Blog
Winning Enterprises do value creation three ways (pt 1)
Internal disruption, empowered workforce and customer centric I love my work at Next Act Advisors, where I provide strategic advisory consulting to scale new business models with operational excellence and good governance. To continue to provide strategic advisory, I...
Next Act as a Prelude to a Last Act
A Guide “Not many people are thinking about their next act,” I was told by one of my guests on the Founder’s Sandbox. The guest had researched the mission of Next Act Advisors and listened to some podcasts and requested to be a guest. I guess I am not alone in my...
Emerging Healthcare Technology and Funds
Human driven design for unmet needs Since leaving my corporate career after working for a European public pharmaceutical company, I have remained active in the Healthcare and Life Science sectors stateside for the past 16 years. The combination of early stage...
Sustainable growth: allocation of time and capital
What got you here, won’t get you there Sustainable growth is one of my taglines when working with business owners from my advisory firm Next Act Advisors. This blog unpacks how sustainable growth is addressed, independent of size, stage, and sector of an enterprise. ...
What Comes First? Creativity or Having Fun
Outside of the Box I recently became a first-time grandmother. I can sit and observe my granddaughter’s curiosity and fearlessness while she goes about her day, and the time flies by. For her it is not about having fun yet; she is discovering her world. I am in awe,...
The Creator Economy
Subtitle Synchronization: combining of two or more elements “But what is work and what is not work? Is it work to dig, to carpenter, to plant trees, to fell trees, to ride, to fish, to hunt, to feed chickens, to play the piano, to take photographs, to build a house,...
Data, Data, Everywhere
Data and Trust While still living and working in Europe, I joined Facebook (aka Meta) when my children who lived and worked in other countries, asked to befriend me online. They are now settled into another stage of their lives and no longer are on this platform. I...
Small Businesses Resilience in Numbers and Trust
Size & Trust Matter: Why we can only maintain 150 relationships When asked to describe my 35 years of professional experiences, I describe them in two segments: large public corporations and the private sector small companies – startups. I am indebted to the...
Legal and Regulatory Health Checks Enhance Resiliency
From start up to scale up preparation for a Board of Directors and investors looking “under the hood” The month of April is a fine time to do a health check on your startup; kind of like spring cleaning. While privately held companies (like startups), are not bound...
Women Leadership is about Presence, Showing Up, and Creating One’s Own Tribe
Women History Month The month of March celebrates worldwide Women History Month. I was featured in March 2022 in a University of Chicago Women’s series for Women History Month. It was, for me, like a “coming out” event. Professionally, I intentionally am creating...
Why Playfulness Matters in Startup to Scale Up
ChatGPT can’t be as playful as some manuals of instructions In a recent blog, “When Spending Time in the Sandbox Isn’t Fun Anymore… And Yet You Still Can Play”, I share my observations of children’s curiosity and fearlessness while playing in the playground or...
Three Acts of Gratitude
Gratefulness is good for Business November is my favorite time of year. As we are coming to the close of the year, many of us independent consultants take stock of our year and prepare for the new year. One of my habits over the Thanksgiving holiday is to write...
The Power of the Enterprise
Profits for Good In December 2021, I shared my mission at Next Act Advisors in a short video clip. The events that informed my choice to work in the vibrant startup space after 25 years in corporate executive positions, led me to a professional opportunity at a...
What is required to obtain a Board Seat?
Consider getting on a board as if it were a job search The month of May is the Annual Shareholder’s meeting for most public companies on S&P 500, according to Christine Short, a FactSet guest contributor. These Annual Shareholder meetings provide the opportunity...
Unleashing Your Business’ Purpose: A Journey to Greatness
Operating from your center leads to a purposeful life. The same applies to a business. To be operating from your center all your life – is highly unlikely. Often, it isn’t until having enough experiences over time that some of us can find our life’s purpose. It...
The Power of Collaboration: Building a Sustainable Business
From the "sandbox" to "it takes a village" Leadership teams that recognize that “it takes a village” to build a sustainable, well-governed business – are increasing the probability to be successful. In my experience, there are three core indicators of a sustainable...
Empowering Resilience: Unlocking Personal and Enterprise Value
Managing Oneself and Gosh Darn…. Managing others There is nothing like hindsight and many years of experience to speak to a “soft“ aspect of personal and professional success. I would coin it Resilience. Like a three-legged stool, resilience is best found when all...
Strategic Board Formation: Key Steps for Startup Growth
Forming a Board of Directors for your startup will help your speed to scale, and help you avoid pitfalls that you might miss A classmate from graduate school called me up years ago and said, “Brenda, I don’t know about you, but suddenly I seem to have all these people...
Beyond the Roadmap: Leveraging Options for Business Growth
Scenario planning yields options that one day can be exercised. Anyone who has worked with me knows one of my favorite slogans is “Just Do It,” coined by Nike. Anyone who has worked with me also knows that having options to “Just Do It,” requires a thoughtful...
Think Differently: A Deep Dive into Revenue Possibilities Through Deep Tech
The blurring of boundaries of humans, machines, and nature could be the foundation for the new revenue your startup needs. Sometimes in life, things find you; rather than you seeking them out. That was the case with how I became introduced to deep tech. Early in my...
Pricing is Everything: Scale-up Microeconomics 101
Be strategic and don’t make this common Founder mistake (when it comes to pricing) Eight months into the lock down, I finally relented and decided to purchase a larger desk. I did want some features like real wood, lots of drawers and filing space and of the same...
When Spending Time in the Sandbox Isn’t Fun Anymore… And Yet You Still Can Play
The curiosity and fearlessness of children while playing on the playground or by themselves fascinates me. I find the same curiosity and fearlessness in founders. When approaching the problem they are solving, I am captivated by their sheer ingenuity and innovation....
15 Questions That Lead to Revenue Discovery
If your startup is running out of runway, stop trying to just push through. Take action with this contrarian view by focusing on finding revenue that is hidden in plain sight. The day started like any other. I woke up early, did my yoga, and brewed my favorite mint...
Startup Steroid: Corporate Governance
In this interview, our founder, Brenda McCabe, shares her passion for good corporate governance. Unlike other startup advisors, Brenda‘s work with advisory clients is based on “you don’t know what you don’t know” of corporate governance, enabling founding teams to...
Divorcing a Co-Founder: “What Would you be Willing to Give Away to have this Person off your Cap Table?”
The price is right The road to a successful exit for a company is long, hard, tenuous, and uncertain. The definition of success is the outcome that is desired by the founding team. Desired outcomes may change over time. Desired outcomes must be shared among the...