Tag Archives: Strategy
Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch
The massage school where I am a co-owner, the National Holistic Institute, recently had our annual all staff gathering in Northern California. It is a big investment, but also a critical culture investment to get everyone on the same page. In a school, the interactions… Continue reading
Simple Strategy Lessons: Better before cheaper. Revenue before costs.
Sometimes the best ideas and best advice are the most simple. When I read the following article a while back, I loved it. And believed it. And continue to believe it. Michael Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed from Deloitte Consulting performed a study that began with 25,000 companies… Continue reading
Companies and Founders Deserve Better Financing Options
Business financing and capital raising are full of contradictions. The world is awash in capital, but the availability of capital to businesses is often binary. For some, too much capital is stalking them. For others, the switch to turn on capital flow remains hidden. Size… Continue reading
Resilient Companies Balance Continuity with Shock Absorption
Time can be an overlooked element in business. Time can be an enemy, and time can be a friend. Understanding the impact of time on your business separates the best business minds from the rest. Time affects the pace of change for components of your business, your… Continue reading
We’re In Seed-Stage Boom, Not a Series A Crunch
Two related trends in venture capital investing have been getting attention for the last few years. The first is the growth in angel investing, particularly after the crowd-funding provisions of the JOBS Act. The second is the “Series A crunch” where many companies that receive… Continue reading
Investment Returns Are Not Greener by Changing Industries
It is easier to earn outsized investment returns in some industries over others — I agree with that conventional wisdom. As an investor or entrepreneur, it often pays off to think hard about which industries to enter. If you have a choice, why not increase… Continue reading
Great Business Partners Give You Keys to Success
Business grows through partnerships — sometimes just for a brief transaction and sometimes for life. Despite the false cliche that “nice guys finish last,” my experience has been that being able to forge good partnerships forges keys to long-term success. This is because very little… Continue reading
Should CEO’s, Business Owners, Founders Focus Inside or Outside?
Founders, CEO’s, and business owners need to be skilled at knowing how to balance many competing ideas, priorities, initiatives, and more. We explored this idea in the post the Art of Balance that listed 20 continuums that founders, CEO’s, and business owners must balance constantly. How much to focus… Continue reading
Five Forces by Michael Porter — Fundamentals Through Graphics
Five Forces of Competition The five forces of competition concept is one of the most influential in modern business. It was developed by Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School. Like all good frameworks, it takes something complicated and provides a simple, shorthand method to… Continue reading
Business Management So You Can Surf
I love the story that the founder of Patagonia, Yvon Choinard, built Patagonia in a way that he could leave at any moment to surf. He said that surfing was the best thing that ever happened to him because it motivated him to create systems… Continue reading
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