Every week I send out a short email with quick updates on what I've written. My goal is to be actionable, insightful, and honest.
If you're looking for something a little more interactive, Teaching Startup is my project to fill the gap between blog post and formal advisor. You'll get a daily email with responses to direct questions from a smaller group of subscribers. This project will grow and evolve. First 30 days are free, then it's $10 a month. Join the wait list now.
Here's how this works. Use the form to tell me about your question or issue. Give me as much detail as you can and be specific. If I feel like I can honestly help, I'll respond over email (I don't do phone). I can't answer all of them. If you don't hear from me, I got overloaded. The catch? I might use your scenario for a post, but I'll keep you extremely anonymous.
Whether you're a founder or you just have some equity, there's a bunch of stuff you need to know before you decide to sell your startup, stuff that you won't actually learn until you've been through it.
Every entrepreneur will arrive at a crossroads where we can do the right thing and lose or do the wrong thing and win. If that kind of win never sits right with you, read on.
Let me ask you a question, and think about it for a second before you answer: Have you ever been totally bored and completely stressed out at the same time? Right? Me too. It's actually pretty common in startup leadership circles but no one ever realizes it until someone asks them the direct question.
Let's clear up a common revenue misconception right away. Choosing a revenue stream and settling on pricing are two completely different exercises. The latter is what our customers are going to pay. The former, and what I want to talk about in this post, is what our customers are paying for.
Intrapreneurship is not new. As a big company concept, it's been talked up for decades, because the lure of entrepreneurial strategy mashed up with the seemingly infinite resources of an established player is super enticing for both sides.
* A Medium Editorial Feature *
Let me ask you a question that needs an honest answer. Do you want to be rich? Because your answer might dictate what kind of startup you're building.
The hardest role to fill in any company is leadership. Say what you will about logic-defying compensation packages and golden parachutes for C-level executives, because I'll nod my head right along with you. The hard truth is that experienced leadership is always the difference between success and failure. Always.
If you want to acquire more customers, you have to satisfy more customer needs. Oh, and you have to do it without asking what those needs might be. And finally, those needs will change, probably from day to day.
You're probably hearing the term "company culture" more often and in broader context. Culture is no longer the domain of progressive West Coast startups and forward-thinking Chief People Officers. At some point over the last five years or so, shit got real.
Marketing an MVP is almost like reinventing the wheel every time out, and every plan is as unique as the product it’s selling. But if you stick with these overarching rules, you’ll be able to design a marketing plan for your MVP that gets results you can build from when it’s time to market the real thing.
If you're thinking about raising money to fund your startup, you need to take a hard look at corporate investment.
Let's talk about whether or not you can determine a startup will be a success before it actually brings in any money. Because while there's no good way to do that, there are some cheats.
At some point, every startup will have at least one employee who threatens the success of the company. What do you do with this person?
Since the beginning of 2019, I've written several posts about the concept of Minimum Viable Product, everything from what an MVP is for and how to do it to what you can expect to learn from it.