One of our largest customers accounts for 35 percent of our revenue. How do we use structured Thinking Time to address this customer concentration risk during our three-year runway without hurting our short-term EBITDA?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

High customer concentration is a major red flag that will cause prospective buyers to heavily discount your company or demand a massive earn-out. To protect your valuation, you must use your three-year runway to systematically dilute this risk. To solve this complex problem, schedule dedicated Thinking Time sessions. This is uninterrupted, scheduled time with no digital distractions, specifically designed to tackle your biggest business bottlenecks. Before you sit down, formulate a high-value question using the How might I... so that I can... framing. For example, ask yourself, how might we leverage our experience with our largest client to win three similar mid-sized accounts so that we can reduce our concentration risk without sacrificing our current profitability? During your Thinking Time, write down every potential solution without filtering. You might realize you can repackage the unique methodology you built for your main client and sell it to non-competing businesses in adjacent markets. Or you might identify high-margin upsell opportunities within your existing base of smaller clients. Once you have a list of potential strategies, bring them to your next quarterly planning session. Convert the best ideas into company Rocks and assign them to your leadership team. By dedicating focused mental energy to this issue early in your runway, you can systematically build a diversified revenue stream that makes your business far more attractive to buyers.