Leadership and Management
When Should I Hire A COO?
I added a COO as a cofounder to my company. He was talented, had tons of experience and knowledge, and he helped me secure funding. There was just one little problem with having a Chief Operations Officer in a startup, especially an early stage startup. And that problem is… Startups, especially early stage startups, don’t…
Read MoreLearn How Using Empathy Gets The Ultimate From Your Team
“There are a lot of negotiators that really will give in on a deal because being understood is more important than getting what they want.” Chris Voss, the FBI’s former lead hostage negotiator said. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] In fact, the first thing master-negotiator Voss teaches…
Read MoreHow Do You Build A Large Company When Your Top Employees Are Leaving?
Have you ever heard the story of “The Traitorous Eight?” You can read about The Traitorous Eight here. I’ll give you a quick overview to save you some time. Back in the mid 1950’s, a brilliant scientist and Nobel Prize winner named William Shockley started a company called Shockley Semiconductor Laboratories. The company was based…
Read MoreHow Do CEOs Fire Someone Without Any Consequences?
There are always consequences when fire someone. Even in California, where employment is “at will.” Years ago, I was running a division of a company. Every Friday the company had an operations meeting that included senior management. The meeting always started at 1PM sharp with the CEO usually starting the meeting by giving a speech.…
Read MoreWhat Are A CEO’s Top Priorities?
The first CEO job I ever interviewed for, the recruiter said to me, “As CEO you recruit, recruit, recruit, and you sell, sell, sell.” I didn’t get the job. Then, I started my own company and became CEO. And what did I do? Recruit, recruit, recruit, and sell, sell, sell. Recruiting and selling were always…
Read MoreWhat Is It Like To Be The Non-Technical CEO Of A Tech Startup?
I was the non-technical founder you are talking about. I have a BSEE, but I hadn’t designed the products we were developing (Integrated Circuits) in years. I needed to find what you need to find: A great VP Engineering/CTO. You should put all your energy into finding this person before you do anything else. It…
Read MoreWhat Are The Most Important Things To Keep In Mind When Scaling Your Startup?
“We’re in the first stage of a three stage fab expansion,” “Bob”, the CEO, proudly told me. It was December 2000, and I was being recruited to run the Communication’s Division of Bob’s company. The economic bubble was bursting already, yet here was this CEO boldly proclaiming his company was expanding. “Do you really think…
Read MoreHow Do Entrepreneurs Like Elon Musk Eliminate Distractions?
When I was younger, I would walk into my office with my coffee and plug in my computer. I would take a quick look at my email, and maybe surf the net for a bit. I have some long term goals that I need to work on, but I also have some tactical, day-to-day tasks…
Read MoreHow Do You Overcome Entrepreneurial Fear?
It’s Tuesday morning at 9:18AM. My heart rate suddenly raced to what felt like 200 beats per minute. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. We had just agreed to terms with a new lead investor. We were in the process of closing the funding. And now “Raul”, one of our two existing investors, just…
Read MoreShould I Change The Direction Of My Company?
Years ago I was working at a company. The company was doing incredibly well. We were growing at pretty nice clip and the stock price was going up. We were the dominant player in several different end markets. But there was a new market where we were gaining traction. Plus the new market had seemingly…
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