A mathematical look at why the next generation of startups should focus on brand & user experience. — I’m pretty excited about this — VALUE is not just an acronym here; it’s an equation! Maybe I’m too excited… But still, this is based on established financial analysis practices, expanded to put cold, hard math around the guts & heart aspects of startup strategy. So, it’s pretty rad. VALUE…

Forget your title, this is about how to work cross-functionally and make an impact. “UX design” was a necessary variation, but now it boxes us in. You can practice the same skills but reformat your communications. — In grad school, I learned from a great marketing teacher, Steve Diller. He had learned from Louis Cheskin (if you’re in design or research, you should read up on Cheskin). This was old school marketing (ahem, actual marketing) that more closely resembles today’s scope of design. …

The MVP awoke one morning from uneasy dreams and found itself transformed into a giant insect. It had devolved so far that it bore no resemblance to its former self. However, the fault was not in The Lean Startup but in a pervasive culture of overpromising and underdelivering. — Mutant Locusts Warning: bugs (I don’t like them any more than you do. Skip this paragraph if you’re squeamish). I worked at a bar for a year after college. We had a pest problem — cockroaches. I wasted no time in calling the exterminators. FDA guidelines must require that the poison doesn’t…

30 years ago the technology industry attempted to import Lean practices — it failed. Instead of “continuous improvement,” progress halted. Agile is incompatible with UX research, design, and scalable development. It always will be. It’s time to create a new operational standard. — As startups refocus on “operational efficiency,” let’s emphasize that efficiency is a way of working, not your headcount.

Warren Buffet once said, “the most important thing is to find a business with a wide moat, protecting an economic castle.” [shortened] That was 1995 but the nature of competition hasn’t changed. While profitability and fundamentals are suddenly hot topics, I still don’t see…

2023 Predictions I’m a big fan of Scott Galloway and his blog, No Mercy / No Malice (the Pivot podcast with Kara Swisher is great too). In the same spirit of respectful mercilessness, I offer my thoughts on Galloway’s predictions. Correcting the Record Two nits to pick before we get…