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Start From Where You Want to Get To, Not From Where You Are Most entrepreneurs know where they want to get to in terms of what their product or service should be. Typically the vision is so clear and distinct in your mind that it’s acutely frustrating to not be there already, just because you need a little more time

When planning a new company, many entrepreneurs think of these three milestones, if applicable: 1. Get funding 2. Get a patent 3. Become profitable Make no mistake, they’re all good milestones to reach. But in and of themselves, they’re not enough. “Whoa there, Numbers Boy, the whole point of starting a business is to become profitable. That’s when you know

There are few things worse in business than waiting, waiting, waiting on a contract that should be a formality, but that drags on for weeks, and sometimes months or even years. Good relationships can sour, conditions can change, your key contact can leave the other company, or momentum can simply be lost. For want of a signature on a dadburn

Every now and then, along comes a new thingamajig. Actually, “thingamajig” is such a great word, but it’s just so dang encarcassed with old school analogness. We need a new digital equivalent for it – how about “pixemabit.” One part pixel, a dash of data, and a soupcon of “e.” So my new favorite pixemabit is Dropbox. Dropbox is a

In my experience, entrepreneurs do startups according to their overall personality. If someone is a perfectionist, then their product or service will almost certainly be in the same vein. This doesn’t mean that the offering itself it will be of high quality, but that the processes and means of delivery will be well-thought out. Think McDonalds. It’s hardly gourmet dining,

When I worked in the home office of a large insurance company out of college, they would tell the salesman to always obey “The Three Foot Rule.” Anyone within three feet of wherever a salesperson found himself was a prospect. Pure and simple. A stranger (there are no strangers for long!), your friend, heck, your family. Everyone needs insurance, almost

Venture Hacks has a good article on how to pick a co-founder.  As you may see in another post,  the best co-founder in my opinion is nobody.  But if you do absolutely need a co-founder, go check out the entry, a few tips from which I’ve included here: Three co-founders is too many Think of Wozniak & Jobs, Gates and

There’s a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon in which Calvin asks Susie if she’ll give him a nickel for eating a worm. When she quickly says yes, Calvin realizes that he could have gotten more, and asks for a dime. Susie says no. Calvin complains “Man, you’d think that a guy eating a worm could get a dime.” Unmoved, Susie replies

Let’s take a quick quiz on copyrights. Question 1 You write a rhyming recipe book, indicate your copyright with ©, and register it with the Copyright Office. Someone then clearly takes some of your recipes and puts them in their own recipe book. Has your copyright been infringed? Answer No. Copyrights, and patents and trademarks, for that matter, don’t protect

A trademark is one of the most important things any company can own, and yet many people with new businesses know next to nothing about them. Here’s what I’ve learned for my part, some of it painfully, but thankfully not fatally. Trademarks are for phrases, names, and logos. The most important thing to trademark is usually your company name. If

There are many good articles about patents, so I just want to address what I think is the biggest misconception I’ve heard from entrepreneurs. It is: Once I get a patent, nobody else can sell my product. Would that the world were so simple. A lot of entrepreneurs have unrealistic expectations surrounding patents. One fine day I was looking through

You have a hot shot attorney. The kind that can get the major players in your industry on the phone. He/she knows the basic terms of the most recent industry deals, and is a fearless negotiator. Folks aren’t happy to get letters from them on the fancy letterhead with all the partner names. So when the time comes for you

How many times have you seen (or written!) something like the following: “Based on our revolutionary technology that offers five times the current industry standard performance at one tenth the average price, we predict that by Year 3, we will capture 20% of the $2 billion worldwide market.” This is what I call the “If we only get 2% of

I’ve seen umpteen business plans / prospectuses / PPMS and the like where the Use of Proceeds earmarks a full competitive salary for the entrepreneur(s) and also repays them what they’ve put into the business so far. Ask the entrepreneur about this, and they’ll usually say something along the lines of “I’m taking so much risk already not working for

I’ve been involved in lots of start-ups, and seen many more over the years. From my successful and tragic experiences, I’ve decided that if I can do without three things in particular, I’m off to a good start. No Partners If you’ve had a business partnership go south, you know just how bad it can get. Shouting matches, competition for

In case you haven’t heard the phrase “done deal,” it’s used to mean that an agreement with someone, written or otherwise, is all but signed or shook on. (For now, let’s assume that “signed” also means agreed upon formally when there is no written agreement, as verbal agreements can be binding.)  It implies that the agreement will in fact occur,

I came across this on Guy Kawasaki’s blog, which is another great free resource – http://blog.guykawasaki.com. It’s a free utility that wizards you through a bunch, and I mean a bunch of questions, then just when you’re about to give up on it, it spits out a free custom Term Sheet for you, in Microsoft Word or other formats. If

Getting investment in your start-up may be absolutely necessary to grow your business. But unless you’re getting “dumb” money from family and friends who won’t ask too many questions, going for investment too early can prove disastrous. Here’s why. You never want to get investment to pay daily operating expenses, because that means you’re in bad financial shape, and perhaps