From the NFL to vending: How Jon Corto built a winning team at Buffalo Strive

The qualities that helped Jon Corto reach the NFL — discipline, resilience, coachability, sacrifice and relentless preparation — are the same qualities he relies on to lead Buffalo Strive, his successful convenience services business.

In this first part of a two-part series of Automatic Merchandiser’s Vending & OCS Nation podcast, host Bob Tullio sits down with Jon Corto, founder and CEO of Buffalo Strive, Markets and Vending. Learn about Corto’s remarkable journey from an undersized linebacker at Sacred Heart University to playing in the National Football League for his hometown Buffalo Bills.

Corto wasn’t a highly touted prospect. He wasn’t drafted. He admits that at different points in his career he wasn’t the biggest, fastest or strongest player on the field. What he did have was a goal — and an extraordinary willingness to work for it. Corto shares the unlikely chain of events that helped open the door to his NFL opportunity and why he was willing to leave college early and go “all in” on his dream. For Corto, years of preparation, sacrifice and discipline ultimately paid off.

What happened along the way and how those lessons continue to shape the way he runs Buffalo Strive today — that’s the real story in this podcast.

In this episode, Bob and Jon discuss:

• Why talent alone is never enough in professional sports or business
• The importance of developing habits that continually improve performance
• Why Corto says he will “fail five times before someone else even swings the bat”
• The danger of paralysis and fear of failure in business
• Why Corto would choose a coachable employee over the most talented employee
• What his best coaches taught him about leadership, respect and getting the most out of people
• Lessons Corto learned from his Buffalo Bills teammates about competition and supporting the people around you
• The memorable NFL moment when a teammate told him, “Don’t end on that. You’re up again.”
• What playing under constant NFL pressure taught him about handling business challenges
• Why every successful organization needs people who understand and embrace their role
• The remarkable similarities between becoming a professional athlete and building a successful company

Ultimately, Corto says both pursuits demand many of the same things: hard work, discipline, sacrifice and relentlessness. It is a philosophy reflected today in Buffalo Strive’s mission: “Relentless pursuit to serve others.”

Corto’s biggest lesson from both football and business is remarkably simple: “If you want to get ahead, you have to be willing to pay the price.”