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Writing a business plan is hard work, so I get lots of pushback from prospective new venture founders that it’s just a waste of their valuable time in this rapidly changing environment. They all claim to have the plan in their head, and writing it down will only slow down their success. In my exper Read More

In my experience as a business advisor and angel investor these days, I seem to more frequently hear from entrepreneurs and business owners with “can’t-fail” or “get-rich-quick” ideas. In my view, these are the least likely to succeed, partially because the people behind them have the wrong expecta Read More

Every business I know is intimately familiar with outbound marketing, or pushing your message out to customers through email, newspaper, and television advertising. Only a few really understand the process and value of inbound marketing, for pulling customers to your brand. In my experience, it’s t Read More

When you are starting a business with an exciting new idea, it’s easy to dismiss potential competitors as not being in the same space, or too fat, dumb, and happy to be concerned that you even exist. I hear it all the time as an angel investor, but I also see that same naïve or cavalier attitude co Read More

In case you hadn’t noticed, the world of business is becoming more and more a “gig economy.” This simply means that the number of people with a long-term single-employer agreement is going down, and the number of short-term contractors and freelancers is going up. It’s good for professionals, who g Read More

Starting a new business is a long, hard process, and I can’t blame any founder for looking for shortcuts. I’ve taken a few myself, and I know how much work they can save, as well as how painful some can be in retrospect. When you are trying new things, there are plenty of new problems to go around, Read More

When I hear executives and professionals in larger businesses talking about their dream of going out on their own to start a new company, I always cringe. I have been there and done that. They and I never realized how hard it is to break the big-company habits and conventions. If you are going to d Read More

The good news is that the rate of new entrepreneurship leveled off a bit last year, although it is still rising, according to the latest Kauffman Index of startup activity. The bad news is that it’s back to pre-recession highs, the opportunity for change is huge, and the cost of entry is at an all- Read More

Even entrepreneurs who have built many startups, or sold their last one for millions of dollars, know they make occasional people leadership mistakes. They know leadership is all about managing their own complicated, illogical, and fallible human foibles, as well as the people they depend on. These Read More

Every dedicated business professional I know can’t find enough hours in a day to do their best work, and yet they often find themselves saying yes to new requests from the people around them. In some cases it may be fear of retribution by the boss, but more often they just hate to disappoint others Read More