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What You Shouldn’t Say During A Pitch Meeting?
“You need to sign an NDA,” my co-founder “John”, said to David, the investor we were presenting to. It was our second meeting with David, and John’s comment took me totally by surprise, but David’s response didn’t take me by surprise. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. David…
Read More9 Hard Lessons You Need To Learn For Startup Success
“It’s the suckiest thing about being a startup CEO,” I said to “Bill”. I could see the sadness written all over his face. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “I can totally relate because I went through the same thing,” I said. “The people you start (your company)…
Read MoreHow Much Responsibility Should You Take?
“You screwed up,” “Bob”, the CEO, said to his executive team during our weekly operations meeting. “How am I going to explain this to ‘the street’?” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Bob was upset because the company had missed its promised numbers to Wall Street, again. And…
Read MoreWhat Do You Do When A VP Quits During Fundraising?
“You can’t tell the new investors that ‘Tommy’ quit!” “Raul”, one of my investors, said to me when I told him our new VP Sales, had resigned that morning. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “Your job now is to get him (Tommy) to change his mind,” Raul…
Read MoreWhen Should You Start Planning Your Exit Strategy?
If there’s one thing I hate, it’s when I meet an early stage startup CEO who’s focused on selling their company. Inevitably, I’ll ask the CEO, “Why are you focused on a sale now?” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Inevitably, the answer, more times than not, comes…
Read MoreThe Behavior Investors Can’t Stand In A CEO
“I don’t know if I can do this anymore,” “Serge”, the CEO of a struggling startup, said to me. “I think I’m going to give up.” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “What?” I responded. Serge’s capitulation said didn’t register on me. It was foreign to my way…
Read MoreWhat Do You Do When Your New Hire Gets A Counter Offer?
“How do you think Maxim (Integrated Products) will react when you resign?” I asked Jeroen. We had just signed a $12 million term sheet for our initial funding, and Jeroen and I had agreed that now was the time for him to resign and become our full time Vice President of Engineering. Do you want…
Read MoreCan You Succeed Hiring B & C Level Talent?
“The talent level here is really high,” I said to the engineering candidate I was interviewing. “So, if you want to work with the best of the best, you should join us.” Do you want to grow you business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I was the last person to interview Melind, the closer,…
Read MoreThe Five Advantages You Have As An Older Entrepreneur
“Nothing seems to faze you,” “Raul”, one of my investors said to me during our 1:1 meeting in his office. He’d been an investor in our company for one year. Raul was pretty crusty, so I considered what he said to be a compliment. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help.…
Read MoreHow You Shouldn’t Write A Pitch Deck
There’s a huge difference between the question of “How long did it take you build your pitch deck?” and the question of “How long did it take you to build a successful pitch deck?” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Our original pitch deck took, I don’t know,…
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