How Much Sleep Do You Really Need To Be Effective?
I wake up, and I look at the clock. It’s 2:14 AM. I had gone to sleep at midnight, and here I was, awake two hours later. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] “Maybe this time, I’ll be able to break the pattern and go back to sleep,” I…
How Much Luck Do You Need To Be Successful?
“How many lives do I have left?” I asked myself. My goodness, I’d already survived a ton of near-death experiences, yet we hadn’t even released a product or gotten any funding. Maybe the startup gods were trying to tell me something? Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. But…
How Much Legal Knowledge Do You Need As CEO?
Years ago, I worked with this fellow named Bill. Bill and I worked on a lot of mergers together. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] I learned from Bill the value of being really detail oriented when you reviewed a deal. And this thought process went all the…
How Much Information Should You Include In A Pitch Deck You Email?
I hated, I mean, I really hated giving a pitch deck by email to an investor. I thought the odds of getting in front of an investor went way down if I gave them the pitch deck. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] “It’s like seeing a movie…
How Many Startups Can You Run At Once?
“I’m managing three companies,” “Jason” said to me. It was our first conversation, and warning lights started going off. “Tell me about the three companies?” I said. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Jason said, “The first company is a software company which is doing about $5 million…
How Many Hours Should You Work Weekly As The CEO?
It was around 5 PM on a Thursday. I was in my office, and I looked down at my to do list. Every item was checked off. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I literally had nothing to do. “This just can’t be right,” I said to myself.…
How Many Hours Per Week Should Your Team Work?
Every year, one of my VC investors would hold a “CEO Summit.” All the of the portfolio company CEOs would gather to network and listen to presentations from various people. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] The final speaker on the final day was always Jack Dorsey of…
How Does Your Role As CEO Change As Your Company Grows?
150. Remember this number because 150 turns out to be a pretty important number for organizational development. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] 150 is called Dunbar’s Number (read Malcom Gladwell’s Tipping Pointfor more). 150 is considered the maximum number of people that can work together with personal…
How Do You Win Against A Dominant Competitor?
Successful companies usually have a way of doing things. We certainly did when I was at Maxim Integrated Products. Jack Gifford, our CEO, called it “The Maxim way.” And our way was successful. The company grew to $2 billion/year in revenue with close to 40% net margins. It was literally a cash machine. But, and…
How Do You Tell Investors Why You Will Beat Your Competitors?
“They brought up companies we didn’t even know existed,” Mike, the managing partner of the venture capital firm where I was an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR), said in our debrief after a startup pitched us. Everyone was impressed with the CEO, the company, and we decided to continue forward with the investment. Do you want…