May
09
Chris Dixon had an interesting post recently on Dropbox and the importance of investing in people. There is another potential lesson there about the role of competition in startup success. Chris mentions that when he thought about the founder’s idea for Dropbox his concern was how busy the space already was.
We have an amazing, vibrant startup community here in Canada. And over the years, we have built many great success stories. Platespin, Oz Communications, Bumptop are just a few of the positive exits we have generated. US investors have been active up here for a long time. And with section 116 being repealed (a silly [...]
Feb
01
Pivot” is the new black. Everywhere you turn, people are talking about the pivots their companies are taking. It’s not just limited to the startup World. I was watching BBC news recently where they showed a fun segment of World leaders, including President Obama, talk about pivots. The reason this is word is so pervasive [...]
Jan
11
I joined Kiltr.com a professional social network for Scottish people (and people who just love the Scots) a few weeks ago. As a proud Scotsman (is there any other kind?) I’d love to connect and do business with people from the homeland. Despite that desire, I have to admit that several weeks later, I have [...]
Dec
01
I did a big organization and clean up push on the home office this weekend. Not the most exciting way to spend your down time, but it needed to happen. As part of that, I scanned, organized and then recycled several hundred business cards. It got me thinking that there has to be a better [...]
I had a laugh this morning when I read this article forecasting the end of IPv4 addresses and thus a slowdown in the growth of the internet. The 2nd startup I was at, Hexago Inc., was in this exact business, marketing an edge of network router to help transition from the internet we all use [...]
Sep
24
I gave a presentation this week to an enthusiastic crowd at Sproutup in Toronto. It was a lot of fun. The topic? Common startup mistakes. Over the years, I have seen many and committed many (and reserve the right to make more). So, I had lots of material to draw from. The crowd was a [...]
Sep
14
When we talk about how to price a software service most often the conversation turns to how much the end user pays. How expensive is it per month? How does that compare to alternatives? Is this value for money? What does the price say about our positioning (bargain vs. premium, etc)? These are all important [...]
Aug
11
The slow days of August will be soon be behind us. I find post Labour day to be almost like the beginning of the fiscal year. Everyone’s back. Deals start moving forward. All good. In preparation for that busy season now is a good time to be setting your goals and targets for the next [...]
David Cancel shared an excellent presentation recently on data-driven startups. He calls it a geek out on lean startup, customer development and A/B testing. You should check it out. I have to take issue with one aspect of it though, Dave’s contention (on slide 14) that: “There are NO repeatable patterns for startup success. None. [...]
Jul
13
If you have outside investors in your startup, then chances are good that you have a board of directors. The board can play an important role in shaping strategy, recruiting senior staff and advising the CEO. But, when it comes to running your business, you are in charge. And if your board is getting involved [...]
Jul
07
Its the 2nd half of the year already. Time to look back and see how things are going. Often, especially for young startups, it can be hard to set accurate targets. And if you have investors or are raising capital, you can be under pressure to set optimistic goals. So, often startup founders and management [...]
Jun
25
I have been following the lean startup movement for a while now. I’m sure a lot of it was in practice before becoming a full-fledged movement. But it has brought a common language and set of principles to how products are developed and brought to market that I think is just great. Like all movements, [...]
I sat in on a VC fund’s portfolio day recently and got to hear many of their CEOs present. I don’t know these companies super well, so my impressions were based on spending an afternoon with them. Still, when I reflected on the presentations I had seen, there were two traits that separated the founders [...]
I see many startups that take a page from the smart folks at 37 Signals. They build their sites / apps in rails, they use similar design / UI principles and even copy their mode of presenting 4 or 5 pricing options. Often, and coincidentally, just like 37 Signals, these pricing options show the 2nd [...]
