Dando Advisors

Where’s your company on The Business Lifecycle™?

Part 1 in a Series of 4

The Business Lifecycle™ is a model that enables business leaders to identify the level of performance at which their business is operating and to determine exactly what needs to be done to move that business to the next level.

The Business Lifecycle™ is based on my and many other’s years of experience and is an approximation of how successful businesses grow and some of the problems (The Top 12 Warning Signs of Success™) they encounter in their efforts to become what I call a mature, financially stable, professionally managed and led business (Level III).  From my experience this should be the objective of all growth hungry businesses.

By having a sensitivity and general understanding of the stages of development in The Business Lifecycle™ managers  will be in a position to predict problems and thereby prepare solutions and coping strategies to help the company go to the next level before a crisis gets out of hand.

Companies tend to pass through a series of predictable developmental phases as they mature.  Transitions between these phases… Read More >

The Level I Company: "Entrepreneurial Startup"

Part 2 in a series of 4

Below are the characteristics and warning signs of a Level I Company, the Entrepreneurial Startup. This is the first of three defined company stages as part of The Business Lifecycle.™
 

CHARACTERISTICS

• The founders are usually actively involved in running the company.
• The primary emphasis is on producing products or services and selling them.
• Management, systems and planning receive minimal emphasis.
• Communication is informal.
• Employees work long hours and are paid modest salaries.
• Management reacts more to customer needs than to employee needs.
• The founders are either technically oriented or market builders and are usually not skilled managers.
• The company culture – the non-negotiable values and how to treat customers and each other – is generally understood and does not require a lot of reinforcement.
• The growth is greater than inflation but usually slow to moderate.

As a company matures, it often experiences subtle but very troubling growing pains.  Compounding the situation, management, in its haste to maintain growth, often fixes its gaze outward on the environment and toward the future, hoping that more precise market projections and higher sales… Read More >

Welcome to The Warning Signs of Success™

My hope is this blog will become a must-read guide for you and other business leaders at all levels, from the boardroom to the mailroom.  It is a distillation of more than 20 years of my hands-on experience.

Why you should read The Warning Signs of Success™ : I will help you normalize and predict the journey to creating a scalable business by indentifying the preventable bad habits that eventually lead to “business train wrecks.”

• You will understand why it is critical that you AND your team know exactly where you and your business are on The Business Lifecycle™.
• You will learn what the difference is between building a business that can scale and growing a business by trial and error, or “see and solve.”  Better yet, you will learn how to build your business and your team so they can reach their full potential.
• You will learn how to predict the problems (The Top 12 Warning Signs of Success™ ) before they show up in the results and normalize your journey to scalability.
• You will gain uncommon insight from real-world stories and case studies of others who have faced the

… Read More >

The Level III Company: "Market Leader"

Part 4 in a Series of 4

Below are the characteristics and warning signs of a Level III Company, a Market Leader. This is the third of three defined company stages as part of The Business Lifecycle™.

 CHARACTERISTICS:

• Aligned executive and middle management teams are in place and are staffed with qualified people and accountability is clear and well-managed. (Level II crisis is resolved).
• The company’s business niche is clearly defined and its products and services fit the niche.
• The company has an identify beyond the founder(s)’ and current leader’s (CEO).
• The company has well-defined and communicated short-term and intermediate term strategies and plans, which are being followed.
• Managers (executive and middle) are doing more managing (working ‘on’ the business) than technical work (working ‘in’ the business). They are focused on developing systems, accountability and people that will allow the business to scale.
• Unproductive/unprofitable products and services are phased out.
• Market research, development and planning is timely and competent in regard to:
• • Products
  • Services
  • Customer base
  • Geographic coverage
  • Competition
• Competent staff, management and leadership development processes are in place:

… Read More >