James Geary has curated one of the best collections of aphorisms that I have–and I have read dozens: “Geary’s Guide to the World’s Great Aphorists.” Geary has “Five Laws Of The Aphorism,” they are: 1. It Must Be Brief; 2. It Must Be Personal; 3. It Must Be Definitive; 4. It [...]
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Summer is almost over. If you have been putting off reading “The Lean Startup” I have a time saving suggestion. If you have an hour and want to capture the gist I can recommend a good e-book summary for Lean Startup. If you have another hour I suggest a good [...]
It’s masturbation to calculate the exit value of idea that has not been reduced to practice and achieved some level of traction. The real question is how much time and effort to invest to achieve a level of traction that would allow place a value on the business that leverages the [...]
SKMurphy August 2015 Newsletter This blog post summarizes our August newsletter, “Strategies for a Winning Sales Presentation.” You can subscribe to the monthly SKMurphy newsletter using the form at the right Strategies for a Winning Sales Presentation We’ve all seen it–people listening to a sales presentation, eyes glazed over and their [...]
In “Abramisms: Lines of the Ancient Aphorist Volume 1” Beston Jack Abrams offers several aphorisms about recognizing the truth in a situation and acting on it. Here are 8 I have selected with some additional commentary for entrepreneurs. […]
Beston Jack Abrams has self-published 7 volumes of “Abramisms: Lines of the Ancient Aphorist” between 2011 and 2014. These slim volumes each contain 128 aphorisms, one on the opening page and three per page for another 39 pages: are a revelation and an inspiration. Volume 7 ends with this paragraph, [...]
It’s OK to solve your own problem first, to be the first customer. This at a minimum gets the idea out of your head and reduced to practice where it can be tested. The trick is to use this basic product to spark further discussions about the problem you solved, [...]
The sad reality is that a business cannot be fun, educational, and profitable all at once. Pick boring or grinding over losing money. Christopher Morley observed, “There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning and yearning,” but you don’t have to get all three from your business. Without [...]
Mary Roach’s Stiff offers a tour of the afterlife: she answers the question what happens to our bodies after we die. She explores funeral homes, autopsies, medical training, medical research, crash testing, body armor testing, cremation, brain death, natural decomposition, and organ transplants among other topics. Is is meticulously researched. [...]
There are four areas where tradeoffs are commonly made in 3D printing: conventional and additive manufacturing processes additive manufacturing processes 3D printer selection different parameter settings in a 3D printer’s build process The most common design goals considered for 3D printing tradeoffs are strength, speed of printing, minimum feature resolution, and [...]
I cannot remember what reference led me to read “Gunfire at Sea” by Elting Morrison but I thought it captured some fundamental truths about innovation so well I bought several copies of “Men, Machines, and Modern Times” by Elting Morrison and started sharing them with friends in 2005. I had [...]
Two extracts from “The Poet at the Breakfast Table” by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. on intellect and character, with additional commentary for entrepreneurs. […]
Two key tasks we help early stage teams with are preparing for and executing successful negotiations of complex long-term business relationships. These early sales efforts must foster value co-creation with customers because both parties understanding of requirements will continue to evolve as the product is deployed and gains wider use. [...]