Ian Smith | The Portfolio Partnership

10 Metrics That Bind Companies – Align Staff

by Ian Smith | Dec 1, 2014 | Metrics

What gets measured gets done. But scaling companies and aligning all the efforts of your team requires specific measurements worth sharing. Don’t underestimate the power of sharing one department’s metrics with another. In fact let me show you the power...

Acquisitions – 10 Steps To Buying the Right Target

by Ian Smith | Nov 25, 2014 | Acquisitions

So how do you ensure you get in front of companies that are potentially attractive to you? How do you find the right target? You don’t want to buy what’s for sale. You want to buy what you want to buy! Here is a simple 10-step plan that we use with clients...

How To Choose A Venture Capitalist

by Ian Smith | Nov 18, 2014 | How to Raise Private Equity, How to Raise Venture Capital

I’m approaching Venture Capitalists and Private Equity players for one of my technology portfolio companies at the moment. It reminded me how difficult the process can be for the uninitiated. So for all those folk who are trying to choose a financial backer here’s my...

3 Examples Why Budgets Are Irrelevant to Sales

by Ian Smith | Nov 12, 2014 | budgets, Sales Tips

Sales teams worldwide are often met with the dreaded – I’m sorry we just don’t have budget! Well let me give you some simple logic why budgets are totally irrelevant to spending decisions. 3 Examples Just because a line item has been created in the...

5 Reasons Why Order Takers Will Kill Your Business

by Ian Smith | Nov 4, 2014 | Sales Tips

If you’re selling to businesses, private companies, public companies large and small you need to be careful not to fill your sales ranks with order takers. An order taker may be just fine in a retail environment although I’d be careful. But in a B2B environment order...