In 1995 I did some work for one of the early web startups in Palo Alto. They had delivered a number of database driven websites using a proprietary software technology that they had developed, and had sold the technology to several firms. But they had a problem collecting unpaid bills: they had not been paid […]
Collecting Unpaid Bills Read More »
Ben Yoskovitz stresses the importance of starting with a passion for solving a problem, not evangelizing your solution.
Ben Yoskovitz: Start with Passion For Solving a Problem Read More »
It’s easy to tell someone that they are mistaken or wrong. It rarely encourages teamwork or useful dialog.
You Must Be Mistaken Read More »
Successful innovation results when entrepreneurs manage their own shortcomings, find a problem they care about, and approach it from different angles with small safe-to-fail experiments. Dave Snowden on Culture and Innovation Dave Snowden has a thought provoking post on Culture and Innovation where he identified three necessary, but not sufficient conditions for innovation to take
Innovation Needs Starvation, Pressure, and a New Perspective Read More »
Disruption is caused by the new business models an innovation enables. A disruptive innovation can be hard to spot because competitors can offer a different value proposition, not necessarily a better one.
Distant Early Warning Signs of Market Disruption Read More »
I have decided that deprecating Facebook, migrating off of it as a social network, is the most prudent response to a series of actions by management. Because my decision is based on a lack of trust of the current leadership I will revisit it every six months or so to see if things have changed sufficiently
Deprecating Facebook Read More »
It’s easier to become very good at two or three things than the best at one specific thing: this “Jack of all Trades” strategy applies both for career and entrepreneurial endeavors.
Jack of All Trades Read More »
A baker’s dozen of common mistakes that I have seen founders make preparing and delivering new product introduction demos and presentations.
Common Mistakes in New Product Introduction Demos Read More »
Four keys to success in any career, but especially as an entrepreneur, are: self-mastery, expertise, connections, and perseverance.
Self-Mastery, Expertise, Connections, and Perseverance Read More »
We had a situation earlier this week where a potential competitor started to use the name of a client’s service for a similar offering. Fortunately the client had registered the trademark it last year and we were able to politely bring this to the incipient competitor’s attention. They have notified us that they will stop
Cost Effective Approaches to Trademarks Read More »
I want to share a real situation with planning and decisions that are similar to what many entrepreneurs have to make. It was “timed test” involving internal coordination, customer preferences, and resource availability. I was walking into a client’s office, in the midst mental preparation for an advisory board meeting to review current sales forecast
Real Business Planning Example: Re-Scheduling a Workshop Read More »
Three selections from the book of Ecclesiastes using the New Jerusalem Bible translation. Chapter 3 from the Ecclesiastes–popularized in the Byrds version of “Turn! Turn! Turn!“–begins with “There is a season for everything, and a time for every occupation under heaven:” but I think 3:3 A time for tears, a time for laughter, a time
Inspiration From Ecclesiastes For Bootstrappers Read More »
I have been wrestling with this concept of the expertise driven company for a while now. I welcome any feedback on the model, I believe that it’s an elaboration of the hypothesis set around customer discovery and validation with a small amount of what’s involved in the early stages of founding team formation. The concept
Are You Building An Expertise Driven Startup? Read More »
To grow the business founders must assess the task relevant maturity of each employee’s experience with a particular task to manage them effectively.
The Business is Everyone’s Business (Part 2) Read More »
In “Moore’s Law Beats Customer Feedback” Chris Morris highlights a quote by Jensen Huang from an April 8, 2009 talk at the Stanford Technology Ventures Program on “Favoring Moore’s Law Over Customer Feedback” (Mr. Huang has a number of talks available on Stanford’s Entrepreneurship Corner): “Sometimes you have to ignore your customers and follow Moore’s
Listening to Customers Read More »
Wikis dissolve voice and authorship. Use them where there are rewards and incentives at a team level, where a team is being held accountable for a result. Blogs and forums preserve voice and authorship. Use them where knowing who said what is important. Start with frequently updated information that is also frequently accessed: Meeting agendas
Use Wikis for Team Projects Read More »
It’s Rare That You Are Actually Bringing Fire To The Savages If you think you are so much smarter than your customers that you are “bringing fire to the savages” you will find it hard to learn from them and hard to actually close deals. What follows are three true stories. We Won The Argument,
I Don’t Understand, We Won the Argument, Why Didn’t We Win The Sale? Read More »
Bootstrappers are well served to focus on recurring revenue and charging early: sustaining is more important than starting.
Sustaining Is More Important Than Starting Read More »
Great post by Lindsay Robertson on “The Do’s and Don’ts of Online Publicity, For Some Reason” where she lists nine rules of thumb for getting publicity. Here were my top three from here list (numbers are from the original: read the whole thing): 1. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE means FOR IMMEDIATE DELETE to any blogger with
Lindsay Robertson Do’s and Don’ts for On-Line Publicity Read More »
SKMurphy was interviewed and selected as one of a dozen case studies on Document Management Solutions for Consulting Groups by Central Desktop. Read about our innovative approach at “Document Management Solution helps SKMurphy Consulting Group Increase Productivity.” We make some strong claims in the case study: Increased productivity – approximately 5 to 10 times more
SKMurphy Featured In Case Study For Central Desktop Read More »
