How Can You Meet And Beat Your Project Commitments
“You’re the only one of my portfolio companies with a tranche,” Gill said to me after closed our $12 million Series A funding. Then he added, “These are tough people (the other VC fund, “Donald Ventures”) we’re dealing with, and we’re going to be looking at each other if you don’t meet your commitments. Do…
How Can You Keep Your Great Engineers From Quitting?
“Brett, I wanted to let you know I am going to retire,” Dave said to me. “What? Why!” I said getting my bearings. “You can’t retire! You’re too young to retire.” “I don’t want to retire,” Dave said. “But I’m being pushed out by ‘Ted’.” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can…
How Can You Make Team Building Work?
I looked at the inbox of my email one morning, and there was an email with the title, “Team Building,” from Mark, the Chief Operating Officer of the company I was working at. I opened the email, looked at the content, and I groaned my disapproval. Mark wanted a limited group of senior managers to…
How Can You Improve Your Marketing Spending?
Years ago, I was fortunate enough to work with one of the smartest people I know, Ziya Boyacigiller. Ziya hired me when I joined Maxim Integrated Products. He was a true intellectual, almost professorial in his approach to business. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I’ll never forget…
How Can You Fix Your Big Sales Mistakes
“Ken” was a great director of Asian sales for Maxim when I worked there. Ken and his team knew their accounts inside and out. In fact, Ken was so good that he became the cofounder of my company years later. The market share we enjoyed in Ken’s region was around 80%. [Do you want to…
How Being Too Frugal Can Hurt Your Company
“We’re not spending money on voicemail!” Jack Gifford, the CEO of Maxim Integrated Products said. “We don’t need it!” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Several other senior executives and I were meeting with Gifford and the subject of voicemail came up. Gifford’s negative response wasn’t a surprise…
Does Experience Help You Or Hurt You As A Startup CEO?
I used to love watching Roger Federer play tennis. He looked like he was gliding across the court. And, no matter how hot it is, the guy never sweats. Never. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Then, there’s his polar opposite, Blossom’s favorite player, Rafael Nadal. Before he…
Do You Need to Think Big to Win?
I was recently in a new product idea meeting, and Greg was proposing his latest idea. Greg and I have worked together, on and off, for over 20 years. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Greg has always thought big ever since we met. Today was no…
Do Introverts Make Better Startup CEOs Than Extroverts?
“Who do you know that might be interested in what we’re doing?” I said to Chuck. Chuck was engineer I was introduced to by a friend of mine. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] “Oh, you should definitely talk to Richard. He’s one of the best engineers I…
Do All Driven Entrepreneurs Become Successful?
Let me tell you a story about “John”. Do you want to know your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. John is someone I’ve known for years. About ten years ago, John decided he was going to take all the knowledge he’d learned as an engineer and start a company. John was considered one…