Startups: What Exactly is Execution?
Sunday, 03 December 2023
I want to put your head on a specific focus as we explore this question. In the last few weeks, I’ve tackled the question of an ideal team for a startup, sharing new research about personalities, been critical of expectations, and proposed that understanding and avoiding how startups fail is more important than attention directed
- Published in Insights / Research, Startups
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Founders, VCs Might Not Like My Sharing This, But They Should
Thursday, 21 September 2023
One of the more challenging skills to help develop in a founder, is being able to discern b.s. from experienced and valid advice. As you might imagine (and I hope you can relate from the all too prolific frequency with which this happens), it’s particularly difficult to know how to put questions back on a
- Published in Insights / Research, Startups
Startup Founders, a Good Idea Solves a Problem, A Great Idea Creates Value
Thursday, 29 June 2023
We have a huge problem in the startup ecosystem; that’s that most founders have been misled by a lot of people to think in terms of Problem / Solution. That a solution to a problem is what matters foremost in a startup. And that has led to the notion that validation is a simple matter
- Published in Insights / Research, Search, Uncategorized
Startup Founders, Focus! (Yeah, but on what?)
Thursday, 25 May 2023
Focus. We hear that word and advice bantered about A LOT in the startup community but rarely is that mentorship capably followed up with WHAT to focus on and why. This is what contributes to founders to wasting time and failing. You think the advice is helpful; it’s not, it’s distracting. Focus? Yes. But on what?? Most
- Published in Startups
Developing Austin’s Startup Ecosystem
Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Regional culture, history, and infrastructure are the qualities of a region of the world that drives innovation, jobs, and economic development because technology is ultimately about people and their potential. A really a wonderful article about Austin in The New Yorker sparked a series of wonderful discussions of the past and present of the Austin
I’m Afraid VCs Will Take Over
Tuesday, 17 January 2023
How do startup founders protect their company from investors in the shareholders’ agreement? Should they? Protect from what?? Seriously, think about it for a moment. The startup community is flooded with people who ‘don’t want VC,’ think, ‘investors will take over,’ and fear the influence or control of investors. This paranoia is a problem in
- Published in Startups
Startup Valuations May Vary, Here’s Why and What You Need to Know
Monday, 05 December 2022
Businesses are valued based a multiple of earnings and profit. The variation stems from a few things associated with what that multiple might be (since earnings and profit are evident) Investor opinion about the capabilities of the executive team Investor awareness of competition, threats, and opportunities Investor knowledge about the market, trends, and potential regulation
- Published in Startups