Podcast & blog
For private company owners, managers, and investors.
Episodes and articles on valuation, capital, strategy, and the risks that quietly suppress what a private company is worth.
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Aug 20, 2019
A Company That Didn’t Sell: Business Valuation and Customer Concentration
Some of the best lessons in the drivers behind business valuation come from the deals that didn’t get done. A few years ago, we…
Jul 25, 2019
Why Core Values Matter
Like trying to steer a ship without a rudder, leading a company without a clearly articulated vision will eventually lead to aimless wanderings or…
Jul 12, 2019
5 Reasons Why Your Business Is Too Dependent On You
If you were to draw a picture that visually represents your role in your business, what would it look like? Are you at the…
Mar 4, 2019
Testimonial: ACGI Software – A Mission to Rally Behind
We recently finished a Value Opportunity Diagnostic Assessment that included preliminary strategic planning elements with ACGI, an impressive association management and credentialing software company…
Oct 11, 2018
5 Tips to Improve the Value of Your Business
1. Find the niche in which you can create sustainable value for your customers better than your competitors. The list of companies that have…
Sep 19, 2018
My Unprofitable Profitable Business
As I looked back on the first year of running my first business I was proud of the profit I had made. I had…
Jun 1, 2018
It’s All About Profit. Right?
Many managers are missing key aspects of their company's performance When I review financial performance with managers of middle-market private companies I find, with…
Mar 12, 2018
Early Warning Signs of Decline
Business decline happens, but is often avoidable. Decline can occur because of both Internal Factors and External Factors (and a detailed assessment of each…
Jan 20, 2018
Do you know why you do what you do?
Just returned from the inspiring AM&AA winter conference in Miami. A private equity equity guy on a panel made a comment that stuck with…
Sep 5, 2017
(Mis)Adventures in Dashboard Metrics
Dashboards have been a hot topic in business literature lately. Recommendations that business owners implement a dashboard for their business abound; however, advice on…
Jun 19, 2017
Work ON Your Business Not IN Your Business
If you're like most business owners who often search for opportunities and business advice at odd hours of the night, you've probably come across…
Jan 3, 2017
Business Planning Practices: Like Your Retirement Depends On It
Will You Be Here? Pepperdine’s 2016 Private Capital Markets Report , which measures private middle-market company M&A activity and cost of capital across the…