Behind The Numbers

About Behind The Numbers

Behind The Numbers With Dave Bookbinder explores the financial, strategic, operational, and human factors that drive business performance and enterprise value. Hosted by Dave Bookbinder, ASA, CEIV, business valuation expert, author, and corporate finance executive, the podcast looks beyond the numbers to uncover what makes businesses successful, what creates sustainable competitive advantage, and what ultimately drives business value. The financial statements tell part of the story. Leadership, strategy, organizational culture, intellectual property, employee engagement, and execution help explain the rest. Through conversations with accomplished CEOs, CFOs, entrepreneurs, authors, and financial thought leaders, Dave explores topics including business valuation (https://newroi.com/business-valuation-articles/?utm_source=chatgpt.com), corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), exit planning, business growth, leadership, technology, and human capital. Each conversation offers practical perspectives on the decisions, capabilities, and intangible assets that influence a company's performance and long-term value. Recognized with two best-in-category podcast awards and reaching listeners in more than 100 countries, Behind The Numbers With Dave Bookbinder brings together business insights from across industries and disciplines. Because numbers tell the story, but the people bring it to life.

Publisher

Behind The Numbers With Dave Bookbinder

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

7 Aug 2019

Latest episode

27 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

124 of 345 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   27 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   How to Turn Financial Data into a Forward-Looking Growth Engine - Jon Morris

   Stop looking in the rear-view mirror and start using your financial data to drive profitable business growth. In this episode of Behind the Numbers, host Dave Bookbinder sits down with Jon Morris, founder of Fiscal Advocate and Engine BI, who famously bootstrapped Rise Interactive from a $10,000 business plan win into a near-$40 million powerhouse. Jon breaks down his pivotal 2009 inflection point that forced him to master financial metrics, showing why financial planning and analysis (FP&A) must function as a proactive strategy rather than a rear-view accounting exercise. Together, they explore the concrete frameworks leaders need to eliminate margin leaks, accurately evaluate marketing ROI using payback and cost-to-acquire metrics, and safely budget for R&D in a service business. Mastering your numbers is the ultimate key to unlocking cash, making confident decisions, and maximizing your company's true enterprise value. The Three Numbers That Matter: Cash relative to overhead, net profit margin, and year-over-year revenue growth. Smart Financial Operations: Fixing profit leaks, optimizing owner draws, and leveraging modern AI tools to drive efficiency without team burnout. Mastering your numbers is the ultimate key to unlocking cash, making confident decisions, and maximizing your company's true enterprise value. About our guest: Jon Morris is the Founder and CEO of Fiscal Advocate Inc, a technology-enabled professional services company powered by EngineBI software.  Prior to Fiscal Advocate, he established Rise Interactive in 2004 with prize money from his second-place finish in the University of Chicago's prestigious New Venture Challenge.  Over the next 16 years, he grew Rise from a one-person shop to one of the largest independent marketing agencies in the world.  After selling Rise, Jon pondered his next move and realized that he was most energized when connecting and helping fellow entrepreneurs grow their businesses.Fiscal Advocate is the product of this inspiration.  Jon recognized that focusing on insights-driven finance was instrumental in Rise’s success and understood that other agencies, in fact, nearly any professional service company, could benefit from it.  So, like at Rise, Jon developed a proprietary, tech-enabled approach for surfacing the hidden financial insights that drive critical business decisions. Fiscal Advocate’s innovative, tech-enabled financial management is designed to help professional service companies drive revenue growth, save time, increase profitability, and improve cash position.  These services include basic accounting and bookkeeping, cash flow analysis, month-end analysis, as well as annual planning and forecasting using EngineBI software. About the Host: Dave Bookbinder is known as a trusted provider for independent business valuations, corporate asset appraisals, and exit planning advisory and he is the person that business owners and their advisors reach out to when they need to know what their most important assets are worth. Known as a collaborative adviser, Dave has served thousands of client companies of all sizes and industries. Dave is the author of two #1 best-selling books about the impact of human capital (PEOPLE!) on the valuation of a business enterprise called The NEW ROI: Return On Individuals & The NEW ROI: Going Behind The Numbers. He’s on a mission to change the conversation about how the accounting world recognizes the value of people’s contributions to a business enterprise, and to quantify what every CEO on the planet claims: “Our people are this company’s most valuable asset.” Dave’s book, A Valuation Toolbox for Business Owners and Their Advisors: Things Every Business Owner Should Know, was recognized as a top new release in Business and Valuation and is designed to provide practical insights and tools to help understand what really drives business value, how to prepare for an exit, and just make better decisions. He’s als

2. 

   20 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   How to 10x Your Business without Founder Burnout - Blake Erickson

   Host Dave Bookbinder interviews Blake Erickson, co-founder of Scaling.com, on engineering 10x business growth without founder burnout through simplification and strategic hiring.

3. 

   13 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Human-First Marketing Strategies That Convert Social Media into Measurable ROI - Phil Treagus-Evans

   Host Dave Bookbinder interviews Phil Treagus-Evans, Founder and CEO of Giraffe Social Media, about human-first marketing strategies that convert social media into measurable ROI.

Inside a recent episode

How to Turn Financial Data into a Forward-Looking Growth Engine - Jon Morris

Published 27 Oct 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] Yeah, allocating your resources to the highest and best potential ROI. But you're alluding to something that I see a lot, and I work with founders, indeed. A lot of them suffer from what you might think of as math anxiety or a financial overwhelm. In other words, they love what they do. They love the product or service that they really don't get into the financials and spreadsheets. How do you help leaders shift from viewing finance as a boring chore to seeing it as really a strategic lever? So a couple of things. One, you mentioned the fear of just massive amounts of numbers. I actually believe there's only three numbers that matter. […]

Who has been a guest on Behind The Numbers

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Blake Erickson
• Phil Treagus-Evans
• Christine Nicholson
• Dr Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer
• Cheryl Einhorn

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

30,910

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

69 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

7 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 82 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

99

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

85

Contact Behind The Numbers

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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