Startup Advice
Experts in product development will tell you to understand your user. Some people are naturals at this, most have to learn. Raising money is no different. Some people understand...
I'm about 10 months into helping a bunch of startups through organizations like TechStars, MassChallenge, and others. And I've seen an emerging trend among startups that I want...
Venture backed startups are incredibly ambitious. A startup team comes together to try to create something highly improbable and well beyond what can reasonably be expected...
Right after OMGPOP released DrawSomething to rave reviews (and traction), I was catching up with my friend Nabeel Hyatt and chatted a bit about the game’s meteoric...
Color theory is nothing new. If you paint a room yellow, supposedly it creates anxiety. Grays and blues are soothing, but also depressing, and red is alarming and urgent. When our...
Some are calling it a start-up bubble. It’s filled with 23 yr old bright shiny faces with big ideas to change the world. They are getting funding and they are building...
If leaders are supposed to lead, and managers are supposed to manage, then what do I do? The good news is that you don’t have to choose…do both. Whether you...
It usually starts with someone's bright idea: "We need to disrupt this market…fast. How about we just give away our product. It will go viral...
I had lunch recently with one of our portfolio CEOs, and he said something that really caught my attention. I had just commented on how well they were executing...
Late in 2011, Eli Sapir and
Jonathan Kay realized that there was no viable (or profitable) endgame for app
creators, so they decided to start Apptopia, a
marketplace...
You are bound to hear the question dozens, maybe hundreds of times as a founder. How are you going to compete with Company XYZ? Can you differentiate from your...
Whether you’re a founder thinking about using third party software for your start-up, or thinking about how best to structure licenses to your software, it’s important to...
Early stage companies are often refining their stories or narratives. It’s important for lots of reasons – inspiring team members, recruiting, creating focus, getting...
There are two types of people in a start-up: those who have the hunger, and those who don't. If you're working at a start-up and not sure if you are hungry...
In Part 1 of my blog on building a 3-Step Plan to Get the Most from New Sales Hires, I discussed the tendency of high growth companies to act under pressure and hire sales people...
There has been a lot of buzz lately about startups being "Orphaned" after a Seed round--a phenomenon that has been dubbed the “Series A Crunch”...
Word always travels fast when a company is doing well, and growing quickly. The flood of resumes can be overwhelming. No matter what roles you want to fill, you’re certain...
My first job after business school was serving as a product manager for an Internet commerce software company (Open Market, IPO'96). Back then, we learned the...
Forecasting acquisitions in the technology world is an inexact science. And that’s putting it nicely. Occasionally they make sense, like when Amazon purchased Kiva Systems...
“If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it” – Lord Kelvin. This article is a comprehensive and detailed look at the key metrics that are needed to understand and optimize...
The dilemma has become quite acute these days since there’s been an expansion of available capital from VCs to fund growth companies. The more capital available, the more...
Football, rugby, or any other sport organized around a finely-tuned playbook, requires players to understand roles and execute plays in both familiar or unplanned...
I was spending some time with an MIT senior who is very involved with the startup community and has spent some time working at venture funded companies. We were...
Having read Seth Godin’s great little book, The Dip, I’ve been thinking about how Dips really influence the arc of not just individual career development but also that of start-up...
One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned within the world of pricing is that even though your price remains the lever that has the highest impact on your revenue, the subject is one...
One of my favorite founders in Boston is Jason Jacobs of Runkeeper. Every time I see Jason, I mention to him how impressed I am with what I'm hearing about the progress of Runkeeper...
One of the truisms of entrepreneurial startups is the importance of focus. Starting a company to compete against huge, well-capitalized companies is daunting enough. So focus...
As a typical startup founder I am often faced with difficult situations. Well, “often” is probably an understatement. ”Always” is more like it. As Steve Blank said in his Customer Development...
This recent article from the Wall Street Journal suggests that there is a “Venture Capital Secret: 3 out of 4 start-ups fail”. Failure, however, is defined as not returning...
Time – and how you use it – is the most important consideration for a Founder. This is one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my 20 years as an early...