Bootstrap or Raise Capital: How to Decide What’s Right for Your Startup
Monday, 01 September 2025
If you’re like me, it might have been Labor Day in the U.S., and it was a beautiful one here in Austin, not putting in any work is more or less impossible; besides, entrepreneurs throughout the world were working and so with the focus on work, I couldn’t help but put thought to this frequently
- Published in Raising Capital, Startups
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Botswana’s Startup Paradox: Why Africa Searches for Venture Capital
Wednesday, 16 July 2025
This is a country with the continent’s most stable democracy, solid credit ratings, one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa over the past fifty years, and the world’s largest diamond producer. Having just released our research into why venture capital avoids regions of the world, my attention turned to Africa because the continent is arguably
- Published in Regional Development
Why Venture Capital Avoids your Startup Ecosystem
Monday, 14 July 2025
Working with cities throughout the world, developing startup ecosystems, every one of them echos the same in their effort to encourage entrepreneurship, “we’re focused on bringing investors to the table.” What they’re doing is typical, ironically, of founders, who hear a problem and the focus on the solution (which by the way founders, is wrong).
- Published in Featured, Startup Ecosystems
Why Most Investors Are Wasting Their Time Ignoring Emerging Fund Managers
Wednesday, 12 March 2025
The most prevalent reason why I always raise my hand to speak, moderate, or host an event, is that while written content reaches millions or podcasting helps people see or hear your tone and passion, it’s only through live events that one can read the reaction of an audience, and in real time nuance the
- Published in Startup Ecosystems
Your Startup Pitch is Bad; Let me Explain How I Know
Thursday, 27 February 2025
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been pushing us to question traditional startup methodologies such as lean startup or how venture capitalists discern investments, through an exploration with you of First Principles Thinking and the Bell Mason Diagnostic. In fact, I’m not inherently a detractor of either, rather frequently advocating that founders need to
- Published in Raising Capital
The Bell Mason Diagnostic and First Principles Thinking in Venture Capital
Thursday, 20 February 2025
Why Venture Capital Needs a First Principles Overhaul Venture capital is broken. Not in the “bubble’s about to pop” and certainly not in the sense that so many are pissed off because they aren’t getting funded, but in the “founders keep getting bad funding advice from firms still operating on outdated, ineffective methodologies” sense. In the
- Published in Raising Capital, Startup Ecosystems
Time for Congress to Reform the SEC’s Outdated Accredited Investor Definition
Thursday, 06 February 2025
Public policy isn’t just a framework for startups and investors, it’s a gatekeeper deciding who gets to play the game. And few policies are as restrictive as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) definition of an “accredited investor.” This definition has long determined who can and cannot invest in private securities offerings (i.e. startups), not
- Published in Startup Ecosystems, Startups