Topic
Building companies · page 2
Firsthand writing about operating decisions, systems, and the work of building companies.
70 articles · showing 25–48, current writing first
Management, organizational change, and choosing the enterprise systems that support the work.
Company building23 · 19 early
Jake’s firsthand lessons from building companies, developing systems, and working through operating decisions.
Articles
Knowledge Management Consulting Firms: 11 Compared
Compare 11 knowledge management consulting firms by setting and approach, with the proof and terms each publishes and the questions to ask first.
Enterprise operationsShortlist · 11 companies
How to prepare for business growth
What breaks when a service business grows fast, from delivery and hiring to finance and cash flow: my December 2023 essay on scaling Content Allies.
Company buildingEssay
How I take new businesses to market
My 2023 routine for a new offer: wait 30 days on an unexpected idea, build a sales deck fast, sell to my network, then go all in on one marketing channel.
Company buildingEssay
A Mental Model for Big Decisions
My 2023 essay on a 10-year question I took from Ray Dalio's Principles, and the five-year version I used when deciding to start Content Allies.
Enterprise operationsEssay
Fountainhead philosophy in business: Roark vs Wynand
My November 2023 essay on Roark and Wynand in The Fountainhead, and the founder's pull between meaningful work and giving the market what it wants.
Company buildingEssay
My framework for starting a new business
My 2021 checklist for starting a new business: a growing market, the RESCUE test, three sales from my network in about 30 days, then operations.
Company buildingEssay
How to Build a Process-Driven Business
My April 2021 essay on process versus project management: why I ran Content Allies on process software instead of a project manager, and where SOPs fail.
Enterprise operationsEssay
Why Entrepreneurs Succeed by Leveling Up as Leaders
My May 2020 essay on moving from doing the work yourself to coaching people to contribute more, with what I said about letting go five years later.
Company buildingPoint of view
Lead Cookie: moving beyond a productized service
Why I was moving Lead Cookie toward hand-qualified outreach in May 2020, the changes it required, and what I said about the business five years later.
Company buildingEssay
The hard emotional side of entrepreneurship
My April 2020 essay on owner decisions that hurt, like layoffs and pay cuts, and the weekly question and one-week pause I used to stop delaying them.
Company buildingEssay
The importance of iteration for entrepreneurs
My February 2020 essay on why no business reaches a perfect state, how Lead Cookie's market commoditized, and why I learned to keep iterating.
Company buildingEssay
The shortcut and shortfall of selling to your peers
My February 2020 essay on selling to peers: why Content Allies' first clients, owners like me, churned, and why I then targeted consultants earning $250k+.
Company buildingEssay
The evolutions of freedom from your business
My January 2020 essay on the six stages of stepping back from a service business, from doing the work yourself to a company that markets without you.
Company buildingEssay
Handing off founder-led sales: how I did it at Lead Cookie
My January 2020 account of handing off sales at Lead Cookie: why my first attempt failed, then the playbook, hire and 90-day plan that worked.
Company buildingEssay
I failed at selling Lead Cookie, here is what I learned
My January 2020 account of trying to sell Lead Cookie in 2019: cleaning up the books, hiring a broker, and an LOI that fell apart in due diligence.
Company buildingEssay
How We Ran Lead Cookie's 90-Minute Weekly Team Meeting
The 90-minute weekly agenda I ran for Lead Cookie's remote team of about 26 in 2019, built from EOS and Chet Holmes, and what has changed since.
Company buildingEssay
The importance of a strong company culture
My September 2019 essay on building culture at Lead Cookie and Content Allies: why it mattered to me, and the onboarding, pay and team habits we used.
Enterprise operationsEssay
The art of thinking through your business model
My July 2019 questions for choosing a business model: what you want, ten-year relevance, platform risk, recurring need, agency or product, and the numbers.
Company buildingEssay
The problem with productized marketing services
Why single-channel marketing services churn by design and work best as a tripwire into an agency: my June 2019 essay, from running Lead Cookie.
Company buildingEssay
Lessons learned for my second productized service
My May 2019 essay on starting Content Allies after Lead Cookie: reducing platform dependence, hiring before the first sale and growing slowly on purpose.
Company buildingEssay
What is the "Queen Bee Role" and why does it matter?
My April 2019 essay on the Queen Bee Role from Mike Michalowicz's Clockwork, and how I took admin work off the account strategy role at Lead Cookie.
Company buildingEssay
Your business is a reflection of you
My April 2019 essay on how a founder's stress and focus pass to the team and then to customers, and what my team's weekly work-life scores showed.
Enterprise operationsEssay
The Weekly Metrics Dashboard I Used to Run Lead Cookie
The weekly sheet I ran Lead Cookie on: customers, billed and projected MRR, leads, calls, profit and retention, and what I would add to it today.
Company buildingEssay
The painful consequences of not focusing
My February 2019 essay on running Lead Cookie, a sales role and consulting at once, what it cost, what focus changed, and how my view shifted by 2020.
Company buildingEssay