How Should You Start Your Company As A Solo Founder?

By Brett Fox | January 6, 2025

“Do you remember when we first met?” I said to “Ray,” the solo founder and CEO of a startup that I’ve been advising for over three years. “Yes,” Ray said. It was in that park where we went for a walk where we saw all those deer.” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe…

Why You Should Hire Experienced Engineers

By Brett Fox | January 6, 2025

“I want to join your company Brett, but I have conditions,” Greg, one of top ten engineers on the planet in my industry, said to me. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] I smiled. Then I said, “Okay, what are your conditions?” “Well, there’s really only one condition…

Why You Always Should Focus On Cutting Costs

By Brett Fox | December 30, 2024

…Regardless Of How Profitable Your Company Is There it was in my in basket. A memo from Jack Gifford, the CEO of Maxim Integrated Products, with the title, “Use of office supplies.” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] The memo went something like this: “To: All Maxim Employees…

What Are The Warning Signs You Have A Bad Investor?

By Brett Fox | December 30, 2024

“You truly have the Yin and Yang of investors,” Regis McKenna said to me. Regis was introduced to me by Gill, the “Yang” (bright side) of our investors. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] But Regis also had worked with “Raul”, the “Yin” (dark side) of our investors.…

How Much Value Added Should You Expect From Investors?

By Brett Fox | December 30, 2024

“Change depends upon unreasonable people.” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “Brutal honesty trumps hypocritical politeness.” “We help the daring build legendary companies.” “Partnering with ambitious early-stage founders building category-defining companies.” “We help entrepreneurs build market leaders.” Do you know who wrote these phrases? We’ll get back to…

How Much Sleep Do You Really Need To Be Effective?

By Brett Fox | December 22, 2024

I wake up, and I look at the clock. It’s 2:14 AM. I had gone to sleep at midnight, and here I was, awake two hours later. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help.  Click here.] “Maybe this time, I’ll be able to break the pattern and go back to sleep,” I…

How Much Luck Do You Need To Be Successful?

By Brett Fox | December 22, 2024

“How many lives do I have left?” I asked myself. My goodness, I’d already survived a ton of near-death experiences, yet we hadn’t even released a product or gotten any funding. Maybe the startup gods were trying to tell me something? Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. But…

How Much Legal Knowledge Do You Need As CEO?

By Brett Fox | December 15, 2024

Years ago, I worked with this fellow named Bill. Bill and I worked on a lot of mergers together. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] I learned from Bill the value of being really detail oriented when you reviewed a deal. And this thought process went all the…

How Much Information Should You Include In A Pitch Deck You Email?

By Brett Fox | December 15, 2024

I hated, I mean, I really hated giving a pitch deck by email to an investor. I thought the odds of getting in front of an investor went way down if I gave them the pitch deck. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] “It’s like seeing a movie…

How Many Startups Can You Run At Once?

By Brett Fox | December 8, 2024

“I’m managing three companies,” “Jason” said to me. It was our first conversation, and warning lights started going off. “Tell me about the three companies?” I said. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Jason said, “The first company is a software company which is doing about $5 million…