Croixstone Consulting Turns “5”

We are celebrating!  Founded by Patti Weber and Mark Weber in 2016, Croixstone Consulting celebrates its fifth business anniversary this month.  Launched in a loft in Charlotte’s South End neighborhood with the aspiration to provide a highly-differentiated business model in management consulting, Croixstone has grown rapidly thanks to the deep expertise, talents and support of our consulting team, internal staff and partners/supporters.

As all entrepreneurs understand, the art of the start-up is filled with times of both great exhilaration and sleepless nights (hello global pandemic)!  We are fortunate in that our five-year ride at Croixstone has been one of tremendous positivity. 

Here are some of our favorite special moments over the past 5 years. 

  • Launch:  Croixstone began operations in June 2016 in Loft 309 in the former Lance Crackers building on South Boulevard in Charlotte’s booming South End neighborhood.
  • Hello Uptown:  Croixstone relocated from the start-up loft to the new Industrious Charlotte Uptown co-working community in the Bank of America Plaza tower at Trade & Tryon in December 2017.
  • TABL:  Croixstone introduced TABL, the firm’s unique culinary team building experience, with a playful social media launch in January 2018.
  • New Practice Area:  Croixstone announced the launch of its new human capital solutions practice and a new executive search offering in June 2019.
  • FORTUNE Magazine:  Croixstone announced in May 2020 that Patti Weber (CEO) had been accepted as part of a competitive application process into FORTUNE magazine’s Rebuild Program that was inspired in response to the global pandemic.
  • Hello NoDa:  Croixstone relocated into larger offices in the newly-opened Industrious Charlotte NoDa co-working community in June 2020.
  • Supplier Diversity Certification:  Croixstone received national certification in July 2020 as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) by the Greater Women’s Business Council, a regional certifying partner of the Women’s Enterprise National Council (WBENC).
  • Accelerated Growth:  Croixstone announced in January 2021 that Patti Weber (CEO) was one of 25 women across the USA accepted in the NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) Accelerated Growth Program sponsored by Wells Fargo.
  • Forty Over 40:  Croixstone’s CEO Patti Weber was named as a “Forty Over 40” award recipient by The Charlotte Ledger in May 2021.

Consulting Industry Insights: Restructurings & Turnarounds

The global pandemic has fueled an increase in consulting engagements focused on restructurings and turnarounds over the past 15 months.  In its May 2021 newsletter, BDO Consulting Group published the below informative chart highlighting U.S. corporate bankruptcies with debt greater than $10MM by industry.  Interestingly, approximately 40% of the 302 bankruptcies filings were in two industries:  1)  Oil & Gas and 2) Retail & Consumer Products.

Source:  BDO Consulting Group, LLC, Debtwire Restructuring Database
* Includes companies with at least $10 million in funded debt

So what are the common restructuring and turnaround services that consulting firms like Croixstone offer?  As published in a recent article by Consultancy.eu, these services include: 

  • Diagnosing the problem:  Identifying drivers for the crisis, stage & severity of crisis
  • Stabilizing operations:  Managing short-term liquidity & working capital concerns
  • Cost efficiency & austerity strategies:  Evaluating business needs for cost-cutting measures; designing & implementing austerity plans
  • Procurement cost reduction:  Analyzing contracted spend & redesigning & renegotiating contracts
  • Business model innovation:  Rethinking operating & core business models, value creation & enhancement
  • Divestiture strategies:  Offloading non-performing business units, distressed segments, portfolios, etc.
  • Organizational effectiveness:  Streamlining resources; revamping processes & business segments; interim C-level deployment
  • Change management:  Developing change implementation plans to ensure minimal people disruption

We Have News!

We are excited to announce that our very own CEO and Co-Founder, Patti Weber, has been named a “Forty Over 40” award recipient by The Charlotte Ledger.  The awards, revealed in a special online presentation last evening, celebrate local unsung heroes aged 40+ who are doing great things in the Charlotte community.

This year’s group, representing the second-ever group of award recipients, was chosen by a distinguished panel of under-40 judges who reviewed many impressive nominations. 

Patti, who has long-term passion for STEAM, was recognized for driving outcomes in business, healthcare and social innovation.  In addition to serving as Croixstone’s CEO, Patti is a co-founder with the Charlotte Pancreatic Cancer Alliance (a community group that increases awareness for pancreatic cancer) and a Partner with Social Venture Partners Charlotte (a nonprofit group that passionately attacks social and economic inequality and promotes social innovation across the Charlotte region through venture philanthropy).

Learn more here.

The Rise in Cyberattacks

Those of us who live in the Charlotte region and other locations up and down the East Coast are dealing with the high-impact aftermath of the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack.  Here are some fast facts about the rise in cyberattacks to digest while you wait in line for that critical tank of gasoline.

Read to learn more about top cybersecurity facts, figures and statistics from CSO magazine.

We’re Serving Up Consulting BUZZ!

Our leaders at Croixstone spend time each week speaking at length with clients, prospects and consultants across the greater Charlotte region and beyond. We’re often asked the following questions by those in our professional networks.

What’s the buzz out there?
What is top of mind for companies in 2021?
What are you hearing from consultants?

Here’s a bulleted list, in no particular order, of the things we are hearing and seeing from clients, prospects and consultants.

  • Hiring is difficult.  The economy is rebounding, hiring is up, and it is increasingly difficult to fill roles with top-tier talent.  The latest Workforce Report from LinkedIn provides insights into the hiring boom.
  • SPACs are hot, hot, hot.  Special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) IPOs were more active in Q1 2021 than through all of 2020.
  • ERP implementation activity is robust.  Many of our clients are planning ERP implementations to go live in 2022.  The global ERP software market size stood at USD 38.15 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 71.63 billion by 2026, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.55.
  • COVID-19 trauma is an ongoing issue.  Employers are dealing with employee pandemic stress that is inevitably spilling over into at-work life.

Improve Your LinkedIn InMail Game

Tips to Optimize LinkedIn InMail

Fast Company magazine recently published an informative article with tips on how to drive outcomes with InMail (LinkedIn’s messaging platform).  The article shared insights based on an analysis LinkedIn completed of tens of millions of InMails sent by recruiters globally between April 2020 and February 2021.  Interestingly, the study revealed which InMails were likely to get a fast response.

Here’s a recap of the key findings:

  • Shorter is better.  Those that delivered their InMail messages between 201-400 characters got a 16% higher than average response rate and 41% better than InMails with more than 1,400 characters.
  • Monday is the best day.  Monday gets a 2% higher response rate while Saturday accounts for 13% fewer responses.
  • Personalization matters.   Personalized InMails perform 20% better.

Learn more here.

We are Purple Podcasting!

Listen to Croixstone’s leaders on the Project Purple Podcast

For our CEO, Patti Weber, it is her father.
For our Senior Manager of Business Operations, Grace Lynch, it is her niece.
For our Managing Partner, Mark Weber, it is his mother.

To know Croixstone is to know that each of our three leaders have been touched in a very personal way by pancreatic cancer, the USA’s third leading cause of cancer-related deaths.

In January of 2020, Patti, Grace and Mark launched the Charlotte Pancreatic Cancer Alliance, a nonprofit community group that raises awareness for the disease.  Last week, the three leaders shared the stories of their loved ones and their new community group on the Project Purple Podcast, ranked #1 on Feedspot’s “Top 10 Pancreatic Cancer Podcasts You Must Follow in 2020.”

Listen here.

Insights into the Middle Market

Croixstone is laser focused on providing expertise to serve the middle market, defined as those companies with annual revenues between $10 million and $1 billion.  The National Center for the Middle Market recently published new data and insights on this important sector of the economy that we found interesting.

  • While representing barely 3% of all U.S. businesses, the middle market is responsible for 1/3 of private sector GDP and employment.
  • If the U.S. middle market were its own country, it would be the fifth-largest economy in the world.
  • During the pre-pandemic era from 2012-2019, average revenue growth for midsize companies was 6.5% and average employment growth was 4.3%.
  • A Q4 2020 middle market survey showed that average revenue declined by 1.2% and employment dropped by 2.2% over the prior 12 months.
  • While the pandemic negatively impacted the middle market, the sector overall performed better than small businesses and large corporations.
  • Middle market companies are typically very resilient, however, the ongoing pandemic presents a serious challenge on how to maintain customer engagement and connectivity. 

Learn more here.

The BOOMING U.S. Solar Market

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie have published their latest quarterly report that provides insights into major trends in the fast-growing U.S. solar industry.  Here are some key factoids that caught our attention in reviewing the report.

  • Solar accounted for 43% of all new electricity-generating capacity added in the U.S. in 2020.
  • Solar capacity added in 2020 was more than 43% greater than the capacity added in 2019.
  • The utility solar sector set the record for the most capacity installed in a single year in 2020.
  • Over the next decade, an estimated cumulative 324 GWdc of solar capacity will be added which is more than three times greater than what has been installed through 2020.
  • Solar capacity growth will be spread across all market segments as distributed solar customers, utilities, states and corporations push to decarbonize the grid.

Learn more here.

CEOs Are Seeing Happy Days Ahead

PwC surveyed 5,050 CEOs in 100 countries and territories over January and February 2021 for the firm’s 24th Annual Global CEO survey.  The findings?  A record 76% of global business leaders predict that economic growth will improve this year.

Survey Highlights

  • 57% of US CEOs plan to pursue new M&A in the next 12 months
  • 63% of US CEOs plan to launch a new product or service in the next 12 months
  • 77% of global CEOs are seeking operational efficiencies as a top priority over the next 12 months
  • 48% of US CEOs plan to increase their investments in cybersecurity & data privacy (with 30% planning to increase investments by 10% or more)
  • More than 22% of US CEOs say they’re adopting new environmental, social & governance (ESG) disclosure standards

Learn more here.

WHO WE ARE

Croixstone is an Inc. 5000 boutique consulting firm known for connecting the brightest minds in business and community. We drive business outcomes by accelerating and sustaining transformations.

Croixstone is nationally-certified by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) as a Women's Business Enterprise (WBE) and a Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB).

CONTACT

101 South Tryon Street, Suite 2700
Charlotte, NC  28280

Phone:  704.478.6040

info@croixstone.consulting

       
 

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