Leadership and Management
The Five Traits To Look For In A Problem Employee
“They even got me an apartment to stay in when I went to Shanghai,” “Tommy”, my new VP Sales said to me. It was offhand comment Tommy made about his time consulting with another startup that was based in China. If you’re serious about raising your funding, join Zero to Pitch Gold now and get…
Read MoreThe Five Signs You’re Not Thinking Big Enough
“Why are you worried about selling your company?” I asked Fred. “You’re just getting started, and you’re worried about selling (your company)? That doesn’t feel good to me.” If you’re serious about raising your funding, join Zero to Pitch Gold now and get expert feedback on your pitch this week. I had just met Fred,…
Read MoreShould You Be Afraid To Tell Your Team Bad News?
“Tina, can you help me get all the VPs together? I need to meet with them right now. It’s urgent.” “Okay,” Tina said. If you’re serious about raising your funding, join Zero to Pitch Gold now and get expert feedback on your pitch this week. “Have everyone, including you, meet me in the large conference…
Read MoreIs Starting Your Own Company Worth it?
“It’s a mug’s game, then?” Dave, one of the hosts of the podcast Jeroen, my co-founder and VP Engineering, and I were being interviewed on, said to us. If you’re serious about raising your funding, join Zero to Pitch Gold now and get expert feedback on your pitch this week. I had just finished telling…
Read MoreHow You Should Think About Employee Compensation
“Hi Brett, it’s Carlos. Uh…” “What’s the issue, Carlos?” I asked our HR VP. “You know the salary you wanted to pay your new engineer, Fred? Ray (the CEO) wants to reduce it by $20,000.” If you’re serious about raising your funding, join Zero to Pitch Gold now and get expert feedback on your pitch…
Read MoreHow You Can Easily Identify Your Company’s Weaknesses
Years ago, I worked for a company called Micrel. Micrel’s CEO, Ray, sold me on joining the company by saying, “Bring us up to your level.” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Ray’s pitch sounded to me like he would welcome my help and honesty. I’ll get back…
Read MoreHow Technical Do You Need To Be As A Startup CEO?
I’ll never forget my co-founder and VP Engineering, “John”, telling me (and I’m paraphrasing here), “I don’t see what value you bring to the company.” Is something wrong with your pitch and you don’t know how to fix it? Don’t stay stuck. Join Zero to Pitch Gold and fix your pitch. I was focused on…
Read MoreHow Should You Talk About Bad News With Your Team?
“I think we’re getting really close to getting funding,” I said to myself. We had just had another VC pass, but THE WAY VCs were passing seemed different to me. Maybe we were getting close to getting funded. More likely we weren’t. Is something wrong with your pitch and you don’t know how to fix…
Read MoreHow 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…
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