The 1000-Day CEO

Bill Canady's Podcast for PE-Backed CEOs

Real conversations with CEOs, founders, private equity leaders, and operators who’ve created measurable results — the decisions, leadership principles, and strategies behind profitable growth.

About the show

The Bill Canady Podcast features conversations with CEOs, founders, private equity leaders, and business operators who’ve created measurable results. Each episode explores the decisions, leadership principles, and operating strategies behind profitable growth — giving peers practical insights they can apply in their own organizations.

Every episode features accomplished operators sharing practical lessons from real-world leadership. From scaling businesses to navigating transformation, the focus is always on actionable insights that help others succeed.

Recent episodes

New episodes drop regularly. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Deezer and everywhere you listen.

The 1000-Day CEO

The 1000-Day CEO is a show for private equity sponsors and the CEO operators who run their portfolio companies. Host Bill Canady of the 80/20 Institute breaks down how value actually gets created inside a portco — finding the number, building the team, and turning the first 1,000 days of a hold into durable EBITDA and a clean exit. Direct, practical, and built for the people accountable for the outcome.

Would a buyer want the business you are building?

Matt Tortora, founder of Drive Equity, joins Bill Canady to explore what makes a founder-owned company more valuable—and why exit preparation starts years before a sale.

A strong profit number is only part of the story. Matt and Bill discuss founder dependence, customer concentration, recurring revenue, gross margins and clean financials through a buyer’s eyes. They explain why a headline valuation can look very different from the cash and risk a seller takes away from a deal.

The conversation then turns to acquisitions: defining what to buy and why, considering equity, debt and seller financing, building an organization that can absorb another company, and assessing cultural fit. Matt also shares the personal adjustment of moving from founder to employee after an exit.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Build systems and a management team that can perform without the founder.

• Work backward from an exit goal using realistic assumptions and sustainable earnings.

• Prepare the acquisition thesis, financing and integration plan before pursuing a deal.

CONNECT WITH MATT TORTORA

Drive Equity: https://www.driveequity.co/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mtortora

FREE CEO TOOLS

Business Valuation Calculator: https://the8020institute.com/business-valuation-calculator/

Profitable Growth Scorecard: https://the8020institute.com/profitable-growth-scorecard/

Profit Concentration Analyzer: https://the8020institute.com/profit-concentration/

Price Increase Impact Calculator: https://the8020institute.com/price-increase-calculator/