Measuring 2008 Goals

January 2nd, 2009 Theresa Shafer

It is that time a year again. Where we look at what we did and what do we want to get done next year.

A couple of key things we gone done this year:

• Refine Business Dashboard
• Develop speaker page with audio for our website
• Expanded our network of consultant to off-load support activities
• Developed “Engineering Your Sales Process” workshop
• Added 3 new partners: Athol Foden, Steve Moore, and Pete Tormey
• Added third Bootstrappers Breakfast in Milpitas at the Omega Restaurant
• Grew mailing list by 64%
• Completed our second workbook “Getting More Customers”

Some areas where we fell short:

• Develop Startup Stages Idea – we make a good start for this, but fell short of where we want to take this. Stay tuned for more.
• “First Office” series. This will move to 2009 Goals.
• Looking back over our business dashboard. We have a couple things we need to improve
• Followup after a talk or other event
• Quote more work
• Give more talks

Here’s Jerry Kaplan’s “Five Biggest Mistakes That Entrepreneurs Make” at Stanford’s Entrepreneurial Thought Leader Speaker Series. It an interesting talk with good points about our goals. Summary:

1. Unclear goals.
2. Trying to prove that you’re smart (ego gratification) vs. building a team and building a company.
3. Too much focus on control instead of creating value.
4. Hiring a friend vs. best person for the job: hiring folks you like vs. folks you need.
5. Lack of succession plan (hanging on too long): you have to let go of your children once they are grown, you have to let go of your startup when it’s grown beyond your capabilities.

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