People approach startups like they court lovers — Barely a week ago, I received an email from someone I didn’t know. She told me about her desire to become an entrepreneur. She also told me about her doubts and the questions that were already overwhelming her: Where should I start? …

Sales is all about understanding your customer and their problems. As the son of small business owners who have known both boom times and busts, Dimo Chankov is well-attuned to the questions and concerns that drive SMBs and their owners. — Born in Bulgaria not long after the fall of Communism, Dimo watched closely as his mother started her knitting business, growing an operation that would eventually number over a dozen employees.

Great startup players can come from anywhere, even high-level legal studies — and Laura van den Herrewegen is the perfect example. — While studying in Maastricht to become a lawyer, a different career opportunity opened when she founded a real estate agency with a fellow law student. …

With a father from India and a mother from Poland, and then growing up in France while also going to high school in the US, it’s no surprise that Michael Saifoudine has a relatively eclectic taste in his work life as well. — Although he first went to university for sports management before getting a master’s degree in information systems, Michael had already gotten into the digital world by learning to code as a teenager; that’s when he first got into web design as well. …

Despite all the stereotypes about startups, Kirstin Olson stands as an example of how experience can be the key to finding a winning formula. — Having spent her career moving between various sales positions — ranging from being a retail buyer in big department stores to converting B2B clients for software solutions –, Kirstin knows that sales are driven by finding the properly adapted way to get through the door.

In an early-stage startup, there’s a lot of value to people who know not only how to execute their jobs, but also how to look around, understand the larger vision, and be curious about how everything works together. …

Today, we’re often stuck in our compassion, with a lack of love for heroes. — If not so long ago failure was seen as degrading, there are now those who are almost proud of it. Worse, there’s a feeling that failure is obligatory for anyone who dreams of finally succeeding — a dark cloud that then hangs over all of us. From this, a malevolent…

A startup — much like a crime — exists in solitude, even if there are dozens working to bring it into existence. — This kind of lawyerly echo sometimes makes me regret not having studied the law; in my mind I still have the infallible arguments of Jacques Vergès and the legendarily eloquent president of the bar, Marc Bonnant. Still, to my surprise, and without claiming to have their talents, I sometimes get…

When it comes to politics, and given the absence of anything better, democracy certainly seems to be the way. But when it comes to startups, I must admit to being a fervent promoter of dictatorships. Yes, even in these times. — A while back, I had the opportunity to be a mentor during a startup challenge weekend. 50 people had 48 hours to gather a team, find an idea, and create a prototype. Very quickly, we saw that two kinds of teams emerged: those with a strong, singular leader and those…