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Continue reading →: What Is a Dividend Recap? A Simple Guide for Business OwnersA dividend recap lets owners take cash out without selling the company. The trade is simple: cash now, more debt for the business. A dividend recap, short for dividend recapitalization, is a way for owners to pull cash out of a business without selling it. The company borrows money and…
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Continue reading →: The Best Email Marketing Tools for Small Business in 2026I have spent most of my career building direct-to-consumer businesses. Paid ads get more attention, but email brings customers back without making you buy the same click twice. You control the list, not the inbox. A bad list can hurt delivery. The tool matters, but the quality of your list…
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Continue reading →: How to Use an EV/Sales Multiple When There Is No EBITDASome growing companies do not have a useful history of EBITDA or earnings. They may be investing ahead of growth, launching new products, or building a team before revenue catches up. An earnings multiple cannot help when earnings do not exist. That does not mean the company has no value.…
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Continue reading →: Athletes Are Selling Their Own NIL Merch – That’s the Real Meaning of NILFor most of college sports history, a fan could buy a jersey tied to a player and the player got nothing. The school got a royalty. The apparel company got its margin. The store got the sale. The athlete whose identity helped sell the shirt got a scholarship. That model…
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Continue reading →: Home Equity Investments How They Work and How Much Cash You Can GetLast updated: September 8, 2026 Banks underwrite your tax return. Home equity investment companies underwrite the house, which is why the product exists for owners who have equity and thin documented income. Because I’m self-employed, I don’t get a W-2. We pay ourselves through guaranteed payments each month, and that…
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Continue reading →: Phantom Stock Does Not Dilute. The Check Does.Phantom stock keeps new names off the cap table. It does not keep cash in your pocket when you sell. After being involved with dozens of startups, I can tell you the request is almost always the same. The owner wants a key person thinking like an owner, and they…
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Continue reading →: Most Valuable College Football TeamsThe top 30 programs carried $32.7 billion in hypothetical value in 2025, and the five biggest brands added $930 million by 2026. College football officially started last weekend when North Carolina beat TCU in Ireland. But as a massive fan of the sport, the season really starts tonight and runs…
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Continue reading →: Customer Retention vs. Customer Acquisition in 2026Acquisition starts growth. Retention increasingly determines whether that growth makes money. I’ve worked across several industries, but my marketing approach has stayed consistent. Start direct to consumer, then layer in Google Ads, Google Shopping, affiliates, SEO, and social. As those channels multiplied, attribution got murkier. It became harder to tell…
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Continue reading →: How to Calculate DSCR (and What Good Looks Like)A lender is not testing today’s debt; the real question is whether tomorrow’s payment still leaves a cushion. The DSCR number I care about is pro forma DSCR, because it includes the loan you’re asking for. A business with $160,000 in cash flow and $55,000 of existing annual debt service…
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Continue reading →: Pro Rata Rights: What Founders and Investors Need to KnowPro rata rights let investors maintain their ownership in future rounds, but founders need to understand how much of the next financing is already promised. I’ve negotiated pro rata rights as both a founder and an angel investor. The simplest explanation is that they let an existing investor keep buying…
