A Competition Slide that Closes Capital
Wednesday, 25 November 2020
I was asked recently if Facebook and Google are competitors, and the question being asked, struck me with as much alarm as hearing a startup founder say they don’t have competitors. What most frequently gives an investor pause is a slide in a pitch deck that communicates that you’re not paying attention to your market and
- Published in Raising Capital
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Ideas Are Valuable; Stop Saying They’re Not!
Tuesday, 17 November 2020
Businesses without ideas are like people with matches trying to light a wet campfire. Striking, striking, and striking again. You have the stuff that's valued (wood, matches) but you can't do anything without a ton of work.
- Published in Insights / Research, Startups
The Emperor’s New Clothes of Entrepreneurship
Tuesday, 10 November 2020
When you're prepared for loss, failure, isolation, commitment, tenacity, perseverance, and living on nothing, THEN maybe give it a shot; not because someone else says it's easy or that they'll help you. You need to be more prepared for the very likely downside than living on the hopes and dreams perpetuated because a small fraction who try make it work.
- Published in Insights / Research, Startups
The Separation of Communiqué and State
Thursday, 05 November 2020
Perhaps our disappointment in one another, frustration with Presidential elections, and stress over 1 role in the entire world, isn’t a reflection of us, but of the office having too much power and influence. U.S. elections and the attention world leaders such as the President (any President), have in the last few decades, really drawn
- Published in Insights / Research
Maybe Starting with the Problem is the Problem
Tuesday, 06 October 2020
In a world wherein overwhelmingly most founders and startups fail as a result of a lack of product/market fit, and incubators, University startup programs, and mentors, are flush with “ideas” that genuinely warrant, “that’s already being done,” perhaps the advice to start with the problem (or solution, for that matter), is wrong. Think on it:
- Published in Startups