No one likes being wrong. It’s frustrating, demoralizing and irritating. Some people flat out refuse to be wrong … ever. You know the type, right? Being wrong is so hard. But it can be so good too. If you can accept being wrong (at least from time to time!), then you’re more likely to have […]
Efficiency isn’t a Sellable Value Proposition
When ranking value propositions to pitch customers, efficiency should be at the bottom of the list. It doesn’t mean enough or have enough real value to inspire purchasing decisions. For starters, efficiency means different things to different people. Who will be more efficient? Is it the person using the software, or are the efficiencies realized […]
Riding a Mega-Trend Isn’t the Same as Solving a Real Problem
Mega-trends are good. Investors like mega-trends. There are lots of opportunities that exist as a result of mega-trends. For example: The population of old people is going to massively overshadow the population of younger people that can replace them in the workforce. That sure looks like a huge opportunity in the recruitment space! But be […]
Write
Writing things down has an amazing impact. It commits us more. It serves as a reminder and marks our past. It allows us to get things out of our brains so we can fill them up with more cool ideas. It pushes us into the future. It helps visualize things. It creates structure. It acts […]
A Systematic Strategy for Sourcing Startup Talent
Companies with the best record and most success at hiring top people don’t sit around and wait for those people to show up. They go out and grab them by the throats. OK, it’s fair to say that grabbing someone by the throat and dragging them to your office for a job isn’t going to […]
Startup Onions
This isn’t about stinky startups or startups that give you bad breath. But it is about startups that might make you cry. Recently I’ve spent a lot more time meeting with entrepreneurs and listening to their pitches. It’s not in any formal sense, but I’m happy and eager to provide 30-minute or 1-hour blocks of […]
The Importance of Domain Knowledge for Startup Founders
When I launched Standout Jobs I didn’t know much about the HR / recruitment industry. I could clearly identify problems in the space, and I was passionate about fixing some of those problems, but I lacked a real appreciation for the industry itself. This led to numerous challenges, and without a doubt had a negative […]
8 Questions to Ask When Interviewing at a Startup
Job interviews are meant to be conversations. The interviewer asks some questions and the interviewee does the same. It’s never a good sign when an interviewee doesn’t have any questions. It shows a lack of interest. This is particularly true when interviewing for a startup job because there tend to be so many more unknowns […]
Useless Feedback
Not all feedback is created equal. A lot of feedback is useless. This isn’t necessarily the fault of the person providing the feedback. Oftentimes it’s the fault of the person requesting it, because they don’t really understand why they’re asking for it in the first place. Startup founders need to go out and validate what […]
Misplaced Passion is Common for Early Stage Entrepreneurs
When entrepreneurs are so driven by passion that they’re blind to the realities around them they often find themselves in big trouble. But what we see quite regularly at the early stages of startups is not too much passion but misplaced passion. Ask yourself this question, “Are you more passionate about the problem you’re solving […]
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