Why Aren’t There More Female Entrepreneurs?
I’m often asked the question about why there aren’t more women who are entrepreneurs. On my blog I’ve been hesitant to take the topic head on. Somehow it seems kind of strange for a man to answer this question that obviously comes from a man’s point of view. But last week I noticed a blog post [...]
Tips to Help you Think About Sales at Your Startup
Sales. It’s the lifeblood of any organization and yet most startups don’t have any sales DNA on their teams. It’s important enough that I dedicate a tab on my blog to startup sales & marketing This week I had the chance to have an hour-long discussion with Vince Thompson (ran West Coast sales for AOL for 7 [...]
Why Super Pro-rata Rights are Not a Good Deal for Entrepreneurs
Yesterday I saw a Tweet from Chris Sacca fly by that prompted me to want to write a blog post helping entrepreneurs understand why they should push back against VCs asking for “super pro-rata” rights. I’ll explain what they are and why you should avoid them if you can. A primer on “pro-rata” rights Institutional [...]
Debating Some of the Issues of Our Time with Dmitry Shapiro
I had the pleasure of sitting down for an hour with Dmitry Shapiro of AnyBeat this week. The last startup he did raised $70 million for the online video space before being sued for more than $1 billion by Universal. He won the battle (the lawsuit) but lost the war (went bankrupt, with pending litigation [...]
Why Pseudonymity Is Such an Important Concept
Fred Wilson wrote a blog post yesterday called “Real Names” in which he talked about a commenter on his blog who preferred not to comment because he didn’t want to use his real name. It’s all told through a graphic & very short so worth your having a quick read. It’s a powerful concept. The [...]
Don’t Commit BSAK Errors. The World is Too Small
BSAK Errors. I always loved the term … ”Between seat and keyboard.” Normally it was my tech team just being cheeky with me about my withering technology chops. But … … was thinking about a very common BSAK error that I see committed – the “flaming email.” Or when I worked at Accenture we called these “CLMs.” [...]
Further Thoughts on Startup Operations
I recently wrote a post about why I didn’t think early-stage startups should have COOs. I expected it to be controversial and it was. To be clear, I said that most companies I see pitching have COOs & I don’t have a rule against it. I’ve had several COOs at companies in which I’ve invested. [...]
VCs with Personalities? Foundry Group FTW!
I was an entrepreneur for years. I must have pitched 40-50 VCs over the years. Possibly more. As I talked about on many occasions when I was an entrepreneur – and blogged publicly about - I learned a lot about my business and myself in these meetings. It was largely a positive experience. [Make sure to watch the [...]
Why Your Startup Doesn’t Need a COO
It’s very common for startup companies to have COO’s. So I know I’m getting myself into a bit of trouble by writing this. But … Startups don’t need – shouldn’t have – COOs. I have this conversation with every startup that comes to see me and has a CEO & a COO. I think usually [...]
The Problem with Collecting Logos at Startups
Collecting logos. It seems to be all the fad in the startup and VC world these days. VCs are paying up at enormous prices to say that they have GroupOn, Facebook and Twitter on their roster irrespective of whether they really venture funded them or bought in late stage. And entrepreneurs are working hard to make [...]
Avoid Monoculture. Travel. Read Widely. Let Experience be Your Compass.
I sometimes feel that the Silicon Valley culture and we as technologists more broadly can breed monoculture in our approach to entrepreneurship, problem solving, market analysis and technology solutions. Experiences way beyond any hack-a-thon, startup blog or your current company engagement can enrich your thinking and challenge you to think more broadly about the solutions [...]
Mea Culpa
On this blog I’m often trying to combine lessons for entrepreneurs and market commentary. Yesterday it was my turn for the lesson. In my zeal to prove a point I often take a strong stance on an issue. I then debate the topic in the comments section and hope that we all learn from the [...]
Explaining FNAC: Feature, Not a Company
FNAC. I first heard the term from Chris Fralic at First Round Capital. Feature, not a company. It has always stood out in my mind. Whether something is a feature or a company is clearly subjective. And sometimes features (say, Twitter) turn into companies. For me it is a useful shorthand for a very clever [...]
Why You Need to Take 50 Coffee Meetings
50 coffee meetings. It should stick in your head as a metaphor for networking. For getting outside of your comfort zone. For starting relationships today that won’t pay off for a year. It’s the entrepreneur’s equivalent of “10,000 hours.” Anybody who has spent any time with me in person will be tired of this advice [...]
Teachable Moments in PR & Crisis Management
I was recently approached by Fast Company to comment on “crisis management” at startups in the wake of the Airbnb “ranksackgate” story. I agreed to do the interview because the story was about what other companies can learn rather than about airbnb in particular. What are the teachable moments? The short article in Fast Company [...]
