In Seth Godin’s “Bootstrapper Bible” he has this short manifesto that really is worth reading periodically. We will be discussing this at next week’s Book Club for Business Impact with several bootstrappers: I am a bootstrapper. I have initiative and insight and guts, but not much money. I will succeed because my efforts and my […]
Seth Godin’s “Bootstrapper’s Manifesto” Read More »
Perfectionism vs. Mastery Mastery’s great accomplishments require time and a willingness to release a sequence of prototypes. Perfectionism means you don’t ship until it’s perfect. Which means you never ship or what you ship has not learned from problems or needs that only visible post deployment. Randall Munroe’s “The General Problem” embeds this observation: “I
Perfectionism vs. Mastery Read More »
I came across an interesting tool this week in the collaboration area. The web page invited me to apply for membership, prompting me to enter my e-mail, twitter handle, blog, and a brief bio. But they were “purposefully vague’ about who they were. It wasn’t exactly stealth mode, more like maintaining deniability if it failed
Stay Tuned! We Are Being Purposefully Vague Right Now Read More »
Geva Solomonowich, an early employee at Fraud Sciences and several other startups joins us tomorrow to share lessons learned getting early customers and growing the business. Francis Adanza interviewed him on the Bootstrapper Breakfast blog in mid-October, here are some excerpts: Francis: Prior to Fraud Sciences, what were you doing? Geva: Before Fraud Sciences I
Geva Solomonovich of Fraud Sciences at Fri-Nov-4 BB Read More »
Align your startup with a higher purpose to sustain motivation. Avoid “entrepreneurial lifestyle” and startup mythology: build a going concern.
The Startup Mythology of Silicon Valley Read More »
You can follow @skmurphy to get them hot off the mojo wire or wait until the end of the month when these quotes for entrepreneurs are collected on the blog. Enter your E-mail if you would like new blog posts to your inbox.
Quotes For Entrepreneurs–October 2011 Read More »
I watched the Grey Fox recently as was struck by two pieces of dialog. Richard Farnsworth plays Bill Miner, “the Grey Fox” a train robber and “gentleman bandit.” When asked by another ex-convict to take up robbing banks instead of robbing trains he answers: Bill Miner: “A professional always specializes.” I first heard this
A Professional Always Specializes Read More »
We are starting our planning process for 2012 even as we scramble to finish everything still on the cooker for 2011. We have meetings scheduled with our partners to help us assess what we have learned from 2011 and arrive at a working consensus for 2011-13. I welcome any suggestions for: How to improve this
Planning for 2012: We Are Interested In Your Insights and Suggestions Read More »
Our “Book Club For Business Impact” promises actionable insights for entrepreneurs and change agents, drawn from the panelist’s experience and informed by the book’s content. Dave Stubenvoll, CEO of Wowza Media, joins the discussion of Amar Bhide‘s “Origin and Evolution of New Business” this Wednesday October 26 at Noon PDT. Click http://skmbhide111026.eventbrite.com/?discount=WowzaMedia to attend at
Dave Stubenvoll Guest for “Origin & Evolution of New Business” Oct-26-2011 Read More »
“Nobody makes a video game about the quartermaster division, but armies win and lose on logistics and supply, and politics and diplomacy, and the work people do on the homefront.” Mike O’Malley in “History-ness and Video Games“ The first stage of a bootstrapped startup is a “come as you are” party. The founders are living
What Happens When The “Come As You Are Party” is Over Read More »
A bootstrapper needs four attributes to succeed: purpose, patience, politeness, and prudent risk taking. These are markers for strength not weakness.
Purpose, Patience, Politeness, and Prudent Risk Taking Read More »
From a Time Magazine December 2009 interview with Malcolm Gladwell I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that in inner-city schools, the thing they do best is sports. They do really, really well in sports. It’s not correct to say these schools are dysfunctional; they’re highly functional in certain areas. So I’ve always wondered about
Malcolm Gladwell Suggests Appreciative Inquiry Into Inner-City Schools Read More »
Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a mindset that is essential in customer discovery. It encourages you to look for what’s working in an potential customer’s organization and “work with the grain of the wood.” It enables you to build on demonstrated strengths and accomplishments in framing your solution to a critical business problem.
Appreciative Inquiry Mindset Essential to Customer Discovery Read More »
Question from an entrepreneur in the midst of customer discovery for a new product. Q: We are preparing to launch our first product in a few months. Next week there is a conference sponsored by a professional society that represents one of our potential target markets. We have already done about a dozen customer discovery
Customer Development Conversations With Busy Prospects Read More »
Lenny Greenberg, Founder and CTO of Assistyx, e-mailed me a long and thoughtful response to my “Learning from Netflix” post. In fact it was is good that I am publishing it with his permission. There are a lot of lessons we can learn from this: It was smart for Netflix to look at their streaming
Learning From Netflix: Lenny Greenberg’s Response Read More »
I am always interested in having a conversation with a prospect. If you are hoping to infer needs from seeing them press a menu button with an icon or one or two words on it I think that’s a poor substitute for a conversation. I know that people cannot always predict what they need or
Selling to a Business Requires Conversations that Build Trust Read More »
“Never mistake a clear view for a short distance.” Paul Saffo “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.” Roy Amara Netflix increased prices by 60% for streaming media and DVD combinations and threatened to split their website into two halves–DVD and
Learning From Netflix’s 2011 Pricing Strategy Mistakes Read More »
Here are the slides from today’s “Working for Equity” panel at Silicon Valley Code Camp. It was a standing room only crowd of over 70 that made for a very interactive session with the panel.
Slides from “Working For Equity” Panel at SVCC 2011 Read More »
Marshal Field’s “Twelve Things to Remember” is a good list of qualities bootstrappers should cultivate within themselves.
Twelve Things to Remember by Marshall Field Read More »
If you are considering joining a startup or are in the process of building out your initial team I am moderating a panel at Silicon Valley Code Camp with three startup CEO’s offering lessons learned on their entrepreneurial experiences. The Working For Equity panel is Sunday October 9 at 10:45 am in Room 4306 and
Working For Equity Panel at SVCC 10:45am Sun-Oct-9 Read More »
