Have you ever heard the story of Toughskins Jeans, made by Sears? If you go back in time to the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the jeans market was dominated by Levi’s 501 jeans. Sears wasn’t doing too well in the jeans market competing against Levi’s, so they talked to its customers and discovered that…
“With this next round of funding, we’re going to valued at $1.5 billion,” “Ray,” a CEO I’m working with, said to me the other day. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “That’s awesome!” I said. “Congratulations. I remember how hard it was at the beginning. You’ve come a…
“I want to be successful so badly I can taste it. What do I do?!” I said to the wall in my office. It was my first day after we launched our startup and I needed answers. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] “Yes, my son,” a booming…
I worked at two companies in the same industry that had very different views on how to treat their employees. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. The average time employees spent at the first company, Maxim Integrated Products, was over ten years. The average time employees spent at the second…
There is this false belief that the way to keep control of your company as an entrepreneur is by owning a majority of the stock or creating special classes of stock so you control the voting rights. The concept is pretty is simple: You control the votes, so you can’t be voted out of being…
“I know that guy,” I whispered to Dave, the partner that was looking at the deal. It was the first meeting our venture fund was going to have with, what we thought, was a very promising company. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] “Who is he?” Dave whispered…
“You’re the only one of my portfolio companies with a tranche,” Gill said to me after closed our $12 million Series A funding. Then he added, “These are tough people (the other VC fund, “Donald Ventures”) we’re dealing with, and we’re going to be looking at each other if you don’t meet your commitments. Do…
“Brett, I wanted to let you know I am going to retire,” Dave said to me. “What? Why!” I said getting my bearings. “You can’t retire! You’re too young to retire.” “I don’t want to retire,” Dave said. “But I’m being pushed out by ‘Ted’.” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can…
I looked at the inbox of my email one morning, and there was an email with the title, “Team Building,” from Mark, the Chief Operating Officer of the company I was working at. I opened the email, looked at the content, and I groaned my disapproval. Mark wanted a limited group of senior managers to…
Years ago, I was fortunate enough to work with one of the smartest people I know, Ziya Boyacigiller. Ziya hired me when I joined Maxim Integrated Products. He was a true intellectual, almost professorial in his approach to business. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I’ll never forget…