Pierre Khawand has an intriguing E-book out “The Results Curve™: How to Manage Focused and Collaborative Time” that makes the following suggestions for increasing your personal effectiveness in the face of the plethora of sources for interruption and distraction we can leave ourselves vulnerable to if we are not careful. He has five key observations/suggestions […]
Pierre Khawand’s Results Curve Read More »
This is the third in a series about my decision to move away from using Facebook. Deprecating Facebook means no longer trading hard won social knowledge for a trivially valuable way to communicate with people we already know.
Deprecating Facebook 3: Marcelo Rinesi’s Perspective Read More »
Here are five tips for moving cash into and out of your bootstrapped startup.
Moving Cash Into & Out of Your Bootstrapped Startup Read More »
This is based on both my direct experience and stories folks have shared at the Bootstrappers Breakfast® over the last few years about finding a co-founder.
Finding A Co-Founder Read More »
Actively Manage Expectations With Clear Communications Always Assume Everything You Do Will Become Public Listen For What Isn’t Being Said Predictable Behavior Inspires Trust Trust Doesn’t Scale, It’s Knit by Aligning Actions With Prior Commitments Related Posts Honesty in Negotiations The Business is Everyone’s Business Conserving Trust in a Downturn Bouncing Back
Treat Social Capital With the Same Care as Cash Read More »
In 1995 I did some work for one of the early web startups in Palo Alto. They had delivered a number of database driven websites using a proprietary software technology that they had developed, and had sold the technology to several firms. But they had a problem collecting unpaid bills: they had not been paid
Collecting Unpaid Bills Read More »
Ben Yoskovitz stresses the importance of starting with a passion for solving a problem, not evangelizing your solution.
Ben Yoskovitz: Start with Passion For Solving a Problem Read More »
It’s easy to tell someone that they are mistaken or wrong. It rarely encourages teamwork or useful dialog.
You Must Be Mistaken Read More »
Successful innovation results when entrepreneurs manage their own shortcomings, find a problem they care about, and approach it from different angles with small safe-to-fail experiments.
Innovation Needs Starvation, Pressure, and a New Perspective Read More »
Disruption is caused by the new business models an innovation enables. A disruptive innovation can be hard to spot because competitors can offer a different value proposition, not necessarily a better one.
Distant Early Warning Signs of Market Disruption Read More »
I have decided that deprecating Facebook, migrating off of it as a social network, is the most prudent response to a series of actions by management. Because my decision is based on a lack of trust of the current leadership I will revisit it every six months or so to see if things have changed sufficiently
Deprecating Facebook Read More »
It’s easier to become very good at two or three things than the best at one specific thing: this “Jack of all Trades” strategy applies both for career and entrepreneurial endeavors.
Jack of All Trades Read More »
A baker’s dozen of common mistakes that I have seen founders make preparing and delivering new product introduction demos and presentations.
Common Mistakes in New Product Introduction Demos Read More »
Four keys to success in any career, but especially as an entrepreneur, are: self-mastery, expertise, connections, and perseverance.
Self-Mastery, Expertise, Connections, and Perseverance Read More »
We had a situation earlier this week where a potential competitor started to use the name of a client’s service for a similar offering. Fortunately the client had registered the trademark it last year and we were able to politely bring this to the incipient competitor’s attention. They have notified us that they will stop
Cost Effective Approaches to Trademarks Read More »
I want to share a real situation with planning and decisions that are similar to what many entrepreneurs have to make. It was “timed test” involving internal coordination, customer preferences, and resource availability. I was walking into a client’s office, in the midst mental preparation for an advisory board meeting to review current sales forecast
Real Business Planning Example: Re-Scheduling a Workshop Read More »
Three selections from the book of Ecclesiastes using the New Jerusalem Bible translation. Chapter 3 from the Ecclesiastes–popularized in the Byrds version of “Turn! Turn! Turn!“–begins with “There is a season for everything, and a time for every occupation under heaven:” but I think 3:3 A time for tears, a time for laughter, a time
Inspiration From Ecclesiastes For Bootstrappers Read More »
I have been wrestling with this concept of the expertise driven company for a while now. I welcome any feedback on the model, I believe that it’s an elaboration of the hypothesis set around customer discovery and validation with a small amount of what’s involved in the early stages of founding team formation. The concept
Are You Building An Expertise Driven Startup? Read More »
To grow the business founders must assess the task relevant maturity of each employee’s experience with a particular task to manage them effectively.
The Business is Everyone’s Business (Part 2) Read More »
In “Moore’s Law Beats Customer Feedback” Chris Morris highlights a quote by Jensen Huang from an April 8, 2009 talk at the Stanford Technology Ventures Program on “Favoring Moore’s Law Over Customer Feedback” (Mr. Huang has a number of talks available on Stanford’s Entrepreneurship Corner): “Sometimes you have to ignore your customers and follow Moore’s
Listening to Customers Read More »
