“You should have seen the look on Gill’s face,” Barry, the Chairman of the Board of my company said to me. He was telling me about sitting in on a pitch to our lead investor’s fund. “Gill gave me this look about five minutes into the pitch,” Barry said, laughing. “He just wanted this thing…
Whether you realize it or not, you’re in a competing against hundreds of other startups, inside and outside your industry, for funding. So the question is how can you make your pitch stand out? In today’s video, I’ll share with you four tips that will help your pitch and pitch deck stand out from the…
It’s really tempting when you’re raising money to try and hide key issues and weaknesses about your company from potential investors. In a word, don’t. Because you’ll live to regret it if you do try and hide things from potential investors. Let me propose a different strategy. Instead, you should try and make it really…
There are certain leadership tasks that you can’t delegate as CEO because they are too important. In fact, if you delegate this work to your team, then the odds of your startup failing dramatically increase. In today’s video, I’m going to explain why there are three jobs you can never delegate to your team, especially…
There are some meetings that are so impactful that you never forget them, even 20 years later. And this throwaway meeting that Thomas and I had at Tellabs years ago definitely was one for the books. Thomas was the most senior applications engineer in my organization, and I really enjoyed meeting customers with him. Thomas…
I really respect Steve Blank. He’s got a great view of startups, venture capitalists, and the startup ecosystem as a whole. Plus, he’s viewed as the Godfather of the lean startup movement, so what’s not to like? Blank, 68, has been around a long time, and he’s seen how venture capital has changed from what…
Are you a first time startup CEO, and you’re wondering what your management style should be? Or maybe you’ve never managed a team before, and you’d like some management training and tips? You’re in luck, because I’m going to give you eleven tips that will help you become a better manager and a better startup…
Are you a first time startup CEO, and you’re wondering what your management style should be? Or maybe you’ve never managed a team before, and you’d like some management training and tips? You’re in luck, because I’m going to give you eleven tips that will help you become a better manager and a better startup…
“We’re going after a huge market,” “Giuseppe*,” said to me. “It’s around $1.5 trillion!” “Really,” I said skeptically. “Yeah,” Giuseppe said, “And the best part is we don’t even need to get one percent of the market to be successful!” “Walk me through how you determined the market is $1.5 trillion,” I said. You look…
One of the alleged rules that you have to follow is building your startup MVP. In fact, you’ll hear that you have to build an MVP. Full stop. Well, I’m here to tell you that for your startup to build a lean MVP just to build an MVP will get you killed. Instead, you need…