By J. Gary McDaniel, TCV Growth Partner- Every business owner likes to believe their company is firing on all cylinders. Revenue is coming in, customers seem satisfied, and the doors stay open. But "functioning" and "performing at peak" are two very different things. In today’s hyper-competitive marketplace, running a successful company isn’t just about staying afloat—it’s about optimizing every aspect of your organization to reach sustainable, high-level success. The Co

By TCV Growth Partners: The thought of annual business planning can overwhelm many business owners. This article aims to demystify the process and arm you with the insights necessary for plotting a course towards a prosperous future. Understanding Strategic Planning Business planning is not just an administrative task, it's a strategic endeavor that can influence the success and sustainability of your company. The strategic business plan creates a roadmap for not just survi

By Dave Costello, MBA, CPA, Financial Leadership Partner at TCV Yeah, yeah, I know. I can just hear you saying “C’mon, Dave! We haven’t finished Q3 yet and we’re in the midst of a big push to finish the year strong”!! Well, congratulations! That’s exactly what you should be doing. But if you don’t start working on your budget NOW you’ll never have it finished by January 1, 2027. And if you don’t have a plan for what you want to achieve in 2027, it may never get off the

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.