I worked at Monolithic Memories from 1984 until 1988, in 1985 Irwin Federman, who was CEO at the time announced that the company was informally banning meetings on Fridays. It seemed reasonable to me and I thought it would probably make us more productive. A few weeks later he announced that the company was going […]
Fewer of You Will Be Listening To Someone Else Read More »
William Feather’s “Dead Business” details the stark differences between a going concern and all the agreements and understandings that have been reached to make it viable, and a bankrupt one.
William Feather on “Dead Business” Read More »
After thinking some more about yesterday’s post on entrepreneurial motivation I thought I would re-read some Peter Drucker, his clarity and prescience continue to impress me.
Drucker on Profit and Business Purpose Read More »
Tim O’Reilly offers three ways to sustain entrepreneurial motivation: work on what matters to you, create more value than you capture, and take the long view.
Entrepreneurial Motivation Read More »
Focus on establishing your team as trustworthy and dependable. The biggest question in a prospect’s mind is how your team will you perform when things go wrong. Stress earlier engagements with the problem you help your customers solve. Make this “phase two” of efforts to solve these problems, building on earlier relevant experience and accomplishments.
5 Tips For Writing a Startup’s First Backgrounder Read More »
I worked at Cisco for more than a decade in two stints between 1990 and 2003–taking time off from 1995-98 to work with a number of web startups–so I was intrigued to see John Chamber’s picture on the cover of the December issue of Fast Company. In the feature article by Ellen McGrit titled “Revolution
Cisco Presents Collaboration Technology as Sufficiently Advanced Read More »
Real entrepreneurs don’t need encouragement to form a startup–although they may benefit from outside perspectives on their plans. Encouraging non-entrepreneurs to form a startup does them a disservice.
We Don’t Encourage Individuals to Form a Startup Read More »
I attended a “Merge Briefing” workshop today offered by the Corum Group Ltd. on the status of software acquisitions. I had learned a lot from a workshop that Ward Carter, Corum’s CEO, gave at the Software Business 2007 conference and felt that this would be informative. It turned out to be much more. It was
Sobering Workshop By Corum on Software Mergers Read More »
“Contentment comes from wanting what you have, Ambition from wanting what the other person has, Progress from wanting what nobody has.” Bob Lewis “Random Thoughts“ Bob Lewis writes the “Keeping the Joint Running” E-mail newsletter, devoted to practical advice for leading IT organizations effectively. From his column “In General, a Time for Generalists” Bob offer
Bob Lewis on Progress and Economizing vs. Cost Cutting Read More »
Attracting new customers is at the heart of every business. Active participation in a community can make you more visible and allows you to demonstrate expertise.
Cultivating Communities to Get More Customers Read More »
I had an unfamiliar pain recently. It was sharp, sudden, and unexpected: I ended up talking to my doctor about it. I have been trying to understand why it was more frightening, even though it was less painful than many other problems I have experienced.
Excerpts that I found thought provoking and useful from an interview with Jeff Bezos in the October 2007 Harvard Business Review.
Jeff Bezos on Strategic Planning Read More »
A lot of is written these days about how to conserve cash in a downturn. In particular the need to cut expenses by cutting headcount and unnecessary fill-in-the-blank spending. But conserving trust is equally important. If you have been bootstrapping and only increasing expenses in response to revenue (versus in anticipation of revenue) then your
Conserving Trust in a Downturn Read More »
Startups survive because they can live on the scraps of a market (a niche) that larger competitors ignore or would be unable to pursue profitably. This is doing less with less.
Doing Less with Less Read More »
Nov-17: the last full week before Thanksgiving, if you are trying to close business it can get much harder between Thanksgiving and New Years Day [Full Week] Nov-24: a half week at best. [Half-Week] Dec-1: normally a good week [Full Week] Dec-8: normally a good week [Full Week] Dec-15: unless you are chasing end of
6 Work Weeks (or Less) Until 2009 Read More »
Nurturing Referrals Is Critical to Growth Nurturing referrals is a critical activity for every entrepreneur. A referral is an introduction to a prospect with an endorsement. They come from shared success with your customers or colleagues, someone who knows your potential and can vouch for you or your team’s ability to deliver. These individuals are
Tips For Handling Referrals Read More »
When you are very angry, think about how momentary a man’s life is. Marcus Aurelius I worked in the router software marketing group at Cisco in the early 90’s. I had left engineering and taken up residence in the marketing department. I was playing asteroid to a number of dinosaur protocols: we had realized that
Odd Jobs With an Even Temper Read More »
Worry about a good customer reference more than getting paid. A reference will lead to payment, but just because they pay does not mean they’re a reference. Plan for gaining customer references by starting with a request for feedback don the quality of your services and the business results you enabled.
Plan For Customer Reference as Much as Payment Read More »
Having a public reference, testimonial, or case study is a significant risk reducing asset for a startup. It’s prudent to negotiate the level of reference in parallel with price.
Negotiate the Level of Reference in Parallel with Price and Others Terms and Conditions Read More »
The challenge with overnight success in a startup–like many things–is the time needed to integrate many inputs, your own hopes and fears among them.
