Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
I often warn people that it’s shockingly hard to communicate your thoughts to someone else. Far too often, I speak with entrepreneurs who are frustrated by how their employees or even co-founders don’t understand what needs to be done. That’s when I tell them, “The goal of communication is to be understood.” Your responsibility goes … Continue reading The Goal Of Communication Is To Be Understood
Paul Smith recently wrote about the phenomenon of entrepreneurs who slack off after raising their seed round: “Here’s what I see three quarters of startups doing immediately after they raise a seed round: After months of working 60 hour weeks (and the rest, usually) to launch and demonstrate early growth to convince investors they’re worth … Continue reading Entrepreneurs who slack off after raising money aren’t entrepreneurs
As a happily married man, I can confirm what the latest research indicates: The secret to a happy marriage is kindness and generosity. When I was a kid, I was mystified by altruism; I couldn’t understand why my parents would always let me have the best share. At the time, I just figured that they … Continue reading What Entrepreneurs and Leaders Can Learn From Happy Marriages
Here, in Silicon Valley, I’ve noticed that we like to talk a lot about values and culture. Yet many of these discussions make a very dangerous mistake: They attempt to justify values and culture based on business performance. This is a very natural impulse. When I’m trying to persuade people, I always try to speak … Continue reading Values, Performance, and Hard Boundaries
Last month, Joel Gascoigne wrote about some of the decisions that he and the team had made at Buffer. One of the things that he struggled with was how to correlate choices with success: http://bit.ly/Rpz6Bu “If we don’t attribute our choices to success or failure, how can we assess if we are on the right … Continue reading Values are Ends, Not Means
Famously, VCs take a portfolio approach, betting on numerous startups, while entrepreneurs bet the farm on their single startup. This fundamental difference helps explain many of the conflicts that arise between entrepreneurs and their VCs, because an entrepreneur is focused on the success of a single startup, while a VC has a fiduciary obligation to … Continue reading How To Use Portfolio Theory At Your Startup
In the startup world, many make the assumption that being demanding means being mean. We read stories about Steve Jobs making people cry, or Jeff Bezos screaming at people in one of his “nutters.” I get the sense that most people decide that Leo Durocher was right–nice guys do finish last.* * The actual quote: … Continue reading Demanding But Nice
I’m always looking for ways to apply insights from other disciplines to the startup world. The other night, I was at a parenting seminar, when the presenter (Kirk Steupfert) talked about the importance of “No, because.” What me meant was that when you’re a parent, it’s very tempting to respond to your children’s constant requests … Continue reading No, Because
Credit and blame are two faces of the same coin, and both aren’t worth as much as you think. When I was young, I was very concerned with credit and blame. My old mentor, Thor Johnson, called me “a shameless self-promoter,” and he meant it as a compliment. When things went right, I made sure … Continue reading Credit and Blame
Most of us have the desire to be consistent. In general, this is a good thing. Think of how frustrating it is to deal with someone who is always changing his mind. As just one example, look at how we treat politicians who can be branded as flip-floppers. “I was for it before I was … Continue reading Lazy Consistency and Denial