When I was fighting for my company’s life, battling with, one of our investors, the notorious “Donald Ventures”, to keep our company alive, I thought about my wife and daughter a lot. They had supported me emotionally, and I didn’t want to let them down. The stress I was under, during that one year time…
I was talking with an entrepreneur the other day about his company. He said to me, “I’ve asked customers if the would buy my product and they said they would. That counts as validation, doesn’t it?” I was talking with an entrepreneur the other day about his company. Ezra said to me, “I’ve asked customers…
In the over 20 years I’ve been involved in startups, I’ve never seen the competition for top talent as tough as it is now. It doesn’t matter where your startup team is located, your best employees are being poached. And, if you don’t take preemptive action now, your best employees will leave. I’ve worked with…
“Don’t worry, Brett. We’ll support you,” “Raul”, one of our investors, said to me in our board of directors meeting. Raul wanted us to go faster than I had originally planned for. And Raul meant what he said. He was, in that moment, at that time, telling me that he would continue funding us when…
“I want to invest, but I’d like someone else to set the terms,” Bill, a VC interested in investing in our company, said to me. That’s great,” I said, standing up. Bill and I shook hands. “I’ll keep you posted on our progress.” We had just starting raising our Series A funding, and I was…
One of the questions I get asked the most by early stage startup CEOs is, “I think I need a board of directors. What do you think?” In today’s video, I’ll answer all the questions you’re likely to have about startup boards including: What is an advisory board? What’s the difference between a board of…
I’ve had a pretty simple goal ever since I first started managing teams years ago. My friends used to tell me I was crazy to have this thought process. Maybe my friends were right because it is a risky strategy. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Yet, I…
The NASDAQ is down over 30% from its high. Interest rates are rising. It’s only inevitable that the economic environment is going to affect your early stage startup. How? Well, customers may not want to take a chance on buying from you because they’re worried you’re going to go out of business. Raising that next…
One of the greatest lessons I ever got in business was from my mom. She began her career as a successful writer. Then, when my brother and I entered middle school, my mom pivoted and began selling homes in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. My mom started by selling condominiums. Then she…
“My project is going to be delayed by one month,” Richard said to Jeroen, my co-founder and VP Engineering, in our weekly engineering review meeting. Jeroen went through the usual list of technical questions to understand what was causing the delay, and how likely it was that the project was only going to be delayed…