Meet David Grau Sr.
I’m David Grau Sr., JD, an award-winning author, former attorney, and longtime advocate for small business owners who want to build something that lasts and makes a difference.
For more than thirty years, I’ve worked with founders and owners on the real-world issues that determine whether a business becomes a durable asset or remains dependent on the person at the center of it. I’ve spent much of my career helping owners think through succession planning, enterprise value, continuity, leadership transition, and long-term business perpetuation. Over time, that work has convinced me of something simple but important: too many good businesses are built around one hardworking founder and never fully become businesses that can thrive without them.
That realization drives my most recent writings.
I write for small business owners who want to build more than a job for themselves. I write for founders who want to create businesses that are durable, profitable, valuable, and transferable — businesses with stronger systems, stronger teams, and more long-term options.
With the publication of The Founder’s Treadmill, I now have six nonfiction books in print for small business owners who want to make a lasting difference.
My story...
I began my small business career as a sole proprietor in my own securities law practice. In the beginning, I was a force of one, hanging out my shingle and starting in the same place as many of you. I loved being a sole proprietor! But in truth as I look back, I owned a job with overhead that depended entirely on me to generate income, handle marketing, sales, customer service and more. It was hard, and fulfilling.
If things didn’t go well, I could have a heart-to-heart talk with the owner every morning, which I did often.
But things got better, the business grew, and I added some much needed help.
In time, I sold my successful small law practice and used the funds to start something bigger – a professional services business specializing in business valuation, succession planning, and exit planning, an operation that came to provide hundreds of business valuations every year (over 15,000 by the time I retired from that business).
Twenty-five years later, I completed my own succession plan from this business, selling my equity incrementally back to the business I started and to the next generation of owners, all of whom I hired directly or indirectly. And then that business continued on without me, as it was designed to do.
In our work at this consulting business, we often challenged our clients to build a business that mattered, or made a difference. We just never got around to explaining how and why, so I decided to fix that with my new books including Building With the End in Mind, (awarded the Bronze Medal by The Global Book Awards committee).
Prior to kind of retiring and writing small business books, I wrote a monthly column in Financial Planning Magazine for six years on the subjects of small business perpetuation, cash flow management, and valuation.
I have also written and published two dozen professional white papers, won a host of national awards, graced a magazine cover or two, and been the subject of numerous articles for my contributions and thought leadership on equity-management and business perpetuation. And there is still much work to be done!
One of the few things I like more than writing is traveling. I’m at home in an airport or in the air. Traveling is a humbling and thought-provoking experience. One moment you’re on top of the world, looking down, immersed in the quiet of your own thoughts and dreams, and the next, you are one of 100,000 people packed into a series of chaotic concourses all trying to get someplace in a hurry during a thunderstorm.
With over 2 million miles and counting now, I have delivered over a thousand presentations and workshops to date in 48 different States.
Thank you for taking the time to visit my author's site and learn more about my story. I look forward to hearing about yours.
My Books
