The most important question to ask before taking seed money
There is a certain well respected venture capital firm (VC) that has a program for fledgling entrepreneurs. The teams that are selected…
Embrace the medium
An obvious but surprisingly under-practiced design principle is to “embrace the medium.” Applied to software, this means building…
Twelve months notice
Generally speaking, there are two approaches to relating to other people in the business world. The first approach is transactional and…
The ideal startup career path
For most people I know who join or start companies, the primary goal is not to get rich – it is to work on something they love, with people…
The challenge of creating a new category
One of the hardest things to do as a startup is to create a new category. Bloggers and press have a natural tendency to “pigeonhole” – to…
If Verizon’s Droid is good, that’s bad for the wireless ecosystem
I carry around an iPhone and a Blackberry Tour. I know that’s ridiculous. The iPhone is a great device on an awful network; the Tour is an…
Dow 10,000 and economic reflexivity
People who criticize Obama’s economic policies forget that, around the beginning of this year, a lot of serious people thought we were…
What’s the relationship between cost and price?
What’s the relationship between price – the ability to charge for your product – and cost – how much it costs you to produce it? Price is a…
What carries you up will also bring you down
In Rules of Thumb, Alan Weber quotes legendary venture capitalist John Doerr discussing the original business plans for companies he…
Understanding your market
Some startups become huge sensations without requiring any active marketing – YouTube, Skype, and Twitter come to mind. However, the vast…
Man and superman
There are two broad philosophical approaches to explaining the forces that drive world events. The first one is sometimes called the Great…
The importance of asking people questions
Andy Weissman’s blog has the tagline “Maximizing the serendipity around you.” It’s a good philosophy. I think one of the simplest ways to…
The problem with online “local” businesses
One of the most popular areas for startups today is “local.” I probably see a couple of business plans a week that involve local search…