Tag Archives: startups

Time to Grow Up

Young industries no longer have the time to grow up. The cycle of maturation has long been accepted as  a fact of life when a new concept becomes a business. There are a few pioneers (defined here in Texas as … Continue reading

Posted in Marketing and Sales, Thoughts and Opinions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

3 Responses to Time to Grow Up

  1. John Meetz says:

    WOW what are we doing in the TAB business? Are board meetings and coaching sessions obsolete? Maybe they should all be done on SKYPE! Is the ExitMap engagement a dream beyond the basic assessment, appraisal, and action reports – do they really have time or want a consultant in the process?

    • John F. Dini says:

      John,
      Most TAB members have no intention of building a national market-dominating player. As I said in the beginning of the piece, there’s always room for hundreds of differentiated small companies. In the past, some of those would grow up to be regional players, then national ones. The odds of that happening are much longer now.

  2. Richard H says:

    Couldn’t possibly disagree more. I assume that’s the response you were expecting.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The Quest for Recurring Revenue

Recurring revenue is the current Holy Grail of business. Barriers to Entry, a traditional way of assessing your differentiation against competition, have been replaced by Barriers to Exit, how to make it at least inconvenient or at most excruciatingly painful for … Continue reading

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Sales | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

One Response to The Quest for Recurring Revenue

  1. I am striving to achieve different recurring revenue streams over time, so I will check out the book, The Automatic Customer by John Warrillow.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Minimum Wage and the Middle Class

“Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions.” – Alexis De Tocqueville (Democracy in America, 1831) Americans have always considered themselves “middle … Continue reading

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Management | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

One Response to Minimum Wage and the Middle Class

  1. Mike Wright says:

    The only real way to solve the problem of the shrinking middle class is through technological advances and higher levels of universal education. Governments at all levels have failed to provide the education required and continue to take more money away from the private sector. Money that could be used to develop new technologies and train their workers to move into higher paying jobs. They are taking actions to get the political support of those who cannot, or choose not to, understand that their simplistic approaches will fail. The envy of astronomically higher salaries of CEO’s are playing right into their political strategies that are definitely not “for the people”.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Ageing Boomer Entrepreneurs: Fearful or Smart?

Do we become more cautious with age? Startups are usually associated with younger entrepreneurs. By the time they reach their 50s or 60s business owners tend to tackle fewer big new ideas. Those that do tend to be successful enough that they … Continue reading

Posted in Building Value, Entrepreneurship, Exit Planning, Exit Strategies, Life After, Thoughts and Opinions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

One Response to Ageing Boomer Entrepreneurs: Fearful or Smart?

  1. Cathy Locke says:

    Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.” or “Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from bad decisions.”
    I agree with both of these. I really enjoy your blogs! I was forced into inventing a “new self employed start up” at 62. I have no regrets but with my “experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want” is an ongoing goal as well.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The Secret to Growing a $1 million company by 5X

In my work with hundreds of small business owners, I’ve noticed that there are two “danger zones” where an owner may, consciously or unconsciously, prevent his or her company from growing any further. The first zone lies at about $1 … Continue reading

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Management | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

3 Responses to The Secret to Growing a $1 million company by 5X

  1. Larry Amon says:

    John, Very true. Setting and achieving growth goals as part of every day business is what it takes to grow from a $1 Million a year company to one 5 times larger. This was a practice that we used to grow my company from $100K to $5 Million in less than 5 years and be on the INC 500 list as one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the U.S.
    Larry Amon

  2. John H. says:

    Although occasionally I have run into a business owner with a personal bias with regard to anything perceived as “corporate”. So implementing processes, or giving up tight control, is avoided. But for many SMB’s the observations shared in your post should are exactly what is needed.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *