Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
In the NBA, one of the explicit roles that a player can play on a team is as a “locker room guy.” The term is usually applied to a well-respected veteran who, despite declining athleticism, remains valuable to his team because he settles down the younger players, sets a good example of professionalism, and helps … Continue reading The value of the “locker room guy” for your startup
If you’re not reading Eric Barker’s blog, Bakadesuyo, take a moment to subscribe (at least for as long as RSS readers still exist) before reading the rest of this post. Eric spends an incredible amount of effort distilling the nuggets of wisdom from hundreds of books so you don’t have to. You’ll thank me later. … Continue reading Nice guys finish first *and* last
One of the key things I encourage every entrepreneur to do is to develop a healthy sense of humility. Many entrepreneurs (especially those of the brash, young, cocky variety) drip with self-confidence. That’s a good thing. You need some irrational confidence to pursue a profession with a 99% failure rate in which you take on … Continue reading Reading a lesson doesn’t mean you’ve learned it
A lot of folks believe that the Microsoft empire is doomed, and that the rise of touchscreen computing and mobile devices will lead it its inevitable downfall. This may very well be true; it certainly is true that to date, Microsoft’s attempts to enter the touch and mobile markets have been poorly received. Yet much … Continue reading Is Microsoft doomed? I’ll let you know when Windows 10 comes out.
I was touched recently by the sad tale of a failing entrepreneur I found on Hacker News. Here is his cry for help: http://pastebin.com/1S4cD666 “I believe in our product, but I don’t believe in our business model. When asked by friends doing “normal” jobs what it’s like running a startup (my first one, mind … Continue reading Sometimes, your startup can’t overcome “Original Sin”
I was very entertained when I read a recent blog post complaining about the crappy customer service you get from big internet companies. The writer titled it, “Hey internet giants, you’re no longer startups, get some customer service.” http://bit.ly/17LtbMC I was entertained for two reasons. The first is that it’s quite possible for a startup … Continue reading Want better support? Then make that part of your buying criteria.
When I younger, I prided myself on my tireless work ethic. When I was in high school, I worked like a maniac to set a meaningless record for earning extra credit in my English classes. Trust me, I was already going to get an A+; all that extra credit was purely for ego purposes. When … Continue reading Forget long hours, work intense hours (H/T @rahimthedream @awesomeculture)
The always insightful Mark Suster recently tackled the subject of acquihires–the practice of large companies buying small startups simply to acquire their people. Mark lays out an excellent argument for why the acquiring companies are actually losing out when they make acquihires: http://bit.ly/10Cn0WP “You have been at Google, Salesforce.com, Yahoo! for years. You have worked … Continue reading Why I hate acquihires (unless I’m doing the selling)
These days, many people have a negative view of business. Think of Occupy Wall Street, for example. That negative view is even starting to impact the startup world. I’m seeing more stories about how so many startups are creating me-too products that don’t solve real problems. There is a solution to this negative view, and … Continue reading The best way to harvest value is to create it
My friend Jack Herrick told me about an interesting technique he uses to test the character of the people he meets with. The WikiHow offices are in a nice house just outside downtown Palo Alto. When he meets people in Palo Alto, he skateboards to the meeting and brings the skateboard in with him. “If … Continue reading The Skateboard Test