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February 20, 2012 | 2 Comments

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Mark Cuban, Richard Branson, Walt Disney, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Dell and Larry Ellison. For more than 30-years, Bill Gates has been at the pinnacle of the software industry. Like Steve Jobs, Michael Dell and Larry Ellison, he is one of the few startup Founders who remained at the helm of their respective companies throughout their entire maturation process. In addition, like Steve, Michael and Larry, Mr. Gates also failed to graduate from college. I explore this peculiar entrepreneurial career path in further detail in THIS entry.

February 13, 2012 | 4 Comments

This article previously appeared at OnStartups, HERE Note: This is Part V in the Startup Team Building series. Read Part I HERE, Part II HERE, Part III HERE and Part IV HERE. You may not realize it, but your adVenture’s Core Team, the senior executives who make the key decisions which drive the company’s strategic direction, is akin to a primitive tribe. Primitive tribes and your startup both entail a small number of people banded together to battle an uncaring, hostile world. Like the tribe, your company’s survival is always in question and never guaranteed. Success depends upon everyone pulling together for the common good and striving to accomplish common goals. Everyone’s efforts must initially focus on survival before the tribe can prosper and eventually evolve into a thriving, self-sustaining community.

February 6, 2012 | 2 Comments

As part of UC Santa Barbara’s Distinguished Lecture Series, Jason Nazar, Co-Founder and CEO of Docstoc, recently shared ten lessons that emerging entrepreneurs can learn from superheroes. Jason’s inspiration for this 6 ½ minute talk was a blog entry he wrote in 2008, which went viral within the startup community. You can check out Jason’s original entry HERE.

January 30, 2012 | 3 Comments

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson,Walt Disney and Mark Zuckerberg.

January 25, 2012 | No Comments

Tal Siach is a life-long serial entrepreneur who has mastered social media as a guerrilla marketing tool. In my recent interview with Tal, he describes how his actions encouraged Intuit to play nice with Mint. He also describes how he used Digg to discover the ugliest person on Facebook.

January 23, 2012 | 3 Comments

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Walt Disney and Michael Dell.    1) Get A Mentor "I started the site when I was 19. I didn't know much about business back then." [Tweet this quote]

January 18, 2012 | 6 Comments

As part of UC Santa Barbara's Distinguished Lecture Series, serial entrepreneur and noted venture capitalist Mark Suster recently shared his advice with a large crowd of emerging entrepreneurs. Mark is a Partner at GRP Partners and authors one of the most widely read startup blogs, BothSidesOfTheTable. Mark framed his comments around the major mistakes he made during his early ventures. By focusing on what he would do differently now, he was able to humbly convey a number of impactful lessons to a captivated audience of budding entrepreneurs.

January 16, 2012 | No Comments

Note: This is Part VI in the Startup Team Building series. Read Part I HERE, Part II HERE, Part III HERE, Part IV HERE and Part V HERE. Two bands, both heralding from Liverpool. Each with a unique look, hip contemporary sound and significant initial success. Why did A Flock of Seagulls crash soon after their initial hit while the Beatles’ career has spanned nearly 40-years, including a number one CD (“Love”) as recently as 2007? This dichotomy is not merely reflective of the groups’ respective musical talents. The Beatles longevity and success was largely the result of their group dynamics, which are identical to those present in successful startups.

January 12, 2012 | No Comments

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Steve Blank, author of Four Steps To The Epiphany, Stanford Professor and noted entrepreneur. Steve was very generous with his time, allowing us to cover a variety of topics during our Skype conversation. The subject discussed in the video below is Steve’s belief that Venture Capitalists should begin their careers as operational entrepreneurs.

January 9, 2012 | 10 Comments

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson. 1. Pressure Helps You Break Through Your Breakdowns "Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner."