Is your company investment grade? That's the question every business owner, investor, and employee should ask before sinking any time, energy, or cash into an organization. In 17 Reasons Your Company Is Not Investment Grade & What to Do About It, Zane Tarence, investment banker and serial entrepreneur describes the 17 interrelated characteristics that make a company investment worthy. Characteristics include: Revenue, growth rate, innovation, sales process, customer base, brand, culture, competitive advantage and more. Tarence provides specific, actionable recommendations related to all 17 characteristics that owners of companies in any industry can implement immediately.

As Tarence defines them, investment-grade companies are private companies that:

1. Generate predictable cash flow
2. Deliver tangible value to all stakeholders
3. Attract top talent
4. Can support add-on acquisitions
5. Give their owners freedom

Whether owners plan to raise funds, self-fund, recapitalize, purchase, or roll up additional companies, sell, or stay in their companies forever, creating an investment-grade company is critical.

Zane Tarence has spent over 25 years creating, investing in, advising and selling technology-based businesses. He is a speaker, author, and partner and managing director of Founders Advisors, LLC, a Birmingham-based investment banking firm.