Be Open Kimono With Partners
Work with trusted partners open kimono: disclose relevant financials, plans, and internal processes to increase synergy. Play a long game. […]
A Practical Introduction to Social Capital for Bootstrappers
This is a practical overview of social capital, an essential concept for bootstrappers despite being hard to measure. I offer suggestions for growing your business network, and enhancing your reputation, explaining why increasing social capital creates value for your startup. […]
Use the Cult of Done Manifesto to Avoid Procrastination and Perfectionism
The Cult of Done Manifesto offers thirteen principles for getting things done. I found them useful to avoiding procrastination and perfectionism. Here are the principles along with my commentary and suggestions for entrepreneurs. […]
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 [...]
Rules of a Scientist’s Life, Applied to Entrepreneurs
Alan Marnett published eleven “Rules for a Scientist’s Life” in 2013. It’s a good list that can be applied to entrepreneurs as well. […]
Getting Work Done: Leveraging Calendars, Task Lists, and Project Plans
A collection of practical suggestions for getting work done curated from a roundtable conversation among entrepreneurs at an Oct-25-2019 Bootstrappers Breakfast. […]
David Jeske: Google’s Perspective on Agile
David Jeske divides the agile principles into high level, individual empowerment, and contract development. He embraces the first two, rejects the third. […]
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 [...]
Increase Your Luck Surface Area To Get More Customers
Jason Roberts 2010 “Luck Surface Area” model explains the need for entrepreneurs to combine time spent doing and developing expertise with time spent communicating with others. It’s a very useful and actionable insight. Unfortunately, the diagram he chose to illustrate the model assumes that entrepreneurs have an unlimited amount of [...]
Naval Ravikant On Avoiding Bad Luck
A selection of quotes from Naval Ravikant's tweetstream on "How to Get Rich (Without Getting Lucky)" inverted as advice on how to avoid bad luck. Naval Ravikant On Avoiding Bad Luck Earlier this year Naval Ravikant posted a tweet stream of tweets on the theme of "How to Get Rich [...]
Do You Ever Get the Feeling That Everything You Know is Wrong?
My longer answer to “Do you ever get the feeling that everything you know is wrong?” The short answer is “yes, every few years.” […]
Thomas Schelling on Strategic Surprise
It’s been 17 years since the Sep-11-2001 attack and almost 77 years since the Dec-7-1941 Pearl Harbor attack that started World War 2. Both attacks achieved strategic surprise and had substantial long-term effects. What follows are some excerpts from the forward by Thomas Schelling Roberta Wohlstetter’s book “Pearl Harbor: Warning [...]
Newborns vs. a Startup’s First Product
Two folks in different Mastermind groups added newborns to their households in the last few months experiencing all of the joys and anxieties and frustrations and insights they bring. I thought it would be fun to compare a startup’s first product with a couple’s first child. […]
Qualitative Research: Problem Exploration for Lean Startups
Key points from Mary Sorber’s presentation on “Qualitative Research: Problem Exploration for Lean Startups” at Lean Culture July-31-2018. […]
Suhail Doshi: Avoid These Seven Temptations as a First Time Founder
Suhail Doshi, founder of Mixpanel, shared a candid assessment of mistakes he made in the first 18 months of the six startups he has founded in “The first 18 months of starting a company: it’s life or death.” Here are 7 key pieces of advice that highlight mistakes first founders [...]
Six More from Akin’s Laws of Spacecraft Design
David L. Akin is the Director, SpaceSystems Laboratory at the University of Maryland. He is also the author of “Akin’s Laws of Spacecraft Design.” He lists more than 40 laws: I selected ten when I blogged about “Applying Akin’s Laws of Spacecraft Design To Startups” here are six more that [...]
The Shape of Firms to Come: Key Values and Architectural Philosophy
This blog post is an overview of a series of blog posts on “The Shape of Firms to Come.” It’s an attempt to outline what I believe are key values that businesses will embrace to endure over the next 25 years. […]
Ten From Safia Abdalla’s “Things I Learned in 2017”
Safia Abdalla (@captainsafia) wrote a list of 24 “Things I Learned in 2017.” Here are ten that really resonated with me. […]
2018 Renunciations
Peter Drucker has suggested that businesses organize their abandonment of business and practices that they never would have started doing if they knew when they start what they know now. This is my effort at 2018 renunciations for SKMurphy, Inc and in my personal life. […]
Q: Help I Feel Stuck in Low Gear
It’s not uncommon for an entrepreneur to feel stuck in low gear, falling behind both the competition and their own plans for progress. Here are some suggestions for how to keep calm and carry on. […]