Two extracts from “The Poet at the Breakfast Table” by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. on intellect and character, with additional commentary for entrepreneurs.
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Esther Derby (@estherderby) presented “Six Rules for Change” at LeanWX NYC 2015 “The Design of Purposeful Work” Congruence. Honor what is valuable about the past and what is working now. Assess the current situation and system. Ascertain who is trusted and who people turn to for advice, and weave them into your network. Guide the
Esther Derby’s Six Rules for Change Read More »
Press Release Leads to Local Coverage. Covers why, how and how often to help you “bring on the leads.”
Client News: Bring on the Leads Read More »
What follows is the entry for August 15, 1851 by Henri Frederic Amiel in his Journal where he explores how to be ready, how to focus on the essential and how to fulfill your purpose. I have added some details on my own shortcomings: procrastination, disorganization, and a rock-paper-scissors approach to picking the next task
Henri Frederic Amiel on How to Be Ready Read More »
One good way to make predictions about the future of a new technology is to examine the paths that similar technologies have taken historically and use them to draw likely trajectories. As Mark Twain observed, “History may not repeat itself but it does rhyme.” New technologies solve existing problems in in new ways, obsoleting existing
3d Printing IP Issues Read More »
My interview with Gabriel Weinberg was originally published Sep-8-2010. He was doing research for what became his fantastic book Traction. We talked for the better part of an hour and a half and I can remember he kept returning in different ways to what was needed to close your first dozen enterprise customers. He recently
Your First Dozen Enterprise Customers Read More »
The checklist for successful products has three broad categories of challenges a new product must address: it has to be feasible, it has to be desirable and it has to be profitable.
Checklist for Successful Products Read More »
It’s often hard to see your way forward. When there are many courses of action open to you whose possible outcomes are hard to predict you can remain paralyzed by analysis. I often find myself dithering past the point where picking any reasonable option and proceeding is far better than continuing to analyze my choices.
A Clear Eyed View Of The Way Forward Read More »
In new situations, keep a journal of your experiences. This helps you organize your thoughts and remember observations clearly. When exploring, keep a log. This strategy is useful if you are starting a new job, a new project, forming a startup or launching a new product in an unfamiliar market.
When Exploring, Keep a Log Read More »
When I first went to work for Monolithic Memories my boss, Ivan Pesic, told me, “It will be rough for the next two months and then it will get easier.” He was still telling the team that a year later when someone else offered that advice during a problem solving session and we all broke
Your Startup Never Gets Any Easier Read More »
Key insights from Morgan Housel‘s 3,000th column “I’m Just Now Realizing How Stupid We Are.” He offered his lessons learned from writing about the economy.
Morgan Housel’s Lessons Learned Writing on the Economy Read More »
Simon Sinek earned a BA degree in cultural anthropology from Brandeis University; he attended City University in London with the intention of becoming a barrister, but left law school to go into advertising. He was interviewed in August of 2014 by John Wall on the RoninMarketeer site in connection with the launch of his second
Simon Sinek: Put People First Read More »
Four excerpts on how entrepreneurs exploit errors in conventional wisdom. The first two are from a Feb-8-2001 public forum that was part of BusinessWeek’s “Captains of Industry” series, where Oracle Corp. CEO Lawrence J. Ellison sat down with Editor-in-Chief Stephen B. Shepard. The last two are from Peter Thiel’s CS183 class lecture on secrets.
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Patrick Brady writes at “Red Kite Prayer” on cycling and related topics. His blog took a very personal turn in February of 2013 with a post entitled “Any Normal Person.” In reading the series I was reminded of a remark Irwin Federman made to MMI employees when were using four day work weeks (actually five
If You Are Cycling Through Chaos, Keep Pedaling Read More »
The psychiatrist Eric Berne created transactional analysis for psychotherapy and authored 8 books on psychiatry and human psychology, the most famous is the 1964 Games People Play. Berne defines a winner has having four key qualities:
Eric Berne on Winners and Losers Read More »
David Cain wrote a thought provoking, practical, and inspiring blog post today on “67 short pieces of advice you didn’t ask for.” Here are seven pieces of unsolicited advice that I took away, I have preserved his original numbering and added a few comments to particularize them for entrepreneurs.
Some Unsolicited Advice From David Cain Read More »
Ask yourself this question, “What do employers owe the people they do not hire?” Brooke Allen’s answer from “How my life was changed when I began caring about the people I did not hire” offers three great suggestions for the startup hiring process.
Brooke Allen’s Hiring Process Read More »
The desire for economic freedom and autonomy drives many entrepreneurs. Bootstrappers would rather work for customers than investors, choosing the discipline of the competitive marketplace over the wisdom and caprice of the boardroom. “Life is too short to work at a job you hate, but everyone has to do something someone else is willing to
Q: I struggle with the value proposition for our product. Either I am too abstract “we offer a positive return on time invested” or too vague “help increase your ability to manage critical challenges.” Do you have any suggestions for how to frame or formulate a value proposition? Here a few questions that a value
Crafting a Value Proposition Read More »
Entrepreneurial passion has to be based on a desire to create value, to be of service to a set of target customers. There may be many things you are interested in learning and room enough in your life for several hobbies, but pursuing a passion without regard to your ability to provide value in a
Entrepreneurial Passion: Good Servant, Poor Master Read More »
