“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. But Regis also had worked with “Raul”, the “Yin” (dark side) of our investors. In fact Regis shared story after story, many of them truly hilarious, about…
How Can Standup Comedy Improve Your Pitch? By Brett Fox Do you want to become a better communicator? Watch some standup comedy and you’ll see a master communicator at work. There’s one thing all great comedians do that you need to if you’re going to be successful pitching your business. Watch this short 3 minute…
150. Remember this number because 150 turns out to be a pretty important number for organizational development. 150 is called Dunbar’s Number (read Malcom Gladwell’s Tipping Point for more). 150 is considered the maximum number of people that can work together with personal relationships. So when your organization grows beyond 150, the theory is you…
What Is Refreshing And How Can You Use It As A Startup CEO? By Brett Fox One of the toughest things to do is to make sure your earliest employees are rewarded for the risk they took. In today’s short video, I’m going to explain a fair way to make sure your employees equity is…
When times were really rough, I would get Avery’s magic eight ball. I would ask it, “Do you think we’re going to make it?” I would shake the eight ball and wait for the answer to appear in the triangle. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] The answer came…
What’s The One Business Book You Have To Read? By Brett Fox There are a lot of great business books out there. But there’s only one business book that you have to read regardless of your business. And many people don’t even consider this must-read a business book. Watch this short three minute video to…
What Are The Huge Advantages Of Being Late To Market? By Brett Fox Being first to market is the holy grail when you’re starting a business. So it can be soul-crushing when you find out a competitor got there before you. But all is not lost. In fact, maybe you’re better off being second, third,…
“Well, it seems to me you have a choice to make,” my friend and mentor Dave said to me. We were having our monthly coffee meeting. We usually met at Peets in Town and Country Center off of El Camino in Palo Alto. It was May and the weather was nice, so we were sitting…
In today’s world of “just grow baby, grow”, the break even point for startups can be all over the map. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Maybe you get to break even at a run rate of $1M/year. Maybe, like Uber, you can have revenue in the billions…
What Should Be Your First Steps Once You’ve Got A Great Idea? By Brett Fox You’ve got a great idea for a new business. No what do you do next? Taking a little bit of time to figure out exactly what you’ve got, and whether it even makes sense to go forward, is a smart…