For funded startups, universities, and corporations building innovation programs and growth systems
Master Timing, Unit Economics, and Innovation Engines.
I focus on three things. I work with executives to identify and capture market timing advantages, to analyze and sharpen unit economics, and to build accelerators/incubators. My background spans funded startups and Fortune 500 companies. The result is execution with tangible outcomes.
Why Now: How Good Timing Makes Great Products
They say that timing is one of the most important things in business. But how do you figure out if your timing is right? This book will guide you.
Learn to identify drivers of good timing, business model impact, and how to apply what’s changing to your own situation. With examples from many companies – successful and failed – this book offers founding teams, product managers, investors, and innovation groups a way to evaluate timing in their own situations.
You will learn how to run a Why Now Session and build a Timing Map, evaluate patterns, and see how timing shifts market size. You’ll explore case studies across industries such as digital photography, rideshare, music streaming, and more.
Get the book
Growth Units
How do businesses sustainably grow? Whether you’re a startup founder trying to improve the odds to raise your next round, or a Fortune 100 businessperson looking for ways to optimize an already sustainable business, you need to understand the ways you acquire customers and generate revenue from them.
This book will help you assess and improve your unit economics — Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Lifetime Value (LTV), and more. Drawing on 15 case studies and numerous analytical models, the book shows how metrics vary depending on situation and goals.
You will learn how to calculate CAC and LTV (and why they can be imperfect), manage cost of growth, distinguish between growth and scale, and see why some businesses with “good” economics still shut down. Case studies include mobility, consumer packaged goods, subscriptions, mattress stores, food delivery, and more.
Get the book
About Paul
Professor of entrepreneurship at USC. Director of the USC Marshall/Greif Incubator. Advisor to PE-backed and venture-funded teams. I help organizations build innovation programs and help companies get traction.
- Leads accelerators/incubators and executive workshops internationally.
- Wrote “Why Now: How Good Timing Makes Great Products”
- Works with funded startups, corporate teams, and universities worldwide.
From the blog
50 Timing Examples
A tour of research, founder takes, and failure modes that reveal how timing drives outcomes.
Surviving the Investment Climate with Unit Economics
Why investors care about CAC, LTV, and disciplined growth — and how to prove it.
Innovation Accelerator Model
What corporates gain from accelerators, what startups risk, and how the model has evolved.
Let’s work on the right things
Tell me where you are, what’s blocked, and the outcomes you want.
Work with Paul