In the past few months, almost every discussion I have with founders who recently started their companies start the same way. “We are really excited to have you help us, do you know of any investors that might want to invest?” These are companies that were literally just started, whose product does not yet work and […]
New product development
Startups Must Embrace Coopetition For Rapid Growth
Startup founders are known for their passion for their startup idea, and for their passion to kill every competitor. Thus they often overlook the fact that their biggest growth opportunity may be a win-win collaboration with a serious competitor, known in the business as coopetition. Of course, this path involves some risk, but you never […]
3 Tips for Outsourcing Your Product Build to a Development Shop
With a shortage of quality development talent, many founders have turned to development shops in order to start building their product. At Terrible Labs, we have the opportunity to chat with many founders about how to get their first web or mobile product designed, built and launched. Unfortunately, a lot of them have unrealistic budget expectations […]
8 Reality Checks That Every Startup Founder Dreads
Starting a business is a lot like starting a marriage. At first, all parties are in dreamland with a vision of changing the world, having lots of fun and raking in the profits. But all too soon, reality sets in. Product development is stuck at that 90% mark, a key person leaves and customers are […]
More Features Kill More Startups Than Lack of Money
“Scope creep” (or feature creep) is an insidious disease that kills more good startups, especially high-tech ones, than any other, and yet most founders (who may be the cause) never even see it happening. This term refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product or service before first delivery, just […]
Don’t Let Founder’s Syndrome Kill Your Next Venture
Founders almost always cite a lack of money as the reason for failure, but if you look deeper, I believe the reason is more often about dysfunctional people and poor leadership. Sometimes it comes right back to the founder, in terms of a malaise often called “Founder’s Syndrome.” A few years ago I was intimately […]
The 7 Startup “Mudas”
In the industrial world, the elimination of “muda” (Japanese term for waste) can’t be stressed enough as means to increase productivity and profitability, yet there is a vast majority of service-related businesses that are still trying to figure out how to implement lean strategies to their businesses. Startup founders may find that there are […]
StrategyHack brings together startups and marketing specialists
Finally, New York City offers an all-day ‘hackathon’ for marketing and product development. StrategyHack, organized by The Inventure Co., brings together marketers and early-stage startups for a day of hacking together marketing strategies. The first Hack was hosted in March and the second has been planned for June. Applications are open to marketing strategists and […]
Beat the Competition through Process Innovation
Innovations in products, technology, design and engineering have pushed society forward and made the world a better place to live. Companies spend fortunes on product development and research to ensure that they are on the cutting edge, supplying consumers with everything that they want and need. How can your small start-up, and minimal R&D budget, […]