What Is The Best Advice When You Partner With A Larger Company? By Brett Fox I’ve been on both sides of this equation. We did several deals with companies bigger than us including: Companies that were distribution partners, and.. Companies that were manufacturing partners, and… Companies that were possible acquirers. There is one consistent thing…
What Can You Add To A Term Sheet To Keep From Being Fired? By Brett Fox You’re looking for protection to keep your investors from replacing you. A term sheet is not going to do it. The cold, hard reality is you lose control of your company the second you take funding from outside investors.…
There’s a lot of misinformation out there about Minimum Viable Products (MVPs). There’s a belief that it’s the right way to go if you develop an MVP because people are naturally going to buy your product. I want to debunk this idea right now. Just because you develop an MVP does not necessarily mean your…
What Is The Biggest Challenge You Face As CEO Besides Funding? By Brett Fox Let’s say you don’t have funding worries because funding is the biggest challenge startups face. What is the second biggest challenge startups face? I’ll tell you what isn’t the second biggest challenge startups face. It isn’t: A. No market need. And…
Why Should You Use A Right Hand Person To Fire People? By Brett Fox Any executive that uses a “right hand man” to fire a direct report should themselves be fired. Firing someone is supposed to be a painful experience. You are changing someone’s life, and you should feel horrible. I couldn’t sleep the night…
What Can You Learn From Marissa Mayer’s Struggles At Yahoo? By Brett Fox I think the lessons are more for first-time public company CEOs that worked at one company for a long stretch of their career prior to becoming CEO. Marissa Mayer spent her whole career at Google prior to accepting the Yahoo CEO position. …
I think people that have never started a company have this perception that being a founder gives you some hidden decision making rights. “Ah, you’re a founder, you must be involved in every key decision? Right?” Wrong! Being a founder does not (or at least being a founder should not) give you special decision making…
How Do You Know The Value Of Your Sales People? By Brett Fox One of the best things that ever happened to me in my career was when I was given responsibility to manage an external sales organization. Previously, I was general manager of a business unit inside the company, and we had a matrixed…
What Tasks Do You Need To Do Every Day As An Entrepreneur? By Brett Fox I was talking Friday with a CEO I am advising named “Paul”. Paul’s in fund-raising mode right now. Nothing else matters when you’re in fund-raising mode except raising your money. I told Paul, “You need to have a laser-like focus…
Is It Worth Starting A Company When You’ve Just Graduated College? By Brett Fox My Dad gave me some great advice when I was graduating college. He told me to take my chances when I was young. And, as I fast-forward ahead ten years to when my daughter will be graduating college, I wonder what…