Sure, once you are a successful entrepreneur, life can be fun. But don’t forget to have fun along the way too. Startups are intense. If you pick a startup solving a real problem, it’ll pull you along, rather than require you to push it to the finish line.
Meanwhile… a fun video from two highly successful entrepreneurs:
If I had to boil down my lessons for entrepreneurs on how to deal with investors, it boils down to “put your self in their shoes.” What does the investor want from you in order to decide to invest? What does the investors want from you after making the investment? For debt investments, the lender gave you money. That loan came with money and a schedule for repayments. What does the lender want...
There are lessons to be learned about entrepreneurship in unlikely places, including on the baseball field. Or at least in books about how to put together a winning baseball team, like Michael Lewis’ Moneyball. The lesson is simple, your KPIs matter. The What if? asked in Moneyball was “What is the goal of a baseball team, and how can a team best achieve that goal?” The agreed upon goal is to win...
You have a decision to make. If you have seconds to decide, you go with your gut. If you have minutes, you might take that minute to weigh Plan A with Plan B. If you have weeks you might create a pro-con list to help decide between those two – or even three – options. If you have months, you might take the time to brainstorm for some out-of-the-box options. What most people overlook is that there...
A few months ago I was interviewed on a podcast where the key question was “What is your superpower?” Sounds innocuous and simple, but it was one of those moments to reflect on life and not just provide a truthful answer, but something interesting and thought provoking. My answer was “If only”. What if _____? I’ve been an entrepreneur for over thirty years, founding or co-founding 10 companies. I...
I’m in a reprise mood this season… recently thinking about a blog post from 2015 with a lesson learned in an old movie on how to blow up a dam. A lesson about the expectations when making a big change to the world. The lesson comes from Force 10 from Navarone, starring Harrison Ford and Robert Shaw. This is a movie I first saw on a Sunday afternoon on TV as a pre-teen, and then dozen...
