When you think about the qualities that every successful startup must have, you’re likely to think about having a great team, a great CEO, grit, an exploding market, a great culture, and a friendly competitor. There’s a lot to choose from. But there’s one quality that you absolutely, positively have to have. Can you guess…
Your largest customer, representing over 80 percent of your revenue, threatens they are not going to work with you anymore. Making matters worse, your startup is in the middle of fundraising. What should you do? In today’s video, I’m going to go over this real life problem that a startup CEO I’m advising, “Gary”, is…
“Revenue is always a lagging indicator of success,” I said to “Kevin.” We were reviewing his progress, and he was behind plan. But I was seeing progress, and I wanted to remind Kevin. “What do you mean?” Kevin asked me. “Revenue is always a lagging indicator of success,” I repeated. “My co-founders are getting worried…
There’s a big mistake that almost every startup CEO makes. Sadly, too many of the CEOs I’ve worked with have made this same mistake. I want to help you avoid this mistake. The scary thing about this mistake is that making this mistake has the potential to kill your company. I’ll share with you two…
“You’re going to be working nights. You’re going to be working weekends to get this done,” Maxim’s CEO, Jack Gifford, said to the heads of the various business units of the company. Gifford had come up with a cleaver marketing idea, and he wanted it implemented in a month instead of the three months it…
The first startup I ever invested in had great technology. In fact, it was clear to me the technology was great, but I wasn’t sure how good the CEO was. I decided to invest anyways, and the company failed about two years later. All I had left to show for my investment was a tax…
Investors love asking startup CEOs what the barriers to entry are in your business. It’s a trick question because investors know very well what the barriers to entry are in your business. So, why do investors ask this question if they already know the answer to it? I’ll explain that to you in this video.…
“I have an early investor that wants to liquidate their investment,” “Steve” said to me. “That’s interesting,” I said. “Tell me more.” “They were an incubator we hooked up with. They just contacted me a couple of days ago. I don’t think they really care about the valuation. They just want to sell their share.”…
Growing your startup means you have to grow your team. But that’s just the start of scaling your startup. There’s a second important step that you have to master to effectively scale. If you don’t implement your startup, your startup will not scale. That’s what today’s video is all about. I hope you like it.…
“I told “Ray” not to screw it up,” I said to my friend, “Aric”, at dinner. My family and I were in town, visiting colleges for Avery, so we took the opportunity to have dinner with Aric. Aric laughed. Four years earlier, Aric introduced me to Ray because he felt I could help Ray build…