Neither Your Product nor Your Idea is Fundable
Sunday, 14 August 2022
How do I sell a startup that has a validated solution yet neither users nor revenue? Among the primary FAQs within startup incubators and of advisors, is how do I get my product funded? You know the question through the variety of ways in which it emerges: How do I raise startup capital for my
- Published in Industry, Insights / Research, Startups
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New Business or Startup? It Matters
Friday, 01 July 2022
I’ve been the “Grumpy Get Off My Lawn!” about this over the years and tend to just roll with the people who are adamant that words are interchangeable, feeling that it’s not worth pushing when people want to say one thing can mean another. Of what have I been grumpy? Words matter. An investor in
- Published in Insights / Research, Startups
Startups: Market Timing is Misleading
Monday, 27 June 2022
It’s never too early to work on something toward which you’re truly passionate. Too many founders start out focused on building the business they want or expecting when and how to make money. Bless them for playing, but that’s not how startups work. Those are the people who fail not because they’re wrong, they fail
- Published in Insights / Research, Startups
‘I Recently Left an Agency to Join a Startup…’
Monday, 21 March 2022
“Now I have to think in terms of scale and process, not just marketing, which is a new paradigm for me. What are your best learning resources (book, webinars, podcasts, etc.) to start thinking in terms of scale and process?” Great question, but one that also left me with a weight of concern, disappointment, and
- Published in Insights / Research, Startups
Wisdom of Life in Work
Friday, 17 December 2021
My Dad sent me a thought about Life, and lately, I can’t help but be fixated on notions that life lessons parallel entrepreneurship more than we realize or put into practice. The notion, for example, of finding cofounders is frequently explored through consideration of Dating and Marriage. Experiences in life informing what it means to
- Published in Insights / Research, Startups
How Funding Startups is Like Betting on Horses
Monday, 09 August 2021
Last week, a bit of a controversial, but thought-provoking, perspective about Venture Capital caught the attention of a lot of my readers and followers. There has been a horrific rash of *VC Bad* propaganda and misinformation lately, sparking my thought that people are being misled about the what Venture Capital is and does. That, entrepreneurs are frustrated
- Published in Industry, Insights / Research, Startups
“Venture Capital Destroys Value” – What??
Wednesday, 04 August 2021
The conversation recently had started, “Why do venture capitalists invest in startups if many of them are losing money and destroying value?” and I had to pause when I heard the point of view because I couldn’t even rationalize how someone thinks that way. Then of course it dawned on me that lately there has