Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2010

Lack of confidence in your self, your product, and your startup is a surefire recipe for disaster. At the other extreme, too much confidence or arrogance can kill you just as fast. It’s always painful when a startup fails, but as a mentor to founders I would hope that you can learn from these failings and not stumble on the same issues: “Business plans are for dummies.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2010

OK, so they tell me that Bernie is safely tucked away in prison for the next 150 years, but there are clones out there who look and act just like him. See this LA Times article from last year about a likely scammer closer to startups, and an ongoing saga of events from the victim’s perspective. Most frauds are not on the scale set by Bernie, but even a few thousand dollars lost would hurt you and me as much as a few million did for some of his victims.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2010

I’ve long believed that entrepreneurs are different. We all know successful entrepreneurs who dropped out of school, and people with high IQs that cannot manage a business. I used to call this “street smarts,” but recently I found a better explanation, called multiple intelligences. Successful entrepreneurs always seem to have several good intelligences.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2010

Many people, especially those who have spent years struggling up the corporate ladder, dream of jumping ship and becoming an entrepreneur. But every job move is fraught with risk, and the move from employee to entrepreneur is on the high end of the risk curve. This is a big jump, so do your homework first on this one. According to a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, “ Five Ways to Bungle a Job Change ” there are at least five common missteps that executives make when moving to a new

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2010

Many entrepreneurs send me invitations and accolades for their latest Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) companies, and others tell me how much they hate these things. It’s hard to find neutrals on this subject. I’m simply annoyed that their pervasive use of social networks like Twitter and Facebook devalue that medium for all businesses. I know there are a few companies, like Amway and Mary Kay, who have a generally positive image, but there are many more, often built around some investment scheme, wh

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