Helping entrepreneurs find the path to scalable, profitable growth
SMART Goals: The Milestones on the Path to Product-Market Fit
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes One of the most dangerous traps of a startup is that there is always a never-ending list of “things to do”. You can stay very busy checking off items on your to-do list, only to find out at some point that you are not at all close to building a…
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Webinar: Startup Survival Strategy in the Age of Coronavirus
On Wednesday, March 25, 2020 I delivered the webinar Startup Survival Strategy in the Coronavirus Era. This session was created just at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. Topics covered include: Setting up an early warning systemUnderstanding your KPIs and the connection to your cash flowTaking decisive action to protect your companyCommon roadblocks to making…
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Your Startup’s Early Warning System In The Age Of Coronavirus
As the spread of Coronavirus accelerates, a startup’s best-laid plans for the year have been scrambled. Pay attention to the KPIs tied to your sales funnel.
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Feasible, Viable and Desirable: You Need All Three
Some of you might remember the business Quirky. The startup was founded by Ben Kaufman in 2009 as a platform for inventors. Quirky would select the best, most marketable inventions, manufacture them and then sell the products while taking a percentage of the revenue. Over the next 6 years, Quirky would raise nearly $200 million…
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What Is Your Business Model?
If there is one thing that I think we can all agree on, it’s that Google Maps is still much better than Apple Maps. This is particularly true when I’m going somewhere off the beaten path…a new camping spot or perhaps a restaurant in a remote location. But if Google Maps thinks I’m walking rather…
Know Your Burn Rate – Set Up Your Assessment Framework
Stephen Blank describes a startup as an organization formed to search for a repeatable, scalable, profitable business model. They are not small versions of large corporations. A well-run startup is like a laboratory, testing hypothesis, comparing actual results against expected results, and constantly executing small pivots until a company is born. Or unit the cash…
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Don’t Race Ahead To Find The Treasure. Take The Time To Decode The Map.
The classic treasure hunt story always centers around the map. First, our heroine has to find the map. Then she has to decode the map. And then finally, she needs to follow the map, navigating dangerous obstacles along the way to riches beyond her wildest dreams. Building a startup is a lot like this. Once…
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As Long As You Have Cash In The Bank, You’re Still In The Game
With venture rounds bigger than ever, it can be difficult for a founder to make the decision to pull back on growth initiatives and focus on finding the path to profitable growth. Seed rounds used to be $250k. Now they are $1.5 – $2.0 million. $5 million Series A rounds have ballooned to $15 -…
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Now You Know That Private Company Valuations Are Arbitrary
The recent WeWork IPO debacle is certainly a great demonstration of how unreliable and arbitrary private company valuations can be. Six weeks ago WeWork expected to go public at a valuation of as much as $60 billion. Now they are on the edge of bankruptcy and hoping for a lifeline at a valuation of $8…
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Gross Margin Is Sexy Again
What do WeWork, Uber and Blue Apron all have in common? Two things actually. First, their investors have taken a beating in the past year. WeWork just pulled it’s IPO, and might become the fastest company to ever fall from a $47 billion valuation to zero. Uber, which went public in May at $45 a…
Gross Revenue Is A Vanity Metric
Gross Revenue charts on fundraise decks. Gross Revenue used to calculate customer lifetime value. Gross Revenue used to calculate sales team commissions! Gross Revenue is one of those numbers that can make me a little crazy. Because in many types of businesses, it’s an incredibly misleading number. It can tell a story of happiness and…
How Do You Deal With A Request For Secondary From An Existing Investor
It’s not you. It’s me. I swear. I think your company is great. I think you’re great. I believe in what you’re building, and I think you will be wildly successful. But here’s the thing. We’ve been together for five years. I need to see other companies. We can still be friends. But…well…I know this…
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