Why Is Financial Preparation Key to Maximizing Business Value with Jessica Fialkovich
The B2B Growth Blueprint
Are you building a business you can walk away from on your terms without leaving money legacy and people behind? Jessica shares how losing a corporate job during the Lehman era pushed her to take control of her career by becoming an entrepreneur then selling her first company and learning the hard way that exits require preparation not excitement She explains that most owners do not exit on their own terms and that the biggest preventable mistake is not running the company like it could exit at any time Her framework centers on having a target exit option plus a backup plan focusing on...
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Can Fractional CMOs Help Struggling Businesses Scale Faster with Melanie Asher
The B2B Growth Blueprint
What if the real reason your marketing is not working has nothing to do with your ads or your posting schedule? Melanie Asher explains why businesses stall when they chase checklists and vanity metrics instead of aligning marketing with clear 6 month and 5-year goals. She breaks down how ownership of core assets like your domain data and brand protections directly affects value during a transition. The conversation also spotlights common breakdowns like disconnected systems undocumented processes and marketing efforts that cannot be measured end to end. Her core point is that marketing is...
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How Can Founder-Led Companies Break Through Growth Plateaus with Alexis Sikorsky
The B2B Growth Blueprint
Ever feel like your business hit a ceiling—and no matter how hard you grind, it won’t budge? In this episode, Alexis Sikorsky breaks down the real reasons founder-led companies stall around the $5M–$10M mark. He shares how he scaled New Access, survived the 2008 crash, and eventually reached a $100M+ exit. You’ll hear why “more ideas” isn’t the problem—lack of clarity is. And you’ll leave with a simple way to assess what to fix first, so growth becomes engineered instead of chaotic. Quotes: Don’t confuse what’s urgent with what’s important. ...
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What Are DATA Principles for Realistic Projections with Jeffrey Kates
The B2B Growth Blueprint
Welcome back to the B2B Growth Blueprint Podcast. What happens when a company is one bad decision away from real trouble? In this episode of the B2B Growth Blueprint Podcast, host Mark Osborne sits down with Jeffrey Kates, a veteran turnaround and M&A advisor who steps in when clarity and discipline matter most. Jeffrey shares why clean historical financials are important, but why forward-looking projections are what separate average operators from best-in-class leaders. He breaks down how strong projections must be tied to real operations, from workflow and supply chain timing to margins...
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Will Your Pricing Scale as Fast as Your Company Needs It To with Dan Balcauski
The B2B Growth Blueprint
Welcome back to the B2B Growth Blueprint Podcast. In this episode, Mark Osborne sits down with Dan Balcauski, founder and chief pricing officer at Product Tranquility, to explore how B2B SaaS leaders can turn pricing and packaging into a strategic advantage. Dan shares how his background in engineering, product management, and an MBA internship led him to focus on how companies capture value, not just build products. Together, they break down why pricing is not just about picking a number, why who and how you charge matters more than what you charge, and how growth stage companies can evolve...
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Is Your Business Quietly Hitting a Growth Ceiling with Ron Gerran
The B2B Growth Blueprint
Welcome back to the B2B Growth Blueprint Podcast. In this episode, Mark Osborne sits down with Ron Gerrans to unpack what really drives scalable growth in founder-led companies, and why operational maturity is often the missing link between a solid business and a business that can grow or exit cleanly. Ron shares how years as a CEO shaped his approach, why most companies get stuck in heroic execution, and how leaders can move from chaos to repeatable, scalable systems without losing the entrepreneurial energy that made the company successful in the first place. Quotes: ...
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What Is Laurie Barkman’s BUILT Method for Successful Business Transitions
The B2B Growth Blueprint
Mark Osborne welcomes Laurie Barkman, founder of Business Transition Sherpa, a consulting firm specializing in guiding business owners through growth and transition strategies. With a background in B2B growth, Laurie brings firsthand experience as CEO of a third-generation company and has led a significant acquisition, giving her unique insight into both sides of the transition process. She has worked extensively with Gen X owners who approach exit planning differently than baby boomers, seeking more personalized and strategic pathways. Laurie is also the creator of the trademarked "Built to...
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How Is AI Reshaping Digital Marketplaces Today with Andy Allaway
The B2B Growth Blueprint
Mark Osborne chats with Andy Allaway, CEO of Empire Flippers, about his career journey and the company’s nine-year evolution as a leading marketplace for buying and selling online businesses. Andy shares insights on e-commerce, SaaS, and service businesses, the growing impact of AI, and why preparing for sale is critical. He highlights the valuation power of SaaS and subscription models, the rise of online business financing, and how Empire Flippers helps entrepreneurs and investors achieve smoother exits and stronger long-term value. Quotes: “I think sellers now...
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What Innovation Strategies Drive Success for StoneGate Advisor with Marc Pierce
The B2B Growth Blueprint
Welcome back to the B2B Growth Blueprint Podcast. In this episode, the focus is on what truly drives sustainable B2B growth: building a repeatable acquisition system and protecting revenue through intentional, proactive retention. The guest is Marc Pierce, a nationally recognized healthcare strategy and consulting leader with more than 25 years of experience across payers, providers, health tech, and health data. After spending two decades building StoneGate Advisors and developing the AI-enabled STAMP platform to predict churn before renewals, Marc was recently acquired by ECG...
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How Can Family Businesses Grow and Transition Successfully with Jonathan GOldhill
The B2B Growth Blueprint
Mark Osborne welcomes Jonathan Goldhill, business coach, author, and expert in guiding family-owned companies through growth and transition. With decades of experience working alongside entrepreneurs and family businesses, Jonathan has developed a proven approach to helping organizations professionalize operations, clarify leadership roles, and build sustainable enterprise value. His coaching emphasizes the unique challenges faced by family businesses, where personal relationships and generational dynamics often intersect with strategic decision-making. In this episode, Jonathan...
info_outlineDriving innovation isn’t easy for any business leader. The methods that brought success yesterday may not secure growth tomorrow. But how do you know when it’s time to rethink your approach? How can you ensure your team’s efforts align with what customers actually need?
Tony Ulwick is the founder and CEO of Strategyn and a pioneer of the Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI) and Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) frameworks. For decades, he’s helped organizations identify unmet customer needs and turn them into predictable, repeatable innovation. Whether you’re launching new products, entering new markets, or streamlining operations, Tony offers practical guidance to help you innovate with confidence. In this episode, Tony shares hard-won insights on transforming uncertainty into strategy.
Quotes:
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“Innovation isn’t about guessing—it’s about understanding customers’ desired outcomes and delivering on them.”
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“When you align your team around measurable outcomes, you remove the risk from innovation.”
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“Most companies fail at innovation not because they lack ideas but because they lack a proven process.”
Takeaways:
-Stop guessing at customer needs—use the Jobs-to-be-Done framework to define outcomes before building solutions.
-Build cross-functional teams that align around customer outcomes instead of internal assumptions.
-Apply data-driven insights to make innovation predictable rather than risky.
-Evaluate whether your team has the right skills to execute and scale your vision.
-Bring in outside expertise or frameworks when navigating critical growth inflection points.
Conclusion:
Organizations that embrace Outcome-Driven Innovation can shift from unpredictable experiments to consistent growth. By aligning teams around customer outcomes and applying proven frameworks, companies can outperform competitors and deliver value with confidence.
Links Mentioned:
Guest Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyulwick