Leadership and Management
What 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 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 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 Many Startups Can You Run At Once?
“I’m managing three companies,” “Jason” said to me. It was our first conversation, and warning lights started going off. “Tell me about the three companies?” I said. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Jason said, “The first company is a software company which is doing about $5 million…
Read MoreHow Many Hours Should You Work Weekly As The CEO?
It was around 5 PM on a Thursday. I was in my office, and I looked down at my to do list. Every item was checked off. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I literally had nothing to do. “This just can’t be right,” I said to myself.…
Read MoreHow Many Hours Per Week Should Your Team Work?
Every year, one of my VC investors would hold a “CEO Summit.” All the of the portfolio company CEOs would gather to network and listen to presentations from various people. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] The final speaker on the final day was always Jack Dorsey of…
Read MoreHow Do You Turnaround And Rebuild Your Company?
“Bring us up to your level,” Ray, the CEO of Micrel, said to me in his office. Ray was pitching me on becoming general manager of one of the company’s three business units. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I smiled, we shook hands, and I left his…
Read MoreHow Do You Run Your Company As Headcount Grows?
I remember there were six of us after we closed our funding. Myself, my four co-founders, and our operations manager Dave. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Two weeks later Sid joined as our design engineering director. Within two months we added three more design engineers bringing us…
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