I founded my first company over 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
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Cybersecurity: The Dark side of Connectivity …
What do Target, Adobe, Home Depot, Primera Blue Cross, Anthem Health Insurance, Sony, JP Morgan Chase … and Ashley Madison have in common? They’ve all been victims of targeted, malicious and well planned cyber attacks. Norse Corporation has created an interesting real-time attack map showing cyber attacks around the world, illustrating origins and targets. Helps to put the magnitude of […]
NFQ !!
I founded my first company over 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
Darwin’s Law for Entrepreneurs: Adapt or Die
How many of us have used that phrase … “Ya gotta love it when a plan comes together !!!” Why does this particular circumstance merit such recognition? Is it so rare, so surprising that an outcome actually resemble what was planned, that it requires its own ‘folk saying’? Let’s think about this for a moment, because for most in the […]
Is Venture Capital right for you?
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 […]
Parsing the Venture landscape
I have been searching for a practical breakdown of the various sources for venture capital, in a way that can be easily digested by typical entrepreneurs as they navigate through each of the major breakpoints in the life cycle of their ventures. This post by Manu Kumar from K9 Ventures, probably does the best job I’ve seen of making this […]
Dying professor’s words to live by …
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
The fallacy of the BIG IDEA …
On many occasions, I’ve been approached by friends, associates, acquaintances, who want to know what the “secret sauce” is for building a great business. Most of the time, the questions center around “how do I come up with the one, big idea?”. I’ve come to the conclusion that most people who think that they would like to become entrepreneurs, don’t end up doing so because they waste so much
Here Is What Is
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 […]
Plan for the Worst … Hope for the Best !!
Most entrepreneurs that I have met have the innate gift of being able to “Hope for the best”, to suspend disbelief and to trust in their personal ability to build successes out of their ideas. Their belief in their ability to turn “perceived limitations” into “enabled possibilities” is a key trait that fuels entrepreneurs to travel where others fear to […]
Taking NFQ to another level …
A friend just sent me this TED talk — an inspiring talk by an inspiring woman. Never, Ever Quit — words to live by …
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