I was fortunate to be involved with one of the most successful companies ever formed in the chip industry, Maxim Integrated Products. Maxim grew to over $2 billion/year in revenue, with net margins approaching 40%. It was a cash machine. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] The company…
“Everything hinges on us being able to find a great VP Engineering,” I said to Dave Epstein. Dave was a partner at the VC firm that was thinking of bringing me on as Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR). [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] EIRs are brought in by VC…
Don’t kid yourself, being a startup CEO is hard. Every minute of every day, from the time you start your company, to the day you sell your company, you’re going to be thinking about your startup. As a startup CEO, you have roles and responsibilities that go beyond just getting your work done. In this…
I’ve worked with engineers that are great CEOs. I worked with non-technical founders that have made great CEOs too. So, it isn’t easy to just say that one is better than the other. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] However, there’s one consistent thing, actually there’s more than…
Successful companies usually have a way of doing things. We certainly did when I was at Maxim Integrated Products. Jack Gifford, our CEO, called it “The Maxim way.” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] And our way was successful. The company grew to $1 billion/year in revenue with…
Startup founder problems affect at least fifty percent of all startups. And, sometimes the problems can be fatal; especially if you lose the wrong founder at the wrong time. So what can you do to solve startup founder problems before they start? This short video, part II of a two part series, gives you three…
Of all the things I thought were important when I started my company, but weren’t, I’d put the board of directors meetings at the top of the list. You ask, “why do you feel this way?” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here] The answer is your board of…
Co-founder issues are the most likely reason your startup will fail. Over 50% of the companies I work with have co-founder issues. So , wouldn’t it be nice if there was action startup founder advice that could identify and fix your startup founder issues before they have happen? This video is the first in a…
I know you may not want to believe it, but your investors don’t want to fire you, so they can replace you with another CEO. Really. It’s true. I’ll explain why it is absolutely in your investors best interest to support you in this short video. I hope you like it. Read The Video…
“Hi Brett, it’s Carlos. Uh…” “What’s the issue, Carlos?” I asked our HR VP. “You know the salary you wanted to pay your new engineer, Fred? “Bob” (the CEO) wants to reduce it by $20,000.” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “You’ve gotta be kidding,” I said. “I…