Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2022

New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on getting the product right, and assume that the right culture and ethics will come later simply by hiring good people. In fact, they need an early focus on developing their moral compass, as well as setting the right ethical tone. Ethics can’t be managed. The reality is different.

Software Review 291

Software Review Offshore Entrepreneur Leadership 291

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 10, 2017

I’ve been a manager in business for many years, and like most of you, I’ve also had my share of bad managers, as well as a few good ones. As a result, I’m certainly convinced that engaging, retaining, and developing people for maximum performance is one of the toughest jobs you will ever have. Taking no action hurts everyone.

Management 146

Management Employee Reputation Hiring 146

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2022

If they or you find it hard to trust others, love to work alone, always have to be in control, or insist on micro-managing, it may be time for change or looking elsewhere. Neither partner needs to be managed. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales. Brings complementary skills and experience.

Partner 385

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Cofounder 385

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 10, 2017

Even after many years mentoring entrepreneurs and advising businesses, I continue to be surprised by the primary focus on products and processes, and the often incidental attention to hiring and nurturing the right people. Don’t let one incident, observation, rumor, or misunderstanding cause a rush to judgement, or hiring mistake.

Management 134

Management Analytics Open Source Hiring 134

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

In my experience as an employee, up to an executive, in large companies as well as small, I’ve found that people who are consistently negative and complain are a big constraint on productivity, as well as the most difficult management problem that most business leaders face. Hire only people with positive and can-do attitudes.

Employee 371

Employee Salary Hiring Stock 371

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2022

Manage customer service. Personnel Manager. This is one of the key roles in a growing new company which can benefit from someone who clearly has experience dealing with people – whether it be hiring and firing, assisting in performance reviews, or dealing with the day-to-day crises of any growing business.

Advisory Board 368

Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor Cofounder 368

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2023

This person is the glue that can hold the people, processes, systems, priorities, and strategy of a developing startup together. Don’t manage details and hold people accountable. Balance here comes again from the operational expert, who is very good at leading, managing, and holding people accountable.

Partner 206

Partner Cofounder Startup Bandwidth 206

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2019

There are many books written on this subject, but this classic by Chris Ducker, “ Virtual Freedom ,” manages to pack a lot more practical guidance into a small space that many others I have seen. Contractors and freelancers, like any other business, manage their own internal processes, but they can’t manage your business.

Entrepreneur 303

Entrepreneur Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder 303

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

Don’t wait until you are almost out of cash before managing every dollar spent, or looking for the next refueling from investors. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day.

Burn Rate 310

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Salary Angel Investor 310

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2020

This person is the glue that can hold the people, processes, systems, priorities, and strategy of a developing startup together. Don’t manage details and hold people accountable. Balance here comes again from the operational expert, who is very good at leading, managing, and holding people accountable.

Founder 329

Founder Cofounder Bandwidth Matching 329

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2020

Leaders are judged on key elements of execution, including a focus on priorities, ensuring clear accountability, managing decision making, mobilizing others, adapting quickly, and communicating execution urgency. Leadership brand development. Modern information management tools. People relationship focus.

Valuation 311

Valuation Technical Review Due Diligence Leadership 311

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

Outside professionals are always available, but they may have their own agenda, such as building a career, making money quickly, or managing up the stock price for a quick exit. The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners. The operations superstar.

Technical Cofounder 309

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Minimize permanent hiring and customized operational facilities. In this age of the gig-economy, you can more quickly hire and manage freelancers, contract workers, and contract operations. Every new business has unexpected pivots and adjustments, and outsourcing is easier to manage.

Merger 386

Merger Acquisition Software Review Social Media 386

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2020

One of the things I’ve learned in working with aspiring entrepreneurs is that managing and leading a team is a scary venture into the unknown for many people, even if they have worked as a business professional for years. Then when you have to hire people, you will pick the best. Understand both leadership and management.

Leadership 380

Leadership Demand Management Founder 380

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2019

Even after many years mentoring entrepreneurs and advising businesses, I continue to be surprised by the primary focus on products and processes, and the often incidental attention to hiring and nurturing the right people. Don’t let one incident, observation, rumor, or misunderstanding cause a rush to judgement, or hiring mistake.

Analytics 245

Analytics Metrics Employee Open Source 245

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2023

When McDonald’s was still a small company, Ray Kroc, the CEO, had a penchant for asking a store manager to help him clean up trash in their parking lot. Then it extends to the hiring process. The Google team stayed tight as they developed the technology, first working out of Larry Page’s dorm room at Stanford, then a garage.

Technical Review 269

Technical Review Kentucky Due Diligence Japan 269

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2019

You may be the main problem, insisting on making every decision, and hiring cheap helpers rather than help. Inadequate focus on hiring and people development. Where hiring seems to always be associated with a crisis, I rarely see an adequate assessment of candidate skills, culture, and future potential.

Technical Review 306

Technical Review Metrics Social Media Channel 306

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2020

Manage customer service. Personnel Manager. This is one of the key roles in a growing new company which can benefit from someone who clearly has experience dealing with people – whether it be hiring and firing, assisting in performance reviews, or dealing with the day-to-day crises of any growing business.

Advisory Board 312

Advisory Board Startup Dividend Angel Investor 312

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2019

Most of you aspiring entrepreneurs have no idea how dramatically your own role has to evolve as you develop a solution, start a business, and expect it to scale into a successful self-managed company. Thus my job as a small business advisor really is really more about getting you developed than perfecting the business.

Leadership 248

Leadership Technical Review Cofounder Social Media 248

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 28, 2019

New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on getting the product right, and assume that the right culture and ethics will come later simply by hiring good people. In fact, they need an early focus on developing their moral compass, as well as setting the right ethical tone. Ethics can’t be managed. The reality is different.

Software Review 192

Software Review Offshore Leadership .Net 192

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2021

You can project the results by assessing how well you might handle these seven key objectives: Develop a simple plan for your complex strategy. Teams that work together are ones that build trust, and have each other’s back, all while engaging with their leaders, and following a commonly developed strategy.

Leadership 340

Leadership Framework Demand Employee 340

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Don’t wait until you are almost out of cash before managing every dollar spent, or looking for the next refueling from investors. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2019

If they or you find it hard to trust others, love to work alone, always have to be in control, or insist on micro-managing, it may be time for change or looking elsewhere. Neither partner needs to be managed. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales. Brings complementary skills and experience.

Cofounder 221

Cofounder Software Review CTO Hire Founder 221

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

Outside professionals are always available, but they may have their own agenda, such as building a career, making money quickly, or managing up the stock price for a quick exit. The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners. The operations superstar.

Technical Cofounder 308

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 308

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2018

There are many books written on this subject, but this classic by Chris Ducker, “ Virtual Freedom ,” manages to pack a lot more practical guidance into a small space that many others I have seen. Contractors and freelancers, like any other business, manage their own internal processes, but they can’t manage your business.

Philippines 181

Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder Affiliate 181

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2019

The assumption usually is that more money is needed for marketing, or another round of new development is needed on the product. Evidence of ineffective hiring and recruiting. The reality is that bad hires are a huge constraint to growth, and they are expensive and time consuming to fix.

Leadership 217

Leadership Analytics Hiring Operations 217

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2020

When McDonald’s was still a small company, Ray Kroc, the CEO, had a penchant for asking a store manager to help him clean up trash in their parking lot. Then it extends to the hiring process. The Google team stayed tight as they developed the technology, first working out of Larry Page’s dorm room at Stanford, then a garage.

Technical Review 308

Technical Review Kentucky Due Diligence Japan 308

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2017

New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on getting the product right, and assume that the right culture and ethics will come later simply by hiring good people. In fact, they need an early focus on developing their moral compass, as well as setting the right ethical tone. Ethics can’t be managed. The reality is different.

Software Review 166

Software Review Offshore Leadership .Net 166

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2011

Finding that person is not a hiring challenge, since neither of you really get paid until you both succeed. Yet the smart entrepreneur can still bootstrap the technical team, using one or all of the following evaluation and hiring approaches: Hire an expert consultant for initial interviews and recommendation. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 236

Technical Review Partner Entrepreneur Architecture 236

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Don’t wait until you are almost out of cash before managing every dollar spent, or looking for the next refueling from investors. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cashflow personally every day.

Burn Rate 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2014

There are many books written on this subject, but a recent one by Chris Ducker, “ Virtual Freedom ,” manages to pack a lot more practical guidance into a small space that many others I have seen. Contractors and freelancers, like any other business, manage their own internal processes, but they can’t manage your business.

Entrepreneur 231

Entrepreneur Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder 231

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2022

In fact, I believe the majority of true entrepreneurs are not interested in this new role, and jump ship quickly by hiring an experienced CEO or merging with another company, to start their next entrepreneurial effort. Good managers are more interested in anticipating and preventing problems. You can’t manage what you don’t measure.

Startup 343

Startup Metrics Hiring Leadership 343

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 28, 2013

New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on getting the product right, and assume that the right culture and ethics will come later simply by hiring good people. In fact, they need an early focus on developing their moral compass, as well as setting the right ethical tone. Ethics can’t be managed. The reality is different.

Software Review 250

Software Review Offshore Leadership .Net 250

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2019

These challenges, with recommendations for addressing them, were detailed nicely for me in the classic book, “ The Boomerang Principle ,” by Lee Caraher, who has built several companies, and has helped many others manage Millennials, reduce turnover, and improve satisfaction and the return hire rate.

Employee 216

Employee Developer Green Salary 216

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2012

Since my background includes software development, I often get the question about when to build a solution in-house, versus outsourcing it to a local company, near-shore service, or off-shore organization in China, India, or Eastern Europe. Outsourcing for services needs to be carefully managed, and almost never works.

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Non-Compete Vietnam 222

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2014

If you find it hard to trust others, love to work alone, always have to be in control, or insist on micro-managing, you probably won’t find a partner who will satisfy you. Does not need to be managed. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales. You may be too independent to be partner material.

Partner 269

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 269

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2011

Since my background includes software development, I often get the question about when to build a solution in-house, versus outsourcing it to a local company, near-shore service, or off-shore organization in China, India, or Eastern Europe. Outsourcing for services needs to be carefully managed, and almost never works.

Intellectual Property 225

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Non-Compete Vietnam 225