Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2021

Based on my experience as an investor and mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, one of the quickest ways to kill your credibility and your startup is to offer a poorly written business plan, or none at all. A great business plan doesn’t have to be a book in length, with extensive financial statements.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 21, 2020

In her classic book on this subject, “ Who’s That Sitting at My Desk? ” Here are the key ones I have experienced, as paraphrased from her book: Acquaintanceship. Workship - Mentor. Unlike the mentor, who is a coach and teacher, the advocate inspires you to be the best that you can be. Workship - Advocate.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2021

If you are thinking of joining the rush in this direction, I found some practical insights for success in a classic book, “ Thriving in the Gig Economy ,” by Marion McGovern. As a new business advisor and mentor myself, I enjoyed her recommendations on many of these issues. Know your competitive value.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2021

I’ve always wondered if there was some way that I could quickly deduce a new entrepreneur’s “sweet spot,” and optimize my mentoring to those strengths and weaknesses, maybe similar to the Myers-Briggs type indicator for business professionals. Ultimately, most get the best help from business advisors and mentors. Opportunist.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Waste in a startup is any activity that burns resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Gray, titled “ Business Techniques for Growth.”

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2022

Thus, in my mentoring of potential technical entrepreneurs who have a real passion for their technology, I often recommend that they find a co-founder who can manage the marketing and execution elements of the new venture. The competition will improve, the market will change, and your customers will demand more.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2023

I recall a good summary of how to motivate and train a team to accomplish this in the classic book, “ The Business of Creativity: How to Build the Right Team for Success ,” by Keith Granet. A single marketing coordinator can accelerate your efforts by being the coach and mentoring key members of the team on soft marketing. Give credit.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2021

Ironically, as a startup investor and mentor, I have seen too many failures caused by just the opposite – too much money spent too soon, taking time to get product perfection, and assuming customers will wait. How entrepreneurs respond to these will become a larger and larger determinant of startup growth, competitive position, and success.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2020

As a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I often feel the frustration of someone trying to build a startup in the wrong place and time, and wrongly attributing their struggle to personal limitations. I saw these addressed well in a new book, “ The Startup Community Way ,” by Brad Feld and Ian Hathaway.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2022

I can relate to this and other insights in his new book, “ Simple Truths of Leadership ,” with co-author Randy Conley. A little competition for results is always a good thing. The next step is to provide mentoring and training, as well as your support and confidence to take on more challenging assignments and responsibilities.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2021

Over the years I have spent mentoring entrepreneurs and startups, I often notice the similarities between successful professionals managing their careers and successful entrepreneurs building a business. Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn, helped me crystallize these similarities with his classic book “ The Start-up of You.”

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2022

That’s why I was pleased to see the balance on people versus process in a classic book on how to fix your organization, “ The Diamond Process ,” by Mike Diamond and Christopher Harding. Priority is placed on employee mentoring and coaching. On the other hand, I see teams with almost no process that are tremendously productive.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

All businesses these days are too complex to be one-person shows, so you need all the complementary held you can find to keep up with customers and competition, fill your expertise gaps, and scale the market. They mentor each other, and seek out experts in domains outside their current expertise and experience.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2023

Every business organization, large or small, has a variety of individual and team member types that factor into your ability to innovate and change the business to meet evolving customer needs and competition. Thus I was happy to see both addressed very well in a new book, “ Decision Sprint ,” by Atif Rafiq.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

As a mentor to young aspiring entrepreneurs , I often get asked for tips on a strategy to get started. Don’t be shy about networking for advisors with business experience for coaching and mentoring. In my experience, a good business plan should not be a book, or a one-pager. The ability to pivot quickly is a key to success.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2019

A few years ago I read a classic book “ The Rudolph Factor ,” by Cyndi Laurin and Craig Morningstar, which is all about finding the bright lights that can drive innovation in your business. The core message is that real innovation and competitive advantage are more people-based than product or process-based.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2023

We all face pressure in our lives, but there’s nothing like that of an entrepreneur facing customer crises and the competitive challenges of a new business. The science and human factors behind this approach are explained in a classic book, Crunch Time: How to Be Your Best When It Matters Most ,” by Rick Peterson and Judd Hoekstra.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2023

As an entrepreneur mentor and startup investor, I see with sadness the 50 to 90 percent that fail. A smart entrepreneur learns to embrace failure as a badge of learning that provides a competitive edge. If you ask them for a reason, most will insist that they couldn’t get funding, or they ran out of money too early.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

Many entrepreneurs I have mentored make big mistakes in this area, by hiring low-cost friends and family, with minimal skills or training, and expecting them to have the same work ethic , passion, and business knowledge as the founder. In addition, you can reduce to soft costs of mentoring, relationship building, and socializing.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

As a business mentor, I sometimes feel besieged by people begging for my view and support of their latest idea. There are lots of resources available for that question, including the Internet and mentors like me. Find out if something very similar is already selling, and who your competition would be if you proceed.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2023

They are rightly thinking about a strategy to be better prepared for future challenges , recognizing that more are coming in this age of accelerating change and global competition. Thus I was pleased to see the specifics offered in a new book, “ The Flexible Method ,” by James Burstall. Act fast and lead with a strong calm purpose.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2020

I recall a good summary of how to motivate and train a team to accomplish this in the classic book, “ The Business of Creativity: How to Build the Right Team for Success ,” by Keith Granet. A single marketing coordinator can accelerate your efforts by being the coach and mentoring key members of the team on soft marketing. Give credit.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

As the school year kicks off for college students, one of the big tasks of the year is buying books for their courses. One startup, SwoopThat (www.swoopthat.com)--started by a recent college grad Jonathan Simkin --has made it much easier to buy books for student, by pulling up books based on a student's schedule.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2023

I’ve also struggled trying to define the characteristics that set these bosses apart, so I was impressed with the classic book, “ Superbosses ,” by Dartmouth professor and consultant Sydney Finkelstein. Measure by relationships as well as competitiveness. Good connections and team building are the keys to success.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2022

I learned some good lessons along these lines from the classic book “ The Way of the SEAL ,” by Mark Divine. This knowledge is required for you to turn quickly or pivot based on new input from the market, without loss of competitive position. Leverage the resources of mentors, investors, and peers. Set your targets high.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

Then, he'll need to patent it and create a plan to show opportunity, competition, and financial projections. I find the best business plans are not books, but may actually should start as a one-page “elevator pitch” that succinctly encompasses your business goals, problems and solution, opportunity, competition, and business model.

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Tech.Co

MARCH 5, 2015

She’s also an advisor, mentor and investor in several startups. She’s a startup advisor, mentor, investor and was a finalist in Fortune’s 2014 Brainstorm Tech Startup Idol competition. Susan graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara and is the author of ‘The e-Auction Insider’ by McGraw-Hill.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2021

As a mentor to many entrepreneurs, I don’t believe that it is only a birthright, and there are several key strategies, including the following, that you can learn and practice which will lead to success: Give your own judgement a high priority in decisions. You need this to weather the hard times.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. From an investor perspective, understanding and acting early to establish a sustainable competitive advantage, and barrier to entry, is the best assurance of a financial return.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2021

I see the commonalities detailed well in the classic book, “ Extreme Teams ,” by Robert Bruce Shaw. Building and managing teams along the new lines outlined is not easy, and that’s why it’s a real competitive advantage when you do it.

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InfoChachkie

MARCH 10, 2014

Mr. Brown''s aphorisms eventually evolve into twenty one books, including four New York Times bestsellers. With Life''s Little Instruction Book , Mr. Brown became the first author to simultaneously hold the number one positions on both of the NYT''s hardback and paperback lists. Brown''s musing are anachronisms (e.g., "Don''t

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2020

We all face pressure in our lives, but there’s nothing like that of an entrepreneur facing customer crises and the competitive challenges of a new business. The science and human factors behind this approach are explained in a classic book, Crunch Time: How to Be Your Best When It Matters Most ,” by Rick Peterson and Judd Hoekstra.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

As a mentor to many business professionals and owners, and aspiring entrepreneurs, I find a wealth of innovative ideas, but often less insight on what it really takes to transform ideas into an income stream that can excite new customers into long-term business success. Take the steps needed to improve your success odds.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2022

In my years of mentoring entrepreneurs, a problem I have seen too often is low self-esteem, and over-compensating through arrogance and ego. Identify and redirect unhealthy competition and comparisons. Competition sabotages teamwork and leaves feelings of isolation and alienation. Fortunately, both can be fixed.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2022

In the classic book “ The Entrepreneur Mind ,” from serial entrepreneur Kevin D. Yet, based on my own years of experience “in the business”, mentoring many entrepreneurs, and following stalwarts like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, even these potentially controversial mindsets ring true to me: All risk isn’t risky.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2022

Even after many years mentoring entrepreneurs and advising businesses, I continue to be surprised by the primary focus on products and processes, and the often incidental attention to hiring and nurturing the right people. Bigger organizations should invest in the new “big data” tools. These should not be seen as two separate efforts.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Usually these are described as revenue growth drivers, as outlined in a new book, “ The Revenue Accelerator: The 21 Boosters to Launch Your Startup ,” by Dr. Allan Colman. For example , Bill Gates shared a mentoring relationship with Warren Buffett that increased the credibility of both, although their business domains were quite different.

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