For this week’s post I asked founders if they studied entrepreneurship in college and if not where they learned to be a founder. I’ll say I was a little surprised by the answers from ten fairly young founders. Entrepreneurship is a super-hot topic on college campuses these days. My son…
This week I asked a group of founders about their first entrepreneurial experiences. I expected to get lots of stories of lemonade stands and such, and these founders did not disappoint. Almost all of the founders I spoke with on the topic related being entrepreneurial in middle school, generally around…
For this post, I asked ten founders whether their parents were also entrepreneurs. I guess I am chasing the elusive nature versus nurture question today. Are you born to be a startup leader? Or is entrepreneurship a skill you can learn?
I’ll start with my own answer, which I only…
For today’s post, I reached out to several founders and asked them why they started their business. I heard back from ten early-stage CEOs with a range of answers that I was able to relate to from my own experiences starting businesses. While there are likely numerous reasons someone decides…
For this week’s post, I decided to reach out to some founders to find out what their best day has been so far with their startup. It was a really fun exercise, and I got some great answers from 10 early-stage startup leaders. The results were a little surprising to…
Here is a tough truth that every startup founder eventually learns. No one will care about your company as much as you do. You will live, breath, and die with your startup as the founder. It is your baby, and you would do anything required to see it thrive. Well…
Being a startup founder has lots of positives. You get to be the boss and make the decisions for your company. You can decide who to bring onto the team, and you get to set the vision for the company. You can also make a bunch of money if the…
One of the worst parts of being a founder is that the job is 24/7/365. There is no punching out and going home when you start a business from scratch. Sure, there is down time and slow periods, but you need to be ready to be on call at all…
There is a fun question that shows up on social media from time to time. It goes like this: “Would you rather own 100% of a $100 Million company or 10% of a $1 Billion company?” Lots to unpack here about founder exit economics, but let’s start at the beginning…
If you are thinking about quitting your day job to start a new business, I urge you to first take stock of your financial situation. Most startup founders need to work for free or limited salary for at least the first 12 months in their new business. Can you survive…
