Announcing the launch of Zero to $100M by Jacob Schlesinger
THE LAUNCH
After two years of writing, editing, and field testing the frameworks against real companies between one million and one hundred million in revenue, the book is finally in print. Zero to $100M is available now in hardcover through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and every major retailer that orders from Ingram. The Kindle edition and audiobook follow within thirty days.
Why this book was written
Most operating manuals get written by people who never carried the payroll. This one was not. The material in Zero to $100M came out of three decades inside the companies that build, manufacture, and distribute what the country actually runs on. Construction. Plastics. Cooling. Modular. Staffing. Distribution. Companies between five million and three hundred million in revenue. Companies where the founder still answers the phone.
Zero to $100M is not a theory book. It is a field guide. Twenty plus frameworks pulled from the actual work of taking a flexible products manufacturer from zero to three hundred million and a private equity backed exit, turning around a consumer hardware company through a one hundred twenty five percent revenue increase and a public company sale, running a global plastics manufacturer at two hundred million in revenue as COO, consolidating sixteen operating entities under a single construction holding company, and operating multiple lower middle market companies through cycles that ended in either a sale or a wall.
Who this book is for
Zero to $100M is written for the founder, CEO, COO, and managing director of the company that is past startup and not yet institutional. The five million to one hundred million range. The range that creates more aggregate wealth than venture backed software and receives a fraction of the attention.
If any of the following sounds familiar, the book was written for you:
- The ceiling is closer than it looks. You can feel growth slowing and you do not yet know whether it is the market, the team, or the operating system.
- Revenue is up and margin is not. The company is bigger and the business is harder to run. Complexity is compounding faster than revenue.
- The founder is the bottleneck. Every important decision still routes through one person and nobody is comfortable saying it out loud.
- Private equity is calling. You are not sure whether the company is ready, whether the multiple is real, and what the next five years look like after the close.
- The next hundred million is the hardest. What got the company to ten or twenty million will not get it to a hundred, and the playbook has not been written down anywhere.
What is inside the book
Twenty plus frameworks. Ten chapters. Every framework field tested in companies that paid the bill when it did not work and kept paying when it did.
- Growth Quality Index and the Revenue Filter for separating revenue that compounds from revenue that drains.
- Founder Dependency Audit and the Three Bottleneck Model for finding the constraints before the constraints find you.
- Margin Protection Model and Complexity Risk Map for staying profitable as the business scales.
- Operational Cadence Blueprint for the weekly and monthly rhythm that runs a business instead of being run by one.
- Capital Allocation Hierarchy for deciding what gets funded, what gets cut, and what gets sold.
- PE Readiness Assessment and Expansion Readiness Scorecard for the founder who will eventually sell and wants to control the terms.
- Role and Stage Alignment Grid for matching the team to the company the business is becoming, not the one it used to be.
- Transformation Scorecard for measuring whether the changes are real or theatrical.
The thesis
Growth without systems is delayed collapse. Systems without discipline are expensive decoration. Discipline applied consistently compounds into transformation.
Revenue is the easiest metric to grow and the most dangerous metric to worship. Customers paying you proves they will pay. It does not prove the business will survive. Zero to $100M is about the operating discipline that turns revenue into a company that lasts, sells well, or both.
Format, distribution, and where to buy
Zero to $100M ships as a premium hardcover with a printed dust jacket over plain boards, matte lamination, and a six by nine trim. The interior was set in Georgia and printed through IngramSpark on Standard Matte interior stock with a Premium Plus Matte cover.
- Hardcover: Available now on Amazon and at every retailer that orders from Ingram. Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, Bookshop, and independent retailers can stock or special order.
- Bulk orders: Companies, PE firms, family offices, and operator groups ordering ten or more copies should email orders direct through zeroto100m.net for case pricing and signed editions.
- Kindle and audiobook: Releasing within thirty days. Pre order at zeroto100m.net.
- Direct from publisher: Coby Press fulfills signed and personalized hardcovers through zeroto100m.net for readers who want the inscription.
For private equity, family offices, and operator groups
Zero to $100M is being adopted as required reading at portfolio company offsites and operating partner roundtables. The frameworks were built for the gap between the founder operator and the institutional buyer. The book closes the language gap on day one of a hold period and gives the operating partner a shared vocabulary with the management team.
Custom branded runs, foreword inserts for portfolio communications, and case quantity pricing are available. Contact Coby Press for terms.
About the author
Jacob Schlesinger is an Executive Operating Partner with three decades as CEO, COO, and Managing Director across construction, manufacturing, distribution, and private equity backed companies in the five million to one hundred million revenue range. He took a flexible products manufacturer from zero to three hundred million in revenue and a private equity backed exit. He led the turnaround of a consumer hardware company through one hundred twenty five percent revenue growth and a public company sale. He served as COO of a global plastics manufacturer at the two hundred million revenue mark and consolidated sixteen operating entities under a single construction holding company. His operating work across multiple lower middle market portfolio companies covered the full cycle from acquisition through integration through exit.
He writes business books and literary fiction under his own name and publishes the Zero Margin Trilogy under the pen name Daniel Strade. Zero to $100M is his first published business book. His current operating venture applies the same frameworks to modular manufacturing and construction at the consortium scale.
He lives in South Florida.
Press, podcasts, and speaking
Jacob is available for podcast interviews, keynote engagements, PE operating partner workshops, and trade association events. Topics include scaling discipline, the five million to one hundred million transition, founder dependency, margin compression, PE readiness, and the operator turnaround playbook. Press inquiries and speaking requests go to Coby Press through jacobschlesinger.com or zeroto100m.net.
ZERO TO $100M
The Discipline of Scaling Without Losing ControlJACOB SCHLESINGER | COBY PRESS | zeroto
