Ryan DeissCo-Founder & CEO, The Scalable Company

The Best Investment for a $20M/year business

22 May 2026 · 1 min

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1:06

In this rapid‑fire advisory monologue, the speaker outlines how a company generating $20 million in annual revenue should allocate its capital. He repeatedly argues that an advisory board is the single most valuable governance investment, preferring it over a formal board of directors, equity compensation plans, a new headquarters, or an HR manager. He then moves to operational priorities, recommending the creation of an M&A team at this scale, followed by AI automation if it has not yet been implemented. The core recommendation is to build an in‑house recruiting function, positioning talent acquisition as the primary growth lever and stating that at scale every business essentially becomes a recruiting company. The tone is confident and persuasive, with an enthusiastic endorsement of each suggested investment.

Chapters

How should a $20 million business be spending their money? A board of directors or an advisory board? Advisory board. Board of directors can just fire you. You want advice at this point. Board of advisors, not a board of directors. An advisory board or an equity comp plan? Advisory board. An advisory board or a new office or HQ? Advisory board. An advisory board or an HR manager? Ugh, definitely still no HR managers. Advisory board. An advisory board or an M&A team? Uh, now's the time at $20 million to start thinking about acquisition, so I'd say M&A team. M&A or AI automation? If you haven't implemented AI, yeah, AI automation at this point at $20 million, 1,000%. Hopefully you've already done it. AI automation or an in-house recruiter? Ooh, in-house recruiter. In-house recruiter or an R&D department? In-house recruiter. In-house recruiter or culture and retention program? Definitely in-house recruiter. An in-house recruiter or in-house creative team? In-house recruiter. So should a $20 million business be spending their money on an in-house recruiter? Absolutely. At scale, all businesses become banks and they become recruiting companies. And the thing that will slow you down at that stage is talent Let's get recruitment in-house. Gonna be the best investment you can make.