Devising Bold Plans…and Doing Them! (2015 Version)
Last week, I wrote about how some very positive economic factors - ranging from low oil prices to low interest rates to US technological leadership to just good old-fashioned confidence are coalescing...
View ArticleDoing Financial Projections Right (A Five Step Process)
Especially this time of year - when so many of us are assembling and committing to our professional resolutions and goals, questions arise as how to best develop financial (growth, revenues, and...
View ArticleWhat CEOs Want
This week, Axial came out with a great report on the challenges and opportunities facing small and middle market businesses in 2015.Compiled from interviews with over 100 CEOs, it is chalk full of...
View ArticleIs 80% Good Enough?
This weekend, I read The 80% Solution– a great e-book by famed business coach Dan Sullivan in which he makes the case that “perfectionism” is a misunderstood and under-reported “enemy” of successful...
View ArticleBreakdowns Leading to Breakthroughs!
In my work I often get to lead strategic and business planning sessions and retreats with some amazingly dynamic and thoughtful entrepreneurs and executives.These past seven days have been particularly...
View ArticleConfronting Our Conventional Wisdoms…through Research
Last week, I wrote about the peaks to valleys to peaks flow of a typical strategic planning session, and how without this Breakdowns leading to Breakthroughs flow it is difficult to attain truly...
View ArticleUber, SpaceX, Cloudera: Simplicity, Power, Promise
Yesterday, TechCrunch posted a neat slideshow on the nine largest venture capital and private equity financing rounds of the past 24 months.It is an extremely cool piece - profiling seven (two...
View ArticleBig Data, Dashboards, and Exits
The confluence of Big Data and high quality, low cost software-as- service (SaaS) programs and applications for virtually every business purpose has made the path clearer than ever as to what...
View ArticleHere's Why NOT to Trust Your Business Gut
According to statistics from BizBuySell, less than 1 out of 5 of businesses marketed for sale are able to find a buyer and to consummate a successful transaction. Even this depressing statistic vastly...
View ArticleHow Much Could Your Business Be Worth?
Last week, I shared the depressing statistic on how less than 1 out of 5 companies marketed for sale are able to find a buyer and to consummate a successful sale transaction. And how even this...
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Tech is Booming: Time to Invest in a VC Fund?
This is clearly one of the great boom times in the history of Venture Capital, with more than $29 billion in fresh capital being raised by more than 250 funds over the past year. This represents a 70%...
View ArticleGetting to the Right Strategy in 15 Minutes or Less
I regularly engage with entrepreneurs and executives to help them determine the right long-term strategic plans and goals to pursue, toward the end of maximizing their businesses’ valuations and their...
View ArticleWhere Do $2 Billion Startup Valuations Come From?
Last week, data management and dashboard start up Domo announced it had raised an additional $200 million in growth capital, bringing its total haul over the past four years to a truly remarkable $450...
View Article5 Characteristics of SaaS Companies with Breakout Potential [Webinar Invitation]
My Post last week on the fast funding and growth success of Domo (over $450 million in capital raised at a $2 billion valuation), generated a lot of great responses - some whimsical, some skeptical,...
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The Best Place to Invest? Other People's Businesses.
An endearing, but dangerous quality of entrepreneurs and small business owners is their propensity to go all-in -- not only pouring all of their lives, hearts and souls into their business, but all of...
View ArticleWhy Business Intelligence is So Hard [And What to do About It]
Over the past few weeks, I have written about the amazing growth and financial progress of Business Intelligence (BI) companies like Domo, Birst, and Looker and how their rise to prominence and value...
View ArticleAre You a Business Contender or Pretender?
One of the great joys of my work is the unique opportunity it affords to meet and to learn from talented, committed, and effective executives - working hard and long on their entrepreneurial...
View ArticleWho are the Investor – Entrepreneurs?
A joy of my work is that I get to connect often with smart, “out-of-the box” businesspeople that can be best described as "Investor – Entrepreneurs.”The most talented of these fine folks evaluate...
View ArticleH.A.P.P.Y Business Intelligence
The power of business intelligence tools and technologies (BI) to provide managers and leaders accurate, real time visibility to the performance of all aspects of their companies - marketing, sales,...
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Why One for Three is So Much Better than Zero for Zero
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston ChurchillAt the very heart of entrepreneurship, small business, and investing sit risks, roadblocks,...
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