Build Business Value will give you an overview of steps you can begin taking today to build the valuable business you want.

The book does not tell you how to make and sell your product or how to deliver your service - I assume you know how to do all that. The bedrock on which business value rests is that of an excellent product or service, competently delivered, and having a competitive advantage in price, service, or quality.

Instead, this book tells you how to make decisions about the business that will enhance long term value, in lieu of reducing taxes and taking out cash.

There is nothing wrong with operating your business with a goal of reducing taxes and taking out as much cash as you can along the way. But understand that operating the business in this manner will not increase the value of the business over time as much, and if you want to sell the business later, the value will be much lower.

"You can take the value out now, or build value for later, but it's hard to do both."

In the Appendices, I include an Accounting for Entrepreneurs section that lays out the basic financial reports and analysis you may encounter and gives you some very basic tips for interpreting those documents. Any entrepreneur who is intent on building value needs to be conversant with these financial reports and analysis tools.

It is important that you understand how to read these financial reports and basic analysis and understand how others - bankers and buyers - will read them. These financial statements are the lenses through which a lender or acquirer will view your business. By understanding them you can see how the steps in this book will affect value, you can monitor your business' progress along the way, and you can better evaluate the advice your professionals will give you along the way.