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Category Archives: Growth!
Associate with competitors. Share carefully.
Many of us belong to industry associations and find ourselves at conferences and trade shows with time to spend with competitors. Some of these are old friends; some even former associates. It is natural to want to associate with … Continue reading
Posted in Growth!, Surrounding yourself with talent
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Outside directors are a price of investment.
Once a company founder has tapped the funds available from his or her resources and from friends and family, if the company needs more cash for growth, the most obvious next step is to look for money from angel … Continue reading
Posted in Growth!, Ignition! Starting up, Raising money
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Pay for frequent moves over risky long term leases
One of the most obvious observations I make with growing company CEO’s is that planning for a new office is done with an optimistic view of the future, incorporating planned space that compromises only slightly the measured needs for … Continue reading
Posted in Growth!, Hedging against downturns
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Align incentives with your goals.
And be generous to your high achievers. Recently I was asked to review an offer letter for a senior director of business development. The CEO was concerned that he was offering far too much in the form of incentive … Continue reading
Equity is the currency of early stage businesses.
Equity is the currency of early stage businesses. The truth of this statement may be obvious, but the execution of a good incentive program using equity is often mismanaged, damaging the corporate capitalization structure and even affecting the outcome … Continue reading
Hire each employee as if your survival depends upon it.
Second to visionary leadership, this is your most important job. Many of us go through the motions of hiring to fill a position, trying to use our intuition and skills to find the best candidate for the job. Sometimes … Continue reading
Know and avoid “time bankruptcy.”
Time bankruptcy results from the deliberate over-commitment of core resources. I created the term “time bankruptcy” almost thirty years ago when the computer software business was young, and I was a software developer building a young company based upon … Continue reading
Posted in Growth!, Positioning, The fight for quality
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Haste makes waste; but to lag is to sag.
Here we examine the relationship between time, quality and competitiveness. If you are getting the impression from these many insights that complex relationships cause simple problems, you are right. We have heard the “haste makes waste” ditty since … Continue reading
Posted in Growth!, The fight for quality
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Wasted time is money lost. (And another story of lost opportunity.)
There is a relationship between time and money that is more complex than most managers think. Fixed overhead for salaries, rent, equipment leases and more make up the majority of the “burn rate” (monthly expenses) for most companies. Since this … Continue reading
Greatly excceed your customer expectations.
First customers are critical. Greatly exceed expectations at all costs. There is so much history behind this insight, and so many stories that illustrate this point. Your first customers for any product or service form your reference base, the important … Continue reading
Posted in Growth!, The fight for quality
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