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Here is How to Make Sense of Conflicting Startup Advice

Both Sides of the Table

Everybody has a blog these days and there is much advice to be had. Many startups now go through accelerators and have mentors passing through each day with advice – usually it’s conflicting. So far from not taking advice from other people – I want more advice, more data points, more opinions.

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Both Things Can Be True: Bias and Bad Fundraising Advice

This is going to be BIG.

The startup ecosystem is a terrific manufacturer of bad fundraising advice. If I was to guess, the demographics of people pitching me are reflective of two things—what my own network looks like and what my portfolio looks like. First is network bias. Was she just an anomaly or is there something else going on here?

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Advice from an entrepreneurship expert, with Professor Michael Goldberg

Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative

The YLAI Network hosted Michael Goldberg , a professor of entrepreneurship and an expert in international business development, for a Facebook chat in November for Global Entrepreneurship Week. Michael answered questions from network members requesting advice for their entrepreneurial endeavors.

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Understanding the Power of Your Human Networks

Both Sides of the Table

The critical skill is not just your immediate network but the network beyond that you can tap into if you’ve earned the right through nurturing your 1-degree relationships. Building Your Network. Either you have a well established network or you don’t. It always struck a chord with me. How did I get here?

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Some Career Advice for Aspiring Tech CEOs

Both Sides of the Table

There is a second set of career discussions I have even more frequently than my “angel yourself” advice but this type is almost never discussed publicly in blogs, which tend to emphasize only billion-dollar opportunities, 20-something technical founders and Silicon Valley elitism. Being a CEO begets the network to be a CEO.

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Why being a VC sucks. Advice to anyone who wants to get into venture capital.

This is going to be BIG.

It helps me sharpen my thinking and build my network. I like teaching and I like helping--and so I welcome the opportunity to hear from someone who probably isn''t going to be my next big win, because that''s most of everyone.

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The Bad Advice Diverse Founders are Given Around Fundraising

This is going to be BIG.

Everyone says they fund people in their network. Anecdotally, there's a very strong correlation with the size of the plan and the vision and the interest of investors--so if you think it's not going to work out for you, paring back your ask is counterintuitively going to sink your raise altogether. Sure, people fund their Harvard buddies.

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