Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
One of the big trends in career advice has been telling young people to “pursue their passions.” Yet this advice is both simplistic and problematic. I enjoyed this take by music producer Paul Cantor: http://bit.ly/HjtS5v “Kids now aren’t taught to find careers. They’re taught to find their ‘passions.’ Then they’re encouraged to pursue them. Except … Continue reading Passion and Pragmatism
Jeff Atwood recently wrote a great piece about the classic book, “Masters of Doom,” about the origins of id Software, the creators of the first-person shooter: http://bit.ly/15YdAIe I still remember the first time I saw Castle Wolfenstein 3D. I was a junior at Stanford, and for the first and only time in my life (thank … Continue reading “The Barriers are Self-Imposed”
One of the pieces of advice that entrepreneurs receive is to ask any investors they meet to introduce them to other investors. This is good advice, but it’s incomplete. You should only ask for introductions to other investors *if* the investor is serious about investing in your deal. The reason is that experienced investors understand … Continue reading Reputational capital is just as precious as Financial capital
You’ve probably heard the term “judo strategy” (a very popular meme from the dot com era), but you may not have thought about what it really means. I learned, from of all places, an interview that Joe Rogan gave to astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson. In the interview, the former Fear Factor host talks about the … Continue reading Technique Matters
One of the most important things for entrepreneurs learning to be managers and leaders is to learn not to rush. It’s always tempting to rush, especially in a startup setting. There’s always too much to do, not enough time to do it, and taking the time to thrash through management issues can seem like a … Continue reading Why You Can’t Rush Management
Over breakfast, a young entrepreneur asked me for my advice on how to become a better manager. “I think I’m pretty good,” he said, “I’m really clear about what people need to do, and if they’re not sure what to do, I lead them through it. But it’s really frustrating. I told a team member … Continue reading Management and the Martial Arts
There’s a lot of agita around the supposed plague of wantrepreneurs–posers who are into being entrepreneurs because it’s trendy, rather than because they want to build real businesses. This Fortune piece is a good representative of the genre: http://bit.ly/1f5EX8n “Wannabe entrepreneurs with laptops hog up the physical and digital bandwidth of the Valley right now,” … Continue reading Why I Don’t Worry About Wantrepreneurs
Tim O’Reilly, the founder of the O’Reilly media empire, published a great longform essay recently titled, “How I Failed”. http://oreil.ly/19ouE72 It’s a phenomenal read which covers a wide variety of topics, including how O’Reilly sold GNN to AOL for $15 million in stock, sold that stock as soon as the lockup expired for $30 million, … Continue reading Finance Should Be a First-Class Discipline for Startups
The great Eric Barker does a fantastic job of illuminating the difference between management and leadership in his post, “Qualities Of A Leader”:http://bit.ly/1bnDaYc Eric quotes theorist John Kotter on the fundamental distinction: “Management controls people by pushing them in the right direction; leadership motivates them by satisfying basic human needs.” For entrepreneurs, the implications aren’t … Continue reading Leadership is Emotional, Not Rational
I enjoyed Bilal Zuberi’s post on avoiding a lazy VC/CEO relationship”:http://bit.ly/16ZJEZf Bilal’s point is that entrepreneurs are just as much to blame for the fact that many VCs don’t add that much value to their investments. I think it’s useful to introduce an analogy that might resonate with young entrepreneurs, so that they can have … Continue reading Entrepreneurs Need To Take The Initiative In The Investor Relationship