Startup Advice

But I will say, the thing I try to ask people to do is really take some time to introspect and just ask yourself, do you actually want to be here? If you could magically wave a magic wand and you were to start a new company right now, would it be this one? If it's not, there's no indentured servitude anymore. It's okay. It's okay to move on. And... See more

How can I maintain my creativity, optimism, intellectual vitality, and sense of agency in the face of the stress that comes from building a company and the endless forces luring towards conformity?

We start raw, then our hearts and minds get boiled by constraints, pressure, feedback, and challenges. How do we keep our head up and maintain our... See more

I’m sure you’ve seen your fair share of ads trying to sell you the greatest new tactics to get more customers, make more sales, and earn a bazillion dollars while you sleep. 

The problem with most of these ads is that they’re selling you recycled tactics with new catchy names pulling you away from your goals. 

I say this because tactics without a... See more

Take, for example, the ambition to “make your venture-backed startup profitable”: to develop, market, and distribute a product or service that’s never existed before, in a form that’s valuable and accessible enough for large numbers of people to want to pay you for it, in sufficient quantity that your revenue consistently exceeds your costs.

If... See more

the idea here is not to eliminate risk—risk-free projects tend to be incremental. Instead, the goal is to name, quantify, and work steadily to chip away at risk. As a corollary, when presenting an idea for a new project or startup company, be candid about risk—it has the paradoxical effect of making your case more convincing.

Is the situation actually complicated or is it really quite straightforward, but you're making it complicated because it requires a lot of courage to make the straightforward decision?

Apologizing for slow replies is a symptom of unrealistic demands in an always-on culture. How quickly people answer you is rarely a sign of how much they care about you. It’s usually a reflection of how much they have on their plate.