The Tale of two Lumberjacks

Once there were two lumberjacks. They both were the strongest and best lumberjacks one could find. One day…

Big Company Syndrome

As you grow your company you will almost certainly hit several stages of the “Big Company Syndrome”:

It starts out innocently enough: Just you and your buddies working out of a garage — with no to little need for coordination, communication flowing naturally and…

Technology Looking For A Problem

All too often you have, especially here in Silicon Valley, the case of “technology looking for a problem” — some brilliant hacker comes up with a super-clever solution for… what? And so the search begins. Meanwhile the hacker is doing what he knows best — make an even…

Customer Zero

You know how pandemics spread? They all start with the infamous “Patient Zero” — the unfortunate person who contracted a disease first and then happen to infect the rest of the world. Patient Zero is often someone who travels and is connected to other people who themselves are connected and travel…

VMOVA — Vision, Mission, Operating Values

I can’t express often and loud enough how important it is for you to figure out the “why” of your organization and lead from this point. Too many companies either skip this step altogether and jump straight into the “how” and “what” of doing business or…

10X not 10%

Google has a mantra of “10x — not 10%” which, in its essence, boils down to: Make things which are ten times better than the status quo, not just incrementally better by a mere 10%.

It’s funny — “10X — not 10%” is just another way of saying “Superior Products Matter”. Which is…

Follow up (or shut up)

True story: I recently spent about two weeks with ten companies on a ship, traveling from Morocco to Spain whilst working with these companies on their businesses. Four weeks after the voyage only one of the entrepreneurs we worked with has followed up. And with follow up I don’t even…