Not every customer is going to love you, and not all business is good business!I see it regularly: a CEO falls in love with an early customer, like the first small retailer to carry your product. …
Blog
Stop Waiting on Your Employees
Some employees aren’t worth saving. There are a lot of team members that may struggle to grow with us. They may need additional coaching or mentoring. They may need to be moved to a new seat on the …
Don’t Take It Personally
I was advising a team member earlier this week. My advice? Don’t take it personally. For most of my career, I took it personally. Only in the past few years did I realize that other people’s …
Don’t Pitch in a Bentley
Don’t pitch in a Bentley. Early in my career, my mentor told me a story about how a service provider pitched him his services. He arrived in a Bentley. He was successful, so of course, he was …
ROI Matters
A common pattern in expanding organizations is the tendency to spend without regard for potential return. Sometimes, that means buying software, thinking that a purchase will quickly correct a …
Hard Decisions
In business, we tend to put off the hard decisions and end up losing millions. For those who don’t know me, I’m a huge coffee guy—addicted to the stuff. I’m an avid fan of Nespresso and drink a …
Think Long Term
You want to stagger into large financial decisions like scaling up your corporate overhead.What you don’t want to do is make too many major financial decisions too quickly, only to find your business …
Living Expenses
As the CEO of a startup, know your living expenses.That way, you can set a realistic salary for yourself and make sure your needs are met.You’ll also have a far clearer picture of how much of your …
Unit Economics
If you have broken unit economics, growth will not fix your problem.Sure, you could argue that economies of scale will eventually fix things, but that’s a dangerous road to commit to. Instead, …
Hiring Fixes
A lot of CEOs run into this problem. That is, the problem of thinking people they’ve hired are going to change. That through a few quick changes, someone who’s underperforming will soon start …