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Sink Or Scale
How Leaders Build Companies That Outsail Storms
The book follows the real story of building and running companies, and goes deeper into what happens below the waterline:
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How to build and manage organizational values as a binding operating code, not a slogan on the wall.
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Why strong human culture can matter more over time than technology, money or resources.
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How to manage the relationships between founders, team, management, investors and the board.
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The stages that take an idea into a living, breathing, functioning venture.
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How to make decisions under pressure and uncertainty.
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How to protect founders and teams as the company grows and pressure rises.
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How to know when to persist, when to change course and when to stop.
At the end of every chapter are seven navigation insights: not a recipe for success, but tools to pause, check your direction and make better decisions.
What you will find in the book:
My Story
The book begins at sea. With responsibility for people. And with one event, "The Laughing Fish," that changed the way I think about leadership.
From there it continues through more than twenty years of entrepreneurship and five startups.
Every company. Every stage. Every decision. Every mistake. Every success: it is all in the book.
Five startups
Every company taught me something different.
One Went Public
Building a company that reached the public markets was an enormous challenge.
Two Were Acquired
Deals that changed the outcome of years of hard work.
One Merged
A path we chose to create greater value.
One Closed
Because knowing when to stop is also an entrepreneurial decision.
Who is the book for?
Founders, entrepreneurs and managers who have already been through at least one storm.
People who understand that technology alone does not build a company, and that people can both save it and sink it.
People looking for language, tools and a human compass in a world without maps.
Investors, directors and the human circle around the entrepreneur.
And anyone who loves the sea.