again. Watch it here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who founded Zion Outdoors?

Zion Outdoors was founded in 2023 by Lael Bryant and Jordan Winar. Lael previously owned and led one of the nation’s largest privately held real-estate title research firms, acquired by a Fortune 800 company in 2021. Jordan is recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts in concrete resurfacing and cementitious overlays.

What is the Power100 PowerChat?

It’s an interview series hosted by Greg Cummings featuring leaders in the home improvement and outdoor living industries. Lael’s episode was published June 8, 2026.

What makes Zion Outdoors different from other contractors?

We develop our own proprietary systems, Gem-Scape™ and Cap-Stone™, rather than installing off-the-shelf products, and we back our work with a lifetime guarantee. Our team brings over 200 years of combined experience across design and installation.

Let’s Talk About Your Project

If the way we think about this work resonates with you, we’d love to see your space. Schedule a free estimate and we’ll walk through what’s possible.