Rules of Thumb

Customer Interviews: Spend an Hour to Save a Minute

For customer interviews we have a rule of thumb that if an hour or research saves a minute early in the conversation it’s a good investment.  When you look at the list of questions you have prepared to learn about the prospect’s business and their needs, it’s easy to say to yourself, “I am really …

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Arun Kumar: 9 Lessons Learned Bootstrapping Kerika

I interviewed Arun Kumar in 2012 on his experiences bootstrapping Kerika. It’s a long interview but really gives you a sense of his journey as an entrepreneur, his insights into the future of global teams and how they will collaborate, and a candid list of lessons learned. Here are nine key take-aways that he offered …

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Matt Wensing On Making the Transition to Growth

Matt Wensing On Making the Transition to Growth Stormpulse has gone from an idea bootstrapped on founder savings and credit cards, to a project funded by friends and family rounds, to a small business strengthened by angel money, to a company that’s raised “meaningful” capital (our last round was just over $2 million). Here’s what …

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Brad Pierce: Preserve Context in Writing to Manage Interruptions

Manage interruptions by writing down enough context to continue later: organized notes must detail status and next steps. Brad Pierce:  Preserve  Context in Writing to Manage Interruptions On longer time scales, when you must drop something for a while, it’s important, before doing so, to leave behind enough context for yourself to swap it back …

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Jerome K. Jerome’s View on Groundhog Day (Replaying Your Life)

Jerome K. Jerome’s “On The Disadvantage Of Not Getting What One Wants” offers a somewhat grim view the wish for replaying your life. On The Disadvantage Of Not Getting What One Wants “Ah, me!” said the good old gentleman, “if only I could live my life again in the light of experience.” Now as he …

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Four Principles From Jonathan Wang’s “Start-Up Black Ops Creed”

Start-Up Black Ops Jonathan Wang penned the Start-Up Black Ops creed, a website started on the belief: “Every entrepreneur will, at some point along their journey, find themselves at the bottom of a big, dark pit–seemingly alone, surrounded by nothing, and without a way out.  That is the unavoidable norm when it comes to starting and running …

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Corinne Roosevelt Robinson: Focus for Effect But Look Beyond Your Own Special Interests

Focus For Effect “Nothing is as difficult as to achieve results in this world if one is filled full of great tolerance and the milk of human kindness. The person who achieves must generally be a one-idea individual, concentrated entirely on that one idea, and ruthless in his aspect toward other men and other ideas.” …

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