Ignore, Use and Appreciate your Competition

Over the years I have developed a differentiated view on competition: Firstly you ignore them. Secondly you use them. And thirdly you are thankful for them.

Let me explain.

Startup Teams are like Soccer Teams

Full disclaimer: I actually have no clue about soccer. Despite my German heritage. :)

You know how a single player can ruin a team? You see it all the time in sports. Take a soccer team for example: Eleven players. Each one of them highly…

The Art of Being Human

For some bizarre reason a lot of people I meet in startup land believe that they have to be perfect. All the time. Can’t show a kink in their armor. Everything is always awesome.

It is not.

Do you work for the right company?

Last Friday I hosted a group of Dutch students at Mozilla. We talked about all things entrepreneurship. At the end of our discussion a student asked me: “So — you’re not working in your own startup at the moment and you did work for quite a few companies over the…

Employee Number One

Woo! You made it — you are about to hire your first employee. And now you start asking yourself: What shall I look for in my first hire and how does she fit into the larger picture?

First of all — and this is a rule which you should always obey: Hire only people who…

Hiring Awesome People

We’ve talked about this numerous times — the most important thing you can do for your startup is find and hire amazing people. That investors primarily invest into teams is a truism and well known by now. That incredible teams achieve better outcomes with even mediocre ideas than average…

(Good) Leadership

One of our fellow Heretics recently asked me the rather innocent question “What are the skills and traits of a good leader?”

As innocent as it sounds, the question is tough to answer. In my career I had very different bosses and experienced pretty much every leadership…