I’ve been angel investing for about a year now, and I’ve made a total of 10 investments (2 in the last month). I don’t think I’ll keep up that pace, but it’s been a lot of fun. One of the things I need to get better at is having a systematized approach to the first […]
Advising vs. Investing
Occasionally, I get asked to serve as an advisor to a startup founder. In the past I genuinely enjoyed the role and tried very hard to help wherever I could. Official advisors usually get compensated in the form of options (or equity), typically between 0.25%-1%. So there’s always the possibility that your effort, as an […]
Startup Founders: Why Do You Care About What You’re Doing?
In speaking with entrepreneurs (as a mentor or angel investor), I’m becoming increasingly fascinated and curious about why they chose to start the companies they do. Surviving the inevitable roller coaster of startup life is made possible, at least in part, by founders caring deeply about what they’re doing. You need sheer willpower and determination […]
Lean Analytics in Polish and Some Great Posts on Analytics (from other people)
Yesterday I found out that Lean Analytics is now available in Polish! I’m still sort of amazed by it, so I figured I’d share it here with folks–and who knows, some of you may know Polish and be interested in analytics too. Alistair and I were told awhile ago that O’Reilly was translating the book […]
The Challenge of Changing People’s Behavior
Building a product is easy. Getting people to use your product consistently is hard. The real challenge is changing people’s behavior. In most cases, people already have a solution to the problem you’re trying to solve, and now you’re coming along and claiming that you’re better. Often founders believe it’s a no-brainer to be able […]
Jason Becker and the Power of Technology
A few days ago I was flipping through the channels on TV and came across a documentary about Jason Becker. The documentary is called Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet. It came out in late 2012. I had never heard of Jason before, but the movie caught my attention quickly. Jason Becker was a guitar prodigy. […]
Want to Raise Money? Ask for Advice
When you start raising money for your startup, people will tell you, “If you want advice, ask for money. If you want money, ask for advice.” You might dismiss this as generic, cookie-cutter advice, but there’s definitely some truth to it, particularly the second part. If you want money, ask for advice. Recently, I was […]
The Building Blocks of the Web
Building applications for the web (or mobile) has never been easier. And it will continue to get easier, as more companies develop what I think of as “building blocks”. These aren’t the low level fundamentals needed for web technologies to work, but the abstracted, easy-to-use components that more and more people are able to literally […]
Every Startup Employee is a Marketer
In an early, small startup, everyone wears many hats. One of the more important hats for everyone to wear, which doesn’t always come naturally to people, is that of marketer. Most early stage startups don’t have a marketer, and may have very little marketing expertise. This “role” often falls to the CEO, but in a […]
Don’t Glorify Startup Failure
Yesterday I wrote a quick post about founder failure and how difficult it can be to recover from that. Startup failure is a fact of startups. If you start a company, you’re most likely going to fail. And we’re seeing many more entrepreneurs write about their experiences, which is a good thing. Startup failure needs […]
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