One Decision per Episode, on Your Own Business

Start Here

Start Here: Your Seat on the Board

The free guide to The Empire Race: the race, the five players, how to vote on their biggest decisions, and the first worksheet. About 20 minutes to read, an hour for the worksheet.

Episodes 1 to 13

The Season One Free Workbook

All thirteen worksheets in one fillable workbook, one decision per episode, from leaving the job to the annual board review.

Episode 1: The Last Paycheck

The Viability Worksheet

Can this business work from nothing? About 60 minutes. You leave with a score, a runway number and a 30-day test plan, before you spend a dollar you can't get back.

Episode 2: The First Customer

The First-Customer Plan

From eleven compliments to one check. About 90 minutes to fill in, then 14 days to run, for anyone with an offer and no paying customer yet.

Episode 3: The First $10,000

The Pricing Worksheet

Charge for what it's worth, not what you can say out loud. About 75 minutes. You leave with a floor, a ceiling, three priced options and the words to hold your rate.

Episode 4: The First Hire

The First-Hire Scorecard

Arrives with Episode 4

Hire before you can afford it, and write the job so someone else can do it.

Episode 5: The Cash-Flow Trap

The 13-Week Cash Forecast

Arrives with Episode 5

The one financial tool every small company needs, built line by line.

Episode 6: Leverage

The Debt Capacity Worksheet

Arrives with Episode 6

How much debt your business can carry, and what it costs you if you're wrong.

Episode 7: The Land Grab

The Site and Market Map

Arrives with Episode 7

Map the ground, the customers and the rivals before you bid.

Episode 8: The Billion-Dollar Bet

The Big Bet Decision Memo

Arrives with Episode 8

Put a bet-the-company decision on one page before you make it.

Episode 9: The First Empire War

The Takeover Defense Checklist

Arrives with Episode 9

What to check when someone wants to buy, or take, what you built.

Episode 10: The Counterattack

The Rate Shock Stress Test

Arrives with Episode 10

What happens to your business when interest rates jump.

Episode 11: Control the Market

The Market Position Map

Arrives with Episode 11

Where you stand against everyone selling to your customers.

Episode 12: The Final Acquisition

The Acquisition Screen

Arrives with Episode 12

Screen a business for sale in an evening, before you spend on diligence.

Episode 13: The Billion-Dollar Boardroom

The Annual Board Review

Arrives with Episode 13

Read your own ledger once a year and decide what next year is for.

Start Here

Start Here: Take Your Seat on the Board

The free guide to The Empress Race: the race, the five women, how to vote on their biggest decisions, and the first worksheet.

Episodes 1 to 13

The Empress Race Season One Workbook

Arrives with Episode 13

All thirteen worksheets in one workbook, one decision per episode, set up for your own business.

Episode 1: The Last Shift

The Viability Worksheet

Can this business work from where you stand? Your unfair advantage, who owns your idea, the leap math and a 30-day test.

Episode 2: The First Yes

The First-Customer Plan

From interest to a signature: the commitment ladder, the six questions and the deposit test.

Episode 3: Know Your Worth

The Pricing Worksheet

Know your worth in numbers: the floor, the ceiling and the market, and what to ask for when someone asks for less.

Episode 4: Who She Trusts

The First-Hire Scorecard

Arrives with Episode 4

Who you trust with the hard parts: the scorecard, results not tasks, and what your own hour is worth.

Episode 5: The Cash Gap

The 13-Week Cash Forecast

Arrives with Episode 5

See the gap before it opens: every dollar in and out for thirteen weeks, and the lowest week circled in red.

Episode 6: Other People's Money

The Funding Ladder

Arrives with Episode 6

What each kind of money costs, and what it takes: the six rungs, a round's arithmetic and a term sheet's other lines.

Episode 7: The Mill

The Site and Market Map

Arrives with Episode 7

Building a bid that wins: the site, the market, the scarce inputs, the capital stack and the partner questions.

Episode 8: Bet the House

The Big Bet Decision Memo

Arrives with Episode 8

Bet the year, not the company: expected value, the downside you can survive, and the one-page memo.

Episode 9: The Hostile Bid

The Takeover Defense Checklist

Arrives with Episode 9

Know what you own before anyone makes an offer: six questions about your own company, scored honestly.

Episode 10: The Downturn

The Downturn Stress Test

Arrives with Episode 10

Rates, demand and a regulator's letter: three shocks applied to your numbers, and every covenant tested.

Episode 11: The Whole Market

The Market Position Map

Arrives with Episode 11

Own what others depend on: your market drawn as three gates, and which ones you keep.

Episode 12: The Last Deal

The Acquisition Screen

Arrives with Episode 12

Pursue, park or pass in an hour: six questions, from the buyer's chair and the seller's.

Episode 13: The Billion-Dollar Table

The Cap Table and Control Map

Arrives with Episode 13

Who owns what of you, and who decides: your cap table and your control map, on one page.

Start Here

Start Here: Take Your Seat in the Front Office

The free guide to The Prospect Race: the race, the five players, how to make the call on their biggest decisions, the show's honest take on crypto, and the first worksheet. About 20 minutes to read, an hour for the worksheet.

Episodes 1 to 13

The Prospect Race Season One Workbook

Arrives with Episode 13

All thirteen worksheets in one fillable workbook, one decision per episode, set up for your own business.

Episode 1: Five Hundred Dollars

The First $500 Plan

What your first money becomes: what you really have, three things it could become, and who will pay you again next month.

Episode 2: The First Customer

The Pricing Worksheet

Charge by the month: your floor, a monthly price, a route that makes it pay and a premium tier you can keep.

Episode 3: Cap and Gown

The College-or-Company Sheet

What a year costs: school, a job or the business, in money, hours and what each keeps open.

Episode 4: First Hire

The First-Hire Scorecard

Arrives with Episode 4

Who you trust, and who owns what they make: the job as results, a scorecard and the real cost of a hire.

Episode 5: The Sponsor

The 13-Week Cash Forecast

Arrives with Episode 5

Profit is not cash: thirteen weeks on one page, the week it runs short, and a test for money with conditions.

Episode 6: Seed Money

The Funding Ladder

Arrives with Episode 6

What each kind of money costs, from customers' deposits to investors, in cash, ownership and control.

Episode 7: The Crash

The Risk Budget

Arrives with Episode 7

What you can afford to lose, what a 70% fall does to what you hold, and the tax you may already owe.

Episode 8: The Water Budget

The Site and Market Map

Arrives with Episode 8

What you share with your neighbors, who controls the bottleneck, and what to sign first.

Episode 9: Three Bets

The Big Bet Decision Memo

Arrives with Episode 9

Bet only what you can survive losing: three options, the expected value and the bad case, on one page.

Episode 10: The Dry Year

The Water and Weather Stress Test

Arrives with Episode 10

What a dry year does: five shocks applied to your business, and what you'd sell instead.

Episode 11: Works Without You

The Works-Without-You Test

Arrives with Episode 11

The business that needs you is worth less: your owner-dependence score and one thing to hand off this quarter.

Episode 12: The Last Deal

The Acquisition Screen

Arrives with Episode 12

Should you buy this business? What you'd really be buying, what it earns, and whether you could carry the debt.

Episode 13: Twenty-Five

The Cap Table and Control Map

Arrives with Episode 13

Who owns what of you, and who decides: your cap table and your control map, on one page.