October 2018: What We’re Reading
News and insights to keep you up to date and on track—the cost of growth, what to do with all that data, becoming a better entrepreneur, and more.
We’re here to help you make your business spending more strategic, intelligent, and connected. Stay up to date and on track with recent insights from business strategy experts and fintech thought leaders.
Growth at All Costs is Perilous—This is How to Scale Sales Sustainably
First Round Review | @FRCReview
When business is booming and your company is growing rapidly, it’s all too easy to focus on the now instead of looking to the future. No one will argue that growth is essential, but unless you have a plan to sustain your business when growth levels off, you could end up in trouble.
“You don’t want to put a lot of pressure on the system without actually thinking through what that looks like. Ignoring your cash burn to achieve growth in the short-term can lead to painful layoffs later on.”
Help Your Team Understand What Data Is and Isn’t Good For
Joel Shapiro for Harvard Business Review | @HarvardBiz
Data analytics are invaluable, but combining them with qualitative research opens up powerful insights into problems and their causes, helping drive you to informed and effective solutions.
“To effectively bring together the what and the why — a problem and its cause, in order to find a probable solution — leaders need to combine the advanced capabilities of big data and analytics with tried-and-true qualitative approaches such as interviewing groups of individuals, conducting focus groups, and in-depth observation.”
This Presentation from Inbound 2018 Might Make You a Better Entrepreneur
Rand Fishkin, Sparktoro | @randfish
If you had it to do all over again, what would you differently? After stepping down from the first company he created, Rand Fishkin had the opportunity to start a business all over again. Armed with 17 years of lessons learned, he endeavors to be an even better entrepreneur the second time around.
“’How big can this company be?’ is always the question that folks are asking … The question that you should be asking is what’s the thing that I can do best at, that’s going to make me happy, make my customers incredibly happy, that’s going to make me known.’”
The Hidden Costs of Onboarding a New Employee (and How To Avoid Them)
Aleks Peterson for Glassdoor | @Glassdoor
Every new employee needs “stuff” to get started—computer, software, furniture, parking permit, and so on. And this stuff adds up. As you try to reduce hiring costs, keep in mind that one of the costliest mistakes is a sloppy hiring process that yields uncommitted workers who leave after a few months.
“If you invest weeks of time and effort into onboarding only to see an employee quit six months later, you’ve essentially wasted all of those resources. If this happens multiple times per year, the financial impact can be devastating.”
Unlocking the Value in FP&A Data Science and Analytics
Emmanuel Jibodu | FP&A Trends
Successful businesses use data science and analytics as the cornerstone for growth. To get the most of analytics, it’s essential for your business to have a robust performance measurement plan to put the numbers into action.
“Best-in-class enterprises build rolling forecasts based on the key drivers that are integral to the performance of their enterprise.”
CFOs Fret About Loans on the Eve of New Accounting Rule
Tatyana Shumsky for the Wall Street Journal | @WSJ
A change is coming that could upend corporate-loan agreements. An estimated $3.3 trillion in leases are expected to find their way onto corporate balance sheets at the end of the year. What’s a CFO to do?
“Finance chiefs are pressed with a choice: renegotiate loan terms, provide lenders with specialized financial reports, or run the risk of having debts called by lenders.”