Q: What Are Critical Tasks In A Startup?
Critical tasks in a startup include conversations with prospects and customers, planning, retrospectives, recruiting, and focused execution.
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Checklist
Labor Day 2014: Knowledge Work Productivity
I have not yet internalized the lessons from Daniel Cook‘s “Laws of Productivity: 8 Productivity Experiments You Don’t Need to Repeat” [PDF] so I find myself working–and now blogging–on a holiday. Here are my key takeaways from Cook’s roundup on knowledge work productivity and some additional thoughts on why they are so hard to put
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Map Customer Buying Process Before Sending a Proposal
Map the customer buying process, needs, and situation before you invest time sending a detailed proposal. A quick request can mean you are column fodder. Q: We are still trying to close our first paying customer. We have a website up and have talked to a number of people. More or less out of the blue
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Nadia James’ Daily Checklist for Aligning Efforts With Goals
Nadia James posted a daily checklist for aligning efforts with goals for your business. It’s a good one, here are suggestions for how to operationalize it.
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John Gardner: Leaders Detect and Act on the Weak Signals of the Future
John Gardner outlines how leaders detect and act on weak signals of the future by looking beyond the horizon and planning for renewal.
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A Simple Checklist for Introducing a Collaboration Application
We work with several teams who have launched or are launching an application that makes a team or group more productive. Here are a couple of suggestions for things to consider. Be compatible with the status quo if at all possible Collaboration or workflow applications that require at least two people to adopt in order
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Welcome to 2014
My resolutions for 2014 are for habits, systems and capabilities: think marathon not sprint; reduce variation; formalize rules of thumb; play our own game.
Podcast with Pete Tormey: Bootstrapper’s Delegation Checklist
Pete Tormey and I did a short podcast on a delegation checklist. We wanted to help bootstrapping entrepreneurs decide what tasks it made the most sense to delegate in an early stage startup.
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Tips for Choosing a Logo
We get a number of questions about logos, here are three tips for designing or choosing a logo when you are bootstrapping or just getting started: Text Treatments: text logos are simple, the company name is always right there. Most high tech logos are text treatments, they are clear and simple. With text logos you
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2012 Checklist for End of Year Planning
A suggested checklist for your end of year planning efforts.
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Consider What’s Changed And What You Bring To An Opportunity
When you are trying to choose from a range of opportunities, a key step is to consider what’s changed that makes this a compelling opportunity for you.
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The Business is Everyone’s Business (Part 2)
To grow the business founders must assess the task relevant maturity of each employee’s experience with a particular task to manage them effectively.
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Eleven Work Weeks–Or Less–Left in 2009
Eleven Work Weeks–Or Less–Left in 2009 I blogged about end of year issues last November in “6 Work Weeks or Less in 2008” and I thought I would issue the “Warning Dates in Calendar are Closer Than They Appear” a little earlier this year because a lot of new businesses need to take action in
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“Startup Maturity Checklist” Slides From Today’s SVCC Session
I very much enjoyed the opportunity to present our startup stages model and the “Software Startup Maturity Checklist” at Silicon Valley Code Camp today. I have posted the slides here.
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How To Ask An Expert For Help
Entrepreneurs often have to ask an expert for help. Here is some common mistakes to avoid and suggestions for how to make a positive response more likely.
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21 Great Questions for Developing New Products
Here are 21 great questions for developing new products, the checklist is from “Breakthrough Thinking From Inside the Box” by Coyne, Clifford, and Dye; the commentary is mine.
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Five Things to Remember When Selling A New Product
As you develop your presentation–and more importantly refine it in response to feedback–here are five things to remember when selling a new product.
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Referrals
Building a strong referral base is critical to every entrepreneur. Three things you can do today to build referrals: Make a list of 30 people you have had a shared success with, go back to school, first job, etc. Contact those people tell them: What you have been up to Here’s what I am looking for,
Mike Van Horn on “Are You Ready for Growth?”
Mike Van Horn has a lot of good articles on his small business website. One in particular that’s worth reading is “Are You Ready for Growth?” Here are some highlights: The better teams you can build… the faster you can grow. People who grow companies rapidly know how to put a good team in place,
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