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- The 18-month rule and a harrowing tale
- Entrepreneurs: Employment law is not on your side!
- Insurance is always too expensive – until it’s needed.
- Any advice can be worthless, or worse.
- I won’t serve on a board without D&O insurance!
- How about your board members’ time commitments?
- How do you pay an early stage board?
- Please learn this: “Noses in; fingers out!”
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Category Archives: General
Insurance is always too expensive – until it’s needed.
I expect that you have a story about how insurance saved you lots of money in your past. As usual, I have a story to make your hair stand on end. But first: here’s a fact. Business insurance is one … Continue reading
Posted in General, Protecting the business
1 Comment
Where is the best source of early stage investment?
If you have been following our recent insights, you’ll be up to speed knowing that professional investors negotiate tough terms, from provisions of control over asset acquisition, eventual sale of the company, future investments, forced co-sale when others attempt to … Continue reading
Posted in General, Raising money
7 Comments
Fewer words, greater effect.
I have a good business friend, an experienced manager and teacher with a Harvard MBA, whose deep thinking creativity and intelligence are admired by many. But he dilutes his effectiveness with wordy PowerPoint presentations. It has become a long running … Continue reading
Posted in General
3 Comments
Can you pierce layers in supplier–customer partnerships?
I recently experienced an amazing effort of outreach by a vice president of a large national customer asking for a meeting with the product development team of a critical supplier, one of “my” companies. The goal, the VP stated, was … Continue reading
Channel partners can be golden for growth
Dave’s note: Here comes my favorite “tell-it-like-it-is” CEO, Kim Shepherd, with another of her pieces from her experience managing a completely virtual company with over one hundred employees located through the United States and beyond. By Kim Shepherd In 2006, … Continue reading
Is ‘servant leadership’ too soft for today’s workforce?
It’s a term rooted in ancient philosophy. Robert Greenleaf may have been the first to resurrect the concept in his book published in 1970. Not quite as bold as inverting the management triangle, the concept of servant leadership requires that … Continue reading
The Power of the glass half empty
Dave’s note: This week we again welcome my co-author of “Get Scrappy” to give us some of her sage advice in only a way she could express it. You’ll enjoy her style and message… By Kim Shepherd It’s great to … Continue reading
Are you an old school customer marketer?
“Broadcast the message and they will come!” “Segment my broadcast and I will have better response.” Both of these time–honored methods of reaching our customers have worked for as long as there was print and radio–TV to get the message … Continue reading
Posted in General, Positioning
3 Comments
Your business: Grow it and hold it?
Taking money from professional investors such as angels or VCs usually requires that you agree to seek an exit for those investors in your plan, often targeting five to seven years as the ideal period for growth before a liquidity … Continue reading
Posted in General, Growth!
2 Comments
Turning out the lights is a type of exit.
In my life as an early stage investor, I’ve been closely involved with so many businesses, there were bound to be numerous stories of failures, hopefully from which to learn lessons for all of us as we go forward. Several … Continue reading
Posted in General, The liquidity event and beyond
1 Comment
