Brendan Dowling - Accelerating Company Growth. A Practical Guide for CEOs

Accelerating Company Growth is a brief and to-the-point cookbook for constructing a growth plan for your business. Its filled with concrete and succinct stories that provide practical advice and encouragement for the aspiring entrepreneur. Sean OSullivan, Founder, SOSventures International

Brendan has done a great job here in illustrating the importance of leadership and providing guidelines on how to become a great leader we can all learn from this and we should all strive to be better. Peter Hiscocks, CEO, Executive Education, Cambridge Judge Business School

Accelerating Company Growth is a real page-turner: a compelling and inspiring introduction to the complex field of SME acceleration. Brendan Dowling engagingly combines anecdote and analysis in refracting through the sympathetic lens of his own varied experience much of the research into successful entrepreneurship of the past dozen years. Key concepts from the elevator pitch to the value proposition are succinctly explained through examples that fit together in a clear, modular way. Jargon is judiciously deployed where it illuminates central concepts entrepreneurs are likely to encounter negotiating with investors (business model, red ocean), and considerable emphasis is rightly placed on sales and marketing. Above all, the author never loses sight of the human motivation and social potential of growth entrepreneurship. I read it on a long flight and didnt notice the hours roll by. A book I wish Id encountered years ago. David Gill, Managing Director, St Johns Innovation Centre, Cambridge

Brendans book is a welcome addition to the subject of accelerating business growth. The richness of his own experience provides great credibility and also gives very practical information that will motivate those who are on this path. It is also a compelling read! Siobhan McAleer, Commercial Director, Irish Management Institute

The book offers hard-earned and valuable advice to entrepreneurs on issues that they and their companies will face on a rapid growth trajectory. It is accessible and short and repeated reading will reveal its many nuggets of wisdom. Joey Mason, Partner, Delta Partners

Brendan possesses that unique can do attitude that is prevalent in genuine entrepreneurs. Having worked with him on a number of major projects, I can attest to his practice what you preach business approach. This book is an honest representation of the challenges that face most SMEs as they strive for accelerated growth and many CEOs will readily identify and relate to Brendans experiences. Ian Sparling, CEO, Soft-ex Communications

This is a comprehensive book that includes all the elements to building a robust plan for accelerating growth. It is very practical and written from Brendans wide experience rather than an academic perspective. Paul ODea, CEO, Select Strategies

A very easy-to-read approach, with an easy-to-use framework, for CEOs wanting to understand the key elements involved in accelerating the growth of their business. Brendan has first-hand experience and is a natural storyteller. Mary Goulding, Strategic Business Coach to CEOs

Brendan Dowling speaks from a deep well of experience, having started and managed a string of successful enterprises. In this compelling book, he relays his experiences and speaks from the heart about success and failure in business, with myriad tips and techniques for accelerating growth. Highly recommended. Dermot Duff, Executive Learning Director, Irish Management Institute & Associate Professor, Trinity College Dublin Business School

People who manage growing businesses are among the busiest around. They dont have time to read many books, but they should read this one. Brendan Dowling has distilled many really valuable insights from his varied and successful entrepreneurial career. The advice he offers on how to grow a business is supported throughout by examples from his own experience. The book is not only a pleasure to read, but is structured in a way that makes it a valuable reference work as key growth challenges arise. Dr John McMackin, Director of Executive and International Education, Dublin City University Business School

ACCELERATING
COMPANY GROWTH

A Practical Guide for CEOs

Brendan Dowling

Published by OAK TREE PRESS, 19 Rutland Street, Cork, Ireland

www.oaktreepress.com

2014 Brendan Dowling

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78119 111 8 (paperback)

ISBN 978 1 78119 112 5 (ePub)

ISBN 978 1 78119 113 2 (Kindle)

Cover design: Kieran OConnor Design

Cover illustration: Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race

Author photo: Robert Redmond Studios

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, without written permission of the publisher. Such written permission must also be obtained before any part of this publication is stored in a retrieval system of any nature. Requests for permission should be directed to Oak Tree Press, 19 Rutland Street, Cork, Ireland or .

The information contained in this publication is intended for guideline purposes only and does not represent legal advice. Readers should always seek independent legal and/or other professional advice specific to their own requirements before taking any action based on the information provided herein.

All author proceeds from ACCELERATING COMPANY GROWTH will be donated to the MyGoodPoints.com charity.

MyGoodPoints.com is a new online charity that is harnessing the power of technology, people and corporate CSR, combined with business principles, to revolutionize the charity sector. MyGoodPoints will change how people engage with charities by providing a single online charity account, through which a donor can collect funds using loyalty points, payroll deductions, tax back and online payments, then donate these funds to any charity of their choice and receive multimedia feedback from the charity workers to see where the funds have been applied.

MyGoodPoints objective is to reverse the downward trend in giving by creating the next generation of donors by:

• Changing peoples behavior: The number of donors and the volume of donations is falling; we want to create a culture of giving, focused on youth, by making it free to give (loyalty points), giving fantastic feedback and accountability and by making it cool and fun to be a donor on MyGoodPoints;
• Aligning objectives: By aligning the objectives of donors, large corporates, charities and recipients, we can harness the power of people around a common purpose. Donors will benefit from giving and responsible corporates want customer loyalty, charities want more funding and recipients need help;
• Driving efficiencies in charities: Charities on MyGoodPoints will need to compete with each other to attract the donors funds; this will drive more accountability and better feedback to donors and ultimately drive efficiencies through donor scrutiny.

For more information, visit www.mygoodpoints.com.

DEDICATION

To my wife (my business coach) and four amazing children, who have been so patient and supportive while I worked away on this book.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For the front cover of this book I chose the image of a racing yacht in full sail, capturing the power of the wind and crashing through waves, as it accelerates through the blue ocean (