-
Search this blog
Archives
-
Recent Posts
- Can you get to the right person when you need to?
- What can we learn from the non-profit world?
- Recurring revenues: Oil or glue?
- Looking to be acquired? Think the 10/40 or 20/20 rules.
- Clues: How to think like a growth CEO
- Customer loyalty comes in four special forms.
- Rinse and repeat: revitalizing your business
- Meetings insight: Just three actionable items!
Categories
Category Archives: Protecting the business
How to solve your most critical problems
First, the challenge Let’s say you have been told by your board, by your chairman, CEO, or direct leader to solve three problems you identify and report back within a month showing progress – or that you have solved these … Continue reading
The lion and the ant: A managerial lesson
This story has turned out to be one of the most enduring posts ever for me, well worth repeating. And what a lesson for us all. I confess that our research cannot find its source. So, with thanks to whomever … Continue reading
My hard-earned lessons from negative exits.
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 actual and near failures, hopefully from which to learn lessons for all of us as we go … Continue reading
Patent litigation can kill the small guy.
Here’s the bright side to patents. When you think of patents, you think of added value to the corporation in the form of protection of its intellectual property. In fact, many corporations spend millions developing surrounding patents to form what … Continue reading
Posted in Protecting the business
1 Comment
Is there gold in your old intellectual property?
Digging through your IP closet for gold… In past years, several times a month I’d have lunch with one of my CEOs, and each time we’d find ourselves digging into the intellectual property developed by the company over the years, … Continue reading
Posted in Growth!, Protecting the business
2 Comments
Budget from the top down or bottom up? A puzzle.
Here’s the argument: Many people believe that bottom-up budgeting leads to waste and misdirection. The advocates of top-down budgeting are strong in their belief that if you give each person or department no guidance, they will budget to their wants … Continue reading
Posted in Growth!, Protecting the business
Leave a comment
Recognize your five critical business risks.
If you could predict a crisis within your business before its occurrence, wouldn’t you move to prevent or reduce its impact? Making such predictions is a skill that can be developed, and here’s one method of doing so. First let’s … Continue reading
Posted in Protecting the business
1 Comment
What can go wrong with your business growth?
So, your business has begun to take off. You’ve figured out your channels of distribution, pricing model and how to support your growing list of customers. Don’t be alarmed by this next statement. That’s relatively easy. You can be the … Continue reading
Posted in Growth!, Protecting the business
Leave a comment
Premature scaling can kill your business.
Here’s a lesson from experience. Venture capitalists sometimes make an error in directing their portfolio company CEOs to push resources to the limit and scale the business to immense size quickly, all to seize market share. The logic in this … Continue reading
Posted in Growth!, Protecting the business
Leave a comment
The four rules for motivating your employees with money.
We’ve debated this one forever it seems. Should be overwhelm prospective employees with stock options and perks? Or concentrate our available resources on just plain money as an attraction? Well, here are rules to make money work for you in … Continue reading
