Bo Burlingham Books

One of the biggest misconceptions I encountered among entrepreneurs is that an exit is purely a financial event. Yes, money matters—it provides security, freedom, and options. But when I sat down with business owners who had sold their companies, those who felt happiest didn’t talk first about the d...

From Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top

Emotionally, leaving your company can feel like losing a part of yourself. For many founders, their identity is so fused with their business that they struggle to imagine life without it. One entrepreneur told me that selling his company felt like 'giving up a child for adoption'—and that metaphor a...

From Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top

To understand what makes a company a Small Giant, we first need to question what we truly mean by 'greatness.' For decades, business orthodoxy has equated greatness with growth—more employees, more offices, more revenue, more everything. Yet, when I sat with founders of remarkable small companies, I...

From Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big

When I began researching Small Giants, I wanted to move beyond theory and find real examples of companies embodying this spirit. The selection process took me across industries and communities, from food to manufacturing to arts. The only consistent thread was independence—every company was privatel...

From Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big