When Focus Creates Freedom: How Avasta Rebuilt a Stronger, Smarter Team
In this blog, we’re featuring one of our client alumni: Edgar Baum, CEO of Avasta.
At some point, every business owner faces a pivotal moment:
👉 You may want to exit your business, retire, or move on to your next chapter; Or,
👉 You may want to raise capital to fuel growth and scale to the next level.
In both cases the goal becomes to maximize the value of your business.
Most business owners turn to financial experts to get a valuation based on the usual, surface-level inputs: company financials, industry multiples, benchmarks, and pro-forma forecasts. Useful, yes… but limited. These methods rely heavily on publicly available data and “standard formulas” that often overlook the real drivers of enterprise value.
This is where Edgar and his company, Avasta, stand apart.
Avasta uses a suite of advanced analytical tools that go far beyond the blunt instruments of traditional valuation advisors. They identify the hidden levers that meaningfully influence valuation, factors not visible to Founders and CEOs, but ones investors care deeply about.
These include:
Acquirer integration costs;
Investor’s transactional data and historical portfolio performance; and,
Market timing intelligence.
In simple terms: Avasta uncovers the value you should be commanding, but likely aren’t. If raising capital or exiting is on your radar, we’ll return to this topic later in the blog.
But first, I want to focus on what Edgar learned from our Optimization Bootcamp and, more importantly, what we learned from Edgar.
Learning Is a Two-Way Street
As executive coaches and strategy implementation consultants, our role is to ensure our clients learn from us and our experience. But very often, it’s our clients who also end up teaching us something valuable.
Working with Edgar and his team through our Optimization Bootcamp was a masterclass in focus, accountability, and leadership courage.
Lesson 1: Accountability Shines a Light…Sometimes Harshly
When a leadership team goes through a true alignment process, something powerful happens. The cream rises to the top – but so do the gaps.
Our Bootcamp forces clarity. Everyone sees what success looks like, who is truly leading, and who has been quietly hiding in ambiguity. For some, it’s a breakthrough moment. For others, a reckoning.
As Edgar put it: “Some of them have really stepped forward very well… others did not measure up to their new responsibilities.”
Facing that truth, and dealing with it, takes guts. It’s one of the hardest things a founder can do, especially when loyalty and personal bonds run deep. But it’s also what separates good companies from great ones.
Lesson 2: A CEO’s Real Superpower
One of the core goals of the Bootcamp is to get leaders out of the operational weeds. Our powerful Accountability Framework highlights for CEO’s: You’re accountable for everything, but responsible for much less.
Once they delegate properly, a natural question follows: “So what do I focus on now?”
That’s where Edgar offered a brilliant insight.
Every founder has a superpower: a unique combination of talent, instinct, and pattern recognition that is unique to them, and is the differentiator that made the company compelling in the first place. Over time, that superpower gets buried under meetings, firefighting, and approvals. Reclaiming it becomes essential.
In Avasta’s case, Edgar’s gift lies in spotting hidden value. That is, seeing the invisible (to a founder or CEO) potential in markets, customers, and business models. That ability to turn insights into enterprise value is Avasta’s differentiator. And now, freed from operational drag, Edgar is doubling down on it.
The Result: A Smaller, Stronger, Sharper Team
Through 12 sessions over three+ months, Avasta’s leadership team reshaped itself from 22 people (including interns) to a leaner, more accountable unit. Projects that once stalled began crossing the finish line. The company reduced its “80 priorities” to a focused 10.
And the leadership team, now truly aligned, co-created a new business plan and shared narrative for Avasta’s next growth phase.
A Final Word
We’re deeply indebted to Edgar and leaders like him: clients who not only transform their own businesses but also sharpen our understanding of what great leadership looks like.
If you want to learn more about how Avasta helps business owners maximize company value before raising funds or exiting, I highly recommend Edgar’s podcast: Raise and Exit. You can also find out more information on the Avasta website right here.