October 13, 2020

The 6 Biggest Mistakes Companies Make

“Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan” is a quote commonly attributed to John Kennedy as he accepted responsibility for the Bay of Pigs fiasco. The idea, however, is an old one. Roman historian and politician Tacitus said that, “This is an unfair thing about war: victory is claimed by all, failure to one alone.”

When things are going well, it’s easy to share credit as a team. When things go sideways, buck-passing and finger-pointing rule the day. Success has many fathers, but for companies, so does failure. The thing about business is that it is always about the people, the process, and systems already in place. And those can fail over time, even at the most successful organizations. Errors, however, can actually help a business move forward – if the problem is identified and fixed. It’s how the owner and management team respond to those mistakes, misses, omissions — or even complacency — that can make all the difference.

InterimExecs surveyed interim leaders from around the world for our 2020 Interim Executives Survey. In addition to asking executives about who’s hiring them and the roles they’re taking on, we asked executives for insights into “The Biggest Mistakes Companies Make.” While their responses varied, clear themes emerged in the areas of leadership, operations, human capital, strategy, financials, and change initiatives. Focusing on these fundamentals is a good starting point for any struggling business.

September 30, 2020

Healthcare Executives Tackle Big Provider and Hospital Issues

COVID-19 has caused unprecedented disruptions to the healthcare sector. Since the pandemic hit, hospitals and providers have had to deal with a surge in very sick, high-intensity patients while also having to shut down a huge portion of their traditional business. As non-urgent visits and procedures were cancelled, overall surgeries and hospital admissions plummeted. The combination of lower patient volumes, cancelled elective procedures, and higher expenses tied to the pandemic have created a financial crunch for hospitals, which are expected to lose $323 billion this year, according to a report from the American Hospital Association.

These drastic developments come at a time when the healthcare industry is already grappling with challenges posed by the digital transformation happening around electronic health record (EHR) implementation, Meaningful Use (MU) standards, HIPAA compliance, and the CMS’s Interoperability and Patient Access rule. The result is a reckoning throughout the country’s healthcare infrastructure, with a need for rapid changes and new thinking.

Everybody might be in the red right now, says RED Team member John Winenger, a veteran healthcare executive. “But how much is going to come back is the big question that everybody’s rapidly trying to assess.”

We spoke to Winenger and Michael Kreitzer, an expert hospital Interim CIO, about the biggest challenges providers and hospitals are facing, where healthcare goes from here, and the moves organizations can make—including bringing in outside help—to get out of the red and back into the black.

August 31, 2020

When Should You Bring in a CFO?

In every business there comes a tipping point when change is needed to get to the next stage of growth. While as a company owner or CEO, you may be adept at running the day-to-day, at some point you may start to feel that you need to be more tuned into your finances.

Maybe you have a Controller or bookkeeper keeping transactions up-to-date so you can run reports for your banker from time to time. But what happens when transactions start to get more difficult to deal with or you need more insight into financial metrics that will drive strategic decisions? If the following situations sound familiar, it may be time to start thinking about hiring a Chief Financial Officer (CFO):

You are growing fast and looking to acquire or attract new capital
Investors or financiers are requesting more sophistication in reporting
The company doesn’t have the internal capabilities to consistently (and accurately) close out the books every month
The business is facing declining revenues, stagnant growth, or rising market competition that calls for someone to provide more strategic leadership and set out a direction and action plan
You feel like you don’ have a full handle on the metrics and KPIs that ultimately drive the business and measure your progress

July 21, 2020

What are the Benefits of Interim Managers?

The only certainty in business is change. But change is accelerating, less predictable, and increasingly, beyond the control of organizations. As technology and unforeseen events continue to drive exponential change, businesses that can’t keep up risk being left behind.

Companies struggling to generate growth and stay relevant amid rapid transformation often look to new leadership. A growing number of companies are also looking to a different kind of leader—one who specializes in change and embraces the challenge of helping companies solve their biggest issues. Enter the interim executive, a new breed of on-demand leadership that brings outside perspective, cutting-edge thinking, veteran experience, and a laser focus on results.

July 7, 2020

CFO Leads Cannabis Company to IPO

The global market for legal marijuana is valued at $17.7 billion as of 2019, and Grand View Research says that number is expected to rise to $73.6 billion by 2027. A quickly evolving market, more interim and project-based executives are being called on to lead the charge.

Jon Paul started his career at Arthur Anderson in the seventies then moved to multiple Chief Financial Officer positions, before getting on the cannabis bus in 2018 when he was recruited to take San Francisco-based gummies company, Plus Products, public.

Cannabis industry newsletter Grown In interviewed Jon Paul about the challenges involved in taking a company to a listing on the Canadian Stock Exchange.

June 19, 2020

How to Communicate Powerfully in a World of Zoom

“More than anything else…people want to hear stories!”
― James Rosebush, Winning Your Audience: Deliver a Message with the Confidence of a President

James Rosebush knows a thing or two about effective communication. A former senior aide to President Ronald Reagan, known as “The Great Communicator,” James is a coach of public speaking who has given hundreds of speeches to audiences worldwide. In his latest book, Winning Your Audience: Deliver a Message with the Confidence of a President, James draws on his decades of experience working with presidents, politicians, and business leaders to teach others the art of impactful oration. One reviewer called Winning Your Audience “the new bible for public speaking.”

InterimExecs spoke with James about his experience working with President Reagan, the new challenges facing leaders, how Millennials’ can advance their careers, the way to command an audience even when you’re not in the same room together, and how to overcome fear of public speaking.

June 8, 2020

How to Successfully Market a Product No One Wants to Buy

There are marketing challenges, and then there is the challenge of marketing a product no one wants to admit they use, much less talk about it in public.

Enter Whitney Vosburgh. He’s an expert, interim Chief Marketing Officer who believes that building community can be a successful marketing strategy.

It worked for ConvaTec, a company that makes something no one ever wants to buy (but many people have to): colostomy and ostomy pouches. Those are the bags used by people who have a bowel blockage, which means they must eliminate bodily waste outside their body. It’s collected in pouches like the ones made by ConvaTec.

Not surprisingly, this is not something people want to chat about with strangers. But, Vosburgh hypothesized, putting them in a room with others facing the same challenges could make all the difference.

May 29, 2020

How Company Owners Can Still Win in the Current M&A Market

The COVID-19 pandemic and global economic lockdown has seen merger and acquisition (M&A) activity plummet. From $3.9 trillion in global takeovers in 2019, announced deals plunged 51% in the first quarter in the US according to Refinitiv. Uncertainties in the business and capital markets have led to buyers delaying or cutting back on their acquisition plans. But with crisis comes opportunity. Those able to navigate the new risk landscape may find compelling deals on the other side of the pandemic. Now more than ever, expert help with strategic planning, modelling out “what if” scenarios when the world frees up from lockdown, and preparing better for post-acquisition merger integration can help owners succeed in acquiring or being acquired.

May 27, 2020

How To Reverse Merge Into a Public Shell

When it’s time for a private company to go public, or fundraising is needed on a large scale, an IPO is not the only option. There’s also a less-well-known and, until recently, less-well-respected option: a reverse merger into a public shell oftentimes called an Alternative Public Offering (APO).

This process, which can be faster and cheaper than a traditional Initial Public Offering, is growing in popularity and might grow faster in our confusing coronavirus world.

Scott Jordan (no relation to InterimExecs’ CEO Robert Jordan), an investment banker and CFO who spent 30+ years working in biotech, engineered a reverse merger of a biopharma company in 2019. He says that while the virus has caused capital flow interruptions, investors in the private markets are still providing capital to companies with novel / scientifically validated biotechnology companies. That means reverse mergers and PIPEs (Private Investment in a Public Entity) can still raise money needed to complete their deals. He estimates that about 20 biotech firms debuted in the public markets last year as a result of reverse mergers and the number is on track to repeat in 2020, despite the virus.

But let’s back up a step and begin at the beginning.

May 22, 2020

Your Complete Guide to Launching a Search Fund

As the incredible success of private equity over the past couple decades has made clear to many aspiring company owners and investors, if you can find and acquire a decent company, its possible to earn great returns. This has fueled a new class of individuals seeking to launch their own search funds. What exactly is a search fund and how do you become successful at it? Let’s explore.

The Stanford Graduate School of Business Center for Entrepreneurial Studies explains search funds this way: “The model offers relatively inexperienced professionals with limited capital resources a quick path to managing a company in which they have a meaningful ownership position.”

Inexperienced professionals? Limited capital resources? It doesn’t exactly sound like a recipe for success.

But it can be.