Deciding to be an entrepreneur is a lifestyle move, and should be part of a long-term strategic plan. You shouldn’t be making this decision just because you are mad at your boss, or you would like to be rich, or someone else thinks you have a good idea. In these changing times, if you already […]
Management
How to Supercharge Your Marketing with Humor
I believe humor can change the world, enabling someone to take some time out of their busy day to focus on what you’re saying. Now imagine that someone being a potential customer. In business, the goal is not only to make a profit but to connect with your patrons. Infusing humor into your marketing strategy […]
How Idea People Can Transform Into Visionary Leaders
A popular approach for aspiring entrepreneurs these days seems to be to corner anyone who will listen, with a pitch on their current “million-dollar idea.” The initial monologue usually ends with the question “How much money do you think this is worth?” In my opinion, ideas are a commodity, and are really not worth much, […]
When Interviewing a Startup Law Firm, Talk to Senior Lawyers
It’s easy to get the impression, particularly when all you read about startups is a handful of publications representing a pocket (albeit a very vocal one) of the broader tech ecosystem, that the legal decisions startup entrepreneurs often face have all been standardized and templatized. But in truth, this is a façade. Extremely important, and […]
8 Strategies to Avoid the Entrepreneur Arrogance Trap
In my years of mentoring entrepreneurs, a problem I have seen too often is low self-esteem, and over-compensating through arrogance and ego. These entrepreneurs find it hard to respect customers or team members, and their ventures usually fail. As a team member, low self-esteem leads to low confidence, poor productivity, and no job satisfaction. Fortunately, […]
Designing, Developing and Shipping Your Product in Record Time
Many people told us it couldn’t be done: inventing, creating and shipping an award-winning product in seven months — especially with only $100,000 in initial funds. Despite the naysayers, we successfully developed a hardware product called SkyBell, a Wi-Fi enabled doorbell with a video camera that allows a homeowner to see who’s at their door from a smartphone — and […]
10 Keys To Making Money By Investing In Entrepreneurs
Investing in entrepreneurs and startups is a fun but different world from investing in conventional stocks, bonds, and commodities. First of all, it’s more of an investment in people than in a business, since the startup is usually an idea barely half-baked when they need your money. Secondly, the risk is very high, since as […]
Why Should I Avoid Paying People with Equity?
As Founders, we tend to spend equity like it’s free — only to come to learn that equity is not only expensive now, it’s way more expensive later as the company grows. And we now hold less of it.
6 Founder Actions That Can Kill a Promising Business
In my experience as an advisor to entrepreneurs, business startup founders most often point to a shortage of funds as the primary cause of their startup failure. Yet I often see evidence that points right back at the founder or business owner, attempting to maintain excessive power and influence over of the effort, leading to […]
8 Indications of an Entrepreneur Sought by Investors
An entrepreneur is literally “one who creates a new business.” The best new businesses are ones that have never been done before, so mastering creativity and recognizing creativity are key skills and mindsets. But how does one recognize and nurture creativity in a person or team? In researching this question, I reviewed a classic book […]
Where We Are Investing Now: Digital Brands
Both of our fund families focus on consumer products. Social Starts takes the angle of commerce and focuses on Digitally Native Brands based purely on their market characteristics. Joyance focuses on consumer goods derived from deep science with high emotional content. For us, Digitally Native Brands must deliver a generational opportunity to invest in a […]