Why isn’t there a box for Competition on the Lean Canvas? Someone asked me this question recently, and it’s a good one. Understanding your competition is important, but ultimately it should have very little impact on what you do. For starters, your biggest competitor is likely not another company, but in fact the most difficult […]
There’s a Difference Between Perseverance and Willing Something into Reality
I’ve tried willing my startups into success. Turns out, it doesn’t work. You can’t will things into reality (as far as I know at least.) And that sounds obvious, but I guarantee you when you’re right in the middle of your startup, somewhere between the post-launch euphoria and the wiggles of false hope (as described […]
Lean Startup and Big Vision Are Not Diametrically Opposed
Recently, I presented Lean Canvas and an extended Problem-Solution Canvas (that we created at Year One Labs) to FounderFuel’s second startup cohort. It was a lot of fun, and hopefully useful for the teams. (If you’re curious, FounderFuel is a Montreal-based accelerator program that runs twice per year.) I’m always concerned when presenting anything related […]
This Much I Know is True
I’m a big believer in intellectual honesty. We emphasized it at Year One Labs by pushing teams through a lean startup methodology. And when I reflect back on my failures, there were clearly times when I was lying too much to myself. Having said that, I also think founders need to be capable of lying […]
Recruit Top Talent Before and While Raising Capital
Hiring is an ongoing endeavor. You know you’re doing it right (at least partially) when you’re always doing it, even if you’re not actively trying to fill roles. One of the CEO’s main jobs should be recruiting top talent. Unfortunately, most CEOs don’t put enough systematic effort into recruiting and it falls to the wayside. […]
Clean Up Before Raising Funding
Raising money is a dirty job, but someone has to do it right? Very true, but it’ll go a lot easier if everything behind the scenes is clean, well-organized and ready to go. If you get to the point where you’re about to marry a VC and take their money, there will be a due […]
Weekly Investor Updates (How To Communicate with Investors & Mentors)
At Year One Labs we had 20 mentors and investors. It was (and remains) a great group. Many of them were quite active in helping our portfolio companies; many continue to help. A number of them went on to invest in the companies as well. Our system for providing mentorship to the teams wasn’t perfect […]
There’s No Such Thing as a Nominal Investment
Micah Baldwin has a great post on the confusing roles and responsibilities between mentors, advisors and investors. It’s a must read for any entrepreneur (particularly those in accelerators where the roles are often mashed together even more.) Micah makes the point that even small investment amounts from mentors ($5-$10k) are important. And he’s absolutely right. […]
Localmind 2.0 – Tapping into Real-Time, Local Knowledge with “Area Questions”
Localmind came out of Year One Labs (where I’m a Founding Partner.) They raised a seed round in July, 2011 after graduating from the accelerator. Since then they’ve been working on a lot of interesting stuff, and today they launched one of their biggest updates yet: Localmind 2.0. Elevator pitch: Localmind allows you to tap […]
Speaking at the Michigan Lean Startup Conference
I must say that I was very surprised when I was asked to speak at the Michigan Lean Startup Conference on May 17th. The lineup includes some awesome speakers and Lean Startup / customer development experts: Steve Blank, Ash Maurya, Dan Martell, Brant Cooper, Patrick Vlaskovits, Dave Feinleib and Noah Kagan. And me… What the […]
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