2023 – This year’s experiment
Every year we design experiments – new things we try. Our 2023 experiment was doing short 2 minute videos – chalk talks. Below is a roundup of some of our favorites.
Design of Experiments
Managing Recurring Problems In Your Startup
Some examples of recurring problems in startups with self-debugging questions to help point you to root cause corrective actions.
Holly Hester-Reilly: Lean Product Principles in B2B
Holly Hester-Reilly offers a briefing on how to apply continuous product discovery and lean product principles in a B2B environment.
Mark Brinkerhoff: Starting With a Sketch Saves Money
A great short briefing by Mark Brinkerhoff, President of Fusion Design on how starting with a sketch saves money; he uses a simple HVAC design example but the technique is broadly applicable.
Howard Dernehl: Awareness and Perceiving Without Bias
Howard Dernehl documents common perceptual biases and offers suggestions for how to cultivate awareness and perceiving without bias.
Three Insights from Dr. Edward Baker’s “Scoring a Whole in One”
This post explores three insights from Dr. Edward Baker’s “Scoring a Whole in One.” First, individuals must understand the enterprise context they operate in; second, leaders must serve and connect; and third, practice is necessary for improvement but does not lead to perfection.
Newsletter V2021 Issue 1: Building, Borrowing and Keeping Trust
This newsletter is devoted to practical advice for entrepreneurs on how to build, borrow, and keep trust.
Entrepreneurs Cannot Rely on a Cookbook or a Manual
Entrepreneurs starting their first business often hunt for a cookbook of recipes to make sense of a journey that is alternating between bewilderment and frustration. But startups fight for existence in a competitive and evolving environment, where changes in the technical or social substrates can invalidate their strategy or enable competitors without warning.
Q: How Can I Manage the Stress of a Startup?
Tips to cut the stress of a startup: plan for learning, take time to recharge, join a peer support group, don’t compare yourself to others.
Making Business Decisions in Uncertain Times
Business leaders today are faced with business challenges and a level of uncertainty that is unprecedented in recent memory. Established approaches and well-tried options no longer work, forcing us to make business decisions in uncertain times. This article collects some useful tips for making better business decisions that I have learned over the last 40 …
Scott Berkun: How to Translate Observations and Creative Insight Into a Solution
In “The Dance of the Possible,” Scott Berkun outlines four tests for understanding the real work involved to translate observations and creative insight into a solution.
Paul Tyma on “The Old Man’s Business Model”
Paul Tyma defines the Old Man’s Business Model as taking the sure way, even though it may be longer than shortcuts that may not work. Tyma calls a “trade-off of investment up-front versus brute-force hope.” The “old man” makes an investment up front instead of hoping a quick and dirty approach may work.
Something Ventured: Make Money and Change the World for the Better
One documentary worth watching to get some context on the history of entrepreneurship and venture capital is “Something Ventured.” It’s a series of interviews with venture capitalists talking about their investments and their risk mitigation strategies in the 1950’s through 1970’s. It’s clear that they paid a lot of attention to “minimum viable products” and …
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Constructive Pessimism
Constructive Pessimism: to anticipate problems you have to be willing to acknowledge their possibility and look for them. Many entrepreneurs who are naturally optimistic make a serious mistake in discouraging pessimistic thinking instead of putting it to good use. The clever utilization of constructive pessimism is one of the keys to success.
Managing Change in an Organization: An Incomplete Resource List
Some models I like for change management in organizations. Startup entrepreneurs frequently have to navigate the challenges managing change as a part of the sales process. Intrapreneurs should find this list useful as well. I welcome any suggestions for additions, refinements, or improvements.
Choosing the Right Targets and Metrics
The targets that founders set for a startup, and the metrics they choose to measure their progress toward these targets, are key decisions in the definition of the business. The wrong targets–in particular selecting only targets that are easily achievable–will not only postpone difficult choices that will bring clarity but may doom a team from …
Citizen Science: An Open Source Model For Collaboration
Some excerpts from insightful remarks by Dr. Jessica Richman in “Citizen Science and Mapping the Microbiome” that I use as points of departure for additional commentary on open source models for collaboration.
Jerry Weinberg interview
An interview with Jerry Weinberg where we explore the applicability of his Fieldstone Method for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, the implications of Stewart Brand’s “How Buildings Learn” for Weinberg’s dry stone fence metaphor for creation, and managing a crisis as marker for an end of an illusion.
“Inner Game of Tennis” for Entrepreneurs
Timothy Gallwey’s “Inner Game of Tennis” came out in 1974 and sparked a revolution in coaching and how athletes should approach improving their performance. There are several lessons that entrepreneurs can use in improving their personal performance and coaching others.
When You Are No Longer The Smartest Person In The Room
You may have been the smartest person in the room for a long time, but getting into a room with a customer changes that because a key knowledge domain of interest is the customer’s situation and needs. Here are some suggestions for how to keep learning instead of acting like the smartest person in the …
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