Hidden Gems: Meet Daniel Feiman of Build It Backwards

Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Feiman.

Hi Daniel, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was frustrated with my career in commercial banking and needed a change. Over dinner at a local restaurant, my wife suggested I start my own practice to deliver the value to clients that I didn’t feel I could working at a bank. We agreed on a company name, a start date & I gave notice. Initially, I had no plan, no clients & no money. Why let reality get in the way of inspiration? I was young (younger), naive & ready to go. How the firm survived & grew was as much a matter of luck & timing as it was the professional relationships I had cultivated.

Over time, I narrowed our marketing message to focus on 3 key areas: strategy, leadership & finance. Business grew. Then my advisory board convinced me to change the company name. They said, “You work this way with clients & it makes sense”. The single best marketing advice I have ever received. When I changed the name to Build It Backwards, suddenly everything changed & the business grew steadily.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Rarely have I seen a new firm have a smooth road to success. The highway is filled with bumps, potholes & even some landmines. We were neither an easily categorized profession (e.g., lawyer or CPA) nor a household name (e.g., McKinsey or Bain), thus having potential partners jump to refer us business was not a given, at least for a while.

And there were a slew of wrong-fit prospects. Potential clients who were referred to us by well-intended people who simply didn’t understand our value proposition. Some were looking for services we didn’t provide, or had wildly unrealistic expectations, or were looking for free advice.

As our marketing message became clearer & and the list of successful client engagements expanded, appropriate referrals became more regular & the practice grew more steadily.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Build It Backwards began in June of 1996 when I left commercial banking. Most of our clients are in the $5-$100mm revenue range, although we have worked with smaller firms as well as the Fortune 1000. Every client engagement is different. I strive to understand the unique client issues so that I can ask the right questions to help develop the best strategies, tactics & solutions for each client situation.

I work at keeping a balance between the training & consulting sides of our business. Each area complements the other & improves our deliverables constantly. How can we learn something from a consulting assignment that we can use to develop better training material? What is revealed in a training engagement that we can use on the next consulting gig?

What do you do? We transform ordinary firms into extraordinary ones by 1) understanding their issues; 2) tailoring solutions to optimize their result & 3) following up to make sure the client achieves the best possible outcomes.

We focus on 3 areas of business: Strategy (Planning & Implementation), Leadership (Development & Executive Coaching ) & Finance (Analysis & Modeling)

What sets us apart from others is the proprietary products we have developed for succession planning, leadership development & strategic planning. These tools have been developed with, refined for & used with over 100 firms across the country in a variety of industries. In fact, they are the basis of 2 of my 4 published books.

What are you most proud brand-wise? I can walk into an office or shop floor in many parts of the country & people will instantly know me as “that Build It Backwards guy.

What do you want our readers to know about your brand, offerings, services, etc? Build It Backwards is not just a slogan; we actually work with clients this way. We help them identify their ideal outcome or horizon (even if that is 20 years from now) & then we reverse engineer their unique success roadmap. It always works better than the traditional way of planning from today.

What were you like growing up?
I was a complicated kid, I suppose. I was shy, but cracked jokes to get attention. In elementary school, I started my firm entrepreneurial venture at 12years old, making & selling skateboards. I was also part of a pilot program to test the “new math” (where we got to chew gum in school).

Middle school was a blur as we moved frequently.

I didn’t fit into any of the crowds in high school, so I was sort of a loner with little direction & very average grades. That changed in both undergraduate & graduate school.

The one passion that has stayed with me to this day is cycling; road cycling. I belong to a local recreational riding club that has 4 levels, so cyclists of any level can join on rides 7 days a week.

My other passion is teaching. I have had the pleasure of teaching (strategy, finance, leadership) in 31 countries & all across the US. The typical attendees are middle to upper division managers from start-ups to Apple, Dell, Hilton & others.

Pricing:

• Every project is unique. So is the pricing.
• The vast majority of our projects are performed on a fixed fee basis
• Hourly pricing can be arranged when appropriate

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.BuildItBackwards.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielfeimanbuilditbackwards1/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=daniel+feiman