Patrick Delehanty is an entrepreneur, engineer, and veteran who has built a career out of solving problems. From federal contracting and land development to luxury home construction and advanced manufacturing, his businesses — Delco Holdings, Villa Homes, Express Redi Mix, and Delco Devgru — contribute to Oklahoma’s growing economy. In this exclusive interview, Patrick Delehanty shares his insights on problem-solving, risk-taking, and the mindset required to build and sustain a business in today’s world.
Grit Daily: What’s the most difficult decision you’ve had to make as an entrepreneur?
There was a moment early on when I had to decide whether to take on a high-risk government contract that could either push my company forward or break it entirely. The deal required a significant upfront investment, tight deadlines, and high expectations. I spent weeks running numbers, talking to my team, and assessing whether we had the capacity to deliver.
In the end, I went for it — but not without safeguards. I built contingency plans, structured milestone-based payments, and secured backup suppliers to mitigate risk. The project was a success, and it opened doors to more federal contracting work, but that experience taught me that growth almost always involves calculated risk.
Grit Daily: What is a problem you see in modern entrepreneurship that more people should be talking about?
There’s a culture of overnight success that social media has made worse. People see a startup blow up, but they don’t see the years of failure behind it. There’s an expectation that if you don’t make six figures in your first year, you’re failing. That’s just not how sustainable businesses work.
Most companies don’t turn a real profit for three to five years. It takes a ridiculous amount of patience, resilience, and trial-and-error. I wish more young entrepreneurs embraced the long game instead of chasing quick money.
Grit Daily: How do you personally handle failure?
I treat failure like data. Every time something goes wrong, I analyze it. What assumptions did I make? What variables did I overlook? Where was the weak link? Then, I adjust and move forward.
A lot of people take failure personally. I don’t. Failure doesn’t mean you’re bad at business — it means you’re learning. The only true failure is refusing to adapt.
Grit Daily: What role does mentorship play in your business journey?
It’s massive. When I transitioned from the military to business, I had no roadmap. I found mentors who had already built what I wanted to build. Some advice saved me from making six-figure mistakes.
Now, I make it a priority to mentor others. I tell people: “Find someone doing what you want to do, offer value to them, and learn everything you can.” Business isn’t something you figure out alone.
Grit Daily: What’s an unconventional skill that has helped you in business?
Pattern recognition. Whether it’s spotting trends in federal contracting, identifying inefficiencies in a construction process, or predicting what type of real estate will appreciate, I’m constantly looking for patterns.
Entrepreneurs who succeed long-term aren’t just hard workers — they’re pattern spotters. They see opportunities before others do, and they act on them quickly.
Grit Daily: What’s something you believed when you started in business that you now know isn’t true?
I used to think the best product or service wins. That’s only half true. The best product combined with great timing, smart marketing, and strong relationships wins.
I’ve seen incredible products fail because they launched at the wrong time or weren’t positioned properly. Business is 50% execution and 50% strategy. If you don’t have both, you’re setting yourself up for a hard lesson.
Grit Daily: What do you think is the most underrated key to business success?
Boring consistency. Everyone chases excitement — big deals, fast results — but the businesses that last are the ones that show up every single day and get the fundamentals right.
If you take care of the small things — managing cash flow, delivering quality, keeping customers happy — the big wins will come naturally. But too many people get distracted chasing shortcuts.
Grit Daily: How do you decide when it’s time to expand a business?
I look for three things:
- Can the core business sustain itself without me being there daily?
- Do I have a reliable team that can handle the extra workload?
- Is demand growing faster than supply in the market I want to expand into?
If those conditions aren’t met, expansion is premature. Growing too fast without a solid foundation kills more businesses than staying small ever will.
Grit Daily: What’s a piece of advice that completely changed how you approach business?
Someone once told me: “If you only work in your business and not on it, you’ll never scale.” That hit hard.
For years, I was too involved in the day-to-day — managing projects, answering every email, approving every decision. It wasn’t until I started delegating and stepping back that my businesses really grew. Your job as a business owner is to build systems that can run without you.
Grit Daily: What’s next for you?
I want to push deeper into sustainable business practices. In construction, that means energy-efficient homes. In manufacturing, that means reducing waste and finding smarter production methods. I think sustainability isn’t just about eco-consciousness — it’s about building businesses that can last for generations.
I also want to help more entrepreneurs see Oklahoma as an opportunity. We have affordable land, a skilled workforce, and an expanding economy — but people overlook it. I want to see more tech, more manufacturing, more innovation happening here.
