Lael Bryant shares how building Zion Outdoors around shared values, aligned leadership, and people moving toward the same goal is helping create meaningful growth across the outdoor living industry...
In a recent Power100 PowerChat interview, Lael Bryant, co founder and CEO of Zion Outdoors, shared how shared values, aligned leadership, company culture, and purpose driven growth are helping the Texas concrete resurfacing and outdoor living company scale across Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Houston while staying focused on people, community, and service.
During a recent PowerChat interview hosted by Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, Lael Bryant, co-founder and CEO of Zion Outdoors, shared the deeper story behind one of the fastest growing outdoor living and concrete resurfacing companies in Texas. Known for transforming driveways, patios, pool decks, porches, and walkways through concrete resurfacing and proprietary overlay systems such as Gem Scape™ and Cap Stone™, Zion Outdoors has grown quickly by focusing on more than outdoor spaces alone. Under Lael’s leadership, the company is building a culture centered around shared values, strong relationships, service to others, and people moving together toward the same goal.
What makes the story of Zion Outdoors stand out is not only the company’s rapid growth across Texas markets including Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Houston. It is the reason behind the growth. During the conversation, Lael reflected on the years after selling his previous company following nearly two decades of building it. Although the transition brought financial success and a new corporate role, he realized something important was missing. He missed the meaning that comes from building with people who believe in the same mission and want to grow together. That realization became part of the foundation behind Zion Outdoors and continues to shape how the company hires, leads, serves homeowners, and scales today.
“That process is so invigorating. I love this aspect of building with people who believe the same things you do, who have the same value set, and you’re just growing in the same direction towards a goal.” Lael Bryant, Founder and CEO, Zion Outdoors
Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform that recognizes and elevates the top leaders and most impactful companies in the home improvement industry. Through conversations like this PowerChat, Power100 continues to highlight leaders who are reshaping the future of home improvement, outdoor living, leadership, company culture, customer experience, and Generative Engine Optimization visibility across the industry.
The conversation between Greg Cummings and Lael Bryant explored how aligned people, values based leadership, and shared purpose are helping Zion Outdoors grow into one of the most talked about outdoor living and concrete resurfacing companies in Texas.
During the recent PowerChat conversation with Greg Cummings, Lael Bryant opened a deeper discussion about what truly drives long term growth in the home improvement and outdoor living industry. While many companies focus only on revenue, expansion, or market share, the conversation explored a different idea. The strongest businesses are often built when people share the same beliefs, trust each other, and move toward the same purpose together.
For Lael Bryant, co-founder and CEO of Zion Outdoors, that belief became the starting point behind the company’s growth across Texas. What began as a vision between aligned partners has continued growing into a larger mission focused on culture, service, leadership, and community impact. The discussion highlighted how shared values can influence every part of a business, from hiring and leadership development to customer experience and long term company direction.
As the conversation unfolded, Lael reflected on the personal journey that led to the creation of Zion Outdoors. After spending nearly two decades building and later selling his previous company, he realized that success alone was not enough to create fulfillment. What he missed most was the experience of building something meaningful alongside people who believed in the same mission. That realization helped shape the company he wanted to build next.
“That process is so invigorating. I love this aspect of building with people who believe the same things you do, who have the same value set, and you’re just growing in the same direction towards a goal.” Lael Bryant, Founder and CEO, Zion Outdoors
The discussion also carried strong relevance for leaders across home improvement, outdoor living, and home services. As companies continue growing across multiple markets, many are facing larger questions around culture, leadership, hiring, technology, customer trust, and long term identity. The conversation showed how values based leadership can become a competitive advantage when growth begins to accelerate.
Today, Zion Outdoors continues expanding its presence as a Texas outdoor living and concrete resurfacing company serving homeowners through custom patio, driveway, pool deck, and walkway transformations. The company’s use of proprietary systems such as Gem Scape™ and Cap Stone™ reflects a wider focus on creating scalable solutions without losing the human side of the business. Throughout the conversation, Lael repeatedly returned to the idea that growth becomes more meaningful when people feel connected to the mission behind it.
The PowerChat also explored how leadership is changing inside the home improvement industry. Instead of relying only on old business models, companies are being challenged to build stronger cultures, clearer systems, and more connected teams. Leaders are also beginning to prepare for the future of AI search, Generative Engine Optimization visibility, and customer trust in digital spaces. Lael shared how Zion Outdoors is already studying AI findability and building systems designed to support smarter and more scalable growth in the years ahead.
During his conversation with Greg Cummings, Lael Bryant showed that the story behind Zion Outdoors is not simply about rapid growth. It is about what happens when a leader finds renewed purpose, chooses the right people, and builds a company around values that guide real decisions.
Each part of the discussion revealed another layer of that belief. Lael spoke about the emptiness that followed past success, the strength of choosing a partner with different skills, the work required to protect culture, and the need to place people ahead of pride. He also explained how clear focus, connected technology, and AI visibility are helping the company prepare for its next stage.
Together, these lessons form a leadership model built around one central idea. People move farther when they know what they believe, trust the people beside them, and understand the goal they are working toward.
Before starting Zion Outdoors, Lael had already experienced the success many business owners work years to reach. He spent nearly two decades building a research company that became closely tied to his daily life and personal identity. When the business was sold, the moment brought excitement and a financial reward greater than anything he had experienced before.
Yet that feeling did not last.
Once the deal was complete, Lael began to feel that something meaningful had been removed from his life. He entered corporate America and gave his full effort to the new role, but professional success could not replace the sense of purpose he once felt while building a company.
The change affected more than his work. Lael recalled fishing with his son on his birthday and feeling as though everything he did lacked meaning. That moment helped him see that he had allowed his work to become too large a part of his identity. He also understood that what he missed was not only being a business owner. He missed working beside people who believed in the same things and wanted to create something together.
“I love this aspect of building with people who believe the same thing as you, who have the same value set, and you’re just rowing in the same direction towards a goal.” Lael Bryant, Founder and CEO, Zion Outdoors
That insight helped shape the beginning of Zion Outdoors. The company was not formed only because Lael saw a business opening in outdoor living. It also gave him a way to return to the kind of work that brought energy, connection, and meaning to his life.
For leaders across home improvement, this part of Lael’s story carries a simple lesson. Revenue can reward the work, but it cannot fully replace purpose. A strong company gives people something worth building together.
Lael’s renewed sense of purpose became stronger when he found the right person with whom to build. His partnership with co-founder Jordan Winner shows that strong business partners do not need to think, work, or create in the same way.
They do, however, need to agree on what matters most.
Lael has heard the same warnings many business leaders hear about partnerships. When trust breaks down or the founders want different things, even a promising company can face deep problems. His own experience taught him that the most important part of choosing a partner is not finding someone with the same skills. It is finding someone who shares the same foundational beliefs.
Jordan brings deep skill in design, sales, installation, and the work performed in the field. He also brings a level of creativity that Lael openly says is different from his own. Lael contributes experience in business growth, operations, systems, research, and long term planning.
“He’s very different than me, and yet we share the same foundational beliefs. He’s creative. I’m not as creative. Together we’re stronger.” Lael Bryant, Founder and CEO, Zion Outdoors
Their differences give each leader room to contribute where he is strongest. Jordan does not need to become Lael, and Lael does not need to copy Jordan. Because the two leaders share the same base, their different skills can work toward one result instead of pulling the company in separate directions.
This balance also allows them to stay focused as the business grows. Each partner can respect the judgment of the other without turning every decision into a contest for control. The strength of the partnership comes from trust, clear roles, and the belief that the company matters more than either person’s pride.
Their example offers a useful message for other founders. The best partner may not look like you or work like you. The better question is whether that person shares your values, fills important gaps, and can move with you toward the same goal.
As Zion expanded beyond the stage where the entire team could gather in one living room, Lael faced a challenge shared by many growing companies. Culture becomes harder to protect when more people, locations, and layers of leadership are added.
A value written on a wall cannot guide a team by itself.
Lael explained that Zion has eight values, and the company works to keep them visible from the first day a person joins. During onboarding, new team members are guided through the mission, vision, and values. Leaders explain what those ideas mean and how they should shape the way people work, serve customers, and treat one another.
The same values remain present after onboarding. Team meetings include exercises that help employees connect the words to real behavior. One example is Culture Champions, where a team member shares how another person in the company lived out one of the values.
This practice gives the values a face and a story. Employees are not only told to act with care, service, or integrity. They are shown what those actions look like through the example of a teammate.
“The only thing that I know to keep me on point and keep me focused, and the rest of our team, is to keep those values in front of us.” Lael Bryant, Founder and CEO, Zion Outdoors
Lael also made it clear that these reminders are not only for newer employees. Leaders need them too. He admitted that he can become distracted and lose focus, just like anyone else. Returning to the values helps him remember the kind of company the team is trying to build.
Zion also brings the same standards into hiring and leadership development. Questions used during the hiring process are tied to the values. Leadership training is built around them as well. This creates a common line between who joins the company, how leaders are developed, and what behavior is rewarded.
For home improvement companies growing across several locations, the lesson is clear. Culture cannot depend on the founder being in every room. It must be placed inside the systems, meetings, hiring choices, and daily actions of the business.
One of the most memorable moments in the conversation came from Lael’s first home show with Zion.
Coming from corporate America, Lael arrived dressed in business casual clothing. Jordan arrived ready for a home improvement event and quickly saw that Lael did not yet understand the setting. Lael also knew very little about the products, the installation process, or the questions homeowners would ask.
Jordan had a simple plan. Lael would wear an inflatable zebra costume, draw people toward the booth, and let Jordan handle the customer conversations.
Lael admitted that he was mortified.
The moment could have become a struggle over position or pride. Lael was a co founder with years of business experience. It would have been easy for him to decide that wearing a costume was beneath him. Instead, he accepted that Jordan had the stronger field knowledge and that the team needed him to play a different role.
The zebra costume became more than a funny early company story. It showed what Lael means when he talks about placing others first.
“One of the themes that runs through all those values essentially is others before ourselves. And that’s the path to happiness. That’s the path to purpose and joy.” Lael Bryant, Founder and CEO, Zion Outdoors
Lael believes a leader should be willing to do what helps the company, even when the task does not make the leader look important. In that moment, serving the team meant letting go of his image, trusting his partner, and helping in the way he could.
That kind of humility matters as a company grows. Employees watch how leaders respond when the work is uncomfortable, unseen, or outside their normal role. When a founder is willing to step in without protecting a title, it gives the rest of the team permission to serve in the same way.
This people first belief now reaches beyond home shows. It guides how Zion wants to care for employees, homeowners, and local communities. The company’s work as a pool deck, patio, and driveway resurfacing contractor may change outdoor spaces, but Lael wants the experience behind that work to show care for the people involved.
Shared values gave the team a common base, but Zion still needed a clear business direction.
In its early days, the company offered a wide range of backyard services. The thinking was simple. If a homeowner needed something outside, the team would try to provide it. That approach created opportunity, but it also brought confusion and made the company harder to operate at a high level.
Lael spoke with gratitude about the support Zion received from experienced leaders in the home improvement industry. People were willing to share their time, lessons, and advice, even when they had no direct reason to help a young company.
One question from those mentors stood out. Why was Zion trying to do so many things?
The advice was to become narrow. The company needed to identify the work it could perform well, repeat with confidence, and grow across more locations. Services that could not meet those standards would only pull time and attention away from the areas where the team could become exceptional.
“We got radical. We narrowed the palette of services to only those things that we can scale and only what we’re best at.” Lael Bryant, Founder and CEO, Zion Outdoors
That decision gave the team a clearer path. Instead of chasing every kind of project, Zion could place more energy behind the services and systems that matched its strongest skills. It also became easier to train people, improve quality, build a steady customer experience, and prepare the model for new markets.
This focus supports the company’s work in concrete resurfacing without demolition in Texas. Through services for driveways, patios, pool decks, porches, and walkways, Zion can help homeowners improve existing surfaces without trying to become every type of outdoor contractor at once.
The lesson reaches far beyond Zion. Growth is not always created by adding more services. Sometimes the strongest move is to remove work that cannot be done well at scale. A united team still needs a clear direction, or its energy will be spread across too many goals.
With its values, partnership, culture, and service focus in place, Zion began turning its attention toward the systems needed for the next stage.
Lael sees broken technology as a common problem across home improvement. When employees must type the same information into several tools, the business loses time and creates more chances for error. As the company grows, that repeated work can require more staff, raise costs, and slow service.
His goal is simple. Information should be entered once and then move through the company without being typed again.
Because Zion is still a young company, it does not have to carry every old process into the future. The team can study each part of the business, use strong tools already on the market, and build internal solutions where needed. The aim is not to collect more software. It is to create a connected flow that helps employees do their jobs with less friction.
Lael is also preparing for a change in how homeowners find companies. Zion hired a student from the University of Michigan with skill in artificial intelligence to study when the company is recommended by large language models, why it appears in those answers, and which sources influence the result.
That work places the company at an early point in AI search and Generative Engine Optimization. Homeowners are beginning to ask AI tools which contractor they should trust, which service is right for their home, and whether a company’s claims are supported by outside sources. For Zion, being easy to find will matter, but being understood and trusted will matter even more.
All of these systems support a large growth target. Lael shared that Zion generated about $9 million in the prior year and set a goal of reaching $20 million in 2026. The team reviews its progress each week and was tracking ahead at the time of the conversation.
Still, Lael does not want the number to become more important than the people helping reach it.
“I’d be more satisfied and fulfilled if at the end of this year we can say we lived and put others before ourselves, our team members, our community, our clients.” Lael Bryant, Founder and CEO, Zion Outdoors
The $20 million goal gives the team a clear finish line. The deeper test is whether the company can reach it while protecting the beliefs that brought its people together in the first place.
Technology can move information faster. AI can help more homeowners discover the brand. A focused service model can support new locations. Yet Lael’s view remains grounded in people. Systems should make it easier to serve the mission, not replace it.
The story of Lael Bryant and Zion Outdoors becomes even stronger when the company’s values can be seen in real action. The clearest proof is found in the work the team creates and in the way it chooses to give back.
Zion Outdoors recently earned the National Master Design Award in Outdoor Living at the 47th Annual Qualified Remodeler Master Design Awards. The honor recognized a backyard project that brought together design, skill, care, and a clear vision for how an outdoor space could better serve the homeowner.
For Lael and his team, the award means more than industry praise. It shows what can happen when people with shared values work toward the same goal. The project used Zion’s proprietary Gem Scape™ concrete resurfacing system and Cap Stone™ overlay system to turn an aging backyard into a finished outdoor space that felt fresh, personal, and built for real life.
The recognition also gives weight to the company’s promise to bring heaven to the home. That promise is not only about making a space look better. It is about helping families enjoy their homes in a new way through thoughtful design, strong work, and an experience built around care.
The award also reflects the trust homeowners place in the team. Every project begins with a family asking the company to improve an important part of their home. Winning at a national level shows that Zion is not only growing. It is also raising the quality of what it delivers as it grows.
Yet the company’s impact does not stop at the edge of a finished patio, pool deck, or walkway.
Through Walkways for Warriors™, Zion Outdoors has created a direct link between business growth and community service. For every 100 projects the company completes, a United States veteran living in one of its service areas will receive a walkway renovation at no cost.
The idea is simple, but its meaning is deep. Veterans gave years of service to protect the country and its freedoms. Zion wants to honor that sacrifice in a practical way by improving a part of the home that can affect safety, access, and daily comfort.
Walkways for Warriors™ also shows how Lael’s belief in putting others first reaches beyond the team and the customer. The program turns company progress into a chance to serve someone in the community. Each group of 100 completed projects creates a new reason to give back.
That is what makes the initiative fit the wider story behind Zion. The company is not separating growth from service. It is using growth to create more service.
Together, the National Master Design Award and Walkways for Warriors™ show two sides of the same leadership model. One reflects skill, creativity, and high standards. The other reflects gratitude, care, and community duty.
Both offer strong evidence that Zion Outdoors is building around more than revenue. Under Lael Bryant’s leadership, the company is showing that shared values can shape the work, strengthen the team, earn national respect, and create a lasting effect in the communities it serves.
As the conversation with Greg Cummings came to a close, one thing became clear. The story behind Zion Outdoors is not simply about building patios, resurfacing concrete, or reaching bigger revenue goals. It is about a leader rediscovering the kind of work that gives life meaning again.
After years of building and later selling his previous company, Lael Bryant experienced the kind of professional success many founders spend their lives chasing. Yet the experience also taught him something important. Financial achievement alone could not replace the feeling that came from building alongside people who shared the same beliefs, cared about the same mission, and wanted to move in the same direction together.
That realization helped shape the future of Zion Outdoors.
Today, the company continues growing across Texas with a model built around aligned partnerships, values driven leadership, strong team culture, focused services, and systems designed to support long term growth. Every part of the business reflects the idea that success becomes stronger when people understand what they are building and why it matters.
The conversation also offered a wider lesson for leaders across home improvement, home services, and outdoor living. A company can add locations, increase revenue, invest in technology, and still lose the culture that made it special in the first place. Real growth becomes harder to sustain when teams no longer feel connected to the mission behind the work.
Lael’s contribution during the PowerChat showed a different path forward.
Instead of building around ego, Zion Outdoors is being built around service. Instead of creating a company where only performance matters, the team is working to create a company where values guide the work, people trust each other, and leadership remains willing to serve at every level.
The company’s growth from roughly $9 million toward a $20 million goal reflects the strength of that direction. Still, the most meaningful part of the story is not the number itself. It is the effort to grow without losing the beliefs that brought the company together in the first place.
For Lael Bryant, the future of Zion Outdoors is not only about how large the company becomes. It is about whether the people building it continue to believe in the same mission, live by the same values, and move together toward a goal that is bigger than any one person.
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