Technical CEOs, transitions, and growing organisations
Something I’ve been thinking about for at least five years (and last tried to articulate here) is the transition that happens as a technical founder’s business grows. Quite often, someone with what I’ll call “technical expertise” starts a business (for the purpose of this article, we will exclude “entrepreneurs” which start with an idea or …
Sezzle’s Precipice
After Xinja’s Pivot, I’m coining Sezzle’s Precipice to describe a company that stands on the knife edge of catastrophic failure. Whether Sezzle tips over the eponymous precipice or skates along the top before riding off into the sunset is yet to be seen. (I wrote some preliminary thoughts on the company late last year). After …
Management: Infinite Nuance
In early 2020 I took on managerial responsibilities, which was the definition of being dropped in the deep end. To be a manager is to have a focus on the process that produces the output, rather than the output itself. The switch to focusing on the process clicked very quickly with me, piggybacking on years …
Interactive Brokers: A Stock Pitch
I have written about Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ:IBKR) before, most notably in Xinja’s Pivot. During the Covid Crash I purchased it on valuation grounds, but I think there are a lot of fundamental merits to, and opportunity in, the business. I recently pitched the stock and I’ve tidied up my notes to publish here: Stockbroking is …
Blue Ocean Strategy: A Review
I am reading Blue Ocean Strategy (Expanded Edition) by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. It is solid gold and I wish I’d read it 10 years ago. The thing that surprises me most here is that nothing in here is “new”. Apart from the case studies (which are excellent), I could not put my …
How to conduct a performance review
This is a tricky topic. To conduct a performance review you need to know a) what is the performance you are measuring and b) what will you change as a result of that measurement, and c) how will that affect your employee. Is your review process about coaching? Or is it about salary? Is it …
Airtasker IPO Raises Valuation Questions
The Airtasker IPO is shaping up to be interesting. It’s one of my favourite niche topics – private market valuation meets public market investors. My perception of Airtasker is that there has been a mismatch between perceived growth potential of the business (as measured by valuation) and its actual performance. That disconnect was arrested painfully …
Intangible assets need maintenance too
“Soft” assets like brand and software are typically (but not always) created by investing through the income statement where the investment in the assets is expensed rather than capitalised as an intangible asset. This concept is widespread in investing and well understood. What I find really interesting is how this plays out in the explicit …
Team Alignment: Good transitions make it easier, and less stressful
A challenging task in management is achieving team alignment during a transition. In both fast- and slow-moving businesses, change can be punishing and it is hard to redirect energy to new problems and keep teams engaged in the process. Fast-moving businesses change too fast for comfort with the pace, and slow-moving organisations make people too …
Portfolio Review: CY2020
One of the best things I ever did (in 2016) was invest in a fund that focuses on fast-growing businesses. Even asides from the actual performance of that style, this decision has made it much easier to stay emotionally grounded when the market is ripping higher. The benefits of that were extremely obvious this year. …
