Every week I send out a short email with quick updates on what I've written and what I'm writing. You can input into the process and you can opt-out anytime without hurting my feelings. Deal?
Ask anyone who’s been there more than once, and they’ll tell you. Right at about 50 employees is where young companies start to go off the rails. So what should we do when it happens?
Let's talk about how we use data to make a better product, raise our margins, and generate more revenue. Here's a really quick way to make sure we're building a strong, robust product that our customers want.
Last week, I got a bunch of questions via my website from “Devin,” a smart young entrepreneur in the healthcare technology space. His MVP, a mobile app, was about six months from completion before he realized he needed to do more work around his business concept. Now his MVP is about a year out, and he’s frustrated because he wants to reach out to his target market to gauge interest in his solution.
You know how startups can one day just suddenly implode, leaving a well-meaning but ultimately hollow note on their website thanking everyone for the incredible journey? It hurts every time I see that. Because you can prevent it. Not all the time. But you can see it coming. All the time.
The role of “product” within almost all industries is trending toward less emphasis on product management and product marketing, and more towards using technology and data to determine everything from what we’re building to how we’re selling it.
Firing an employee, especially at the startup level, is hands-down the toughest responsibility a founder or executive has to take on. I know this sounds like an elitist problem — oh, it must be real rough to have to ruin someone’s life. It is. Unless you’re an a-hole.
When I see a working product not selling, it’s usually because the value premise was off from the beginning. What it almost always comes down to is: Does the product have a traceable direct value for the customer?
Let’s talk about how we deliver software when it’s ready, instead of when it’s due. This is how I’m transitioning from promising and missing dates to delivering continuous innovation, both across my org and to my customers.
The harsh economics of startup are often easily overlooked. So let’s talk about what it really costs an entrepreneur to get a startup off the ground. It’s about 250 grand.
Last week, I had an email exchange that came through my website from a college student who sort of lucked into a startup founded by one of his friends. He had jumped in at the beginning, and now he's at a crossroads.
I live by the entrepreneur’s motto: “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission. But it actually matters what you’re going to ask permission or beg forgiveness for.”
Do you feel like an outsider when it comes to startup, entrepreneurship, or starting or running a business? Are there rules and processes and terms you don't fully understand? Does it feel like a closed club sometimes?
Everything You Should Know About Startup is all the stuff I wish I knew when I was first starting out, run through the lens of having done it for so long and still doing it. It's not Silicon Valley buzzwords and mantras. It's nuts and bolts and logic that applies in the real world.