From the category archives:
Irony: seems like people who call themselves experts, gurus, mavens, and inspirational speakers usually aren’t.
Have you ever been inspired by a self-proclaimed inspirational speaker? I haven’t. I’ve been inspired by authors, writers, researchers, teachers, founders, entrepreneurs, poets, even, lately, by Presidents. But they don’t call themselves inspirational speakers.
The greatest collection of inspirational speakers I know [...]
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I saw this on Twitter yesterday, posted by Meghan Biro:
Remember that the six most expensive words in business are: “We’ve always done it that way.”–Catherine DeVrye
She makes a good point. In my 30+ years in business I’ve seen way too much of “we’ve always done it that way” and I’d like to think (maybe I’m [...]
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wRich irony: 37signals, publisher of Basecamp, the leading web app for project management, ought to know better than anybody that real business planning is a process, not a plan. After all, they do the kind of nuts and bolts management that makes that happen. Instead, however, Matt of 37signals posted the planning fallacy last week:
If [...]
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Imagine, if you will, this scene:
You are in a group of angel investors talking with entrepreneurs looking for funding. Or you are in a group of venture competition judges giving feedback to teams after the judging is over. The entrepreneurs listen intently, nod, they’re understanding, and then suddenly one or more of their faces change, [...]
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Joanna Van Vleck has revamped her business plan at least half a dozen times, made a new take on an old idea work sensationally, and is riding triple-digit growth during this recession.
So, when she humbly offers 10 lessons for startups, it’s worth listening.
Joanna is founder and CEO of the Trunk Club, which is a network [...]
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Isn’t this about as dumb as saying a screenplay doesn’t matter because the audience won’t read it:
Small businesses seeking financing from venture-capital firms need not worry about writing up a solid business plan, since it doesn’t sway funding decisions anyway, concludes a new study by researchers at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School [...]
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Where do your new business ideas come from? What steps do you take to convert the new idea into a new product?
I was caught off guard last Friday when I was asked that question at the MERC 2009 entrepreneurship conference last Friday at George Mason University.
I should be able to answer that question without hesitation [...]
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Stress much? Running a business? Starting a business? Dow below 7,000, Washington as partisan as ever, banks teetering, and so on. Zebras don’t get ulcers because their stress reaction was designed to help them run fast when lions are trying…
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The other morning I woke up at about 5 a.m., angry. So angry that I went downstairs to the computer to compose an angry letter. I sent it to my office email address for use later. One of the hardest…
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