Knowing Your Business v. Helping Others Get to Know Your Business
Last week, Jonathan and I had the privilege of joining an SMU MBA class as the judges for the final assignment of the class: pitching a business born from a…
Clarifying Your Meeting Intentions is a Win-Win-Win
Over the last 18-24 months, as we were working to evaluate the product-market fit of an early stage venture capital firm focused on emerging ecosystems, we met with several entrepreneurs.…
Why Convertible Notes Hinder Growth In Underserved Ecosystems
Recently, CrunchBase published a new case study on early-stage funding including the different types of deal structures, priced (equity) and unpriced (convertible notes or SAFES). The post was a useful, if very…
SOS: Start-Early, Overly-Simplify, Scrutinize
I caught up with a friend yesterday who is an up-and-coming architect in the Austin area and it turns out we are facing a lot of the same challenges in…
How Free Creates More Revenue
Nothing is more critical to a growing startup than pricing strategy, and all too often startups leave too much money on the table by not charging enough. This makes it…
Effective Mentorship
Recently, I crossed a passage in Let My People Go Surfing which deeply resonated with me because so few people seem to leverage the giving nature of others. I had no business…
The Cyclicality of Confidence
Most of my last few weeks have been tied up in various meetings. The unique part has been that in those meetings my role has been quite different depending on…
Accelerating the Texas Flywheel
Yesterday, Capital Factory CEO Joshua Baer announced a partnership with The Dallas Entrepreneur Center to bring Texas' biggest accelerator to Dallas. In his post, The Texas Startup Manifesto, Baer proposed…
Resources for Entrepreneurs
Since our work is primarily focused in areas where the startup ecosystems are just beginning to grow, we often get questions that have been answered by more veteran investors or…
Unproductive Meetings
Recently, I decided to take a "themed" approach to my book selections. The first theme has been centered around a new approach to my work habits. I asked myself three…
Big Company Traps and the Startup Equivalents to Avoid
Remember those terrible word association problems from your SAT? (A is to B as C is to D) I do, and this is the first time I'll be using them…
For the Opportunity to Be Great, You Have to Be Lucky First
What a few months it's been, Choose Energy sold to Red Ventures and my partners and I made our first investment into a startup. These big events have led to…
Hustle and Curiosity
Over the decade, I’ve been blessed to work a variety of different jobs with a diverse group of people. I’ve gone from retail store manager to a publicly traded company,…
#AlternativeMetrics: Going Beyond Common Startup Performance Indicators
“You get what you measure.” A concept that seems simple enough, yet even the world’s best businesses get wrong. Measuring the wrong things drives poor decision making and undermines performance.…
Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery, Unless You’re Filing an IPO
It was revealed last week that Facebook is experimenting and planning the wide release of a stories feature similar to Snapchat. Haven’t we been here before? But count me out amongst…
Mitigating Early Product Risk
Over the past month, I’ve focused on my growth in product during the span of the last few years. This led me to reflect on my initial days as a…
4 Product Management Skills Books Don’t Teach & 1 Vanilla Ice Does
A few days ago, I posted a few of the resources I used as I grew into the product marketing manager / product manager role. With this post, I’m focusing…
Growing as a Product Manager in Secondary Markets — Part II — Resources
Last week, I introduced a series which I hope will be of use to new product managers in markets outside of Silicon Valley. For the first installment I am focusing…
CBI Insights Innovation Summit Day 1 Recap
Jonathan and I are at the CBI Insights Innovation Summit in Santa Barbara this week. Below are a few quick takeaways from yesterday's panels and discussions. Enjoy. As can be…
Growing as a Product Manager in Secondary Startup Markets – Part I
With most of my usual newsletters and bloggers taking the final week of 2016 off, I spent the last week of the year reviewing the blogs, podcasts, and books that…