Yesterday, Chris Poole (known as ‘moot‘, founder of 4chan) shut down his startup (which created Canvas and DrawQuest). You should go read his post: Today my startup failed. The TechCrunch post is good too, and highlights just how hard it is to get real growth in a consumer startup. One quote stood out for me: […]
Launching a Startup Travel Program with Volta in Halifax
In April I wrote a blog post titled Governments Should Fund Startup Travel Programs. It’s a message I’ve shared with a number of folks in different government agencies and amongst entrepreneurs. The premise is simple: We need to get more early stage founders visiting Silicon Valley and New York to experience what a startup ecosystem […]
I have 1 year of savings, so I’m giving this startup thing a try…
Making the jump from a day job to starting a company is a scary one. I don’t believe there’s a ton of real risk —after all, you’re probably highly employable (particularly if you’re a developer)— but it’s still a big leap. And often, people do it after they’ve saved up about a year’s worth of […]
Quiet and Boring: How to Build a Successful Startup
A few days ago, Indeed (a job aggregator site) announced that they had been acquired by a Japanese company called Recruit Co Ltd. One story I saw pegged the acquisition close to a billion dollars. I’ve heard through the grapevine about some very happy investors. Indeed is a very successful company. And while you’ve probably […]
The Hubbub Over Acquihires
An acquihire (acquisition + hiring) is when a startup exits to a company that’s primarily interested in the founders and employees, and not the technology, product or anything else. Acquihires are most common with small startups that don’t get the traction they need to make it on their own or raise the necessary capital to […]
The Hustler
You spend enough time with enough startups and you genuinely come to appreciate the importance of The Hustler. The Hustler plays a few levels above where he* should, but gets away with it because of sheer willpower, ego and perceptivity. Tweet The Hustler learns the rules quickly — breaks those he needs to — and […]
There is No Risk
When I started Year One Labs (with Ray, Alistair and Ian), we spent a lot of time looking for founders. It took us six months to make five investments. During that time we spoke with, interviewed, and hung out with lots of people, looking for teams, but also looking for individuals that we thought had […]
The Future of Startup Accelerators
I’m not much of a prognosticator, but recently Sarah Needleman from the Wall Street Journal called me to ask my thoughts about startup accelerators. She had found a blog post I had written (How to Maximize the Value of Mentors in Startup Accelerators), and wanted my input on a story she was writing. Funnily enough, […]
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 […]
Gaps in the Market
Startup founders often say to me, “We’re going ahead with this new startup … we’ve identified a gap in the market!” It’s a common refrain explaining why someone is starting a business, and how the startup is positioned against competition. There’s a gap in the market. The question to ask at that point is simple: […]
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