Core Methods

How I fix broken companies

Six principles I bring into every turnaround. The industries change. The work doesn't.

1. 01

   Diagnose and triage.

   The answers are almost always already in the building. I interview everyone, top to bottom, before making a single move — and I separate symptoms from causes across revenue, capital, culture, and product. The fix is rarely where the noise is loudest.

2. 02

   Stop the bleeding.

   A company that can't make payroll in ninety days can't be fixed — it can only be sold for pennies on the dollar. So I move first on survival: cut deals, freeze new spend, sell the dead weight, restructure obligations, trim salaries and nice-to-haves. Then I own every mess, internal and external, until the company stops losing ground.

3. 03

   Simplify the problem set.

   Dying companies are almost always fighting on too many fronts. One North Star. One clear priority per team. One primary way to communicate. We don't fight multi-front wars — we win the one that matters and let the rest go quiet.

4. 04

   Speed over perfection.

   A half-right strategy today that we tune on the fly beats a perfect strategy in six months, when we're already dead. I'd rather move now, learn from contact, and adjust than study a company into the grave.

5. 05

   Find the critical roles.

   I design the org the strategy actually needs — the chart first, ignoring who currently sits where. Then I fit the team to it and see who lands where, if anywhere. Anyone we can't place, we work to find a soft landing for.

6. 06

   Engineer the exit.

   The exit is a deliverable, not a wish. I build relationships with prospective acquirers on day one, complete with quantifiable criteria for a profitable exit. Those criteria become our goals, and the work is finished when the company can run smoothly without me and the exit has been secured.