EVENT ADVISORY for San Jose, CA – Sean Murphy, CEO at SKMurphy, will host the “Will Work For Equity – the World of Startups” panel discussion at the 2010 Silicon Valley Code Camp at Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, CA. The panel will outline important tips and issues to consider if you are investing your […]
“The truth is, start-up-land is littered with mavericks, iconoclasts, dropouts, and misfits.” Sramana Mitra in “The Real VCs of Silicon Valley” Entrepreneurship is Involuntary I have come to the conclusion that most entrepreneurship is involuntary. Either someone is an entrepreneur from the time they are young, which was my personal experience, or they are thrust
Mavericks, Iconoclasts, Dropouts and Misfits Read More »
Every bootstrapper has a limited budget for attorney’s fees. Attorneys can help you foresee problems and craft contract language, which looks remarkably similar to English but is in fact code that is executed by the legal system. Use them to protect valuable assets–intellectual property, source code, revenue streams–not create them. A small digression If you
The Limits of Legal Self-Help 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 that you should find helpful. It’s scheduled for Sunday October 10 at 2:45pm and you can sign up here. We will explore: Practical
“Work For Equity” Panel at SVCC Set For Sun-Oct-10 2:45pm Read More »
Pete Tormey moderates the Dublin/Pleasanton Bootstrapper Breakfasts® (along with Richard Moerschell) and fills in from time to time in San Francisco as well. I asked him what he felt some key benefits attendees gained at a breakfast and he sent me a great three minute podcast that I have embedded below. He identifies three benefits
Pete Tormey on the Benefits of Attending a Bootstrappers Breakfast Read More »
A review of Michael Malone’s “The Future Arrived Yesterday: the Protean Corporation.” Malone believes that successful companies of the future must find a way to continuously and rapidly change almost every one of their attributes but retain a core of values.
The Future, Arriving Yesterday, Remains In Constant Motion Read More »
A hunger for certainty will not help an entrepreneur make timely decisions or manage the level of ambiguity and uncertainty they need to navigate through.
We Cannot Sate Your Hunger For Certainty But We Can Increase Your Odds of Success Read More »
I apologize for this detour from our exploration of entrepreneurial issues, but this anniversary of my complete confusion is one that I continue to observe, still attempting almost a decade later to make sense of it. But please, take a minute to recall 9 years ago.
Take a Minute to Recall 9 Years Ago Read More »
My interview with Gabriel Weinberg has inspired a number of entrepreneurs to contact us about getting our help with their early customer acquisition issues. I thought I would outline briefly how we help them get to know us better. We work one or more of your issues with you in a phone call that lasts
How We Help You Explore Whether to Hire Us Read More »
A Chalk Talk on “Managing Risk In Technology Adoption” that covers some of key challenges technology providers have with getting companies to use their products.
Chalk Talk on Technology Adoption Read More »
You can follow @skmurphy to get these quotes for entrepreneurs hot off the mojo wire or wait until the end of the month when they are collected on the blog. Enter your E-mail if you would to deliver new blog posts to your inbox.
Quotes For Entrepreneurs–August 2010 Read More »
Sarah Allen will talk about bootstrapping a mobile startup at the Bootstrapper’s Breakfast Wednesday September 1 at 9am at Boudin Bakery, Embarcadero 4 in San Francisco. Sarah is a serial entrepreneur who is using her software development consulting business, Blazing Cloud, to bootstrap a mobile-focused startup, Mightyverse. The Mightyverse blog offers this overview of the
Bootstrapping Mightyverse Talk at Sep-1 Breakfast in SF Read More »
Startups have fewer meetings than larger companies but entrepreneurs still need to make those meetings effective, in fact there is less margin for unproductive meetings in a startup than there is in a larger firm. Here are two sources of good information on effective teams and how they meet: James Shonk’s “Working in Teams” is
Debugging Teams/Meetings: Start With Goals & Roles Read More »
Theresa Shafer and I are giving a talk on “10 Tips on How to Choose a Business Partner” on Monday, September 13, 2010, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm at the Women In Consulting (WIC) South Bay meeting. We will outline some important tips and considerations when choosing a partner, sub-contractor, or alliances members that will
10 Tips For Choosing a Business Partner at WIC Sep-13 Read More »
We posted the interview I did with Floyd Tucker of DreamSimplicity about a month ago but in the last two days I have had two people comment to me directly and one tweet about my “three equations and three unknowns” answer: customers, features, message.
3 Equations & 3 Unknowns: Customers, Features, Message Read More »
Ed Weissman is a prolific contributor to Hacker News, this post collects some insights he has offered on B2B.
Ed Weissman on B2B Opportunities for Startups Part 2 Read More »
Ed Weissman offers three reason why business prefers to pay for software: employee focus, a commitment to service, co-evolution with their needs.
Ed Weissman on B2B Opportunities for Startups Read More »
Jenna Wortham’s “Fraternity of the Wired Works in the Wee Hours” in the New York Times on July 25 highlighted an interesting new trend in co-working: the 10pm to 4am shift. Profiling the “New York Nightowls” (tagline “New York Nightowls is a late night co-working club for professionals”) she opens with: (hyperlinks added) After college,
Interesting Trend: Nightowl Co-Working Read More »
My first real job was as a furniture mover when I was 16. When it came time to put together a resume as I was graduating from college “picked up and moved heavy objects without getting hurt” was the best description I could come up with. I came across a copy of that first resume over
Picked Up And Moved Heavy Objects Without Getting Hurt Read More »
I have submitted the following session for this year’s Silicon Valley Code Camp: Will Work For Equity – the World Startups Are you considering joining a startup? Sean Murphy, CEO at SKMurphy, will host a panel outlining important tips and issues to consider if you are investing your time in a startup. This session will
Signup For “Will Work For Equity” at Silicon Valley Code Camp Read More »
