Crunch Time: Good or Bad?
Yesterday I got into a discussion with Devin Horsman about my post on product management. I expected someone to argue with me because I mentioned “crunch time” (where people work more than a typical...
View ArticleThe Building Blocks of the Web
Building applications for the web (or mobile) has never been easier. And it will continue to get easier, as more companies develop what I think of as “building blocks”. These aren’t the low level...
View ArticleLaunch Your Startup When You’ve Already Won
The tech industry is overly-obsessed with making noise, being self-congratulatory and too often, focused on the wrong things. We look at PR as a big win. We celebrate financings (although we also...
View ArticleDon’t Sell Solutions to Universal Problems
“Would you like to make more money?” “Is hiring people hard?” “Are you overwhelmed by email?” “Do you wish you were healthier and more fit?” For most people the only answer to these questions is “yes”....
View ArticleTiny, New, Addictive Behaviors (or How to Build an Awesome Minimum Viable...
Early on, once you’ve identified a problem genuinely worth solving, you need to build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and put it into the hands of early adopters. In Lean Analytics, we call this the...
View ArticleBuilding Startup Ecosystems Outside of Silicon Valley
I’ve been involved in building startup communities for awhile. In Montreal I started an entrepreneurship breakfast event, launched NextMontreal, spent time advising startups/founders, spoke at events,...
View ArticleA Sense of Duty in Startups
I’ve never read a blog post about duty and startups (although I’m sure they’re out there), but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for awhile. Some people (founders and employees) have a sense of...
View ArticleDon’t be Data-Driven, be Problem-Driven
Recently a founder of an early stage startup asked me, “How do I convince my co-founder and team to be more data-driven?” I think I surprised him with my answer, because I told him that the key issue...
View ArticleSingle Founders or Co-Founders?
Conventional wisdom says that startups should have two or three founders. People tend to have pretty strong opinions on the issue, although I doubt they have definitive evidence / proof to back up...
View Article“No Marketing” Isn’t as Impressive as You Think
Almost every early stage startup that pitches me these days talks about the traction they’ve had with absolutely no marketing whatsoever. “We have five hundred signups and we’ve done no marketing at...
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