Michael O. “Coop” Cooper, one of the world’s top business coaches, facilitators and trainers, is the founder of Innovators and Influencers. Coop and The Unapologetic Capitalist discuss how high growth ventures can best work to achieve their major milestones. * Introduction of Show Topic: How High Growth Ventures Can Bridge the Chasm from Today to The Next Major Milestones * Brief Review of Past Shows * 5 Bar Chart * Building the Right and Profitable Customer Base * Cultivating Long Term Loyal Customers * Introduction of Innovators and Leaders & Michael “Coop” Cooper Michael O. “Coop” Cooper, one of the world’s top business coaches, facilitators and trainers, is the founder of Innovators and Influencers. For the past 15 years, he has worked with creative professionals and right-brain entrepreneurs who are shaping and changing the world we live in. He has trained over 1,000 coaches through various training programs and personally mentored over 150 coaches. Prior to focusing solely on coaching, Coop served as a management consultant and strategist with Cambridge Technology Partners and Novell and over the years he has aided clients at Vodafone, Wells Fargo, Southwest Airlines, Seagate, Honda and Sony Computer Entertainment. His management and consulting experience in over 15 countries over the last 20 years has brought him to be an advisor to one of the Top 50 Innovative Companies in America and a coach to one of the Top 50 Designers in America for the past 12 years. He was recently selected by the TED Conference to coach one of their Fellows and was the founding president of the International Association of Coaching. What lights him up is helping people find what lights them up and turning it into a lucrative business that they love. He holds an MBA from the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University in Information Systems and Global Strategic Management. His considerable experience combined with his education allow him to bring his clients the best in cognitive psychology, performance management, organizational & personal development, leadership, communications and influence. For this reason and many others, Coop was awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year award by the City of San Francisco, California, where he currently lives. * Discussion of 3 Key Impediments Toward Achieving Key Milestone in a Growing Venture * Setting the Right Milestones * Having Clarity of the Ventures Current Status * Setting the Appropriate Next Milestones Given Status * Being Disciplined Not to Skip Steps * Understanding Realistic Resources and Timing * Making Prudent and Informed Decisions…Knowing True Costs (hard costs and opportunity costs) * Key Challenges for Ventures: * Gaining Critical Mass of Customers * Getting Adoption of New Innovation from Notoriously Slow Industries (e.g. Health Care and Agriculture) * Inventory Management…Balance of Investment in Inventory & Operations versus Investment in Sales and Business Development * Show Wrap Up