(I posted this yesterday on Small Business Trends. I’m reposting here because this is my main blog, and it belongs here too. Tim )
Last week a group of students interviewed me, as part of a class project, looking for secrets and keys to success. They were asking me because after 22 years of bootstrapping, my [...]
I was the planning consultant to Apple Computer’s Latin America group from 1982 until 1991 or 1992, the end of the relationship being a bit hard to define as I was called on steadily more by Apple Japan and less by Apple Latin America.
The challenge came in the spring of 1985. The annual business plan [...]
This is the third of four answers to questions I got in email last week from an MBA student asking my opinion as part of his research. The question is the title: how does innovation fit into a business plan?…
Billionaire Mark Cuban announced his own stimulus plan earlier this week. It’s sheer genius. Here’s how he describes it in his blog post, The Mark Cuban stimulus plan: Rather than trying to be a Venture Capitalist, I was looking for…
It started as a comment at the bottom of my 10 signs you’re probably an entrepreneur post on this blog, a few days ago. What are the traits of successful entrepreneurs? I was quoting a Twitter friend, Andrew Patricio. I…
What? No cell phones? No laptops? No tablet computer to take notes? That’s crazy! Last week we had a two-day off-site strategy meeting. Ten people, two days, lots of SWOTs, bullet points, and discussions. It was a good meeting. I…
Note: this is a slight modification of a column I wrote for the Eugene Register-Guard. My mother used to say: “put yourself in the other person’s shoes.” She gave a lot of good advice. Nowadays we call this idea empathy,…
The title caught my eye: Work on Stuff that Matters. By Tim O’Reilly, of O’Reilly Media. Yes, I agree. I get it that we’re in a downturn now, tough times for a lot of businesses, we’re losing jobs, businesses are…
10 business fundamentals I believe, but I can’t necessarily prove. Long-term business success is rooted in value. Businesses that offer value to customers and respect value for employees are more likely to survive. Business ethics are good business; they are…
The heart of your business plan is your strategy, which is basically built around three enmeshed, inseparable parts: The business identity: what is your core competence, what are your keys to success, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The market: what…