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Reader, My last newsletter went out November 15. I did not disappear. I went to work. Four and a half months of eyes-down client engagements across growth-stage companies navigating the most compressed capital and operational environment I have seen in a decade. What I saw is worth publishing. What I built is worth sharing. Here is what has been happening. From the Tip of the Spear is my new executive intelligence publication, launching Tuesday April 7 at 6:15 AM ET. Every issue delivers three things: a field report from real operator engagements, one operational principle with supporting data, and live market intelligence from across my VC, PE, and family office network. No theory. No filler. The view from inside the work. This replaces the chapter-per-week format of last year. It is built for executives who read with intention and want something they can act on before their next leadership conversation. I wrote a playbook. The single most consistent conversation I had entering 2026 was pricing. Buyers pushing back. Margins compressing. Sales teams capitulating when they did not have to. The result is the Price Pressure Playbook. Twenty field-tested margin protection moves built from real engagements. Yours today because you stayed on this list.
The Results Table is back. Last year’s invitation-only executive dinners in New York City, Austin, etc. produced some of the most substantive conversations I have been part of in my career. Ten to fourteen senior operators and capital allocators, Chatham House rules, no keynotes, no pitch decks, and a conversation that goes somewhere real. We are firing them back up in Q2. If you are building something between $10M and $250M and want a seat at the table, reply directly to this email. If your firm is interested in sponsoring, the Presenting Partner designation is the only way to put a firm representative inside that conversation. Reply and I will send you the details. What is not changing. 12+ years ago I led a Tech (SaaS) startup to PE exit, and since have scaled 15 orgs from $5M to $500M (2x $1B+). That is still the lens. The work is still the work. Tuesday April 7. Watch for it. Sam Palazzolo, Tip of the Spear Ventures sp@tipofthespearventures.com +1 702.970.8847 |