Everyone is familiar with the Gartner Magic Quadrant, iconic branding for that global research firm and a tool seen somewhere in nearly every pitch deck. Your goal is always to prove your venture belongs in the upper right section and that you can swat away …
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60 articles in category Essays
Like many experienced entrepreneurs, I spend a considerable amount of time advising startups and early stage companies. I prefer to catch them at inflection points where my time will be most valuable for them and most rewarding for me. Some examples are the critical early …
Read more →This week’s essay is a corollary to last week’s discussion about protecting founder equity. It is very tempting often to trade equity at a startup valuation for marketing, technical, business development, product design, office space and other services. Sometimes this is a wise decision, …
Read more →One important maxim in startup companies is that future investors are betting on the management team and not betting on each other. When founders get diluted below a reasonable level, say anywhere below 50% prior to significant institutional rounds, whose company is it? All …
Read more →In my daily routine of reviewing startups I am struck often by how many of them show no awareness of their competition. I often see very detailed and carefully constructed plans that are exactly like one or more existing companies already far along in …
Read more →Let’s say you have a really big idea, one that is a system aimed at a consequential enterprise-level problem and requires far more capital than a standalone product or app. Chances are that you know the lingo of the target market, that you have …
Read more →This essay is written around the time of New Year’s Day, and much of the brainpower among entrepreneurs is naturally drawn toward planning the next twelve months. For companies that have begun to scale and have some ability to quantify progress, using Google’s OKR’s – …
Read more →A current news report from Austin caught my attention for this essay. A two-year-old company founded by a serial entrepreneur and with only 21 employees was sold to a major financial institution. One should always launch a startup with the intention of running a …
Read more →For those of you who have missed these essays for a few weeks, please know that family health issues have taken priority. All is well now. I have written often in this forum that time is the one thing no one can recover, and …
Read more →The proverbial “chasm” in technology startups was first crossed in the 1991 book by Geoffrey A. Moore. Of late I have seen a number of proposed ventures where their very first step is a leap into an abyss. Concepts by intelligent and capable teams …
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