The term “pivot” was added to the startup vocabulary in the past decade or so to describe when a startup changes its mission or focus. Some pivots are small, such as changing the target customer from enterprise to mid-market. Others […]

The founder myth is well understood and, in fact, glorified. The hero founder, adorned in t-shirt & hoodie, fuelled by coffee and blue screen light, woks day and night. “l will sleep when l die’” is the mantra. In the […]

First some blindingly obvious truths: Startups are hard! Relationships (in general) are hard. Relationships with business partners are (often) hard. Especially when the stakes are high. Marriages have a 50% success rate. 50% for a relationship where you are in […]

In my discussions with CEOs we often talk about exit strategy. Either because the company has current inbound interest or just thinking about the future. There is no one ‘right’ answer for when to sell your business. I often bring […]

Why now? This is perhaps the most strategic question for a startup investor. You can have an amazing team with an amazing product, but if they don’t get the timing right, it won’t be a win. There were search engines […]

It is a truism that we fear what we don’t know. Left to our own devices, what we imagine is often worse than the reality. This is a hard-wired fight or flight survival mechanism. i.e. it won’t change. If staff […]