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How Do You Know If You’ll Be Successful?
When times were really rough, I would get Avery’s magic eight ball. I would ask it, “Do you think we’re going to make it?” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] I would shake the eight ball and wait for the answer to appear in the triangle. The answer…
Read MoreWhat Is The Most Difficult Part About Building Your Startup?
“The hardest part of building our company will be raising the initial funding,” I naively said to my fellow cofounders. Every one of them nodded their heads in agreement. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I continued on with my pep talk. “We’ll be home free once the…
Read MoreHow Should You Start Your Company As A Solo Founder?
“Do you remember when we first met?” I said to “Ray,” the solo founder and CEO of a startup that I’ve been advising for over three years. “Yes,” Ray said. It was in that park where we went for a walk where we saw all those deer.” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe…
Read MoreWhy You Should Hire Experienced Engineers
“I want to join your company Brett, but I have conditions,” Greg, one of top ten engineers on the planet in my industry, said to me. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] I smiled. Then I said, “Okay, what are your conditions?” “Well, there’s really only one condition…
Read MoreWhy You Always Should Focus On Cutting Costs
…Regardless Of How Profitable Your Company Is There it was in my in basket. A memo from Jack Gifford, the CEO of Maxim Integrated Products, with the title, “Use of office supplies.” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] The memo went something like this: “To: All Maxim Employees…
Read MoreWhat Are The Warning Signs You Have A Bad Investor?
“You truly have the Yin and Yang of investors,” Regis McKenna said to me. Regis was introduced to me by Gill, the “Yang” (bright side) of our investors. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] But Regis also had worked with “Raul”, the “Yin” (dark side) of our investors.…
Read MoreHow Much Value Added Should You Expect From Investors?
“Change depends upon unreasonable people.” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “Brutal honesty trumps hypocritical politeness.” “We help the daring build legendary companies.” “Partnering with ambitious early-stage founders building category-defining companies.” “We help entrepreneurs build market leaders.” Do you know who wrote these phrases? We’ll get back to…
Read MoreHow 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…
Read MoreHow 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…
Read MoreHow 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…
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