Pro Serv Blogs Archives - Page 2 of 44

Your Invisibility Is Costing You Deals, Talent, and Your Exit

Greg Alexander / March 23, 2026

Over the past several years, I’ve worked hands-on with four investor-backed leaders across four industries. They had built real businesses with deep expertise, and every one of them was invisible online.

Then they started showing up. One sold for over $2 billion, one grew headcount 26% during a talent crisis, one IPO’d at $5.6 billion, and one built a $200 million market from scratch while the biggest retailers in the country started referencing his LinkedIn posts in sales meetings.

Pro Serv Blogs

Your AI Strategy Is Not a Strategy — Unless Your Fundamentals Are

Greg Alexander / March 20, 2026

Jim Collins introduced the concept of the Big Hairy Audacious Goal — the BHAG — in Good to Great as a clarion call for bold, long-range thinking. But Collins was careful to distinguish between a BHAG born of disciplined strategy and one born of desperation. The former is a North Star. The latter is a Hail Mary. The difference between the two, Collins argued, isn’t the size of the ambition — it’s the soundness of the foundation beneath it.

Pro Serv Blogs

Failure to Fire Causes More Problems Than It Solves

Greg Alexander / March 19, 2026

We see it every week, and most of the time it was avoidable. There’s someone in the business who needs to go. You know it. Their co-workers know it. Half the management team knows it. But nobody has actually done anything about it. That delay doesn’t help. It makes things worse.

Pro Serv Blogs

When Compliance Becomes Competitive Advantage

Greg Alexander / March 17, 2026

Most professional services firms treat compliance as a burden.
More rules.
More documentation.
More audits.
The natural instinct is to do the minimum required and move on. We initially approached it the same way at ACE Consulting.
When the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) requirements began affecting federal contractors, the first reaction was predictable. It looked like friction. It looked like overhead. It looked like something that would slow us down. Instead, it strengthened our firm.

Pro Serv Blogs

The Great Divide in M&A — Courtesy of the AI Impact

Greg Alexander / March 16, 2026

Imagine a private equity investment committee reviewing two nearly identical companies. Both generate $30 million in revenue. Both operate in the same industry and serve similar customers. On paper, their historical financial performance looks remarkably similar.

Pro Serv Blogs

The Biggest Driver of EBITDA

Greg Alexander / March 13, 2026

As boutique professional services owners, most of us are trying multiple ways to profitably grow our business. For organic growth, this includes investing in AI, improving sales effectiveness, or cutting unnecessary costs.

Pro Serv Blogs

What a CFO Needs to Hear Before We Pay for Outcomes

Greg Alexander / March 12, 2026

If your outcome-based pricing proposal hit my inbox, it would likely get rejected. Not because the concept is wrong, but because the attribution is lazy. Here’s the good news: I’m going to tell you what folks like me need to see to accept these proposals. I’m having these conversations right now with clients.

Pro Serv Blogs

Outside Capital: What Are You Really Giving Up in Return?

Greg Alexander / March 10, 2026

As professional services founders, we all understand that in the course of founding and scaling a business, there are times when an infusion of cash becomes helpful, if not crucial: funding a hiring surge, acquiring a competitor or bridging a gap before a large retainer kicks in, just to name a few examples.

Pro Serv Blogs

The AI CEO Who Spends 40% of His Time on Culture

Greg Alexander / March 9, 2026

I’m getting whiplash from my professional services network right now.
Every conversation is about AI. Every conference session is about AI. Every LinkedIn post is about “revolutionizing your firm with artificial intelligence.”

Pro Serv Blogs

The Founder Who Stays in the Work (And Isn’t Sorry About It)

Greg Alexander / March 6, 2026

Greg Alexander is right. The founder bottleneck is real, it kills firms, and if you’re still the one doing everything three years after you should have delegated it — that’s on you. I’ve read the book. I believe the thesis. I’ve spent years pulling myself out of day-to-day client work, building a team, and trusting the people I hired to do the job I hired them for. And yet. Here I am, personally involved in three active engagements right now. Before you close the tab — hear me out.

Pro Serv Blogs

Your Invisibility Is Costing You Deals, Talent, and Your Exit

Your AI Strategy Is Not a Strategy — Unless Your Fundamentals Are

Failure to Fire Causes More Problems Than It Solves

When Compliance Becomes Competitive Advantage

The Great Divide in M&A — Courtesy of the AI Impact

The Biggest Driver of EBITDA

What a CFO Needs to Hear Before We Pay for Outcomes

Outside Capital: What Are You Really Giving Up in Return?

The AI CEO Who Spends 40% of His Time on Culture

The Founder Who Stays in the Work (And Isn’t Sorry About It)

What is Collective 54?

RESOURCES

CONTACT

SUBSCRIBE TO
COLLECTIVE 54 INSIGHTS

© 2025 - Collective 54 LLC All Rights Reserved.