Hi Reader This week I have been musing on how most businesses already contain more growth than their systems can release. The answer is not another channel, product or hire. It is removing the friction that stops good work compounding. I hope you find the following articles inspiring... The next AI advantage may be operational Thrive Holdings has raised $2 billion to acquire services businesses and rebuild how they operate with AI. The interesting part is the model: buy established companies...
11 days ago • 5 min read
Hi Reader I have been thinking about the decisions companies make when they want to move faster. The public version is simple: simplify, focus, accelerate. The harder truth is that speed nearly always has a cost. This week, the best stories were not about ambition itself, but about what leaders were willing to stop, change or risk to make it real. Enjoy! Big deals need more than scale AstraZeneca shares fell after reports that it had held merger talks with Bristol Myers Squibb, a combination...
18 days ago • 6 min read
Hi Reader I have been thinking this weekend about how much of good business is subtraction rather than addition. The instinct, especially when you are building something, is to keep bolting on: more products, more markets, more people, more meetings. Yet the sharpest operators I watched this week were doing the opposite, deciding with real conviction what to keep, what to buy, and what to walk away from entirely. So here is the thread running through today's issue: focus is a choice you have...
25 days ago • 6 min read
Hi Reader I have spent much of my career on the buying side of a deal, and one thing never changes: a business can tell you it is valuable, but a buyer only pays for what it can prove. The story wins the meeting, the evidence wins the price. This Sunday that same tension turned up almost everywhere I looked, so here is the thread running through today's issue: proof beats a good story, nearly every time. Enjoy! A £3bn deal shows what buyers will still pay up for Mitie, a name that has been on...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
Hi Reader I keep coming back to one idea this Sunday: owning a thing and having an edge from it are not the same. Anyone can buy the tool, agree the price, sign the deal or take the title. The advantage shows up later, in what you actually do with it. Almost every story I read this week was really about that gap between having and using well. Enjoy! Everyone has adopted AI, almost nobody has an edge yet A new MIT-led study of the S&P 500 found that only about 11 per cent of large firms have...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
Hi Reader I have been thinking about a word buyers never say out loud but always pay for: predictable. The businesses that sold best in my career were rarely the flashiest. They were the ones where next year looked a lot like this year, only bigger. This week's news kept circling the same truth. Impressive gets the attention. Predictable gets the premium, and the higher price. Enjoy! A heritage brand is a moat most owners undervalue Mark Schaefer has been writing about why nostalgia and...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
Hi Reader I keep coming back to one idea this week: buyers are paying up to own more of the chain. Rocket Lab did not buy Iridium for its revenue, it bought the ability to control launch, satellites and the network in one place. The same instinct is showing up everywhere, from chip deals to the way the smartest owners build their own companies. The businesses worth the most are the ones that depend least on any single link, including the founder. That is the thread running through everything...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
Hi Reader Welcome to this week's edition. There's a leadership thread running through most of what caught my eye this week, from the biggest CEO handover in tech to fresh research on why founder transitions go wrong, and a few useful reminders that the most boring marketing fundamentals are still the ones that win. A good Friday batch heading into the weekend. Enjoy! The biggest succession story in tech finally has a date Apple confirmed this week that Tim Cook will hand the chief executive...
4 months ago • 8 min read
Hi Reader Welcome to this week’s edition. Early-stage credibility, stealthy second acts and the next turn of the AI wheel all show up in different guises here, but the through-line is simple: a few ideas that might change how you look at what you’re building, who you build it with and the tools you’re using along the way. Enjoy! The fastest way to build startup credibility One of the hardest problems for a new company is credibility. The best hires, customers and supporters usually move...
5 months ago • 5 min read
