Entrepreneurs, Luck, and Silicon Valley
2003 reflections on the dotcom crash–the year I started SKMurphy, Inc., and 4 rules of thumb from Richard Wiseman on making you own luck.
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Rules of Thumb
21 Great Questions for Developing New Products
Here are 21 great questions for developing new products, the checklist is from “Breakthrough Thinking From Inside the Box” by Coyne, Clifford, and Dye; the commentary is mine.
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Finding And Adding People Successfully to Your Startup Team
Finding and adding people successfully to your startup team is a key skill and set of processes you need to master for growth.
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Find a Problem so Bad That People Pay You To Solve It and Let You Keep the Software
Bill Paseman offers this advice to entrepreneurs: find a problem so bad that people pay you to solve and let you keep the software.
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Peter Drucker on Why Entrepreneurs Reject Unexpected Success
Peter Drucker outlines four entrepreneurial pitfalls, starting with rejection of a new product’s success in a market that is different than was expected.
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Looking for Innovation at a Trade Show
Three tips for attending a trade show and scoping out breakthrough innovations: Start on the perimeter and work you way in to the main floor. All the innovation is in the startups booths on the outside. Before the show spend some time checking out exhibitors’ websites. Especially if you are not familiar with the company
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A Good Idea is No Match for a Bad Habit
Some great insights from a column by Frank Hayes on “Conventional IT Wisdom” including: “A good idea is no match for a bad habit.”
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Your Pre-Viral Marketing Plan
Google’s acquisition of YouTube seems to have captured the imagination of a lot of entrepreneurs that we meet at various events, in particular everyone wants to start a consumer Internet or media oriented businesses based on “viral marketing.” Here are a couple of key questions to answer for your pre-viral marketing plan, or what you
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Dharmesh Shah’s Pithy Thoughts For Startup Co-Founders
I really liked “Pithy Thoughts For Startup Founders” by Dharmesh Shah. This post uses six as a point of departure for exploring the challenges of getting a startup off the ground.
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Three Phrases Prospects Should Not Find On Your Website
Please Come Back Soon accompanied by a promise of more information shortly. If you do, don’t put a date next to it because when that date is three months old prospects get a “lost dial tone” sensation, they are not sure your firm is still active. Variations that are equally annoying: Please check back soon
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Don’s Three Rules of Deal Making
Three rules of thumb on deal making I took away from a conversation with an electrical engineer and serial entrepreneur.
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Hugh MacLeod’s Thoughts on Being an Entrepreneur 2
Hugh MacLeod, the matchbook cartoon artist, had a great post on “Random Thoughts on Being an Entrepreneur” that I cherry pick.
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Oblique Strategies for Startups 1
Here are ten oblique strategies to help get you and your team unstuck. The first line is the oblique strategy with added for a startup.
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Five Things to Remember When Selling A New Product
As you develop your presentation–and more importantly refine it in response to feedback–here are five things to remember when selling a new product.
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3 Tips for Choosing a Logo
Text Treatments: text logos are simple, the company name is always right there. Most high tech logos are text treatments, they are clear and simple. With text logos you have instant impact, customers don’t need to decipher anything. Another benefit of text treatments are logo aspect ratio comes naturally with words. They always seem to
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Paul Saffo at Churchill Club Breakfast Tue Aug 28
The goal of forecasting is not to predict the future but to tell you what you need to know to take meaningful action in the present.” Paul Saffo Paul Saffo is speaking at a Churchill Club Breakfast on Tue Aug 28 7:30am to 9am at Fenwick ( 801 California Street, Mountain View, CA 94041) on
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Networking in Silicon Valley
Networking in Silicon Valley is not a spectator sport, it’s essential to helping your startup prosper. Networking is good questions, listening, and helping others. Carry more than your own card and connect folks who will benefit from talking to each other.
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W. J. King’s “Unwritten Laws of Business”
A summary of key business rules of thumb from W. J. King’s “The Unwritten Laws of Business” that are particularly applicable to startup entrepreneurs.
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Cultivating Calmness in a Crisis
To prepare for a contentious meeting I read Russell Ackoff‘s “The Art of Problem Solving,” over an early breakfast to cultivate calmness in a crisis.
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One Google Hiring Policy Startups Should Avoid
Don’t imitate Google: there are many criteria to consider in a hiring policy for a sales person, but college GPA has to be one of the least useful indicators of future success.
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