Ian Smith | The Portfolio Partnership

Understanding The Small Business Market

by Ian Smith | Feb 5, 2013 | Scaling

To scale your business whatever size it’s important to know your landscape. These two graphs and table will give you a head start in understanding the US business market and you can decide what’s small. I’ve ignored the 21.4 million non payroll solo...

The Secrets of Scaling a Business

by Ian Smith | Feb 3, 2013 | Scaling

So what are the secrets of scaling a business? Well let’s define scaling in terms of sales growth. Let’s say you are on a path of scaling from $5m to $75m. Let’s assume you are not growing at say 25% per annum, or if you are, your have concerns that the situation is...

Getting Ahead of The Curve – Some Trends Worth Understanding

by Ian Smith | Jan 31, 2013 | Strategy

You could be in email marketing, recruitment, niche manufacturing, wealth management, cloud services or a million other SIC code sectors. So what big trend will transform your industry over the next 5 years? I’ve gathered together some ideas from smart thinkers for...

How To Work On The Right Stuff

by Ian Smith | Jan 29, 2013 | CEO, Data Overload, Execution Tips, Leadership, Management

As CEO of your business, you arrive at your desk to find a supplier has stopped your account. You failed to pay him for the third time according to his terms. You have plenty of cash in the bank but you were being just a little too smart with the cash flow management....

Measurement – A Reminder from Bill Gates

by Ian Smith | Jan 27, 2013 | Leadership, Management, Metrics

Last week in the WSJ an adapted extract from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s annual letter was published, outlining Bill’s plan to fix the world’s biggest problems. His thesis revolves around good measurement and a commitment to follow the data. And oh how...