Tag: Startups
-
Self-Sustaining, Regenerative Tech Ecosystems
This is a repost from 2011. As I’m diving back into tech, it feels like a good time to revisit this as I’m now based in the MidWest, which, quite broadly, sports a lot of tech companies and some interdependent ecosystems. The capital for startups is here, but I’m at the beginning of a raise…
-
You Are Not Alone
I had the privilege of a great talk with the famous Tisch the other day, and he asked me what I was passionate about (wrt the next startup). For me it’s strengthening communities, both online and offline, through both online and offline interactions. A lot of smart people have written about this. Some have built…
-
Startup Lancaster This Coming Monday
The daily post is going to be tough to continue; my head’s been elsewhere–btw code, school board, and life I’m finding it tough to keep up. But I think I’ll keep the punts going. Today’s is over to Startup Lancaster, which we started last May. It meets again this Monday evening at Isaac’s near the…
-
Grimmy on CNN.com
The Grimster has another guest post, this time at CNN. It’s got a pretty good set of advice for startups. This is my favorite, and kicked my ass this morning: EVERYTHING NOT MAKE LONG TERM WIN IS FAIL PAINT. WORLD OF WARCRAFT. FACEBOOK. HANG OUT WITH LOSERS. EAT ANOTHER BIG MAC. EACH TRIP THROUGH DRIVETHROUGH…
-
Unintended Effects
Brief one today. Be careful about how you structure your company. Be careful about deal terms if you take investment. Be careful about sales commissions, incentive pay, and pricing gimmicks. One thing is clear about human behavior: people respond to what they perceive is in their best interest. They’ll go to great lengths to avoid…
-
Bottom Up
In a board meeting the other day, one of the board members gave an hour presentation about the company’s prospects. I have four problems with the presentation: the member has no operating experience of any kind (MBA–all hat and no cowboy) it’s an hour of my life I won’t get back it’s the CEO’s role;…
-
Arnold Waldstein
Arnold has no idea I’m posting this. We’re not close friends, I don’t know him that well, we have no business interests together, and he has never threatened me with a bottle opener. Not yet, anyway. I met Arnold through AVC.com, which is truly a blog community, where people have gotten to know each other…
-
Accounting, Part 1
So you’ve started a business. Great! The fun part is accounting. Well, ok, it’s not really fun. But it can be painful or not painful depending on the habits you develop and some choices you make early on. DO IT YOURSELF OR OUTSOURCE?It depends. You’ll hear me say this occasionally if we ever work together:…
-
Get it Done
I don’t have a lot of time today so I’ll keep this brief: get it done. make your list check it twice get it done something that rhymes with twice make your calls fix those bugs stop reading blogs shut down the twitters simplify and focus. Go be yer awesome self all day. See you…
-
Working Remotely
I hate it. It’s an amazing resource, this internet thing, with Skype and Hangouts and email and online apps and GitHub and Stack. But I hate collaborating online, when compared to working in an office with people. Phil Sugar just commented on this in response to my comment on AVC: “One way or another you…