November 2010

Advising Entrepreneurs

I spend a fair amount of time advising entrepreneurs, both informally when solicited and formally when I have been retained–and sometimes even when I have not been asked for advice.  Here are some key principles I follow.

“Getting More Customers in 90 Days” Workshop Dec-8-2010

I am pleased to be able to offer our “Getting More Customers” workshop again next month.  We will cover a variety of proven marketing techniques for growing your business: attendees will select one or two that fit their style and develop a plan to implement them in their business in the next 90 days. Speaking …

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Three Tips for Small Talk and Casual Conversation

“A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something.” Wilson Mizner One of the more challenging aspects of entrepreneurship for engineers is the need to be able to engage in “small talk” and casual conversation with strangers. I have three suggestions that go to state of mind more than …

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Three Bootstrapper Breakfasts This Week

We have three Bootstrapper Breakfasts this week in Silicon Valley: the  Dublin/Pleasanton breakfast was re-scheduled a week earlier to avoid falling on Thanksgiving. This is also our first  San Francisco Breakfast in a new location:  Sandbox Suites at 567 Sutter near Union Square. Tue-Nov-16-20 Sunnyvale 7:30am register Thu-Nov-18-2010 Dublin/Pleasanton 7:30am register Fri-Nov-19-2010 San Francisco (Sandbox …

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Veterans Day 2010

On Veterans Day 2010 we honor those who have served in the military and lived: this year I want to recognize one veteran for his service in WW2.

Build On Your Passion With A Basic Model And Numbers

What follows is a chat transcript from an hour long  conversation I had with a  entrepreneur recently. I have cleaned up all of our typos and removed or modified some identifying information. The basic business was for a website to arrange services for travelers. I wanted the entrepreneur to move beyond his passion for the …

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Fall Back 2

“The time will come when Winter will ask you what you were doing all Summer.” Henry Clay I took the extra hour I had today and  made a list of  a few key things I want to accomplish before the end of the year. Many of these I can use your help or feedback on, …

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Fall Back

Daylight savings time ends tonight in Silicon Valley: we get the hour back we lost in the Spring. So tomorrow is technically a 25 hour day, something I wish for when I can’t prioritize. We have eight weeks left in 2010 and there’s not enough time left to accomplish everything I wanted to this year. …

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Spend Some Time On How To Disprove Your Hypotheses

There is a strong temptation for founders to prioritize their efforts on the basis of  “What is the simplest thing we could do here to prove this hypothesis about our product or our business?” It’s often more fruitful to consider what evidence would disprove your hypotheses and what is the simplest thing you could do to …

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