A great product doesn’t guarantee a great business. Pricing, positioning, hiring, and exit planning separate survivors from sellers. This category is for founders who want to build something that outlasts them. Write about bootstrapping through a downturn without losing key talent, or structuring a founder buyout that doesn’t destroy relationships. Share decision frameworks for when to kill a product line, how to set OKRs that actually drive behavior, or what to look for in a fractional CFO. Discuss the strategy behind raising venture debt versus equity, or how to sell a business to employees instead of private equity. Real examples: the SaaS startup that turned down a term sheet and grew slower but more profitably, the restaurant owner who franchised after perfecting unit economics, what one founder learned from a failed merger. No motivational speeches – just cap tables, gross margins, and hard choices.
