Business By Design
Business by Design is the podcast for owners who want to start, scale or exit a business. Each week, Stuart Wemyss and Mena Abraham unpack the four things every business must get right: value, engine, reach and team. Using the VERT flywheel, they show how these fit together to build a business that runs without you, and how the choices you make inside the business flow through to your personal wealth, lifestyle and exit options. Every episode is short and to the point, with no fluff and no sales pitches. Go to https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com
Ep 194: How to reverse-engineer your customer’s ‘Yes’
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Before you can test whether people will pay, you need to know whose "yes" you're actually chasing, and most owners get this wrong in a very specific way.
In this Value deep dive, Stuart and Mena introduce reverse-engineering the yes: start from the moment someone buys, then work backwards to the buyer, the outcome, and the trigger that got them there.
Mena explains why "business owners" or "SMEs" isn't a target customer at all, just a category, using Peloton, Chewy, and Lululemon to show how precision changes everything from p...
Ep 193: Stop scaling until someone actually pays you what you want/need
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Founders love to scale, but scaling before anyone has paid a real price for a real outcome simply converts a slow failure into a fast, expensive one.
In this episode, the first in a deep dive on Value, Stuart names the trap: scaling doesn't fix a weak offer; it just gives that weak offer more customers, more overhead, and more cash to burn.
Mena draws the crucial line between attention and demand. Compliments, engagement, and "I'd definitely buy that" are evidence of interest, not a sale. The only test...
Ep 192: Can you describe your business model in four sentences?
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Here's the challenge Stuart opens with: describe your business in four honest sentences, one each for why customers pay, how you deliver profitably, how the right people find you, and how quality holds as you grow.
Most owners can talk about their business for an hour but can't compress it into four sentences that survive scrutiny, and that vagueness is itself the problem. This isn't an elevator pitch; it's a decision filter that reveals where you're genuinely strong and where you're quietly weak.
Mena walks through the four questions...
Ep 191: Why your business has four problems, not forty
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The three "killers" thin margins, poor reach, and weak demand- tell you what's failing, but not what to build. In this episode, Stuart and Mena introduce VERT: Value, Engine, Reach, and Team the operating system underneath those symptoms, and the four things you actually control. By the end, you'll have a single model to run every business decision through, instead of juggling forty disconnected problems.
Mena maps the four pillars onto the three killers: margins sit at the intersection of Value (what you can charge) and Engine (what it costs to...
Ep 190: Thin margins and empty pipelines are design problems
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A thin margin and an empty pipeline both feel like effort problems, so owners respond with more hours. It rarely works. In this episode, Stuart and Mena reframe both as outputs of how a business is designed its pricing, positioning, and channels- not how hard anyone is trying. Working harder on a broken design just scales the problem and burns the founder out.
Mena starts with margin, and the distinction most owners never consciously made: are you a price maker or a price taker? In a price-taker industry like mortgage broking...
Ep 189 : Does anyone actually want what you sell?
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Before you fix your product, your marketing, or your team, Stuart and Mena argue you have to pressure-test something more fundamental: demand. Get it wrong, and everything else simply compounds a weak foundation. The uncomfortable question most owners skip is deceptively simple: what problem are you solving, for whom, stated specifically rather than in flattering generalities? Plenty of clever products are just solutions looking for a problem.
The single best test is asking what it costs your customer to do nothing. When the cost of inaction is high, financially, emotionally, socially...
Ep 188: Most failing businesses are failing at one thing, not twenty
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When a business underperforms, owners tend to assume the cause is complex and set about fixing everything at once. It feels productive, and it almost always fails. Stuart and Mena open with a contrarian claim: struggling businesses are far simpler to diagnose than their owners think. The trouble usually traces to a weakness in just one of three fundamentals.
They lay out the three "killers" plainly. First, the revenue you don't keep: thin margins can make a business look healthy while leaving no buffer for mistakes, volatility, or investment. Second, a...
Ep 187: Why We Retired "The Holistic Accountant"
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After five years, Stuart and Mena are deliberately retiring a brand that was working, and the reasoning matters more than the rename. Through an accounting lens, they argue, you can tell what already happened to profit and cash, but never why a business produces those numbers or whether they'll repeat. A clean tax structure sitting on top of a fragile business is still a fragile business. Optimising the tax bill was only ever treating the symptom.
In this episode, they introduce VERT—Value, Engine, Reach and Team, the four reinforcing parts th...
Ep 186: The Holiday Test: Can your business run without you?
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The holiday test is deceptively simple. If you took four weeks off with no phone, would your business hold its standard, or would it quietly degrade without you? For most business owners, the honest answer points not to a workload problem but to a design problem, and this episode tackles it directly.
Stuart opens by reframing the issue: a business that depends on the founder for most decisions is not really a business. It is a job that pays the owner to turn up. That dependency creates a single point of...
Ep 185: Warning- Asking for feedback and ignoring it is a liability
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Asking for customer feedback and then ignoring it is not a neutral act; it tells the customer more about the business than any service failure could on its own. This episode opens with a real example of a high-profile restaurant that solicited specific criticism, replied with a templated response, and confirmed the original concern in the process. It is a pattern more common than most business owners realise, and the commercial cost is significant.
Stuart and Mena work through why business owners are structurally poor at seeing their own weaknesses, why...
Ep 184: Stop hiring on gut feel: a scorecard process that works
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Most business owners have at least one hiring regret, and most can trace it back to a decision that felt right at the time. The problem is rarely a lack of effort in the interview. It is a lack of structure before and during it. Gut feel tends to reward confidence, charm, and the ability to perform well in a conversation, none of which reliably predict how someone will actually perform in the role.
This episode introduces a structured, scorecard-based hiring process designed to replace impression-driven decisions with evidence. Stuart and...
Ep 183: How business owners can navigate the proposed tax changes
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The proposed 2026 budget tax changes have generated significant concern among business owners, but most of the commentary has focused on politics rather than practical strategy. This episode cuts through the noise and addresses what small business owners should actually be thinking about before any of these changes become law.
Stuart and Mena work through three areas where the proposed changes have the greatest potential impact. On trust taxation, the discussion explores how limiting income splitting to family members on lower tax rates shifts the planning focus from who receives income to...
Ep 182: EOFY tax planning for business owners
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EOFY Planning for Business Owners: What to Do Before 30 June
With the end of the financial year fast approaching, business owners still have time to make decisions that can legitimately reduce tax, improve cash flow, and strengthen their financial position before 30 June.
In this episode, Stuart and Mena cut through the noise surrounding EOFY planning and focus on the practical strategies that matter most. They discuss the key areas every business owner should be reviewing in the final weeks of the financial year, including the timing of deductions, managing...
Ep 181: Buy your premises or trap your cash? The OpCo-PropCo test
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Owning your business premises feels like progress, security, control, and the satisfaction of paying rent to yourself rather than a landlord. But for many founders, it is a decision that quietly traps capital, reduces flexibility, and concentrates risk in ways that only become apparent years later.
This episode introduces the OpCo-PropCo framework as a structured way to think through one of the most consequential capital decisions a business owner can make. Stuart and Mena explain why the trading business and the property holding entity have fundamentally different risk profiles, return expectations...
Ep 180: Expansion math: when a new site actually makes you poorer
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A second location, a new service line, a broader geographic footprint, expansion feels like the logical next step for a business that has found its footing. But for many founders, it is precisely where profitability begins to quietly unwind.
This episode confronts the expansion illusion directly: the belief that more locations automatically mean more profit. Stuart and Mena explain how revenue growth can mask margin compression, duplicated overhead, and the cultural and operational drift that sets in once founder oversight is stretched across multiple sites. The emotional drivers, ego, validation, boredom...
Ep 179: From lumpy projects to predictable annual recurring revenue
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Project-based businesses face a fundamental structural problem: every quarter begins at zero. Revenue can look strong on the surface while cash flow remains volatile, pipeline uncertainty delays hiring decisions, and the founder stays personally essential to winning and scoping every engagement. Effort scales linearly. Value does not.
This episode challenges the treadmill dynamic head-on, starting with a clear diagnosis of why project businesses stall at scale, utilisation ceilings, margin leakage, scope creep, and inconsistent client experience. Stuart and Mena then reframe the recurring revenue conversation, pushing back on the idea that...
Ep 178: Lifestyle creep is a capital allocation problem
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Surplus cash flow is not the same as freedom; it is a decision point. And what a founder does with it reveals whether they are building income, lifestyle, or enterprise value. This episode frames lifestyle creep not as a personal failing but as a capital allocation problem with real commercial consequences.
Stuart and Mena explore why founders blur the line between personal reward and business extraction once cash pressure eases, and why emotional spending decisions made inside the business create both tax risk and strategic cost. The episode covers the Div 7...
Ep 177: Controls without bureaucracy- how to scale safely
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Most businesses only take controls seriously after something goes wrong—and by then, the cost is already high.
In this episode, Stuart and Mena explain why controls become essential as a business grows. In the early stages, trust and visibility can be enough. But as complexity increases with more people, more transactions, and less direct oversight, that approach starts to break down.
The key point is simple: trust is not a control system. Even good people make mistakes, especially under pressure.
Stuart outlines a practical, risk-based approach to...
Ep 176: Div 7A liquidity without the tax blow-up
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Most Division 7A problems don’t begin with strategy; they begin with behaviour.
Money is taken out of the business without a clear plan, documentation falls behind, and by the time advice is sought, the structure is already under pressure.
In this episode, Stuart and Mena unpack why Division 7A issues are rarely technical at the start. They are usually the result of poor systems, unclear boundaries between personal and business finances, and year-end decisions made under time pressure.
Mena explains what Division 7A strategies, including 7-year an...
Ep 175: Buy lease or finance: how to make the right call
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“The tax deduction makes it worth it” is one of the most common and costly mistakes business owners make.
In this episode, Stuart and Mena break down why taxes should never be the primary reason for acquiring an asset. A deduction can improve the outcome of a good decision, but it cannot turn a poor investment into a good one.
The real question is far more commercial: will the asset generate a return that exceeds its total cost?
Mena walks through how to define that return properly, whet...
Ep 174: The delegation tax- saving money is costing you millions
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Most business owners focus on hiring costs while completely missing what their own time costs the business.
In this episode, Stuart and Mena unpack “The Delegation Tax,” the hidden cost of founders staying too involved in low-value work. It’s not salaries that hold businesses back; it’s bottlenecks. When decision-making, approvals, and execution all run through one person, growth slows, opportunities are missed, and the business becomes harder to scale.
Mena explores why “I’ll just do it myself” feels efficient in the moment but creates long-term drag, and the critic...
Ep 173: Most team problems are actually clarity problems
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In this episode, Stuart and Mena challenge one of the most common assumptions in business: that underperformance is a people problem. Instead, he makes the case that most issues inside a team stem from a lack of clarity, unclear expectations, mixed signals, and poorly defined standards.
They explain why most employees genuinely want to do good work, and how vague instructions like “do a great job” fail unless they are translated into specific, observable outcomes. From quality standards and turnaround times to communication and ownership, Stuart breaks down what “great” actually looks li...
Ep 172: Capital allocation policy: owner wage, buffers, reinvestment, investing, lifestyle
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Random distributions create random wealth outcomes.
In this episode, Stuart and Mena introduce the concept most business owners don’t have, but desperately need: a written capital allocation policy.
They break down how surplus cash should be intentionally directed across six competing uses: owner wage, tax, buffers, reinvestment, external investing, and lifestyle. Because if it’s not decided in advance, it gets decided emotionally.
They explore structural landmines like Division 7A traps, retained earnings build-up, arbitrary distribution caps, and how tax minimisation can unintentionally block wealth creation.
Ep 171: The gross margin lie: your mark-up math is wrong
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You think you’re making 40%. In reality, you might be making 15%.
In this episode, Stuart and Mena expose the “mark-up illusion”, the common mistake of calculating margin on materials alone while ignoring direct labour, superannuation, payroll tax, leave entitlements, contractor equivalents, and production-related costs.
When gross margin is miscalculated, everything downstream breaks: pricing, hiring, scaling, and cash flow planning.
They walk through a simple example that shows how small changes in margin dramatically outperform chasing revenue growth. Improving gross margin by just 3% can generate the same profit uplift...
Ep 170: Data room first: exit readiness starts 24 months early
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You cannot scramble your way to a premium exit in 90 days.
In this episode, Stuart and Mena explain why serious exit preparation begins at least two years before you plan to sell, and why buyers immediately discount businesses that look messy, unclear, or founder-dependent.
They walk through what buyers are actually purchasing: predictable cashflow, transferable systems, and low risk. Not personality. Not a heroic effort. Not potential.
From tax structuring and Small Business CGT eligibility to clean financials, normalised EBITDA, contract hygiene, IP ownership, and key-person risk...
Ep 169: Shadow Equity: Incentives without giving away shares
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At some point, every growing business owner faces the same dilemma: how do you get owner-level thinking from key staff without handing over real equity?
In this episode, Stuart and Mena unpack the concept of shadow equity incentive structures designed to drive performance and long-term thinking without introducing governance risk. Because real equity isn’t just upside participation. It comes with voting rights, decision influence, exit complications, and potential future conflict.
They explain the difference between real shares, ESOPs, phantom equity, profit share, and long-term incentive plans, an...
Ep 168: The key person discount & the sabbatical stress test: why your business is devaluing you
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Here’s a confronting question: If you disappeared for 30 days, what actually breaks?
In this episode, Stuart and Mena unpack the Key Person Discount, the invisible valuation penalty applied when a business is overly dependent on its founder. Buyers, banks, and investors assume the worst when continuity relies on one individual, and they price that risk in quietly but aggressively.
They walk through the real failure points exposed when founders step away: authority bottlenecks, stalled approvals, missed compliance, decision paralysis, and team over-reliance. Then introduce a powerful co...
Ep 167: The Finance Function Evolution: bookkeeper → controller → virtual CFO
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Many business owners feel stuck in the uncomfortable middle: too big for basic bookkeeping, but not ready or willing to pay for a full-time CFO. The result? Numbers that exist, but don’t drive decisions.
In this episode, Stuart and Mena break down the three distinct layers of the finance function and why skipping or compressing them causes so many businesses to stall. They explain what bookkeeping is meant to do (and where it stops), why the controller role is the most misunderstood yet most critical layer, and when a...
Ep 166: Philanthropy at Scale: Private Ancillary Funds & Giving With Governance
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Philanthropy changes when wealth reaches a certain scale. It stops being about one-off generosity and starts becoming a question of structure, intent, and legacy.
In this episode, Stuart and Mena explore Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs) and why they are increasingly used by high-net-worth families who want to give back in a deliberate, governed, and sustainable way. They unpack what a PAF actually is, how it works, and why it’s best understood as part of a broader wealth architecture, not a tax tactic or emotional response to causes.
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Ep 165: When choosing an accountant on price may quietly cost you more
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Most business owners believe accounting is a commodity. The tax return gets lodged, the ATO is paid, and everything looks fine, so why pay more?
In this episode, Stuart and Mena unpack why choosing an accountant purely on price can quietly cost you far more over time, even when nothing appears “wrong”. They explain why tax and accounting stop being mechanical once a business grows, and why judgment, not compliance, is where real value (or damage) occurs.
Stuart explores how seemingly harmless defaults around profit extraction, entity structures, retained earn...
Ep 164: Financial Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make in Their First Three Years
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In the early years of running a business, most financial mistakes aren’t dramatic; they’re subtle, common, and quietly destructive. And by the time many entrepreneurs realise something is wrong, the damage is already done.
In this episode, Stuart and Mena break down the most common financial mistakes entrepreneurs make in their first three years and, more importantly, how a CFO would approach them differently.
We cover why mixing personal and business money creates blind spots, why profit does not equal cash, and how underpricing can quietly turn a bu...
Ep 163 : Best of 2025 - How to read financial statements like a CFO
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Most business owners glance at their financial statements and move on. CFOs do the opposite; they use them as a decision-making tool to spot risks early, improve performance, and protect cash flow.
In this episode, Stuart and Mena break down how CFOs actually read financial statements, in plain English, without jargon or accounting theory. They walk through the three core questions every set of numbers should answer: is the business profitable, is it financially healthy, and is it actually growing? You’ll learn why revenue is rarely the starting point, why gro...
Ep 162: Best of 2025- How to tax effectively get money out of a company
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In this episode, Stuart and Mena explore one of the most common and misunderstood questions business owners face: how to tax-effectively get money into and out of a company. Whether you’re starting a business, investing in one, or managing retained profits, understanding the right structure from the outset can save you from costly mistakes later on.
They walk through the key ways to fund a company, either by loaning money in or contributing share capital, and explain when each method is most appropriate. If there are multiple owners involved, Stuart an...
Ep 161: Best of 2025- Navigating the main residence 6-year rule CGT exemption
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In this episode, Mena and Stuart unpack the ins and outs of Australia’s often misunderstood 6-year CGT exemption rule for main residences. They explore how this powerful tax concession can help homeowners maximise profits when selling a property they no longer live in, particularly those who rent it out after moving. Listeners will learn the exact eligibility criteria, including how to ensure a property still qualifies as your main residence for tax purposes even while it’s earning rental income.
Stuart explains how the exemption resets if you move back in...
Ep 160: Best of 2025- Strategies to minimise CGT
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In this episode, Stuart and Mena take a deep dive into one of the biggest and often most misunderstood taxes investors face, Capital Gains Tax (CGT). Whether you're dealing with property, shares, or business assets, they explain why the smartest CGT strategies begin not at the point of sale, but before you even buy the asset.
They start by breaking down how CGT works, who gets the 50% discount, and why holding structures, like companies, individuals, or discretionary trusts, make a huge difference in the final tax bill. Mena explores how to...
Ep 159: Best of 2025- Tax changes for 2025-26 financial year
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In this episode, Mena and Stuart unpack the latest tax updates for the 2025–26 financial year, helping listeners navigate changes that could impact their personal finances and business planning. They kick off with the Super Guarantee (SG) increase to 12%, highlighting what this means for employers and employees alike. Next, they discuss the end of deductions for ATO interest charges, a significant shift that removes tax relief on General Interest Charges (GIC) and Shortfall Interest Charges (SIC) from 1 July.
Listeners will learn about the $150 energy rebate, a 30% home battery discount, and the extended $20,000 in...
Ep 158 : 500+ of interviews, top 5 lessons: what every successful business owner must know
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In this episode, Stuart and Mena unpack the five lessons that kept surfacing across 500+ founder interviews from The School of Hard Knocks, and translate them into actions for ambitious owners. First: persistence beats genius. Treat growth like a “game of doubles,” stacking small wins and showing up long after motivation fades. Second: reframe failure and take calculated risks; each “no” is a step closer to “yes,” provided you protect the downside and live to learn. Third: invest for freedom, not flash. Prioritise asset-building (real estate, equity, quality yield) over liabilities, use sensible leverage, and let comp...
Ep 157: The strategic shortcut- 5 questions that transform business growth
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In this episode, Stuart and Mena unveil a strategic shortcut for time-poor founders: five questions that cut through noise and pinpoint the few moves that truly move the needle. They start with “Why frameworks matter,” showing how focusing on choosing one or two high-value projects beats juggling 27 “priorities.” Then they work the 5-Question framework: (1) Where will we play? Define tight boundaries (industry, geography, customer, offer) to sharpen positioning and margins. (2) Who’s on the team? Replace owner-dependence with a small bench of A-players, clear accountabilities, and smart tech. (3) How will we win? Translate your edge...
Ep 156: 10 important business tips from Verne Harnish
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In this episode, Stuart and Mena unpack ten punchy lessons from Verne Harnish’s Scaling Up, plus a sharp LinkedIn distillation by Jennifer Berkowitz, and translate them for Australian SMEs. They start with the big two: why speed wins (compress decision-to-execution with short cycles, guardrails, and rapid prototypes) and why simplicity scales (a one-page strategy everyone can explain). Then it’s “you can’t grow what you don’t measure”: weekly, not quarterly, tracking of lead flow, conversion, average order value, labour efficiency, delivery time, and retention. They tackle Goldratt’s core idea, fix the single...
Ep 155: When to Rethink Your Advisors- Red Flags With Your Accountant or Advisor
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In this candid episode, Stuart and Mena unpack the red flags that signal it’s time to rethink your accountant or business advisor, and what “great” should look like instead. They start with the biggest warning sign: a reactive advisor who only appears at tax time. From there, they cover a checklist of concerns, including advisors who don’t understand your industry or goals, cling to outdated systems, hide behind vague invoices, sugarcoat tough truths, miss deadlines, or get defensive when you ask questions.
Stuart and Mena draw a clear line between b...
