Ask a CFO how the company's capital is allocated and you'll get an answer to the decimal point. Ask a CMO how the brand's messaging is allocated — across what it promises,…
A lesson in core identity from a 135-year-old card company that changed the world. In 1889, a craftsman in Kyoto named Fusajiro Yamauchi started making handmade playing cards. The company…
A practical workshop for stripping inherited narratives and writing brand stories that actually serve The first article in this series argued that most brand strategy fails not because of bad…
How inherited narratives are limiting your brand thinking — and what to do instead There is a philosopher and coach named Peter Crone who makes a deceptively simple distinction: the…
Eight principles for setting numbers that do real work Most operators set prices the same way. Add up the costs, pick a margin, peek at what competitors charge, sign off.…
A case study from Night & Gale Most founders treat pricing like a math problem. Add up your costs, tack on a margin, glance at what the competition charges, and…
Perfection is expensive. In this article, Matt breaks down the “90% Rule”: once your product is good enough, chasing the final 10% wastes time, money, and momentum. Learn how Apple, Southwest, and others win by balancing marketing, ops, and experience—and avoiding costly perfection traps.
A Guided Ascent to Brand Identity Every brand I’ve helped build — from scrappy rural startups to mature regional operators — has needed the same thing at the start: a…
Most of the marketing failures I’ve seen weren’t creative failures. They were directional failures. Leadership teams hand down vague, feel-good directives — “we need more engagement,” “let’s get some buzz,”…
Most business plans I’ve read fail at the same point: somewhere between “the opportunity” and “the financials,” they stop telling anyone what to actually do on Monday morning. The analysis…