How You Can Be A Great CEO Without Being A Genius
Do you really have to be a super genius to be a successful startup CEO? The answer is obviously no. Not only can being a genius work against you as a startup CEO, but most of the qualities required to be a successful startup CEO have nothing to do with being a genius. I’ll give…
How Do You Define Product Market Fit?
There’s a great quote that US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about obscenity. He said, “I know it when I see it.” The same can said about Product Market Fit from my experience. You know it when you see it. When we started selling, I had visions of our products instantly flying off the…
How Do You Divide Equity When You & Your Cofounders Are Investing?
It’s great that you and your cofounder are both investing more money in your company. That’s a sign of true commitment. Let me ask you a question? Why is your money worth more than your cofounder’s money? The answer is obvious. Your money and your cofounder’s money is worth the same amount because…
How Do You Determine What Goals Are Important To Your Business?
Do you want goals that are easy to hit? Or do you want goals that you and your team are going to have to really stretch to hit? The reality is you need both types of goals for you company to succeed. I’l explain how you can, not only make these different types of goals…
What Are The Two Killer Fundraising Mistakes You Have To Avoid?
I’ve worked with a lot of startup CEO’s, and I see the same two killer fundraising mistakes made over and over again. One of them will kill you before you get started, and the mistake will kill you when you’re raising money. What are these killer mistakes, and, more importantly, how can you avoid them?…
Why You Need To Know What Your TAM & SAM Are
“Tell me about the whole market first,” Jack Gifford, Maxim’s CEO, said to me. We were meeting at the Peppermill in Cupertino like we always did for our Tuesday morning breakfast meetings. For this meeting it was me, Ziya who was my boss, Dave Fullagar who was the VP Engineering, and I believe Len Sherman…
When Do You Consider Your Business Ready To Launch?
I used to meet with my cofounders a few times a week. We were each working on parts of our business plan. “John” was working on the engineering model, “Jim” was working on the marketing model, and I was working on the overall financial plan. After about two months of staring at each other across…
How Do You Deal With An Employee That Can’t Scale?
It’s inevitable. You’re going to have an employee that did a great job for you early on in your company, but now that same employee is having trouble as the company grows bigger. What you do when you face this inevitable challenge will determine more about the fate of your company than you might realize.…
What You Learn From How Non Technical CEOs Succeed
“Don’t try and be something that you’re not,” that was the advice I gave to myself when I started my company. Even though I have a BSEE and a few patents, I’d been on the “dark side”, as my wife calls the business side of a technology company, for years. I wasn’t going to be…
How Much Should You Share With An Investor Before Getting A Term Sheet?
You’re in a meeting with an investor, and the investor asks you to provide sensitive information like your customer list before you sign a term sheet. Or you’re in a technical diligence meeting and things don’t feel right. What should you do? The good news is that most investors are not out to steal your…