The magic of Harry Potter recently found its way into business strategy and planning.  In fact, author J. K. Rowling gave up one amazing secret

Like all great businesses, Xero started with a clear mission: to make life easier for small businesses.  In particular, Xero set out to: – embrace

It may be cliche already, but “Moving To The Cloud” is the single most important move a company can make. So much more than just

Nearly every kind of software is now offered online as “Software as a Service“, or SaaS.  If you’re thinking of creating a SaaS business model,

It seems to go against the grain of strict accounting rules, but it is true nonetheless: How you organize your financial statements is entirely up

As a strategy and finance turnaround consultant, I have worked with many companies in crisis – usually one triggered by cash flow problems. The company’s

Important Update:  The IRS wants to forgive all your 2013 taxes and penalties for mis-classified 1099 contractors who should be employees. We first wrote about this

Whether your business has four employees or forty, managing payroll can be a tedious process. If you have the expertise in managing employee benefits and

Let’s face it, an Initial Public Offering (IPO) is not in your future.  I’m not trying to be mean, just realistic: an IPO will never

[By guest blogger Mary Bruce] I thought it was a pretty simple question. “What do you want this business to look like in five years?”

A Harvard Business Review article (and podcast) called “The High Intensity Entrepreneur” makes this shocking claim: “To be successful, entrepreneurs should wait until they are

A funny thing happened to me during the 5th year of my 3rd start-up:  I fired myself.  The company continued on, but I walked away.

Sadly, ABC’s “Shark Tank” is giving private equity investing a bad name. The “Sharks” are not the wise old investors they appear to be, but

Recently (July 2013) the SEC finally eliminated the rules against general advertising and solicitation in the offering of private stock. Imagine seeing your company’s stock

I was privileged to have had Bill Manby as a business partner and mentor during the heady days of the Dot-Com Boom (and bust!) in Silicon

As a financial analyst and CFO, I’ve seen a lot of real estate transactions.  But not until recently did I appreciate how important the real

[ By guest writer Micah Fraim, CPA ] I’m a firm believer that every business can benefit from a certain amount of debt. Borrowing fuels

For the first time in Cirque Du Soleil’s 29-year history, a performer died last month when she fell during an aerial sequence in the show

I’ve hired a lot of people in the last ten years, but none as valuable as Dr. G  – a terrifyingly smart, over-qualified guy who

(Updated Sept 12, 2013)  It just got a little bit easier to raise money from angel investors. On July 10th, the SEC lifted a long-standing

Newsflash: On July 3, businesses owners got an early Independence Day present: The feds delayed implementation of the Employer Shared Responsibility provisions (also known as