Independence by Design™

#500: In the Hot Seat: Time Is the Only Thing You Don't Get Back

Watch on YouTubeIn our 500th episode, and the closest thing iBD has to an origin story on record. Kim Clark, iBD's Chief Revenue Officer and co-host, turned the interview around and asked Ryan how this whole thing got started. The real answer: Ryan started the podcast back in 2016 as a backup plan — if the business he was building didn't work out, at least enough people would know him that he could go get a job. But underneath that, the truth is he just can't stand having anybody tell him what to do. He sold his company at 27, got the check, and it still didn't feel like freedom. So he spent the next 11 years and 500 episodes talking to owners, trying to figure out the playbook nobody ever hands you — the 2016 beach in Fort Lauderdale where the idea landed, the wealth-management chapter that never fit, the original "Life After Business" title everyone mistook for a retirement show, and the allergic reaction to authority that drove the entire search. That's what turned into Independence by Design, and the framework that finally reconciled the mission with a business model: the time, cash, and wealth scoreboard, the owner-versus-operator distinction, the outcome-neutral playbook, and the group-coaching model built on a playbook instead of consulting. It comes down to something you probably already feel in your gut. Your time is the only thing you don't get back. Your cash flow protects your time, and your wealth protects your cash flow — the business is supposed to serve all that, not eat it alive. So if you've ever felt like you're working harder than everyone you know to build something that kind of owns you, this is the one. Ryan doesn't care if you sell it, keep it, or hand it to your kids — he just wants you to actually get to choose. He closes on where it's all going next.Top 10 Takeaways You started this business to be free. If it's trapping you instead, that's a design problem, not a you problem. Freedom was always the real goal. The business is just the vehicle to get you there. Time is the one thing you never get back. You've got a finite number of weeks, so build around that. Money was never the scoreboard. Plenty of people hit the big number and you still wouldn't trade lives with them. Your wealth protects your cash flow. Your cash flow protects your time. That's the whole order. You're wearing two hats. You own the business and you also work in it. Most owners never separate the two. "Should I sell?" doesn't mean anything until you know if you're talking about your job or your asset. Get clear on what you want first, or the business will eat every dollar you make. Nobody ever taught you how to actually own. You got EOS, a CPA, a peer group. The ownership seat sat empty. Sell it, keep it, or hand it to your kids. Doesn't matter. The only wrong move is guessing. Chapters: (00:00) Kim marks episode 500, origin story: the beach vacation and the wealth management chapter that never fit(05:20) Freedom was always the real goal; the business is just the vehicle(27:30) Money was never the scoreboard, even for people with a B net worth(29:00) Time is the one thing you never get back(44:24) A business that traps instead of frees you is a design problem(54:53) Nobody ever taught you how to actually own your business(58:50) You're wearing two hats: you own the business and you work in it(1:00:05) Should I sell means nothing until you know the role(1:01:55) Sell it, keep it, or hand it to your kids; the wrong move is guessing(1:06:41) Get clear on your goals, or the business eats every dollar(1:12:42) How the coaching business model and playbook came together(1:17:52) Looking ahead to the next 1,000 episodes This episode was produced by Castos Productions.Sound Bytes:"I'm going to learn all of this so I don't have to listen to anybody." (@00:08:07) — Ryan Tansom"I wake up and I get to talk to the people I love most about the most interesting problems on the planet." (@00:09:32) — Ryan Tansom"I've interviewed a lot of people with a B behind their net worth who are like, you couldn't pay me to trade lives with them." (@00:27:30) — Ryan Tansom"Wealth is to protect the cash flow. And cash flow is to protect your time." (@00:29:57) — Ryan Tansom"The word exit doesn't make any sense unless you know what role you're talking about. It's like arguing about whether the spoon in the Matrix is gold or silver. There isn't a spoon." (@00:59:44) — Ryan Tansom Resources:The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel — the book Kim reads from on air. The highest dividend money pays is waking up and saying "I can do whatever I want today." https://www.morganhousel.com/Maps of Meaning by Jordan Peterson — on why we can only articulate our values after we've lived them out. https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/book/maps-of-meaning/Million Dollar Coach by Taki Moore — the coach's coach whose playbook-plus-coaching model shaped how iBD delivers. https://www.amazon.com/Million-Dollar-Coach-Strategies-7-Figure/dp/1539941671The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack — source of the stat that most Inc. 5000 companies can't hit two payrolls. https://www.greatgame.com/What Do You Do With an Idea? by Kobi Yamada — the book Kim gives every client. Starts black and white, ends in color. https://www.amazon.com/What-Do-You-Idea/dp/1938298071The iBD Workshop — two hours, $100, walk out with your tools filled in and your Velocity Score. The first step. https://independencebydesign.ioiBD Library — the public archive of the Ownership OS material. https://library.independencebydesign.ioEp. 482 — Matt Curry: He Sold His $18M Auto Repair Empire, Regretted It, and Built It Back Better https://independence-by-design.castos.com/episodes/482-matt-curry-he-sold-his-18m-auto-repair-empire-regretted-it-and-built-it-back-betterEp. 499 — Ryan & Kim: How to Build the Revenue Blueprint That Makes Growth Predictable https://independence-by-design.castos.com/episodes/499-ryan-kim-how-to-build-the-revenue-blueprint-that-makes-growth-predictableRyan Tansom Website: https://ryantansom.com/Kim Clark — Chief Revenue Officer, Independence by Design (co-host)

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#499: Ryan & Kim | How to Build the Revenue Blueprint That Makes Growth Predictable

2w ago01:08:31Tap to summarize

Watch on YouTubeYour pipeline is full and your revenue still feels like a coin flip. Some quarters you hit, some you miss, and you're still the only person in the building who can reliably close a deal. That's not a sales problem. It's a blueprint problem. Kim and I are kicking off Module 5, Predictable Revenue, and the first move isn't a CRM or an ad budget. It's the revenue architecture underneath all of it, Milestone 13. Most owners call "grow 20 percent a year to $20M" a strategic plan. That's a wish with a number on it. The real blueprint names one ideal customer, not three. One winning position that survives the opposite rule. Your actual addressable market. Every offer mapped to every segment. Built right, it becomes the filter that lets you, your team, and your AI say no. And here's what changed: the strategic-planning binder that used to cost $40,000 and sit on a shelf with zero team adoption, you can now build yourself from a voice memo and a transcript. You just have to feed it your real why, not platitudes.About This EpisodeThis is a Ryan and Kim teaching episode, the kickoff of Module 5 (Predictable Revenue). The Module 4 run set the table: Ep. 497 built the annual budget, Ep. 498 rolled it five years out to the valuation target. This one starts the revenue engine that feeds all of it. Kim takes the CRO seat on what predictable revenue actually is, a system you build, not a number you chase, and walks the components of the revenue architecture: ICP, winning position, TAM, sub-markets, and the offer-to-segment map. Ryan runs the ownership frame, why strategy comes before tactics, and how AI has collapsed what used to be a $40,000 consultant engagement into something an owner can build from a voice memo and a transcript. Next in the series: the customer journey (Milestone 14), then revenue systems and forecasting (Milestone 15).Top 10 Takeaways Predictable revenue is a system you build, not a number you chase. Get the revenue line right and your budget, hiring, and margins fall out of it. Build the blueprint before the tactics. Your CRM, ads, and funnels all sit on top of it. Your revenue architecture has one job: be the filter that lets you say no. "Grow 20 percent a year" isn't a strategy. It's a wish with a number on it. You have one ideal customer, not three. Best is a superlative. If the opposite of your edge sounds absurd, it's table stakes, not an edge. Map every offer to every segment. Find your cash cow, your rising star, your loss leader. Be willing to alienate people. Vanilla resonates with no one. AI collapses the $40K consultant binder into a weekend, if you feed it your real why. Chapters: (00:00) Welcoming listeners and kicking off the predictable revenue module(04:49) Predictable revenue is a system you build, not chased(06:35) Build the blueprint before the tactics, not after(09:09) One ideal customer, not three — best is a superlative(24:48) Three ICP filters: firmographics, demographics, and psychographics, with Bill's example(30:10) Be willing to alienate people — vanilla resonates with no one(43:00) Defining total addressable market without lying to yourself(46:23) If the opposite sounds absurd, it's table stakes already(51:57) Map every offer to every segment, finding your cash cow(58:53) AI collapses the $40K consultant binder into a weekend This episode was produced by Castos Productions.Resources:90-Day Boardroom Blueprint — the program where the revenue architecture, three-statement model, and forecast get built with owners. https://independencebydesign.io/ownership-coachingClaude (Anthropic) — https://claude.aiEp. 470 — Greg Meredith: Strategic Planning vs. Strategy — the advisor whose Opposite Rule and winning-position framework anchor this milestone. https://independence-by-design.castos.com/episodes/470-greg-meredith-strategic-planning-vs-strategy-why-you-need-more-than-just-a-plan Ep. 480 — Kim Clark: What a CRO Does to Create Predictable Revenue — Kim's deeper take on the CRO function. https://independence-by-design.castos.com/episodes/480-kim-clark-what-a-cro-does-to-create-predictable-revenue Playing to Win by A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin — source of the Opposite Rule. https://hbr.org/books/playing-to-winPeter Diamandis / Moonshots — source of the "massive transformative purpose" framing. https://www.youtube.com/@peterdiamandisMillion Dollar Coach by Taki Moore — the playbook Ryan references on brand voice. https://www.amazon.com/Million-Dollar-Coach-Strategies-7-Figure/dp/1539941671Predictable Revenue OS Assessment — the CRO diagnostic and episode CTA. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eaVXkuNS0E1sYi8CRWmZFfr_83tq2Gnu/view Additional resources: Statista — data source Kim uses for market sizing. https://www.statista.com U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — referenced for labor/market data. https://www.bls.gov U.S. Census Bureau — referenced for demographic/market data. https://www.census.gov ZoomInfo — referenced as an example firmographic data tool. https://www.zoominfo.com Obsidian Web Clipper — the browser extension Ryan recommends for pulling YouTube transcripts into Claude. https://obsidian.md Ryan Tansom Website: https://ryantansom.com/

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#498: Ryan & Kim | How to Build a Five-Year Forecast That Shows Your Value Gap

3w ago00:55:11Tap to summarize

Watch on YouTubeYou wrote a number down. Double the revenue in five years, or a valuation somebody floated at your peer group. It's on the whiteboard, and underneath it you know nothing connects today's financials to that number. That gap is the whole episode. Kim and I get into Milestone 12, the five-year forecast, and the first thing we throw out is the idea that a revenue goal is a target. A revenue number is one-dimensional. The real target is three-dimensional: your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement five years out, tied together, so you can see whether the growth you want eats all your cash before you get there. That's the line between a forecast and a wish. A forecast runs on data, not desire. We walk the Advanced Solutions model live through all three lenses of value, and we get honest about the AI part: Claude knows the math better than I do, but it has no idea what you want, so you hold the goals and make it prove every scenario against them. Underneath all of it sits one trade you can't dodge. Either more cash today, or more wealth tomorrow.About This Episode This is a Ryan and Kim teaching episode, the capstone of the Module 4 (Sustainable Financials) run: Ep. 492 read the gross margin chart, Ep. 497 built the annual budget, and this one rolls it all forward five years to the valuation target (Milestone 12). Ryan runs the bottom-up frame, the owner's goals as the perimeter every scenario gets tested inside, and shares the Advanced Solutions five-year model on screen. Kim brings the CRO seat on the top-down view: business cycles, conversion rates, and the business-as-usual projection that exposes the gap. The screen-share is visible on the YouTube and Spotify video versions. Next up in the series: Kim's module, Predictable Revenue. Top 10 Takeaways A forecast runs on data, not desire. It tells you the truth your goal has to answer to. A revenue number is one-dimensional. Your real target is all three financial statements, five years out. Grow too fast and you eat your own cash and go broke. Better to see it on the model than in your bank account. Your business has three values: what it's worth if you keep it, sell it, or what you actually pocket at closing. A fat normalized EBITDA number with no cash behind it isn't a plan B. It's a countdown to a forced sale. Lock your goals first: distributions, debt, the valuation target. Those are the bookends. Everything gets tested between them. Run your business-as-usual line five years out. The gap to your goal is your value gap, and closing it is the plan. AI knows the math better than you do. It will never know what you want. That part is your job. Every big move comes down to the same trade: more cash today, or more wealth tomorrow. When keeping the business is worth as much as selling it, you're free. That's escape velocity. Chapters: (00:00) Introduction to milestone 12: the five-year forecast and valuation gap (00:53) A forecast runs on data, not desire, unlike a goal (04:10) The real target: three financial statements, not revenue alone (06:04) Three lenses of value: why normalized EBITDA isn't a plan B (14:36) AI knows the math, but never knows your goals (15:54) Ryan's story: building the Advanced Solutions model with Claude (26:33) Lock your goals first: the owner scorecard starts everything (29:49) Kim's top-down view: business cycles, conversions, and data (35:41) Live walkthrough of the five-year three-statement forecast model (47:28) More cash today or more wealth tomorrow, and escape velocity This episode was produced by Castos Productions.Resources:90-Day Boardroom Blueprint — Ryan and Pat build the three-statement model and annual budget with owners. https://independencebydesign.io/ownership-coaching Claude (Anthropic) — https://claude.ai — The AI tool Ryan uses to pressure-test five-year scenarios against fixed goalsEOS / the VTO (Vision/Traction Organizer) — https://www.eosworldwide.com — Framework where an ungrounded five-year revenue goal often originates ITR Economics — https://www.itreconomics.com Ryan Tansom Website: https://ryantansom.com/

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#497: Ryan & Kim | How to Build an Annual Budget That Predicts Your Cash

4w ago01:03:15Tap to summarize

Watch on YouTubeYour P&L says you made money. Your checking account says otherwise, and nobody can tell you why. Kim and I build the annual budget that predicts your actual cash, a year out. Most owners don't start thinking about next year's budget until it's almost next year. That's the problem. By the time you sit down to build one, the months of groundwork that make it real never happened, so the budget turns into a wish. Kim and I wanted to walk through how we actually do it. Your CPA does your taxes. Your banker watches the line. Nobody is building the one thing that tells you how much cash will be in your checking account next year. Not net income. Not gross profit. Not even normalized EBITDA, which can read $2 million while your bank account reads $2. We get into building the budget as a closed loop: twelve months of all three statements tied together so tightly nothing can hide, starting from your ownership goals and cascading down through revenue, margins, and working capital. Kim takes the CRO seat and reverse-engineers the revenue number out of the customer journey. I run the chart. The payoff is the bottom right corner of the puzzle: the cash, a year out, predicted within a few hundred dollars. This is a Ryan and Kim teaching episode, the second stop inside Module 4 (Sustainable Financials) after the three-statement model. Ryan runs the financial model and the ownership-goals frame. Kim brings the CRO seat, where the revenue forecast gets reverse-engineered out of the customer journey. It's the budgeting piece of a connected run: Ep. 492 read the gross margin chart, Eps 493 to 495 built the executive comp plan off normalized net operating income, and the next episode closes the loop with the five-year forecast and the value gap. Top 10 Takeaways Your net income is not your cash. A real budget predicts the actual dollars in your account. Begin with what you want. Then pressure-test it against what your team can actually pull off. Don't just divide last year by twelve. Take your trailing twelve months, add seasonality, then growth. Build it as a closed loop. When all three statements tie together, nothing can hide from you. Break revenue into product lines. Each has its own margin, and the blended number lies to you. Your accounting system won't force good numbers. A real model does, and shows you what's broken. Go in order: your goals, then revenue, then operations, then your CFO ties it all together. Make your CRO reverse-engineer the revenue back through the customer journey and real conversion rates. Working capital is where your cash hides. Receivables, payables, and inventory will drain you dry. Don't try to build this yourself. Spend your energy finding the person who owns the model. Chapters: (00:00) Introduction: Why June is the right time to start budgeting (03:20) The closed-loop system: All three statements tied together (07:52) Begin with ownership goals: Cash flow, distributions, and valuation (13:40) The three-statement model: The only financial model you'll ever need (21:33) How daunting is this? Real talk on the 90-day boardroom blueprint (32:15) Break revenue into product lines — the blended margin lies to you (40:33) Working capital: Where your cash hides — receivables, payables, inventory (50:32) The CRO seat: Reverse-engineering revenue through the customer journey (58:07) Groundwork, collaboration, and what good actually looks like (1:01:30) Where to start: Atomic habits, baby steps, and blocking the time (1:03:30) Next week: Five-year forecast, valuation gap, and wrap-up This episode was produced by Castos Productions. Resources: 90-Day Boardroom Blueprint — Ryan and Pat build the three-statement model and annual budget with owners. https://independencebydesign.io/ownership-coaching Ep. 472 — The Only Financial Model You Will Ever Need — the on-screen walkthrough of the Module 4 financial model Ryan references. https://independence-by-design.castos.com/episodes/472-ryan-tansom-the-only-financial-model-you-will-ever-needAtomic Habits by James Clear — the just drive to the gym and show up idea. https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits Ryan Tansom Website: https://ryantansom.com/ Contact - Ryan Tansom — Founder, Independence by Design. https://independencebydesign.io - Kim Clark — Chief Revenue Officer, Independence by Design (co-host)

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#496: Tom Walker | Where to Put Your Money When the Government Keeps Printing

Jun 401:32:58Tap to summarize

Watch on YouTubeEvery dollar your business makes, you have to place. Reinvest it, pull it out, or move it somewhere that holds its value. And that decision sits on a base layer most owners never see. The same three-statement math that runs your company runs the whole world, with one difference. Governments can print. That worked for 50 years because the US forced the world to buy oil in dollars, keeping the system afloat. That era is ending now: the Strait of Hormuz, supply chains breaking, a world that no longer wants the dollar or its bonds. Tom Walker came back on to walk through what it means, and it ends in more printing. More printing means more inflation, and inflation is what quietly decides whether you reinvest in your business or move into hard assets that protect what you've built. You don't control the base layer. But once you see how it works, you make that call with your eyes open instead of on gut. Tom Walker, Jr. is an economist and CFO who runs Walker Insight, the Minneapolis firm his father started in 1975 to bring real financial planning to independent farmers. Tom Jr. joined in 1989, and for decades he's built custom planning models for farms, food processors, and manufacturers, fusing economics, finance, and production so owners can weigh risk, prove a concept, secure financing, and track progress against their goals. He's a returning guest (first on Ep. 415, "Everyone Gets Punched in the Face"). His lens hasn't changed: you don't plan to predict the future, you plan to build a framework that survives the hit. Top 10 Takeaways You can't make a good ownership decision blind to how the game works. Learn the board first. Your business is a closed loop. Cash in, cash out, no printer. The government runs the same three statements you do. The only difference is it can print. Cash flow is the only honest scorecard. Every valuation is a bet on future cash flow. Paper wealth and cash wealth are different games. A marked-up asset is worth what someone pays. An asset that won't cash flow for a new buyer is a bet on the next buyer. Know the bet you're making. New money reaches the connected first. Know where you sit before you plan around it. The market gets propped because it has to be. Read the signal, not the headline number. Liquidity is optionality. Stay liquid and you get to decide instead of getting forced. See the game clearly, price on cash flow, and you decide on purpose instead of on gut. Chapters: (00:00) Introduction of Tom Walker, Jr., economist and CFO at Walker Insight (01:03) Macro sanity checks: Lyn Alden, Luke Gromen, and Larry Lepard (04:43) Your business is a closed loop — cash in, cash out, no printer (14:12) Farming as a microcosm: no soft landing, fiat conditions on the ground (29:50) The Cantillon Effect: new money reaches the connected first (38:39) Advice for owners and farmers navigating fiscal dominance (55:09) How fragile the system really is — 4% breaks the whole thing (01:09:10) Supply chain risk, locking in inputs, and who actually survives (01:25:23) Own the outcome: finding the right guide without outsourcing your freedom (01:31:14) Stay solvent to be right eventually — the Noah's Ark framework This episode was produced by Castos Productions. Resources: Walker Insight — https://www.walkerinsight.com/ Tom Walker on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomaswalkerii/ Ep. 415 — Tom Walker: Everyone Gets Punched in the Face — Tom's first appearance, the planning-framework episode this one builds on. https://independence-by-design.castos.com/episodes/415-everyone-gets-punched-in-the-face-a-framework-for-planning-with-tom-walker Lyn Alden — Macro analyst, author of Broken Money. https://www.lynalden.com/ Luke Gromen — Founder of FFTT (Forest for the Trees). https://fftt-llc.com/ Lawrence "Larry" Lepard — Sound-money investor, author of The Big Print. https://x.com/LawrenceLepard The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder — Ryan's favorite Buffett book. https://www.amazon.com/Snowball-Warren-Buffett-Business-Life/dp/0553384619 The Cantillon Effect (Richard Cantillon) — Why freshly printed money reaches the connected first. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cantillon Ryan Tansom Website: https://ryantansom.com/

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#495: Ryan & Kim | How to Share Your Company's Upside Without Giving Away Equity

May 2801:08:44Tap to summarize

Watch on YouTube You've got one person you can't afford to lose, running an outcome you know you can't hit alone. They've started asking about the upside, and your gut says give them a piece of the company. Then you remember what real equity costs. A K-1 every April. A cap table. Permission required to sell your own business. Kim and I get into phantom stock: real money tied to real valuation growth, without putting anyone on your cap table. It's a contract and a balance sheet liability, pegged to the same four numbers every valuation already runs on. The catch is, there's no shortcut here, unlike on the annual plan. Build the owner's goals, the valuation, and the five-year model first, or you've got it backwards. We get into the one honest test for whether someone earned it at all (can you hit the five-year number without them?), Why you never tie the payout to a sale, and the worked example where sharing 5% of a $21.01M outcome costs you nothing, because it never existed without the person who earned it. Top 10 Takeaways A salary rents someone's effort. Long-term comp ties them to the value you build together. The one honest test: if you can hit your five-year number without this person, don't grant phantom stock. Go hire someone who wants a salary. There's no shortcut on a long-term plan. Build the model, the valuation, and the five-year forecast first, or you have it backwards. Phantom stock is a contract and a balance sheet liability. No cap table, no K-1, no operating agreement. Real equity ropes you together on taxes, distributions, and the decision to sell. Phantom stock doesn't. Never tie the payout to a sale. Do that and your executives start needing you to sell. Peg it to a cash flow valuation, not the private equity premium someone might pay someday. Have a neutral third party value the company every year. Ten to fifteen grand ends the argument before it starts. Size it like a budget. Percentages first, then meaningful dollars, then what the company can actually afford. The math is the hard part. Once it's clear, the attorney's contract is about three grand. Chapters: (00:00) Introduction: Ryan and Kim on sharing company upside without equity (02:20) A salary rents someone's effort; long-term comp ties them to value (04:05) What usually goes wrong without a long-term strategy in place (06:11) No shortcut: build the model, valuation, and five-year forecast first (13:15) Phantom stock: a balance sheet liability, no cap table, no K-1 (19:40) The one honest test: can you hit the five-year number without them? (41:00) Never tie the payout to a sale; executives will need you to sell (47:29) Peg it to a cash flow valuation, not the private equity premium (56:24) Have a neutral third party value the company; ten to fifteen grand ends the argument (1:02:09) ESOPs, SARs, and creative layered approaches to ownership transitions This episode was produced by Castos Productions. Resources: Executive Comp Workshop June 25 – 9 AM - 11am CST – Virtual, Live, Interactive: https://ryantansom.com/the-compensation-blueprint-workshop 90-Day Boardroom Blueprint Ryan's onboarding program that walks owners through the IBD Ownership OS, three-statement financial model, budget, and forecast — the foundation required before designing any executive comp plan. https://ibd-ownership-os.mn.co/plans/1974651?bundle_token=e7ab472deac3881f18ad4399f1fe79d9 Ryan Tansom's YouTube — ESOP Series Four-part, approximately nine-hour ESOP series featuring Corey Rosen of the NCEO and others, covering valuations, deal structures, and transactions top to bottom. https://www.youtube.com/@ryantansom VisionLink (Craig Rutledge) Long-term incentive design firm. Software platform that manages valuations, vesting, and drafts plan documents. Craig Rutledge is a Principal. https://visionlink.co Prairie Capital Advisors Chicago-based investment bank handling ESOP, management buyout, and third-party PE transactions. Ryan's recommendation for the annual independent valuation. https://www.prairiecap.com Dinsmore — Compensation & Benefits Practice National law firm for drafting phantom stock contracts. Their Compensation & Benefits practice handles SARs and phantom stock plans. Jim Calvello mentioned by Ryan. https://www.dinsmore.com/services/compensation-benefits/ Ep. 494 — Ryan & Kim: How to Comp Your Executive Team So You Stop Being the Referee The annual executive comp plan episode. Long-term comp sits on top of it. https://independence-by-design.castos.com/episodes/494-ryan-kim-how-to-design-an-annual-executive-compensation-plan Ep. 493 — Ryan & Kim: How to Tie Everyone's Compensation to Your Ownership Goals Last week's episode. The Module 8 foundation this episode builds directly on. https://independence-by-design.castos.com/episodes/493-ryan-kim-how-to-tie-everyones-compensation-to-your-ownership-goals Ep. 404 — Craig Rutledge: Design a CEO Compensation Plan Tied to Your Cash Flow & Equity Valuation Goals Craig's deeper interview on long-term incentive mechanics. https://independence-by-design.castos.com/episodes/design-a-ceo-compensation-plan-tied-to-your-cash-flow-equity-valuation-goals-with-craig-rutledge Ep. 336 — Craig Rutledge: How to Create the Best Executive Compensation Plan with VisionLink Craig's foundational phantom equity interview. https://youtu.be/gAi0s8jtBls Ep. 222 — Craig Rutledge: The Ultimate Guide to Executive Compensation Plans Foundational episode on aligning short- and long-term incentives to value creation. https://youtu.be/sInIywDALW4 Ryan Tansom Website: https://ryantansom.com/

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#494: Ryan & Kim | How to Design an Annual Executive Compensation Plan

May 2101:05:47Tap to summarize

Watch on YouTubeYou're paying highly paid people to take problems off your plate. Instead they're handing you back monkeys, drama, and a deal you end up pricing yourself. Sales and Operations are at war over what got sold and what can actually be delivered. Finance is caught in the middle. You're the referee. You're not bad at this. The comp plan is. Each leader gets paid on their own win, so winning at a peer's expense pays, and the monkeys land back on your desk by the end of the day. In this episode I walk you through the annual executive comp plan I installed at my family's business and have put in with clients since. The move is to tie your top leaders to each other through the income statement and to your ownership goals at the same time. Half of their variable rides on their own seat. A quarter rides on each peer. Now winning at a peer's expense stops paying. Now the monkeys stay where they belong. Now you get to do the work only you can do, the strategic, the big, the broken things that are actually interesting to you. Kim and I get into the bonus pool sized top-down off normalized net operating income so it's always affordable, the multipliers that run both directions, and why one of our clients ran the math and decided not to hire the $500,000 CEO he was about to go find. He wanted the seat back. The seat got worth wanting again. Top 10 Takeaways You're paying highly paid people to take problems off your plate. They're handing you back monkeys. The drama isn't your team. It's the comp plan paying each of them only on their own win. Tie your top leaders to each other through the income statement. Three buckets, three seats: revenue, margins, SG&A and cash. The 50/25/25 model ropes them together. Half their variable on their own seat, a quarter on each peer's. Now winning at a peer's expense stops paying. The monkeys stay where they belong. Comp each executive on numbers they actually control. Not on a peer's leadership growth. Size the bonus pool top-down. A fixed slice of normalized net operating income. Bottom-up reconciles to it. Run multipliers on every seat. 1.1x to 1.2x up, 0.8x to 0.7x down, with a floor where the piece stops paying. The company's cash flow and your ownership goals set what comp is affordable. Title doesn't. Wish doesn't. Get the comp right and you get the work back: the strategic, the big, the broken things only you can do. Chapters: (00:00) Ryan and Kim on designing the annual executive comp plan (02:33) The drama isn't your team — it's the comp plan paying on their own win (03:21) The 50/25/25 model: tying top leaders to each other through the income statement (10:30) Size the bonus pool top-down off normalized net operating income (12:20) Cash flow and ownership goals set what comp is affordable — title doesn't (18:00) Comp each executive on numbers they actually control, not a peer's growth (20:43) Total inversion: monkeys stay where they belong, you get the work back (21:06) Run multipliers on every seat: 1.1x up, 0.8x down, with a floor (53:46) Fractional leaders: can they actually own the outcome of the seat (1:05:20) You've got to do the work — comp grounded in data, goals, and financials This episode was produced by Castos Productions. Resources: Executive Comp Workshop June 25 – 9 AM - 11am CST – Virtual, Live, Interactive: https://ryantansom.com/the-compensation-blueprint-workshop 90-Day Boardroom Blueprint Ryan's onboarding program that walks owners through the IBD Ownership OS, three-statement financial model, budget, and forecast — the foundation required before designing any executive comp plan. https://ibd-ownership-os.mn.co/plans/1974651?bundle_token=e7ab472deac3881f18ad4399f1fe79d9 Strategic Talent Partners — Mike Frommelt, a Minnesota-based executive search and leadership assessment firm. Ryan's recommended resource for C-suite recruiting, leadership team roadmap assessments, and real market compensation data. https://strategictalentpartners.com Strata Cloud Accountants Ryan's named preferred IBD partner for fractional CFO services — specifically called out as one of the only firms that actually delivers the three-statement financial model. https://stratacloudaccountants.com Robert Half Salary Guide Published compensation benchmark data Ryan referenced as one starting data point for executive base pay research. https://www.roberthalf.com/us/en/insights/salary-guide Ep. 493 — Ryan & Kim: How to Tie Everyone's Compensation to Your Ownership Goals Last week's episode. The Module 8 foundation this episode builds directly on. https://independence-by-design.castos.com/episodes/493-ryan-kim-how-to-tie-everyones-compensation-to-your-ownership-goals Ep. 492 — Ryan Tansom: How to Analyze Your Margins and Gross Profit The margins and gross profit groundwork behind the COO's bucket in the income statement. https://independence-by-design.castos.com/episodes/492-ryan-how-to-analyze-your-margins-and-gross-profit Ep. 481 — Nick Bradley: The Private Equity Operating System The private equity conversation Ryan referenced when walking through the three-buckets framing of the income statement. https://independence-by-design.castos.com/episodes/481-nick-bradley-the-private-equity-operating-system Ep. 480 — Kim Clark: What a CRO Does to Create Predictable Revenue Background on the CRO's KPIs, predictable revenue scoring, and the functional assessment referenced in this episode. https://independence-by-design.castos.com/episodes/480-kim-clark-what-a-cro-does-to-create-predictable-revenue Ryan Tansom Website: https://ryantansom.com/

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#493: Ryan & Kim | How to Tie Everyone's Compensation to Your Ownership Goals

May 1400:46:08Tap to summarize

Watch on YouTubeThis is the kickoff of a multi-episode arc on Module 8 (Executive Compensation) of the iBD Ownership OS. Kim Clark, iBD's CRO and business partner, runs the interview; she spent years designing sales and revenue comp at ITR Economics before joining iBD. Module 8 is Ryan's territory, so the format flips: Kim asks, Ryan teaches the system. The next two episodes go deeper on short-term incentive design (annual exec bonuses, cascade math, KPI architecture) and long-term phantom stock mechanics (vesting, valuation triggers, the M9 transition bridge). The companion workshop where you actually build your own plan is June 25, 2026. You have a $40,000 executive comp plan sitting on your desk and you don't know if it's the right one. Your insurance broker pitched it. Your attorney drafted it. Your HR person was distracted. And it's tied to absolutely nothing that matters. The first call I had with that client, he asked me, "Should I sign this?" I asked back: What's your five-year valuation target? Cash flow goals? Do you have a financial model? Three nos in a row. That's where most owners are. Comp gets treated as an HR motivation problem when it's actually a capital allocation decision that has to trickle down from the owner's goals. Kim and I open Module 8 with the reframe and the cascade: why this module only works after Modules 1 through 7 are installed, why normalized net operating income beats gross profit and net income for the bonus pool, what 10% of NOI looks like split across the executive team and the company, and why phantom stock does most of what real equity does without putting anyone on your cap table. When the goals are clear and the rules are clear, the executive team runs the field. When subjectivity rules, everyone is just guessing.Top 10 Takeaways Your comp plan keeps failing because you're paying people on outcomes they can't control. Comp tied to gut feel breeds resentment, not productivity. The exact opposite of what you wanted. Comp design starts with the owner. Not HR. Not your attorney. Not the insurance broker pitching annuities. You can't build a comp plan without a five-year valuation target and a financial model in front of you. Hiring a CFO before your model exists? Tie their first bonus to building the model. Comp is a capital allocation decision, not a motivation problem. You're sharing future cash flow. Normalized net operating income beats gross profit because a CRO can crush GP and crater operations by overhiring. Your bonus pool is 10% of normalized NOI. Everything else is just how you split it. Phantom stock is a legal contract and a real liability on the balance sheet. No cap table, no K-1. When the goals are clear and the rules are clear, the executive team runs the field. Subjectivity is exhausting. Chapters:(00:00) Introduction to Module 8: executive compensation and why it exists(01:46) Your comp plan keeps failing because you're paying on outcomes they can't control(04:15) Comp tied to gut feel breeds resentment, not productivity(07:21) Comp design starts with the owner, not HR, your attorney, or the insurance broker(10:38) Why this module only works after Modules 1 through 7 are installed(16:24) Comp is a capital allocation decision, not a motivation problem(19:25) Normalized NOI beats gross profit and net income for the bonus pool(26:20) Your bonus pool is 10% of normalized NOI — here's how you split it(32:42) Phantom stock is a legal contract and a real balance sheet liability — no cap table, no K-1(44:25) When the goals are clear, the executive team runs the field This episode was produced by Castos Productions.Resources:Executive Comp Workshop June 25 – 9 AM - 11am CST – Virtual, Live, Interactive: https://ryantansom.com/the-compensation-blueprint-workshop Great Game of Business https://www.greatgame.com Open-book management system referenced by Ryan and Kim, developed by Jack Stack. Connects every employee to the company's financial performance through shared visibility of the income statement. Ep. 222 — The Ultimate Guide to Executive Compensation Plans — Foundational episode on aligning short- and long-term incentives to value creation. https://youtu.be/sInIywDALW4?si=ynChCIz6qvEfbIYEp. 336 — Craig Rutledge: How to Create the Best Executive Compensation Plan with VisionLink — Craig's foundational interview. Reference for the phantom equity primer. https://youtu.be/gAi0s8jtBls?si=HkE2UPCyiTp7hjf_Ep. 404: Design a CEO Compensation Plan Tied to Your Cash Flow & Valuation Goals with Craig Rutledge: https://youtu.be/6wF0PeKB-Fw?si=O9n5p0f0LIoJCc7bEp. 489 — Kim Clark: The Profit War Room https://youtu.be/mluEp7DGut8?si=iqAc8xxq0VVUUa0REp. 492 — Ryan Tansom: How to Analyze Your Margins and Gross Profit: https://youtu.be/eqqsY4rJgrg?si=5ZH777BQVboQf2wyRyan Tansom Website: https://ryantansom.com/

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#492: Ryan | How to Analyze Your Margins and Gross Profit

May 700:53:58Tap to summarize

Watch on YouTubeMost owners stare at the same gross profit number every month and feel good about it, and the chart underneath it is telling a completely different story. Revenue is up. Gross profit dollars are up. You feel good for about ten seconds. Then you notice the gross margin percentage is creeping the wrong way and you don't know if it matters. Your CPA does taxes. Your banker manages the line. Nobody is sitting at the chart with you asking the next question. That next question is what this episode is for. We get into how to read the gross margin chart by product line, where to set the floor that triggers the boardroom conversation, what the rate of change is actually telling you before the trend shows up in cash, and how the same chart asks one question if you're wearing the COO hat and a completely different one if you're wearing the owner hat. The owner question is where most operators get stuck, because almost nobody runs the seats separately. Real example from my old copier business, real numbers from the case study, and the honest version of how messy it is to get your data clean enough to actually believe. Top 10 Takeaways Your three financial statements are a closed loop, and every operating decision ripples through all three. Without a five-year plan, every margin decision is made in a vacuum. Gross profit can grow every year while gross margins quietly shrink. The blended company gross margin hides the line that's bleeding by averaging it with the line that's healthy. Rates of change are your early warning system, before the trend shows up in cash. If costs and revenue don't land in the same month, your gross margin is fiction. Every product line needs a target margin and a floor, and the floor triggers the boardroom conversation. Gross profit grew because you sold more, or because your margins expanded, and the split tells you whether the year was real. The gross margin chart you're looking at this month is the input to your distribution next December. The COO seat asks how to operate around the margin, and the owner seat asks what to do with the cash it produces. Chapters: (00:00) Three financial statements are a closed loop; every decision ripples through all three (03:00) Without a five-year plan, every margin decision is made in a vacuum (07:30) Gross profit can grow every year while gross margins quietly shrink (11:00) Rates of change are your early warning system before the trend shows up in cash (12:30) If costs and revenue don't land in the same month, your gross margin is fiction (19:30) The blended gross margin hides the line that's bleeding (26:30) Every product line needs a target, a floor, and the floor triggers the boardroom conversation (35:00) The split tells you whether the year was real: revenue growth or margin expansion (43:00) The gross margin chart this month is the input to your distribution next December (49:00) The COO seat asks how to operate; the owner seat asks what to do with the cash This episode was produced by Castos Productions.Resources:Boardroom Blueprint — The 90-day program where Ryan walks owners through installing the financial model, business valuation, and iBD Ownership OS™. — ryantansom.com/coaching Ep. 487 — Casey Brown: The Fear That's Eating Your Margins Ep. 489 — Kim Clark: Profit War Room Listen hereEp. 490 — Alex Chausovsky + Kim Clark: Supply Chains, Inflation, and Your Profit Battle Plan Listen hereRyan Tansom Website https://ryantansom.com/

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#491: Bud Martin | The Lower Middle Market M&A Gap Nobody Talks About

Apr 3000:47:46Tap to summarize

Watch on YouTube "I want the seller to level with me. I don't want to be his priest or pastor, but I want honesty, and I don't want any surprises down the road." - Bud Martin, Bud Martin once watched a son kill his parents' deal by telling every buyer tour the company would never make it without him. I told Bud I was 27 when we sold our family business — and I knew I could have done the same thing. I almost did. That story is the human core under every M&A advisory conversation we don't talk about enough. Bud Martin runs controlled auctions for businesses in the $1M-$3M EBITDA range — a no man's land for owners. Too complex for brokers. Too small for the big banks. We get into what a real sell-side process actually looks like at this level, why most lower middle market deals are cash-at-closing strategic bolt-ons (not earnouts), the family dynamic that kills more deals than bad numbers ever will, and the philosophical question I keep coming back to: build a cash-flow business that gives you choices, or chase a third-party strategic deal that maximizes cash at closing. Both work. They're just not the same. Top 10 Takeaways The $1M-$3M EBITDA range is no man's land — too complex for brokers, too small for the big banks, and most owners get the worst sell-side representation right when they need the best. A controlled auction is non-negotiable — multiple bidders keep buyers honest, drive pace, and protect your leverage; day 92 close is the goal, day 180 is a red flag. Most lower middle market deals are cash at closing because strategic buyers write checks from the balance sheet — no banks involved, faster closes, cleaner deal structures. Earnouts in this segment are shifting from financial metrics to integration milestones — one of Bud's current deals is 95% cash, 5% tied to a six-month CRM integration. The family dynamic kills more deals than bad numbers — if your partners aren't on the same page before you call a banker, the deal is already dead. Build a cash-flow business and you have choices — ESOP, internal transfer, third-party, PE — but if you go straight to a strategic buyer, cash at closing goes through the roof and the cultural trade-offs come with it. The buyer who already knows your industry isn't the best buyer — the aligned-industry buyer who wants to be in your space is, because that's where 2+2 = 5 or 6. A $3M revenue fire safety business landed a $5 billion publicly-traded buyer because the industry was consolidating and Bud reached out to everyone — including the companies that looked too big. Bud gives sellers a conservative valuation so they're surprised on the upside — if the seller isn't in the same area code on number, he walks away from the engagement. Geopolitical risk lands on the deal table — a strategic buyer pulled out of one of Bud's deals in February because the Iran situation spooked their backlog and changed the math. Bud Martin is the founder of M&A Connect, a lower middle market M&A advisory firm based in the Chicago area. William (Bud) Martin has over 20 years of M&A experience. Prior to founding M&A Connect, he was with a highly regarded Midwestern M&A firm and was the leading broker by revenue and transactions closed during his seven years there. Bud has been the lead advisor on dozens of middle market transactions and is a current board member of Dynamic Rubber Inc. near Chicago. Before M&A, Bud owned a contract manufacturer of precision-machined components serving OEMs in aerospace, automotive, and business machine industries. He started his career as a runner on the Chicago Board of Trade and traded options on the CBOE through the 1987 crash. He learned business brokerage from his father-in-law in Florida before bringing the practice north to Chicago. Dave Deal at Prairie Capital Advisors referred Bud to the show — Prairie focuses on $4-5M+ EBITDA, and they refer sellers below that threshold to Bud because they trust him to run a real process at the lower middle market level. Chapters: (00:00) Introduction of Bud Martin - From CBOE options, trading, and family manufacturing to lower middle market M&A (05:00) The underserved gap between business brokers and big banks (07:25) The controlled auction: how Bud goes to market versus just listing on bulletin boards (09:33) No man's land — $1M–$3M EBITDA, too complex for brokers, too small for banks (18:18) A controlled auction is non-negotiable: multiple bidders, deal pace, day 92 vs. day 180 (20:00) Most lower middle market deals are cash at closing because strategic buyers write checks from the balance sheet (27:03) Hot sectors right now: manufacturing, distribution, and mandated recurring-revenue businesses (28:52) The family dynamic kills more deals than bad numbers (47:00) Geopolitical risk lands on the deal table — Iran spooks a buyer and changes the math This episode was produced by Castos Productions. Resources: M&A Connect — Bud Martin's firm. — mandaconnect.com Prairie Capital Advisors — Dave Deal's firm. Investment banking for the $4-5M+ EBITDA market. Referred Bud to the show. — prairiecap.com PitchBook — Database tool Bud uses for building target buyer lists. — pitchbook.com \LindFast Solutions Group — Public-company-style consolidator in the fastener space. Acquired Big Bolt in late 2024. The example Bud used to ground his $5B-buyer / $3M-seller story. — lindfastgrp.com Tommy Mello (A1 Garage Door / Home Service Expert podcast) — Home services entrepreneur Ryan referenced. Rolled up garage door companies, added $40M EBITDA, sold half for $150M. — homeserviceexpert.com Ep. 487 — Casey Brown: The Fear That's Eating Your Margins Ep. 489 — Kim Clark: Profit War Room Listen here Ep. 490 — Alex Chausovsky + Kim Clark: Supply Chains, Inflation, and Your Profit Battle Plan Listen here LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kimberlyclark Ryan Tansom Website https://ryantansom.com/

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#493: Ryan & Kim | How to Tie Everyone's Compensation to Your Ownership Goals

#492: Ryan | How to Analyze Your Margins and Gross Profit

#491: Bud Martin | The Lower Middle Market M&A Gap Nobody Talks About