Best Way to Get Leads is Referrals
The best way to get leads is through referrals from satisfied customers or others who are in position to vouch for your product or service. […]
A Holistic Approach to Launching a Bootstrapped Startup
We outline the process of launching a bootstrapped startup, from creating an idea, to forming a team, to proving viability. […]
A Practical Introduction to Social Capital for Bootstrappers
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. […]
Basics of Intellectual Property for Bootstrappers
This post explains the basics of intellectual property in practical terms for bootstrappers: trademarks, patents, copyright and trade secrets. An hour or two with an attorney can save you much trouble later on. […]
A Practical Introduction to Intellectual Capital For Bootstrappers
An exploration of the practical meaning of intellectual capital for entrepreneurs, including how to curate your experience and know-how. […]
A Practical Introduction to Financial Capital for Bootstrappers
This post explores meaning of financial capital for bootstrappers. It addresses the real costs of market exploration and product validation and verification. […]
Taking Stock of Your Business Assets
Here is a simple method for taking stock of the business assets you rely on to attract prospects, differentiate your offerings, and deliver value. You should also assess where you need to renew or upgrade an asset. […]
A Primer on Business Assets for High Technology Startups
Are you looking to build a business? No matter the stage you’re at, there are three kinds of business assets you will need to be successful in the long run. […]
40 Tips for B2B Customer Development Interviews
This post on B2B customer development interviews builds on one of my most popular. If you would like help preparing for customer development interviews or reviewing results from recent interviews, contact us. Here are my lessons learned from taking part in interviews where the startup planned to offer a product [...]
Benefits of SKMurphy Mastermind for Entrepreneurs
An SKMurphy Mastermind Group is an ongoing series of facilitated conversations among serious entrepreneurs. It enables collaboration on problems and opportunities and fosters joint accountability around effective ongoing action. […]
Octavia Butler: Cultivate Habits That Enable Persistence and Learning
Octavia Butler rejects inspiration, talent, and imagination as essential to creative pursuits and suggests that habits that enable persistence and learning are the essential element. […]
Learning from John Perry Barlow’s Principles of Adult Behavior
When John Perry Barlow turned 30 in 1977 he wrote a set of 25 “Principles of Adult Behavior” that he asked his friends to hold him accountable to. Here are a few I want to incorporate into my life. […]
Design Your MVP In Two Weeks
Design your MVP in two weeks to avoid adding unnecessary features and complexity to your offering. A two-week time box forces you to focus on essentials. […]
Concierge MVP or Service-First Forces You To Be Your Own Test Pilot
A concierge MVP or service -first approach delivers the benefits that your product offers as a service or consulting first, charging for the result not your time. […]
College Graduation: From Traveling Station to Station to Navigating a Borderless Sea
David Brooks offers a metaphor for college graduation as a transition from traveling station to station to navigating a borderless sea. The same can be said for making the transition from employee to entrepreneur. […]
What to Expect at a Bootstrappers Breakfast
A Bootstrappers Breakfast is “counter-cultural” to the VC ecosystem focus at many events for entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. Here are seven ways that we take a very different approach to facilitating events for entrepreneurs compared to most others in Silicon Valley. […]
Suhail Doshi: Avoid These Seven Temptations as a First Time Founder
Suhail Doshi, founder of Mixpanel, shared a candid assessment of mistakes he made in the first 18 months of the six startups he has founded in “The first 18 months of starting a company: it’s life or death.” Here are 7 key pieces of advice that highlight mistakes first founders [...]
Q: How to Explore an MVP For Knowledge Worker Productivity
Applications that improve knowledge worker productivity have to satisfy “prepared users” not “casual users” and are especially challenge to do customer discovery and development for. With his permission, I have included William Pietri (LinkedIn williampietri) answer to a real question from an early stage entrepreneur because I found it incredibly [...]
Don’t Explore Thoughtland In Interviews
Whether you are interviewing potential employees or potential customers, don’t explore Thoughtland with a focus on predictions and beliefs. Instead, explore actual behavior and prior experience. […]
In the Beginning was the Doodle: Protecting Startup Secrets
Pete Tormey’s ebook “Startup Guide to Intellectual Property: Early Stage Protection of IP” is a great resource for founders on startup intellectual property. This blog post includes excerpts from the “Protecting IP Early” chapter that focus on protecting startup secrets early in its existence. […]