Until recently, the question of Board diversity has been caught up in endless, circular “Chicken or Egg” debates. Is better performance attributable to diversity on progressive Boards, or is it that progressive Boards which drive better performance also tend to seek diversity as a best practice? The good news, in the context of the depth of talent that is available today, […]

I founded Castek almost two decades ago, on a couple of credit cards and a dream (at the time, we referred to it as a “wing and a prayer” … now we prefer to remember it as a “vision for global leadership” *lol*). After 2 economic cycles, 3 major rounds of financing, 3 business model changes, and 2 “perfect storms”, I have reached the conclusion that “success” and “failure” are

I often get asked about the venture financing process by entrepreneurs who are seeking venture funding for their companies.  And the thing that I always emphasize is that venture financing IS NOT for everyone.  Depending on the entrepreneur and the stage of the business, sources of financing can include family, friends, banks, angel investors, vendors, customers, strategic partners, venture debt […]

I’m just back from dinner with three very close friends, KenP, PeterT and PeterC, in a sort of “guys night out” evening. Over drinks, we started talking about various inspiring experiences that might be relevant to entrepreneurs who are out there, fighting the good fight, and they pointed me towards this “last lecture” by Dr. Randy Pausch, a Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie-Mellon, who is dying of pancreatic cancer

Entrepreneurs are different–people who see possibilities where others see limitations. But best ideas seldom win, and paraphrasing my friend Daniel Lanois in his film “Here is What is”, people would be surprised how much Creativity comes from Shit. Put into the context of how startups evolve into successful companies, it has become clear to me that the key to later […]