A clear-eyed guide to the eight predictable breakpoints every growing company hits — and the four numbers that tell you which one you're standing in front of. Rob Aquino wrote this for the operators, not the accountants.
Business owners do not fail because they lack effort. They struggle when the systems, pricing and financial visibility around them are not strong enough to support the business they want to build.
The book moves from first principles (what 'money' actually means in a small business) to the operator's toolkit: the four numbers, the eight breakpoints, and the decision docs that hold it all together.
The numbers change by industry. The walls don't. Every stage has its own constraint, its own hire, its own decision — and a predictable moment where the old playbook stops working.
CEO of JBS Corp, Rob works with small-business owners across the breakpoint ladder — from $250K through $25M — as a fractional CFO and strategic advisor. He's seen the four numbers move thousands of different ways and has written down the patterns in one place for the first time.
He lives outside Boston with his wife, Carleigh, and their three children. He keeps his client list short and takes new advisory work through the Work With Rob page.
His speaking, board work, and podcast appearances live on his personal site, robinsonaquino.com.
Read the full bio →If the framing lands, keep going — the other nine chapters are where the leverage is.
This book is about the four numbers that answer every other question — and the eight stages where they shift. If you can read those numbers, you can see the next wall before you hit it.
