Where is your team in the explore exploit continuum? Are you in explore or exploit mode? If you are operating in a new area with high uncertainty then explore mode is the best posture. As you gain clarity you will typically transition to exploit mode.
A chalk talk on the S-Curve model for Technology Investment. The S-curve was first popularized in “Innovation the Attacker’s Advantage” by Richard Foster.
Need an accountant for business taxes? Here are accountants recommended by Bootstrappers Breakfast members for startups and small businesses.
In “Solving for Pattern,” Wendell Berry writes about organic farming principles. Still, he offers a systems perspective applicable to startups and growing businesses that need to develop both staff and technology to thrive.
Brendan McAdams and Sean Murphy discuss cultivating luck in business endeavors and relationships.
Kristin Zhivago’s “The Promise Keeper” outlined the need for business processes that support your brand as the promise that you keep.
For startups, regardless of the niche or product being sold, visibility is arguably one of the single most critical challenges faced. You can have the coolest solutions in the world, but if nobody knows it exists, it’s essentially worthless. And this is why visibility is so important. In this video we share our reflections on …
I am not sure which of these tweets brought Brian Norgard (@BrianNorgard) to my attention; he offers pithy insights from the trenches of entrepreneurship.
Four excerpts from a fantastic briefing at the Lean Culture Meetup by Vicky Hora on coaching and mentoring.
Founder: Sean Murphy’s advice to “zoom in for traction” encouraged me to shift my focus from a region to a single city. This allowed me to generate references that encouraged other prospects to sign up.”
Rob Fitzpatrick, author of the Mom Test, offers some evergreen advice on mistakes bootstrappers should avoid in 2021 (especially if they have not made already and won’t see them coming.)
Work with trusted partners open kimono: disclose relevant financials, plans, and internal processes to increase synergy. Play a long game.
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.
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.
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 …
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.
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 divides the agile principles into high level, individual empowerment, and contract development. He embraces the first two, rejects the third.
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.
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 time to do both. I …
Increase Your Luck Surface Area To Get More Customers Read More »
