How to Build a Business That Survives Economic Cycles
Resilience isn't a feature you add to a business after you've built it. It's a design principle from day one. By Scott Gelbard, Founder — SGI Global Partners Inc. / Managing Partner — Peak Ventures I've advised businesses through the dot-com collapse, the 2008–2009...
The Art of the Long-Term Client Relationship in Business Advisory
Trust is not a feeling. It's a record. And it's built one honest conversation at a time. By Scott Gelbard, Founder — SGI Global Partners Inc. / Managing Partner — Peak Ventures The most meaningful professional relationships I've built over 25 years weren't forged in...
Why Most Market Entry Strategies Fail (And What to Do Instead)
The problem isn't the strategy document. It's the assumptions buried inside it that nobody examined. By Scott Gelbard, Founder — SGI Global Partners Inc. / Managing Partner — Peak Ventures Every year, companies spend billions entering markets that don't work out. They...
What 25 Years in Business Consulting Taught Me About Failure
The most valuable lessons in advisory work don't come from the wins. They come from the moments that don't go according to plan. By Scott Gelbard, Founder — SGI Global Partners Inc. / Managing Partner — Peak Ventures I want to be honest about something that doesn't...
The Five Questions Every Business Should Answer Before Expanding Internationally
The Five Questions Every Business Should Answer Before Expanding Internationally Most international expansions don't fail because of bad timing or bad markets. They fail because the wrong questions were asked at the start. By Scott Gelbard, Founder — SGI Global...
What a Family Office Can Do That a Bank Never Will
I've had the same conversation dozens of times. A successful entrepreneur — someone who has spent twenty or thirty years building a business that generates real wealth — sits across from me and explains their current financial situation. They have a private banker at...
The Advisory Board That Actually Helps (And How to Build One)
Most advisory boards are theater. A collection of impressive names on a website, assembled to signal credibility rather than generate it. The founders who built them were well-intentioned — they wanted smart people in their corner. But somewhere between the initial...
The Art of the Deal — Why Structure Matters More Than Price in M&A
Everyone focuses on the number. The headline valuation. The multiple of EBITDA. The per-share figure that gets announced in the press release. After 25 years advising businesses through acquisitions, divestitures, and capital transactions across three continents, I've...
Why the Best International Teams Don’t Run on Talent Alone
Early in my career, I watched a genuinely talented team fall apart on an international project that should have been straightforward. The people involved were smart, experienced, and technically capable. The market opportunity was real. The capital was in place. On...
Your Network Is Not Your Net Worth — It’s Your Intelligence Network
The phrase "your network is your net worth" gets repeated so often in business circles that it has started to feel like a motivational poster — technically true, broadly agreed upon, and almost completely useless as practical guidance. Everyone nods. Almost no one...