Measure Twice, Cut Once.

The article discusses the importance of creating and measuring value in private firms. A firm's value rises and falls at the height of its capitalization, or the return it earns on its capital and the market's perceptions of its future. The practice known as market-based valuation is highlighted. This method allows private firms to be valued as if they were public without gaining the associated burden. Creating value requires free cash flow that grows in a consistent and predictable manner or in correlation with commensurately high returns.