Michael Bush

Strategic Advisor, Author & Keynote Speaker

Helping founders, CEOs, and investors make better decisions, build stronger companies, and exit on their own terms.

About Michael

An operator who has built it, scaled it, and sold it.

Michael Bush is a strategic advisor, author, and keynote speaker who helps business owners, entrepreneurs, and investors make better decisions under uncertainty. The kind of decisions that build durable companies and maximize long-term value.

As the founder of GrowthWays Partners and the creator of the Guardrailing® framework, he works with leadership teams to clarify where they are going, define what "good" actually means, and put practical decision guardrails in place to avoid costly detours. His work focuses on growth inflection points, capital raises, leadership transitions, and exit planning.

Michael blends real-world operating experience with investor-level thinking and a candid, relatable delivery style. Audiences value that his talks are immediately actionable, designed to help leaders know what to say yes to, what to say no to, and why.

$155M Ganeden exit to Kerry Group 30+ years in natural products & CPG Author of Guardrailing® 100+ media features & interviews

Signature Talks

What Michael speaks on.

Guardrailing®: How Great Leaders Make Fewer Bad Decisions

A practical decision system for leading through growth, capital raises, and exits without losing the plot.

Growth Without Chaos: Scaling a Business That Creates Real Value

How to scale deliberately, building enterprise value instead of simply adding noise and headcount.

Building a Company Worth Buying (Even If You Never Sell)

The disciplines that make a company valuable and acquirable, whether or not an exit is ever on the table.

From Founder to CEO: Decision-Making as the Company Grows

How the founder's role has to change as the company scales, and how to actually make the leap.

See & Hear Michael

Selected interviews & appearances.

A sample of recent conversations across business, exits, investing, and the science of natural products. Each opens at the point where the discussion gets into the substance.