By Rick Vohrer, TCV Growth Partner and Sales Quarterback If you have ever been in sales, you have probably heard the saying that people do business with people they trust. I have believed that for most of my career. You build the relationship, understand the customer, do what you say you are going to do, and over time you earn trust. With AI becoming part of almost every business conversation, I have been wondering whether that idea is changing. I do not think it is. If anyth

By Rob Meissner, TCV Growth Partner: Every CEO wants growth. But not every CEO is prepared for scale. Growth is adding more customers, more employees, more revenue, and more complexity. Scale is what happens when the business can absorb that complexity without slowing down, confusing the team, or exhausting the founder. The difference between CEOs who scale and CEOs who stall is rarely ambition. It is how they change their leadership style before the company forces them t

By J. Gary McDaniel, TCV Partner: As consultants, more often than not, TCV Growth Partners’ clients are business owners who are overwhelmed. Their business is their “baby”. They want to make sure that everything goes well, so they do things themselves. As the expression goes, “if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself”. However, nobody is good at everything. So doing everything yourself is a recipe for failure. And, unfortunately, when you try to do e

By Doug Zeisel, TCV Growth Partner - Most companies don't fail because of one catastrophic event. They fail because management ignores a series of small warning signs until those problems become impossible to reverse. By any measure, the most expensive problems in business are the ones management fails to recognize early. As a Certified Turnaround Professional, I have seen too many companies fail because warning signs were ignored until management had very few options left.

By Doug Zeisel, TCV Growth Partner - Whether it's positioning a ladder against a tree to cut off a limb, choosing a career, selecting a college major, or even finding the right life partner, how you position yourself often determines whether you succeed or struggle. Most people don't consciously think about positioning when making life's biggest decisions. They simply react to what's in front of them. Successful businesses, however, rarely have that luxury. Companies that con

By Rick Vohrer, TCV Growth Partners If you participate in sports, whether on the field, in the stands, from your lounge chair, or simply as a "Monday Morning QB" reading the Sports section, have you considered how running your business is analogous to running a sports team? Whether you're building a company or coaching a team, the fundamentals of success look surprisingly similar. Both worlds revolve around people, strategy, discipline, and the ability to adapt under pressure

Don't Bother To get Dressed Until You Know Where Your Going! By Deb Tillett, Marketing Strategy Partner at TCV Growth Partners In other words, don’t wear flip-flops and jeans if you are going to a black-tie affair. Your company needs to present the “right look” before you spend money. Know Your Customer Before You Set a Marketing Budget A company’s ability to grow and succeed depends on the public holding the correct perception of what it represents and what it is selling. E