Sales, Marketing, and Strategy

What If Another Startup Is Doing The Same Thing As You?

I’m working with a startup right now that has 50, that’s right 50, direct competitors. 48 of the 50 competitors are startups, and the two other competitors are well known public companies. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. That’s a lot of competition to say the least. The…

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How The Blue Ocean Strategy Can Save Your Startup

With almost comic regularity startup CEOs make the wrong strategic mistake again and again.  That mistake is they choose the wrong strategy to enter the market, and, most of the time, their startup fails and they never recover. That’s where the Blue Ocean strategy comes in. In today’s video, I’ll explain the tragic mistake too…

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What You’ve Been Told About Product Market Fit Is Wrong

Product Market Fit is the be all and end all when you’re building your startup. Achieve product market fit and you’re on your way. The problem is that what you’ve been told about product market fit is wrong. And, if you follow the expert advice about it, you’ll fail. In today’s video, I want to…

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What Books Do You Recommend For CEOs?

Since I’m biased, and you asked, you could start by reading my book, “Learn How to Take a Punch: Building Your Startup Isn’t a Marathon, It’s a Prizefight.” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. While every startup’s journey is unique, I noticed similar patterns in the startups I’ve been…

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What Do You Do When You Lose A Deal?

“Nest designed us out of their final production build,” John, our Bay Area Sales Manager, said to me. “Thanks for everything you did to trying to win this,” I said. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I took a deep breath. I didn’t like losing, and we had…

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The Right Way To Get The Lean Startup To Work

The concept of the lean startup has really always been part of the startup vocabulary.  Long before it was made popular and the book was written, many entrepreneurs were following the basic concepts of the lean startup. The concept is simple and logical to follow: Essentially, you just:  Develop the simplest version of your product…

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How Do You Reduce Risk As A Startup CEO?

I don’t why, but years ago, when I was in high school, my Dad got involved in a business building replicas of old classic cars. As I remember it, the company bought old VW? engines, put a classic car chassis around them and sold the cars at a profit. Do you want to grow your…

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Should You Focus On Product Quantity Or Quality?

“That sounds like death by one thousand cuts,” Rob, the VC I was pitching to said to me. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I had just told Rob that the average customer would buy $10,000 per year of our products and that the average product would sell…

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Should You Grow As Fast As Your Investors Want?

“Don’t worry, Brett. We’ll support you,” “Raul”, one of our investors, said to me in our board of directors meeting. Raul wanted us to go faster than I had originally planned for. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. And Raul meant what he said. He was, in that…

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