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What You Need To Know About Reference Checks
I curled up on my bed in a fetal ball, sobbing. I kept repeating to myself: “What have I done?” “What have I done?” “What have I done?” Why was I crying? [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] We had been raising money for over eighteen months at…
Read MoreHow Quickly Should Your Business Get To Cash Flow Positive?
“I hate high margin businesses,” “Donald”, the billionaire VC head of Donald Ventures, said to me. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I ignored him, and continued on with my pitch knowing he would never fund us. I mean, after all, how do you respond to an idiotic…
Read MoreAre You Being Appropriately Frugal And Why It’s So Important?
“I’ve founded three startups, and I’ve never had one that was profitable,” a friend of mine was telling me. You’d think he was a failure based on that statement. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Not exactly. He sold his last company for $300 million. But my friend…
Read MoreThe Real Truth About Managing Remote Teams
My daughter Avery had an assignment in her first grade class. She was supposed to see if she could send a paper turtle to every continent in the world. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] The first challenge what was Avery going to name her nomadic turtle? Avery…
Read MoreFive Reasons Why You Should Avoid Raising Venture Capital
Many entrepreneurs don’t understand the cruel reality of fundraising. Just because you want to raise venture capital doesn’t mean you will raise venture capital. Consider this ratio: 100:1. That’s one investment for every one hundred face to face meetings a typical VC will take. Raising money is unbelievably hard. [Do you want to grow your…
Read MoreWhat Are The Five Signs It’s Time To Sell Your Company?
A couple of years ago I was advising a CEO. “Mark” had bootstrapped his company to profitability. Mark’s company began by providing consulting services. Then Mark’s company provided IP to its customers along with consulting services. Mark’s company had grown to become a multi-million dollar revenue company. But Mark had become increasingly worried lately. [Do…
Read MoreWhat Is It Really Like To Be A Startup CEO?
My heart is beating too fast, and it won’t slow down. It’s 3AM, and I can’t sleep. Again. I get out of bed, and I walk to my office. I am shivering even though the temperature in the house is 72 degrees – nerves. I turn on the computer, and I check my email. [Do…
Read MoreWhat Do VCs Notice When You Pitch Them?
The CEO was wearing a polo shirt and he sat down in the middle of our big conference room. There were about ten of us from the venture capital fund in the room with him. The CEO didn’t stand up like the other CEOs I’d seen present did. Instead, he stayed rooted like a plant…
Read MoreHow Do You Know It’s Time To Hire Your First Employee?
I’ve been working with “James” for about one year now. James is the CEO of a really cool company. Over the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of watching James grow his business to a pretty substantial level. Now, it’s finally time for James to hire his first employee. There’ve been the usual growing pains…
Read MoreWhat’s The One Type Of Investor You Absolutely Must Avoid?
Like every industry, Venture Capitalists can be broken into three groups: A. The really great VCs. This is about 20% of the population of VCs. B. The good to mediocre VCs. This is the majority of the population of VCs; about 60% in my experience. C. The really, really bad VCs. This is about 20%…
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