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How Should You Decide Who You Should Lay Off?
“That is sacrosanct,” one of our investors, “Raul”, said to me. I had just told Raul that we were going to perform a layoff as part of our next funding round. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Raul was pleased to hear me state the obvious. We needed…
Read MoreHow Important Is It To Patent Your Intellectual Property?
“They own the fundamental patents on how to make an integrated circuit. We’re not going to sue them,” Dave Fullagar, Maxim Integrated Products co-founder and VP Engineering, said to me. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Dave was explaining to me the facts of life. I was a running…
Read MoreHow Fast Is Too Fast For Your Startup To Grow?
“We are going to grow our earnings by one penny per share per quarter,” Jack Gifford, Maxim Integrated Products founding CEO, regularly said to public market sell side analysts. And every quarter, like a clock, the company grew earnings at one penny per quarter or better. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I…
Read MoreHow Do You Stay Motivated When Everything Goes Wrong?
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. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can…
Read MoreHow Do You Make The Most Out Of A Weak Team?
“Where did they find these people?” I asked my friend and employee, Steve. “We would have never hired them at Maxim (Integrated Products).” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] I was talking to Steve after I’d been at Micrel for a month as General Manager of one of…
Read MoreHow Do You Learn How To Sell?
“You’ve figured it out,” I said smiling to “Vern”, an engineer turned CEO that I’ve been working with. Since we started working together, I’ve been urging Vern to drive sales himself. Yet, until this conversation, he resisted my suggestion. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Vern sells enterprise…
Read MoreHow Do You Know That Your Product Is Going To Sell?
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?” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I was talking with an entrepreneur…
Read MoreHow Do You Do Market Research For Your Startup?
Back in the day, long before the internet and ChatGPT, I would drive over to Stanford University to do my market research. The business school had a really nice library where I could find just about everything I wanted. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. This would be…
Read MoreHow Do You Divide Equity When You & Your Co-founders Are Investing?
It’s great that you and your cofounder are both investing more money in your company. That’s a sign of true commitment. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Let me ask you a question? Why is your money worth more than your cofounder’s money? The answer is obvious.…
Read MoreHow Do You Define Product Market Fit?
There’s a great quote that US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about obscenity. He said, “I know it when I see it.” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. The same can said about Product Market Fit from my experience. You know it when you see it. When…
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