7 Very Common False Assumptions in Entrepreneurship

By Tim Berry

These are very common false assumptions in entrepreneurship. “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” — Mark Twain I answered a Quora question about this. Here’s my list of seven: That being profitable means having cash in the bank. Seems obvious,... Read More »

Advice to Young People Looking to be Entrepreneurs

By Tim Berry

How does a young person work towards a career in entrepreneurship? I was asked this question on Quora. Here’s my answer. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Make sure you focus on your education while you’re young; don’t think success is supposed to happen immediately. School is the best way to build options later on.... Read More »

Nat Eliason Struggle Porn

You Have to Know When to Quit

By Tim Berry

I recommend you read Nat Eliason‘s piece No More Struggle Porn. He’s attacking one of the more pervasive startup myths around, the idea that the struggle itself, the overwhelming and overpowering struggle that pushes everything else out of your life, is a good thing. He defines struggle porn as: I call this “struggle porn”: a... Read More »

Did You Get Screwed in Business

By Tim Berry

This is a true story. I was there. The details are possibly not exact, and the quotes are paraphrased, but the essentials are true.  A startup founder was pitching to 22 local investors. The group had asked him to pitch because we liked his summary materials. He was local to us and had an interesting... Read More »

Service for Equity Formula

By Tim Berry

Say you are a service provider – consultant, designer, coder – and somebody offers you startup equity in exchange for professional service. I pondered this question after seeing it on Quora. I turned back to decades as a consultant, and decades dealing with startups, to come up with this sure-proof service for equity formula. Try... Read More »

What About Business Schools and Creativity?

By Tim Berry

The best class I took at the Stanford Business School during my MBA years (1979-81) was taught by Professor James March, co-author of the book An Introduction to Models in the Social Science. It was about the same subject. He... Read More »

Stanford Teaches Girls to Code

Stanford Women Teach High School Girls to Code

By Tim Berry

I was glad to see this one on Stanford women teaching high school girls to code. Everybody wins with efforts like these to balance the tech world and fight the long-term skew of tech and programming that has traditionally had more men than women. The source for this video, on YouTube, is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psxl7ytYGio Read More »

MBA business card

Put Your MBA into Your Work, Not Your Title

By Tim Berry

I’m shocked to note that it’s been seven years since I posted Note to MBAs: Drop the Comma MBA, please! The point was exactly what the title implies, that people with MBA degrees ought not to use that degree as a title like CPAs and MDs do. That one sparked some surprisingly (to me) animated comments.... Read More »