Unasked Questions and Other Things You Wish You Had Said
Unasked questions linger after the death of a parent, along with all of the things that you wish you had said. […]
Entrepreneurs Cannot Rely on a Cookbook or a Manual
Entrepreneurs starting their first business often hunt for a cookbook of recipes to make sense of a journey that is alternating between bewilderment and frustration. But startups fight for existence in a competitive and evolving environment, where changes in the technical or social substrates can invalidate their strategy or enable [...]
Reflections on 2020, Plans for 2021
Here are some reflections on 2020, our most challlenging year since we started in 2003, and our current plans for 2021. […]
Quotes for Entrepreneurs Curated in December 2020
Quotes for entrepreneurs curated in December 2020. My themes for this month are two sides of the impact of change: resilience (improvements enabled by change) and Cardwel’s Law or how those who benefit from the status quo inhibit innovation. […]
Rob Fitzpatrick: Five Mistakes Bootstrappers Should Avoid in 2021
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.) […]
Newsletter 2020 December: Withdrawal and Return
While 2020 has been a year of withdrawal, 2021 promises to be a return to a “more normal” mode of operation. Great innovation and creativity often stream from periods of “withdrawal and return.” The break in regular routines can provide new and useful perspectives that are applicable to a range of conditions.
Q: How Does a First Time Founder Learn Sales?
You learn sales by doing sales: as a founder you must sell. Sales is a conversation, marketing is a broadcast. Marketing gets the phone to ring, sales takes the call and closes the deal. […]
Bob Biglin’s Review of Working Capital: It Takes More Than Money
Bob Biglin, CEO of the Center for Advanced Emotional Intelligence, offers a review of “Working Capital: It Takes More than Money.” […]
SKMurphy Advice: Focus on a Specific Vertical to Get Started
Francis Adanza: “A key piece of advice from Sean Murphy was to focus on a specific vertical. Our initial customer base was all over the place, from Ranch 99 Markets to Netsuite. We needed to focus to be able to scale.” […]
Quotes for Entrepreneurs Collected in November 2020
Quotes for Entrepreneurs Collected in November 2020 I collect these quotes for entrepreneurs from a variety of sources and tweet them on @skmurphy about once a day where you can get them hot off the mojo wire. At the end of each month I curate them in a blog post [...]
Ed Ipser: Sean Murphy Asks Probing Questions To Address Core Issues
Ed Ipser of IpserLab explains how Sean Murphy adds value as an advisor to startup teams: “he helps hold everyone accountable by digging in to uncover and address the real issues.” […]
Quotes for Entrepreneurs Collected in October 2020
Quotes for entrepreneurs collected in October 2020. My theme for this month is deliberate practice and walking down the learning curve. […]
Scott Swaaley: A Good Advisor Provides Context
Scott Swaaley: “A good advisor provides context and helps you to clarify the best approach to a deal. Sean Murphy provides a wealth of perspective on business rules of thumb, successful practices from larger firms in different industries, and established business theory.” […]
Cultivate Formal Controls, Informal Collaboration, and Value Creation Networks
A simple view of organization structure is management and workers. The reality is three structures: formal controls, informal collaboration, and value creation networks. […]
SKMurphy Perspective Counterbalances Excess Pessimism or Optimism
Scott Swaaley of MakeSafe Tools describes how Sean Murphy of SKMurphy, Inc. helps him close deals, counterbalancing his excess pessimism when it’s not warranted. […]
Joe Rogan: Be the Hero of Your Own Movie
Some thoughts on heroes using Joe Rogan’s admonition to “Be the hero of your own movie. If your life was a movie and it started now, what would the hero do right now?” as a point of departure. […]
Quotes for Entrepreneurs Collected in September 2020
Quotes for entrepreneurs collected in September 2020 around a theme of respectful discourse, seeking common ground, and how to disagree constructively and support a working consensus. […]
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. […]
9-11 at 19: Looking back at a Unified America
Looking back nineteen years on 9-11 I am struck by how it unified America in way that perhaps only the Moon Landing and Pearl Harbor did. […]
Quotes for Entrepreneurs collected August 2020
Here are quotes for entrepreneurs I collected in August 2020. My focus this month is on evidence based diagnosis and decision making. […]