To grow the business founders must assess the task relevant maturity of each employee’s experience with a particular task to manage them effectively.
The Business is Everyone’s Business (Part 2) Read More »
Startups face time pressure and resource scarcity, they need to cultivate effective collaboration among everyone on the team to compensate. They need to act as if the business is everyone’s business. Jack Stack’s “The Great Game of Business” offers some useful models for fostering a shared understanding of the current challenges to enable effective joint
The Business is Everyone’s Business Read More »
I met Matt Perez in 2003 just as I was starting SKMurphy. It was the tail end of nuclear winter in Silicon Valley and folks were trying to figure out what was next. We kept running into one another at various networking events and as we got to know one another realized that we both
Matt Perez on How Nearsoft Leverages Yammer Read More »
Bootstrappers are well served to focus on recurring revenue and charging early: sustaining is more important than starting.
Sustaining Is More Important Than Starting Read More »
Jason Calacanis has gone a little bit off the dial on “why startups shouldn’t have to pay to pitch angel investors” but he is nonetheless correct that you should not pay large fees to potential investors for consideration or the right to present. Our focus is helping bootstrapping technology startups but we do get startups
Do Not Pay to Pitch Investors Read More »
Good content is the basis for good marketing: your messaging must explain your knowledge of customer problems and how you can help.
Good Marketing is Good Content Read More »
Abishek Desai wrote an interesting post in April of 2008 “What Happens With People Having No Aim?” that I commented on (it appears that he has changed blogging systems and lost comments from his older posts) and I came across my answer and thought it would make a nice short blog post. First Mr. Desai’s
Founders vs. Employees Read More »
We invest a lot of effort in finding partners and maintaining partner relationships. We do this for a variety of reasons. One of the advantages to working in a large firm is that there are normally resources and expertise you can call on when confronted with a challenge. There are typically other specialists who have
Why Partners Are Critical Read More »
One formulation of Conway’s Law is that communication problems in an organization will manifest in their finished products: communication channels matter.
Conway’s Law: the Co-Evolution of Business Organization and Product Design Read More »
Francis Fischbach attended the first Sales 2.0 conference in November of 2007 and blogged about it in “Inside Sales 2.0: A Report From the Front Lines.” I just realized that we missed the 2009 version that was held this week so I am recycling two comments that were added to Francis’ original post since I
I attended a “Merge Briefing” workshop today offered by the Corum Group Ltd. on the status of software acquisitions. I had learned a lot from a workshop that Ward Carter, Corum’s CEO, gave at the Software Business 2007 conference and felt that this would be informative. It turned out to be much more. It was
Sobering Workshop By Corum on Software Mergers Read More »
“Contentment comes from wanting what you have, Ambition from wanting what the other person has, Progress from wanting what nobody has.” Bob Lewis “Random Thoughts“ Bob Lewis writes the “Keeping the Joint Running” E-mail newsletter, devoted to practical advice for leading IT organizations effectively. From his column “In General, a Time for Generalists” Bob offer
Bob Lewis on Progress and Economizing vs. Cost Cutting Read More »
Nurturing Referrals Is Critical to Growth Nurturing referrals is a critical activity for every entrepreneur. A referral is an introduction to a prospect with an endorsement. They come from shared success with your customers or colleagues, someone who knows your potential and can vouch for you or your team’s ability to deliver. These individuals are
Tips For Handling Referrals Read More »
Many start-up founders believe that the sales process should be this straightforward: Get the phone to ring (or e-mail inbox or skype or web contact form) Tell your prospect about your offering Take the order Alas it is normally not this simple, especially if you are selling to businesses. We do encounter some startups that
How To Measure Your Lead Generation Effectiveness Read More »
I have followed Herb Reiter‘s consulting career over the last five years or so: there aren’t very many business development consultants who work with EDA firms, fewer who have the mix of semiconductor and design background that Herb accumulated on the way to honing his business development expertise. He is personable, methodical, and always interested
Herb Reiter Interview on Fostering Static Timing Analysis Adoption Read More »
Update Tue-Sep-23: Sold Out, No Walk-ins. We will offer it again: you can sign-up to be notified of upcoming workshops We just finished our last rehearsal for next Wednesday’s (Sep-24) “Financial Modeling for Startups” workshop we are doing jointly with Nathan Beckord of Venture Archetypes. I think it will be a good lunch and learn
Financial Modeling for Startups Workshop–Early Bird Ends Tomorrow Read More »
This is a guest post on networking and referrals by Steve Moore of SPMSolutions. Networking and Referrals Networking and referrals continue to be the primary marketing strategy for many community-based small businesses (especially those with limited budgets). In contrast, many technology-oriented small businesses rely more upon on-line forums, social networking sites, user groups, etc. to
Networking and Referrals Read More »
Consulting is a referral-driven business. Here are four things you can do today to build referrals.
What Can I Do to Build Referrals? Read More »
I gave a talk on October 16 of last year at the KASE/KIN Entrepreneur Academy on “After Launch, Now What.” My answer was “What was once heroic must become routine” (podcast is here, it’s about 16 minutes if you would like to listen). I was reminded of it when I came across the famous “This is
What was Heroic Must Become Routine Read More »
I collect quotes for entrepreneurs, here are a set quotes on operational excellence. You can follow @skmurphy to get quotes for entrepreneurs hot off the mojo wire or wait until they are collected in a blog post at the end of each month. Enter your E-mail address if you would like have new blog posts
Quotes on Operational Excellence Read More »
