For weeks, I obsessed over this question:

"What's the most effective way to transform our members' businesses?"

Jesse & I work with 10 founders who hired us to get them to $10 million in annual revenue. Before meeting them in person for our twice-per-year intensive session, I searched for a way to kick off our work.

I want to share the question we came up with because I think it'll have a big impact on your business.

My search for the "transformation question" reminded me of a story from Intel's turning point.

Intel’s transformative question

In the mid-'80s, Intel was losing millions.

They were making memory chips and getting their asses kicked by Japanese competitors.

Andy Grove, who was CEO, and Gordon Moore, who was Chairman, asked themselves a simple question:

“If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what would he do?”

The answer came quickly: “He’d get out of the memory business.”

Intel was built on memory chips. But the hypothetical freed them from their sentimental attachment to the business. It forced clarity. And that clarity led to the decision that saved the company: shift focus to microprocessors.

If you were around in the 90s, you know that "Intel inside" stickers were on nearly every PC at the time.

That's the kind of effect I wanted to have on our members, but I needed our own twist on the question.

Jesse has been working with private equity firms a lot through his PE advisory business, Aux Insights. He's seen how PE can transform companies. 

So that led to our question:

If PE bought you today, how would they change your company?

We asked each of the 10 founders to answer that question.

The result

Freed of attachments to past decisions, they realized the big moves they needed to make.

-- Multiple founders realized they needed to move past smaller clients. They weren't profitable enough, but they were hanging on to those clients out of a sentimental connection or a worry about losing revenue.

-- Several founders realized they needed to make bigger, bolder bets to reach the level of growth that a PE owner would expect. Jesse helped them find areas of conviction that were worth pursuing.

-- A few decided they needed to triple down on what made them different. Before the exercise, some of these differences felt like quirks to be hidden. Now, they realized they needed to promote them.

How you can use this question:

Jesse gave feedback to sharpen each member's thinking, but you can get a lot of value from doing this on your own. Try it on your next journal entry (or conversation with ChatGPT).

Use this to open up your imagination and guide your thinking:

You're no longer the CEO of your business. You're a partner at a PE firm that just acquired the business.

The deal closes.

1. What are the 3 big things that keep you up at night?

2. What does the business look like in 5-10 years?

3. What are the 3 investments/big bets that get you to your 5-10 year goal?

By the way, the group is called 833, named after the monthly revenue you need to hit $10M/year. If that’s your goal, reach out.

~andrew