Spotting Green Flags for Predicting Business Success

Green Flags of a Company (That Nobody Talks About):

Everyone knows the red flags

But after scaling AppSumo from $3M to $80M+ (and driving $500M+ in growth for my clients), I learned to spot the green ones

The ones that predict success before it happens:

1. Your employees bring their friends

Nobody refers their best friend to a sinking ship

It shows employees are committed to staying long term

Plus, A-players attract A-players

2. Leadership debates you to your face

Most exec teams are “yes-men” with mortgages

In a healthy company, your CMO tells you your strategy sucks. Your CTO pushes back on timelines. Your CFO questions every investment

Why? Because they're not scared of getting fired. They're scared of the company failing

Fear breeds silence

Job security breeds honesty

3. Accountability without babysitting

Bad companies: CEO texts at 9pm asking for numbers Good companies: Dashboard updated before you wake up

When accountability is baked in, you don't need to babysit

Because your leadership team has higher standards for the business than you do

4. Happy employees

Basic yet underrated

Miserable employees give minimum effort. They follow scripts. They watch clocks. “Not my circus. Not my monkeys.” is built into the culture

Happy employees break rules to help customers. They stay late because they want to. They turn complaints into testimonials

You can't fake discretionary effort. And customers can smell fake from a mile away

5. Your EA becomes your COO

Not literally. But close. People are learning, upgrading and improving over time

When people grow from entry-level to executive, you've built something special. They know every system, every customer, every skeleton in every closet

External hires bring fresh thinking. Internal promotes bring institutional memory

The best companies have both. The broken ones have neither

6. The founder's golf buddy isn't your CFO

Every failing company has a C-suite full of "College Friends” and “Distant Cousins"

Every scaling company has a C-Suite full of Killers with a track record

They’re in the room because they’re the best for the job, not because of their last name

7. You raise prices and nobody leaves

This is the ultimate test

When you can increase prices 20% and retention stays flat, you've transcended competition

You're not selling a product anymore. You're selling a category of one

We raised prices 3x at AppSumo. Still grew. That's when I knew we'd built something real

8. Customers become your sales team

When customers refer without incentives, you've achieved product love. Not product-market fit. Product LOVE

They're not helping you.

They're helping their friends by introducing them to you.

9. Your strategy fits on a napkin

The best strategies are so simple, your intern could explain them

Complexity is a red flag. Simplicity scales

10. The CEO shows up. Always

I see a lot of founders where one month they're all in, attending every meeting

Next quarter, they're out on vacation

The feast-or-famine CEO is building a feast-or-famine company

Consistency compounds. In markets, in products, and especially in leadership

11. Long-term mindset

No chasing this week’s hack, no shiny-object pivots

The CEO has a long term mindset to the business rather than “How about we launch an NFT?”

12. Revenue per employee is your religion

Most CEOs brag about headcount. "We're 500 strong!"

Ask them about revenue per employee. Watch them squirm

Hiring is easy. Hiring profitably is hard

The best companies hire to scale revenue, not discover it