IDEAS / POST Why So Many Smart Founders Stall Out A few days ago, I spoke with a founder building a genuinely promising product – a smart platform for people managing chronic health conditions. It’s timely, very much needed, and it works. But he’s selling to the wrong audience. Institutional buyers, health systems, hospitals. The […]
You Won’t Build the Future if You Can’t Make the Cash Register Ring Read More »
IDEAS / POST There’s never been more advice available to founders. Playbooks, podcasts, courses, LinkedIn posts. It’s an endless firehose of tactics. So why do so many founders still feel stuck? Not from a lack of input. Or from a lack of effort. But because they lack that single, simple next step that starts them
You Don’t Need Another Playbook. You Need a Flashllight in the Fog. Read More »
IDEAS / POST We just held the inaugural Growth Thinking Roundtable, with special guest Bob Gilbreath – ex-P&G brand leader, serial entrepreneur with multiple exits, and investor. Bob was joined by Rich Cooper – writer, entrepreneur and creative thinker, and Owen Works – an entrepreneur currently building out his second venture. It was a
The $200M Reframe: When Growth Stalls, Stop Digging Deeper Read More »
IDEAS / POST Startup Speed describes how successful startups get things done… quickly, dispassionately, unburdened by ego. It feels familiar to Move Fast, Break Things but, in my opinion, is more productive, and less tech-bro-boastful. Startup Speed is exhilarating when you’re in the middle of it, but terrifying for anyone used to working in a
Are You Ready To Move At Startup Speed? Read More »
IDEAS / POST I had a conversation with an entrepreneur that touched on an existential challenge you may be experiencing, too. His audience, mortgage brokers, help get home buyers the right mortgage. The good ones do a ton of work in the process. Sadly, when it comes time for renewal, the bank that holds
Is Your Prospect Behaving Like A Brick Wall? Read More »
IDEAS / POST Here’s how to know which one you’re building before your next growth decision kills it. You hit $1M in revenue because customers didn’t just buy your product. They bought into what you stand for. But here’s the million-dollar question you need to answer while you’re still building competitive advantage: “Are my
Your Founder Magic – Business Moat or Brand Seasoning? Read More »
IDEAS / POST The final post in our growth series on building revenue architecture, inspired by Gregory Kennedy’s Startup Growth talk at Seattle Tech Week. As you grow from $0 to $100k, you’re trying to see what catches your ICP’s eye. From $100k to $500k, you want to scale what worked. But as you
From $500k to $1M: Why tactics won’t deliver, but systems will Read More »
IDEAS / POST How to get strangers to trust you when your network is tapped o You’ve sold to everyone in your address book. You’ve scraped your way to $100k, then $200k ARR by leveraging every personal connection, favor, and introduction you could find. This is exactly how most technical founders reach this milestone
From $100k to $500k ARR: 4 creative tactics that outwork bigger budgets Read More »
IDEAS / POST Part 1 of a 3-part series on scaling from $0 to $1M, inspired by Gregory Kennedy’s Startup Growth presentation at Tech Week Life is learning. If you’re going to keep moving forward, you need to throw open your arms, and let knowledge hit you in the face like a rain squall.
Growth Lesson From Seattle Tech Week? Simple Is Awesome Read More »
IDEAS / POST What Paul Graham’s “The Lesson to Unlearn” teaches us about how to create value instead of just performing competence Jacob Beckerman, CEO of Macro, recently pointed me to Paul Graham’s essay “The Lesson to Unlearn.” It’s a brilliant diagnosis of how school trains us to win by hacking bad tests, and
Are you creating something of value, or just ‘hacking a test’? Read More »