Startup Blog
A Lesson in Business Building: The Spider and The Fly
Fall is upon us. I don’t even have to look outside. The scent of pumpkin spice is in the air, from craft beers and lattes to candles and tempting treats. It is a veritable bonanza for many small businesses smart enough to cash in on our seemingly insatiable appetite...
The high cost of customers
When I ran my own business, I had lots of customers. Truth be told, some were better than others, not just in terms of our working relationship, but their value to my company. Customers cost money, and while you may think that new customers are the way to build a...
3 Interviewer Mistakes Entrepreneurs Can Avoid
Take a second to answer the below questions. Are you human? Does your heart beat? If you answered yes to both questions, chances are you stink at both sides of interviewing. And you're not alone. Interviews are unnatural. They aren’t normal for human physiology....
Four Mid-Year Checkpoints for Small Business Owners
We’re halfway through the year and now is an important time for business owners to reflect and set a course for the remainder of 2023. It’s easy to get bogged down worrying about the challenges facing the economy, but as with all turbulence, a little empathy and...
Private Small-Business Grants for Women
I usually quote George Carlin, but here’s a recent banger from Harvard’s Kennedy School: Although nearly 40% of all privately held firms in the United States are founded by women, only 2% of U.S. venture capital financing is allocated to female-founded firms. Read...
Exit Strategy: Selling to Employees
If your business is locally loved and has a lot of community goodwill, an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) can be an excellent exit strategy as you plan for retirement. Your employees helped you build your business and will serve as trusted custodians of it going...
AI Reveals the Most Human Parts of Creativity
Not only technical masters of their craft, writers—great writers—have a deeply intimate relationship with words. When I read Hemingway, I damn well know I’m reading Hemingway. Dickens, Plath, King, Wilde, Tartt, these utterly distinct and nuanced writers are wholly...
Know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em
A common perception is most entrepreneurs are gamblers by nature. While I think this is true, there’s more nuance to it. Most successful entrepreneurs aren’t betting on a game of pure blind luck like roulette. You’ll find them perhaps at the Blackjack table, a game...
Handing over the keys before retirement
You’ve spent a lifetime building your business. Years of sacrifice, toil, sweat and tears. Eventually, every business owner faces a point in time when they must consider an exit strategy. With proper planning, there’s every reason to think that it will end up in good...