A Smart Bear

You're afraid that looking like being a small company means you'll lose sales.

Startups fail at biz dev because their proposals don't make sense to bigger companies.

Not "enabling constraints", not "weaknesses", not even "strengths".

A short pep talk I delivered to kick off a Three-Day Startup challenge event.

Discover how to leverage the wisdom of the crowds, but also when to avoid it, as it can easily lead you astray.

Humans have always tried to live forever.

People love and forgive humans, not corporations.

You're not profitable if you couldn't afford someone else to do your job. $1000/mo isn't profitable.

Mid-sized companies: Small enough to have small budgets, big enough for bureaucratic nightmares.

When to prioritize individual autonomy, and when to standardize for global optimization.

People love to say that getting "1% better per day" makes you 37x better after a year, but this obviously makes no sense.

It's lazy writing.

"You're so lucky."

Dozens of founders have used this technique to transform the cash-flow of their businesses.

Procrastination can be a useful tool.

I remember "disruptive" when it was called a "paradigm shift."

Resolve decision-making conflicts by selecting the right approach: Make a bold choice, synthesize a new solution, or find the balance.

We're told "be yourself" to seek happiness and success.

On average, you're halfway to your final destination.

Is it good to be "first?"

Stop talking past each other.

Software doesn't scale through architecture and automation alone.

Is "customer service" a genuine service?

A simple workshop that evaluates new business ideas relative to your existing strengths -- the key to expanding without overreaching.

Luck always plays a role in startups, but there are ways to better capture upside and mitigate downside.

Even at wildly successful startups, the first few years are gut-wrenching, uncertain, on the brink of collapse, where pessimism is realism, and yet optimism is required.

In America we're trained that all copying is bad; of course plagiarism is, but perhaps we're throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

How to tell the difference between a truly great startup idea, and people saying "Sure, sounds good" when they really mean "No, I'm not buying."

Why do startups typically fail?

Artists say all colors are a mixture of red, yellow, and blue.

How do you know when to stop, versus when to push through?

We humans are terrible at discerning patterns from randomness, and in marketing data we unwittingly find "insights" that are actually noise.

The typical dynamics between startups and incumbents do not apply in AI as they did in previous technology revolutions like mobile and the internet.

A startup can beat a large, successful incumbent, if it does things the incumbent can not or will not do.

A/B testing tools often lie about whether something is "statistically significant."

It's easy to explain why any given business will fail.

Why "expected value" doesn't work; here's a better framework for making long-term investments in your career, startup, and life.

What if your company could have only one single advantage over the competition?

Some things appear to be mistakes, but in fact should be celebrated as the expected outcomes of great decisions.

How do you assess forecasts, when the forecast is only a probability?

Targeting your "Ideal Customer Profile" (ICP) is the best way to differentiate and win sales, but does it limit your target market?

Customers ask for ROI calculations to justify purchasing your software, but it still doesn't convince them.

This eight-step process brought WP Engine from an idea to a Unicorn.

Hiring even one person creates a lot less profit than you'd think, and launching a product rarely works out.

If we happened to evolve with nine fingers, we would have "Top 9" lists.

Everyone wants change, but doesn't want to change.

Traditional fairytale structure fits naturally in our brains, and thus can guide strategic problem-analysis, and a plan that everyone understands.

Blogger with tens of thousands of subscribers launches a new venture… and gets only 2 signups.

What marks the moment when you become a "real" company?

Companies that achieve Product/Market Fit -- both self-funded and VC-funded -- exhibit the same prototypical metrics curves and subjective experiences.