Build durable companies

Yesterday a colleague and I were talking about the financial markets - I’m certain we were not the only ones.

 We quickly got on the topic of how to build durable companies; the kind that withstand and even prosper in tough times. 

She reminded me that I wrote about this a couple of years ago when folks were convinced that the really hard times were just around the corner. 

 At the time, I thought we were not talking enough about things like establishing sustainable moats, building the balance sheet, and service proficiency beyond pure SaaS.  These things give your company better options and levers to pull in good times and bad.  Companies under pressure to grow often also miss the chance to really focus on a segment of their addressable market and really own it. If only 50% of your customers are truly in your sweet spot, wobbles and crisis, real or perceived can have a hard effect on your company’s value.  One of my favourite companies to watch do most of this right is Zoom.

  This was hardly ground-breaking thinking on my part, but I still think about this stuff all the time. I share mostly because  I’m interested helping conversations about these things along to the degree it helps folks make good decisions for their companies and their stakeholders.