No Better Time, Ever, To Be An Entrepreneur

I am often asked “what is new and exciting” by pretty much anyone that knows what I do for a living. And it is a great question that I relish answering – usually. Of late, however...

The Facebook IPO: too little, too late.

What’s wrong with the Facebook IPO?  The fact that the Company is coming Public at $70 Billion or hgher valuation.  That means the Public, your average Joe, has to wait until the...

Thirtysomething Entrepreneurship

As I recently hit the second half of my 30s, I must admit that my views towards entrepreneurship have changed since I launched my first company at 22. Entrepreneurs like myself are...

Why Amazon is better positioned to win in the tablet world than hardware OEMs and what it means

Recently, I’ve been putting my strategist hat on with regards to tablet ecosystems, both as a management consultant for CSMG, and in deciding where to devote energy as a...

Android as we know it will die in the next two years and what it means for you

I used to think that, as with Linux and web services in the early part of last decade, Android was going to be the mortar for the Internet of post PC devices— an essential ingredient...

Why Your Startup Needs an Engineering Blog

As a tech startup, you'll need all the help you can get to attract software engineers and web development talent. You need to somehow differentiate yourself from all the other companies...

Startups: You're Not Really Ramen Profitable, You're Ramen Sustainable

A new phrase entered the startup vocabulary a little while ago: “Ramen Profitable”. The phrase is used to reference startups that are making enough money for the founders to live...

What I Look For In An Entrepreneur

I speak to groups fairly regularly about what I look for in an angel investing opportunity, and one of the key factors I always mention is a fantastic entrepreneur.  Someone in the audience...

Caution for Startup Kids

Everyone knows startups are hot. Fueled by a strong seed funding climate and several well-publicized successes there is seemingly a rush to start your own company. I'm a big...

Advice maybe cheap. But take it even if you don’t act on it.

Until only a few years ago, I was a first-time entrepreneur struggling to get attention & advice from experienced entrepreneurs and investors. I did not need funding from them...

Size of Round Does NOT Equal Level of Success This subject annoys me to no end. It seems to pervade the startup ecosystem, dominate media coverage over funding, and be the focus of far, far too many entrepreneurs’ discussions. The topic is...

Boston and Northeast startup scene thriving As I took the train from Manhattan to JFK airport, I tweeted “The Northeast is thriving”. In two weeks, I attended two events that only got me more excited, hopeful and inspired about tech startups in Boston...

A New Generation of Opportunity @ MIT Is MIT finally starting to catch up to its west coast counterparts in undergraduate entrepreneurship? After attending this weekend’s t=0 entrepreneurship festival, it definitely appears so. The t=0...

Business Model Analysis, Part 8: Crossing the Chasm This post is part of a series on business model analysis for entrepreneurs. The first post in the series presents a comprehensive list of issues (available as a downloadable PDF) entrepreneurs...

“Strategic” customers are a myth. Lots of small companies will do anything to sign up a big customer. Startups often make concessions of two varieties: We’ll give you more stuff (read: features / support). You give us...

Engineers aren't from Mars Recruiting is hard. Finding the best talent is never easy—especially when it comes to finding a rockstar engineer. But could it be that companies simply don’t understand what engineers want? As an...

Forget Shrinking Markets – How About Expanding Them? One of the powerful elements of the internet is the amazing efficiency through which commerce, advertising, and information flow can be facilitated. As a result, many successful...

The blue pill or red pill: Start-up life or an MBA? I’m a movie guy. In one of my favorite movies, The Matrix, there is a famous scene as many know where Keenu Reeves’ character Neo is offered a choice between a blue pill and a red pill by Laurence Fishburne’s...

Leaving money on the table I spend a lot of my time recruiting the best people I can find to join our portfolio companies. These days one subject comes up frequently - namely, “leaving money on the table." Some of the..

Are you practicing too much? Practice makes perfect. Whether memorizing lines for a play, learning to play a rockin’ guitar solo, or pitching your company, practice is an important part of getting...

Field Guide to VC Decision-Making I recently met with an entrepreneur who posed a seemingly innocent question to me: “Can you tell me how your firm is structured and how you make group decisions on new investments?”...

How can I help you? Apptegic is a Boston-based company. I was motivated to write this blog post after running into many friends from the Boston Innovation community at the MITX Innovation Awards...

5 Things that Predict Success in Software Companies I got a question from Jeff Guass on LinkedIn that I thought I’d share with you…Firas: You folks publish quite a few lists in all of your labs postings. How about a list from...

Way Too Early – On Market Timing Market timing is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for venture success. Obvious, right? The problem is that timing is obvious only in retrospect. Predicting...

Inside rounds Historically it’s always been a weak signal when a VC backed startup needs to raise money from the inside investors, aka as the inside round. But I never understood why...

B2C vs. B2B product management – 16 differences Most of my product management career has been spent doing B2B product management. For the last year and a half, I have switched over to B2C product management in my current...

When to quit your job and go full time on your start-up and what to be aware of when bringing on your first full time employees Someone once said, “Being an entrepreneur is like jumping off a cliff and hoping that you can pull together a parachute before you hit the ground”. That’s not so far off...

Top 3 Signs that Health Tech is Hot Now There has been a tremendous amount of activity and interest in health and technology recently...

Three Characteristics of the Best Start-up Plans I’ve been reading MassChallenge plans as a judge for a few weeks now, and I want to share some of my feedback on what distinguished those plans I recommended from those I did...

The 7 Ways Your Key Competitor Is Going to Eat You For Lunch! Every week your key competitor is getting better and its competitive advantage is growing. You don't even realize it because you are busy fighting fires or accepting good...