BizSugar.com › User › martinzwilling › Voted

Everyone in the business world has heard of the book by Geoffrey A. Moore titled “Crossing the Chasm” (1991), but most entrepreneurs have no idea how it relates to them. In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers Read More

When I say that funding is a binary event, I mean that there are only two possible outcomes: either you succeed in getting funding, or you don’t. You win or you lose – there is no second place. All or nothing Read More

A while back, when a startup founder mentioned to me that he wasn’t sure he had the personality to be an entrepreneur, I realized how important that insight was. My first thought is that if you are more annoyed than energized by expert advice, team suggestions, and customer input, then you should probably avoid this line of work Read More

We can all dream about what it takes to make our startup a success. From recent survey feedback, it seems evident that the urban legends leading to success are wrong. The average entrepreneur is not the one who dumped a promising career, sketched his idea on the back of a napkin, and accepted millions from an investor to make millions of his own. Read More

The Hype Cycle was a concept put forward by Gartner, Inc. back in 1995 meant to apply to technology product evolution and acceptance. As I was reading about it recently, it occurred to me that the concept relates directly to how investors see startup opportunities and potential success as well, at least those with technology in their offerings Read More

A couple of weeks ago I was privileged to meet Lon Safko, probably most recognized as the author of his best-selling book “The Social Media Bible.” In reality, he is also a serial entrepreneur, inventor, and international speaker. Lon is the founder of 14 companies, 19 inventions, and he holds three patents. His “First Computer To Save A Human Life,” and more than 30,000 of Lon‘s papers are in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C Read More

Some entrepreneurs are so caught up in their dream that they jump immediately into implementation, with no focus on strategy and tactics first. The result is that when they hit the first obstacle (and there will be many), it seems like the end of the road. They don’t have any idea which way to turn Read More

If you really want to impress a startup founder as a potential employee, or you want to be a smart investor, you need to know the right questions to ask. These are the questions that get past the hype of a founder “vision to change the world,” and into the realm of real business strengths, weaknesses, and current health Read More

When I heard a friend make this statement the other day, I realized that every entrepreneur should adopt it as their mantra. I certainly have. If we all do it, we can drastically improve the statistic that over half of new startups fail within five years. Nothing is more discouraging to future entrepreneurs than a failed startup Read More

What positives does Gen-Y (Millennials) bring to your startup, and what management strategies will work most effectively and productively with them? Everyone is quick to point out their shortcomings and idiosyncrasies, but I see some attractive attributes from a business perspective, including the following Read More