Strategy Meets Finance
Strategy Meets Finance is a podcast for business owners and entrepreneurs who want to start, grow, and run a lasting business. Host Steve Coughran, a former CFO and founder of Coltivar, explains why strategy and finance must work together for long-term success. Each episode offers simple tools, real examples, and practical advice on setting smart goals, improving cash flow, increasing profit, and building stronger teams.
Episodes
Profitable But No Cash? This Is Why | Ep 246
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Revenue is up. The team is celebrating. And the business owner is quietly pulling on the line of credit because cash is constantly tight.In this episode Steve breaks down exactly why profitable businesses run out of cash, what is actually happening between the income statem
Listen to This if You're Using AI to Optimize Your Business | Ep 245
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Everyone is talking about AI right now. Which tools to use, how to automate, how to stay ahead. Steve thinks AI is important too.But in this episode he wants to have the conversation almost nobody is having. Not which tools to use, but whether those tools are actually helpi
Why Most Contractors Price to Win Instead of Price to Profit | Ep 244
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Winning work and profiting from work are two completely different things. Most contractors are only doing one of them.In this episode Steve breaks down why pricing to be competitive and pricing to actually make money require fundamentally different thinking, where the gap a
The #1 Thing I Fix First When a Business Is Struggling | Ep 243
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit When Steve walks into a struggling business, people expect him to start with leadership, culture, or strategy. He never does.In this episode he walks through the one thing he fixes first in every struggling business, why everything else is pointless without it, and what it
If I Were Running a Construction Business, Here's Exactly What I'd Do | Ep 242
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Steve gets asked this question all the time. If you were running my business, where would you start?In this episode he answers it directly. He walks through exactly what he would do in the first 90 days running a $10 million specialty contracting business, the specific sequ
Why Contractors Run Out of Cash (And the Four Levers That Fix It) | Ep 241
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most specialty contractors know cash flow is important. What they do not know is what actually controls it.In this episode Steve walks through the four levers that determine whether a contracting business has cash or not. They are not complicated, but if you do not know wha
The 3 Biggest Strategy Mistakes Business Owners Make | Ep 240
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most business owners have sat through a strategy session that felt productive in the room and changed nothing back at the office.In this episode Steve breaks down the three biggest mistakes he sees business leaders make when doing strategy. Not because they are not smart or
Your Gross Margin Is Probably Wrong. Here's Why. | Ep 239
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most contractors who track their gross margin are still getting it wrong. Not because they are doing anything dishonest. Because the way their accounting is set up does not match the economic reality of their business.In this episode Steve walks through exactly how this hap
3 Things I Learned as CFO That Every Contractor Gets Wrong | Ep 238
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit When Steve became CFO of a billion-dollar construction company, he thought he had seen it all. But sitting inside a business at that scale taught him things no classroom or accounting firm ever could.In this episode he walks through the three financial mistakes he sees cont
Your Balance Sheet Is Deceiving You | Ep 237
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most business owners feel pretty comfortable with their income statement. Revenue, costs, profit. Simple enough.But the balance sheet is where the real story lives and where most of the damage hides. If your balance sheet is a mess and you ever have to clean it up, those co
Why Your Business Gets Harder to Run as It Grows (And What to Do About It) | Ep 236
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Revenue is up. The team is growing. There is no shortage of work. And somehow the business feels harder to run than when it was half the size.More stress, more decisions, more fires, and at the same time less margin, less cash, less clarity.In this episode Steve breaks down
5 Warning Signs Your Business is Heading Towards a Crisis | Ep 235
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Businesses almost never collapse without warning. The signs are usually there months before things get critical, sometimes even longer. The problem is most owners either do not know what to look for or they see the signs and convince themselves things will turn around.In th
The Conversation Most Business Partners Never Have | Ep 234
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most business partnerships do not fall apart because of personality conflicts. They fall apart because two people building something together never got aligned on the financial fundamentals.How much do we pay ourselves? How fast do we grow? What do we reinvest? What does a
The Number That Tells You If Your Business Is Worth Buying | Ep 233
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most business owners have a rough idea of what their business is worth. Usually it is based on what a friend sold theirs for or what feels right. But what a business is actually worth and what an owner thinks it is worth are almost never the same number.In this episode Stev
3 Things Every Successful Business Turnaround Has in Common | Ep 232
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Steve has been inside a lot of businesses that were in trouble. Some were losing cash. Some were profitable on paper but couldn't make payroll. Some had great teams and great customers and still couldn't figure out why nothing was working.In this episode he breaks
You Can't Scale Your Way Out of a Margin Problem | Ep 231
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit More revenue sounds like the answer when a business is struggling. But Steve has watched too many business owners chase growth thinking it would solve their cashflow problems, only to watch it make everything worse.In this episode he breaks down why scaling a broken margin
The Habits That Separate Growing Businesses From Stuck Ones | Ep 230
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit After working inside the financials of hundreds of businesses, Steve says the difference between the ones that grow and the ones that stay stuck almost never comes down to talent, market conditions, or even strategy.It comes down to habits. Specific, repeatable habits aroun
Let Me Reintroduce Myself | Ep 229
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Steve does not talk about his personal life much. But when he does, the response is always the same: people reach out and say they could have written that story themselves.In this episode he steps back from the frameworks and the financials and shares where he actually came
Why Contractors Keep Losing Margin Even When Jobs Go Well | Ep 228
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit The job went well. The crew performed. The client is happy. And the margin still is not there?Most contractors blame the field when this happens. But in this episode, Steve makes the case that the margin was already gone before the first shovel hit the ground. It was set in
Cutting Costs Is the Wrong Move (Do This Instead) | Ep 227
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit When the business starts struggling, the first instinct is almost always the same. Cut costs. Cut headcount. Cut marketing. Cut everything that is not essential.Steve gets it. But in this episode he makes the case that cutting costs is usually the wrong move and why doing i
Your Accountant is Not Your CFO (And It's Costing You) | Ep 226
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Your books are clean. Reports come out on time. Taxes are filed. And you still don't know if you can afford that next hire, whether you should take on that big contract, or how much you can actually pull out without breaking the business.In this episode, Steve breaks d
5 Numbers That Tell You the Truth About Your Business | Ep 225
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most business owners track revenue. Some track profit. Almost none track the five numbers that actually tell you if their business is healthy, growing in value, and built to last.Steve sits down in this episode and walks you through exactly what he looks at in the first ten
What Nobody Tells You About Scaling Your Business | Ep 224
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Scaling sounds like the goal, but it’s also where a lot of businesses quietly break. Growth doesn’t fix problems, it exposes them. If margins are tight, they get tighter. If cash flow is inconsistent, it gets worse. And if the strategy isn’t working, scaling just accelerate
The #1 Struggle Business Leaders Face | Ep 223
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit A lot of business owners think profit is the goal, but the real problem shows up when the cash is not there.This is one of the most common struggles leaders deal with. Steve breaks down why profit and cash flow don’t match and shares a simple way to measure how much of your
The 3 Phases Every Failing Business Goes Through (And How to Escape) | Ep 222
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most businesses don’t fail overnight. They go through the same three phases, and most owners don’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late.It starts with a strategy that quietly stops working, then margins get squeezed, and eventually cash runs out. Steve breaks down t
Why Your Business Makes Money But Never Seems to Have Any | Ep 221
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Your income statement says you made money, but your bank account says something else.This happens in more businesses than you think. Steve explains why profitable companies can still feel cash-strapped and where the money actually goes. Most of the time it disappears in jus
If You've Been Watching the News, You Better Know Your Numbers | Ep 220
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit There is a lot of noise in the economy right now. Inflation, labor shortages, geopolitical tension, and constant disruption. In times like this, guessing in your business can get dangerous fast. Steve explains the 3 numbers every business owner should understand to stay in
This is Why Profitable Companies Run Out of Cash | Ep 219
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit A lot of companies are profitable on paper but still run out of cash.The problem usually comes down to something most owners never measure called the cash conversion cycle. Steve explains why profit and cash flow are different, how working capital traps cash inside a busine
The #1 Thing Holding 99% of Businesses Back | Ep 218
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit It’s not cash. It’s not strategy. It’s not training.The thing that holds most businesses back is the story the owner tells themselves. Steve shares real examples of companies with clear roadmaps to millions in upside who still did nothing. Not because they lacked tools, but
Why Working Hard Isn’t Fixing Your Business | Ep 217
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Working 60 hours a week. Missing dinners. Grinding nonstop. And still losing money. Steve shares a story about a frustrated president who was doing everything he could to turn around his division, but nothing was changing. The harder he worked, the worse it felt. The real i
How Strategy Turns Growth Into Cash Flow | Ep 216
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Growth does not automatically create cash flow. A lot of businesses learn that the hard way. Steve explains how strategy is supposed to turn growth into real free cash flow, not just more revenue and more chaos. He connects the dots between free cash flow, return on investe
The 8 Cash Flow Levers Every Business Owner Should Know | Ep 215
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most business owners think they have a profit problem. What they really have is a cash flow problem. Steve breaks down the eight cash flow levers that actually control how much money stays in your business. He walks through the four levers tied to profit and the four tied t
The 3 Generic Strategies and How to Tell If Yours Is Working | Ep 214
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Steve breaks down Michael Porter’s three generic strategies and explains what they really mean. More importantly, he walks through the numbers that reveal whether your strategy is producing real financial results or just sounding good in meetings.If you think you’re differe
The Turnaround I Didn’t Think Was Possible | Ep 213
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit If you’ve ever laid awake at night wondering if your business is about to collapse, this one will feel real. Steve shares the story of stepping into a company that was quietly running out of cash, losing money, and far closer to failure than most people knew. Jobs were on t
The Most Dangerous Decision Business Owners Face | Ep 212
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most businesses don’t fail overnight. They fail because a hard decision keeps gets delayed. In this episode, Steve shares real stories from business owners who were one decision away from saving their company and didn’t act in time. He talks about what actually puts everyth
Why Finance Matters More Than You Think | Ep 211
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most people think finance is someone else’s job. The CFO. The CPA. The controller. Steve doesn’t see it that way.In this episode, he explains why every single person in a business affects the financial outcome, whether they realize it or not. He shares a story from early in
The Fastest Way to Get More Cash Flow | Ep 210
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Want more cash flow? This episode is for you.Steve breaks down why taking on more debt usually makes cash flow worse, not better. He shares a real example of a business that got buried by high-interest loans and explains how cash problems actually start much earlier than mo
5 Questions That Reveal If Your Strategy Is Working | Ep 209
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most business owners are confident their strategy is solid. Then they get asked a few simple questions and everything gets uncomfortable.In this episode, Steve shares five questions that quickly expose whether your strategy is actually working or just sounds good in meeting
The Biggest Mistake You Can Make This Year | Ep 208
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit The biggest mistake business owners make isn’t marketing, hiring, or growth. It’s ignoring financial literacy. In this episode, Steve explains how misunderstanding your numbers can quietly lock in a bad year before it even starts. He breaks down why profit doesn’t equal cas
Think You're Profitable? Think Again | Ep 207
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most business owners think they’re profitable. Most are wrong. In this episode, Steve breaks down why even companies with CPAs and clean-looking financials often misunderstand their real margins. He explains how messy books distort gross profit, lead to bad pricing decision
Listen to This if You Want More Cash Flow in Your Business | Ep 206
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Why do profitable businesses still run out of cash? In this episode, Steve breaks down why cash flow, not revenue or profit, is what actually keeps a business alive. He explains what free cash flow really is, why most owners misunderstand it, and how bad strategy, poor meas
Is Your Strategy Any Good? What You Need to Know | Ep 205
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit You probably think you have a strategy. But is it actually working?Steve breaks down how to tell if your strategy is helping you win or quietly holding you back. He explains why most teams can’t clearly explain the strategy, why the numbers don’t lie, and how profits, cash
When KPIs Are a Waste of Time | Ep 204
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most companies track KPIs. Very few actually change behavior because of them.In this episode, Steve explains when KPIs stop helping, and why staring at dashboards doesn’t fix margin, profit, or cash flow. If your numbers keep sliding but nothing changes, this episode will s
How AI and Energy Growth Are Changing Construction with Maja Ericksen of Mortenson | Ep 203
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit AI and energy demand are quietly reshaping construction, and most people don’t see it yet.Steve speaks with Maja Ericksen, Executive Vice President at Mortenson, to talk about why data centers and power projects are booming, how rural builds are changing the industry, and w
Is It Time to Change Your Strategy? | Ep 202
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Mission, vision, and values aren’t the problem, but stopping there is.In this episode, Steve explains why most companies mistake dreaming for strategy, how shrinking margins are really created, and what strategy actually looks like when it’s tied to numbers, cash flow, and
The Future of Business Strategy in the Age of AI | Ep 201
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Steve breaks down why old-school strategy models don’t fully work in an AI world anymore. He explains how the real value drivers have shifted to human capital and intellectual assets, why most companies confuse planning with strategy, and how to actually pick and attack the
Scaling a $50M Plumbing Company with Bob Logan | Ep 200
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Steve sits down with Bob Logan, president of Plumbline, a $50M+ plumbing and HVAC company with over 150 techs on the road. They unpack how Bob scaled a residential service business, built a strong leadership team, deals with “poison” employees, uses numbers without a financ
Looking to Buy a Business? Listen to This First | Ep 199
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Thinking about buying a business or taking over someone else’s?Before you jump in, Steve breaks down the five things he looks at every single time he evaluates a deal. You’ll learn how he analyzes revenue quality, what he looks for in financials, how he decides if a busines
Building a High End Landscape Company with Chris Turner | Ep 198
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Elevate by Design: www.ebdstudios.com Nisho: www.studionisho.com Chris Turner walked away from a secure design job with no plan, just a feeling he wasn’t in the right place. That leap led him to co-found one of Denver’s top high-end landscape design studios. In this episode
How to Optimize Your Business Without Doing More | Ep 197
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit What if you could make more money without adding more work, more stress, or more customers? In this episode, Steve breaks down three overlooked levers that can grow your profit and cashflow without scaling your team or chasing more revenue. You’ll learn how just small tweak
5 Biggest Mistakes Companies Make When "Strategic Planning" | Ep 196
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Before you book that offsite or map out next quarter, listen to this.Steve breaks down the five mistakes that derail most “strategic planning” sessions: picking the wrong facilitator, ignoring communication styles, showing up without data, jumping to tactics before strategy
How to Know If Your Sales & Marketing Is Working | Ep 195
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most business owners spend thousands on sales and marketing, but few know if it’s actually paying off.Steve breaks down how to measure the real return on your sales and marketing spend using three simple checks. He explains how to evaluate the effectiveness of your funnel,
Financial and Economic News: October 30, 2025
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Major moves and market momentum in this week’s top financial stories, including:Chipotle Stock Tanks as Young Customers Cut BackBlackRock Caught in a $500 Million Fraud ScandalMeta’s AI Spending Sparks Investor DoubtWhite-Collar Jobs Vanish as AI Takes OverGoogle’s Record Q
Does Your Business Really Need a Strategy? (Yes, Here’s Why) | Ep 194
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Every business has a strategy, even if it’s not written down.The real question is whether yours is working. In this episode, Steve explains what strategy actually is, why every company needs one, and how to identify the strategic problem that’s holding your business back. H
Financial and Economic News: October 23, 2025
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Major moves and market momentum in this week’s top financial stories, including:Inside Silicon Valley’s 100-Hour AI GrindTesla’s Profits Drop as Musk Bets on RobotsHome Sales Rise as Mortgage Rates EaseGrocery Prices Keep ClimbingQuantum Stocks Surge on Trump’s Tech PushTun
Want to Scale Your Business? Do These 3 Things Right Now | Ep 193
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most companies want to grow, but few are actually ready to scale. In this episode, Steve shares three things every business needs to do before turning on the growth engine. You’ll learn why documenting your processes can 10x your company’s value, how defining success in eve
Financial and Economic News: October 16, 2025
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Major moves and market momentum in this week’s top financial stories, including:Boomers Fall Behind on RetirementBlackstone Brings Private Equity to 401(k)sAI Data Centers Build Their Own Power PlantsSouthwest Ends Open SeatingWalmart Joins ChatGPT for AI ShoppingTune in fo
What Is Strategy In Less Than 5 Minutes | Ep 192
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most business owners confuse strategy with planning.In this episode, Steve breaks down what strategy really means—and why getting it wrong can cost you. You’ll learn the difference between strategy and strategic planning, how to identify your company’s true strategic proble
Financial and Economic News: October 9, 2025
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Major moves and market momentum in this week’s top financial stories, including:Tariffs Rise, but U.S. Debt Tops $1 TrillionTrump Pushes Fannie Mae to Back BuildersHome Sales Slide as Prices Hit New HighPepsiCo Rebrands Lay’s Amid Snack SlowdownTune in for smart commentary,
What Makes a Great CFO (and How Owners Can Tell) with Tim Anderson | Ep 191
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Learn more about Ready Electric: readyelec.com What separates a good CFO from a great one?Steve sits down with Tim Anderson, CFO of Ready Electric, to talk about what it really takes to lead the financial side of a business. They unpack how the CFO role has evolved from num
3 Finance Skills That Separate Successful Leaders from the Rest | Ep 190
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most business owners avoid finance because it feels complicated—but it doesn’t have to be.Steve breaks down three simple financial concepts that will put you ahead of 90% of people in business: understanding your unit economics, mastering cash flow, and knowing the eight le
Financial and Economic News: October 2, 2025
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Major moves and market momentum in this week’s top financial stories, including:OpenAI Hits $500B Valuation OpenAI Launches TikTok-Style Video App Meta to Use AI Chats for Ads AI Spending Reaches Bubble Territory Tesla Delivers Surprise ReboundTune in for smart commentary, sharp context, and the financia
Listen to This If You’re Ready to Change Your Life | Ep 189
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit If you’ve ever felt stuck, ashamed, or on the edge of giving up, you’re not alone. Steve opens up with his raw and uncut transformation story—from growing up broke, hitting rock bottom with bad habits and toxic relationships, to rebuilding his life and business with clarit
What is Strategy in Business? | Ep 188
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Most business owners confuse strategy with planning. They make to-do lists, call it a strategy, and wonder why results don’t stick. In this episode, Steve breaks down what business strategy really means and why it’s different from a plan or a set of tactics. You’ll learn ho
Financial and Economic News: September 18, 2025
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Major moves and market momentum in this week’s top financial stories, including: Nvidia Gives Intel a $5B LifelineFed Cuts Rates With More Likely AheadThe Truth About Mortgage RatesWhat It Takes to Afford a $1M HomeMeta Bets on Glasses as the Future of AITune in for smart commentary, sharp context, and t
From $10M to $50M: Strategy and Clarity Behind Timberline One’s Growth | Ep 187
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Learn more about Timberline One: timberlineone.com Most landscape companies stall out at a few million in revenue. Timberline One didn’t. In less than a decade, they scaled from $10 million to $50 million, and they’re still growing. Steve talks with CEO Judd and Chief of St
Financial and Economic News: September 11, 2025
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Major moves and market momentum in this week’s top financial stories, including: Stocks Rally as Fed Cut NearsJob Growth Revised Sharply LowerMortgage Rates Hit 11-Month LowOracle Signs $300B Deal with OpenAISaudi Arabia Bets Big on SolarTune in for smart commentary, sharp context, and the financial insi
What is Strategic Finance and Why Should You Care | Ep 186
How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check Financial Intelligence Toolkit Free Financial Pro course: coltivar.com/byfiq Why do so many businesses fail even when they have a plan and solid financials? Steve breaks down the concept of strategic finance and why connecting your strategy to your numbers is the key to survival and growth. He shares les
Part 14: The Cash Flow Formula for a Thriving Business | Cash Flow
Ready to see how much cash is hiding in your business? Get your free Financial Health Check now: coltivar.com/check This is Part 14 of Steve Coughran’s book Cash Flow. In the conclusion, Steve shares the personal lessons and turning points that shaped his obsession with cash flow. He emphasizes why business leaders have a fiduciary duty to master it, how cash flow fuels stability, growth, and comm
Part 13: The Cash Flow Playbook | Cash Flow
Ready to see how much cash is hiding in your business? Get your free Financial Health Check now: coltivar.com/check This is Part 13 of Steve Coughran’s book Cash Flow. Steve introduces the Cash Flow Playbook—a step-by-step plan to apply the seven levers, use the scorecard, and build a resilient, cash-generating business. He shows how to prioritize the right levers, implement changes, track progres
Part 12: The Cash Flow Scorecard | Cash Flow
Ready to see how much cash is hiding in your business? Get your free Financial Health Check now: coltivar.com/check This is Part 12 of Steve Coughran’s book Cash Flow. Steve introduces the Cash Flow Scorecard—a simple framework to diagnose where your business is leaking cash across the seven key levers. By scoring each area, you can pinpoint constraints, prioritize fixes, and build a roadmap for s
Part 11: Lever #7 – Strategy | Cash Flow
Ready to see how much cash is hiding in your business? Get your free Financial Health Check now: coltivar.com/check This is Part 11 of Steve Coughran’s book Cash Flow. Steve covers the seventh lever of cash flow: strategy. He explains why profit is just the result of a good strategy, how ROIC is the scoreboard that proves whether your strategy is working, and the two main paths to long-term compet
Part 10: Lever #6 – Risk | Cash Flow
Ready to see how much cash is hiding in your business? Get your free Financial Health Check now: coltivar.com/check This is Part 10 of Steve Coughran’s book Cash Flow. Steve unpacks the sixth lever of cash flow: risk. He explains how uncertainty lowers valuation multiples and raises the cost of capital, the biggest risks that scare investors, and the steps business owners can take to de-risk their
Part 9: Lever #5 – Capital | Cash Flow
Ready to see how much cash is hiding in your business? Get your free Financial Health Check now: coltivar.com/check This is Part 9 of Steve Coughran’s book Cash Flow. Steve introduces the fifth lever of cash flow: capital. He explains why EBITDA isn’t cash flow, how invested capital and ROIC reveal whether a business is creating or destroying value, and the hidden cash traps in receivables, invent
Part 8: Lever #4 – Operating Expenses | Cash Flow
Ready to see how much cash is hiding in your business? Get your free Financial Health Check now: coltivar.com/check This is Part 8 of Steve Coughran’s book Cash Flow. Steve explains the fourth lever of cash flow: operating expenses. He shows why cutting costs blindly destroys value, how to eliminate waste without hurting growth, and the smart ways to optimize overhead while protecting employees, c
Part 7: Lever #3 – Cost of Goods Sold | Cash Flow
Ready to see how much cash is hiding in your business? Get your free Financial Health Check now: coltivar.com/check This is Part 7 of Steve Coughran’s book Cash Flow. Steve covers the third lever of cash flow: cost of goods sold (COGS). He explains why lowering COGS directly boosts profitability, how throughput matters more than margins, and the strategies businesses can use to cut waste, improve
Part 6: Lever #2 – Price | Cash Flow
Ready to see how much cash is hiding in your business? Get your free Financial Health Check now: coltivar.com/check This is Part 6 of Steve Coughran’s book Cash Flow. Steve unpacks the second lever of cash flow: price. He explains why price is the most powerful driver of profitability, how perceived value determines what customers will pay, and how businesses can raise prices confidently without l
Part 5: Lever #1 – Volume | Cash Flow
Ready to see how much cash is hiding in your business? Get your free Financial Health Check now: coltivar.com/check This is Part 5 of Steve Coughran’s book Cash Flow. Steve introduces the first lever of cash flow: volume. He explains why selling more only creates value if it’s profitable, how to fix weak sales and marketing systems, and how the revenue flywheel drives sustainable growth without bu
Part 4: Two Ways to Measure Firm Value | Cash Flow
Ready to see how much cash is hiding in your business? Get your free Financial Health Check now: coltivar.com/check This is Part 4 of Steve Coughran’s book Cash Flow. Steve breaks down the two main ways businesses are valued: the income approach, based on free cash flow, cost of capital, and growth, and the market approach, based on EBITDA multiples. He explains why understanding both is critical,
Part 3: What Creates Value in a Business? | Cash Flow
Ready to see how much cash is hiding in your business? Get your free Financial Health Check now: coltivar.com/check This is Part 3 of Steve Coughran’s book Cash Flow. Steve reveals what truly creates value in a business: generating more cash flow than the cost of your investments. He explains return on invested capital (ROIC), why growth without strong returns destroys value, and how to measure wh
