Today on the podcast, we speak with Charlie Banks. He's the Co-Founder of VentureSouth, an early-stage venture capital firm for Southeastern startups.

Our convo about startups, fundraising, and financial forecasting led us to note that "passion" is obviously essential in business – but it's smart data and detailed numbers that give actual backbone to any business that wants to grow... or eventually get sold / acquired.

In this episode, we speak with Nick Annan, CPA with Elliot Davis. With nearly 17 years of public accounting experience, Nick spends his days very similar to us – serving as controller and CFO advisor to real estate, professional services firms and not-for-profit clients. We always love the chance to talk business and money with Nick.

John and Nick cover some unique nuances of P&Ls, balance sheets, and cashflow statements. But they also dive into why it's so common for business owners to miss the mark with financial planning and forecasting – tasks that can feel murky or daunting, yet offer one of the surest ways to drive predictable success in business and "personal life outside the business".

In this episode, we speak with Mitch Smith, a 4X tech entrepreneur whose had multiple exits and lived to tell about it. Mitch and John discuss the topic of risk in business – what it is, where it shows up, and how to deal with it. We talk about the process of forecasting and seeing around corners, especially when it comes to money. Mitch shares his unique perspectives on how to spend money as an intentional act of decreasing risk in business.