“Do things that don’t scale.” -Paul Graham Worse. Advice. Ever… Depending on the stage and size of your business, this mentality could spell disaster. The further along your business is, the less this applies to you. Yet, it’s something ALL entrepreneurs struggle with. We’re ADD. We focus on the things we like doing, or worse yet,...
Two things matter when building a business: 1) acquiring customers, and 2) retaining them (and/or your dominant position). Everything else is icing on the cake. Today we’re discussing both, and how to build your business from the beginning for a flywheel of success. In a word: Authenticity Authentic…? Seem counterintuitive? It is. The thing is,...
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re either: a) a founder/CEO or b) someone considering starting a company. Either way, if you want to build something big and lasting, this is for you. There are many formulas for business success, but many more pitfalls. There’s a reason 70–90% of businesses fail (depending on your source)....
Guess who was in the pet emergency room Thanksgiving morning… this guy. Turns out, raisins can be deadly to dogs — something about liver failure. So, a slice of cinnamon raisin bread later, a race to the clinic, hearts pounding. (And if I sound a little cynical, it wasn’t my dog, and I don’t think she was...
Designing addictive products Three-to-four-million people buy Starbucks coffee every day. And in the US alone, there are more than 250M cups of coffee (of any brand) purchased on a daily basis. That’s a lot of freaking caffeine. And it doesn’t even include homebrew… But it wasn’t always so. Habits are hard to build and harder...
Facebook, Linkedin, Zynga… they all had it easy. They all grew on the backs of existing services, spamming users with mass invites and notifications until a loyal following was suckered into using the product. And thanks to the inherent network effects, for every new user, the product was incrementally better for you as well… and...
Nothing sells like a friend’s recommendation. “Man, you gotta see the new Avengers movie.” We trust the folks in our lives, and they trust us. It’s part of the social contract we all subconsciously abide by. In the past, to fit in was to survive. And to offer great advice, what could be more valuable...
Trick or treat. It’s Dia de los Muertos. Amidst costumes and candy, you’re focused on building your business. Can’t blame ya. If you aren’t, no one else will. And today’s the perfect day to talk branding. It’s a day branded like none other where the strange and supernatural reign. But it’s also a day of...
There are two ways to interpret that: outrage and intrigue. The best headlines do both. The world is a game of selling, especially in business. VCs sell money to founders, founders sell dreams to investors, businesses sell to clients, and on and on. Everyone is constantly selling, but most people do this wrong. They think...
Why Scientists and Startups Should Oversell and Talk a Big Game We are in a war of attention, with thousands of engineer optimized apps and gizmos attempting to steal your precious time. We are so caught up in our own lives we often fail to notice the glaringly obvious big problems affecting our world and...