Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

I’m sitting at my computer now at 9.00pm writing this – which is an hour earlier than I normally write (there are about 8 women at my kitchen table having a book club (aka excuse to drink wine & gossip so I’m locked in another room writing. Mostly during the day I’m in meetings or doing work.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 26, 2011

At the big consulting firms, investment banks and established large technology companies we’re taught to produce long reports, make sure that every document is perfect quality and that every possible bit of diligence has been done. It says that you need to take due care in selecting team members. Good enough isn’t.

Startup 335

Startup Technical Review Framework Entrepreneur 335

Eric Greenspan

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Anyhow, I replied and asked who pays who here and found that First Data pays Chad a commission for his sales. Today, I received this email from the BBB: We’re writing to let you know that during the past month the Reliability Report that we publish on Make It Work was accessed 6 times. Shocking, right? Please advise.

Santa Barbara 265

Santa Barbara Technical Advisors Email Technical Review 265

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 6, 2014

I like to get a mix of people who have reported to the candidate, whom the candidate has reported to (2x) and peers. I would start by asking the candidate, “How did you decide on these five people” as part of your review process. CFOs often know the other CFOs and same for heads of sales, marketing, tech, etc.

Startup 302

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Report 302

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

After my company was acquired by Salesforce.com I was asked to stop blogging and they took over my blog as an asset in the sale of the company. I had seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it. I decided to write about my experience and to be blunt. And covered we did.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

I finally got around to writing it having read Fred Wilson’s post about what a CEO does. Due to the language and culture issues in Europe we opted for a country structure with an MD in each country and local sales, marketing & customers support staff. Both are basically people businesses. It doesn’t seem fair.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Startup Sales Customer 319

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I have long tried to raise awareness of the trade-off between growth & profits as outlined in this much read blog post on the topic (and please forward to your favorite journalist who often simply report that companies that aren’t profitable are bad). You really need to subtract the final month.

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Startup Company Companies .Net 383

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 9, 2012

Accomplished entrepreneurs are curious about their customers' desires, competitors' future strategic directions and their industry's technological trends. Industry pundits generally spend their time writing about what they see in the rear view mirror. They relish learning. " Entrepreneurs are life-long students.

Tips 277

Tips Startup Entrepreneur Entertainment 277

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 19, 2012

The industry had seen unprecedented growth in the past decade due to a combination of factors, one of which was the United States’ economic recession. Due to the combination of these factors, marketers began to more heavily fund digital platforms. With roughly 91% of the population using mobile devices and 26.3%

Mobile 85

Mobile Software Review Statistics Technical Review 85

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

I have been writing a series on how startup boards get selected, who sits on them and what to avoid. This is often management’s fault because a long-deck plus financials that arrive the night before a board meeting don’t allow for directors to properly review them. Another example is proactively reviewing executive compensation.

Startup 251

Startup Help Technical Review Writing 251

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

File this under both Startup Adivce and Sales & Marketing Advice. Journalists don’t know enough about your company before the show, don’t have time for proper research, and you will be competing for their time afterward with 49+ other companies that want them to write about you. - Many other great companies are not. -

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

How Most Board Meeting Prep Works I’ve been sitting on tech boards for two decades so I have some experience with what goes wrong. I know that’s obvious but I find that many management teams aren’t disciplined about how they measure success (other than standard financial reporting?—?and

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

Sometime around 2003/04 my technology team turned me on to “Spolsky on Software&# a periodic newsletter served up blog style from Joel Spolsky of FogCreek Software, a maker of bug-tracking software. Microsoft Office ended up beating its competitors because it was able to read and write to file formats other than its own.

Software Review 285

Software Review Software Blogging Startup 285