What’s stopping me? Or, to put it another way, what’s your greatest fear about just making things happen? Sometimes, ‘striving for perfection’ is really a cover for something else, an excuse to not get out there and start doing stuff. Be honest with yourself.

Rule 1: Pricing structure Tickets increase in price as they sell, the trade-off being that those who buy first are committing early and can’t know who else is coming. Those that book the last couple of slots pay a bit extra, but they also have full knowledge that it will be a full dinner. We’ve often felt under pressure to give a discount, but we n

A very simple way to do this is to literally write down, on a piece of paper or in a document, what you can offer. Next, in a list alongside it, write down with whom you want to strengthen your connection. Then, think of ways to make the first list appealing to the second, both as a whole and individually.

As a founder, it’s not your job to make everything perfect before launch; that would be impossible. Instead, it’s your job to focus on learning as much as possible about the market and how your product fits in order to inform what you do next. So you gather data, collect feedback and analyse what happens every step of the way. Then you improve. If

Founders at work: Stories of startups’ early days by Jessica Livingston (2008)

It’s all an incremental process. You start with what you can handle given the time and resources available to you, and you slowly grow, develop and evolve. The startups that succeed begin by serving one small group of people and then working out their next valuable move. It’s true for niche businesses that service a delighted, core audience, but it

Because ‘why you do what you do’ is, we’ve found, the not-so-secret sauce that helps startups of all shapes and sizes get a real grip on their ambitions. If you can crisply and clearly articulate your ‘why’, then it’s that much easier to know where you’re heading, how to make the right decision for you and your business and how to attract others wh

If you’re in the mindset of maintaining a network, then you’re 90% of the way there. Maintenance is something that happens because of effort put in over the years, and, like compound interest, it really starts to bite as time goes on. Having a long-term view allows you to harness the power of this compounding so you can take control of your time an

Most people/founders want to do something they enjoy, earn good money and decide what to do with their time. I genuinely think VC is one of the worst ways to achieve those