Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Christopher Volk Author of The Value Equation

Episode Date: October 28, 2025

Chris is the rare threepeat CEO. He has taken three outperforming companies public on the New York Stock Exchange, two of which he personally conceived and co-founded. By the time he stepped down from the third of these companies in 2021, he and his team had built the company’s market value to just north of $10 billion and counted as their largest shareholder Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. And when he stepped away, he didn’t step back. He leaned in, writing the first book on how companies create wealth called “The Value Equation: A Business Guide to Wealth Creation for Entrepreneurs, Leaders and Investors.” Most multimillionaires achieve their wealth through the ownership of equity in one or more businesses and Chris wanted to show how this happens and lay out the characteristics of the best businesses. And now, Chris is embarking on a video series to further spread the word. His first two videos dropped on his YouTube Channel in October and you can expect two a month over the next year. For sure, if you aspire to be a multimillionaire, you need to understand some business basics because that’s the best worn path to being in this club. And Chris’ aim is to make this club less exclusive.Learn more: http://www.christopherhvolk.com/Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-christopher-volk-author-of-the-value-equation

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of influential entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have with us Christopher Volk, who's the offer of the value equation. Christopher, welcome to the program. Well, Mike, it's just a pleasure to be here, and thanks for inviting me. You're welcome. I want to hear all about what you do and hear about your work with the value equation. I always love when you hear phrases or words that make you think of something, and it's like, you know what, it's the age old, don't compete on price, provide value. And that's what the measure of success is, is when you provide value to the market, you get compensated for it.

So I'm excited to hear your take on that, but get us started with a little bit of, of your story and background, and how did you get into the industry? Yeah, so I've been in finance pretty much my whole business career. So I started off in commercial banking, and then one of my customers was based out of Arizona. So I moved from Atlanta to Arizona and started getting into the business of owning real estate and just renting it to people on a long-term basis. So we started off with chain restaurant assets, lots of fast food properties, and and casual dining properties.

And then we went into automotive parts and service locations. And the idea was to tell people they were just better off having a landlord than the bankers, that if they wanted to really grow their businesses and make some money and create some wealth, that owning real estate was not the path there. I mean, the path was for us to own their real estate and rent it to them and allow them to actually

grow their business faster. And we were able to do this. And we took that company public and I became, president of the company and grew it and we sold that to GE. And then at the age of 47, I decided to be an entrepreneur after being a part of GE for a year and a half. I just had to leave 350,000 people and go to work for myself. So I worked with some other folks to put together a company. And we grew that to own real estate and rent it back to people and help them grow their businesses. And we were successful. We did that on the New York Stocky Show.

exchange, the company did fine. And then later on, I sold that business. And then I started my third company doing kind of the same thing, but just a little bit better. And that company I ran for 10 years, and by the time I left, our biggest shareholder was Warren Buffett. So we've been really good at this, and we've helped a lot of companies grow. And we've done well for our shareholders. And I just decided that I wanted to take a change of life. And I wanted to write a book. So I wrote the value equation. And value equation is basically a kind of a guide to how businesses create wealth. And basically, you know, you're appealing to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs start businesses. And not all businesses create lots of wealth. So I'm there to try to help people to understand financially what it

takes to make them to create a lot of wealth from businesses. You know, I think that's really fascinating. I want to dive into some of the key pillars of creating that wealth because I know we could talk for probably three days straight on the same on that topic. But it makes me think, too, of does your book or your work go into just creating the wealth? Or do you also provide some guidance on now that you've created the wealth? Let's now start planning for the exit whenever that may be. No, I don't get into the exit and I don't get into tax planning or any of these. I mean, there's a lot of stuff on your program where people discuss that. My whole thing is just to give people kind of a roadmap to the financial ingredients that corporations need to have to like create wealth. And if you look across the United States and really the world, I mean, the, you know, if you're looking at multimillionaires,

virtually all multimillionaires made their millions by owning stock in a business and preferably you know probably start starting a business I mean so and you know I'm struck today if I go to any sort of fancy neighborhood in any town most of the fancy houses are not owned by doctors or lawyers they're owned by people that start businesses they're owned by entrepreneurs and um and so the question is what are those what's the secret sauce that those people have in common that got them to this point. And basically, it was creating a business that ultimately became worth more than a cost to create, which a lot of companies don't get to that point. So I walked through the financial

ingredients of getting a company to be worth more than the cost to create and sort of helping people understand the importance of business models. You know, you said a magical word, their model, framework, blueprint, you know, things like that that people need to keep in mind. And I like to think of it as, you know, the old saying success leaves clues, you know, and when you can have a framework that is proven to work, it is a template that can work in any industry. Do you find that some of your value equation frameworks work no matter what the industry is? They're universal.

It doesn't matter what the industry is. And as you look at some of the just best companies in America, you know, whether it's Apple computer or whatnot, as you start to peel back these companies and look at. the sort of financial underpinnings of their business models. These are companies that have like really magnificent business models. But, you know, people could be multimillionaires with way less quality of business than Apple computer. I mean, you can, you know, the bar doesn't have to be that high.

So I want to make sure that people get their feet grounded that they don't have to try to go for the best possible businesses. I mean, the businesses I ran would never have made me a billionaire. and they're not the best businesses in the world, but I've done plenty of well for myself, so I'm not worried. So let's talk a little bit about the value equation. Do you have specific number of frameworks or pillars, or is there, you know, the top three, you know, frameworks that you talk about?

How does that work? Yeah. So I'm, what I'm going to do here is talking at a high level in generalities because, because the, you know, the equation itself is actually a mathematical formula. I don't want to get people lost in the math. And by the way, it's all middle school math. Remembering back at high school algebra. Yeah, well, it's all middle school math.

It's not even high school algebra, right? So the cool thing about business is that you don't have to be a math whiz to do it. I mean, it's, you know, middle school math is all you need. But basically when you peel back companies, there were kind of, you know, probably fewer than a dozen, you know, But let's say the value equation itself is like just six or seven variables. So you're starting off with things like sales, you know, which is one variable that's important. And then you're focusing on operating profit margins and you're focusing on, you know, how much of the company is funded with your cash, basically equity or other people's money that they have to put in equity versus what I call OPM, which could be, you know, OPM is other people's money. It's like borrowing money from banks or it could be even borrowing, you know, if I'm a landlord and I'm providing all the money for somebody's fast food restaurant, I'm definitely OPM, right?

So I mean, so if we're providing a million or $2 million for somebody's chain restaurant property, that's OPM. So how much money, what's your mix of OPM and equity? What's the cost of OPM if you've got to borrow money? And, you know, so how much I have to spend every year to keep the business going in terms of what I call maintenance capital. you know, capital expenditures. So there are basically six variables. I mean, and I, and then you've got taxes on top of that. So, and the idea is to you string those variables along to create what's, you know,

current shareholder returns. I mean, those six variables get you to what's the shareholder going to make. And businesses can tweak all these formulas. I mean, if you're running, if you're the CEO of a company, you can, you know, the first thing you got to do is create a great product that people want. But then the second thing you've got to do is try to wrap that inside of the best business model you can possibly design. And the greatest business models deliver the greatest rates of return to shareholders. And so I'll give examples of all kinds of companies.

And I'm doing a video series on it now. So your listeners can look this stuff up and see what it takes. You know, I love the concept of OPM, other people's money. but I think that sometimes a business owner might be a little reticent on that because how much do you take on? How much risk do you take on? So how do you balance using other people's money like borrowing with accomplishing what you want to accomplish by balancing that risk and make sure that it is calculated risk versus just give me as much money as I can get? Yeah, well, that's a good question. I mean, and the word you used was calculated risk.

So, I mean, and I've been all about calculated risk in terms of starting companies and trying to understand what it was going to take to make them work. And I always think that when you're using OPM, there are all kinds of horror stories about people getting immersed in too much debt. I think that, or too much OPM and the case of my wording. And I think that the key is to run a business where you have, you know, a reasonable margin for error, you know, and you've got to be able to make mistakes and all businesses make mistakes. And you've got to have reasonable margin for error. And if you borrow too much money or somebody is, and hopefully lenders have some disciplines so they don't lend you too much, but sometimes lenders don't have discipline and they'll lend you too much.

I mean, and it's up to people who are in business to understand, you know, what is too much. understand that they have to have a reasonable margin for error. And of course, the companies I've run, you know, we've used in terms of the mix of OPM, the last company I ran, we were using 40% OPM and 60% equity. So basically not, you know, a pretty huge equity mix. But I've also done it where I've done 70% OPM and 30% equity, you know, on the real estate side. So, and all these companies, companies have worked well and we've had good margins for error and all this stuff. But it's the margin for error piece you really got to focus on. You know, it's kind of like leakage or waste, you know, with, you know, retail shops will say we have to factor an X percent for

shoplifting or waste, you know, if it's a food, produce business. So there's always going to be the things that fall between the cracks. If a business owner is reading a book looking to increase their value, what are the typical places that they are going to be starting with first to address because you can't do all things at once, but where are some of those gaps that they should be looking for first? Gosh, you know, it's going to be, every business is going to be a little bit different, right? So you'll have businesses like discount retailers, like a Walmart, which is going to be a high volume, low margin business. Costco, high volume, low margin. business, then you're going to have software companies where you basically have a higher margin

business and you have less invested in machinery and machinery and equipment and real estate and so on, which is one of the reasons why software has been such a great business and why there's so many wealthy people who paid their money in technological businesses. And as you're looking at every industry and every business by themselves, you're thinking about where the low-hanging fruit is. You know, what can I do better? You know, what should I take in-house? What can I outsource? You know, I always think, too, that, like, for me, I always like to think about what my key competencies are.

You know, so what am I really good at? As you're creating a business, you're focusing on the product first and foremost. but then, you know, all companies provide a solution, you know, to a customer. So the solution could be in the financial planning world like you specialize in or it could be in, you know, buying a sandwich for lunch or sending a rocket to outer space. I mean, there's a solution that you're providing. And then after you focus on what the solution is, you're trying to think about, okay, what are my best core competencies?

Why do customers want to go to me? You know, I mean, why, you know. And so I typically have tried to narrow my best. businesses down to sort of four or five core competencies. And if it's not a core competency, I try to outsource it, you know, because if it's just a regular machine, you know, thing, I try to outsource it. And if I can outsource it to somebody who's better at that stuff, then I can save money, you know, I mean, so trying to generate higher rates of return involves strategies to boost sales, strategies to cut your costs, strategies to cut to lower

business investment. So strategies to speed up my cash flow cycle. And all those are basically embodied in the value equation. You know, something you said made me think about an idea, which is blocking and tackling. And here's what I mean by that. This is football season at the time we're doing this conversation. And, you know, you can have all these fancy plays in football. But in reality, until you get good at just blocking and tackling and being really, really good at that, don't insert fancy place because it's just going to implode on you. So I'm sure you can speak to times that businesses have tried some big, fancy, intricate thing to solve this problem. But in reality, let's plug up this whole first and that whole second. Yeah, well, the thing about

entrepreneurs is entrepreneurs by their nature are super optimistic people and they're easily excited by like the most recent shiny object that's out there. And, you know, when you're starting a company, you have almost nobody's working for you. You're doing so much yourself. I mean, you're wearing like lots of hats. I mean, if you've got like a small company and you're starting it, everybody's like wearing lots of hats. And you can't afford distractions. I mean, you have to really focus on the things that really matter and try to avoid any, you know, anything that's going to distract you from what you're trying to get accomplished. And to your point, my blocking and tackling and understanding what the basic things are.

That's why it sort of helps to sort of really think this stuff through and understand what is, what's my poor competencies, what am I going to focus on, you know, how am I going to get sales to grow, how am I going to cut my expenses, how am I going to minimize the investment I have to make in a business? I mean, if I'm creating a business, the less I have to invest in it, than the less OPM and equity I even need, you know, and the less I need, the more money I'm going to make. and so you're trying to think about all these different levers that you have, but you're trying to narrow them down just a few.

And the fewer you can narrow them down to, the better you are, and then to keep it simple. And a lot of people I find don't really sit down and take the time with a pat of paper to focus on what their business model is going to be. and as a result, their business model just happens to them. So instead of making things happen, they just fall into kind of a business model. And once you do that, it's really hard to undo it. So it's useful to like try to map yourself out before you get buried in something that's going to be difficult to undo.

Yeah, 100%. You know, I'm sure that there would be some, let's call them, issues and opportunities to fix, That could be like one, two steps. Here we go. But if you were to map out a full, you know, value equation, how long is it going to take? Is this a six-month process, a six-year process? Oh, I think it's a six-month process. I mean, I think it's, you know, going to be up front.

I mean, I think. Maybe it never ends because about the time you work through steps one through 10, you better go back to step one and tweak because maybe some things have updated and changed. sure. You know, all the, all the best businesses out there are constantly reassessing, you know, what they're doing and, um, uh, and trying to get better at it. You know, I, I basically created three companies. Um, and, you know, the first company had 250 employees. Uh, by the time I left the last company, we had 125 employees and we were doing, call it, you know, four times the amount of business that we did in the first company, right? So, um, uh, so, so you, you know, we were, you know, we were, doing a lot more with a lot less and just being, you know, really intelligent about it. And part of it was that I made sure that we just focused on core competencies and I took advantage of technology wherever it happened, you know. So today you've got all kinds of technology that's never ending, whether it's AI or, or other

forms of technology that robotics, you know, that make a difference in terms of being able to make your business model better and, you know, able to attract investors. I mean, to, if you're going to attract someone like a Warren Buffett to buy your stock, I mean, you better have a pretty clear business model and you better be able to explain it. And you better be able to have a pretty good, elegant business model that could be repeated over and over again. And that's the idea. Yeah, love it.

Well, Christopher's been a real pleasure chatting with you. And if someone is listening to this going, you know, I need to create some more value in my business. what is the best way they can learn more and pick up a copy of your book and reach out and connect with you. I love that. So it's a pleasure. Thank you so much. Enjoy being with you. What's the best way that they can pick up a copy of your book? Yeah, well, you can find the book on Amazon easily. You can also go to my website, which is Christopher H.Volk.com. And you can contact me through the website, too, if you want to find me.

Excellent. Well, thank you so much for coming on. It's been a real pleasure, chatting with you. Likewise. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, visit www. www.Influentialentrepreneursradio.com.