Business valuation is more than a price tag at exit. It’s a running assessment of your company’s health, credibility, and resilience.

Maartje van Krieken shows how valuation can serve as a practical management tool for everyday decision-making. Drawing on lessons from mergers and acquisitions, she explains why external perceptions matter just as much as internal metrics and how they shape financing terms, customer trust, and even employee morale.

Using ten lenses, Maartje unpacks the questions outsiders bring to the table: Are people loyal to the business or just its leaders? Is culture sustainable beyond a founder’s presence? Do the numbers hold up under scrutiny? Would evidence convince a skeptic? This is operational due diligence turned inward, helping leaders stress-test their assumptions and identify the gaps that weaken long-term value.

Framed as risk-based prioritization, the process reveals not just what’s broken but where the biggest opportunities lie. A quarterly review through these lenses creates a roadmap for practical improvements that strengthen operations, safeguard against risk, and build value worth defending, whether or not a sale is ever on the horizon.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Business Valuation as a Daily Tool

02:18 Why External Evaluations Matter

06:03 Risk, Evidence, and Defensibility

09:55 The 10 Lenses of Operational Due Diligence

28:06 Risk-Based Prioritization for Strategy Reviews

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Host Maartje van Krieken is a crisis strategist and decision-making expert who thrives in high-stakes business environments. Combining disaster management training, hands-on experience in global industries, and leadership skills honed as a seasoned sailor, she helps businesses navigate chaos with precision. Whether tackling transformation, scaling challenges, or leadership bottlenecks, Maartje delivers actionable insights to turn turbulence into traction.

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Leadership isn’t always loud, and sometimes the quietest voice in the room is the one that steadies the ship.

Maartje van Krieken sits down with Greg Weinger, SVP of Product Management at SheerID and host of The Powerful Introvert Podcast, to rethink what leadership looks like when a company faces real pressure. Greg shares the story of an introverted CFO who stepped in during a crisis and rebuilt trust through calm, steady presence rather than charisma. Why do so many organizations still assume that the loudest voice is the most effective one? And how much strength gets overlooked when we discount quieter styles of leadership?

Greg points to the qualities that actually help businesses scale: adaptability, honesty paired with kindness, and the discipline to face reality as it is. He explains how great leaders design meetings and team structures that bring out every perspective, especially from introverts who contribute most when given the space to prepare. Could your team be missing its sharpest ideas simply because the setup doesn’t make room for them?

This conversation shows that resilience often comes from unexpected places, and that leadership worth following grows out of trust, clarity, and intention.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Extrovert vs. Introvert Leadership Styles

02:55 Case Study: Introverted CFO Leading Through Crisis

06:54 Key Ingredients for Scaling a Business

08:07 Listening, Adaptability, and Avoiding Hubris

12:11 Balancing Brutal Honesty with Kindness

14:46 Creating Space for Every Team Member to Contribute

17:01 Structuring Meetings for Inclusivity

18:12 Why Mindfulness Matters for Leaders

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Subscribe to The Powerful Introvert Podcast

Greg Weinger has spent over 20 years proving that introverts and unconventional thinkers can thrive in leadership. A seasoned product and technology executive, he has helped scale startups 10X to $70M+ in revenue, leading teams that build market-leading digital products and drive business growth. A Stanford graduate, he studied English literature, creative writing, and software engineering—giving him a unique ability to blend technical expertise, storytelling, and strategic thinking to make complex ideas accessible and actionable.

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Host Maartje van Krieken is a crisis strategist and decision-making expert who thrives in high-stakes business environments. Combining disaster management training, hands-on experience in global industries, and leadership skills honed as a seasoned sailor, she helps businesses navigate chaos with precision. Whether tackling transformation, scaling challenges, or leadership bottlenecks, Maartje...

Most business emergencies don’t appear out of nowhere. They build slowly through overlooked financial red flags that leaders often miss until it’s too late. How do you know if your books are truly in order, or if the numbers you’re seeing are hiding deeper issues? In this episode, Maartje van Krieken talks with Ryan McGarghan, founder of Synergy Solutions, fractional CFO and certified exit planning advisor, about the habits and warning signs that reveal the real health of a company. Ryan explains why consistent bookkeeping and payment practices are non-negotiable, how to recognize when your finance team isn’t giving you straight answers, and why a clear money trail is essential for strong decision-making. He also shows how finance can play the “bad cop” role that protects vendor and customer relationships, and why exit planning belongs in everyday business continuity rather than at the last minute. With his perspective on the “five Ds” that trigger unexpected exits, Ryan points out how thoughtful planning protects value and gives leaders more choices when it matters most. What conversations about finance are you not having yet and what might they reveal?

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Introduction

02:13 Financial Emergency Example

06:10 Key Financial Red Flags Leaders Miss

09:35 Finance as the Bad Cop in Business

15:41 Exit Planning Essentials for Business Owners

20:37 Business Continuity and the 5 Ds of Exit Planning

22:20 Why Hire a Fractional CFO

Connect with Ryan McGarghan:

Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn

Synergy Solutions

Ryan McGarghan is the founder of Synergy Solutions, serving as a Fractional CFO and Certified Exit Planning Advisor with more than 25 years of experience helping small and mid-sized businesses strengthen their finances, grow profitably, and plan for long-term success. A Profit First Professional, speaker, and mentor, he specializes in guiding companies between $1M and $25M in revenue to build lasting value while giving entrepreneurs greater freedom, stability, and purpose.

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Host Maartje van Krieken is a crisis strategist and decision-making expert who thrives in high-stakes business environments. Combining disaster management training, hands-on experience in global industries, and leadership skills honed as a seasoned sailor, she helps businesses navigate chaos with precision. Whether tackling transformation, scaling challenges, or leadership bottlenecks, Maartje delivers actionable insights to turn turbulence into traction.

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Most business exits fail not because of flawed numbers but because the hidden value of people, culture, and legacy is overlooked. In this episode, Maartje van Krieken explores why exits are among the most personal and emotionally charged moments in business and how treating them as purely financial transactions often leads to broken trust and dissatisfaction. She offers clear strategies to change that outcome, from bringing in trusted support to balance negotiations, to recognizing how relational risk shapes valuation, to addressing “phantom clients” that don’t hold transferable worth. By focusing on hidden value alongside financial metrics, leaders can create exits that are fair, sustainable, and truly win-win.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 The Human Side of Business Exits

02:30 Why Deals Derail: Hidden Value and Culture

07:42 Creating Win-Win Exits That Preserve Legacy

08:23 Tip 1: Get Trusted Support

09:06 Tip 2: Relational Risk and Valuation

13:33 Tip 3: Address Phantom Clients

17:28 Tip 4: Unlock Unrealized Opportunities

21:15 Tip 5: Use an Independent Negotiator

24:05 Protecting Legacy Beyond the Deal

Connect with Maartje van Krieken:

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The Chaos Games Consulting

The Business Emergency Room

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Host Maartje van Krieken is a crisis strategist and decision-making expert who thrives in high-stakes business environments. Combining disaster management training, hands-on experience in global industries, and leadership skills honed as a seasoned sailor, she helps businesses navigate chaos with precision. Whether tackling transformation, scaling challenges, or leadership bottlenecks, Maartje delivers actionable insights to turn turbulence into traction.

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Most leaders spend far too much of their day answering questions, and Atiba De Souza believes that habit is holding businesses back. How much more progress could you make if your time went into vision and strategy instead of micromanagement?

Joining Maartje van Krieken in this episode, Atiba, a CEO strategist and team productivity expert, shares why he refuses to answer his staff’s questions and how that decision reshaped the way he leads. He explains why delegation skills matter more than many leaders realize, how empowered teams grow stronger when given clarity and autonomy, and why relying on ego to stay “indispensable” often leads to burnout.

This episode also takes a close look at AI leadership. Can technology actually raise productivity, or does it reveal the gaps in the way we already manage people? Atiba argues that delegation is the common denominator. If you cannot communicate expectations and outcomes clearly to your team, the same issues will surface when you try to delegate to AI. Both require vision, boundaries, and consistency.

The larger takeaway is that leadership is not about being available to answer every question. It is about creating the conditions where questions get answered without you. That starts with setting a strong vision, teaching people how to think instead of what to do, and establishing frameworks for accountability. For leaders, this means reclaiming time to focus on long-term growth. For teams, it means greater confidence, creativity, and ownership. And for organizations, it opens the door to scaling without the constant drag of bottlenecks and dependency.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Atiba De Souza: CEO Strategist & Team Productivity Expert

02:05 Why Leaders Should Stop Answering Questions

04:49 Escaping the Delegation Trap

05:12 Vision as the Core of Leadership

07:23 Empowering Teams with Autonomy

10:11 Teaching People How to Think

16:32 AI Leadership and Productivity Myths

19:02 Asking Better Questions with AI

25:06 Final Insights and How to Connect

Links

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Get Atiba’s Book: “The Delegation Trap”

Atiba De Souza is a CEO Strategist and Team Productivity Expert who helps leaders turn underperforming teams into high-performing, empowered organizations. Known as the “Business Ninja” and “Build Your Team” Guru, he delivers tactical strategies that remove delegation bottlenecks, boost efficiency, and streamline operations. His book The Delegation Trap offers a practical blueprint for leaders ready to elevate their teams. Beyond business, Atiba is a man of faith, a husband, and a father, committed to living the values he teaches.

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Host Maartje van Krieken is a crisis strategist and decision-making expert who thrives in high-stakes...

More leads won’t save your business if your revenue systems, lead quality, and sales pipeline health aren’t working the way they should.

Maartje van Krieken talks with Mark Osborne, a fractional chief revenue officer for boutique professional services and B2B firms, about what really drives sustainable growth. If your team is chasing volume, are you missing the chance to focus on the opportunities that truly matter? Have you ever celebrated a deal only to realize later it cost more in time, energy, and margin than it returned? Mark shares why building strong revenue systems matters more than stacking up tools, how focusing on lead quality shifts the way you allocate resources, and why sales pipeline health is a vital sign that reveals the truth about your business. This episode encourages you to step back from the noise, take an honest look at the systems behind your revenue, and make the kind of deliberate choices that protect margins, strengthen customer relationships, and set your business up for long-term resilience.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 The Importance of a Healthy Revenue System

01:52 Mark Osborne’s Early Career and Internet Marketing

05:01 Transition to Strategy and Process in Marketing

07:52 The Pitfalls of Chasing Quantity Over Quality in Leads

11:04 Symptoms of a Broken Revenue System

16:06 Key Metrics for Healthy Revenue Systems

21:21 Adapting to New Tools and Technologies

26:03 Focused Execution vs. Chasing New Tools

Connect with Mark Osborne:

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Get Mark’s Book: “Are Your Leads KILLING Your Business?”

The B2B Growth Blueprint Podcast

Mark Osborne is an award-winning marketing and sales strategist with over 25 years of experience driving hundreds of millions in revenue for startups, scale-ups, and global enterprises. Named by AdAge as one of the Top 25 Marketing Technology Trailblazers, he combines brand strategy, product marketing, and sales leadership into revenue systems that boost both EBITDA and enterprise value. A Certified Exit Planning Advisor and #1 best-selling author, Mark leads Modern Revenue Strategies with a bold “10X ROI Growth Guarantee,” hosts The B2B Growth Blueprint podcast, and holds an MBA from USC’s Marshall School of Business. Outside of work, he enjoys sport fishing in Cabo and mixing craft cocktails at his tiki bar in Los Angeles.

Connect with Maartje van Krieken:

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The Chaos Games Consulting

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Host Maartje van Krieken is a crisis strategist and decision-making expert who thrives in high-stakes business environments. Combining disaster management training, hands-on experience in global industries, and leadership skills honed as a seasoned sailor, she helps businesses navigate chaos with precision. Whether tackling transformation, scaling challenges, or leadership bottlenecks, Maartje delivers actionable insights to turn turbulence into...

Most business failures can be traced back to weak or rushed due diligence, and that gap often turns into costly business risk. When the stakes are high, whether you are hiring a key leader, buying a company, or entering new partnerships, how do you really know what you are agreeing to? What signs should you pay attention to, and what details are easy to miss?

In this episode, Maartje van Krieken talks about the risks that come when leaders treat due diligence as an afterthought. She shares clear numbers that show how often deals fall apart and brings those numbers to life with real stories, from a merger that exposed hidden problems to a so-called star hire who never even left his old job.

Maartje also offers a five-part framework to help leaders focus: define what success should look like, admit what you do not know, look for the dirty laundry, clear out bias, and set exit options before you need them. These steps will not catch every problem, but they will help you avoid unnecessary risk and build partnerships that can stand the test of time.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Importance of Due Diligence in Business

03:25 High Failure Rates in Acquisitions

03:57 Small Gas Company Merger Example

05:08 Hiring Disaster in Russia

09:05 Public Examples of Due Diligence Failures

09:59 Define Critical Success Factors

12:07 Use AI for Smarter Due Diligence

13:30 Look for the Dirty Laundry

15:28 Eliminate Decision-Making Biases

19:01 Create Outs and Prenups in Partnerships

20:57 Success Story: Oil and Gas Joint Venture

25:33 Final Insights on Managing Business Risk

Connect with Maartje van Krieken:

The Chaos Games Consulting

The Business Emergency Room

LinkedIn

Substack

YouTube

Host Maartje van Krieken is a crisis strategist and decision-making expert who thrives in high-stakes business environments. Combining disaster management training, hands-on experience in global industries, and leadership skills honed as a seasoned sailor, she helps businesses navigate chaos with precision. Whether tackling transformation, scaling challenges, or leadership bottlenecks, Maartje delivers actionable insights to turn turbulence into traction.

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Entrepreneurial coach and author David J. Greer opens up about the side of success most people never see: the quiet reality of high-functioning leaders living with addiction. Maartje van Krieken talks with David about how he built a global software company while privately battling alcoholism for more than 20 years and what finally pushed him toward lasting sobriety. How many leaders keep going at full speed while carrying that kind of hidden weight? And how much does it cost them both personally and professionally?

This episode looks at how entrepreneurial addiction can hide in plain sight, often normalized within business culture and difficult to spot in leaders who seem to have everything under control. David shares the signs worth noticing, how peers and boards can approach difficult conversations, and why lasting change only happens when the individual is ready. The conversation also examines other business coping mechanisms such as workaholism and gambling, asking listeners to reflect on whether they might be using any habit to change the way they feel.

David outlines what leadership recovery can mean in real terms, from choosing a single top priority each quarter to planning ahead for situations where alcohol is part of the environment. His approach blends strategy with self-awareness and shows how leaders can protect their own well-being while keeping their businesses strong. It is a reminder that a thriving business relies on a thriving leader, and that protecting your health is one of the most powerful business decisions you can make.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 The Dark Side of Entrepreneurial Success

01:59 David Greer’s Journey from Startup to Sobriety

05:03 The Turning Point: Admitting Alcoholism and Choosing Recovery

09:18 How to Recognize High-Functioning Addiction in Leaders

14:20 Breaking the Stigma: Alcoholism as a Mental Health Challenge

17:08 Coping Strategies for High-Pressure Business Environments

18:19 Business Coping Mechanisms Beyond Alcohol

22:46 Debunking the Myth of Alcohol as a Business Advantage

23:08 Leadership Recovery Through Daily Focus and Strategic Priorities

26:04 Free Coaching Offer for Entrepreneurs and Leaders

Connect with David J. Greer:

Website

David J. Greer is an entrepreneurial coach, author, and facilitator. He is the catalyst who gets you to fully live your dreams now. Spend one hour reading his book Wind In Your Sails, attend a one hour talk with him, or get one hour of 1-to-1 coaching and you will have 3 concrete action items that will shift and accelerate your business within 90 days. David specializes in working with entrepreneurs challenged with alcoholism or addiction. He and his wife Karalee are committed to each other and their three children, spending time supporting them in the many and varied activities they are involved with. They live in Vancouver, Canada.

Connect with Maartje van Krieken:

The Chaos Games Consulting

The Business Emergency Room

LinkedIn

Substack

YouTube

Host Maartje van Krieken is a crisis strategist and decision-making expert who thrives in high-stakes business environments. Combining disaster management