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Tag: Business Growth

  • Demetriou: When to pursue acquisitions over organic growth | Long Island Business News

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    In Brief:
    • Companies typically pursue growth through organic expansion, acquisitions or a strategic mix of both.
    • builds brand equity and stability but requires patience and disciplined measurement.
    • Acquisitions can rapidly accelerate growth but carry risks tied to culture, operations and integration.
    • The strongest long-term strategies balance steady organic growth with selective, well-aligned acquisitions.

    Consolidation and expansion are a way of life for leaders of mature companies. The aches and pains of early-stage client growth give way to established processes and predictable production that sustain day-to-day cash flow and operations. It can be a comfortable place to be, except for the persistent “grow or die” adage that shadows nearly every leadership conversation.

    The paths to growth, simply put, are organic growth and acquisitions.

    Organic growth is typically the slower of the two choices. It achieves a perpetual trickle of new clients and incremental sales. All systems—advertising, marketing, , content, referrals and direct selling—are designed to attract new customers and drive revenue. Success requires closely monitoring KPIs and other performance metrics to ensure whether growth justifies the effort and expense. Done correctly, organic growth builds brand equity, strengthens culture and reinforces operational discipline. Done poorly, it becomes expensive noise.

    One of the most critical KPIs in evaluating organic growth is . Simply put, you land one new client who spends $50,000 annually, and your median client stays with your company for five years, presenting $250,000 in total revenue.

    Top-line numbers alone can be misleading. If that client contributes 15% to the bottom line, the long-term profit is $37,500. That figure becomes especially revealing when weighed against rising customer acquisition and marketing costs.

    Organic growth also demands patience. Markets fluctuate. Competitive pressures intensify. Client decision cycles lengthen. Leadership must be prepared to continually reinvest in talent, technology, and brand visibility while resisting the temptation to declare victory too early or abandon strategy too soon. Sustainable organic growth is not a campaign—it is a system.

    Acquiring a competitor or a synergistic company is not quite as simple, but it can be a powerful accelerator.  Strategic acquisitions can rapidly increase revenue, expand client bases, enhance capacity, add intellectual property, and secure key talent. When executed effectively, acquisitions compress years of organic effort into months.

    Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity advances the growth timeline. In one fell swoop, companies can gain stature, institutional recognition for funding of further expansion and the critical mass needed to compete at a higher level. Scale matters. Larger organizations often command better vendor terms, attract stronger talent and enjoy increased credibility with enterprise clients.

    That said, acquisitions carry risk. Cultural mismatch, client attrition, operational redundancy and leadership conflict can quickly erode anticipated value. Effective due diligence must extend beyond financial statements to include client concentration, employee dependency, systems compatibility and cultural alignment. Buying revenue without understanding the people and processes behind it is a costly mistake.

    The most successful growth strategies rarely rely on one track alone. Companies that thrive over the long-term balance disciplined organic growth with selective acquisitions aligned to strategic objectives. Organic systems provide stability and predictability. Strategic acquisitions provide acceleration and optionality.

    Leadership’s role is to know when patience is required and when boldness is warranted. Growth for growth’s sake is reckless. Stagnation disguised as comfort is equally dangerous. The mandate is clarity: Understand your numbers, your market, your people and your appetite for risk.

    In the end, growth is not a singular event but a continuous decision. Whether organic, acquisitive, or a thoughtful combination of both, expansion remains the lifeblood of relevance. Companies that recognize this reality—and act with discipline and intent—position themselves not merely to survive, but to lead.

     

    Greg Demetriou is the owner/CEO of Lorraine Gregory Communications in Edgewood.


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  • Henry Schein names Frederick Lowery as new CEO | Long Island Business News

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    Henry Schein, a provider of healthcare products and services to office-based dental and medical practitioners and headquartered in Melville, has named Frederick Lowery as its new CEO. Lowery, who takes the reins March 2, succeeds Stanley Bergman, who will step down as CEO after 35 years and continue to serve as chairman of the board, helping to ensure a smooth .

    Lowery brings more than 20 years of experience to Henry Schein, with expertise in scaling complex businesses to achieve long-term growth. Most recently, he served as executive vice president and president of Laboratory Products and BioProduction at Thermo Fisher Scientific.

    His background in expanding distribution networks and building businesses around proprietary products aligns with Henry Schein’s business model and positions him to support the company’s ongoing growth and execution of its long-term strategic initiatives, according to the company.

    “I am honored to join Henry Schein at such a pivotal moment,” Lowery said in a news release about leading the company.

    “This is an organization with immense potential to impact clinicians and patients, given its remarkable reputation for innovation, customer service and partnership,” he added. “I look forward to working with ‘Team Schein’ to build on the strong foundation established by Stan while accelerating value creation.”

    Bergman said in the news release that he is “very pleased to welcome Fred to Henry Schein. Beyond his extensive operational experience, he brings a leadership philosophy that reflects the values that have long defined our company.

    “Fred understands the critical role we play in supporting dental and medical practitioners, and he is exceptionally well equipped to lead Henry Schein into its next phase of growth,” he added.

    “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Stan for his exceptional leadership and invaluable contributions over more than three decades,” Phil Laskawy, lead director and chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee at Henry Schein, said in the news release.

    “After a comprehensive search process, we are confident that Fred is the right successor to honor Henry Schein’s proud heritage,” Laskawy added. “With extensive commercial, logistics and manufacturing expertise, and a focus on customer satisfaction, he has the combination of experience and capabilities necessary to accelerate growth and value creation.”

    That sentiment was shared by KKR, which completed a $250 million investment in Henry Schein in May.

    “We are excited about our strategic partnership with Henry Schein and look forward to supporting the next chapter of the company’s journey under Fred’s leadership,” Max Lin, board member and vice chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee at Henry Schein and partner at KKR, said in the news release.

    “We believe Fred brings a unique combination of healthcare distribution experience, operational best practices and accountable leadership that will accelerate our strategic initiatives and further differentiate Henry Schein as a world-class business,” Lin said.

    Prior to joining Thermo Fisher, Lowery served in leadership roles for Maytag Corporation and General Motors. He holds a master’s degree in manufacturing management from Kettering University (formerly General Motors Institute of Engineering and Management) and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Tennessee Technological University.

     


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    Adina Genn

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  • Why Saying ‘No Returns’ Is Not Profitable, According to Rebel Founder Emily Hosie

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    Every entrepreneur faces waste, whether it is inventory, time, or money lost in the shuffle of doing business. Rebel founder and CEO Emily Hosie built North America’s largest returns re-commerce platform by asking how she could turn that waste into profit. This was one of the shocking things I have learned—saying “no returns” is not profitable.  

    Emily’s company partners with retailers to reprocess and resell returned and overstocked items that would otherwise become waste. To date, Rebel has kept more than 25 million pounds of goods out of landfills each year while creating a new source of revenue for its partners. Returns aren’t just a cost of doing business; they can become your next source of profit. 

    On a recent episode of The Big Idea from Yahoo Finance, I sat down with Hosie to explore how she turned one of retail’s biggest headaches into a sustainable and scalable business. Her experience offers practical lessons for any founder who wants to turn setbacks and inefficiencies into growth. 

    Spot the opportunity in waste 

    When Hosie began, she noticed retailers had no efficient way to handle returns. Investors understood excess inventory, but few realized the massive cost of returns. In 2024, U.S. retailers processed $890 billion worth of returned merchandise. Hosie said that figure is expected to reach $1 trillion by the end of 2026. 

    Hosie explained that at first, no company wanted to admit its returns were being thrown away. Her breakthrough came when a large retailer on the brink of bankruptcy finally acknowledged the problem and asked if Rebel could help process its discarded inventory. That moment, she said, proved the model could work at scale. 

    For small business owners, the lesson is to look for inefficiency hiding in plain sight. Know your return rate, audit your return policy, and explore creative ways to resell or repurpose unsold inventory. You might list returned products in your website’s clearance section or move them through a warehouse sale. Waste is rarely just waste. It is often an overlooked resource waiting for someone to manage it better. 

    Educate and build trust 

    Creating a new category required educating three audiences: investors, retailers, and consumers. Investors needed to understand how returns differ from factory overstock. Retailers had to admit they needed a better solution. Consumers needed clarity on what “open box” means and why it offers value. Open-box items are products that were purchased and returned but never used. 

    Hosie built credibility by showing results and using early successes to bring others along. Once one partner trusted the platform, her team used that proof to win the next. When you are selling something new, proof of performance is your best marketing. Teaching your market what problem you solve and showing measurable results builds trust faster than any pitch. 

    Turn risk into resilience 

    Hosie launched Rebel in unusual conditions and kept moving. “It started in our basement,” she recalled. “We had transport trucks dropping pallets of returns on the sidewalk in downtown Toronto.”  

    The timing was far from ideal. Hosie was pregnant, and the pandemic lockdown had just started. “I think there’s never a right time,” she said. If an idea does not work, “then you’ll just go back and get another job.” 

    Her experience shows that flexibility matters more than timing. Founders who start before conditions are perfect learn faster, pivot sooner, and build resilience by necessity. 

    Build loyalty through returns 

    Hosie treated returns as a growth tool rather than a nuisance. “Over 50% of [customers] are discovering a brand for the first time,” she said, describing how open-box pricing introduces shoppers to labels they might not buy at full price.  

    She also found that shoppers who make a return often “buy triple the amount” during the visit. A strong return policy can be part of a healthy customer retention strategy. It keeps people engaged and builds goodwill long after the initial purchase. 

    Hosie’s story shows how rethinking waste can unlock new revenue, new customers, and a healthier business. The lesson is simple: Look where others see loss, educate the market with proof, make your move before conditions feel perfect, and use returns to build loyalty. 

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    Elizabeth Gore

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  • How to Tell Whether You’ve Plateaued Because of Purpose or People

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    Plateaus don’t mean you’re failing. They mean you’re being called to evolve.

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    Entrepreneurs’ Organization

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  • How My Dishwasher Hunt at Lowe’s Became a Master Class in Missed Moments

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    There was a time when shopping in person meant something. You’d get eye contact, maybe even a smile. Someone might care whether you walked away satisfied or at least, with what you came for. Lately, retail feels like an archaeological dig site for customer service. I was reminded of this during a recent trip to Lowe’s, which began as a simple errand and ended as a case study in how customer experience dies—not from one big failure, but from a thousand small indifferences. 

    The spark of hope 

    It started promisingly. I was on the hunt for a new dishwasher. The store was busy, but one associate went above and beyond. He didn’t just point me to the appliance aisle, but he walked with me, asked a few smart questions about my kitchen setup, and even flagged a clearance model that checked every box: black finish, energy-efficient, and a serious deal. 

    He was one of those rare employees who got it. The kind who doesn’t just follow the process but thinks creatively. The unit was slightly taller than my counter opening, but instead of dismissing the problem, he brainstormed a workaround—adjusting the leveling legs, tweaking the height, even offering double-check specs. I was impressed. This was the kind of customer service and interaction that restores faith in retail—real human effort, genuine interest, and problem-solving in motion. 

    When the system takes over 

    Then came the moment to pay. That’s when things went sideways. Apparently, the dishwasher wasn’t “in stock” according to the computer system, even though I was staring right at it. The barcode wasn’t scanning properly, and the helpful associate couldn’t override it. So he called for the manager. Bye bye customer service.

    Enter Karen. Karen arrived with that brisk, confident energy of someone ready to fix things. She typed, clicked, and frowned. She tried again, then again, and then she sighed audibly. 

    “This isn’t supposed to happen,” she said to the screen. She called another manager. One was “at lunch.” The other was “in a meeting.” So, she gathered reinforcements—five other employees, each trying to diagnose the mystery of the ghost dishwasher. 

    For the next 30 minutes, I stood there while this ad hoc task force hovered around the terminal, discussing possible fixes, store policies, and, eventually, unrelated topics—upcoming vacations, a broken printer, and someone’s lunch order. I might as well have been invisible. I received zero updates, no estimated timeframe, and no reassurance. Instead, I just stood in quiet frustration amidst inside chatter while I waited, holding my credit card, wondering if anyone remembered I was still there. 

    The fix without influence 

    Eventually, someone found a workaround. The transaction went through. I signed the slip and walked away with my receipt and a strange feeling: relief, not satisfaction. Here’s what struck me most. The outcome was fine. The problem was resolved, but the experience was awful. I had no control, no communication, and no participation. The helpful associate who started strong was sidelined. The manager who tried to help got lost in her own process. I, the customer, had zero influence in shaping the journey. That’s the modern retail paradox. The system works—just not for the customer. 

    Process over people 

    Modern culture has optimized retail to death. Every transaction, approval, and exception flows through a maze of systems and rules. Employees follow scripts instead of using judgment. Managers focus on compliance over connection. While technology was supposed to make things smoother, it’s often just created new friction points no one feels empowered to solve. 

    When the system doesn’t allow for flexibility, people stop thinking creatively. They stop owning the experience. The “Karen” at Lowe’s wasn’t incompetent, but she was constrained. Trained to follow procedure, not to lead a customer through uncertainty. 

    The forgotten human element 

    Customer service used to be about helping people. Now it’s about people managing systems, and that shift has quietly gutted the emotional core of the in-store experience. Customers don’t expect perfection. They expect acknowledgment. They expect to be seen, heard, and informed. A simple, “Hey, this might take a few minutes, but we’ll get it sorted out,” would have changed everything. Instead, the silence spoke volumes. 

    What retail can learn 

    The lesson here isn’t about dishwashers but about design. Companies need to rethink customer experience as something that happens between people, not just through systems. Empower front-line employees to own outcomes. Encourage managers to communicate transparently, even when they don’t have all the answers. Most importantly, remember that every customer interaction is a story in progress. Whether it ends as a tale of frustration or delight depends on how much agency the customer feels they have in shaping it. 

    That day at Lowe’s could have been a shining example of service recovery done right. Instead, it became a microcosm of retail’s biggest challenge: confusing process for progress. Because the truth is, customer experience isn’t measured by how efficiently a system runs. It’s measured by how human it feels when things don’t go according to plan. 

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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    Andrea Olson

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  • The Surprising Lessons Behind Chess.com’s Rise to a Billion-Dollar Company

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    When Chess.com launched back in 2007, its co-founders had a few starting advantages: a lifelong love of the game, two prior companies they’d exited a year before, and one very good domain name that cost them $56,000, purchased with the money they got from their exits. 

    In business, as in chess itself, you can’t always predict what’s going to happen. But you can learn to spot opportunities as they arise. That’s why, after several years of cultural shifts—paired with feature launches that capitalized on changing attitudes toward a very old game—Chess.com came out on top in 2023 with a billion-dollar valuation. Its valuation today is even higher.

    It’s something of a 20-year overnight success story. Through its early years, Chess.com focused on making it easy and fun for people to play chess, co-founder and CEO Erik Allebest says. But co-founder Danny Rensch—the company’s “chief chess master”—had a bigger goal. “Danny’s vision was, ‘We’re gonna revolutionize how chess is perceived,’” Allebest says. “And it took time to get there, but we grew in that way.”

    One key early gambit: The team was early to streaming, long before the platform Twitch became so popular that even presidential candidates started to appear on it. In 2012, Chess.com hosted its first-ever “death match,” in which two master players competed to see who could win the most rapid-fire games, played on laptops, with $1,000 cash in prize money at stake. The company has seriously upped its game since that low-res approach: today, Chess.com has 1.2 million followers on its Twitch account and 2.6 million on YouTube.

    “That took us in a different direction,” Allebest says. “A whole bunch of purists are like, ‘chess has been ruined,’ but it’s grown the game and the appeal massively.” With its domain name as straightforward as possible, Chess.com has not spent any money on traditional marketing channels, such as social media advertising. Instead, it’s focused on promoting the game itself, Allebest explains. Significant tailwinds in 2020 helped the company with that task.

    First there was the Covid-19 pandemic, which spiked users of Chess.com as people in quarantine looked for new ways to stay busy. In June of that year, the company launched PogChamps, a two-week competition in which 16 of Twitch’s biggest streamers—intentionally not those who are known for being particularly good at chess—competed for $50,000 worth of prizes. Chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, the most-followed player on Twitch, coached participants in livestreamed lessons ahead of the event. PogChamps drew more than 155,000 concurrent viewers and drove a 57 percent jump in hours of gaming watched on Chess.com compared to the prior month. The company has continued the annual competition since.

    Checkmate: the Netflix effect

    Then in October of 2020 came the cultural win the company couldn’t have predicted. Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, the chess-focused limited series starring actor Anya Taylor-Joy, became a massive hit: 62 million households streamed the show in its first 28 days on the platform, according to Netflix. By early 2021, new registrations on Chess.com hit more than 500 percent year-over-year growth.

    The Queen’s Gambit and its cultural cache poised the company well to roll out its first character bot later that year, allowing users to “play against” Beth Harmon, the protagonist of Netflix’s chess success story. Since then, the company has expanded that roster and introduce bots personifying real chess players like Nakamura, as well as fan favorites like Mittens, a snarky cat that users played nearly 40 million times the month it debuted in 2023. The bot—which performed deceptively well even against professional players—went so viral that it earned multiple press mentions, including from The Wall Street Journal, which called it “the chess world’s new villain.”  

    “It blew up the internet,” Allebest says. “It was hilarious.” 

    Chess.com has offered tiered premium subscriptions since 2009, ranging in price from $29 to $99 per year and giving users access to ad-free experience, as well as features including unlimited puzzles, daily lessons, instructional videos, and full game analysis. 

    In 2022, for the first time in more than a decade, it revamped its premium experience and increased its pricing to range from $50 to $120 annually. Roughly five percent of Chess.com’s active users have premium subscriptions, and the number of premium subscribers has surged more than 8x since the start of 2020. Today, annual revenue from subscriptions exceeds $150 million.

    The premium revamp involved rolling out a more comprehensive, AI-powered game review. Post gameplay, a coach-bot walks users through their performance. “What we found is most people actually don’t want to know what they did wrong. They want to know what they did right,” Allebest says. He points to research about the “optimal win to lose ratio for learning,” which leans heavily toward winning. Plus, he adds, “chess is punishing—you’re expected to lose half your games or more, so you’re already getting the negative feedback of losing games.”

    That insight led the company to find new opportunities to “gamify” its features and pepper in moments of positive reinforcement. “There’s a special symbol, a teal exclamation mark, that’s called ‘brilliant move.’ Finding those is very hard, and you only get to see them if you do a game review,” Allebest says. “It’s kind of a badge of honor.”

    The same year, Chess.com also closed on a star-powered deal, acquiring Magnus Carlsen’s Play Magnus Group—then a publicly traded company on the Oslo Stock Exchange—for $82.9 million. The company self-financed the deal through a combination of debt, internal financing, and equity, Allebest says. Carlson, a five-time World Chess Champion with 2 million followers on Instagram and 1.5 million on YouTube, was a big draw. But so was its educational platform, Chessable, which featured proprietary technology for spaced repetition learning.

    As Chess.com has invested in its core functions, it’s also continued to promote the game through innovative partnerships—like its BlitzChamps tournament series with the NFL, which it’s held annually since 2022, pitting NFL players past and present against one another for games of rapidfire chess.

    “Chess is just a game”

    Now, with 225 million registered users, Chess.com is quite the institution: the company has about 580 full-time employees, with about 40 percent devoted to engineering, and 10 percent in customer support. The platform is currently undergoing localization in 60 languages, Allebest adds, which adds to the organization’s complexity. “We answer everybody’s support tickets,” he says. “Some big companies are like, ‘Go look in the forums.’ We actually do care about every single inquiry that comes in.”

    Going forward, Allebest hopes that the platform can help users better connect with each other, too. The company plans to upgrade its social media features, most of which date back to 2009. The potential he sees is great. “Chess.com is a huge social network, but we don’t have a good user profile and feed. Like, when I win a game, why doesn’t it show up on my feed? What are my friends up to? What famous chess celebrity posted a cool video?”

    While Chess.com’s success has an exceptionally long arc, Allebest isn’t one to look in the rearview mirror. The company could have invested in its data infrastructure sooner, he says, but it was largely guided by “heart and intuition.” Now, with the numbers to inform the way it moves forward, it’s operating strategically.

    It’s not unlike playing the game itself. “You just have to make the first move and then react to what happens. And I think people get paralyzed by feeling like they need to see to the end,” Allebest says. “But you know, chess is just a game. You can only play one move at a time and do your best at that moment, and then react to what happens. And I think that is exactly what good entrepreneurship can look like.”

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    Rebecca Deczynski

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  • Steal This Idea: How Amazon Uses a Flywheel to Build a Trillion-Dollar Business

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    In 2001, Jim Collins was invited to Amazon to talk about his just-released book, Good to Great. One of the things he shared was the concept of a flywheel.

    The premise is simple. A flywheel is an incredibly heavy wheel that takes huge effort to push. Keep pushing, though, and the flywheel slowly builds momentum; keep adding ways for other initiatives to help push, and in time the flywheel starts generating its own momentum and starts helping turn itself.

    Once the flywheel builds up sufficient momentum — especially self-reinforcing momentum — a company can go from good to great.

    Pretty cool premise, but admittedly not particularly helpful. Everyone knows success is based on focus and hard work. But dive a little deeper and the flywheel concept can provide clarity and help drive strategy for any business in any industry.

    Here’s why. A flywheel is a self-reinforcing loop made up of a few key initiatives. Those initiatives feed and are in turn driven by each other, and build a long-term business.

    Here’s how Brad Stone describes an early version of Amazon’s flywheel in his book, The Everything Store:

    … Bezos and his lieutenants sketched their own virtuous cycle, which they believed powered their business. It went something like this: lower prices led to more customer visits. More customers increased the volume of sales and attracted more commission-paying third-party sellers to the site. That allowed Amazon to get more out of fixed costs like the fulfillment centers and the servers needed to run the website.

    This greater efficiency then enabled it to lower prices further.

    Feed any part of this flywheel, they reasoned, and it should accelerate the loop.

    The key is the last sentence: Feed any part of the flywheel. Adding more third-party sellers meant greater selection, more customers, and more revenue. Greater revenue helped fuel investments in infrastructure which reduced costs, and helped lower prices. Lower prices meant more customers, which meant more revenue… you get the point.

    Granted, that’s Amazon. But what about your business? Imagine you sell home heating and air conditioning systems.

    New hardware sales and installations make up one part of your flywheel. Preventive maintenance makes up another: the more new systems you install, the more service contracts you can sell, and the more scheduled maintenance visits you make. Those visits create more opportunities for your techs to deliver great service and build long-term customer relationships, which feeds future hardware and installation sales.

    And don’t forget emergency service; every call is an opportunity for a tech to save the day, and for you to sell another maintenance contract, and to identify obsolete equipment that could be replaced by new hardware.

    Sounds obvious, right? But how you choose to feed your flywheel can be less obvious. One simple approach is to focus largely on sales of new systems. But a dealer near me works extremely hard to sell maintenance contracts, counter-intuitively (at least to me) putting more resources into selling maintenance than he does selling new hardware.

    Why? Maintenance contracts drive service calls, which drive customer relationships, which drive sales of new systems, since it’s a lot easier to sell a $250 maintenance contract than it is to sell a $12,000 system. But when that customer does need a new system, since he’s built a great relationship, he’s likely to be the first provider that customer calls.

    His flywheel has helped him build a business with locations in multiple cities across the state.

    Now for a humble example: me. I write for Inc. I ghostwrite books. I wrote my own book. I do keynotes. My Inc. articles help drive ghostwriting work and sales of my book. My book, and my Inc. articles, help drive speaking engagements. Speaking engagements drive book sales. My Inc. work gets me in front of potential ghostwriting clients. Past ghostwriting clients refer me to new ghostwriting clients, and occasionally for speaking gigs.

    Cumulatively, each component of my flywheel supports and pushes the other components.

    That’s the key to the flywheel. If you only have one primary initiative, what happens when the momentum from that initiative inevitably stalls? The key is to find initiatives you can add to your business that will help sustain and build momentum, and will be fed by that same momentum.

    The key is to build a flywheel that, when you feed any part of it, naturally accelerates the entire loop. (Just don’t think of marketing as a part of your flywheel. Marketing supports initiatives; it’s not an initiative in and of itself.)

    Don’t feel bad if your flywheel is currently missing a facet or two. (Mine could use at least one more.) Just make sure you start working to create your own self-reinforcing loop.

    Because when you do, that can make your business really roll.

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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    Jeff Haden

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  • Why Executives Should Stop Ignoring Brain Fog and Start Finding Root-Cause Clarity | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Brain fog. Fatigue. Trouble bouncing back after long days or stressful quarters. Many executives dismiss these symptoms as the inevitable price of leadership. But what if they aren’t just stressed? What if their bodies and environments are quietly working against them?

    That question sits at the heart of what I call root-cause clarity: identifying the hidden triggers that undermine energy, focus and resilience long before they show up as major problems.

    Related: Why Top Leaders Are Turning to Energy Medicine for an Edge

    My turning point

    At the height of my career in tech, I was struck by a car while seven months pregnant with my third child. The accident forced me to slow down and pay attention to my health in ways I had never considered. What began as a fight for survival became a search for deeper answers.

    That search eventually led me into the world of diagnostics, functional wellness and culinary medicine. I became certified through a program accredited by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and I founded Small Hinges Health to help others ask the same question I had to face: what hidden factors might be quietly sabotaging your potential?

    Along the way, I met others who had walked the same path — from pain to purpose — and were building solutions to help people uncover their own root causes. Their journeys echo the same lesson: clarity doesn’t just heal, it transforms how we lead and live. Here are two of those stories.

    Carrie’s story: From illness to educator

    Carrie Drinkwine’s life looked picture-perfect from the outside. She was ambitious, vibrant and determined. But behind the scenes, she was in constant pain. She grew up in a home with hidden mold and later faced an onslaught of chronic health challenges — relentless fatigue, widespread pain and infertility that defied explanation.

    Doctor after doctor offered prescriptions, but no lasting relief. The disconnect between her outward success and her private suffering grew wider until she realized she had to dig deeper for herself.

    Through years of research and trial, Carrie began exploring detoxification, regenerative approaches and cellular-level wellness. Piece by piece, she uncovered the root causes undermining her health. That transformation reshaped her purpose.

    She went on to found Wise Wellness Clinic and later The Institute of Regenerative Health, where she now trains practitioners worldwide to help clients move beyond symptom-chasing and toward true root-cause analysis.

    For executives, her story is a reminder: ignoring fatigue and brain fog isn’t resilience — it’s risk. The leadership lesson is simple: pushing through may win you short-term results, but true resilience comes from addressing what’s quietly draining performance.

    Related: Why a Stress Detox Is Vital for an Entrepreneur

    Jason’s story: From survival to advocacy

    Jason Earle’s early years were marked by illness so severe that doctors once suspected cystic fibrosis. He was allergic to nearly everything in his environment, and his childhood was defined by inhalers, medications, and limitations.

    Then, after his parents’ divorce, Jason moved out of his musty childhood home — and almost overnight, many of his symptoms disappeared. At the time, doctors attributed it to “spontaneous remission.” Years later, he realized something more fundamental: the damp, mold-filled environment he grew up in had likely been the root cause of his suffering.

    Life dealt him further blows. At 14, he lost his mother to suicide. At 15, he was diagnosed with Lyme disease, leading to missed school and mounting setbacks. By 16, he had dropped out and was pumping gas for $7 an hour.

    But in an unexpected twist, a chance encounter at that gas station opened the door to Wall Street. Within a year, Jason had become the youngest licensed stockbroker in U.S. history, earning a Guinness World Record at just 17. He built a successful career in finance, but the mystery of his early health struggles stayed with him.

    When he later discovered the connection between mold and chronic illness, it reframed his past—and gave him a mission. He founded 1-800-GOT-MOLD? and developed the GOT MOLD?® Test Kit, giving people accessible tools to evaluate the air quality in their homes and workplaces.

    For leaders, Jason’s message is clear: you cannot change what you refuse to measure. Hidden factors in your environment and body affect performance whether you acknowledge them or not. Clarity begins with data.

    Lessons for leaders

    For executives, these stories carry a powerful message. Brain fog and fatigue aren’t just signs of overwork – they may be signals of unseen obstacles draining performance. The real risk isn’t in asking too many questions, but in waiting until it’s too late.

    Related: 5 Ways to Improve Productivity By Breathing Easier

    Practical ways to start

    • Test your environment. Environmental toxins and nutrition imbalances can all impact how you show up at work.
    • Seek deeper diagnostics. Go beyond standard panels to uncover what might be quietly affecting resilience.
    • Invest in education. Learn enough to be your own advocate – because no one will prioritize your health more than you.

    Carrie, Jason, and I share one truth: adversity can fuel more than just your mission, it can fuel clarity. Executives are trained to optimize systems and strategies, but the most important system – the body – is often ignored until it fails.

    Root-cause clarity isn’t just a wellness strategy. It’s a performance strategy. And in leadership, clarity is the ultimate competitive edge.

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    Lindsay ONeill

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  • Your Startup Seems On Track — But An Invisible Growth Blocker Says Otherwise | Entrepreneur

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    As a founder, your focus is growth — more users, more features, more market share. But sometimes the biggest thing standing in your way isn’t your business model, marketing or funding. It’s your tech team.

    Not because they’re doing something wrong — but because they’ve taken you as far as they can.

    And when you finally bring in a new team or vendor, it’s a stress test. For the business, it means facing hard questions about control. For the new team, it means diving into someone else’s legacy code. And for you, the founder, there’s one phrase no one ever wants to hear:

    “Honestly, it might be easier to rebuild this from scratch.”

    But here’s the thing — you don’t need a fire to smell the smoke.

    Related: The Top 2 Mistakes Founders Make That Hinder the Growth of Their Companies

    The calm before the stall

    Sometimes, founders realize something’s off when everything starts breaking — delivery delays, ballooning budgets or a tech stack that feels five years old. But just as often, things look fine on the surface.

    Code is getting shipped. Deadlines are met. Users are active, maybe even paying. On paper, it all looks “on track.”

    But under the hood, your product may already be maxed out. Not because of bugs — but because the team that built it wasn’t thinking far enough ahead.

    This is the silent stall: when your product stops being a launchpad and becomes a ceiling. It still works, but it can’t grow.

    No scalable tech foundation

    Most growth plans boil down to a simple idea: make it work, then scale. But can your architecture, tools and infrastructure handle that scale?

    If your tech partner lacks a long-term mindset, they’ll deliver what you ask for — but not what you’ll need next. That means you’ll constantly be in maintenance mode, fixing things that should’ve been built right the first time.

    And growth adds pressure fast: more users, more data, more complexity. What works for a few thousand users might fall apart at scale — or cost you exponentially more to run.

    A good tech partner doesn’t treat scalability as an upgrade. They design for it from day one. Modular systems, clean infrastructure and smart trade-offs aren’t technical luxuries — they’re what make future features (and funding rounds) possible.

    Because rebuilding later costs more. In time, money and momentum you won’t get back.

    An incomplete team

    Here’s something that trips up a lot of startups: assuming developers alone can carry the product.

    Developers are essential, of course. But building a successful digital product takes more than code. You also need:

    • Business analysts to map user and market needs into features
    • UX and UI designers to shape user experience
    • Solution architects to plan scalable systems

    If your current vendor only supplies engineers, you’re not working with a product partner — you’re working with a contractor. That might be fine early on, but over time, it’s a limitation.

    Without the right roles in place, your product gets built in a vacuum. There’s no one translating strategy into functionality or guiding decisions with the bigger picture in mind.

    A complete product team is cross-functional by design. The best vendors can pull in the right expertise when needed — not weeks later, but immediately.

    No plan for what’s next

    Plenty of teams are great at delivering today’s requirements. But what about tomorrow’s?

    If your tech partner isn’t helping you plan for monetization, scale or the next fundraising round, you’re not set up for sustainable growth.

    Think about how much future planning touches:

    • Payment systems
    • Onboarding flows
    • App store requirements
    • Subscription models
    • Analytics and data tracking

    Miss these pieces early, and you’ll end up rebuilding later — right when you should be scaling. Investors notice too. They expect clean data, thoughtful UX and systems that support growth, not just usage.

    A strong tech partner will challenge assumptions and help you anticipate what comes after this version. Because scaling isn’t just more code — it’s pricing, performance, infrastructure and go-to-market timing all working together.

    If your team isn’t thinking that far ahead, it’s time to find one that is.

    Related: 6 Unconventional Habits That Actually Help Entrepreneurs Find Work-Life Sanity

    Final thoughts

    Not all stalled products fail loudly. Sometimes the most dangerous moment is when everything seems fine — but nothing’s moving forward.

    You don’t need a crisis to justify a change. You need a vision that your current team can grow into — not just keep afloat.

    Yes, switching vendors takes time, effort and sometimes cleanup. But it also gives you a reset — a chance to align your product with where your business is actually going.

    If you’ve hit a ceiling, don’t wait until it becomes a wall. Find a partner who can build what’s next, not just maintain what’s now.

    As a founder, your focus is growth — more users, more features, more market share. But sometimes the biggest thing standing in your way isn’t your business model, marketing or funding. It’s your tech team.

    Not because they’re doing something wrong — but because they’ve taken you as far as they can.

    And when you finally bring in a new team or vendor, it’s a stress test. For the business, it means facing hard questions about control. For the new team, it means diving into someone else’s legacy code. And for you, the founder, there’s one phrase no one ever wants to hear:

    The rest of this article is locked.

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    Ilia Kiselevich

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  • Domain Costs Can Spiral — Take These Steps to Stay in Control and Save Thousands | Entrepreneur

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    The right domain is essential in 2025 and beyond. Brands need that perfect web address to establish credibility and attract traffic. In practice, domain brokerage firms act as intermediaries between buyers and sellers, often negotiating opaque fees that can increase the final costs.

    Join me as I reveal the reality of domain brokers, highlighting common fees and negotiation strategies that help keep budgets under control. Fellow entrepreneurs will learn what questions to ask when hiring a broker, which hidden costs to watch for and how to challenge price tags. Ultimately, I’ll demonstrate how to prepare for acquiring high-value domains without overspending.

    What is a domain brokerage?

    Domain brokers serve as intermediaries in negotiating the purchase of premium web addresses. They utilize private marketplaces, proprietary networks and historical sales data to discover domains that might not show up on public auction sites.

    • Brokers often provide expertise in valuing domain assets, advising on trademark risks and handling escrow services.
    • Firms tend to charge a mix of retainer fees, flat rates or commissions on successful deals.

    Brands relying on brokers expect quicker access to top-tier domains with professional negotiation, but they often face confusing bills with multiple line items. Entrepreneurs who understand what they’re signing up for avoid sticker shock at closing.

    Related: 5 Unforgettable Lessons I Learned Spending $1 Million on a Domain Name

    Typical fees found in domain brokerage deals

    Most brokers quote a base commission but also add extra charges, such as appraisal fees, which can range from $200 to $1,000. Escrow services typically cost between $75 and $150 per transaction. Legal reviews of trademark and contract language often add a few hundred dollars at a minimum. Premium placement on listing sites involves either monthly or one-time marketing fees.

    Be aware that some brokers inflate domain renewal fees or charge administrative fees for international transfers. Companies that don’t review fee schedules beforehand risk paying three times the domain’s market value after all charges are applied.

    How hidden costs balloon your bill

    An entrepreneur seeking a three-letter .com domain may plan to spend $10,000, including a 15% broker commission.

    • This is where the broker finds the domain and negotiates a seller price of $9,000. A commission of $1,350 seems reasonable.
    • Adding a $500 appraisal fee, $100 escrow fee, $300 legal review charge and a $1,000 premium listing fee increases the total to $11,950.
    • Domain renewal costs of $200 and transfer fees of $150 push the total closer to $12,300.

    In the end, unexpected fees turn a $10,000 budget into a $12,300 expense.

    Vetting brokers without overspending

    Brands should request potential brokers to provide a detailed fee schedule that outlines both upfront and contingent charges. Essential questions to ask include whether appraisals or escrow services are included in the commission, what happens if the deal falls through and who is responsible for legal costs.

    Successful brokers share case studies, transparent pricing and sample invoices. Brands can compare flat-fee firms with percentage-based brokers. Flat-fee brokers typically charge between $2,500 and $5,000 regardless of domain price, making them appealing for high-value domain targets. Percentage-based brokers are generally better suited for budget-conscious acquisitions, where commissions remain reasonable and affordable.

    What to look for in a domain name broker for businesses

    Track record matters. Brands should seek brokers with proven experience in securing domains within their industry niche and review broker performance portfolios. Positive client testimonials and case studies demonstrate success rates and average savings.

    Having strong escrow partnerships ensures secure funds transfer. Expert negotiators know how to approach domain owners without spooking them into holding out for inflated offers. Transparent communication frameworks keep brands informed throughout every step.

    Related: A Great Domain Name Can Add Millions to Your Business — Here’s How to Get One (Even If It’s Already Taken)

    Negotiation tactics that cut costs

    Arming yourself with market comparables and past sale prices levels the playing field. Brokers should provide historical sales data demonstrating that similar domains have sold for lower prices. Silent offers submitted without disclosing maximum budgets prevent anchoring at high figures.

    Creative deal structures, such as deferred payment agreements or equity components, incentivize sellers to accept fairer terms. Knowing when to walk away helps prevent price wars from spiraling out of control. A well-timed pause in negotiations can encourage sellers to accept reasonable offers instead of losing the deal.

    When to walk away from overpriced domains

    Red flags include sellers who demand all-cash upfront, substantial price hikes during the escrow period or refusal to share domain history records. Brokers should set clear acceptable price ranges and focus on domains that match value expectations.

    If a broker encourages brands to exceed their budget, it signals potential misalignment. Walking away from a domain now prevents draining funds and allows redirecting resources to other options.

    Persistence pays off, especially if brokers scout multiple candidates instead of fixating on a single prized address.

    Balancing time versus money

    DIY methods require substantial effort in researching WHOIS records, monitoring expiry dates and drafting outreach emails. Hybrid models cut down time commitments to negotiation stages only.

    The good news is that full-service brokers completely relieve brands of administrative tasks, but they often charge high fees. Brands comparing options should evaluate the value of internal hours against broker costs to find the optimal balance.

    Best practices for smooth domain transfers

    Once a price point is agreed upon, escrow holds the funds until the ownership transfer is completed successfully. Brokers should coordinate with registrars to update WHOIS records and verify the domain status.

    Brands need to confirm transfer lock statuses and obtain authorization codes. Multi-step verification ensures trademarks transfer smoothly without legal issues. A seamless transfer prevents downtime and maintains SEO authority.

    Auditing current domain acquisition strategies

    Brands already using brokers should review past invoices by comparing estimated fees with actual charges. Analyzing negotiation results helps identify broker performance trends and possible overcharges.

    Regular audits can uncover hidden recurring fees, allowing for renegotiation of fee structures or broker replacement. Consistent reviews help keep costs under control over time.

    Owning your domain purchases with smart strategies

    Understanding how this process and the associated fees work can help you reduce costs. Negotiate costs upfront, walk away if prices skyrocket and combine DIY tools with broker support to secure domains at fair rates.

    Audit your current approach, match acquisition methods to your resources and demand transparent pricing from any broker you hire. Balance time versus money, explore hybrid options and conduct a fee audit before you buy.

    This way, you can secure a great domain name for your business that feels predictable, affordable, and perfectly aligned with your brand goals.

    The right domain is essential in 2025 and beyond. Brands need that perfect web address to establish credibility and attract traffic. In practice, domain brokerage firms act as intermediaries between buyers and sellers, often negotiating opaque fees that can increase the final costs.

    Join me as I reveal the reality of domain brokers, highlighting common fees and negotiation strategies that help keep budgets under control. Fellow entrepreneurs will learn what questions to ask when hiring a broker, which hidden costs to watch for and how to challenge price tags. Ultimately, I’ll demonstrate how to prepare for acquiring high-value domains without overspending.

    What is a domain brokerage?

    The rest of this article is locked.

    Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

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    Michael Gargiulo

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  • 4 Moves Every New Leader Must Make to Earn Their Seat at the Table | Entrepreneur

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    You made it. After years of building, optimizing and scaling to the nth degree, you’ve earned a seat at the table in the C-suite. Not just a C-suite title, still reporting to another executive who makes the real decisions; you are actually in the “situation room.” You bring a deep understanding of the technology that powers your business. You celebrate. You update your LinkedIn. Then day one arrives.

    And you realize something: People are a bit skeptical of you, and it isn’t just the people below you. People above you, your peers and the investors all seem to have a certain take on you.

    You learn quickly that a title alone doesn’t build trust. Your technical brilliance doesn’t move your team, your peers and your executive counterparts. They’re looking for leadership that values business outcomes rather than just technical best practices. This is why you’re the CTO/CIO, not the IT person.

    In an article he co-authored, Harvard Business School professor Boris Groysberg said, “Technical skills are merely a starting point, the bare minimum. Requirements for all the C-level jobs have shifted toward business acumen and ‘softer’ leadership skills.” This next stage is about blending driving value with your expertise, rather than just explaining how things work.

    Let’s go over some of the roles you need to fill and milestones you need to hit in your first year on the job.

    Related: I’ve Managed 260 Employees — Here’s How to Tell If Your Leadership Style Is Actually Working

    Day one: Everyone is going to lie to you (unintentionally)

    On day one, you’ll ask questions and hear confident answers. But most of them will be incomplete and even sometimes completely inaccurate, but hold your judgment initially.

    It’s not deception. It’s diffusion. In any organization of scale, no single person holds the full picture. Documentation is outdated. Systems are interconnected in convoluted and undocumented ways. History is buried in inboxes and hallway conversations. Late-night crises solved by sleepless IT staff have gotten the company back up by morning, but only by a patchwork that makes little sense.

    The instinct, especially as a first-time leader, is to clean house. To draw hard lines between what’s broken and what’s working properly and who’s to blame. Trust me, resist that.

    Why? Because if you say, “This is all bunk, we’re starting over,” or we are in the mess because the last guard was incompetent, you’re not leading; you are actively setting yourself up for the same demise. As The Who once sang, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”

    Instead, don’t give in to the easy blame, trust that there is always context and be the empath in your organization. This means active listening without judgment, understanding how and why decisions were made before assuming they were wrong and recognizing that institutional constraints often explain more than incompetence ever could.

    When you seek to understand, not audit, you become the kind of leader people trust with the truth.

    Week one: Start speaking in business, not just systems

    The fastest way to lose trust in your first week is to speak in technical jargon and expect others to keep up. They won’t. And they shouldn’t have to.

    Your job now is to be the translator. That means reframing technology conversations into business impact.

    Saying, “We need $250,000 or we risk being hacked,” might be true. But it sounds like fear-based budgeting. Instead, say, “This investment reduces our incident response time and enables faster feature delivery, which directly affects our speed to market.”

    You’re not dumbing it down. You’re tuning it up. You’re connecting the dots between what the system needs and what the business values. That’s leadership.

    And if you can’t do that yet, now’s the time to learn.

    Quarter one: Deliver value that ripples across departments

    You don’t need a moonshot in your first 90 days. However, you do need a win, one that demonstrates your understanding of how the business operates, not just how the tech stacks up.

    Pick a persistent pain point that cuts across teams. Fix a bottleneck in onboarding. Streamline reporting. Solve something people have silently suffered through.

    This is where the operator shows up, a role that combines execution with empathy. You’re proving that your leadership isn’t just smart. It’s useful, visible and repeatable.

    And just as important: make sure the win isn’t just yours. Highlight the teammates who made it possible. Trust builds faster when people see your leadership as expansive, not self-serving.

    Year one: Don’t demand the seat — earn it

    There’s a common refrain among technical leaders: “We deserve more authority.” You want to report to the CEO. You want a louder voice in strategy. You want influence.

    If you want to be at the table, learn how that table works. Understand margin pressures. Know what drives your CFO’s decisions. Learn how compliance constraints shape your CMO’s roadmap. Understand how product timelines interact with hiring cycles.

    A real executive doesn’t just ask for influence. They wield it responsibly, cross-functionally, and with context.

    Related: Want to Be a Better Leader? Show Employees You Care.

    Create a space where tech leaders can thrive

    If you’re already in the C-suite, part of your responsibility is to make sure your technical leaders gain buy-in and succeed.

    That doesn’t mean coddling. It means creating clarity.

    • Invite them early. Don’t bring your CTO in at the end of a strategy session to “weigh in.” Bring them in when the goals are still being shaped.
    • Set expectations. Don’t just ask for deliverables. Ask for insight. Ask them to explain how tech can enable outcomes, not just avoid outages.
    • Eliminate the silo. Technology touches every department. The org chart should reflect that.
    • Reward translation. The best CTOs turn complexity into clarity. They make everyone around them smarter. That’s the leadership skill we should be measuring.

    When technical leaders fail, it’s rarely a failure of intelligence. It’s a failure of integration.

    If you’re seated in the “big chair,” you can’t expect people to intuit where they need to go. You need to build the bridge. You have to make everyone around you smarter, more capable, and more confident in their decisions because you’re part of the conversation.

    That’s what makes you trusted. And that’s what makes you dangerous — in the best way.

    You made it. After years of building, optimizing and scaling to the nth degree, you’ve earned a seat at the table in the C-suite. Not just a C-suite title, still reporting to another executive who makes the real decisions; you are actually in the “situation room.” You bring a deep understanding of the technology that powers your business. You celebrate. You update your LinkedIn. Then day one arrives.

    And you realize something: People are a bit skeptical of you, and it isn’t just the people below you. People above you, your peers and the investors all seem to have a certain take on you.

    You learn quickly that a title alone doesn’t build trust. Your technical brilliance doesn’t move your team, your peers and your executive counterparts. They’re looking for leadership that values business outcomes rather than just technical best practices. This is why you’re the CTO/CIO, not the IT person.

    The rest of this article is locked.

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    Charles Sims

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  • Tired of Burning Money at Conferences? Use This 5-Step Strategy for Real ROI | Entrepreneur

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    Let’s cut to the chase: most companies go to conferences to check a box, not to drive results.

    I’ve worked with everyone from billion-dollar brands to scrappy startups. I’ve seen booths with six-figure budgets generate zero pipeline and a LinkedIn DM campaign outperform an entire sponsorship package. The reason? Most companies treat conferences like a high school science fair — look pretty, hand out freebies, hope someone likes your volcano.

    Here’s the brutal truth: If your event strategy is built around foot traffic and branded socks, you’re already underwater.

    Conferences can still deliver serious ROI. But only if you stop thinking about them as standalone tactics and start treating them like what they really are: a live-action funnel with a very short attention span.

    Step 1: Get ruthlessly clear on why you’re going

    This sounds obvious. It’s not.

    Most companies attend events with vague goals like “brand awareness” or “thought leadership.” Translation: no real strategy.

    If you can’t answer this question — “What does success look like from this event, and how will we measure it?” — cancel the booth. Your “why” should fall into one of three categories:

    • Lead generation (measurable pipeline and conversion)
    • Brand positioning (keynote, panel or media presence)
    • Strategic partnerships (investor intros, co-marketing, business development)

    Pick one primary goal. Then reverse-engineer your entire presence around it. Everything else is noise.

    Related: 17 Must-Attend Conferences for Entrepreneurs Ready to Scale

    Step 2: Craft a message that cuts through the noise

    Nobody cares about your “AI-powered scalable solutions” if that’s all you’re saying.

    You need a message that punches. Something that aligns with the conference theme but actually says something.

    For example, one of our B2B SaaS clients recently sponsored a fintech event. Everyone was talking about “frictionless onboarding.” Snooze. We reframed their message as: Stop onboarding users who’ll churn in 30 days. It turned heads. It made execs stop and say, “Tell me more.” That’s the bar.

    Your message should be:

    • Clear (no buzzwords)
    • Controversial (just enough to spark conversation)
    • Consistent (across booth, decks, social and follow-up)

    Step 3: Pre-game like a pro

    You don’t show up to a marathon without training. So don’t show up to a $50,000 event without a warm list.

    Your pre-conference playbook should include:

    • LinkedIn outreach (three to four weeks out): Target attendees, engage with event hashtags and join relevant groups. No pitches — just real engagement
    • Direct invites: Email past leads or ideal customers: “I’ll be at [Event]. Let’s meet IRL if you’re attending.”
    • Organic buzz: Have leadership — not just the company page — post about why you’re attending and what you’re bringing

    Remember, ROI doesn’t start at the conference. It starts the moment your name hits the attendee list.

    Step 4: Focus on booth experience, not booth design

    You don’t need a spaceship booth. You need meaningful conversations.

    Train your team to do more than demo software. Teach them to:

    • Ask smarter questions
    • Listen for pain points
    • Offer real value (not just tchotchkes — think insights or content)
    • Capture context for every lead (“Spoke about [X] challenge, referred by [Y]”)

    Also — script your follow-up before the show starts. A generic “Great to meet you at [Event]” email kills momentum fast.

    Related: How to Win Over the Room With Effective Persuasion Skills

    Step 5: Follow up like money’s on the line

    The event ends when the lights go off. Your window of influence doesn’t.

    Here’s a seven-day follow-up cadence that actually works:

    • Day 1: Personalized email referencing your conversation plus a relevant asset
    • Day 3: LinkedIn message with a short, value-driven follow-up
    • Day 5: Add to nurture stream based on interest or product line
    • Week 2: Send a post-event content piece — e.g., “5 things we learned at [Event name]”

    Then — debrief. What worked? What didn’t?

    Document it. If sales aren’t in this conversation, your next event is already a sunk cost.

    Bonus: Rethink sponsorship ROI

    Here’s a hot take — most sponsorship packages are overpriced hype.

    Unless you’re getting:

    • Guaranteed stage time
    • Tier-1 placement in attendee materials
    • Verified audience data before the event

    You’re probably better off hosting a private dinner with ten decision-makers or doing a focused side activation.

    Relevance beats visibility every time.

    A 20-minute meeting with a CMO is worth more than 2,000 logo impressions.

    Final word: Be the booth they remember

    You don’t win at events by being the loudest. You win by being the clearest, the most relevant and the hardest to ignore.

    So before you blow another five-figure budget on glossy signage and lukewarm leads, ask yourself: Are we going to this event to show up — or to show out?

    If it’s the latter, you’re already ahead of the pack.

    Let’s cut to the chase: most companies go to conferences to check a box, not to drive results.

    I’ve worked with everyone from billion-dollar brands to scrappy startups. I’ve seen booths with six-figure budgets generate zero pipeline and a LinkedIn DM campaign outperform an entire sponsorship package. The reason? Most companies treat conferences like a high school science fair — look pretty, hand out freebies, hope someone likes your volcano.

    Here’s the brutal truth: If your event strategy is built around foot traffic and branded socks, you’re already underwater.

    The rest of this article is locked.

    Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

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    Christopher Tompkins

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  • You Want to Grow Your Business — But Do You Have a Plan? Here Are The Proactive Steps You Need to Take to Succeed. | Entrepreneur

    You Want to Grow Your Business — But Do You Have a Plan? Here Are The Proactive Steps You Need to Take to Succeed. | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Across industries, there’s a lot talk about the importance of a “growth mindset” for entrepreneurs and managers of established businesses.

    There are countless studies out there — such as this one presented by Harvard — that highlight how companies focusing on growth through innovation and investment often outpace those stuck in the status quo, which tends to stagnate or fall behind.

    But what exactly does operating from a growth mindset look like? In an article titled Why Having a Growth Mindset is Critical for Company Success,” it highlights how Microsoft developed a culture around this mindset to prevent falling behind in the fast-paced technology world. In 2014, CEO Satya Nadella shifted the culture from one of bureaucracy to one of growth and worked to develop systemwide processes for a growth mindset to take off among all employees, from entry-level to top executives. In the article, one Microsoft employee summarized the company’s culture, saying it changed from “know-it-all” to “learn-it-all.”

    “Learn it all” is the key here. It’s easy for entrepreneurs and others to think they have mastered all they need to and less often seek learning opportunities. In a world that moves as quickly as ours in just about every way possible, this is a self-defeating mindset. “Learn it all” does not mean just attending conferences and reading white papers that pertain to your business; it very importantly applies to “learning it all” about your own business.

    Yet “learning it all” about the pros and cons of your current business processes, systems and growth programs can be daunting. Like looking under the car of your hood, you might be forced to see leaks, cracks and other issues you don’t realize you have because, like your car, your business is still sputtering forward. Yet you have to face the weaknesses if you want to get in the fast lane and keep up with your competition.

    Facing that you don’t know what you don’t know is important for growth. You may understand your product category, but do you know how to set up lead generation and sales programs that bring you qualified prospects? Do you know how to nurture these to conversion and lifetime value? Do you know how to set up IT and operational processes that optimize productivity and enable you to achieve more with less?

    The key to growth is to face your weaknesses and your strengths — and to get help when you need it. Business managers seem at ease signing up for SaaS products that enable them to manage payroll, HR needs, account management, customer relationships and communications with monthly subscription fees. But how likely are you to subscribe to growth-focused services or set aside time each month to focus your time on growth initiatives? Continuous focus and activity are key to success.

    What does a continuous growth plan that you execute and monitor monthly look like? Here’s a glimpse.

    1. Audit your status quo

    As no one is a master of all things, you need to find experts who can audit the areas of your business about which you can and need to learn more. This can include auditing your digital brand presence, offerings, business model, sales processes, customer onboarding and success programs. Your systems for information technology, financial management, customer transactions, project workflow, systems monitoring and so on. Experts can quickly identify where you are losing money and efficiencies, as well as identify opportunities.

    Your audit should include identifying expectations and aspirations from customer groups and looking for ways to add value, both tangible and emotional to your products and brand experience.

    2. Stay on top of trends

    Make the time to stay on top of technology and other changes that impact your industry. Monitor consumer attitudes toward your category and brand to identify issues that may change purchasing behavior and loyalty toward your brand.

    3. Invest in your business

    To succeed in any category, you need programs and systems that enable you to operate with high levels of efficiency so you can focus on innovating new products, services, and systems to increase your efficiencies and competitiveness. You need to lead with new ideas and not always try to catch up with others who move faster than you do. To do this, you need to invest in systems and technology that allow you to automate processes for workflow, customer and account management, accounting, and more so your time can be used innovating.

    4. Prioritize marketing and sales

    If no one knows about your brand, it’s fair to assume you won’t get a lot of new leads and sales. Marketing is more than awareness. Marketing helps define your brand’s values and build relationships that drive sales, loyalty and referrals. It also communicates your values, like CSR and ESG, that matter to consumers, leading to stronger relationships. Consumers choose brands with like values. Check out a McKinsey study that backs this up.

    All of these processes enable you to continuously learn about your business, strengths, opportunities, risks and weaknesses.

    The most important element of growth? Continuity! Setting up your company for growth is not a one-and-done initiative. It is a constant process that crosses over all systems, such as those identified above, and has to be monitored, managed and executed daily. As Microsoft illustrates, it has to be the foundation and core of your company culture. Every employee and contractor you use needs to be obsessed with growth, which means always looking for ways to stand out competitively, add more value to customers, imagine new ways to do old things better,

    Setting up regular processes or finding partners that can do this for you with growth as a service model to keep you moving forward should be a top priority. You can read about these and other growth strategies in a new book released by Entrepreneur Press, “Market Your Business – Your Guide to Do It Yourself Marketing.

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    Jeanette McMurtry

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  • How Entrepreneurs Can Leverage Distribution for Business Growth | Entrepreneur

    How Entrepreneurs Can Leverage Distribution for Business Growth | Entrepreneur

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    For many new business owners, direct distribution may seem like the most cost-effective route to reach customers. Without any need for partnerships, third-party integrations or revenue splits, it has the lowest apparent cost. However, as businesses grow, a well-balanced mix of distribution channels becomes crucial to unlocking new growth opportunities. By strategically diversifying your distribution strategy, you can protect your brand, and build a more agile and resilient business model.

    Despite their higher costs, distribution partners not only ease operational burden but can significantly broaden market reach thanks to their established networks. That is certainly the case in the hospitality sector, where distribution has always been critical. Since the products can’t be moved, all of a hotel’s inventory is filled by smart distribution.

    Before the internet, the massive distribution power of hotel chains gave them a huge advantage over independent hotels. But since the early 2000s, hotels developed new ways to distribute through various online channels such as Expedia and Booking. In fact, 65% of all direct bookings now come from guests who first discover the property through an online travel agency (OTA).

    Across industries, distribution partners routinely prove their worth, but they are not quite a turnkey solution. To craft an effective distribution strategy, it is important to look beyond where your competition is showing up. Let’s explore how to diversify, innovate and potentially outperform them.

    Related: Innovating Your Product Distribution Is As Important As Innovating Your Marketing

    Balancing direct and partner distribution

    At its height in 2011, Toys “R” Us had revenue in excess of $13.9 billion. Just seven years later, the brand had filed for bankruptcy and shuttered all its U.S. stores, though it has since begun a revival under new ownership. CEO David Brandon linked the closeout to the company’s “inability to provide expedited shipping options” and a “lack of a subscription-based delivery service.”

    In other words, in a market dominated by online retailers like Amazon, their distribution strategy hadn’t evolved. Similarly, the mega-chain Blockbuster was wiped out by Netflix, and RadioShack was taken out by its limited ecommerce strategy. No matter how big your brand gets, maintaining a diverse distribution mix is essential.

    In practice, this means continuously monitoring the competition and proactively adapting to market changes. So, gather and analyze data from your distribution channels regularly. This will help you make quick, effective changes to optimize your sales and market position.

    Additionally, while brands shouldn’t rely on direct distribution alone, it is a crucial component of maintaining control over brand image, customer experience and pricing. Apple is an industry leader in this regard. While the company has many retail partners, it also invests heavily in its own retail stores and online direct-to-consumer channels, allowing it to maintain its market dominance.

    Finding innovative distribution channels

    In a competitive marketplace, the path of least resistance is identifying and mirroring the bigger players’ distribution channels. Ironically, this safety-first approach comes with risk. Instead of becoming commoditized, a better way may be to find niche markets. To do that, recognize that some channels have a stronger presence in certain markets than others. If you want to expand into a new region, for instance, identify channels that have access to demand in that particular area.

    In our industry, some Asian countries have specific OTAs that are widely used, so listing on these platforms can then attract new customers. While investing in specialized segments might not offer the same visibility as mainstream markets, a properly targeted niche strategy can lead to greater conversions and higher profitability. Red Bull, for example, carved out a $10 billion market in the energy drink industry by targeting extreme sports enthusiasts through special events and sponsorships.

    Catering to unmet needs means you can become the “go-to” solution in a small yet profitable market. The caveat is this niche approach can take months or even years to develop. While it is still important to leverage major players, don’t lose your unique value proposition in the process. The “be everywhere” strategy can work well if you are not trying to be everything to everyone.

    Marriott exemplifies this balanced approach. While guests can book any of its branded hotels through the company’s central booking system, Marriott uses both direct channels (website, mobile apps) and indirect channels (OTAs, travel agents) to reach different market segments. This allows Marriott to cater to various traveler preferences, from business-focused brands like Courtyard by Marriott to leisure-oriented properties like Sheraton.

    Related: 8 Ways to Be Certain You Are Selling Solutions Through the Right Channel

    Strategic expansion as things change

    Markets will always fluctuate. But if you listen to what customers say about where they are shopping, you will learn about new trends and new places to put your products. If your distribution strategy is well-mixed and you are not overly dependent on any single channel, you will be well-positioned to leverage changes in your favor.

    At least once a year, replace one or more of the channels generating the fewest sales to search for new customers. As a rule of thumb, when market demand drops, brands should increase the number of distribution options to cast. Conversely, when market demand is high, be more selective and focus on quality of audience, average prices, cost and ease of management. Successful brands often demonstrate this kind of adaptability.

    Perhaps the biggest name in graphic design, Adobe, even pivoted its entire revenue model when faced with the software industry moving towards cloud-based solutions. Although Adobe’s shift from licensing and upselling its creative suite of software to a SaaS model initially attracted criticism, it has proven a masterstroke — posting record revenue of $19.41 billion in the 2023 financial year.

    Related: 4 Must-Know Strategies for Selling Efficiently to Distributors

    Premium brands like Apple and Marriott are able to gain increasing market share despite their higher price points by continuously enhancing visibility and boosting engagement. As you prepare your distribution strategy, find ways to build in flexibility. By establishing metrics early on and recognizing the need to evolve as market conditions change, you will be well-positioned to test emerging platforms, explore new niches and balance a strategy that is capable of driving both immediate revenue and long-term growth.

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    Kevin King

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  • 5 Ways Startup Founders Can Become Team Players and Grow Their Businesses | Entrepreneur

    5 Ways Startup Founders Can Become Team Players and Grow Their Businesses | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As a seasoned performance coach with over two decades of experience working with business owners, I have witnessed how frustrated many business owners are that their startup isn’t growing as quickly as it should or seems to have stagnated in its growth. One common factor that often stands out for such entrepreneurs is their lack of the attributes of team players.

    Your business can only grow to the extent that your abilities as a team player grow, and my experience has shown that cultivating the following five attributes can make you a team player who is well-positioned to see your business grow.

    1. Welcome and build on your team’s ideas

    As a business founder, you may have the burning desire to bring your vision for the business to reality, but business success will not entirely depend on you alone. You need input from your team, and their ideas can be the difference between mediocre business performance and successful steering of the business to higher levels.

    Create opportunities for team members to share their ideas. Brainstorming sessions, weekly meetings and problem-solving sessions can be fertile grounds to get input from the team. Evaluate the ideas generated and find ways to implement those that show the potential to advance the goals of the business.

    2. Coach your team

    Google did a study and found that the best managers and leaders have coaching skills. However, most people confuse coaching with mentoring. Coaching and mentoring are not the same. Coaching is about unlocking the potential in your team. Mastering coaching skills enables you to do that.

    As the founder, you may also have the expertise and experience that your team members lack, which means you’re more likely to mentor or “tell them” how to do it rather than coach them.

    Coaching builds confidence, empowers your team to take on more responsibility, improves problem-solving skills and builds loyalty. The more you coach your team, the more your business will operate as a team effort rather than a one-person show. You’ll not only have a high-performing team, but you’ll also have a high-value team. Double win!

    Related: Be a Mentor: 4 Simple Ways to Change a Life

    3. Adjust your pace to accommodate your team

    This is where the rubber hits the tarmac! Many founders have a burning desire to bring their dream to life “yesterday” and are extremely impatient when their team isn’t moving at the pace they’d like. At this point, you ask yourself two critical questions: Did I hire the right people? Do I consistently share my vision and mission so everyone is clear about the direction of the firm?

    I often tell clients that it may not be possible for their entire team to move at the same blistering pace that the founder is wired for, and it might be necessary for the founder to pump the brakes a little so the team can move at the same pace. This is a hard pill for many founders to swallow, but reminding them that they are not a one-person army allows them to be more accommodating and better able to foster teamwork in the business.

    I am not advocating for letting your employees set the pace of the company. If you hire the right people and coach them regularly, chances are that while they may not move at supersonic speed, they will follow your lead and move at an above-average pace.

    I always give this incident, which I witnessed while visiting a client’s restaurant for a follow-up session. The assistant manager was always pushing her direct reports to work at a blistering pace. The manager had cautioned the assistant to always give a particular employee their tasks in advance so they can accomplish them within a spread-out timeframe. This particular employee was known to be very thorough in anything they do, but if pushed to work at a pace greater than they could manage, they were more likely than not to do extremely shoddy work.

    The assistant manager neglected this important piece of information and one time asked that employee to chop some ingredients and kept hovering over the shoulder of the employee nudging them to work faster. Pushed beyond their limits, the employee nearly lost four fingers when, in a bid to work fast, they ended up accidentally cutting through those fingers. I rushed in with the manager when we heard horrified screams coming from the kitchen, and after the ambulance left with the injured employee, the manager called the assistant to a private corner and gently reminded them about the caution of not pushing that particular employee to work at a faster pace than they were capable of.

    The message? Sometimes, it is helpful to slow down a little so that you can move with the entire team.

    Related: Are You Hiring a ‘Team’ Player – or Someone Just Looking out for No.1?

    4. Share recognition for any successes attained

    Another important tip I give startup founders is that they can become team players who enjoy more than decent business growth on an ongoing basis by sharing recognition for the successes they attain. When you put your team at the center of all success, their motivation and loyalty grow, and they become invested in achieving the firm’s goals.

    Related: Which Do You Need: A Coach or a Consultant or a Trainer? Here’s How to Know.

    5. Consult the team frequently

    Make it a habit to consult your team members frequently. This can be when there are challenges that need to be fixed, when opportunities arise or when planning the next steps or direction of the business. Don’t be the founder who keeps their cards close to the chest and only issues instructions without involving their team.

    As you implement the tips above, you will notice that your team will galvanize around the organization’s goals and mission, and your company will be better positioned to weather any storm. Teams always find a way to win.

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    Jairek Robbins

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  • 5 Effective Strategies for Building a High-Performing Global Team | Entrepreneur

    5 Effective Strategies for Building a High-Performing Global Team | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Global expansion is a huge move for your business that can complicate matters when you want to increase the size of your team. Hiring qualified employees from abroad can be complicated. Many things have to be considered, including new rules or regulations in different countries that need to be followed and cultural differences that may also arise.

    In the ever-changing global business environment, the use of appropriate technologies and strategies can set apart successful firms from average or struggling ones.

    In light of this, how do you then put together an amazing global team? Through my own experience, I’ve discovered 5 key strategies that can set you and your team up for success.

    1. Support workplace diversity and Inclusivity

    If you establish an inclusive and efficient system culture across your globally expanding enterprise, then performance will increase immediately. However, one should also bear in mind that cultural disparities exist among team members from diverse backgrounds. You will need to create a workplace that respects and recognizes each person’s culture while also fostering an understanding of various traditions and opinions.

    There’s a need for companies to consider various holidays people celebrate in different countries so as not to be seen as ignorant or insensitive by their own employees who come from other places. Common concerns revolve around non-verbal communication like gestures at work, dress codes in offices and how we relate with one another socially . One way out is by employing experts who specialize in diversity issues across cultures, such as customs or traditions, to ensure a safe and respectful work culture.

    Related: Life’s Too Short to Work With Incompatible People — Follow These 3 Secrets To Building High-Performing Teams

    2. Leverage EOR Service

    If you are expanding your business globally, it may really help to hire an Employment of Record (EOR) service provider. An Employment of Record legally employs your team members in their local country on your behalf. It enables you to access the best skills from anywhere around the world without necessarily having to go through the lengthy procedure of first establishing foreign legal entities yourself.

    When you partner with a good EOR, you get a bunch of sweet benefits:

    • Faster access to global talent: You can start building your team abroad as soon as possible instead of waiting months for all the legal paperwork to go through.
    • Less worry about compliance: EORs take care of handling all those local employment laws and HR requirements that give you headaches.
    • Cost savings: EORs have the expertise to help minimize your operational costs when hiring globally.
    • Flexibility: You can easily scale your global team up or down as your business needs change.
    • Specialized expertise: EORs have tons of experience helping companies expand globally the right way.

    Lean on EOR specialists so you can focus less on annoying HR logistics and more on finding superstar talent around the world.

    3. Invest in management training

    To succeed globally, you need awesome managers across the board. That’s why strategy number three is to invest heavily in management training.

    Make sure your managers are pros at leading global teams. A quality manager in a distributed team excels at nurturing career growth, making the most of their unique talents, ensuring smooth conflict resolution, and guiding through change and uncertainty. They build adaptability and psychological safety, encouraging open communication.

    Additionally, the ability to encourage and inspire individuals as a manager will create an environment in which every team member feels welcomed and encouraged. Each one’s unique strengths can be recognized and leveraged for the success and cohesion of the team.

    In fact, managers account for 70% of the variability in team engagement. Well-trained managers unite your global workforce and amplify your culture anywhere.

    4. Focus on building trust

    When your team is distributed worldwide, success depends a ton on trusting relationships. That’s why strategy number four is to focus on building trust and connections, even from afar.

    Building trust in a global team requires participation in a variety of activities that promote bonding and camaraderie. Icebreaker games during meetings and setting up Slack channels for casual talk all help team members bond. Hosting virtual coffee talks or happy hours provides for socialization outside of work, whereas annual in-person offsite gatherings provide valuable face-to-face interactions.

    Furthermore, it is critical to tailor communication techniques to each direct report, publicly acknowledge wins and progress, and listen deeply to understand different perspectives. These actions make team members feel appreciated, heard, and connected, ultimately building trust within the team.

    When managers invest in relationships, their teams perform better. Trust accelerates team cohesion, collaboration and results.

    Related: 10 Simple Steps to Build an Exceptional and Efficient Team

    5. Set up clear communication channels

    When organizing a clear communication protocol, time zone differences could become a major, even impactful, issue. Face-to-face meetings between team members may be nearly impossible when they work from different areas of the world. That’s where video conferences can ensure fast and efficient dialogue.

    A number of video conferencing tools recently achieved global use as remote work grew in popularity. Tools like Zoom and Google Meet help businesses hold on-the-spot presentations, webinars, and team meetings with accurate, real-time visuals. They also give team managers the ability to arrange one-on-one check-in sessions with employees, allowing them to discuss workload and other relevant concerns.

    Expanding your business globally does not always mean success. However, you can achieve this goal through careful planning, effective communication, and an all-inclusive corporate culture. Above all, using local collaborators in the form of an Employer of Record exponentially increases the chances of building a winning team.

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    Pritom Das

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  • Spacer Takes on America’s $96 Billion Parking Crisis; Cutting-Edge Park Sharing Technology to Help Businesses Lower Emissions

    Spacer Takes on America’s $96 Billion Parking Crisis; Cutting-Edge Park Sharing Technology to Help Businesses Lower Emissions

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    SAN FRANCISCO, June 18, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Spacer Technologies, the owner of America’s leading parking marketplaces Spacer and Where I Park, announces today its expansion by working with businesses to offer a cutting-edge parking management system that helps lower emissions and decarbonize transport in the community.  

    Designed for workplaces, public organizations, universities, commercial properties, and those working toward President Biden’s whole-of-government goal of cutting carbon pollution in half by 2030*, the advanced technology will enable companies to significantly enhance their parking capacity, in some instances by doubling it, without the need for additional physical space.

    Since launching into North America in 2018, Spacer Technologies has been focused on peer-to-peer shared parking for consumers. The company has now launched its corporate arm through Spacer and Where I Park by securing partnerships with numerous businesses and industries, which is predicted to grow the business by 50% in revenue in 2024.   

    This includes hotel chains, real estate, construction firms, and hospitals along with two of the world’s top 10 technology companies, spanning across cities such as Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, to name a few. 

    The new parking management system will simplify the process for people to find a guaranteed parking spot, reducing fuel consumption. Employees working different shifts or hours can share the same parking spot, while spaces reserved for visitors and contractors can be used when not needed. For corporate premises with neighboring businesses or residential areas, unused spaces can be leased out during off-peak periods, creating an additional revenue stream and optimizing space usage. 

    On average, Americans spend 17 hours annually searching for parking, which costs each driver $345 in wasted money. The combined issues of searching for parking, fines, and parking overpayments have escalated into a $96 billion problem in the U.S. In metropolitan areas with over a million residents, 22% of city center land is dedicated exclusively to parking, which often stores empty vehicles. Spacer’s mission is to utilize spare parking spaces more efficiently without the need to build new (or bigger) parking lots.

    Mike Rosenbaum, the Founder and CEO of Spacer Technologies, comments, “Our mission is to reduce America’s parking problem and promote sustainable transportation practices through our marketplaces. The new parking management system will bring us closer to this goal by helping American businesses monetize space and minimize waste more effectively.” 

    To find out more, visit www.spacertechnologies.co. 

                                                                                               ENDS

    Source: 

    Parking stats

    Biden’s halving pollution 

    Empty vehicles

    Source: Spacer Technologies

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  • 3 Non-Financial Factors That Could Impact Your Business’ Value | Entrepreneur

    3 Non-Financial Factors That Could Impact Your Business’ Value | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Determining a business’ value is not all about adding up revenue and subtracting expenses. While an important piece, these hard numbers are only half the equation for computing what a company is worth. To come up with the true value, we also look at factors like the level of owner involvement, company goals and growth opportunities. When we use the complete equation, we get a comprehensive picture of a business and can better understand the story of its past, present and future.

    Calculations may vary depending on the company, but in a healthy one, there is about a 50/50 split between the quantitative (financial) and qualitative (non-financial) sides of performance. If the business isn’t profitable, it’s more important to focus on the quantitative side and fix the numbers first. Many owners don’t want to hear that, but if they’re not hitting their numbers, it may mean the business is not working. They must fix the quantitative issues before moving to the qualitative side.

    Related: What Is a Balance Sheet and Why Does Your Business Need One?

    For healthy companies that want to maximize their value, the qualitative indicators can be bundled into three main categories.

    Evaluating quality

    1. The owner’s goals

    We’ve found significant research showing that if an owner has defined goals and plans for the future that are in line with market expectations for their company’s value, they’re going to have a much stronger exit. What is the owner’s defined goal for exiting the business — to get the most money, to take care of their employees and to ensure a legacy? You must then get to the “why” behind the goals and devise a plan of action. It almost doesn’t matter what the answers to the questions are; having achievable goals and a strategy for reaching them can increase the company’s value because it keeps the owner focused on improving the other areas of the business.

    2. The owner’s role

    The extent of the owner’s involvement is a critical indicator, but perhaps not for the reason you think. The more involved the owner is in day-to-day operations, the more central they are to the business, the less the business will be worth down the road. If the owner is the linchpin that holds everything together, what will happen to the company when they leave? Evaluating operations is more about the system and the structure of the team. Look at the organizational chart and who’s on it – are they good employees or bad employees? Examine the company’s processes and procedures and how new team members are trained and onboarded. The owner sets the vision, but it’s the team that increases company value by carrying out the vision.

    3. Growth opportunities

    Nobody wants to buy a business and keep it exactly as it is. They want to see potential for growth in the future, especially the potential for return on their investment as a buyer. Whether it’s a simple price increase or new locations, whoever buys the business is going to ask about growth opportunities. Indicators like product or service diversification in both the company and the industry it’s in give a good sense of whether the company is moving forward or standing still (and at risk of going backward). The more potential you can show, the more upside there will be for the next owner — adding up to greater value.

    Related: 8 Factors That Determine the Financial Health of a Business

    Cycle of success

    When the qualitative side of the equation is working, it all ties together. The owner knows the goals, which are aligned with where the company is going, and is leading the organization but working themselves out of the day-to-day operations; the business grows and creates more growth opportunities for the next owner. Paired with profitable numbers, it’s a cycle that builds a high-quality business.

    For the best owners, it takes a minimum of three to five years to get that cycle working for you and have reliable indicators of your value. Making it part of a 10-year strategy is even better.

    At Exit Factor, we have 62 different qualitative indicators that we use for determining company worth. We don’t use them all, or even close to that, for every business; it’s usually a matter of tweaking three to five of the 62 indicators. Figure out which of those 62 are essential for your company, and you’ll have a truly forward-looking strategy for profitable growth.

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    Jessica Fialkovich

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  • 6 Guiding Principles Behind Every Successful Company | Entrepreneur

    6 Guiding Principles Behind Every Successful Company | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    A search for “formula for company success” on Amazon yields almost a thousand results, primarily consisting of self-help books. While I don’t claim that I have discovered the elusive formula, I believe certain characteristics can aid in achieving success, which I identified after analyzing the top companies currently active in the market.

    I’m the founder of a deep tech company that is trying to push the limits of what is possible in the field of computers. For me, following these principles is crucial to achieving this ambitious goal. Yet, I’m sure these principles are not exclusive to any one field or industry and can be applied to any business willing to prioritize and use them as tools for development.

    Related: 5 Key Leadership Principles for Driving Growth

    Elegance

    Elegance goes beyond mere aesthetics; it is the embodiment of beauty in every facet of a company. What does beauty consist of? Honestly, everything. If the founder wants to ensure the elegance of their product, they should pay attention to the structure that should be observed in every process of interaction with their company. Those may range from the way your employees present themselves at networking events or in-store to the speed with which your support team assists customers. Not only will this provide your brand with consistency, but it will also become more appealing because, after all, humans are aesthetic creatures.

    When you think of elegant products or packaging, I’m sure one of the brand names that comes to mind is Apple. From the logo to the in-store decor, elegance is evident in every aspect of the brand’s efforts. In your business, the aspects of elegance are definitely different from theirs, but their role is the same.

    Focus on goals and values

    Focusing on the result is especially important for tech companies, particularly those developing new tech, as it allows them to deliver on their promises to both themselves and their customers. Most importantly, it allows them to focus on only those aspects that are truly important and relevant to their ultimate goal. To achieve this, detailed planning is required, where the most optimal path is selected from thousands of possible options. Moreover, prior to any action taken, it should involve thousands of hours of research, hypothesis testing, and more, but it all must contribute to the company’s goals.

    According to Gartner’s 2019 Product Manager Survey, only 55% of new products are launched on time, and the other 45% are delayed by at least a month. This underscores the importance of the founders not only setting realistic goals but also communicating them clearly both to your customers and employees. Additionally, the company should not stray from its original purpose and should always keep its eye on the end goal. In order to stay on track, some things should be prioritized, such as good time management, both in your life and in your business, or for example, preparing contingency plans in advance. You can use these tools to ensure proactive and adaptive responses to unforeseen obstacles to ensure a smooth, or at least stable, ride to success.

    Initiating and igniting

    While it is important to keep up with the market and its latest developments, it is crucial to use this information to create new trends instead of simply following the existing ones. To follow this approach, business owners should create and keep in mind a clear picture of how their businesses differentiate themselves from their competitors, allowing them to have a shot at becoming industry leaders. The problem with utilizing trends as a foundation for a company is that the trend cycle inevitably leads to obsolescence.

    Netflix is a prime example of this. It originated as a DVD-by-mail service in 1998, just one year after DVD players were introduced in the U.S. before they became an essential part of every household. The company not only competed against Blockbuster, the largest rental chain at the time, but also revolutionized the rental process by introducing a new way for consumers to interact with their services, introducing a subscription model in 1999. Netflix entered the year 2000 with only 300,000 subscribers, now this number is up to 247.2 million. Why? Because they were able to come up with an idea for a truly unique service.

    Pursuit of excellence

    One of the greatest enemies of any entrepreneur’s long-term success is these three words: “That will do.” This phrase not only affects you as an entrepreneur, undermining your abilities and limiting your potential success, but it also affects every single facet of your business. The pursuit of excellence doesn’t entail that you shouldn’t attempt to release anything until everything is perfect, but it does suggest that whatever you can do should be done to the best quality possible.

    The strive for perfection, or rather the lack of it, is the reason the above-mentioned DVD rental chain now has only one store left in the U.S. When the market began expanding and Netflix entered the game, Blockbuster had the opportunity to acquire it, but passed on it arguing that Netflix was a too-niche business. Blockbuster’s opposition to online streaming and the fact that it was stagnant and content with the unchanged while an entirely new industry was evolving prevented it from innovating.

    Related: 5 Key Leadership Principles for Driving Growth

    Embracing challenges

    Given that technology has advanced more in the past two centuries than at any other time in human history, the possibilities for further development and creation are endless. It is not uncommon to encounter a myriad of problems when creating something new, especially in the beginning. However, a business owner shouldn’t avoid working on a unique product or service simply because of the issues it may present and to search for innovative solutions.

    As obvious as it may seem, the easiest way to approach a challenge is through hypothesis testing. Whenever you are faced with seemingly impossible problems, it is of utmost importance not to be intimidated by them, as this can lead to stagnation or the inability to deliver the promised product or service. By using hypothesis testing, one can generate and test dozens of possible solutions to avoid stagnation and initiate progress. Not only does this expand the range of feasible solutions, but it also allows the company to create a truly great product or service because you will be able to accomplish something no one has ever done.

    Positive impact

    In the 21st century, it is essential to prioritize more than just profit, especially at a time when we are experiencing such a rapid escalation of climate change and other worrying events. We are at the pinnacle of technological development, and it would be irresponsible not to use it to improve the world around us or at least try to preserve it for future generations.

    As a founder of a tech company, I often pay attention to this detail and believe that a positive impact is essential when it comes to running such a company and that those who have a genuine urge to make the world a better and safer place have a real chance of creating a thriving business. Of course, this principle is not exclusive to one industry only; for example, food delivery and ride-hailing services have a better chance of succeeding if they are inclusive and convenient to all. Remember, if you have an opportunity to impact the world with your business, there are hundreds if not thousands of options available, especially today.

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    Roman Axelrod

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  • How to Provide More Value to Your Customers And Scale Your Company | Entrepreneur

    How to Provide More Value to Your Customers And Scale Your Company | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Business-minded entrepreneurs are focused on one path to success: establishing a business and achieving sustainable growth. While the direction is clear and the mission is straightforward, the path is full of challenges and missteps — but more importantly, there are opportunities.

    More often than not, the path to sustainable growth requires creativity. For example, a fitness studio that sells class passes and memberships will eventually hit a revenue plateau. This happens when growth stabilizes and income from the core service hits a predictable cadence. While there are still opportunities to sell more classes and memberships, the reality is that other revenue streams — specifically, value-add products and services – are what will truly help scale the business.

    What are value-added products and services?

    Value-add products and services enhance the customer experience, address pain points and demonstrate the company’s commitment to providing exceptional value. These “perks” offer customer benefits that go beyond the business’s core products or services.

    Offering value-added products and services to your existing customer base can create more loyal customers, which in turn can lead to increased revenue, improved customer retention, and a reinforced brand reputation.

    Related: 3 Easy Ways of Getting Value Addition Right During Entrepreneurship

    Here are three value-add products and services that can help your business scale:

    1. Digital cards

    Digital cards are virtual business cards stored in a digital wallet. They can be shared electronically via QR code scans, email, social media or messaging apps.

    Digital cards provide a convenient, digitized way to share your company’s contact information, keep customers updated in real-time, and offer exclusive deals, offers, or other perks. In essence, they help increase a brand’s visibility by always being a few taps away. The cars can also improve customer engagement and enhance the customer experience by providing special discounts or notifications exclusive to those who have the digital card.

    Some platforms can help you create and manage a digital card, and most are affordable and turnkey. The predicted ROI of the investment is tied to awareness and engagement, which, when activated with an accompanying strategy, will boost sales and revenue.

    To launch a digital card initiative, research digital care platforms and identify the providers that offer solutions aligned with your business goals, needs, and budget.

    2. Extended warranties and service plans

    While not always looked at as value-add, extended warranties and service plans provide coverage beyond a standard manufacturer’s warranty. These warranties and plans offer peace of mind to customers and can increase their confidence in your products or services.

    The additional perks and sense of security can increase customer satisfaction. If your company has the capacity and can help resolve customer issues quickly and effectively, these benefits can reduce customer churn, increase customer lifetime value, and enhance the company’s reputation and dedication to quality and satisfaction.

    The investment associated with extended warranties and service plans will vary depending on the product or service and the length of coverage. To determine the viability of this option, create a cost-benefit analysis, which will help determine if this value-added option will be beneficial and worth the investment.

    If you plan to add extended warranties or service plans to your business, evaluate the demand to ensure your customers will appreciate them. Then, find a reputable partner who can help ensure the new offerings are legally sound, competitive, and will meet your customers’ needs.

    Related: If You Want Your Clients to Truly Value You, You Need to Be Their Trusted Advisor. Here’s How.

    3. Loyalty programs

    Loyalty programs are most often focused on rewarding customers for their continued patronage. The programs encourage repeat business and foster brand loyalty by recognizing and rewarding customers based on their behaviors (and the rewarded behaviors can go beyond just the purchase history).

    Whether the loyalty program is perks-based or offers rewards points associated with discounts and coupons, loyalty programs ultimately incentivize customers to keep coming back. They enhance and trigger engagement and offer opportunities for feedback. In addition, loyalty programs launched with the right intentions and an effective structure can provide valuable first-party customer data that will help you understand your customers’ preferences and lead to a higher degree of personalization and targeted offerings.

    To implement a loyalty program, identify the “loyal” audience (demographics, behaviors, etc.) and program goals, and map out the program structure. Then, do some research and contact loyalty program providers that offer a platform and tech stack that complements your existing infrastructure.

    Leverage value-add products and services to scale

    To scale a business, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You can add value and create additional revenue streams by staying true to your business and developing complementary products or services that align with what you offer and what customers want. Adding these digital offerings can make it simpler to scale by boosting profitability and accelerating business growth.

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    Louis Lombardi

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