Leadership
Owner dependency isn’t about hours. It’s about decisions.
An owner working two days a week can still be the single biggest reason a buyer discounts the business, and the reason usually has nothing to do with workload.
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Research, frameworks and market analysis from our consulting practice: written up for small and medium business owners and enterprise teams alike.
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Growth strategy
The month you hit target is the month cash gets tight
Profit and cash run on different clocks, and the gap between them quietly sets a ceiling on how fast a…
Marketing
The average that hides two businesses
A single blended margin can rise while every part of the business gets worse, and the arithmetic that allows it…
Operations
Your specification is now your supplier’s capability list
Depending on one supplier rarely shows up as a higher unit price. It shows up somewhere much harder to see,…
Growth strategy
The growth ceiling you agreed to in your payment terms
Profitable, order book full, bank balance falling: there is arithmetic behind that combination, and it sets a ceiling most growth…
Operations
The job you accidentally invented
Every growing business ends up with at least one role that no outside labour market can replace, and it usually…
Operations
The order you can’t afford to win
A contract can be genuinely profitable and still be the thing that breaks the business. The P&L is the last…
Pricing
The job only you can price
Most owners have delegated delivery, hiring and even sales, and still read every quote before it goes out. That habit…
Operations
Most late payment happens before the invoice goes out
Days sales outstanding is measured from the invoice date, which means the part of the delay you control most is…
Market analysis
The best segment you serve is the one you never advertised for
Most firms describe one customer on their website and are quietly carried by another, and the gap usually shows up…
Take it further
This is the general pattern. Your business is the specific case.
Everything here is free to read with an account, and always will be. What it cannot do is tell you which of these applies to your numbers, your market and your constraints. That is the work we do with clients.