We spend most of our awake hours working with our colleagues. Even more so than the time we spend with our loved ones. Having the right company culture is paramount to maintain a productive workforce. A strong company culture is a competitive advantage for recruiting and retaining talent. Linguistically, a company is an organization of…
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Root Cause Problems
A framework that I find helpful is the “5 why” framework. When dealing with a hard issue, try to dig deep and ask “why” at each level of depth. You can sometimes get to the root cause within 3 whys; certainly for simpler problems. Harder problems require further depth. Here’s a good story – teacher…
Days long; years short.
My daughter recently turned 10 months. Time feels like it’s moving at the speed of light. Whenever we go out for meals, parents occasionally stop by our table to say hi to the baby and do small talk with us. No desired outcome; just parents connecting on kids. In one of our trips, a parent…
Holding Company Structure for Micro-DTC
Many holding companies are being formed to roll-up DTC microbrands. It’s sort of like a micro-PE model. Let’s call it that for the sake of this discussion. Large PE shops normally like to do deals at $500M+ value. Mid-market PE shops like to do deals between $100M-500M. Smaller PE shops like to do deals between…
Managing Growth: 3 Horizons Framework
I’ve been indulging in McKinsey frameworks to better advise companies; especially startups that are growing fast. Why do some companies grow while others endure? McKinsey consultants Mehrdad Baghai, Stephen Coley, and David White cover this in detail using the Three Horizons framework. This framework is designed to serve as a visual planning tool that helps…
Managing Growth: 7-S Framework
McKinsey popularized the 7-S framework in the 1970s. It’s designed to help organizations of all sizes coordinate and cooperate. Managing growth is difficult. Organizational leaders often wrestle with maintaining competitive advantage with their core business and maximizing organizational effectiveness, building emerging products and revenue streams, and creating viable options to ensure long term health of…
Marketing Teams at E-commerce Brands
A strong marketing team is built to rotate the flywheel of growth. A few common themes of great marketing teams: They have 3 core focuses: demand generation, acquisition, retention. They avoid “Head of” titles. They outsource certain components and maintain control of core competencies. For early stage companies, this flywheel starts with hiring a VP…
4 Stages of Growth for E-commerce & DTC Brands
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands functionally go through 4 key revenue milestones and stages. $0-1 million $1-5 million $5-25 million $25+ million We’ll focus primarily on the first 3 stages in this essay. In the end, I’ll share some common denominators of high growth consumer brands. Stage 1: $0-1 million revenue The first stage ($0-1M) is the…
History of Interest Rates
Debt is a tool that, when leveraged properly, can be powerful. Interest rates are established by central banks; in the United States, The Federal Reserve Bank controls monetary policy and influences fed funds rates – the rate that banks can charge borrowers. Interest rate swings influence many things. Leverage is used in everything from real…
Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
We’re living in the most aggressive monetary and fiscal policy era of all time. If you’re unfamiliar, here’s a 30 second overview of monetary vs fiscal policy. Monetary policy is controlled by the Federal Reserve (The Fed). Fiscal policy is managed by the US government. The Fed is independent of the US Government. The decisions…