Eradicate the startup pitch event
I posted this recently on Medium. Reposting the link here to share the reasons why I think startup pitch events are awful. Hope you like it. Eradicate the startup pitch event.
What’s the best way for a startup to measure its progress?
Across public talks and internally in the accelerator I co-founded, I’ve taught and advised on metrics that matter for startups. I could add to the lengthy body of knowledge of startup metrics but there’s a qualitative metric that people don’t mention because it’s hard to measure and few see it in person. Startups in their […]
You’re So Vain
While we talk about lean startup and vanity metrics we also often send conflicting signals. Here are some examples that startup ecosystems create or enable. From what I’ve seen, vanity is the major culprit. The Events Problem Speaker Events. You don’t get any closer to your goal by going to hear a speaker, famous or […]
When Would You Give Up?
If you’re a startup founder and you feel good about yourself, you just might justified. But you’re much more likely to be delirious, experiencing that temporary elation that comes from something that makes no difference to your actual business. For example, you’ll meet a lot of startups feeling good about themselves on the way home […]
When Does a Startup Accelerator Succeed?
There’s a lot written about startup accelerators. At least, there’s a lot written by outside casual observers; very little is written about them from the inside. There are reasons for that. In my experience running an accelerator, I wouldn’t share much about the startups until after demo day (more about why in a later post). […]
Four simple things that make a better accelerator experience
With a growing number of startup accelerators, bootcamps and incubators out there, here are some tips for having a good experience once you’re in a program. This comes from running two startup accelerators (three-month full-time programs) and three bootcamps (three-month part-time programs). Be Coachable. Disagreeing with feedback is fine and necessary at times but be […]
How I Tried To Be a Better Startup Weekend Judge
[I originally wrote this piece in early 2013. I just revisited it again in March 2018. I hope you enjoy it.] Working with many startups, I get to see how lots of people test ideas and build their startups. I also get to see how lots of people want to rush off and build in […]
The Recommended Daily Intake Approach to Startup Activities
You’ve probably seen the “Recommended Daily Intake” used as a way to gauge how much of a particular nutrient or substance we should ingest in a given period. I was thinking about how startup people spend their time and ended up writing this table of “Recommended Startup Activity Intakes” for early-stage startups. Reading popular tech […]
The Two Sides of Demo Day You Might Never See
I’ve run three different startup accelerator programs. Two of them ran demo days, but the one I currently run does not. For an explanation of why, see this post on side effects. Demo days can be good or bad depending on your goals and the people involved. I thought that this would be a good […]
Startup Weekend Toolkit
Here’s a Startup Weekend Toolkit I put together after mentoring and judging. It’s a lot of info, so it’s best to read this before you go since you will be busy enough (and sleep deprived) during the weekend, but these resources will save you lots of pain. Startup Weekend isn’t a hackathon or a business […]