Last week, I was reading a post by David Cummings, the founder of Pardot and author of one of my favorite entrepreneur blogs. His post was on the need for seed-stage entrepreneurs to demonstrate growth momentum, even at modest scale. His primary point is that ‘fundable’ startups demonstrate a track record of sustained growth, which …
Yesterday, May 23rd, we kicked off MSU – and East Lansing’s – inaugural startup accelerator, Conquer. Conquer has been a long time coming – and a long time needed. I am privileged to get to play a role as their “Entrepreneur-in-Residence.” To that end, I am sharing my perspective on Conquer wearing my “StartupLansing”/”civilian” hat …
Conquer Accelerator – Thoughts from the First Day Read More »
Several times a month, I’m approached by a would-be startup founder who is looking to hire us to build them an app. In many cases, we decline if nobody on the team has any technical expertise. This is because we know these teams are confronting an increased probability of failure…and the lesson won’t come cheap.
Every day, my team and I have a 15 minute check-in meeting at 10am. Every Friday, we do a retrospective of the week, where we discuss what went well, what didn’t, and what we want to work on the following week. On Mondays, we outline priorities for that week, relative to the goals we set …
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine, a local, very successful entrepreneur, introduced me to one of the best videos I’ve seen in a very long time. In this video, Success Magazine editor Darren Hardy, describes the habits of super successful people. People like Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, and the like. One …
The Pomodoro Technique – A Massive Productivity Hack for Founders Read More »
One of the questions I’m asked often is how to go about the fundraising process. In my experience, there is no one way to approach it, though I have found it to be true that investors like to see that you have skin in the game, prefer to fund growth over hunches, and care way …
How to Raise Money For a Startup – 7 Resources to Help You Get Started Read More »
Starting a startup – or any kind of business – is hard. Not only does it require hard work, it also requires making a lot of decisions, often with incomplete or ambiguous information and there’s often a fair amount of anxiety that can accompany the endeavor.
Since my last startup failed, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the mistakes that I made and how I might learn from them in the future. Many of the mistakes I made were strategic or tactical. Some I could only learn through experience. The harder lessons to learn, though, have been more …
A Simple Strategic Planning Process for Startups Read More »