The Limits of Legal Self-Help

Every bootstrapper has a limited budget for attorney’s fees. Attorneys can help you foresee problems and craft contract language, which looks remarkably similar to English but is in fact code that is executed by the legal system. Use them to protect valuable assets–intellectual property, source code, revenue streams–not create them. A small digression If you …

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“Work For Equity” Panel at SVCC Set For Sun-Oct-10 2:45pm

If you are considering joining a startup or are in the process of building out your initial team I am moderating a panel at Silicon Valley Code Camp with three startup CEO’s that you should find helpful. It’s scheduled for Sunday October 10 at 2:45pm and you can sign up here. We  will explore: Practical …

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Pete Tormey on the Benefits of Attending a Bootstrappers Breakfast

Pete Tormey moderates the Dublin/Pleasanton Bootstrapper Breakfasts® (along with Richard Moerschell) and fills in from time to time in San Francisco as well. I asked him what he felt some key benefits attendees gained at a breakfast and he sent me a great three minute podcast that I have embedded below. He identifies three benefits …

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Reminder: “Tips for Keeping Informed” Webinar Thu-Sep-23

Just a quick reminder that I will be presenting on “Feed Readers De-Mystified: Tips for Keeping Informed” this Thursday, September 23, 12:00-12:45 PM PDT. If you are not using feeds and alerts to track your competition, stay on top of  developments at major customers, and keep abreast of significant developments in your industry, then you …

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3 Equations & 3 Unkowns: Target Customer is Key Initial Value

I mentioned in “3 Equations 3 Unknowns:  Customers, Features, and Message” that we spend a lot of time on the early customer stage. It requires very different sales style than you’ll see later on. It’s a conversational sales style. It’s much more about understanding the problem. You’re trying to solve three equations, three unknowns: Are …

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Gabriel Weinberg Interviews Me For His Traction Book

Gabriel Weinberg is a serial entrepreneur (latest startup: DuckDuckGo), a Hacker Angel, insightful blogger, and frequent contributor to Hacker News. He is writing a book on how startups get traction and interviewing folks like Patrick McKenzie, Jimmy Wales, and Paul English to collect lessons learned from a variety of perspectives. I was delighted when he …

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Bootstrapping Mightyverse Talk at Sep-1 Breakfast in SF

Sarah Allen will talk about bootstrapping a mobile startup at the  Bootstrapper’s Breakfast Wednesday September 1 at 9am at Boudin Bakery, Embarcadero 4 in San Francisco. Sarah is a serial entrepreneur who is using her  software development consulting business, Blazing Cloud, to bootstrap a mobile-focused startup, Mightyverse. The Mightyverse blog offers this overview of the …

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Feed Readers De-Mystified at Sep-23 Lunch & Learn Webinar

I will be giving a short presentation on  “Feed Readers De-Mystified–Tips For Keeping Informed” at the September 23 Lunch & Learn Webinar hosted by People on the Go. Cost: No Charge When: Thursday, September 23, 2010 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM PDT Register: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/151449787 I will outline some important ways to monitor information about your …

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Debugging Teams/Meetings: Start With Goals & Roles

Startups have fewer meetings than larger companies but entrepreneurs still need to make those meetings effective, in fact there is less margin for unproductive meetings in a startup than there is in a larger firm. Here are two sources of good information on effective teams and how they meet: James Shonk’s “Working in Teams” is  …

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10 Tips For Choosing a Business Partner at WIC Sep-13

Theresa Shafer and I are giving a talk on “10 Tips on How to Choose a Business Partner” on Monday, September 13, 2010, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm at the Women In Consulting (WIC) South Bay meeting. We will outline some  important tips and considerations when choosing a partner, sub-contractor, or alliances members that will …

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